it's been months. it's been months and parker's put her head between so many other legs, trying to forget that stupid sharp-edged stare and when skyler looks at her all she can think is fuck, fuck, fuck. she knows full well all the progress she's made is gone. 

this damned woman is a haunt. 

parker reflexively jabs an elbow between mitch's ribs. 

"regrettably," she bites out to him, "she's only got gaga eyes for her fuckin' husband."

even if mitch doesn't notice the tendrils crawling up his ankle, amulius does. parker surely doesn't. but her blaziken's about as irritated with the man as her master is, and that yellow gaze flickers from his ankle and back up to skyler with a nonchalance unbecoming of the tension in the air. 

parker splays her palms out.

"why so feisty, skyler? can't a girl take her dog out for a walk?

skyler dross mitchel kane

☉

the car rolls. her baby rollllllls. and her blood pumps in anticipation. she jerks upright in her seat, wild grin on her face, but then confusion crashes into her, and then she nearly crashes into the dashboard. her hands come out on the dash instead, steadying her, and she breathes shallowly, heart racing. 

blinks once. twice. and bursts out laughing. 

"you - you fucking," she starts, but cuts herself off because that is just too damn funny. how fucking long had they been working on this godsdamned car? and she's just now noticing the clutch?

she kicks open the passenger door and lopes over, hitching her fingers under the driver's side handle. "it's a manual car, nina. i'm makin' an executive decision here. i can work magic, but ain't no way in hell ya learnin' stick a few hours 'fore the race."

nina larson

☉

parker is, by all means, not friendly. when she comes knock-knock-knockin' on your door, it means you've done fucked up. but that's the thing, isn't it? this isn't someone's fuckin' door. and this isn't just any person they're shaking down.

and because this isn't just any person, she'd needed a second. so she has the pleasure of walking into another fucking dimension with someone she's already deemed Decidedly Irritating and a Complication. especially because she has no intention of stringing up the gods-damn sea witch like rocket wants her to. 

her loyalty runs deep, but those blonde tresses do something stupid to her. 

but she can't outright tell this mouthy fucker beside her that the hag is off limits and that parker's going to play pretend to keep any other rockets from crawling on site. that she's gonna put her stupid godsdamned neck on the line and say, false reports. captain skyler dross wasn't there. 

she grinds her teeth and finally snaps: "if you don't shut the fuck up, i'm going to make you."

and then they just happen around the corner and parker locks eyes with silver, then drops to her hand...stroking her thigh??

"that happy to see me, sweetheart?"

skyler dross mitchel kane

☉

the professor blushes and parker's brain, and face, just kind of do:

???? ??? ?????

"err, yeah. just doin' my job," she mumbles and scratches the back of her head. she loses her balance a little bit and rather than fall flat on her ass, takes the momentum to totter back up to standing. best to give the doc some breathing room anyway. maybe she hit her head on the way down to the ground.

oops.

parker smiles down at the sylveon. she hadn't been too worried about nomi's pokemon (and maybe, for the sake of job security, she should have been) so she's glad to see the helpful eeveelution isn't looking too worse for wear. 

when nomi reaches for a pokeball, parker blinks. and then she watches the togekiss bequeath the miracle of life to her partners, rejuvenating them. the grunt visibly relaxes and says, "that's a pretty nifty trick."

parker's glad she's pleased. if this was some kind of test or check-in, hopefully she passed enough to get back under the radar. 

"glad to be of service. yuh, er, need an escort back or anythin'?" she shuffles awkwardly, unsure when her duty is over. 

Naomi Sato

☉

she appreciates the mist getting burned away in front of them. her mind is wholeheartedly on the mission, iron grasp on her precious cargo. up ahead, she makes out the shape of the sylveon disappearing. at the edge she shoves nomi through and whips back around, hollering for her pokemon. 

there is a screeching in her ear, incessant and grating. she grits her teeth. dark shapes move in the fog and she prepares to dive away through the barrier, but crux emerges first. blood stains the front of his fluffy chest. behind him are her tyranitar and blaziken. 

her partner pokemon limps, thin arm strung around the hard green scales of his companion. parker's jaw tightens and she steps through the barrier; the three follow after. 

she gives them a once-over. crux's wound is shallow and most of the blood isn't his. amulius is her main concern, but he's not visibly dying. her priorities need to be for her charge.

so she squats down next to nomi and looks her over. 

"didn't mean to push ya there. you good, doc?"

Naomi Sato

☉

almost done. neat. she doesn't need nomi to give her the orders twice. with her reinforcements called out and crux back by her side, the pokemon are handling things well. blood sizzles and flesh cooks as amulius cleaves through one of the metallic cats. 

her dinosaur shakes the earth. parker sways and draws her center of gravity lower, fists clenching and unclenching as she calls shots to eldin and amulius at the same time. crux circles her and her ward and her ward's sylveon. 

the streak of blue distracts her for a moment, thinking the sylveon is an adversary. just long enough for her to not notice the mound of dirt rumbling from eldin's left. by the time she does notice, she swears and calls for the tyranitar to throw a wall up beside itself. 

but eldin is too slow. the jagged maw of an oversized, fucked-up looking ursaring (?) explodes from the earth and seizes him. the light screen around it cracks. the fist-sized teeth sink into his shoulder instead of his neck and clamp down hard. 

parker swears and squints through the storm as it presses down around them. she can't abandon naomi, but she certainly can't abandon her pokemon. for a few brief moments all she can see are their silhouettes and then nothing. 

she steps back, rips another pokeball from her side and throws it into the storm. 

she searches blindly until burning blue eyes near nomi, mouth twisted in a snarl. she grabs the scientist by her jacket and shoves her up and forward. 

"then let's fucking move. go!"

Naomi Sato

☉

"aw, ain't that just sweet," parker coos at nina's very good manners. she doesn't push it more than that. she gets it. she might be filthy and she might be as emotional as a brick, but she's worked gentlemen's clubs - men with their wolfish teeth, thinking they're owed beating/bleeding hearts. 

and more painful still are the ones meant to protect them, turning when gratefulness is equated with belonging. davina was one of those girls. and her sister was too. 

moodily, she takes a bite of her own sandwich, but then raises a brow at nina, good-natured smile coming back fast as a whip. 

"yeah? fuck it then. we're gonna win."

nina larson

☉

her hand is angled where naomi can't see the trickle of blood that has broken from her split knuckles. it's nothing to worry about. she can't remember a time in her life when her hands haven't looked like utter shit. she's so focused on the task at hand she misses the scientist giving her the once-over (which they should both be thankful for). 

the angry cries of the primeape turn to mangled screeches as crux silences it. parker flexes her beat up hand, admiring her handiwork, and then tosses another pokeball out. her hands then slip into her pockets, fists emerging with glinting metal.

the brass knuckles are a last resort. amulius and crux will be able to hold them off. if need be, she has a couple more tricks up her sleeve before she herself has to resort to more violence. 

a pack of scruffy demons with long black claws appear some ways away from them, yellow sclera glowing in the hazy realm. they advance immediately with cries of outrage. and from their left lumbers a couple of oversized houndoom. like, massive houndoom. 

"what the fuck." she rips another ball from its holster and throws it out, barking orders. 

"mul, burn those fucking cats. eldin, on the dogs. crux, get your ass back here!" 

they scramble to obey with fang and claw and fist. parker throws a look over her shoulder. 

"how we doin', sweetheart?"

Naomi Sato

☉

of course she doesn't miss the way yumi's eyes light up. score. things are looking up for ol' parker jones. ever since they'd tangoed, she's been able to get rid of the fucking sea witch that's taken up residence in her brain. a one-track mind, this one. 

"i'll eat anything, yeah, but i know a burger from a steak," she says with a snort. parker grimaces at the cough and reaches for yumi's empty bowl.

"i'll leave the crockpot for ya. plenty o' bowls left in there, but ya gonna feel tip top tomorrow."

she gets up and takes the bowl back around to the kitchen so she can give it a good scrub and also so she can put enough distance between herself and yumi to confidently say, "sweet. it's a date then."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

LEVI X PARKER

rocket missions poggu? ok so it'd be interesting with the two of them bc parker is literally so far removed from the shitstorm that is rocket hq shenanigans. she's just a low level brute that shakes down folks who haven't paid rocket their dues. she's violent af and loves smashing a good face in, but she's never killed anyone and she gets kind of uncomfy around the topic in general, given that it seems to be a constant thing for her rocket compatriots.

so especially coming from a kid??

anyway i WOULD LOVE TO RP WITH YOU PLS and i think this would also be a really cool way of helping levi explore that grayscale morality topic you mention?? :eyes:

LEVIATHAN SPADE

☉

the shitty burger joint down the road is absolutely not someplace parker would take yumi to if she's trying to impress her. now, there is that place about a ten minute walk from here. she'd worked as a hand for hire for the restaurant owner; shook down his silent partner when things got complicated.

it's way out of her pay grade, but she could probably call in a favor...

"the atelier?" she tries hopefully. five star, to-die-for kalosian cuisine. surely that'd impress yumi. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

the hotheaded bird doesn't much like being told what to do by parker, nevermind anyone else. but given the direness of the situation and the fact that the thing they're fighting is a chicken ten times the size of him, he complies. parker looks on, awed by the construction of the thing. 

she's good with her fists. every once in a while, under direction, she can help the pokemon lift heavy shit. or get things fitted into place. 

anxiety wrings her, but the annoying, ever-present buzzing in her ears laps further up the shore. it stills her shaking hands, drawing away her shivers with a mechanical click. she flexes her fingers and shakes off the tick in her neck. 

the bird draws nearer, despite galayne's gallant effort to keep it at bay. its mechanical red eyes bore down on them with murderous intent. as quarters get ever-closer, parker narrows her eyes. 

"hold it. you blast it now, that other chick's fucked. we won't have time to ready another one of whatever the fuck that thing is. give her a countdown. let it get close."

play the defensive. ready your fists. and only when the moment is right, when you can see the whites of their eyes, do you strike. 

Aubre McKenna-Settentrione Aurelie Lefevre Galayne Valois thalia black

d-do you hear that music?

fighting tactics o7

☉

oop. naomi meets her tit for tit (wait, tat) and parker's feeling lighter on the balls of her feet. she's thinking this job might not actually suck literal balls and make her feel on edge the entire time. but, well, she can't say she's super jazzed about the scientist's rambling. science talk doesn't get her all hot and bothered. 

but it doesn't bother her either. really, she's just keen on listening to the sound of naomi's voice. makes her feel less crazy because aside from her, all around them is an incessant buzzing in her ears. and the distant, faraway sound of clocks ticking? 

oh. 'cause that place is nearby. or is it far away? or is it faraway and nearby at the same time?  science sucks and things don't make sense. 

another patch of grass glitches under her foot and she startles, staggering backwards. crux's eyes, half-closed in concentration, widen and he huffs once in warning. 

parker wheels, blue eyes sliding as she catches whatever's coming towards her in her peripheral. knees bend and she uses her whirling momentum to her advantage, planting one foot down and slamming a fist into the assailant. the pissed-off primeape is blown backward, stunned that a human had the gall to hit it. 

crux rushes past his master to send the pokemon packing. parker shakes out her hand with a snort and looks at naomi. 

distantly, there are cries out outrage. 

"sorry, doctor. looks like shit's hit the fan. get your shit done and we'll," she says while wrapping her hands nonchalantly with gauze, "hold 'em off."

Naomi Sato

☉