Author's Notes - First piece of a three-part story. This version has been censored for obvious reasons, but I'll be making the full version available on my blog just as soon as it's done. This is a side story from 'All Who Wander'. Might wanna read that first for it to make sense. Round one! Ding!
For Your Eyes Only
It was a hot day in Megaton, and the tin rooftops were sizzling. The Brahmin outside Doc Church's clinic sat lazily in the mud to keep cool while every resident that could holed up in their homes. Those that didn't have a place of their own gathered at Moriarty's to drink and complain and abuse the unfortunate ghoul bartender. Much to Gob's disappointment, his favorite resident was busy on the east side of town, battling the heat a different way.
"There now," Charon heard Digit say from somewhere inside the dusty metal chute he stood by patiently, "Flip the switch and let's see what happens."
"Shouldn't you come out of there first?" he asked with an unseen smirk.
"That better not be a slight on my mechanical aptitude I hear there, ghoulie," the woman's sassy remark echoed from the vent, "I may be missing parts, but I own you remember?"
"I remember, Dij," the ghoul replied, "My contract is yours."
"The switch, please, sir."
Charon lifted a scarred hand and flipped a small lever on the wall beside him. He heard a soft humming sound followed by a whoop of victory. As the sound grew louder, a breeze escaped the vent shaft at his knees, followed by Digit's dingy combat boots and bony bottom. The woman crawled out of the vent and sat back in a crouch, resting on her heels. She pushed a lock of reddish hair behind her ear before glancing up a the ghoul smugly.
"So, got anything smart to say now, Mr. Doubtful?" she goaded.
"Good work, Dij."
She smiled and held up her hand. Charon took it and hoisted her to her feet effortlessly. He stood by a moment more as Digit replaced the vent cover, then gathered the tin siding she'd removed earlier to make space for the fan.
"What would you like me to do with this?" he asked her.
"Just leave it there for now," Digit replied as she wiped her sweaty brow with the back of her hand and stepped over to the Nuka-cola machine outside her bedroom, "Now that we have some rudimentary AC going, I think we deserve a break. Don't you?"
Charon remained silent and piled the debris neatly in a corner by the vent where it would be out of the way. He turned back to his contractor and found her leaning into the cool air escaping from the soda machine. His keen eyes could catch the wisps of chilled air that flowed over her tanned skin, even in the poorly lit shack. They caressed her face and neck gently, taking the uncomfortable heat with them. He traced her tranquil form in quiet envy until she finally withdrew two bottles and closed the door. She sighed contentedly as she held one out to him. He reacted slowly, unwillingly distracted by the outline of a damp shirt against her small breasts.
Digit didn't seem to notice and popped the cap off her cola happily. It gave a soft hiss and bubbled invitingly. She took several long swallows that emptied half the bottle before taking it from her lips and giving a self-satisfied sigh of relief.
"You know," she said thoughtfully as she plopped into one of the chairs that sat at a small table near where they'd been working, "In the Vault, everything was rationed. I only got to have Nuka-cola on occasion because the supply was limited to whatever had been sealed up with us. And now that I'm out here in the Wastes, I can have Nuka-cola whenever I want. Seems kinda backwards, dunnit?"
"At least you can see the bright side of things, Dij," the ghoul said as he joined her in the opposite chair. She shrugged and threw her head back to watch the dust motes swirling in the sunbeams that shown through cracks in the metal roof.
"It's not so bad. I have a lot of freedom out here, and that's something I never had in the Vault ya know? Plus, I finally have access to a lot of the old technology."
"Surely the things that survived out here were in the Vault," Charon said.
"Yeah, but I wasn't allowed to mess with them. No freedom, remember? Only the senior technicians got to operate the machines and do repairs. Most of what I know about mechanics I learned from manuals I snuck out of their equipment room when no one was looking."
The woman suddenly snapped forward in her seat so fast she sloshed a bit of soda onto her lap. She turned sharply to Charon with a sly grin. "That reminds me," she said, "Wanna see my new toy?"
"Toy?" Charon repeated cautiously.
"Come on, ghoulface!"
Digit grabbed Charon's forearm and pulled him along behind her as she descended the creaky stairs to the living room below. Their height difference made the ghoul stumble forward a few times, but somehow he managed to reach the bottom floor without tripping and falling ass over appetite with Digit in tow. She drew him over to her cluttered workbench and gestured for him to take a seat. He complied and watched her dig around a weapons locker curiously. When she turned back to him, she had a camera in her hands. It looked nearly pristine, with a fresh flash bulb and all. Charon looked to Digit's face with a raised eyebrow.
"I got it working!" she exclaimed at his unenthusiastic reaction, "There's enough film left in it for fourteen shots. I can't develop them here, but I talked to Moira and she can get me the stuff to do it."
"What will you do with it, Dij?"
Her smile widened and she grabbed a suitcase that sat to the right of her workbench. She cleared out room on the bench and hefted it up on top. When she clicked open the sides to reveal the contents, Charon's face contorted.
"No," no he said firmly.
"Whatda ya mean no?"
"This isn't in my contract."
"So? It'll be fun!"
"Not for me."
The ghoul crossed his arms and stood while Digit lifted a spotless button-down shirt from a pile of pre-war clothing in condition almost as good as that of her camera. What she withdrew next made a muscle along Charon's jaw twitch: a charcoal gray suit with black pinstripes and a matching fedora. She spun the hat in her hands and flipped it onto her head with playful pizzazz. A few of her long bangs blocked her eyes when she leaned over and held the suit up to him for size comparison.
"Come on, Charon," she insisted, "I got it hemmed just right!"
"I don't want to do this, Digit."
The woman put the suit back on top of the other clothes and removed her hat. The ghoul didn't refer to her by her full name unless it was something serious.
"What's wrong? I thought it'd be fun to get dressed up and take some pictures. I mean, how often do you run across functional equipment out here? I had to dismantle three cameras to get enough parts to get that nice one going again, and now you want to steal my thunder."
She pouted a little and ran her hand over the silk suit mournfully. "I even spent a week adjusting this to fit you."
"That's not who I am," Charon said as he gave the fine clothes a disdainful sneer, "I never wore such things even when I was human."
Digit smiled and traced her hand up his shoulder. "What did you wear?"
To her surprise, the ghoul's only response was to grab her hands and gave her an uncomfortably heavy stare.
"Charon…"
"If you want to play pretend that's your business," the ghoul said in a low voice, "But I refuse to be anything other than what I am. I am a ghoul and a man of war, I am not a frilly human with frivolous desires."
He released her hands and stalked back upstairs wordlessly. When he reached the top, he had the nerve to shove Wadsworth out of the way. A slam rang out behind the robot as he hurried to safety by Digit.
"I dare say, madam," Wadsworth drawled indignantly, "That ghoul do with some lessons in etiquette."
"It's my fault," Digit replied slowly, "Think I've made him angry…"
"He's a ghoul, my dear. They're always angry."
Digit's eyebrows pinched and she frowned at her unlikely housekeeper.
"No, no they're not," she said defensively, "And especially not Charon. I've never even heard him raise his voice before. I know he hated Ahzrukhal and he still hates slavers, but he's not the type to get worked up over nothing. I've obviously upset him somehow."
Her mouth turned down sadly as she stared up the stairwell at the door to the study the ghoul occupied.
"I just don't understand how…"