"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea," Basil agreed. Though there weren't many people out on the streets, the few who were had eyed them suspiciously. Then again, they probably did that with every stranger.

Leith reluctantly took the proffered chair, though his back immediately thanked him for the relief. He sighed heavily, tipping back just slightly in it as he relaxed. "Damn, I'm getting old."
Especially too old to deal with kids' relationship issues. I wonder if it'd be far-fetched for me to try dating again...a little bit of moisturizing cream, some cologne, and I'd look a hundred and twenty again, I bet.

Raider finished taking the armor off before chucking it at a nearby trashcan. He was actually thankful to get rid of the heavy piece of metal, but he'd gotten so used to wearing it, it was almost like a part of him now and he felt too light. He wore a shirt underneath that was so severely stained with dirt, sweat, and blood that you couldn't even tell it used to be white.
"Remind me to get it on the way out if I can. I need some sort of protection out there and that hunk of metal has probably saved my life more times than I can count." And he didn't have any money to buy any leather armor of metal armor for that matter. He might try to steal some before they left, if an opportunity presented itself.

After Kaye took a seat, she quickly took the beer and almost drank from it, but hesitated. She stared down into the contents of the glass as if it was acid. Leith had planted the seed of doubt and now she was worried that he was indeed a psychopath.
"It's beer," Jace said, eyeing her intently. "You know, alcohol." He took a drink of his own beer before something clicked in his mind. "Do you think I poisoned it?"
She blushed severely and shook her head a little too quickly. "No! I just...usually drink whiskey."
He could tell she was lying through her teeth and sat his own drink down with a loud thud. Without hesitating, he grabbed hold of the two beers and took a drink from each glass before setting them down in front of them once more, eyebrow raised. "Good now?"
She looked down at the table and slowly took a drink of the beer feeling a bit ashamed.

"Okay. Just don't let me forget to not let you forget," Basil replied, heading off again towards the clinic. They should be close now.

"What about germs?" Leith inquired. He pushed the beer bottle back with his pinky. Perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to deliberately get on Jace's nerves, but eh. He'd done worse with his life.

Raider stared at him oddly, not seeing how that made any logical sense, but didn't comment on it. He tensed when he saw the doctor's sign looming in the distance and almost turned to walk the other way. The doctor was almost as unpleasant as his time in the raiding group had been, because in the group their doctoring methods had been near torturous. They got immense pleasure out of ripping bullets and cutting off limbs of those unfortunate to get injured in battle.
He remembered an incident he had a little over a year ago. During battle, he had been shoved against the wall and had his side ripped open by a rusty nail protruding through one of the boards. With no painkillers to alleviate the pain and no stimpaks to heal it, they cleaned out the deep wound using a bottle of whiskey and a dirty cloth to dig into the wound and 'clean' it. After that, they used a needle that had been used in one of the syringes used for psycho and wire used from an old piano. The stitches had hurt worse being put in than it was nearly ripping his intestines out.
His entire body froze just outside the doc's door and he hadn't even realized he was shaking his head. "You know, I'm actually good. I think I'll stay out here and wait for you."

Kaye shot a glare in Leith's direction and wanted to berate him for egging him on. Her look screamed 'what the hell happened to not taunting the psychopath?'
Jace glared at him in rising annoyance. "You're a ghoul. Your entire face is a germ." He tipped back the rest of his bottle and slammed it on the table before reaching over for Leith's own. "If you don't want it, then it just means more for me."

Basil paused, hand nearly on the door's handle, and said, "But you need to get that wound looked over. If you're really concerned about money, then I have enough." He then noticed the boy's expression; he looked panicked, almost. Well, he supposed that was normal. No one really liked having to see the doctor. "He's not going to hurt you, you know. That'd defeat the purpose of being a doctor, after all. If he looks like he's going to harvest your kidney or something, we'll come right back out, okay?"

"Ouch, that one-liner was almost clever," Leith said, rolling his eyes. He shrugged at Kaye, draping one arm over the back of the chair.

"You haven't been to the doctors that I have..." Raider mumbled, mostly to himself. With much difficulty, he forced himself to walk towards the door. His legs felt heavier than lead with each step, but managed to walk through the threshold. As soon as they were inside, he took one look around and almost darted out the door once more, but ran directly in Basil, startling him even more.

Jace scowled angrily at Leith and took a drink of his beer. "You know what? You broke our contract, so if you're not careful I'll kick your ass and say to hell with what I said earlier. A deal is a deal and you cheated me. Even turned down a free drink that was given to you, you ugly bastard."
"He does have a point, you know. Those are fight words, turning down someone's offer of a drink." Kaye smirked, taking a drink of her own beer. "If you were going to offer second rounds, can I have Leith's?"
He chuckled despite himself. Thankfully his sole mission right now was to get roaring drunk to forget what had happened earlier and at this rate, he was definitely going to succeed. "I like your style, I'll give you that." He then grew somber and narrowed his eyes in Leith's direction, all humor gone. "So what is your angle? I've never seen no ghoul who didn't drink before, so you must have a hidden agenda on agreeing to come with me."

Basil winced when he ran directly into him, but grabbed him gently by the shoulders and urged, "Look, you have to see him. I mean, you let me actually remove the bullet and I'm not even licensed! All that he's going to do is give it a look-over and give you some more medication to dull the pain. It won't be that bad, I swear."

Leith sighed, and replied, "Look, the only thing that has an effect on me is a sickeningly sweet combination of Jet and, for whatever reason, Sugar Bombs. After you come to realize that, you find little reason to waste your time with alcohol." He passed the drink over to Kaye. "But other than that, I've just never been much of a drinking man. Someone would have been damn ashamed of me if I resorted to that to forget about my problems, rather than confront and resolve them." He looked pointedly at Jace.

"Yeah, and if I hadn't allowed you to take it out then I would be dead," Raider protested. "As long as he doesn't perform anything else on me, then...I guess." He sighed as his shoulders sagged in defeat. With a deep breath, he turned back around and started walking further into the building.

Jace made a tight fist in a poor attempt to suppress his rising anger. "Are you insulting me? Because I'm pretty sure you just insulted me." He held up a couple of fingers to signal to the bartender. Once he noticed them, he gave a slight no of his head and set to work to popping off the caps of the beers. When he brought them over, Jace didn't even look in his direction as he grabbed his beer and took a sip of it. "You can deal with your problems anyway you like and I will do the same. I'm confronting my problems right now and quite frankly, this is a good resolution for them as well. If you don't like it, then you can get out and leave us be in peace. I didn't invite you to tag along, anyways."

Basil smiled, relieved, and the two of them entered the clinic; it was small, with two cots in the far back of the main room. On one, there was an old man who leaned against the headrest, a book in his hands and an IV hooked up to one arm, but the other was empty. At a desk, there was a middle-aged man in a white coat that was lightly stained with blood, who was so focused on writing on his clipboard that he didn't even notice them arrive.
Clearing his throat nervously, Basil said, "Excuse me, sir?"
Head shooting up in surprise, the doctor made a little sound from somewhere deep in his throat, dropping his pen in the process. It clattered noisily onto the floor. But then he smiled and said, "Ah, yes, hello. I hope that there is nothing too dire, but how can I help you two boys today?"

Leith lifted a hand to his chest, dramatically feigning offense. "And here I thought we were just becoming friends. Obviously, I was mistaken." He then smirked. "But no, you're not dealing with your problems, kid. Besides, who even drinks beer when they want to forget? There's barely any alcohol in the damn things. It's mostly just yeast. Yeast that is over two centuries old, at that." If he'd had a nose, he'd be wrinkling it in disgust. "Nasty and harmful beverages aside, how about you at least try talking about whatever happened with us? Maybe we could help you out."

The very moment Raider zeroed in on the doctor, his eyes went straight to the lab coat and he stared at the blood intensely. As the doctor spoke, he barely even registered he'd spoken at all and once he finally made it up to look at his eyes, there was an expectant look in them. Had he asked him something? "Umm...I was shot and my...my friend here," could he call him friend? "he took the bullet out for me, but thinks it might infect. I think I'm okay, though, so there's really no need..." before he finished his sentence, he tried backing away.

And there it was. The hidden intent of their reasons behind coming. Was it so much to ask for to have someone who just wanted to spend time with him instead of wanting something from him all the time?! "And here I stupidly thought someone might actually want to spend some quality time with me," he said angrily. "Why don't you keep your non-nose out of other people's business and leave me the hell alone." He then stood up, preparing to leave. "You're all the same! Pretending like you give a shit when all you want is to take advantage of a situation. I have enough problems on my hands and you're not one of them." He paused to rethink that last statement, knowing it made no sense.
"Jace-"
"I know!" He rubbed at his head furiously. "Don't try correcting me."
Kaye sighed. "Look, maybe it isn't any of our business, alright? But you were about to shoot the guy who claimed to love not even twenty-four hours ago!"
"Would you keep your voice down?" Jace scowled.
"My point is, if you don't get your head out of your ass then you're going to lose him, you idiot."
He laughed with no humor and shook his head in disbelief as he picked up the beer. With a few large gulps, he polished of the bottle and gently sat it the table. "I've already lost him, so don't worry about it, sweetheart."

Basil planted himself in front of the door, leaning against it as he said, "He just wants to look at it, okay? If you don't do this, you'll just get worse. There's nothing to be scared of."

"Like Hell you have," Leith said, slamming a fist onto the table, surprising even himself. A couple of other patrons turned to look their way, but in the silence, they eventually resumed their idle chatter and drinking. He sighed, but nevertheless, he continued, "Look, there is someone out there who obviously cares about you and is depending on you. Are you really going to let him down?"

Raider actually glared at him this time before slowly turning to look back at the doctor. With difficulty, he shuffled his feet to the doctor and took a seat on the empty gurney so he wouldn't be tempted to run again.
"This place would be a little more welcoming instead of having the feel of a torture cell if you washed your clothes sometimes," he muttered, not daring to look at the doctor.

Kaye jumped slightly when Leith slammed his fist down and stared at him in a moment of shock. It was very rare for him to lose himself. Of course he'd lost his temper on a few occasions with her, but that was only when he entered his 'fatherly mode,' as she called it, and thought she was being particularly dumb about something.
Jace released something that sounded like a growl from deep in his throat as he glared fiercely at Leith. That was the only warning they got before he reached his long arm over the table and pulled him up by the shirt collar. "Who do you think you are, Rot Face? You may be a million years older than me, but you still don't know nothing! Your ears hear me but they don't listen. He is gone and there ain't no changing that. So you can quit acting like you know something before I teach you a thing or two that you don't want to learn."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for that. I just become so absorbed in my work that I sometimes forget," the doctor apologized hastily as he examined the arm.
"Come on, be nice," Basil scolded lightly.

"Boy, you don't even know loss until you've seen your entire family suffer pointlessly until they die," Leith said, grabbing his wrist as he shoved him back into his chair. He then stood. "You better learn to be damn appreciative of those around you, even if they aren't exactly who you thought they were or somehow fell short of your expectations. Because one morning, you may wake up, and you'll come to the realization that everything has fallen apart and that you're the only goddamn one left. That no matter how hard you tried, that everyone's dead and you wasted what time you did have with them because you were too busy crying about how unfair it all was." He clenched his hands into fists, but then exhaled slowly and loosened them, lying his palms flat against his thighs.
He then said, after a brief moment of hesitation, "I'm sorry, Jace. That was...we've all experienced loss out here, just in different ways, I suppose. And more than likely, you've seen just as much messed-up shit as the next. But that doesn't change the fact that you're letting those past experiences, whatever they are, blindside you from the good things that you have around you. The past is the past. Learn from it, respect it. But don't take the present for granted because what you have today, you may not have tomorrow or ever again." He then turned around, heading towards the door. He paused for a moment, seemingly about to speak more, but then simply shook his head and left the establishment.

Raider looked at the ground as if a kid being scolded but didn't say anything. He tensed when the doctor leaned down to look at the arm. After a minute he released a sigh. "Is it okay or are you going to leave me in suspense?"

Jace and Kaye watched in silence as Leith left the establishment, both at a loss for words at his sudden outbreak. Kaye had seen some epic arguments given by Leith before, but this one topped the cake.
"Jace..." Kaye slowly turned to look at him, looking unusually serious. "Leith may seem like an asshole, and he is on even on a good day, but the guy knows what he is talking about. You can choose to hear or actually listen to his words, but he knows what he means. He may not know what you are going through, but he knows loss and if you have something good, don't let it go for a selfish reason. Good things are hard to come by out here and if you don't seize every chance to hold onto what you already have, you'll lose it forever. Don't forget that." She then stood up herself. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Thanks for the drinks." Before he had time to say anything, she left as well, looking for Leith.

The doctor laughed, then reached over towards a tray. "Well, you see, I just need to hack off a little bit of your entire arm, is all." He then lifted up a syringe and a bonesaw, all smiles.

And that was Raider's cue as he jumped up on his scrawny legs and bolted straight for the door, not daring to look back.

The doctor flinched violently when he leapt away, but shouted after him frantically, "Wait, I was just joking with you! You're fine! All you need is some stitches and disinfectant!"
"Wrong sense of humor to have, doc," Basil said, giving the doctor a "what the hell is wrong with you?" sort of expression.

Raider stopped just outside the doorway, staring into the room with wide, panicked eyes. "You keep that fucking psychopath away from me!" he yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the doctor. A few people passing on the streets shared worried glances his way, a few even daring to chuckle but he didn't seem to notice. "I think I'll be fine on my own."

"He was just joking, okay? Now come back in. He promises to keep his dark humor to himself, right?" Basil looked pointedly at the doctor, who nodded eagerly.
In a chipper tone, he said, "Right!"

For some reason, Raider doubted that...

Kaye walked outside and looked down both directions of the street, but Leith wasn't anywhere in sight among the crowd. She instantly found herself beginning to worry for he'd never disappeared on her like this before as he was never more than a few feet away from her side. Even though there wasn't much of a threat around, she still felt a rising panic inside because she'd never been away from him before since the day they met, at least not without each other knowing where they were going so they could meet up. Now that he was gone, she knew exactly what he had meant about taking something for granted until you realized you didn't have it, anymore. If he was trying to teach her a lesson with this as well, then it was a cruel one at that, but she didn't believe that in her heart and felt something was really wrong with her friend.
After walking down the street a little piece, she finally found him sitting in the corner of a small alleyway, nearly hidden from view by a pile of crates. She sighed in relief and approached him albeit slowly. There was a look of despair and defeat riddled in his features that she couldn't recall ever seeing before and it scared her a bit.
"Leith...?" she asked softly as she came to a halt in front of him. Hesitantly, she sat down adjacent him, their feet interlocked slightly since the alleyway was such a tight squeeze. "You worried me for a minute when I couldn't find you. Are you alright..?"