Nomi, thankfully, didn’t seem too upset about being told how her girlfriend was going to act. Avery was grateful and continued to score points in the good people column.

Nomi will take care of her, she thought, pushing meat sauce around with a french fry, when I kick the bucket.

Parker fights for their seats like a bull Walrein fighting for a place to set up his harem.

The bit about Suicune goes over her head-- she’s distracted trying to pick up a pickle between two fries, first of all, and secondly, she doesn’t give a rats ass for legendaries or gods or whomst the fuck ever.

Nomi asks what she does for a living and she pauses, mid crunch. “Uh.” She can suddenly feel herself sweating, and it isn’t the meat sweats, not quite yet.

I kill children, Nomi. I commit war crimes. I never feel more at ease than when my hands are around someone else’s throat.

“R-right,” she says, thankful Parker swoops in to save her. “All oyster-y, and shtuff. Minus the aphrodisiac bits. Or maybe plus them? I dunno yet.”

parker jones Naomi Sato

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She’s a multifaceted criminal so Rocket uses her for a variety of shit jobs, but she has to admit that stealing does not give her the rush that murder does. It’s not bad enough to force her up into her secret headspace where she doesn’t think and no one can hurt her.

She wonders how her erstwhile partner feels, stuck scrabbling in closed businesses for crumbs.

They have a quota of material to bring in but this shit is so goddamn boring. It’s not even diamonds or jewels or anything but fucking metal.

“Could be jewels, or something,” she mutters, reaching down to grab something-- something welded to something else and stuck fast, “you make computer chips out of diamonds or something, right?” Her voice undulates as she tugs, once, twice, three times-- then drops it with a hiss and stumbles back, looking at the bright red cut opened up along her palm.

“Well. There’s the blood I wanted,” she says, watching it drip down her wrist.

nina larson

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The smell of used grease and fried food had Avery riding a wave of nostalgic nausea. She swallowed down bile and tried not to cringe at the crinkling of checkered paper, the smack of plastic trays against vinyl countertops.

Thankfully, Parker takes the brunt of the attention, which allows Avery to sort of fade back into the crowd, pinching a piece of fading teal hair between her fingertips and shifting it till it frizzed and split. When released, it joins the rest of the errant, damaged strands.

She winces a little, internally, because of course her line of questioning would unearth dead relatives.

“Oh, that sucks, kinda. I’m sorry.”

She takes her cup and levers the ice into it, then fills it to the brim with vanilla cola, leaning close to Nomi.

“We got about T minus 45 until Parks drops into food hibernation,” she whispers, conspiratorial. Then she leans away again, smile watery. “You… probably know that, though. Sorry. I’m not used to that.”

parker jones Naomi Sato

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Say what you want about the Joneses. They couldn’t get a read on a person if they were inside that person’s own skin.

A large part of it is survival. You wall yourself off from threats (people, generally, being the biggest). In the shaping of it, you become a blunt object. Your brain is used for other things (Avery can tell you how to kill a person in about 52 different ways, but social cues? Bunk.)

“Oh, wow! That sounds really neat. Was it a family thing? Those get passed down, right? Shrines, I mean.” she thought about what she knew from some really awful books.

She doesn’t say anything when Parker confirms that Sal is still around and kicking. Because now she has to go look at the guy who gave her nickels for her baby teeth and tell him she was a war criminal.

Well. She didn’t have to tell him. But all of her felt so paper thin at times she was sure anyone could see through it.

“Have you been to Sloppy Sam’s, Nomi?” she asks, instead, pointing to the menu. “They make a pretty good burger, too. Or burger dog. Which is a hotdog with cheeseburger toppings. Which you probably… coulda guessed.”

parker jones Naomi Sato

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