Titanium (Charles, Nilo)

'...'

Charles blinked. He hasn't given much thought to his own awakening since it happened. In his mind, it was irrelevant; all that matered to him was that he had gotten a Persona. Hence, he had forgotten most of it, as if it was some kind of a dream... No, something was blocking it. The girl, the hallway, the shadow... it was all gone now, even though it happened just yesterday. Wait, what was that? Perhaps he had to dig further down...

'...!'

Charles stood silent with his eyes shut, apparently deep in thought, not giving any attention to the boy standing before him. He would've stayed that way until Nilo said something.

Nilo awaited a response fro the robot, hoping to gain a new insight to Persona. But he was instead met with silence. The boy tilted his head for a while, awaiting patiently until concern took him over. "Charles...? Is everything all right?" he asked in his polite, but now worried tone.

The dark hallways materialized around Charles abruptly. The pull was instantaneous, so much so that he didn't even feel it coming... He was just trying to remember and then... -!

A person stood before Charles, several meters away from him, turned away from him so that he could only see the person's back. At first glance, he thought it was the girl, but then he realized who it really was... The windows turned to static suddenly as the monotoneous buzzing noise filled the hall. The space around the person flickered and became distorted all of a sudden as it turned around, revealing the truth to Charles for a split second before it dispersed into a dark cloud, tranforming itself into a grotesque being, a human clad in an armor of stone, two gigantic fists floating behind its dark grey hands. The creature swung itself forwards in a flash, smashing one of its fists into the floor infront of Charles without giving him a chance to evade. The floor collapsed around Charles, and the whole scene began to crack, turning to blackness... Before dissapearing, the creature grabbed Charles with one of its stone fists. His struggle was futile and he could feel it crush him... He was gonna die there...

...

Charles found himself back in the hallway, gasping heavily despite not having lungs. What... just happened?

"Hello."

Charles immediately raised his head to see who it was who said the word, when he felt something touch his forehead, bringing about a warm wave that flew through his body, pulling him back to reality...

Charles forgot about the hallway, the girl and his awakening... In place of those memories came a new one...

-------------------

Charles opened his eyes. What was he doing... Was that, Nilo? Oh, right, the boy asked about Charles's awakening, huh.

"My apologies, I don't know what got into me." He whispered, tugging at his scarf before turning to the boy. Something seemed to be pulling at his neck, but only faintly... The sensation disappeared once he put his hand around it, though.

'...'

"You wanted to know about my Persona, didn't you? As I was created for the purpose of slaying Shadows, I have been born already harboring a Persona deep within my subconciousness. Something must have been malfunctioning and preventing me from accessing my power when we first met. So, you see, my awakening was not anything impressive. It merely just clicked and I received my ability, possibly because I was exposed to other people who could use the power."

Nilo nodded and smiled lightly, but his concern was still there. He didn't believe that Charles was completely okay, but he knew constant pestering could lead to an agitated robot. He listened to Charles's explanation, nodding as the robot finished.

"I'm glad you've become repaired and I'm glad I could have lead to your Awakening." he said in a happy voice before blinking, frowning lightly. "... Charles? What's it like to fight shadows? ... I've never summoned her before..." he said, taking out his evoker. The golden gun glinting in the shack's dim light. "... I found this inside of Puppet... My persona, she told me I could summon her with it... But... I'm scared to do so..." he said with a light sigh, twisting his hair. "Do you find me weak for being scared...?" he asked, looking up at the robot.

"Fear does not equal weakness. It is merely natural for living beings to fear that what they observe as potentially lethal." Charles glanced the gun for a moment, standing still. "I have never summoned my Persona nor have I fought a single Shadow. And if I have, I do not remember it." He mentioned briefly.

Charles turned his head back down, watching the gun which eerily reflected the light off its golden surface. "Excuse me for asking, but... puppet?" He asked in a confused voice.

The boy nodded at Charles's words, sighing lightly as he placed the gun back in his satchel, rummaging around in it for a moment. He mumbled something incoherent before speaking up.

"Puppet... I found him abandoned and forgotten in a haunted house... It's um... A robot but it should be broken on all accounts..." he said before pulling out the puppet, holding it in his arms. "But it moves... Constantly,. It's an anomaly to me... I've replaced parts, had its engines replaced... But there's no on switch... It just moves." he said as he looked into the puppet's vacant stare.

"... How it had an evoker... I'm not sure... Its mystery is vast..." he said with a light sigh before tilting his head at the puppet. "I carry him around with me... I'm afraid to leave it at home..." he said with a roll of his eyes.

"..." Charles stared at the doll Nilo pulled out. It was quite eerie, so much so that even the growling and scratching suddenly stopped and, with it, the room fell silent.

Nilo blinked at the utter silence in the shack. Looking back at the now silent box. He looked back at Puppet, gently placing him back into his satchel. He twisted a strand of his hair before musing something over before speaking.

"... Is it common to have growling boxes?" he asked in an odd attempt at humor.

"Hmm?" Charles raised his brow as Nilo broke the silence. He was still under the impression of Nilo's Puppet. "Oh, you mean..."

He walked over to the box and raised it up. From beneath it, a small, four legged furry creature blitzed out, reminiscnt of a grey lightning-bolt as it dashed through the room in a frantic frenzy.

"This is Gao. She will be taking over the position of our team's official trademark and mascot." Charles said as he tried grabbing her mid-leap as she zoomed around him. It took him a few tries but he caught her eventually. He brought the possum up to his neck, allowing her to jump over to his shoulder and take a comfortable position wrapped up in his scarf. She gnawed at it for a while, laying like that.

Nilo jumped and seemed slightly startled by the bouncing grey ball of fluff. He had seen opossums before, but never having been so close to one before. He took a step back as Charles's picked it up, placing it around his neck. The boy smiled lightly as he looked at the opossum.

"She's cute... How did you find her?" he asked curiously, looking at the opossum with a tilted head.

Gao chirped happily at Nilo's remark.

"Jack and I encountered her yesterday evening in the shack." For whatever reason, however, Charles was unable to exactly pinpoint the events which took place prior to meeting up with Jack and finding Gao... He knew Jack and him had a fight... but afterwards... He shrugged it off and continued. "Jack reluctantly accepted my request to keep her." He put Gao on the floor and she ran over to Nilo, climbing up on her hind legs and sniffing his pants. "From what I could discern, he percieved her as an enemy of his. Although, I am not completely sure why."

Charles noticed Gao sniffing at Nilo. "She seems glad to meet you." He added and she chirped once again.

The boy smiled and bent down to light pet the opossum, smiling happily to it. He wondered if she smelt his pet cat, Scruffles, on him. He wondered how the two would react if they where to meet. These thoughts flowed through his mind as he stayed quiet; petting the opossum affectionately. He laughed lightly though, imagining Jack fighting the small creature.

"That'd be a sight... Jack fighting little Gao here... Aw, did he hurt you? I hope not!" he said playfully to the opossum before turning his attention to Charles. "I'm glad he let you keep her though, she's amazing." he said sincerely, continuing to pet the opossum.

"He attempted to pin her down to the floor, but I interfered." Charles watched the small critter jump happily around Nilo and felt a warm wave wash over him. He smiled, but barely noticably and then shrugged all of a sudden.

"There is one problem. Gao, if I am correct, is carrying her offspring." He mentioned as he crouched down beside the duo. Gao immediately jumped up onto his back as he did so, joyfully lickng the back of his neck. "She is in the early stage of her pregnancy and she does not need any special care, but I made sure to resarch her kind throuroughly during today's break regardless." He got back up and stared Nilo straight in the eyes as he tied the scarf tighter around his neck and checked whether his hat and jacket were on right. "I should be off now. I was supposed to go and buy food and other items required to make Gao's life in my apartment as comfortable as possible."

Nilo listened to Charles's carefully, smiling and continuing to pet the opossum. He blinked at the news of her pregnancy, smiling happily, awing in the process.

"I bet the babies will be adorable, just like Gao, right?" he asked the opossum with a light laugh, looking up to Charles. "If you need help with the babies, I have experience with taking care of infant animals." he said happily, still giving his attention to the opossum before standing up. He rubbed his arm before nodding to Charles.

"I should be off now as well, I need to head home before my mother does. She worries if I'm not there before her... " he said with a light smile. "Oh, but thank you for your time. It was a pleasure talking to you." he said happily with a bow of his head before leaving the shack, waving good bye to Charles.

[Exit]

Charles left after Nilo, glad that he knew he was not going to have to take care of the babies on his own.

[Charles left the scene. The thread is now closed.]