"don't think i'm in danger unless we swap spit," parker says, which is not how that works at all. she sticks her tongue right back out at yumi and gives a dumb waggle of her chin, eyes widening to enforce the silly expression. then she sinks back into the chair and props her heels up on yumi's coffee table.

roommate. hackles down, parker. she's awfully possessive when she shouldn't be, not that she'd ever admit to that.

parker rolls her eyes. usually that means a sharp tongue. "i'm more than a hot piece of ass, y'know," she says with a snort. "sticks and stones just work better. that's how the saying goes, right?"

pretty sure it was parker's playful knock to the head and not yumi's venomous words that scared the shit out their target the other day. granted, she's pretty sure those words will stay with him long after his nose heals. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

parker blinks owlishly. most other rockets (when she chooses to associate with them) are crass, for sure. some of them are stupid (KING WAYLAND ). some of them are viperous (Yumi Hasegawa ). some of them are downright terrifying (jayden cross & Alexandra Briarwood ). but parker always thought Lulu Flint had the crazy, crude corner of the rocket scientists title all to herself.

that's what she's heard, at least. 

but parker recovers. the smarmy mouth of this one only makes her wet her own lips and follow doggishly behind. 

"so if i call ya doctor out there, that gonna be distracting?" she says with a smirk.

she raises her hands up, fingers laced, and tucks them behind her head, leisurely strolling after nomi as they pass through the distortion. goosebumps raise on her skin and she makes a face. 

nothing mean pounces on them on the other side. in fact, it all looks fairly normal. just tinged with a blue and purple glow; every so often a patch of the ground glitches. or the corner of a house. y'know, normal things that happen in real life. 

rather than draw out amulius, she flicks off crux's ball from her hip. he sits down beside her and his red eyes glow eerily in the distorted darkness. 

"the hell are you even collecting?" she says while crux peers into the future. "how do you collect that?" she points to a patch of air. or smoke? that flickers in and out of existence, leaving a blank space behind it when it yeets away from reality.

Naomi Sato

☉

growing up, she hadn't been told a whole lot (and much of what she had been told was straight up bullshit), but one thing's always certain: don't bite the hand that feeds you. she's starved and snarled over scraps and while she could give a rat's ass about rocket's need to harvest moon crystals or magic dirt, she does give a shit about maintaining loyalty. 

she's seen what happens when people turn their backs on this organization. fuck, she's one of the consequences of their actions. 

so as pissy as she looks, she's gonna watch her damn mouth around the woman who holds her life in the palm of her hands. it's an easy enough job - one amuluis will be able to handle with ease. she reaches for his ball for some company, but doesn't end up releasing him just yet. 

because her little gumdrop of a ward shows up and for a moment parker forgets to look pissed off. then she recovers and raises a brow. 

"yeah. protect ya from all the rabid beasties or crazy teeth people or some shit in there or whatever. you'll be fine. not gonna lie - i was expecting some old bag of bones to show up. like a dude who gets off on being called doctor but really he was just a vet or some shit when rocket picked him up."

Naomi Sato

☉

the keys jangle and anticipation rises in parker's stomach. much like being on a rollercoaster. or so she thinks. she's never been on one. but instead of weightlessness or lightheadedness or barfing nina shrugs back into her seat and says she's hungry. 

parker makes a face, but relents all the same. they're still ahead of schedule. and besides, they should eat something anyway. 

"y'know," she says when she hands nina her sandwich. the smell of fresh sausage quickly fills up the car and makes her mouth water. "you don't hafta drive if you don't wanna. like, i can. i just..." she waves her sandwich around for emphasis, "don't want you thinkin' you gotta or i'll be mad or some shit. like, it's cool to say no, y'know?"

nina larson

☉

she could do without this. but that's the curse of being good at your job. turns out hanging with a beastie like lex and whatever the fuck girlboss yumi is gets you noticed. of anyone, you'd think she'd know actions had fucking consequences. better to keep your head down, stay low, and not make waves. 

heh, never been much good at that last part though. 

there's a scowl on her face. one of those big-ass distortions has popped up and swallowed half the forest beside littleroot. citizens have been ushered back inside. league personnel are inbound, but to parker's knowledge, rocket's struck a deal to give the head professor some discreet time in the field while the league officers struggle with 'technical difficulties.'

and here she is assigned as a guard dog. she snubs her nose, shifts, and waits. 

Naomi Sato

☉

"yeah, not worried about that," parker says with a roll of her eyes. "you look like shit." and she probably feels like shit. shit enough for parker to bat her around like a punching bag. no, ass-kicking is completely off the table. but she's no reason to worry anyway. her soup's delicious and she knows it. 

so explain the nervous sweating in her palms when she takes a casual seat across from yumi. she gives her a wide berth. she's not an idiot and beating people's heads in when your own is full of snot isn't her idea of fun.

the common cold is parker's undoing. 

"'course it's good. and why, cupcake, y'want me to leave?" she lets her cheek fall against her shoulder, looking sideways at yumi. seeing all of her angles again (but this time with more clothes on). her eyes betray her hunger. 

"so... you got a roommate or a girlfriend or somethin'?" she says, gesturing to the coat hanging by the door. a coat that's not yumi's size. "scare 'em off with your sick cooties?" 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

with a groan, she wakes up. amulius is standing over her, looking rather alarmed. he offers out a talon and she allows him to haul her up to her feet. huffing, she checks her ribs. one of them is most certainly bruised. her lip is split, but that's not surprising; it's been giving her some trouble in the cold weather and she hasn't been able to stop biting it. 

'hello? is anyone out there?'

parker rolls out her shoulder and looks towards the blaziken. 

"last i remember we were on our way to gran's. that voice the one who pulled us in here?"

amulius shakes his head.

"alright," she says and shoves her hands into her pockets, heading towards the noise. amulius falls into step behind her, though his eyes wander over the clockwork landscape. parker decides the incessant ticking is annoying and wished hoenn would leave her out of its weird shit. 

but the thought comes too soon. as she rounds the corner of a brassy building, she spies the source of the voice, joined by another. the new one is speaking frantically and amulius stands on guard, but both trainer and pokemon flinch when that god-awful shriek assaults their ears.

"mul." it doesn't take more for the blaziken to launch into action. embers spark as his talons scrape against the metal platforms, billowing into flame as he kicks into the hole. another grating shriek and mechanical wingbeats as the beast moves on the other side. 

"well, i think that pissed it off," parker says as she jogs up to the people. "let's fuckin' move?"

Aurelie Lefevre Aubre McKenna-Settentrione thalia black Galayne Valois

☉

"someone had to keep watch and make sure we didn't have any big bad wolves knocking on our door," she jokes. a knock on the interior door is followed swiftly by sal poking his head in. his grey-white hair is still mussed from sleep and he's swathed in a robe decorate with little pixel lollipops. 

"morning, girls. i made breakfast. no, shut your mouth, park. they're breakfast sandwiches so you can take them to go."

parker winks at nina and gathers her pokeball belt, shrugs on her finally-dried jacket, and slides into the passenger seat. sal has the breakfast sandwiches in hand, wrapped neatly in paper napkins, and throws them unceremoniously in parker's lap before she can shut the door.

"you take it slow out there. go down king's or swallow's. mrs. dubois says she hasn't seen any trouble near her place."

parker stretches out, thanks sal with a glowing smile, and keeps on smiling at his back as he shuffles off. 

"let's take swallow ave. it's closer to the circuit. ready to give her a go?"

nina larson

☉

marza gets it. makes parker almost regret being a lone wolf. almost. partners don't always hold you down (see her previous experience with beastie Alexandra Briarwood ), but it's easier not to get too attached in this job. people die. or they fuck up and you gotta be the one to break their face. 

harmless banter, though? she can do that. 

"look, i like 'em sweet." she shrugs her shoulders. "what can i say?" 

most of the men who've laughed in her face when she told 'em that, well, they walked away with more than a split lip. and parker still usually got the drink. 

"eh, let's not go as far 'n say it's free." she sizes her up and throws a mock punch in the air. "i wanna see ya throw a few punches." 

amulius walks over to to the two of them, arms bundled with swine pearls. parker nods at him, makes a face at the blood staining his feathered legs, and regards marza. "next friday. show me whatcha got."

Marza Volchitsa

☉

her voice is nasally. yep, definitely sick. well, at least it hadn't been an excuse not to see parker. not that yumi seemed like the type to make up an excuse. nah, she'd tell parker right to her damn face. she smiles at the thought and hefts the crockpot when yumi lets her in. 

it takes one look-over to take in all the information surrounding her. while yumi goes to recline on the couch, parker heads into the kitchen. she sets the crockpot down, but doesn't fiddle for a nearby plug. the damn thing stopped working a couple years ago. then she dares take off the top and sighs in relief when steam wafts up into her face. 

parker makes herself at home by rummaging around in the cupboards. there are enough cutlery and plateware for two people, she notes lightly to herself. 

"bone marrow," she says when she finds the bowls. her hands aren't manicured, but she'd taken care to scrub the grease off of them. the day before, she'd been taking apart a car for parts. but her hands are still rough around the edges and give her pause when she reaches for the polished ceramic. 

pink hair is swept out of her eyes with a toss of her head. she scoops the soup in and rummages for a spoon, dunks it in, and goes to stand over yumi. 

"but with vegetables and budew wine and shit. it's good. you'll be better by tomorrow, i swear."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

parker snickers when nina falls asleep with her head against the steering wheel. she pats the likewise sleepy cyndaquil beside her. kelsier's little mouth opens wide in a half-asleep yawn. parker stands and rummages around quietly for a blanket. she shakes out (most of) the dust on it and settles it as gingerly as she can over nina's shoulders. 

she thinks, at first, that she might sleep. she's good at falling asleep on command, but the anticipation is making her stomach turn. so she excuses herself from the garage and goes into the candy shop and passes the time by doing push-ups. by restocking the store. by going over budgeting spreadsheets. 

and when dawn rears its glowing head, she goes back into the garage and leans over; the garage door rattles loudly as she yanks it upward. 

"rise 'n shine, sunshine."

nina larson

☉

oh shit oh fuck oh shit oh fuck. is she really doing this? she should turn around. she should put the crockpot on the floor and leave the soup and turn around and l-e-a-v-e. she should just go home and stare at her phone like a piece of shit and wait for yumi to text her for another meaningless romp in the hay. 

but she stands like there a fucking deerling in the headlights and blinks when the door opens. 

her grin cracks, smiling wide, shaking off the rest of the frost that had been climbing up her sides. seeing her makes it easy. it always works out that way. 

"i made soup," she says simply. "'cause if you're bitch enough to complain about a cold over text to me, figured you might end up dead from helplessness. and also this soup's really fuckin' good."

she shifts her weight. "so...can i come in?"

Yumi Hasegawa

☉