Part VII
The Ghoulish Barkeep closed up for the night, his mind relatively clear. Lorelei had been in the clinic for a few days now, she hadn't moved from the bed from what he heard. Ahzrukhal nodded to Charon, relieving him for a rest, something he hadn't given him in quite some time. Charon raised what was left of his eyebrow as his employer left. Ahzrukhal traversed the halls, many of the Ghouls making their way to their beds with the bar closed and such. The barkeep moved quietly, heading to the clinic, peeking in the glass to see Lorelei fast asleep, the Doctor at his terminal reading over a few things. Quietly Ahzrukhal pushed the door open stepping in, alerting the Medical Ghoul. "What brings you down here?" He inquired, looking over a clipboard. Ahzrukhal smiled a little, stepping up to the glass looking at the Ferals behind it. "Oh, checking on one of my best customers." The Doc tsked and looked to the other Ghoul. "I'm afraid for her. She hasn't said a word since we brought her in. She's stable but there's always a possiblity. No telling what those Regulators did to the poor smoothskin." Ahzrukhal shuddered inwardly.
Terrible woman or not, she was still a woman. And these Regulators.. They shouldn't have, rather they better not have. Ahzrukhal looked over the Doctor for a moment before letting his gaze slip to the human resting upon the bed. "Think she's consciouss?" The barkeep rasped to the other Ghoul. He shrugged and sighed, thinking for a moment as he pecked away at his own terminal, the keys buttons faded, much like Ahzrukhal's own, he noticed. "She's stable, not consciouss. She'd lost alot of blood on the trip down here, and I'm almost positive the Mutants tried to make her into that.. what's it called, ah, Swiss Cheese?" He pinched the bridge of his would be nose as he rested his elbows on the desk. Ahzrukhal looked back to the Ghoul Nurse, who made an obvious glance towards him as she checked up on the smoothskin.
Ahzrukhal quirked a ruined eyebrow and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, looking to the window on another wall, the Feral Ghouls housed behind it. He swallowed as he looked at them. Some times he felt pretty close to them. Hate them, he thought, and i'm getting closer to losing it like them with each passing day. His head throbbed practically at the very thought. His radiation, and his current and painful leech, Lorelei, never one to improve the situation, wasn't exactly helping delay the process. With the Smoothskin in his thoughts he looked to her, in wonder, how long had it been since he'd protected anyone's skin but his own? He could have laughed at the thought of Chivalry, but.. This instance was a bit different.
The Ghoul sighed a little as he felt the room shift, as if the very air itself had changed. Nurse Graves slunk her way towards him, as she was now finished with her check up on Lorelei. "The little dear hasn't moved much since you brought her in, you know." She rasped, an arm over her stomach, the other behind her back. Ahzrukhal looked on for a moment before looking at the fem Ghoul, and he almost shook his head, "She'll pull through. Girl's stubborn you know." He let his eyes meet hers, and for a moment, he recognized the Ghoulette, had he known her before? When the World wasn't so shattered? He dropped the thought immediately and pat his coat pocket, he had a ciggarette still. With a light sigh, and a proper excuse, the Barkeep let himself out, if not to get away from the Nurse. He moved across the entrance hall of Underworld, passing the statue and into the old ticket stand, and he left the building.
He stood there for a moment, his heart strained for a moment as he thought about Nurse Graves, how odd it was for her to act like that. He smirked, it's no surprise for the ladies to want me, Ghoulies anyways. He chuckled inwardly, and yet the little reassurance.. hadn't really reassured him at all. It was an odd thing, truly. He could remember the day the Ghoulette had come into the Museum, a broken an scared thing, nearly a full Ghoul as he recalled. She had mentioned something on the fact that she was relatively close to one of the bombing locations and it hadn't gone too well for the rest of her family. Ahzrukhal pushed the memory away, as reaching that far into his head was taking a bit of a toll on him. Women..
Back in the room Ahzrukhal had left behind, the smoothskin sat up suddenly, gasping for breath, her lungs stung as her eyes began watering, she felt like she was drowning, "Lorelei!" The Doctor sqwuaked, rushing to her side his hands racing to her shoulders as he forced her back down, "You need to relax or you'll rupture the wounds! Stop!" He rasped, forcing her to relax, she must have been reliving the instance of the fight prior to falling into Underworld. She said nothing aside from unintelligable whispers and pained breaths, "Relax!" He urged, holding her dow until her erratic movement ceased, he sighed, brushing his forehead with the back of his hand, releaseing a sigh. "Unbelievable, you'd think she'd be used to this sort of thing with all the trouble she gets into." He chuckled, looking over her as her eyes slowly slid shut. He tut-tutted between his broken lips as he made note of her recovery, her slight progress. It was a start.
Ahzrukhal slunk through Underworld, heading up the stairs, Snowflake in his sight, he approached the Barber and smiled a wiry grin, "Need something to do?" Snowflake grinned in response and motioned to the seat beside him, "Take a seat then." He rasped, Ahzrukhal followed the signal, and did so. "Just, clean it up." Ahzrukhal ordered tersely. It was hardly even a few minutes when Snowflake declared himself done, the other Ghoul handing off the caps with a slimy snarl. "Yeah yeah. Thanks." He prodded, turning to head back to the bar, "Hey." Snowflake stopped him in his tracks, Ahzrukhal's face tensed as he turned to face the man in his pajamas. "What is it." He stated, he really didn't want to stand here, he had no reason to and that was just plain stupid. "Is Lorelei alright?" Ahzrukhal's throat tightened for a brief moment, "She'll be alright... she isn't so bad right now. You know she's a stubborned damned woman." Snowflake shook his head and sighed. "A'right."
The Ghoulish Barkeeper made his way back to his bar, the patrons suddenly scampering from his path, as always. He snorted and moved behind the counter, his hand searching the shelves beneath for a rag, to clean a few glasses. His eyes glazed over as he spaced out, turning the radio on. He thought fondly back, of how annoying Lorelei could be, when she would change his station and play with the radio, constantly, while she was staying here. Damned that smoothskin, on his thoughts again. How.. dare she.. kiss him like that! Why would she do that! Ahzrukhal chided himself, he knew better, she was playing with him like he was her food. Catty damned woman. He, was the one who played with his prey, he was the one who was in control, he was the slimy bastard who plotted and got his way. He couldn't let her do thisto him! And yet... he was.