Charon's pov

Chapter 25: Dick Beast

I stood in the doorway of her bedroom as she fell onto the bed face first. I leaned against the door frame and she looked up from her pillow. She had that look in her eyes that made my knees weak. Her smile almost made them give out.

"I know you're tired, Charon." She murmured, smile widening.

"You know everything, Eleanor." I grinned.

"I'm sure you know more." She leaned on her elbows and tossed her head back.

"You look exactly like a pin up girl. You know that?"

She looked up with curiosity. "What's a pin up girl?"

"Well, typically in times of a world war, propaganda was used. A lot of it was pictures or calenders of young girls. They were always really pretty and lots of times they were half dressed or in military uniforms. I'm certain that you've seen them but didn't know they had a name."

"So you're saying I'm pretty?" She rested her chin on her hands and kicked her feet back and forth.

"You're fucking gorgeous and I never thought otherwise." I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back onto the wall.

She smiled and curled her finger towards her. I unfolded my arms and shuffled the short distance to her. She patted the bed and I sat down. She rested her head in my lap.

"So, tell me about before the war." She looked up eagerly.

"Some other time."

"Why do you keep doing that?" She pouted.

"I'll tell you when I feel like remembering." I smoothed her hair back from her forehead.

She sighed dramatically. "Fine. Are you hungry?"

I smiled at her short attention span. "Very."

"Oh good, me too." She sat up quickly.

"Where are you going?" I followed her down the stairs.

"Let's go have lunch. I haven't seen Gob in forever."

I stopped on the last step. "You know Gob?"

"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?" She pulled her boots on and worked on the laces.

"Is he still a pussy?" I grumbled.

She dropped the laces and glared at me. "You don't have to be so rude. What's your issue with him?"

I crossed my arms again. "Every time he did something stupid at the bar, he'd go run to Carol and she'd bitch at me for throwing out her 'little angel'."

She picked the laces back up. "We'll that was then, and this is now. Just don't be all 'gr I'm a raging dick beast to everybody and I make people hurt real bad'."

I scoffed, slightly put off by her take on me. "That's a hurtful understatement."

She mocked grinned and stood up after tying her boots. She pulled a locker open and dug through it, finding a leather jacket with a snake on it. She had this certain look in her eyes when her fingers brushed over the gaudy patch. She pulled it on and the eyes hardened back to the same way she looked when she was trying to hide something.

"That jacket means something to you." It wasn't a question.

She shrugged but avoided eye contact. "Yeah, sort of."

I opened the door and she pushed her way out. I wasn't going to dig into her thoughts and emotions like others were known to do. It sure as hell wasn't any of my business and I didn't need to upset her again.

I followed her down the path and passed the bomb. She told me not to worry about it and how she had taken care of it.

Strangers had glared at us, as expected from children who didn't know any better. Dogmeat trotted behind her happily and a little girl stopped in her tracks before Eleanor.

"Eleanor, you have a puppy with you!" The young girl ran down the ramps and practically tackled the poor dog.

"Hey, Maggie. Yeah, he's really sweet. I actually just got him this morning."

The girl wrapped her arms around the dog and buried her face into his chest. "Wap ish may?"

Eleanor lowered to the girl's level. "What was that?"

She looked up from the dog's fur. "What's his name?"

"Oh, it's Dogmeat." Eleanor smiled with a hint of embarrassment. "He came with the name."

"That's a terrible name. Why not give him a new one. I like Erwin."

"That's a weird name, too. I would give him a new one but this is the one he responds to."

"Okay, he's your dog anyway. You name him whatever you want." She eyed me with curiosity. "Who's he and why's he look like that?"

Eleanor looked at me with something that looked like sympathy. "His name is-"

"My name's Charon. I look like this because I didn't have the luck to die from extreme radiation levels." My jaw ticked.

Eleanor's mouth hung open in an unspoken sentence. The girl looked like she was going to piss herself. "Charon, she wasn't trying to be-"

"She asked. I told her the truth." The girl ran off quietly.

"You didn't have to be so blunt with it. You scared her off."

Dogmeat whined between us. "I don't give two shits about who I scare off. That's my job. I scare people. Looking like this just fucking makes it easier."

"Charon, calm down. No one is talking about how you-"

"No. Everyone is just fucking glaring at me. Do you know what it's like to have to go two hundred years like this?"

"No, I don't. I've never had any issues with how you look. Will you quit interrupting me now?"

I bit my tongue and let her finish.

"What's it fucking matter if I'm the only one you need to see? I have absolutely no problem with how you look. Maggie was just curious. She's never gotten to see Gob long enough to ask him about ghouls. This is new to her and she was just asking a simple question. She's just a fucking little girl. Don't bite her head off because of a question."

I sighed. "Are you done?"

She crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "Only if you aren't about to be a huge dick."

My eyes narrowed. "We should go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere but out here." I started up the ramp towards the bar.

"Fine." She mumbled, following closely behind.

She was silent for the rest of the way to the saloon. The door creaked open and a wall of heat, stale air, and old alcohol hit me. I sneered and took a seat at the nearest stool. Eleanor sat next to me and Gob turned around.

"You've got to be shitting me."