Charles

"You know... those NPCs that don't bother you, but if you accidentally attack them, they get really mad and you totally regret it...? You can consider me one of those."
Charles is a shopkeeper / NPC of The Reaper's Game. He is currently an off-stage Officer and is Jean's work and life assistant. 
==Appearance==
Charles is a tall pale boy standing at 5'11". His figure is lean and wiry, but has some semblance of toned muscle underneath. He has short white hair that normally covers one of his bright red eyes. Normally, he wears plain shirts with patterns or graphics on them with a sweater or cardigan on top. He'll wear either fitted dark blue or grey jeans or harem pants, with a pair of white creeper platforms, which give him about a 2 inch boost. He really does not need to wear these, but old habits die hard.
Although he usually carries himself with a lack of a confident aura, he has been described as very pretty or good looking. Maybe someday he'll feel more confident!
Up until June 2019, Charles maintained the appearance he had when he died at age 15. He looked largely the same except he was considerably shorter at 5'7" and had more baby fat in his face and figure. He requested to look older to at least look like an adult considering he was 29 at the time, leading him to his current appearance.
In AAW, Charles appeared as the Composer of Shibuya and appeared 29. During this event, he often had an amused expression on his face and carried himself with confidence- almost to the point of arrogance. He was a man that knew he was attractive and always presented himself well with button up shirts, dress pants and dress shoes. He often wore a chain that linked across his collar. This version of Charles also had stud earrings in his lobes.
==Personality==
Charles comes across as quiet, anxious and shy, and he typically keeps to himself. Before, his social anxiety was so intense that he always maintained his bunny stealth form when interacting with people. Now, while he's much more comfortable with social interaction, he would still much prefer to spend his days inside playing video games or watching anime. Once he is more comfortable with people though, his playful and more sarcastic side will show.
As a friend, Charles is similar to a knight. He will do anything within his power to help a friend, whether that is to stay with them for days to make sure they're okay, or take care of someone's daily tasks when they're not able to. He's very protective too, and will stand up for his friends when needed, even going to the point of physically protecting them from harm.
However, this protectiveness is a double edged sword, and it can lead to Charles being outright vindictive when it comes to his friends. He's not above threatening others when it comes to it. 
As a whole, Charles' anxiety and tendency to hide has hindered his ability to mature over the years. He does not have a solid grasp on his emotions and can be rather childish in his reactions, especially when overwhelmed. Though he previously used his 15 year old appearance as something to hide behind to justify this childishness, now that he looks older he's more driven to improve himself and grow as a person.
Other notes
* Charles uses boku pronouns. Maybe later on he'll use ore to spice it up.
* His way of speaking sounds hesitant and he often trails off the ends of his sentences. Lately, he's been doing it less though.
* He's very organized and carries an agenda that keeps track of his and 5 other people's schedules.
* He has haphephobia (fear of being touched) and will often recoil from being touched by people, especially strangers. There are few people he's more reliably okay with being touched by, and they are generally just his closer friends. He is also improving on this, though, as disguising himself as a bunny for so long got him used to being touched and held.
* He prefers to sit back and observe, or to observe while hidden by shadows.
* He makes way too many references to anime and video games.
==History==
===Pre-Game===
Charles was born [REDACTED] Grey-Mah to his Chinese mother and British father in London, England. He was a quiet child even growing up, and realized that he was transgender when he was only 10 years old. While his extended family were terribly homophobic and deeply religious, his parents loved him unconditionally and did what they could to help their son transition. They picked the name Charles together and he began taking hormone blockers to ease his future transition. The small family remained close until the three of them all died in a car accident when he was 15.
===London Game + Pre-Shibuya===
Charles found himself in the busy London Reapers Game. He was able to win, but upon learning that his parents did not survive the crash and that he would be left to his extended family, he was too afraid to go back to life. He became a Reaper with shadow manipulation and stealth powers and was quickly put to work helping the Composer with surveillance. He spent a year or so working as a spy for the Composer, and then spent the next few years district hopping all over in Italy, other parts of Great Britain, Germany and France. Specifically, his ability to take on the form of an innocent looking grey bunny was particularly useful to those districts, and he lent his skills in espionage and surveillance to the Composers there.
One sunny day while relaxing in a nice garden on the coast of France, a young boy found him and ran over to him. Him and his older sister showed him plenty of affection, fed him, and eventually adopted him into their family. It was a good arrangement for Charles too, as they were not at all bothered by his regular disappearances for a week or so at a time, where he snuck out to different districts to work Games there. 
=== Shibuya ===
In 2011, Carel decided to go to Japan for school and took Charles with her. He continued his trend of exploring various districts over the next few years, including encountering Jean as a Reaper in Kawasaki. Once Jean was in Shibuya and recovering from his trauma, the three of them lived happily, passing Charles between them to take care of him. He became a mascot for Carel's shop, Ribbonshades, and spent plenty of time with Nora, another Reaper. He also became a part of Jing's family, since the girl was very fond of him. Overall, he felt very happy and like he had a proper family to replace the one he lost.
Sometime in 2017, Charles decided to begin exploring Shibuya in his human form under the alias "Nezumi", starting with interacting with Nora. He quickly became close to her, leading him to revealing himself to be Charles the rabbit. From there, he began to reveal himself to his close friends, starting with Jean, Carel, Toyo, Kami, and Yasumu. He continued his usual work of assisting the Composer with surveillance too, and lent his abilities to Jean to help keep an eye on the district. For the time being, he kept his identities separate so he could observe people under two different guises, but eventually he found no need for that as he can always hide in the shadows if necessary.
Once Jean became Composer, Charles' work began to extend to help him more aside from just being another pair of eyes for the district. He picked up daily tasks like picking up Amaryllis and the Hiraokas from school, doing groceries, running small errands and taking care of the children. He presents himself as a secretary of sorts, leaving the Conductor to do their actual duties instead of having to deal with Jean's day to day rabble. 
In June 2019, Charles asked Jean to age him up similar to Amaryllis and Uso-- however, due to his body having effectively no hormones and Jean's inability to pinpoint exactly what Charles wanted, he ended up looking 29 and an uncomfortable mix of androgynous and feminine. Feeling disconnected from his appearance, he seeked help from Kami, who was able to age his appearance back down to 19. While it took a while to get used to it, he finally felt more in touch with how he looked, building his confidence. 
==Relationships==
===Jean===
Charles sees Jean like some mix of a father figure and an older brother. While Jean is usually the other end of all of Charles' sarcastic quips and judgmental looks, he still has a great respect for the man and appreciates all that he does for the city and his friends. He's protective of him and has gone out of his way to stand up for him. Without him, Charles wouldn't have felt comfortable enough to be himself or stay in Shibuya.
===Carel===
Charles appreciates Carel immensely, and is always willing to spend time with her if she's feeling lonely. As she was probably the better caretaker of him when he was a bunny, he sees her like an older sister.
===Yasumu===
Yasumu is one of Charles' most trusted friends. He sees him like an older brother and will often go to him for advice (though, scaring the shit out of him each time as a result). He knows Yasumu to a surprisingly deep level considering that he's seen him at his most vulnerable while he was a bunny. He is one of the four people who knows that he's transgender, and similarly Charles will always trust the man with his life.
===Jing/Howl/Lee ===
While Charles doesn't live with them any longer, he still regards Jing, Howl and Lee as family. He appreciates that Jing wanted to take him in and all of the love and affection they showed him. He's still slightly wary of Lee, but he loves them all the same.
===Nora ===
Charles considers Nora to be his best friend. They've gone through lots together, including traveling to different parts of Japan, battling together and sparring against each other, and all the various mishaps of the Shibuya district such as Grizz's GM week and Kei's disappearance. He always has her back and is always looking out for her. Without her, he would have never been comfortable enough to even explore Shibuya in his human form.
It's also no secret that Charles has had romantic feelings for Nora for quite a few years, however after she implied that she doesn't really do romance at all, he's started to make himself move on.
=== Meira ===
Meira is one of Charles' good friends, and someone who tried to get him to confess his feelings to Nora. He's usually on the receiving end of her teasing, however, and sometimes he feels that Meira is a bit too overwhelming for him, but as a whole he enjoys her company and finds her entertaining.
=== Toyo ===
Toyo is one of Charles' good friends. The two spend much of their spare time together playing through games or watching anime. Toyo was also Charles' only friend that he knew was transgender, and so he feels close to them knowing that he can be open about almost anything to them. He enjoys going on adventures around town with them.
=== Kaito ===
Charles knows Kaito mainly through Jean, and thus him being one of the roommates for a period of time. Charles mainly remembers small bunny / ferret fights with him, but otherwise thinks that Kaito is cool.
=== Chris ===
Like Jean, Charles appreciates Chris but outwardly is not afraid to express sarcastic tough love towards him. For example, he felt extremely offended when he was accidentally called "Chris" instead of his own name. Nevertheless, Charles understands the important bond that he shares with Jean and Chris has, and he holds a deep appreciation for the man because of that.
===Kami ===
Kami is one of Charles' closest friends. They were the first person he came out as transgender to (albeit it being due to a misunderstanding of Kami being actually God) but quickly became good friends with them due to their shared interests. They spend a lot of time together watching anime or playing video games, and Charles trusts them with a lot of his emotional and dysphoria-related problems. He's truly grateful for them changing his body to look the way he wanted.
===Akio===
Akio is one of Charles' good friends. They mostly just watch anime and play video games together. He appreciates having a friend who is more on the chill side. Notably, they play a lot of Animal Crossing together.
===Shiro ===
Shiro is one of Jean's kids, and the one that Charles spends most of his time taking care of. He's fine letting her cling to him and piggybacking her. Many people think that she's his kid because of the white hair. 
===Amaryllis===
Being one of Jean's children, and being Amaryllis, Charles would wholeheartedly level a city for Amaryllis. Though he doesn't interact with her on a one to one basis very often, he looks out for her wellbeing and does what he can to keep her safe.
===Kogasa/Taiki/Nori ===
Charles spends a lot of time around the Hiraoka brothers since Jean takes care of them after school. He's quite fond of all three of them, especially Nori.
===Kagami===
Kagami initially made Charles feel very alarmed due to her close proximity to Nori, but after getting to know her some, he feels that she could use a friend who understand. He respects her, and while he doesn't know much of her background, he hopes she can get through it.
===Takuto===
Charles' relationship with Takuto is a pure whirlwind, as the Player accidentally flirted with him a lot and asked him out on a "date". After an accidental breakdown in front of him, though, Charles and Takuto both made it clear they wanted to just get to know each other as friends. Charles appreciates Takuto for being willing to help him open up when they had just met, and just wants to be a good friend to him.
(also maybe more if i forgot any? orz)
==Trivia==
*Charles' Reaper powers are quite handy, though they are mostly useful in a support / passive sense.
**When fighting, he can manipulate shadows on the ground to lift off, split into tendrils or sharpen into spears.
**Otherwise, he uses shadows like portals or hammer space. He can reach into any shadow and access anything that has shadows, like reaching into his shadow and pulling something out of the inside of a fridge.
**He can also hide in shadows, or "shadow space" as he calls it. When he does, he can follow through the city hopping from shadow to shadow and mostly stay undetected.
**This does have its limits, however, as Charles cannot connect shadows to places he's unfamiliar, nor can he use infinite amount of shadow when fighting. 
*Charles' Reaper wings are somewhat bell shaped. He doesn't usually have them out.
*His Noise Form is called Vulpus Colando. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a bunny and is in fact a fox. His body is a dark purple with electric purple Noise tattoos for legs and his tail. His ankles and neck are shrouded in shadow.
*Charles is fluent in 4 languages- English, French, Italian, and Japanese. He can speak some German and Cantonese, as well.
*Previously, Charles' voice claim was Kaji Yuki, specifically the voice he uses for Agata Katsuhira from Kiznaiver. Now that he's older, his voice claim is Souma Saito, specifically the voice he uses for Yumeno Gentaro and Kujo Tenn.
==Gallery==
Portrait placeholder.png|OH WOW HERE IS AN IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
Portrait placeholder.png|OH WOW HERE IS AN IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
Category:Reapers
Category:Shopkeepers
Category:Week 16