Fear the Repair (Dale)

A feral grin spreads wide across Enkidu's face with Phobetor's disappearance, and he breaks out into roaring laughter as he fades away, crumbling into nothingness. Chip's eyes return to normal, and he hops back to his old place as the repairman comes in to finish his work.
At the direction, Dale slowly sits up, and then tests his leg. Seemed to be moving...he could stand on it too. He swung it about, kicking out with it before doing a sweeping, and forceful kick that came dangerously close to hitting things in the confines of the room. "My leg feels fine..." He stops, as if realising. "Oh. Money."
Reaching into his jacket, he pulls out...altogether far too much cash. "I got given this to get my leg fixed with."
Let it not be said that Gus is a stingy being.

Benni watched with a satisfied grin as he swung his head back to dodge the spinning kick, Milton holding his hand up to catch it before it could collide with his head or smash anything in the room near him. While Milton didn't know all too well what the difference in their metal composition was, that leg would certainly be able to take a beating at least as well as his old metal could, if not better. With the repair finished, Benni took the stack of cash and thumbed through it piece by piece, taking just short of a quarter of the stack before handing the rest over to Dale.

"This'll cover it just fine. Thanks for coming over, bud. You ever get something else broken, we can get it fixed up nice and well. These labs have worked real miracles before, right N- Milton?"

"Ye-yeah, quite. Anyways, nice work as usual, Benni. I'll see him out."

With that done, Milton would let Dale collect Chip and escort him out of the lab. Dale had the same power he did, so maybe he could find a way to earn his trust through continued interactions. He was certainly one of many questions, and Milton had the means to answer them. If he could learn more about him, bit by bit, maybe Milton could find the source of his paranoid nature. It was worth an effort, even if it took forever to figure out.

"Thanks for coming, Dale. I can only imagine how frightening it feels to set foot in a place like that given your unspoken memories of what happened to you at your lab. Here, I can give you my number if you ever feel like hanging out. I could use a partner like you to explore the new worlds we come across. Sound good?"

Still so much money left...this was good. This was very good.

Chip rode on Dale's shoulder as he left with Milton, the android still eyeing his surroundings warily as he passed through them. A questioning look comes Milton's way as he makes his offer. "...'partner'?" He shakes his head. "And...why would I want a number, anywa-oh...wait...there was..." He thinks back to Gus, and the device he had with him. "...I don't have a number-talk thing."

So he didn't have a cellular phone or communications device to use this number for, but he at least had an idea what would be needed. Milton had to consider how best to handle this; Dale didn't seem that knowledgeable a man despite his apparent age. Sending him to get one at Towa would only lead to him having about a dozen questions just heading down the street, and Milton didn't quite have the time to escort him all the way there. Instead, Milton held up his finger to indicate he needed a second as his left eye seem to flicker with the image of the girl in the other room on the other end overshadowing his iris.

"Anni, I need you to head over to my room for a second. There should be a gray cell on the desk. Grab it and the power cord and head out front, please."

"You got it, Milly. Be out in a second."

With the transmission over, Milton's focus returned to Dale as the young girl arrived a few minutes later with a small gray cellular device complete with a lit-up screen and four buttons below the screen and above the keypad. With it came a black charging cable. She held both out to Dale to pick up, smiling warmly as she did so.

"Here, I can put my number in. I got a number-talker in my head, so I won't be needing it. If you have questions, just choose my number with these buttons and press this green one. That should get you in contact with me. Thanks, Anni. I'll be in in just a second."

"I know you have plenty of questions, so if you have any coming up, I'm sure CWIS or I can figure out an answer. Sound good?"

Blinking, Dale takes the offered phone, looking it over. It didn't look like the one it had...but it didn't need to did it? As long as it did the same thing.
He stuffs it away with the cable, noting the ends and making a note in his mind to check how it worked with that 'charger' he got. "This...this works..." He looks about. "...I need to go." He still wasn't comfortable here, and besides...he was hungry.
If he really needed to ask Milton things, he had this now.

Without saying more, Dale leaves. So much money...he was going to get something to eat.
Meanwhile, as Dale makes his exit, Chip turns round on his shoulder to stare down Milton. The eyes of the bot's display turn into Enkidu's as it does, if only for a moment.
They bore into Milton's shadow just as much as Milton himself.

Anni and Milton watched as Dale took his leave, waving him off as he made his way off with the cell. No matter how minor it was, Milton felt that he had connected with Dale in a way that he would likely learn to strengthen as they met more often. Their foundation of trust as unknowing patient and therapist would have to start somewhere.

As Chip turned to stare Milton down with the eyes of the mocking king lighting up in place of the dog's normal display, Milton's eyes would meet Enkidu as a purple glint crossed Milton's irises, the dark slits of Phobetor's mask-like face flickering in his eyes. Seems both user and Persona were eager to meet Dale and Enkidu once more...

Milton [EXIT]