"Where did you get it, again?" Olive's head was buried shoulder-deep inside a large wooden item tucked in the sitting area of Moriarty's Pub. She required being in such a strange position that Charon was actually holding her up in the air with her legs half-braced on his shoulders and his head in between them. An on-looker might find the position erotic, but everyone was more interested in what Olive was doing and not the relative closeness of her crotch and Charon's face. She was digging around inside the wooden object with a wrench, a hammer, and a pair of pliers – yanking out bits and pieces and tossing them in Moriarty's direction. The barkeep was in turn gathering these items up in a box on the bar.
The pair had returned to Megaton after a week. After the incident with the cannibals, Olive led the charge straight to Tenpenny Tower and promptly drank herself stupid. Charon was pretty certain that Ely popped out after the girl was drunk, though this was only based on a sudden mood swing from drunken jolliness to drunken confusion and a simple question of, "Ghoulie, where are..." She never finished the question because she ended up worshiping the porcelain throne for the next hour before passing out.
Olive was back that next morning and the pair started a slow travel back up north, accompanied by the merchant Crow. Both Crow and Charon were pleased with the extra bodyguards and Olive enjoyed the conversation and seeing new sights.
After two weeks back in Megaton, when the ghoul walked outside that morning, he was amazed to see about half a dozen hulking men trying to maneuver an ancient and large object through Megaton. Moriarty was leading the charge but doing little more than cause confusion for the workers. It had been over one-hundred and fifty years since Charon had last seen one of these – and even then it was half-rotted and falling apart from the elements. This one, though a little worn around the edges, looked almost brand new.
Charon decided to call out his employer to show her what the men were carrying. She would never truly understand the importance of the item, but he could at least show her a part of the world's history. A part of its forgotten past.
Having just woken, Olive was slow and groggy getting outside to Charon's call. "What, Charon? What's so exciting that it can't wait till after breakfast?"
"Come have a look at what Moriarty acquired."
The girl glanced over the railing, expecting a shiny neon sign or something. The men were right below them now, trying to decide the best way to carry the item up the unstable gangway of Megaton, so Olive got an up close and personal view.
"It's called a piano," Charon told her, sighing happily as he leaned against the rail. "They were-"
"That's a mother-fucking Steinway!"
The ghoul was taken aback from the girl's outburst. "It's a what?" He turned to look at Olive, but she was no longer beside him. Instead, he heard her feet hammering down the gangway towards the men. Charon rolled his eyes and vaulted over the railing, landing a few feet behind his ecstatic employer.
The girl latched onto Moriarty, mouth running a mile a minute while she pointed wildly at the instrument. "Where did you find one? Oh my god! It's beautiful! I haven't seen one of these in years! Does it work? I bet it's out of tune. Please let me have a look at it! Please, Moriarty!"
"Whoa, whoa, lass!" Moriarty held his hands up and Olive immediately fell silent. "First off, that thing is getting up in my pub. If you want to help, make sure everyone stays off the walkways."
Eyeballing the walkways, Olive could see that there were multiple children loitering around, wondering what all the commotion was about. This was unacceptable. "Charon," she mumbled under her breath, grabbing the ghoul and starting up towards the children, "I want you to look mean and as zombie-like as you can."
"Wha-"
"Hey, kids! If you don't shove off, I'm going to let my zombie friend here have at your brains!"
Charon, pushed forwards towards the kids, made a feeble attempt to look mean by showing his teeth and making pathetic zombie noises. His actions weren't necessary because as soon as the ghoul was pushed their way, the children screamed in horror and bolted away from the pair.
After that, it only took about an hour to get the piano upstairs and into Moriarty's Pub. Once there, and discovering that most of the keys made only a slight plink sound, Olive immediately popped the top open and began to dig around. Moriarty let the girl go. Out of everyone else in Megaton, she seemed to have the best idea of what to do to fix the ancient instrument.
As to where he got it, Moriarty wasn't one to give out information for free.
"Some friends of mine just stumbled across it," the barkeep said simply.
"Bullshit. I bet you stole it from Vault 92." Olive leaned out of the back of the piano, examining a jumble of wires with a horrified and disgusted expression before tossing them aside and diving back in. "My grandma wanted to put me in Vault 92. She even had an inside man in Vault Co. who would do anything she asked." More wire was yanked free. "But nope. Mamma said Vault 64 would be the place to go. She probably knew of the fucked up things they were doing there. Wouldn't put it past her. Oooh! That wire looks okay."
Olive popped her head back out, oblivious to the now-confused stares of everyone in the room. "Give the third key on the left a poke."
Moriarty obliged and the key made a high-pitched twang.
"Heh, out of tune but that's fine. Can fix that. Up. Up."
The ghoul pulled the girl out of the innards of the instrument and set her down gently. She looked at the piano and then a very serious expression creased her face. No one said a word, sensing that the girl was having some form of internal conflict – or was constipated. Olive's face grew red and she suddenly wiped her eyes. "I suppose there's really only one place I can think of to get the parts needed to fix this," she mumbled. "I..."
The Smoothskin breathed in deeply and slowly let it out. "I came to DC for the soul purpose of going there." She was still mumbling to herself, rubbing her small hands over the wooden instrument. "I guess...I guess it's time. No more putting it off." Olive's head snapped up, her eyes set and determined. "Moriarty, I'm going to need a piece of paper and something to write with. If I'm going all the way into the heart of D.C., I don't want to forget anything and have to walk my happy ass all the way back."
Charon dropped a brick on a bear trap someone had decided to randomly place in the middle of the subway. The trap made a loud CLANK and jumped a good two feet in the air. Whoever put this here did it for the soul purpose of fucking up someone's day – not for trapping anything.
"I thought those things were outlawed in 2020-something," Ely whispered as she gently fingered the teeth of the horrid item. "Outlawed as in: they were all melted down and if someone saw you with one, you were going to jail."
"Was before my time," the ghoul mumbled offhandedly, looking around for more. He was trying his best to ignore his companion. Though Ely had been very well behaved, the itching of Charon's trigger finger made him worry he would do something he would regret. Olive is in there, Charon thought. I cannot hurt her.
Sure enough, another trap lay a good twenty feet away. When Charon found whoever put these down, he was going to kill them. He would gladly displace his anger for Ely onto this new individual. When he had awoken two days ago to her chuckling while flipping through their diary, the ghoul had known his employers had switched. The idea of bashing her upside the head in hopes that Olive would come out again, did pop into his mind, but Charon decided to grin and bear it. He would have to get used to Ely eventually.
"When were you born?"
Another well-aimed brick took out the second bear trap. Without thinking, Charon replied, "2055."
"So you are a pre-war ghoul. I figured as much."
The ghoul glanced at his employer before throwing a third brick down into the darkness of the tunnel. A loud CLANK confirmed the slight shimmer in the distance.
Charon: 3.
Fucktard: 0.
"Yeah, I was around before we all thought it would be a dandy idea to blow each other up."
Ely giggled – a noise uncharacteristic of herself.
The lightheartedness that flowed over the ghoul almost made him join in, but he caught himself and stared hard at the girl. What was she doing to him? He didn't feel normal. Ely stared back, her eyes shimmering in the dull light of the lamp she held.
"You're trying to act like Olive."
Those brown eyes narrowed in annoyance and she let out a long breath. "I don't normally do this, but Olive likes you so I should try to keep you around."
"Yeah," Charon grumbled, rolling his cloudy eyes, "you did a great job on making me like you. Days on end of torture – a perfect way to start a relationship."
Ely shrugged. "I admit I got a little overzealous, but no harm done."
The ghoul whirled around, his hand raised – wielding a brick ready to crush bone. In his eyes, all he saw was red and that sadistic grin she held as she tortured him. The way her tongue moved across her lips, as though tasting something more delicious than life itself. Her eyes, as they darted across his naked form, seemed to look at him as a toy. The girl's smooth skin – so misleading in her character.
Charon felt the pain searing through his body and start up his legs towards his groin. Every past employer would have cowered at their slave's sudden violent urgings, but Ely had not moved. She merely stared at him with those calculating eyes – as if waiting for something.
That's when the ghoul felt it – the complete desire to have the woman before him. To push her against the stone rubble in the shadows and tear into her with violent abandon. He wanted to taste her flesh, to make her scream, to ravage her like a beast.
He would not let her say no.
In one swift move, Charon knocked the lantern from Ely's hand, grabbed her arm, and spun the woman around. As she spun, his left arm came out, catching her in a stranglehold and pulling Ely's back flush against his leathered chest. In that same instant, his right hand snagged the front of her belt and tore the clasp free. One swift twist of his wrist and her pants fell halfway down her thighs.
Ely's head finally snapped back into gear and she thrashed against the ghoul – trying to kick and bite him – but Charon was trained in restraining individuals. One slight flexing of his arm muscles and his employer's windpipe was squeezed shut.
Unable to breathe, animal instinct kicked in. Ely's legs came up before slamming hard into one of the ghoul's knees. At the same instant, her fingers clawed at his leathered skin – trying to rip it from bone. Charon grunted at the sudden pain in his leg and decided to pivot on the wounded limb, bring the girl slamming to the ground with a two-hundred pound ghoul on top of her.
Winded and dazed, Ely let herself go limp as she tried to draw breath. The ghoul was far too strong for her, ever since her last bout of fun with him, Charon's attitude had changed dramatically. Before, the simple command of 'stop' would have halted the ghoul in his tracks, but now it seemed as though he had his own personality, opinions...and desires.
Ely shivered with pleasure as the ghoul forced her legs open and rammed his manhood deep inside her.
When she had awoke this morning, she was hoping the ghoul would kill her – but this was nice too.
Charon felt cold inside and the urge to vomit began to churn in his stomach. His mouth opened but no words came out. What had he just done?
The Smoothskin was humming to herself as she readjusted her clothing, brushing the dust and grime from the cloth. She didn't look injured. She wasn't crying and screaming.
She seemed…happy.
Ely glanced up at Charon as she tightened her belt and snapped the latch shut. For a second, she paused, studying his horror-stricken face. "You alright?"
"I...I..."
The girl laughed – a deep, hearty sound that echoed down the tunnels and came eerily back. "You're a fucking animal! If I'd known you had that in you, I would've come back earlier. No wonder Olive wants to keep you around. How often you make her feel like that?"
Charon found his voice and quickly went into the defensive. "Olive and I have never done...that." He gestured wildly in her direction before running his hands over his face. "I can't believe I did that. I just raped you."
"You can't rape the willing, Ghoulie."
"But you. I..." The ghoul made a disgusted sound and covered his face again. That's when a strange thought dawned on him and he decided to voice it. Bringing his hands back down with a sigh, he fully faced his employer. "You liked that, didn't you?" Charon had liked that very much. A lot more than he would have liked to have admitted. Never in his life had he been in control, but the past twenty minutes of pleasure and dominance pulsed through his veins like a drug. He wanted more.
Ely paused in picking up her discarded lantern. "Yes. Yes I did. Nothing pleases me more than a powerful man."
"Could we..." Charon gulped, practically whispering the question. "Could we, you know...do it again?"
"Right now?" The girl stared at him. She had had many lovers who liked being powerful and in control, but never one that took her like that. They always waited for her to give the 'okay cue' before going at her. Charon didn't let her even begin to voice a no, and he wanted to do it again – it made her shiver in anticipation.
God yes, she wanted it again.
"N-no, not right now – just some other time?" Charon stammered. He felt dirty, confused, and strangely cold. Did sex normally leave people like this?
Ely brushed off the lantern and held it up, gazing steadily down the tunnel ahead of them. "Think we spooked any of the locals?"
"Oh, shit." Charon scooped up his discarded shotgun, suddenly realizing that there may be enemies around. The bear traps – someone had to have put them there, and it was possible they were still here. The amount of noise the two made would have definitely alerted anyone in the area. Ely had one hell of a set of lungs on her. "Just keep an eye out for bear traps."
