Sketches [Charles]

"Yeah. I moved over here all the way from Japan, actually. You have no idea how big of a hassle it was moving here..." Mae groaned slightly. "Moving here was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. But at least I'm here now! And to be honest, I couldn't be happier with my decision. I've met some pretty great people here.". The Pinkette smiled as usual towards Charles. She really did miss her friends back at home, but at least she had found more new friends here. School wasn't half bad either. At least, not yet. She had only been there for a week, so Mae had really no idea of what the rest of her time here would be like.

"Are you from Azores yourself, or are you from somewhere else?" Mae asked as the two entered the resturant. The smell of freshly cooked food teased their nostrils as the doors swung open, and Mae's mouth widened into a happy grin. "So, where do you wanna sit?" The girl looked at Charles, still grinning happily.

"We should sit there." Charles guided Mae to a nearby table of his choosing. "I am from America." He began once they've made themselves comfortable in their seats. Although the atnosphere in the restaurant was hot, he didn't take his scarf off. "I moved here one month ago, similiar to you."

Charles opened a menu laying on the table and proceeded to pretend to choose a meal. The colorful images of various dishes listed in the menu meant nothing to him. He would've ordered the same thing Mae would have, but he was unsure of what he would do afterwards. He was unable to eat, after all...

"Another American? Geez you guys are common around here. Let's see here. Out of all the people I've met at school or the dorms, four of em are from the US. And here I thought Japanese people were common here." Mae chuckled heartfully. Charles was an english name after all, so it was to be expected really. "So, why did you come over here, Charles? To Azores I mean? I moved here for no big reason really. I'm looking for my real Parents... Oh yeah, that's right, I haven't told you that yet, have I? I'm an orphan." Mae said nonchalantly.

The waiter walked by the two, and looked at Mae.
"What will it be, Miss?" He asked the pinkette politely. "I'll have the fried rice with beef. Oh, and a cola to go with that." She smiled, and looked back towards Charles. The Waiter did the same, and noted down 2 Fried Rice with beef and 2 colas, before darting back to the kitchen in a hurry.

"It is only to be expected of a popular destination such as this to be overflown with people from such an country." Charles replied to Mae's surprised statement. The tone of her voice while she resumed her speech , however, surprised him. Humans were compassionate beings, yet Mae appeared completely fine speaking about her parents. "Are they from Azores...?" He asked in return, putting down the menu as the waiter approached the table and Mae ordered food for them.

Soon enough, the waiter returned, carrying in his hands the ordered drinks. The soda glimmered in the welcoming lights of the restaurant as the ice cube travelled across the surface... Charles seemed reluctant the moment the bottle and the glass were put on the table. In fact, it was like he couldn't remove his eyes off the brown liquid.

Why did he agree to have food and drinks ordered for himself as well?

"I guess so. Did you have a paticular reason for coming here, or did you just... "Wing it" as it were?" Mae asked the boy in front of her with an eyebrow slightly raised. "I guess school is a big part of coming here too, huh? I gotta say I'm suprised. I didn't think i would fit in as well as this when I first got here. It was a big, and let's not beat around the bush, scary step for me to take. I mean, moving over to an island in the middle of the atlantic ocean all the way from Japan isn't exactly a cakewalk. But you know what? This place feels just like home to me now... I've made some great friends already, despite my short time here! Eheheh, then again... It's me we're talking about here. I have an incredibly easy time making friends." The girl scratched the back of her head with a sheepish look on her face.

"Huh? I don't know, actually... They have definatley been here though, that much I do know. Hopefully they are still around..." The pinkette looked slightly worried. "I just want to see them... At least once..." Her pink gaze focused intently on the drink before her. What if they weren't here...? No... That shouldn't matter too much. She had her friends here after all, so there was no reason to get all gloomy. Especially not infront of Charles. His situation right now was very much like Mae's own, in a sense, if not even more dire. Which was why she couldn't mope around him. How would that make him feel if she couldn't stay positive in a situation like this.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" Mae asked with both eyebrows raised while pointing at the plate of fried rice in front of Charles.

"There was, and still is, something I have to do in Azores. It didn't have much to do with the school." Charles looked at the bowl of food in front of him. The rice seemed to still be seething hot and metal cutlery glimmered, separating the bowl and the chopsticks set besides it. Was he supposed to eat it with a spoon or the chopsticks?

Charles grabbed a spoon with his hand and put it into the rice, looking back up at Mae. He had to wait for the perfect moment to somehow get rid of the food without actually eating any of it. "Do you have any leads on their current whereabauts?" He asked the girl. "I'm waiting for it to cool down." He added.

"Hm? And what is that?" Mae asked Charles, after taking a bite out of her food, after which she smiled happily. "Man, I love Chinese food!" The pinkette took another bite out of her food. "Oh, well... Yeah, it is kinda hot..."

After finishing her food, Mae pondered about how to Charles question. "I don't really... I guess I should be searching more actively... But friends and school come first. The rest can wait!" Mae said proudly. She did prioritize her friends above everything else after all. Even more than finding her parents and singing, which were both two big things for her...

"That information is irrelevant to the current conversation." Charles swiftly shrugged off Mae's question. She wouldn't have believed him anyways and it had to be kept secret. "I have never had chinese food before." He spun the spoon through the rice...

"..." Why wouldn't she look away? Charles intently stared at the bowl, only looking away to glance at what Mae was doing from time to time. If only just for a split second... "...!" Charles grabbed the spoon stuck in his rice and pulled the whole thing to the right, launching it off the table and onto the floor. The bowl crashed with a thud and all the rice fell out. Charles still kept the spoon in his right hand as he turned to Mae and said in a 'convincing' tone... "I pushed it. Accidentaly. My apologies." The waiter has already noticed and came over to help and everybody else turned in their chairs to take a peek of what's happening...

That is what Charles wanted to do. Instead, he pushed the bowl forward and exclaimed: "Take it. I am not hungry." before leaning back and waiting on a reply. "Have you been to the police?"

"Yeah, I guess it is, huh? Alright, you can tell me some other time perhaps." Mae smiled happily. All things considered, she felt quite cheery. Maybe it was an effect of the food? Mae loved this stuff, so it was plausible, and it was something the girl rarely ate too, so that may or may not have contributed somewhat to her cheery-ness. Or rather... It most definatley contributed.

"What? You're not hungry?" Mae asked, confunded. She raised an eyebrow at Charles, before accepting the food. "I mean, if you're not hungry, then why did you order food to begin with? Uh, regardless, thanks!" Mae had just finished her first helping, and gladly started eating the food Charles had given her. "The police? No, not here anyway. Sure, there was this one time when one of my friend's siblings went missing and we asked the police to help. Other than that one time, No, I can't say I have been. Why do you ask?"

Charles observed the smiling Mae in front of himself. She seemed to be enjoying herself and she even agreed to take his meal as well, without much of a hassle. "I bought food for myself because... It is irrelevant." He shook his head, not really knowing how to finish the sentence. "You are going to be able to eat both bowls?" He turned to Mae and asked before leaning back and crossing his arms. 'Humans are bigger on the inside...' - he made a mental note.

"The police could be able to assist you in some manner, or, at least, guide you in an proper direction, closer to attaining your goal. That is how what they do, is it not?" He glanced at his glass of cola on the table and pushed it towards Mae. "I am not thirsty."

"Yeah, I suppose so. I might as well ask right?" Mae chuckled slightly. "You wanna help me out with that? You know... Finding my parents? I'm not sure it's something I can do on my own. And who knows, we might uncover some of your past in the process! That's just wishful thinking on my part, but the possibility is certainly there." Charles was one of the very few people she knew who understood her desire to uncover her parents past. He had amnesia, or at least it seemed that way, and as the good friend Mae was, she wanted to help him out recovering his lost memories... For better or worse.

"You just went with the flow?" Mae raised a suspicious eyebrow. There was something Charles was trying to hide... Was he flat out incapable of eating or drinking? Then how was he alive...? Thoughts like those swirled around in Mae's head. She wanted to ask him directly, but the girl was a bit scared of how the other might react. The last thing she wanted was another outburst like the one at his apartment. But remaining silent wasn't going to get her anywhere, so the only solution was, as uncomfortable as the idea seemed for Mae, asking Charles.

"Okay... This may sound weird, but, uh..." Mae took a sip of her cola to calm her nerves a bit. "You don't happen to be a... robot, right?" She asked Charles carefully, steeling herself for an eventual outburst. It was a long shot, but the fact that he went out of his way to order food and then not eating it was weird enough... Maybe he was trying to hide the fact that he was indeed a robot from Mae. And this was not the only piece of evidence suggesting that he was in fact a robot. Charles slept on the floor. Not to mention his speech-pattern did stand out a bit.

"I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, you're still the same Charles I know..." Mae looked down on her plate, bracing herself for what was to come. She wouldn't blame him if he got angry. Charles had all the right to be mad at her, if she had somehow accidentally struck a nerve again.

"You want my help?" Charles tilted his head, confused to an extent. He tried thinking of various different options, but perhaps helping her was the best one. After all, like she said, they might end up finding something out about Emily as well, especially since they were going to go to the police and check. If she died then there had to be records of it... The thought immediately set his dtermination on and he got the sudden urge to start this... investigation right then and now! "I will go make necessary preparations." He said eventually, looking Mae straight in the eyes as he stood up, nearly knocking the chair back as he did so.

He was interrupted, though, by Mae's question, which caught him off guard. She got... suspicious of him. He froze, leaning against the table with his hands tightly gripping the edges. "Why... do you ask?" He muttered, trying to think of a way to get this question out of the way... There was no point in involving Mae, a normal human, in the mess with Shadows and Personas by admitting that he was a robot. How did she even reach that conclusion? "The current tehnology is nowhere near as advanced to be able to build such a human-like artificial intelligence. Or do you have such robots in Japan...?" He tried to put on an awkward smile. That should've helped in calming Mae down... right? He did not manage to smile though... Instead he looked tense like he was about to poop or something.

"Of course I want your help! We're both in a similiar situation after all." Mae smiled happily at Charles. He truly was a good friend to have. And to be honest, Mae was curious about his past too. There were so many things about Charles that were shrouded in mystery. "Calm down. We don't have to spring into action right away!" She grinned at him. "But sure, If you want to get started... How about we start working on this next monday? I have loads of free time next week." Indeed she had. Aside from homework, Mae had no actual plans to speak of the coming week, so this was good for her.

"No reason in paticular... You're just acting a bit strangely, that's all... Don't tell me you're nervous just because I'm a cute girl?" Mae chuckled happily. "I guess so... Even the robots we have in Japan aren't that advanced... Sorry for putting you on the spot like that, Charles. " The apology was necessary. She did not have any right to do what she just did. "Oh, Charles... Don't worry about it. Cheer up!" Mae reached out with both of her hands, grabbed his head and made him look straight in her eyes. He would see Mae's face smiling back at him. "Now, what say you we go back home... It's getting rather late. And I don't care what you say, go get yourself a bed atleast. You gotta take care of yourself alright?" Her expression turned from cheery to worried. "If not for your own sake, then do it at least for my sake, Charles... I care about you."

"Next Monday it is..." Charles loosened up. He had to admit it to himself, he did feel a wave of relief when Mae gave up on her theory. He pushed himself away from the table as Mae grabbed his hands. "A cute girl?" Charles exclaimed curiously. She was cute, by human standards... but it didn't have much to do with him or the situation... "And it is understandable, as humans are curious and..." In any case, he would suddenly back away even further when her face suddenly turned worried. "I-it isn't an issue." He replied to her after her remark about the bed. Something told him, though, that she wasn't gonna just let this 'lack of bed' thing just go away...

If Mae was going to leave, Charles would follow her outside and part ways with her somewhere along the city street, going home and feeding Gao.

Charles would leave the scene...

If Mae had something else to talk about, Charles would stay until the convo was over.

"Thanks for helping me out, Charles!" Mae smiled warmly back at her friend. Next monday, huh? Maybe she would finally get some answers...

Mae raised an eyebrow at Charles. "You sure? Alright, if you say so." How could he sleep without a bed or something? Did he use his ferret as a pillow? No, that was just too weird. Then again, Charles was a bit of an oddball, so it was possible.

"See you next monday then, Charles!" Mae waved back at him as she headed towards the Dorms again.

~Exit