"Sharena Perry, archaeologist, it's my pleasure, Mister Joestar."
"Sharena? Sounds exotic," Joseph chuckled, "Also, Mister Joestar sounds way too formal, stick to Joseph or something. Most people shorten it to Jojo,"
"Maybe if we go anywhere past acquaintances I'll think about calling you by that silly nickname." She gave him a smirk. He gave her a slight glare and stomped his foot.
"It isn't silly! It's a Joestar tradition!"
"Tradition you say? How would that be?" her voice took on a genuinely curiosity.
"If you can tell me where I can quench my thirst, and perhaps keep me company for an hour or two, I might tell you." His slight flirting mixed with his British accent caused the blonde to look away in embarrassment, never before had anyone been so straightforward with her. However, she quickly brushed it off as him being not only a foreigner from England, but also as being nice to her as he had previously suggested making up for his transgression. She truly was in a different time period where people would make up for simply yelling at them after being bumped into on the street. She was foolish for thinking he was flirting with her in anyway when being polite was simply how folks were during this time. Returning her gaze back to the bulky Brit, she stared up at him for just a moment. 'He is so large, I would hate to get on his bad side.' She thought, cringing at the reminder of the pain of simply running into him.
"Sharena." His deep voice brought her attention back to him.
"Ah yes, sorry, Joseph, you see my arrival here in New York City has me rather in a tizzy so my attention span has run thin." She admitted, though inside she knew that was only half a truth.
"Aw wait? You aren't from New York? And I thought I had a free local guide." He teased
"I am! Uh, I mean I am, yes, but I haven't been here recently, so I don't recognize much." She prayed he wouldn't ask any questions past that, not realizing that Joseph was smarter than most and though he was not sure of what was going on with her, he knew something was amiss.
Wisely, he chose not to comment on it, as long as she wasn't a threat to him or those he cared for, he had no need to know whatever secrets she held. Besides, he had other things to worry about at the moment, like why the old man had yet to arrive in New York despite his sudden demand that he and Granny Erina come to the United States to meet him. From the corner of his eyes he observed his companion, she looked just as out of shape as he felt.
With a sigh he grabbed the blonde's tender arm, lightly yanking her forward with him. He cringed as he felt her wince in his grasp, her body was much more delicate than he had first imagined, making him feel a sense of remorse for knocking into her and scolding her when he had most likely -and unintentionally- hurt her then as well. His grandmother would have his ass if he just went on his way, he could tell her it was an accident, but she would blame him for not paying attention, he would cheer this woman up if it was the last thing he did.
"J-Joseph where are we going?!" she yelped, nearly tripping over her feet as he tugged her along.
"I need something to drink," he quickly replied while adjusting his hat with his free hand.
The hulking male hauled his companion through the crowds, blatantly pushing through people with hardly any care for how his actions were affecting others. The much shorter female felt like she needed to say something about his behavior, but instead just let him do as he pleased, there was no way to get her hand back now that his warm and gargantuan palm encased hers so tightly as they maneuvered. After what seemed to be forever, but was really less than ten minutes, the brunette stopped abruptly. The unexpected stop nearly caused Sharena to fall on her face, had it not been for two strong arms grabbing her tight and keeping her on her feet, she most certainly would have.
"Thank you for catching me, Joseph, but warn me if you plan to blunder through the streets with me in tow ever again." she huffed out good-naturedly, the smallest of smiles gracing her pale features. Joseph looked down at her, giving her a toothy grin that she determined to be saying 'no promises'. His emerald eyes drifted to his original reason for pausing his movements, a small umbrella topped cart, with a dusty-haired man with an unmatching dark beard standing behind it. The peddler was shouting out the various cold drinks he hoped to sell to any passerbys. The female's eyes advanced to the vendor's goods as well. The sight of the merchant handing icy cold bottles made both their thirsts increase tenfold, especially after their sprint through the city.
Joseph was the first to step up to the man, his hands in his pockets as he approached the stand.
"Whatcha sellin drink wise?" Joseph questioned the vendor, his hat pulled down, nearly covering his eyes and flattening out his fringe.
"All I've got left is ice cold Coca Cola, my good sir!" he answered him, pulling out a translucent bottle from his chilled cart as a reference.
"Co-ca Co-la?" the brown-haired male tested the foreign words on his tongue, "What exactly is that?" His finger left his pocket to point at the mahogany liquid, while raising a suspicious and thick eyebrow. His blond associate gaped at him, shocked by his revelation.
"You must be joking, Joseph! You have truly never had Coca Cola?" the young woman sputtered out. "Sure, you're from across the pond, but you haven't even heard of it? Not once? You should definitely try it, Joseph, I think you'll really like it." She reached her slim hand out to grab the glass bottle from the seller's hand. The uniformed peddler retracted his product from her reach.
"You need to pay for it first, dear," the man stated before addressing the tallest of the three: "Your wife is right, this stuff is good, you should buy a bottle to share with her." Red fireworks burst below the surface of Sharena's porcelain skin at his insinuation. The seller continued speaking, ignoring her reaction, "Anyhow, if you want a drink, pay me. Money is the rule here." Opening her mouth to contend his words, the weight of the giant beside her placing his warm hand on her shoulder shocked any protests back down her throat. He only removed it to reach into the pocket of his red jacket and remove a brown leather wallet. The archaeologist was surprised to see a stack of American dollars messily stuffed in it, it did not entirely surprise her with the lush colors and materials of his clothing and of the elderly lady he had arrived with.
During the time the girl was observing him, the brunette began fiddling with the cash in his wallet, hoping to pick out an amount that wouldn't require him to receive too much change. Discovering the lowest bill he had was a five he slipped it out between his fingers, a smile on his lips in anticipation for a the cold, thirst-quenching drink. As soon as he traded the money for his drink a shocking thing happened. From seemingly nowhere, a young male with dark skin swooped in between the blonde and the brunette, gabbing Joseph's wallet, and knocking over Sharena as he made his escape into a nearby alley. Before either of them could recover from the shock, the vendor pointed in the thief's direction, "Quick! After him friend, he took your wallet!" the man exclaimed.
The female archaeologist sat up, rubbing her lower back from the impact and looking up at her frowning acquaintance's steeled green eyes. He looked down at her for a moment before putting his hand out to help her up. "Are you alright, Sherrie?" he questioned, a hint of concern in his voice.
"There is no need for your concern," she tried to say with a smile, only to wince slightly as Joseph hauled her to her feet. "The guy is right, you need to go get that guy who took your wallet." She continued, ignoring her new nickname. The colossal man nodded in agreement.
"Sorry that our time together was cut short, but there is no reason to get you involved in what may happen next." The blonde's eyes went wide, he was planning to leave her behind, she may never see him again, but before she could protest he began to stalk towards the backstreet where he assumed the pickpocket would be. Sharena observed from her safety by the stand, unsure of what to do know that she was alone again, with no idea how to get home and no one to help her survive until then. That is until she looked back up to where Joseph had went, she noticed he was just standing at the edge of the dark alleyway, his mouth moving as he took of his hat, revealing gravity defying brown locks. A sudden worry hit the female, she was worried something was going to happen to him.
Unconsciously her legs began to carry the girl towards Joseph's jacket-clad back, her breaths becoming deeper and more drawn out, fresh oxygen flooding through her body. She was ready to kick the ass of anyone who dared harm her new friend.
As she grew closer she overheard Joseph addressing someone in between the buildings, "I'm curious," he voiced with his deep British accent, his finger up seemingly to make his point heard, "I don't understand why you did that. What was the purpose behind it?"
His seemingly innocent question -about what, Sharena didn't know- gained him a pig squeal of an answer of, "There's no purpose! I do what I feel like dimwit!" The blonde could not understand what he said next as she skidded to a stop behind Joseph's hulking back, preparing to jump out and hit the first person she say; however, she was, literally, beaten to the punch. The brown-haired Brit had planted his giant fist into the face of an obscenely obese and disagreeable-appearing police officer. The girl held back her yelp of surprise.
"You picked the wrong man to mess with, pig!" The green-eyed assaulter bellowed as he drew back his fist. The supposed enforcer of the law cried out in pain. Stepping forward to look closer at the damage dealt, she noticed that the force of her former companion's fist had caused the officer's hand to pierce through his nose. She was horrified at the sight, there was no way a normal person could have done such a thing, no matter their size, her acquaintance was nothing short of a superman; whether he was an actual hero or not remained to be seen. Abruptly, from the corner of her eyes she noticed the partner of the battered officer pull his gun out and shakingly aim it at Joseph.
"Y-you're resisting me!" he shouted, clearly terrified at the intensifying situation he was in.
"Joseph, be careful he has a gun!" she warned, pointing at the wielder of the weapon. The chocolate-haired young man looked down at the blonde, surprised she had followed him, but nodded in affirmation of her words. His gaze moved back to the remaining aggressor; he spit on the ground and took a challenging stance.
"Shoot Me!" he dared the cop. "But I'm warning you, when you pull the trigger I'll break your finger like a matchstick!" Sharena was unsure how to react to Joseph's threat, hoping he was bluffing to avoid more confrontation. Unfortunately, the cop was unfazed by the threat steadies his gun and retains his ground.
"Not from over there! I'll blow your brains out!" he screeches as he does what the female considered unthinkable, he cocked the gun, his finger beginning to press down on the trigger. Time seemed to slow down for the female as her eyes went from the man holding the gun, to the English male beside her, but when she looked at the latter her eyes went wide.
She had never seen anything like it, her mouth agape. Joseph Joestar stood there, breathing in intensely and holding his bottle. Both he and the glass object were glowing with what she knew was concentrated hamon. She was breathless, seeing such powerful hamon here in front of her was nothing short, but amazing to her. After so many years of believing it was a lost and hidden art, that only a dozen people may have used in her day; yet, this handsome and hulking person looked like a demi god before her, his hair rustling as the sun power flowed within his body, his body tensed in ready to defend himself. Never before had she been this awestruck and amazed, she needed to study him, to find out how he came about it and why he of all people could use it.
The bottle within his hand began to tremble, the cola within it fizzing like it had been agitated until it came to a breaking point. The cap of the bottle flew off of the bottle and went hurtling through the air. And in a split second of incredibly skill –or perhaps luck- the top hit the finger of the trigger-happy officer. Both she and the young thief who sat against the wall, were flabbergasted by Joseph's power, though only one of them truly understood it. The cop screeched as he stared at his obliterated finger, no doubt he was in intense pain. Joseph played it off coolly, simply chugging down his Coca Cola as the law enforcement were on the ground wailing in agony. Suddenly, a switch seemed to have went off in the goliath male began to freak out similarly to when he had first scolded her for knocking into him earlier.
"I lost my temper again!" he vexed, grabbing his head in what seemed to be anxious fear. "N-now I'll definitely be in trouble! First that girl earlier and now this, Granny Erina will be furious!" The female archaeologist looked on the ground where the bleeding thief from earlier was staring at the brunette man once more with widened eyes, clearly confused as to what was going on with him. Despite having seen a minutely similar breakdown earlier, she too was rather surprised that he could batter police and then worry what his grandmother would think about the ordeal. She was torn from her thoughts when he addressed her and the young male in the alleyway he had defended, "So, Mr. Pickpocket, Miss Archaeologist, shall we hightail it?" he suggested, before placing his hands in his pockets as he exited the alley to street, whistling inconspicuously as he went.
His remaining companions' eyes met, both having not the slightest clue what was happening or who this Joseph Joestar really was. Both decided it was better to follow the crazy person than remain here to find even more insane law enforcement; although Sharena had her own reasons to follow behind, she wanted to study his hamon ability, and learn more about not only his history with it, but what had happened in this man's life to cause it to manifest in him of all people...