Charon

[Basic intro]

History
CHICHARON

His earliest memories were that of a street urchin toddler, wandering the impoverished streets of New Angelo fighting for any scrap of food that was thrown his way. It was in one of these skirmishes with the other children that an old man saw the potential in the child's ferocity and jokingly named him 'Chicharon,' for being a teeth cracker.

So both the old man and the child ran a small racket of Charon fighting with the other urchins, some older and bigger than him, and the old man and his friends would make bets on who'd win. With whatever winnings they'd earn they then used it to feed themselves and survive, and Charon was satisfied with that. This went on for a while until the local street gang heard of this and beat the old man, and took Charon for their own to turn him into an actual cage fighter. That was the last time Charon ever saw the old man and he'd never know if the old man even survived that night.

THE FERRYMAN

As an underground cage fighter, Charon was bought and sold from one syndicate group to another and so learned that there is no group or faction he could depend on or should remain loyal to. That all changed when he was purchased by a wealthy man named Corcidius and brought to his mansion as part of his underground entertainment ring. As Charon continually won his matches, patrons started complaining to Corcidius that the fights were becoming boring and predictable. So the master had Charon starved on purpose to give contenders a fighting chance. It was in the third night of Charon's starvation that Corcidius' ward, Cassius, stole into his cage and slipped Charon some chocolates.

Over the next few weeks, Cassius struck up a friendship with Charon, visiting him and feeding him with whatever Cassius could sneak away from. Despite their outward differences, Cassius being Corcidius' pet ward and Charon as a fighter, the two bonded over their similar status as slaves and abused children. It was this mutual suffering that Cassius struck the offer with Charon that they work together to escape the compound together: Charon had the physical prowess to down the security guards and scale the compound wall, while Cassius had the layout of the mansion, the patrol routes, and means to help both of them scale over the wall and into freedom.

Unfortunately for the two of them, they were only able to enjoy a night's worth of freedom before they were apprehended by Elite officers. Understanding that they couldn't hope to survive on their own with Corcidius looking for them, Cassius enlisted the two of them to become Elite soldiers in exchange for shelter and protection. The last time Charon saw Cassius was before Charon was to be taken away as a Subject, and Cassius swearing he'd come back for him.

THE CANNIBAL/ THE GUARDIAN KILLER

Life as a Subject was both a blessing and a trial for Charon. On on hand, he was given proper meals, clothing, health care and even an education; things he'd never dreamed of experiencing from his previous life. But at the same time, some things were no different; the lack of freedom and the enforced schedules, the constant survellance, enforcement and punishment doled out by bored authorities. Then there were the physical examinations and experiments. Without understanding it, Charon was a candidate for the Reinforcement Armor Nanos: nanos that improved one's physique and increased one's offensive capabilities. As the RANs were being fully integrated into Charon did he develop the moniker 'The Cannibal,' as he was prone to biting anyone as a means of defending himself or to alleviate his lack of physical sensation brought about by the nanos. Still, having endured a lifetime of pain and fights, Charon took to the experiments as just another battle of survival and he thrived from his ordeal.

Due to his prowess in combat training, his aptitude for using RAN and his level headed attitude, Charon was soon readily available to be paired with any Guardian. To the dismay of Commander Guinez and the Academy, Charon's devotion to Cassius and their promise to reunite once more led to Charon deliberately sabotaging their plans for him by maiming every Guardian candidate presented before him. Even under torture, tech restraints and disciplinary actions taken by Guinez herself and one Captain Logan, nobody could convince Charon to accept any Guardian offered to him. So Charon became a self imposed reserved Subject for years, growing only stronger and adding more names to his body count of injured Guardian candidates and gaining the reputation as a Guardian killer. Only after near 8 years of this standoff did Charon finally accept a Guardian candidate by the name of Olette Fisher, who was in reality his former friend Cassius come to fulfill their promise.

SUBJECT EPSILON

Personality
Life's a struggle, Charon.

You gotta eat to live, and to live you gotta win at life.

It's as simple as that.

''You win, you eat. You lose, you die.''

''You win, you live. You lose, you starve. ''

''No one's gonna give you anything for free. You take every chance and don't let go.''

''You just have to keep winning. That's how you'll survive.''

Growing up as an underground cage fighter, Charon was a savage, wild child who terrified his enemies and spectators alike, learning early on the only way to survive was to be brutal to your enemies and to endure whatever life gave him. Since Charon's early years were a constant life and death situation, Charon developed a rather stoic, pragmatic attitude to the world which allowed him to readily accept changes throughout his life. This, combined with his later training into an Elite Subject, made Charon into a highly intimidating, unyielding, adaptive, destructive force seemingly able to shrug off lethal attacks with the laser minded focus to carry out his objectives no matter what or who gets in the way.

But outside of battle Charon is a quiet, sensitive giant with a child like admiration and appreciation for the simplest of things and a strong, unwavering devotion to the people he considers his friends. Due to his hardships as a child, Charon is also particularly protective to those he feels need it, such as his abused friend Olette, or children and people incapable of fighting back like Celcia. Because of his isolated upbringing and limited access to the outside world, Charon may come off as very naive, clueless or immature in social circles and how he goes about dealing with any problem (usually head on and without tact or nuance). But this simple minded approach is also why he can be rather level headed and even mature to some people due to his lack of pretentiousness. He also doesn't shy from physical intimacy, ready to give a pat in the head to reassure someone in distress or a hug if asked, and why he is perfectly comfortable letting certain people into his bed whether for sexual or non sexual reasons. Charon respects power and authority, but he has no patience or tolerance for bullies and weak minded fools and only exercises self restraint because he's aware of what his actions could do for the people around him, particularly Olette.

Relationships
OLETTE

Charon is utterly devoted to Olette. Ever since they met as fellow child slaves, she was the first person who ever cared for and talked to him and wasn't terrified of his appearance. While Charon understood in some level Olette only needed of him for his physicality, he also saw a fellow survivor in her, doing whatever she can and using whatever means she could to achieve her goals and he empathized. While Charon was more ready to accept whatever life gave him and settle Olette wasn't, and it was her determination and sense of hope for something better than just being slaves that moved Charon to want to escape together with her. As shortlived as their escape was, the night cemented their trust and dedication for each other and bonded the two for life. Even while separated in the Elite Academy, the two did everything they could to come back together as a Guardian Subject pair. Though Charon is unfamiliar with the term, the two are platonically in love with each other, because of the shared hardships they've endured. There is a closeness between them that's more intimate than merely being friends but neither the two ever see each other as a romantic partner. Charon does what he can to make Olette feel safe wherever they may be, and Olette is always striving to look after him and that he's not treated as merely a thug or a weapon.

ANDY

As a self benched Subject, Charon kept to himself and didn't interact with the other candidates, aware of his reputation and their fear of him. Nonetheless, Charon was careful around the younger ones, especially Andy who was partial sighted. When the Academy was attacked by a group of terrorists aiming to assassinate all the Subjects to hurt the Elite forces, Andy was trapped in the library wing along with (unbeknowst to him) Charon. As he's always seen Andy get head pats from his friends to calm him down, Charon emulated the action and patted Andy in the head before going out and singlehandedly dealing with the intruders.

ALEX

Sparred with Alex as a child when the two were training their respective nanos. Due to his harsh training under the hands of Guinez and Logan, Charon chose to emulate their level of brutality on Alex under the impression that this is what makes for a stronger fighter. What Charon didn't realize was that Guinez and Logan were only so severe with him because the former had to deal with Charon's RAN and the latter was only trying to survive his battles. Regardless, Alex was traumatized and ended up with a deep seated fear of Charon.

Throughout their encounters and battles as rebels vs Epsilon though, Alex started to realize the kind hearted nature Charon actually has in him, his devotion and efforts to protect or save Olette, Charon's non violent methods of subjugating his opponents (when able to), and his past history of looking after Andy.

Charon once tried to assist Alex in overcoming this fear of him by allowing Alex to punch him without retaliation, but didn't realize he wasn't supposed to use his RAN for self defense and ended up breaking Alex's hand. As fellow frontline fighters, Charon regards Alex as the leader and is making steps to dissuade Alex from being as reckless as he used to either by charging ahead or as Law orders him to, physically restraining Alex.

CELCIA

As one of the few people who actually know his full name, Charon has a soft spot for Celcia as a friend and deep respect and to her as the Leader of the Anarchists.

MAYA

When Maya was younger and a Subject in training, she heard of Charon's reputation amongst her fellow Subject candidates and kept Andy and herself as far away from the Cannibal as she could. That fear only intensified when she and the rebels faced Charon on multiple occasions as part of Team 1's fighting forces. It was only when Epsilon started living amongst the rebels and Maya started to treat Charon as a patient did she realize that a lot of the rumors about him years before were unfounded.

Charon regards Maya with deep respect, as she is one of the only medical staff the Anarchists have at the base who is unafraid of him, can patch him and for the fact she was the main reason he didn't die immediately from Overheat in one mission. Maya is also one of the few women unafraid to spar with him and it was in one of these matches did he realize that Maya's similarity to Commander Guinez. Afterwards, Charon acted even more formal around Maya.

LAW

As a former Elite Guardian, Charon respects and trusts in his judgement and commands in the battlefield.

SLOANE

Sloane was initially intimidated by Charon's presence, but when she discovered he head-butted her brother Cicero, she went out of her way to befriend Charon, starting with an extra patty at the cafeteria. The two have an easygoing friendly relationship, with Charon assisting her with the assortment of physical jobs she does around the base and she returns the favor by giving him cookies or a sneak taste test at the kitchens. When Charon realizes Sloane has a crush on Olette, Charon does whatever he can to encourage the relationship, as he can see Olette is all the more happier being with Sloane.

GUINEZ

​​​​​​Throughout his time as a Subject refusing to be assigned a Guardian, Charon has had multiple fights with Guinez for different reasons, ranging from Guinez's attempts to break his spirit, as punishment for maiming the Guardians assigned to him, or whether the two of them simply needed their Nanos tested out. Despite her utter disdain and frustrations with his stubborness, Charon feels he's a much stronger, humbler fighter because of his constant struggles and defeat at the hands of Guinez, and is thankful for that.

LOGAN

The only reason Charon stopped becoming less of a savage fighter who resorted to bites when cornered was because of Logan. As a fellow human and RAN user, Logan taught Charon to think less of himself as a weapon that needed to survive and win a battle, and more of a shield others relied on to carry them to victory.

CICERO

Cicero thought that by claiming The Cannibal as his Subject, his reputation would grow. What Cicero failed to study up on was that Charon was already a full fledged RAN Subject at that point who easily withstood Cicero's electric attacks and proceeded to give him a headbutt that took 3 months of recovery due to a skull fracture. Despite becoming Teammates and even being a Guardian rank, the trauma never left Cicero and he always kept his distance from Charon. Charon is aware of this and continually protects his other teammates from Cicero by placing himself between them.

RAXY

Charon understood that despite his treatment as a RAN Subject user under the hands of Raxy, Raxy is only a child influenced by the company that he grew up in. So Charon doesn't hold any grudges to Raxy for it, as Charon finds the RAN has allowed him to be so much stronger and able to do things that a regular person couldn't. Despite the gratitude, Charon is put off by Raxy's insistence that he carry the boy on his shoulders for his entertainment.

Trivia
Charon's original eye color was hazel.

Charon is capable of speech but finds it to be an effort, so tries to speak in as few words as possible. He also communicates by finger spelling.

Charon wants to grow up to be a farmer and feed poor people.

Charon holds the longest record in the Towers for being an unassigned Subject, and having harmed the most number of Guardians despite being a non-active agent.