what the fuck is going on? her eyes are unfocused and there's no pain in her nose, which doesn't make sense, because the rivers hath runneth red, but her brain feels like it's splitting open. like it's peeling apart or there are bugs crawling under the surface, digging and burrowing and searching and grasping and - fuck, it hurts. 

but she can't stop it. she can't stop thinking about it. there are wispy images on the other side, the answers to all of nomi's questions. glimpses of her notebook. the ring parker wears on her neck. a small field of strawberries, crawling with vines. 

gloom and shadow and twisted bodies. rat boy? skyler?

the nomi here, on this side, is pulling relentlessly at her. murmuring hushed worries and telling her it's going to be okay while she calls isaac over. her warmth is next to her, pulling her back. reeling her away from the glimpses like a flopping fish. 

through the blood, there's the scent of flowers. watercolor rain falls over her lashes. not yet. don't take me back yet. i don't want to forget. 

she crashes back down with a shudder and her hand comes up over nomi's. carefully, she works to take over the pressure on her own nose. slouches back and tilts her head back to help stopper it. 

the pain is a loud, incessant thud in the back of her skull.

"so, you wanna stay for dessert?" she says, voice all nasally and thick. 

Naomi Sato Isaac Merlo

☉

parker checks her nose, no joke, sixteen times before leaving her dingy apartment. checks it every which way. from the front. from underneath. from the side. from the other side. by poking, prodding, sticking her fingers in. even raps her knuckles against her skull and stares sourly in the mirror, glaring at her reflection and silently telling it to not fuck this up again. 

but she knows - deep, deep, deep down she knows it's not about her nose. or her brain. those are perfectly sound. they're just a little scrambled. and for whatever reason, nomi makes it worse. and thinking about why nomi makes it worse makes it even worse. 

a poochyena chasing its own tail. 

it's why she's late. well, that and she still doesn't have a teleportation pokemon or anything that can fly. and meteor falls isn't exactly close. for nomi, though, she'd climb the damn mountain, even if it took her weeks. 

she takes the railcar though. is told by the attendant to please be careful and keep an eye out for any distortions or life-threatening rifts suddenly popping out of nowhere. and that the wild pokemon have become somewhat more aggressive. and don't worry! you look like a capable trainer - you'll be fine!

amulius treks beside her. she's following texted directions from nomi and a map that she really should have screenshot because her signal dies as soon as she's gobbled up by the mountain. thank the gods for amulius because he's able to find the secluded spot by smell. or something. she doesn't know. 

but he seems to like the breeze on his feathers. 

she slides out from behind some rocks and then stops, stunned at the figure with her back towards her. nomi's eyes are closed, lashes brushing against her cheeks. her back arches as her lungs swell and she has the loveliest look on her face and parker's heart hurts for no damn reason.

valerian knows they've arrived, surely, but parker thanks the coy sylveon for allowing parker to shamelessly look at nomi before she opens her eyes. and when she does, parker beams and lopes over to her. 

"hey, cupcake."

Naomi Sato
brieeeeefs

☉

she's losing her. she's lost her. she's looking at isaac and she's thinking i can't believe you tried to set parker up like this. that's so mean, isaac! and following that will be that you-poor-schmuck look as she explains, in layman's terms, i'm just not into you. 

and she's still looking at isaac. her mouth closes. parker's trying to read the situation. she's trying to look at it like a goddamned prelude to a crime scene, 'cause she's always the big bad wolf busting in and blowing the house down. it's all lost on her though. she can't pick it up. 

no rage or fear or horror or all the other things that make sense, that show her where a blow is gonna come from, or where her target's gonna escape to. 

parker, you idiot. you're not breaking her face. you're just tellin' a girl how you feel.

she feels sick. dizzy. weak. 

until finally those eyes she's so damn obsessed with (and, to be honest, intimidated by) lock onto her. and nomi's striking her in her own way. every word is an explosive blast against the outer shell of anxieties crawling around her heart. 

nomi's chest heaves after she's done and parker's giving her a cheshire grin, eyes shining. i'm gonna kiss her, she thinks and then, but no, isaac's right there, and then, but i don't give a shit, but then not here. here doesn't feel...right although she really wants to know what kissing her feels like. 

but she already knows what her lips taste like. what the small of her back smells like. what her wet hair feels like. what her body looks like, barren, glowing down at her, bubblegum hair tumbling over her shoulders.

her smile stutters, twisting into a grimace as a sharp pressure explodes behind the bridge of her nose.

"ow, motherf-" she starts as blood bursts from her nose in a stream of red, sloughing into hurried hands as she goes to plug her nostrils. she stares wild-eyed at nomi, grasping at memories that aren't hers, that couldn't be hers, and she wants to tell nomi what she's thinking/feeling/seeing and that she's sorry this is happening because what the fuck, but there's salt in her mouth and she's trying not to choke on all of it.

on everything they've lost. 

Naomi Sato Isaac Merlo

☉

parker is as gentle as she can be, but she's high-strung. that's a nightmare she hasn't had to relive for some time and it's left her shaken, a little out of her own body. she doesn't realize how hard she's gripping nomi until the scientist comes to in her arms. 

"wha-yeah, she's okay. i think." parker swallows past a lump in her throat and looks away from yumi. at least she won't have to carry her. there's a chance the venomous woman would have bitten her when she hauled them out of there. 

nomi starts spilling out apologies and all at once, parker's anger evaporates. she helps her stand, but keeps an arm lingering around her waist. the woman looks more pale than usual. 

"yeah, yumi's fine. we're all in one piece. relax, cupcake. i got ya."

she shifts. "c'mon, yums, let's get outta here."

Naomi Sato Yumi Hasegawa

☉

note to self: get all of what she just said tattooed on her forehead. or, alternatively, find a way for nomi to live inside her head for five minutes, preferably while parker's looking right at her so she doesn't hear any of the other nonsense going on in her head. 'cause all that nonsense really does go away when she's looking at nomi. 

"cold, hard facts," parker repeats. "sounds sexy as fuck."

it does not, but if that's what it takes to get the girl, that's what it takes. 

isaac asks her to think on the moment and parker recalls a few interesting details: nomi's blush after parker said isaac tried to set them up (hmmm, sus), a coy smile, a fucking killer adorable tilt of her head, and then the most intense eyes parker's ever seen in her life. 

parker relays all of this to isaac, emphasizing the seriousness of her eyes by mimicking them herself. flint stares hard at isaac's single gaze. "this," she says, pointing to herself, "is terrifying."

her finger is still pointed, eyes still wide, when nomi slides into her seat. parker realizes then that she'd also been crouching out of her seat and she promptly sits back down, relaxing and dropping her hand into her lap. 

parker blinks at her. 

"i found the paper towel thing like that. no, shit, i didn't."

and after a beat, "yeah, that's what it is to me. your question. a date. it's a date. least, i think it's a date. i want it to be a date. i knew you'd look amazing so i bought this so i would also look good and to maybe impress you because you're so fuckin' outta my league, nomi, but i wanted to try and isaac says i should get that tattooed on my forehead, but that's kinda a lot, so i hope it's okay if i don't."

Naomi Sato Isaac Merlo

☉

at least she can still drown her sorrows in nomi's disgusting half of the nachos. is it in poor taste to finish the food of a date who's run off on you? no, the victim probably gets some recompense. might as well be nachos with clams on them. 

but even her appetite's gone, which is crazy. 

she sucks on the straw of her hurricane; the drink disappears all too quickly. isaac asks how she's enjoying the night so far and her brows furrow and she wants to yell and be like, 'ya fucked up, isaac! ya were wrong. pull out the cameras! this has gotta be a fuckin' joke or something. am i famous? am i famous yet?'

and then, then, she feels a little bit of hope. like, maybe nomi just stepped out to take a call or something. 

"she asked what this is to me, isaac. like, fuck, what i gotta do, huh? get it tattooed on my forehead? 'nomi, you're hot and way outta my league but i'm gonna shoot my shot anyway 'cause fuck it' and that's not gonna fit on my forehead, is it? gods, it just feels like...last time." her shoulders sag. 

"and i'm so tired of pining after women who don't want me, dude."

Isaac Merlo

☉

how is it not a date? how did she fuck this up again? she thought she was smarter this time. she did it right. she texted nomi. the damn woman even sent her bikini pics. but does that really mean anything? it's not like she hasn't gotten nudes before. 

but this felt different.

so did skyler. so did yumi. so does every dame who gives her the time of day, apparently. she splashes water on her face and then swears, remembering the smudged line she'd put on around her eyes. frustrated, she yanks on the paper towel dispenser. 

a little too rough. 

the latch pops on it and the whole roll tumbles out and onto the floor. 

she straightens, jaw tense, and shoves her fingers through her hair, carelessly swipes under her eyes to clean up the worst of the smudging, and casually walks out of the bathroom. someone starts heading towards it and she swerves, scratching at her cheek, not wanting to get blamed for the debacle in the bathroom. 

so she and nomi are passing ships. parker makes it to the table and stares, devastated, at the empty seat. she slouches down into the seat and catches isaac's eye, frowning like a sad puppy dog. 

"someone broke your paper towel dispenser in the bathroom."

Naomi Sato Isaac Merlo

☉

"not that i needed persuading," she says a bit defensively. give her some credit here! and nomi's a catch. but surely she knows that. "just hadda make sure there wasn't anyone, y'know, in the picture. like some hot assistant or something."

she's glad she swallowed because nomi actually manages to startle her with the intensity of the look she gives her. parker blinks owlishly and thinks oh, fuck, fuck, did i fuck up? is this not supposed to be...?

this is how it started with yumi. 

yumi asked her out. parker thought nothing of it. like, she still showed up looking good, but she never expected drinks would turn to kissing would turn to fucking. only to get hard swerved into the friendzone. so her mouth goes dry. she sucks in air. 

"uhh, i mean, i guess?" cool and unaffected, super blasé, and inside she's SCREAMING. she stands up. realizes she's standing up. 

"pee." as though that's an explanation. 

but then she's gone, twisting hurriedly around tables and dodging busy servers as they carry food to and from their sections. 

Naomi Sato

☉

it's a good thing parker already knows isaac's taken because she'd be real damn worried about it with the look nomi has in her eyes. but she gets it. dude's good vibes are absolutely infectious. still, she's kind of jealous. parker doesn't have very many friends, nevermind a friend like isaac for a year. 

nomi murmurs that isaac's the best of them and she nods surreptitiously around a mouthful consisting of about three chips and a whole slice of lechonk meat. when she asks how she's met him, she grins widely, narrowly dribbling sour cream over her chin (but not, thankfully). 

"workin' a job. we beat the shit outta a crusty old fart. and stole his money. but the punch felt the best. an' then this fucker took me out to a bar and tried to get me to go on a date with ya."

they hadn't called it a date over text. just dinner. a suggestive dinner, surely, but saying that it's a date has felt forbidden.

Naomi Sato Isaac Merlo

☉