Who you callin' a thug? (Joker and Artemis =D)

[Anonymous]

It was buzzing in the cafe. He hated it when they whispered around him. More than half the city knew his name and what he did, but it was the other half who just recently found out who don't shut up. It was like he couldn't hear them, but he could. Oh yes, he could. It was making him a bit edgy at the moment.

He shifted in his chair and realized it wasn't exactly him they were talking about. For a moment he wasn't sure if he should be more annoyed at the lack of attention or relieved he wasn't at the centre of it. Rumours were going around that Tariq was scouting for new Bounty Hunter members. In truth, he was always scouting, but this time it was like he had put up posters or ran an advert.

His mind shifted to his group. He needed a new second in command with the last one having had his head gnawed off by what looked like a jellyfish with crab’s legs. That was far from pretty.

He grumbled to himself like an old man and kicked his feet up onto the table. No waiter in the cafe was willing to question him, so he sat there like some rebelling teen. Part of him was hoping someone would approach. In face, he was sure the next person to approach him was some Bounty Hunter hopeful.

[Anonymous]

Joker yawned, rubbing his eyes under his sunglasses. Work had just finished and he was pretty tired. Because of the late hours he kept racing, it meant that he just went straight to work the next morning. Which mean that he was pretty beat by the end of the day.

And while a smart person might head home to sleep, Joker didn't really feel like totally wasting the day. And he wanted to get some breakfast...dinner. ...whatever the fuck the meal would count as before he crashed.

Happily for him, there was a pretty cool little cafe between him and home, so taking a small detour, the tall man made his way to the cafe. He didn't bother to strip fully out of his drab uniform jumpsuit. Instead he just unzipped it and slid it off his upper body, tying the arms around his waist.

Unfortunately for Joker the cafe seemed full. There wasn't an empty table to be had. But that wasn't about to stop him. He was hungry and craved coffee. Tasty, tasty coffee. Granted, he had already had about a gazillion shots today, but more was always better.

But there was a table that only had one guy at it. Which meant there was plenty of room for Joker. So he put his most winning grin on and slid into the chair, "Why hello there. You weren't going to use this whole table, were you? Always room to for new friends, yeah?" Not really waiting for an answer, Joker turned to scan for a waiter, "Now, lets get some coffee!"

[Anonymous]

The sofa was filthy. No woman on planet earth would ever have come near a thing like that sofa. It was old, secondhand, and underneath all the stains from various bottles of god knows what that spilled at one of many parties held in this dingy apartment, it might have been a dusty shade of blue.
Obviously, the man sprawled haphazardly on said sofa was a bachelor. He had a bed, which he kept relatively clean, actually... but it was in the other room, and this spot was simply more convenient for someone stumbling through the door at dawn with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other.
The television was still blaring, as it had been all night long. The older woman who lived upstairs had long since ceased her banging on his ceiling with her cane. It was useless. He might as well be in a damn coma on days like this.
A muffled groan came billowing out from beneath a musty throw pillow, and a short while later a groggy Artemis rose to a sitting position and glared around the rooms, as though looking for someone to blame for this... excruciating headache on.

A blind hand fumbled for a half-smoked joint in the ashtray to his left, and once sufficently lit, the young man stumbled into the bathroom to take a leak.  Taking a long, hands-free pull on his J and zipping himself back up, he decided that food was in order, and after a quick washing of his face, he clicked the tv off, grabbed his jacket and  set off to the cafe a few blocks away -- in the very same clothes he'd slept in.

[Anonymous]

"Yes, yes..." Tariq muttered, waving his hand. "Sit down. I've been waiting for someone to interview." Tariq shifted his legs off the table and regarded Joker with an appraising glance. He took a moment to wonder what the hell someone like this was doing applying for the Bounty Hunters. He didn't make a very good first impression. In fact, he looked half dead.

"Late night?" he asked, basing the question on Joker's need for coffee. By his tone, it was evident Tariq wasn't interested in knowing what Joker was doing. Generally details on late nights weren't exactly the most palatable topic for conversation at a cafe. He glanced at the waiter who hurried off to get the coffee. He raised a brow and wondered momentarily if the lone cigarette in his shirt pocket should be unsheathed now or kept for a more necessary moment. His mind wandered away a while, then he came back as his hand touched his own coffee cup.

He lifted it to his lips and sipped. His cheek had a fair amount of stubble on it today, showing that Tariq had been either busy or lazy as of recent. He glanced at Joker and then decided to start conversation... or interrogation. "So who might you be?" Again, he seemed only barely interested. He was a little distracted by murmurings and noticeable strangers around him.

[Anonymous]

"Interview? What?" Joker was only half paying attention to the man who's table he had stolen, more interested in signaling the waiter for coffee then he was with what the man had been saying.

Once pantomime seemed to have relayed his order, the biker turned back to Tariq, grinning, "Late night went right into an early morning. You know how it goes." The fact that the somber looking man didn't seem all that interested in what he had been doing kept Joker from elaborating.

As if sensing what Tariq had been thinking, Joker pulled out his own pack of cigarettes and got one out, glancing at the other man, "Mind if I smoke?" Before waiting for an answer, he held his other hand out, still grinning that huge smile of his, "Name's Joker. What's yours mate?"

[Anonymous]

The walk to the cafe from Arty's apartment was generally a brisk and short one, though today it seemed like an eternity. The artificial lighting was invasive and irritating... some pathetic ressurection of life as it was once known. By the looks of the shadows cast at his feet it was probably some time in the early afternoon, unless the motherboard for the lighting system had gone wonky again... but it didn't really matter either way, for this strapping young lad was currently between jobs, so it wasn't like he had to be anywhere.

"Another day in paradise..." he muttered to himself as he watched the elderly woman that lived upstairs smack a street vendor with her handbag. " Morning Mrs. Avalon!" he hollared at her with a "friendly" wave. His voice dripped with sarcasm. They hated eachother. He kept his eye on her only long enough to watch her face fall into a deep grimace, and then he ducked into a small corner shop for a newspaper and a pack of smokes.

[Anonymous]

Tariq raised a brow. "'Bounty Hunter' mean anything to you?" Tariq looked at the cigarette that Joker pulled out. "Not at all... as long as you have some to spare." He reclined slightly on his chair, his fingers intertwined and cradled his chin in them as he awaited a response on what he said. In the corner of his eye, he saw two young men attempting to flirt with a disinterested waitress. He sighed to himself as he mused the entire stagnancy of this afternoon. He decided inside that if there was nothing spectacular to happen today, then he will have to make some fun for himself.

[Anonymous]

"Nope, not a thing." Joker didn't really pay all that much attention to things outside his sphere of interest. He had a vague idea what a bounty hunter was, but beyond that he didn't pay much attention.

Shaking a cigarette half way out of the pack, he extended it to the man, grinning again. The smile never really seemed to leave his face, it just sometimes rearranged itself into a new look, "Smoke away dude."

The waiter arrived with Joker's coffee, hot and beautiful and filled with enough shots to down a small horse. Someday this habit of not sleeping and drinking disturbing amounts of coffee was going to catch up with him and he probably wouldn't like it, but for now he proceeded to dump in a large quantity of sweetener and milk, beaming as he stirred.

"You know, it's generally polite to tell someone your name when they tell you yours."

[Anonymous]

"Thanks, man." Arty nodded to the store clerk and made his way outside, his stomach feeling rather uneasy. Food. Yes, food was in order. And perhaps a bloody mary.

He crossed the street warily with his hand shielding his eyes from that ungodly electric sun, and muttered inaudible curses upon noticing how busy the cafe was.  He stepped inside with a rather grand version of the "morning-after" expression flooding his face.
Bastards. You're all... just bastards.

"Lookin' for a seat, Arty?" A pretty blond waitress smiled knowingly at him while balancing a tray of soups and salads.

"Please, Gracie, tell me you've got somethin' open." He didn't even bother smiling back. He was a regular, and he tipped well. She'd forgive him.

The waitress giggled softly and jerked her head to the left, making her ponytail swing from side to side. "A seat just opened up at the bar, love. Make yourself comfortable and I'll have coffee up in just a second."

He nodded his thanks and made his way to the corner of the room she had indicated -- only to find a very snide-looking Mrs. Avalon sitting in his supposed seat, pretending not to notice his presence. Arty's jaw dropped in anguish, and he screamed inside his head...
YOU CANIVING OLD BAT!

And there he stood in the middle of a crowded room, looking rather like a lost (and VERY grumpy) puppy.

[Anonymous]

((Sorry, I didn't get a reply notification O.o))

"Uh-uh" Tariq said, vaguely tempted to ask this guy to be removed from the table. That grin was rather irksome to someone who wasn't in the mood. He wondered momentarily of Joker's cheeks ever hurt. He seemed to muse something for a moment, then a rather suspicious smile spread his face.

"You know, most Bounty Hunters don't enjoy being unknown." Tariq's eyes shone slightly. "the name's Tariq Mügh." He said simply, wondering if at least that would give a sign that Tariq himself was not pleased with this answer. He glanced around to see a rather shabby-looking man glaring off at the bar as if the bottle back there had insulted his mother. Tariq regarded him momentarily and wondered if Arty had fallen asleep -or died- while standing there, he certainly looked like he deserved a bed or a coffin. Tariq smirked to himself, wondering if he should put the poor man out of his misery, but turned back to Joker before he did something like that unwittingly.

[Anonymous]

The smile wavered slightly at Tariq's tone and Joker quickly tried to back track, "Oooooh! You mean those Bounty Hunters! Of course I know them!" Which wasn't a total lie, Joker just didn't know more then that they killed monsters and stuff.

"Tariq huh. Wow. Uhhhh....yeah. I'm sorry. I have no idea who you are." As much as Joker didn't want this rather scary looking man pissed at him, lying just seemed like it lead to more trouble, "You....uh...kill a lot of monsters then? That's pretty sweet. Must impress the ladies like whoa."

Joker was actually rather impressed and he did his best to let it show. He didn't know much of the details, but Joker couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. His fighting style consisted of curling into a ball and protecting his head. So anyone that was tangling with the fucked up shit for the surface fot his respect.

The Hunter turning to notice the new arrival shifted Joker's attention to the man. And gave him a friendly wave and his smile was back in force. Poor guy seemed to be having a bad day.

[Anonymous]

Arty's jaw hung low in what could only be descibed as social exhaustion. That crabby old meiser... what an awful, awful woman. His expression turned sour as he glanced back over the bar.  Gracie shot him an appologetic look from the swinging doors that headed back in to the kitchen. He didn't hold her accountable in any case, she was a pretty nice girl.

His attention was caught by an alarmingly chippper young man waving his condolences about Arty's lack of luck. The corner of his lips curled upward in appreciation, though it may as well have hurt to smile. Well... couldn't hurt to make a new friend... or something. He shrugged away his pride and slunk over to the table from which the tall man had waved at him.

"You fellas mind if I crash your party?" It was rather unlike him to approach a table of strangers, least of all other men. He did so with great respect and an aire of charm about him. He was no one to invade someone else's personal space. They had a couple extra seats however, and it couldn't hurt to ask. "This place is kind of crowded t'day."

[Anonymous]

((Sorry, guys, I've gone into exam mode. I'm gonna have to put this on hold for a moment D: ))

[Anonymous]

((I was wondering if I could join this lil thread with Makani perhaps? She works as a waitress and I hadn't decide what restaurant to put her at. Thought I might throw her in. If this thread is still going that is. ^_^

EDIT: I can delete this later on. PM me and let me know your thoughts. ^_^))