nomi starts to calm down. parker's pinkies, stretched under her jaw, feel her pulse slow and only when that wild light fades in nomi's eyes (still their normal red now, thank the gods), parker drops her hands. not all the way though. one lingers by nomi's hip, a casual reminder that she's there. that nomi has a tether. 

parker glances sideways, seeing her apartment through nomi's eyes. it's small. cracks spiderweb up the walls. her gym clothes are strewn over the worn leather couch in the living room. an empty cereal bowl is out on the glass coffee table. the rest of the dishes in the sink are rinsed, but they haven't been cleaned thoroughly (no dishwasher life, sadge...). 

she runs her hand through her hair nervously. "i, uh, woulda cleaned the place if i'd known ya were comin'." and thrown some more clothes on. 

as it stands, she's in boxers and a sleep crop. if she'd known beforehand nomi wasn't here for sexy times, she would have put something more appropriate on. that reminds her. 

"you wanna get changed? i got some stuff y'can borrow. top drawer." she gives her hip one more squeeze before releasing her to go grab the glass of water. 

Naomi Sato

☉

oh, sick. she takes a bigass bite of it as soon as jayden hands it over to her. the breading is greasy, the hot dog inside piping hot, and she opens her mouth wide and pants - haugh, haugh, haugh -  a bit to cool down her burning tongue. teeth gnash to disperse more of the heat.

"careful, isshot," she says and grimaces as she swallows. 

"the fuck's a tapballa?" he says something about holding hands and then looks at her weird. she raises a brow. 

"uh, that's cool. do y'hold hands with them...not at festivals?" she'd like to hold hands with Naomi Sato at a festival. 

jayden cross

☉

parker does not really care that the sparkly unown gets stuck outside. nomi may have brought it here, but that doesn't mean parker needs to let it - "nomi? nomi?" panic eeks into her voice when she turns and sees nomi's eyes have gone nearly white, leaving only black pupils staring at, no, through parker. 

jump scare. the unown-k pops into existence beside parker's shoulder. she flinches and then nomi's eyes are back to normal and she's babbling like nothing's happening. like nothing happened at all. 

"nomi, that's...what?" she says, exasperated now. she raises her hands to hold nomi's face, thumbs stroking away her tears. her brows furrow in concern. 

"nevermind. just...breathe in?" parker sucks in her own breath, holds it, and then releases it. repeats the process until nomi catches on too. 

Naomi Sato

☉

after the texts, a very sleepy parker gets out of bed and plods over to the bathroom, though not before heavily patting maisey on the head. the granbull grumbles. parker brushes her teeth and swishes some mouthwash around and, still tired, stoops over her sink to splash some cold water on her face. it wakes her up well enough to chase away a dream's clingy remnants.

when she comes back out, there's another text from nomi. 3:35. that was three minutes ago. which means, since she's bringing an unown, she should be - "fuck." the phone falls from parker's hands as loud banging comes from the other side of the studio apartment. 

parker leaves the phone where it is and sidles up to the front door, peering through the peep hole just to make sure it's actually nomi and not one of the dozens she's probably made angry enough to warrant a 3 am shakedown. 

but it's nomi. and a blue unown behind her. huh. never seen that one before. 

she opens the door and leans back a little because nomi's fist comes dangerously close to her face. one look and parker's shoulders square, gaze sliding from nomi and out onto the street. she grabs her arm. 

"what's wrong? someone after you? get inside."

Naomi Sato
ref

☉

maybe isaac needed something stronger than a lock. a bunker? a black hole? anything to keep shit like creepy mccreepster away. a straightjacket might work actually. well, maybe not, considering the way his body might just be made up of paper mâché and dog shit water. 

amulius is ripping into his body. they're already up to three and parker is calling the shots, watching with harrowing satisfaction as flames spark and whirr around the blaziken's shifting torso. when the puppet rears a hand back, amulius tilts to the side, but no retribution comes. 

instead metal screeches. parker swears and winces, watching in abject horror as puppet isaac rips his metagross' arm clean off. if it weren't so vile, she might be impressed. 

"you seriously tryna reason with crazy right now?" parker hollers at isaac, sparing a glance. 

the metagross putters and amulius gets in number four. ichor sprays and viscous fluid slicks his feathers. fire makes it bubble and hiss. the fighting bird screeches and goes for an uppercut to the solar plexus as parker hits five. 

the light distracts her. "holy fuck - eldin!" the tyranitar is already on the move. he stomps forward. each heavy footfall raises a column of stone edge. the glowing metal body is hidden on the other side of the sudden outcropping of rock, but the hastily sprung defense explodes all the same, launching boulders their way. 

"y'know, i fuckin' hate that phrase," parker says as she dodges to the side. "'for the glory of rocket.' rocket's a godsdamned glory hole for crazies is what it is. case in point."

she waves her arms towards the puppet and parker whistles. amulius disengages, sweating hard, only to tuck his knees in and leap with a superheated blaze kick at the swinging chains dangling from the sky.

"and that's six, fucker!" she shouts. 

Isaac Merlo

☉

her hands curve under nomi's chest, cupping - nothing, because she's gone. wriggled free saying something about towels. parker is lost for a moment, stung by the chill of nomi's leaving (and the heat that had been against her skin), but sh ecan't really complain about getting to watch her go. 

moonlight spills overhead and nomi carves through the water with pale grace. parker is wading forward, ripples fanning from her hands as she half-assedly swims to the other side. her neck stays above water, too transfixed to look away. 

and then nomi's above her again. parker trips a bit hauling herself up and out of the water. the bulk of her hair is plastered to the right side of her face. she shoves her fingers through it and it spikes up, away from her eyes. hands reach, begging to hold that achingly familiar warmth again, but nomi smiles mischievously and lopes away from her. 

all of this suspense and the coy looks are doing something to parker's brain. making her want. and making her want now. the humid air is allowed to peacefully blanket nomi for all of three seconds before parker is on her hands and knees over her, lips rough and ragged on nomi's own. 

Naomi Sato

☉

"i dunno, man. that's some fucked up shit," she says, glancing from isaac to nightmare isaac. she can still hear the schlurping sound of whatever was behind that mask desperately trying to keep it on while parker tugged. it's enough to make her a little green around the gills, even now. 

isaac's trying to put on a brave face, but parker sees right through that shit. that's her fuckin' job. that's her godsdamned 9 to 5 - watching men lie through their teeth in the face of their self-inflicted retribution. only this time it's not parker swinging the hammer.

if she were smarter, she'd have some inkling as to what this is all about. if she looked over nomi's research notes instead of at the fox herself, she might be able to put two and two together. as it stands, all she knows is that something rotten in isaac's brain is here and it's manifesting as this. 

the wave of silhouettes surrounding them put her on edge. mist flickers. shadows warp. among the crowd, she swears she sees avery's face. and then it's gone, wiped like a clean slate - all of them mechanical nothings. not human. not real. that makes this easier. 

thinking they're not people always makes it easier. 

eldin awaits orders. amulius looks like he wants to gut the thing that clobbered himself and parker. she curls a fist and prepares to call out an attack, but isaac's psst makes her whip her head back around. 

"isaac, now's not the time for fucking friendship bracelets," she hisses when she sees him messing with the bracelet around his wrist. 

but he tells her to trust him and just like that, she's taking it. and she's thinking don't you burn me, isaac but she knows deeply he won't. he can't. because burning her would mean burning nomi. 

so she takes the gem from his hand and with a holler, throws it at amulius. the blaziken turns his head and snaps a talon up, catching it with ease. his trainer might not know what the fuck it is (even though she has one, but that's just in a small bowl of pebbles sitting artfully behind her toilet), but amulius instantly feels the power thrumming inside of it. 

the gem crackles and parker's grip on the bracelet tightens.

"let's show this fucker all we got, eh, 'mul? show 'em why they call us six."

it happens in a rush. amulius' feathers ripple, shivering and sprouting in new colors. muscles bulge and sinew stretches and parker's hand is shaking; light is spilling out from her palm, air whistling through her teeth. ribbons of flame spurt from amulius' wrists and the light encompassing his form shatters all at once. 

"one," parker says and the bird's screech is sharp with rage. the ground beneath his feet explodes from the force of his leap. he closes the distance in that single arc, close combat bringing talons to rake towards their puppet foe.

Isaac Merlo

☉

despite it all, this does not rank in her top three worst days ever. it's top five, for sure. no doubt about that. but three? puppet isaac doesn't get the godsdamned satisfaction of that. so maybe that's why she's not absolutely pissing herself and thinking i'm gonna die. dying was never on the table. dying was never a thought. 

(okay, maybe when she couldn't pull her fist out, it briefly crossed her mind.)

but now she's free and amulius is at her side, sporting a matching black eye of his own courtesy of the thrashing puppet. she grins up at him, raising fists in tandem. and then makes a face at the goop still left on her left fist and gives that one a shake. 

but then puppet isaac hauls his ass up into top three. six pokeballs burst from ichor-covered chains, hollow husk pokemon emerging for the final reaping. parker's stomach drops and she reaches for her own belt, heart thudding in her ears, thinking this would make for a really good fucked up horror movie. 

she's not fast enough. there's a flash as every single one of them fires off attacks and parker instinctually flinches, hand raised. amulius is a blur beside her, desperate to protect his trainer, but a concussive sound hits her ears. she squeaks open her eyes and stares up at a massive...tyrantrum? metal scales glitter and its body hums as it hunkers protectively over her. 

and fucking finally, she hears isaac. all flesh and blood, not the tinny timbre from a cracked voice box. relief sweeps through her, but there's really no time to rejoice. 

she's not sentimental anyway. 

too many cooks in the kitchen will make this messier than need be and parker's not great at commanding all her pokemon at once. so she rips eldin's ball off her belt and the tyranitar emerges with a shuddering growl. it's likewise caught off guard by the iron thorns, but this time the mechanical creature isn't an adversary. 

"y'know how they say everyone's got skeletons in their closet?" parker says as amulius punches a curled talon into his hand, rearing to go. 

"yeah, you shoulda put a fuckin' lock on yours."

Isaac Merlo

☉

"don't sweat it," she says with a chuckle. "look, this is fuckin' gold." she angles the pic juuuuuuust right and the phone screen looks like it's staring down a big ol' coin slot. it's good enough even parker might've been tricked if she didn't know what it was. 

"we should open with something though. you know what she's like?" 

well, given the cotton candy condoms and the terrifying meanness she leaves in her wake, parker assumes she's into some crazy shit. probably a whore. 

which, like, go off, queen. 

to MATIAS SILPH:
hey big boy
< sent tit pic (elbow) >

"you really would make a hot chick. not gonna lie," parker says. she turns the phone back around with a snicker and gives it to priam to hold. 

"think we should delete the messages? no paper trail?"

priam conrad

☉

nomi's kiss is gentle and sweet, nothing like whatever fire had spurred her to knock the two of them into the water and onto each other. but it has its own sort of gravitas, still heavy with the weight of their sudden intimacy. her lips glisten as she draws back and parker takes her in with a hitched breath, startled smile. 

heart hammering as her brain finally catches up to her and she realizes holy shit, we just did that. and it was incredible. and she's incredible. and i think i might just - 

"years of practice," she says, just as breathlessly. 

her back pressed up against the wall now, she ogles nomi without trying to hide it (not that she was ever really successful before). but her wide-eyed, almost incredulous stare shifts as nomi's hips shift against her. 

fire is left in the aftermath of nomi's wandering fingertips. she flexes her muscles under her touch, gaze flickering down to watch her curve over the hill of her biceps, back up to scarlet eyes as she explores her chest.

and then parker can only stare wordlessly/helplessly/ shamelessly at nomi's exposure. 

"yes, ma'am," she says and has to let go of nomi for a moment (well, hello there, tightened legs around her waist) to follow nomi's orders. she shucks her own bottoms off after too and there go the rest of their clothes, forgotten as soon as parker takes nomi in again. 

her wanting couldn't be clearer. so parker follows those orders too, even if they're unspoken. she goes in for another kiss, hungrier this time around. tongue a sloppy tease on her lips, hand up her side to wander familiar new territory.

"nomi, i don't care about getting all pruney. i'll have you all night if you tell me that's what you want," she breathes in her ear.

Naomi Sato

☉

here are all the nightmares parker would rather be living than right here, right now:

• a lobotomy center in the middle of a 7 point earthquake
• a twenty year-old straight-edge's wedding where the only other attendees are the bride and groom's immediate family
• back in Cillian Quinn's office getting the shit ripped out of her leg by his shadows

but she can't have any of those. she has to wake up from this one. the one with her new friend and girlfriend's closest friend's dead body (? or fake body???) being dragged around like a puppet while it told terrible, gods-awful jokes. 

and also it hits like a motherfucking truck so that sucks too.

parker squints up at amulius. relief sweeps through her, but that's short-lived too, because puppet isaac does not like his chains being grabbed one bit. his laughter dies and he sidles close to her. 

whatever he - it - is, its breath is rancid. something unnatural squirms in its mouth whenever it talks and there is a pressure in the back of her head. like a maggot chittering in her mind.

"yeah, not really. hard pass on that one. you're the only friend i need, isaac. honest." she yanks again, uselessly, on her arm. amulius tightens his grip on the chains and looks down at parker, eyes narrowing. she nods. 

his talons burst into flames and the chains go from black to red in several seconds. parker doesn't know what reaction he'll have, but hopefully it's shocking enough where she can reach up and try to rip the rest of that mask off this thing's face. 

Isaac Merlo

☉