wanderer.

"I'm well aware but the trauma of having to see you know who just isn't worth it." Murphy says with a shake of her head. "I'm still traumatized from the bachelor party, I have yet to get over it." Pulling her shirt to her nose, she gives him a look of outrage. "I took a whore's back yesterday night." She shakes her head. "Your nose is too close to your mouth."

"Still avoiding him then?" He asked despite already knowing her answer, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jackets. Zero would want to be far away from somebody he once thought was a friend if they cut off all ties after sleeping together. "Worth it for the tips." Zero countered, giving a small shrug of his shoulders. He laughs loudly, barking almost as his shoulders shook with mirth at the look on her face. "Oh you're saying I come out with bullshit?" He chuckles this time, "Pot meet kettle." He teases.

Despite being a calculated man, he wasn't above a little risk for the reward of amusement. Smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth, light hues scanning over the bar top before his gaze settled back on the other. What was it going to hurt? It wasn't as if he were getting entertainment. "Sure. I'll humor you." Whatever there was to lose, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, especially financially.

"Ten minutes?" Zero whistled with amusement, somewhat surprised and impressed by the man's guess. He thought he might have taken it slow and easy—opted for a shorter time to save him from burning a hole in his wallet. Zero was a stranger to him, after all. Why would he want to commit to buying a stranger his drinks for the rest of the night? "Okay," Zero said, nodding. "Ten it is." He could play ball too, if that's how his consort wanted to play it.

"alright, i could've been... blinded then," archie counters, but there's a small smirk upon his lips. it's not often he meets someone that's ballsy enough to call him out. "where exactly were you tryin' to kick it?" there's a playful tone to archie's voice, taking a few steps back as the ball is headered back toward him. he pushes his chest out to stop it, the ball dropping down to his feet where he rolls it back onto the top of his foot. "cheers, pal," he says, "used to play a lot back home." if a seven-a-side sunday league counted.

Thadd's eyes rolled more so at Zero's skepticism than at him clearly missing the point of his long winded excuse for him to hold his hand. "Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean that it cannot or will not happen now, Z." Oh well, it'd been worth a shot.

"I'll tell you what," Zero sighed, folding his arms across his chest. He was going to regret this. "You show me where in the employee handbook it says the trash should be taken out using the buddy system and I'll be your personal chauffer to the dumpster for the next month."

Murphy turns to look at the person nearby, hoping its someone she knows rather than another drunken 1 out of 10 thinking he's a solid four. Luckily for her, it was Zero and she visibly relaxes with a smile. "Showed them my tits." She jokes before leaning against the wall. "I think it was pity, honestly. Maybe the stench of desperation." But she only did it because she had to get paid for the nights she was avoiding Buddy at the dog house.

Zero snorts, unflattering and unabashed at Murphy's flashing comment. "You know you'd get paid to do that at The Doghouse. You'd probably make a killing to. Don't go giving it out for free, Murph." He leans against the wall next to her, bumping her shoulder encouragingly. "You do smell quite ripe," He teases, wrinkling his nose in feigned disgust. "When d'you last shower, Murph?"

"Too old to chase her?" Zero scoffs, giving the woman beside him an assessing glance. She couldn't have been much older than twenty-four, never mind too old to be chasing after her daughter. "Two year olds are fast little fuckers," Zero chuckles, "Like little Tasmanian devils." It was exhausting just watching a two year old burn through all of their energy, Zero can't remember the last time he felt that energised. "Yeah, you can bet if I had eleven or more kids then I'd be forgetting at least one or two when it came to family vacations."

His patience for places like this ran incredibly low. His deepish pockets had treated him to the finer places in Seattle — the kinds of places where nudging one's way to the bartop wasn't necessary and neither was fighting for the bartender's attention. The live band that echoed off every wall reminded him of his younger brother and the dream (or nightmare) he was trying to live out. Forcing the younger Tandy from his mind was rather easy to do, especially in the company of another. Stranger or not, he felt like playing with some kind of fire.

"We could make a bet," Zero suggested with a shrug, casting him a sideways glance. "Make the wait a little more interesting." He peers down the bar, following the other man's gaze. The commotion at the other end of the bar makes Zero roll his eyes, frustration marring his features. This is why they were waiting, because some bartender had spent too much time watching Bartok videos and considered himself an entertainer? He gives a frustrated shake of his head, turning away from the circus show at the other end of the bar.

He wasn't hungry, nor was in the mood for pleasant company of any sort, but between sulking on his kitchen floor while attempting to feel something outside of anger and this? He'd settle for the latter. Head shook, his knee-jerk reaction being to lie. "You know, not much. Splitting dog custody with my ex-wife and keeping myself busy at the bar. What about you?" Hazel hues darkened by grief dropped to the egg rolls that surprisingly seemed tempting, but the twisting ache in the pit of his stomach caused his gaze to lift once more.

Splitting dog custody, Zero thought, sounded twice as complicated as splitting custody over a child. He couldn't imagine having another living thing—human or animal—dependent on you for their survival. He couldn't even keep a cactus alive and they were notoriously easy to tend too. "Sounds rough," Zero managed, washing the rest of his egg roll down with a gulp of orange soda. "How's that working out for you?" He nudges the bowl of egg rolls in Henry's direction suggestively, picking up his chopsticks and failing miserably to pinch his noodles between them.