!incensed: ren's notes
[ Separate from Ren's normal journal is a smaller one, tucked away below a box of his stuff pushed under the bed. ]
!incensed
OOC
Player/Contact: Brie / mackens @ plurk or brie#2641 @ discord
Other Characters: n/a
IC
Name: Ren Hana
Canon: Boyfriend to Death
Canon Point: Right before the ending branch.
Age: 21
History/Personality:
Content Warning for violence, kidnapping, torture, abuse, and captivity.
Wiki Page.
Before Strade, Ren was a fairly normal young adult, if isolated and lonely. He, by his own admission, had no friends and he believed his family hated him. He was nervous, timid, and generally didn't do well around other people. Nonetheless, Ren craved both friends and meaningful bonds. He went out of his way to try and meet a date and was genuinely upset when he was stood up. He was a hopeless romantic, delighting in magical girl anime and romance films. Despite his timidness, Ren was a kind person. He was trusting enough to follow Strade to what he believed was the bar bathroom, even though he really had no idea who the man was. He was nurturing, risking Strade's wrath to provide the victims in the basement a little bit of care. He took care of Strade, kept him from getting too worked up and going too far.
However, Ren was nowhere near perfect before he met Strade. Ren was, in the kindest way to put it, spineless. Protecting his own life was important to him and he placed his survival above all else. Yes, he would go into the basement to provide some aid and comfort to Strade's victims, but he would not risk freeing them and endangering himself. It was this spinelessness that caused Strade to become so interested in him in the first place. In the interest of self-protection, Ren obeyed Strade to a T. He must have because at some point the young man earned (monitored) internet privileges and free reign on the second floor of the house. Eventually, it wasn't just the shock collar on Ren's neck but a sense of loyalty that kept him doing as he was told.
There is no doubt that Ren developed severe Stockholm Syndrome during his time in Strade's 'care'. A combination of living in terror of being hurt and domesticity, affection, and being spoiled created a lot of confusion for Ren. At some point, he drew the conclusion that Strade loved him, though the man never actually said it. Strade hurt him, yes, but he took care of Ren too. Strade gave Ren whatever he wanted and in return Ren cooked, cleaned, and generally tended to his captor. The terrible things Strade did: Cutting Ren up, forcing him to take part in murder or watch his live streams, general violence for Strade's amusement...they were just another aspect of the man. His own special brand of love.
Ren after Strade is the warping and poisoning of a good person made manifest. No longer is the timid and shy, but now cheerful and confident. He seems to come more into himself after Strade's death, going so far as to reflect this newfound confidence by discarding his glasses and switching to contacts. He knowingly embraced the fact that he was 'cute', and learned to use it to his advantage.
Ren is less moral now than he was before. Where he seemed to hold guilt for the thing Strade did to his victims before, now he easily plans a kidnapping and drugs a drink just like Strade did, seeing nothing wrong with doing so. When MC appears and drinks the drugged drink instead of Lawrence, Ren happily changes his plans, dragging an innocent, unrelated person into his plans. Strade had taught him it was better to be flexible than to have a good plan, and he was excited at the chance to put it into action, to improvise on the spot. When MC stumbles into the alley, he easily lies and acts as if he has no idea why they are suddenly so sick, plying them with reassurances before they pass out. Upon MC waking up and panicking at finding themselves chained and collared, Ren deflects their concern, minimizes their worry as something trivial they would get over quickly. Hesitation in killing Lawrence is regarded not as a moral stance but as a personal failing born on not "hav[ing] the stomach for it". If Ren does it himself, he tortures Lawrence without a second thought, eventually disemboweling him. If not, he giddily watches as MC slits Lawrence's throat, praising them when it's done. He's manipulative, using affection and rewards to push MC toward doing what he wants.
However, the most prominent of his post-Strade behavior is that Ren developed a craving for control. He seeks out chances for control and doesn't hesitate to inflict pain to do so. Just getting to shock MC for their first act of disobedience, if they choose to do so, gives him such a power trip he turns around and feeds them from a dog bowl.
Inflicting pain and fear is no longer a terrible thing to him, and it's something he has come to enjoy for the sense of control it gives him.
But despite Ren's claims that Strade loved him and that Ren feels empty with him gone, he still harbors a lot of fear and pain. He holds huge amounts of fear and guilt over allowing Strade to die, though he was frozen by the memory of Strade's torture when he did so. Nightmares of Strade coming alive again for revenge are constant.
The truth is that Ren is still a sweet, friendly young man who just wants to find someone to love and be loved by in return. But, terrified of his past and refusing to face his trauma, he does what he can do to deny and escape it. His sadism is imitated, a weak mimicry of Strade was. Ren tries to be like him because he no longer remembers what it was like to be himself. Strade crawled inside of Ren and left pieces of himself to fester and rot; Ren doesn't know how to get them out and so instead he pretends he wants them there. He buries himself in layers of pretend behavior he's fooled himself into believing just to feel better. Truly, Ren isn't naturally very well suited to the cruel tormentor act, though he can become so if influenced enough.
The entire reason Ren plans to take Lawrence, even when he ends up taking MC instead, is that he's lonely. He wants someone by his side who cannot leave, who will love him unconditionally even if he has to force them to do so. He doesn't want to experience pain anymore.
Would you consider your character to be heroic? Why or why not?: Absolutely not. Ren is, to reiterate my earlier point, lacking in a spine. It's not that he's actively weasely or out to screw over anyone else, he just has very strong survival instincts. In the first game, he's willing to sneak down and nurse the MC's wounds a little but refuses to do anything to help them escape because it would be dangerous for him. If the MC tries to flee out the door, Ren yells for Strade, immediately giving them away and dooming them to death.
He's smart, but he's also small, so it's not hard to physically overtake him and this is something that his captivity with Strade taught him well. If someone has power over him, he will submit, or at least pretend to in order to stay alive and plan. Heroics are for the big and strong.
Powers/Abilities: Ren's own native powers are ones that come with his nature as a beastkin. A Beastkin is a creature born when a human with a magical ability or good luck is able to communicate with an animal and form a pact binding them together as one being and one family. The result is a creature that looks almost entirely like a human, save for animal features.
In specific, Ren is a fox beastkin, coming from a line of Japanese fox beastkin who were mistaken by humans for kitsune.
This grants Ren multiple features and abilities:
The features of a fox such as ears, tail, and retractable claws. He also bears markings of the bond made centuries ago, two triangular-shaped red spots on his cheeks. Ren is not capable of appearing more foxlike, only more human. As such, he is capable of hiding his ears and tail.
He also has better senses than a human, though they aren't as good as those of an actual animal. He can see better in the dark, hear higher pitches and further distances, and his sense of smell is quite a bit better. However, the sense of smell is entirely subconscious to spare his brain from being overloaded with information. As such he can't specifically pinpoint when someone is, say, sweating nervously or aroused or scared, but he reacts to it subconsciously.
He is also quicker than the average human, easily able to dodge and work around things such as (in the second game) MC kicking at him while he tries to use a knife on them. He is able to quickly react when jumped at or MC attempts to run, moving almost before they realize he has.
Ren also retains an animal enjoyment of raw meat along with normal food, such as chicken and human hearts. Also raw eggs. It's gross.
Inventory: Strade's knife and the clothes on his back.
Coterie: Vipers
Samples: 1, 2 (Earlier canon point)
I actually stopped playing Ren for a while in early 2020, so I also have a few threads that go past the 2-year requirement, but I feel they display other parts of Ren's personality. If the mods are willing to take them as just supplementary, I've linked them.
Ren is rescued from Strade's ghost, Ren has to fight yandere instincts (NSFW toward the end), Ren gets Factory Reset'd.
Player/Contact: Brie / mackens @ plurk or brie#2641 @ discord
Other Characters: n/a
IC
Name: Ren Hana
Canon: Boyfriend to Death
Canon Point: Right before the ending branch.
Age: 21
History/Personality:
Content Warning for violence, kidnapping, torture, abuse, and captivity.
Wiki Page.
Before Strade, Ren was a fairly normal young adult, if isolated and lonely. He, by his own admission, had no friends and he believed his family hated him. He was nervous, timid, and generally didn't do well around other people. Nonetheless, Ren craved both friends and meaningful bonds. He went out of his way to try and meet a date and was genuinely upset when he was stood up. He was a hopeless romantic, delighting in magical girl anime and romance films. Despite his timidness, Ren was a kind person. He was trusting enough to follow Strade to what he believed was the bar bathroom, even though he really had no idea who the man was. He was nurturing, risking Strade's wrath to provide the victims in the basement a little bit of care. He took care of Strade, kept him from getting too worked up and going too far.
However, Ren was nowhere near perfect before he met Strade. Ren was, in the kindest way to put it, spineless. Protecting his own life was important to him and he placed his survival above all else. Yes, he would go into the basement to provide some aid and comfort to Strade's victims, but he would not risk freeing them and endangering himself. It was this spinelessness that caused Strade to become so interested in him in the first place. In the interest of self-protection, Ren obeyed Strade to a T. He must have because at some point the young man earned (monitored) internet privileges and free reign on the second floor of the house. Eventually, it wasn't just the shock collar on Ren's neck but a sense of loyalty that kept him doing as he was told.
There is no doubt that Ren developed severe Stockholm Syndrome during his time in Strade's 'care'. A combination of living in terror of being hurt and domesticity, affection, and being spoiled created a lot of confusion for Ren. At some point, he drew the conclusion that Strade loved him, though the man never actually said it. Strade hurt him, yes, but he took care of Ren too. Strade gave Ren whatever he wanted and in return Ren cooked, cleaned, and generally tended to his captor. The terrible things Strade did: Cutting Ren up, forcing him to take part in murder or watch his live streams, general violence for Strade's amusement...they were just another aspect of the man. His own special brand of love.
Ren after Strade is the warping and poisoning of a good person made manifest. No longer is the timid and shy, but now cheerful and confident. He seems to come more into himself after Strade's death, going so far as to reflect this newfound confidence by discarding his glasses and switching to contacts. He knowingly embraced the fact that he was 'cute', and learned to use it to his advantage.
Ren is less moral now than he was before. Where he seemed to hold guilt for the thing Strade did to his victims before, now he easily plans a kidnapping and drugs a drink just like Strade did, seeing nothing wrong with doing so. When MC appears and drinks the drugged drink instead of Lawrence, Ren happily changes his plans, dragging an innocent, unrelated person into his plans. Strade had taught him it was better to be flexible than to have a good plan, and he was excited at the chance to put it into action, to improvise on the spot. When MC stumbles into the alley, he easily lies and acts as if he has no idea why they are suddenly so sick, plying them with reassurances before they pass out. Upon MC waking up and panicking at finding themselves chained and collared, Ren deflects their concern, minimizes their worry as something trivial they would get over quickly. Hesitation in killing Lawrence is regarded not as a moral stance but as a personal failing born on not "hav[ing] the stomach for it". If Ren does it himself, he tortures Lawrence without a second thought, eventually disemboweling him. If not, he giddily watches as MC slits Lawrence's throat, praising them when it's done. He's manipulative, using affection and rewards to push MC toward doing what he wants.
However, the most prominent of his post-Strade behavior is that Ren developed a craving for control. He seeks out chances for control and doesn't hesitate to inflict pain to do so. Just getting to shock MC for their first act of disobedience, if they choose to do so, gives him such a power trip he turns around and feeds them from a dog bowl.
Inflicting pain and fear is no longer a terrible thing to him, and it's something he has come to enjoy for the sense of control it gives him.
But despite Ren's claims that Strade loved him and that Ren feels empty with him gone, he still harbors a lot of fear and pain. He holds huge amounts of fear and guilt over allowing Strade to die, though he was frozen by the memory of Strade's torture when he did so. Nightmares of Strade coming alive again for revenge are constant.
The truth is that Ren is still a sweet, friendly young man who just wants to find someone to love and be loved by in return. But, terrified of his past and refusing to face his trauma, he does what he can do to deny and escape it. His sadism is imitated, a weak mimicry of Strade was. Ren tries to be like him because he no longer remembers what it was like to be himself. Strade crawled inside of Ren and left pieces of himself to fester and rot; Ren doesn't know how to get them out and so instead he pretends he wants them there. He buries himself in layers of pretend behavior he's fooled himself into believing just to feel better. Truly, Ren isn't naturally very well suited to the cruel tormentor act, though he can become so if influenced enough.
The entire reason Ren plans to take Lawrence, even when he ends up taking MC instead, is that he's lonely. He wants someone by his side who cannot leave, who will love him unconditionally even if he has to force them to do so. He doesn't want to experience pain anymore.
Would you consider your character to be heroic? Why or why not?: Absolutely not. Ren is, to reiterate my earlier point, lacking in a spine. It's not that he's actively weasely or out to screw over anyone else, he just has very strong survival instincts. In the first game, he's willing to sneak down and nurse the MC's wounds a little but refuses to do anything to help them escape because it would be dangerous for him. If the MC tries to flee out the door, Ren yells for Strade, immediately giving them away and dooming them to death.
He's smart, but he's also small, so it's not hard to physically overtake him and this is something that his captivity with Strade taught him well. If someone has power over him, he will submit, or at least pretend to in order to stay alive and plan. Heroics are for the big and strong.
Powers/Abilities: Ren's own native powers are ones that come with his nature as a beastkin. A Beastkin is a creature born when a human with a magical ability or good luck is able to communicate with an animal and form a pact binding them together as one being and one family. The result is a creature that looks almost entirely like a human, save for animal features.
In specific, Ren is a fox beastkin, coming from a line of Japanese fox beastkin who were mistaken by humans for kitsune.
This grants Ren multiple features and abilities:
The features of a fox such as ears, tail, and retractable claws. He also bears markings of the bond made centuries ago, two triangular-shaped red spots on his cheeks. Ren is not capable of appearing more foxlike, only more human. As such, he is capable of hiding his ears and tail.
He also has better senses than a human, though they aren't as good as those of an actual animal. He can see better in the dark, hear higher pitches and further distances, and his sense of smell is quite a bit better. However, the sense of smell is entirely subconscious to spare his brain from being overloaded with information. As such he can't specifically pinpoint when someone is, say, sweating nervously or aroused or scared, but he reacts to it subconsciously.
He is also quicker than the average human, easily able to dodge and work around things such as (in the second game) MC kicking at him while he tries to use a knife on them. He is able to quickly react when jumped at or MC attempts to run, moving almost before they realize he has.
Ren also retains an animal enjoyment of raw meat along with normal food, such as chicken and human hearts. Also raw eggs. It's gross.
Inventory: Strade's knife and the clothes on his back.
Coterie: Vipers
Samples: 1, 2 (Earlier canon point)
I actually stopped playing Ren for a while in early 2020, so I also have a few threads that go past the 2-year requirement, but I feel they display other parts of Ren's personality. If the mods are willing to take them as just supplementary, I've linked them.
Ren is rescued from Strade's ghost, Ren has to fight yandere instincts (NSFW toward the end), Ren gets Factory Reset'd.
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twicebonded(no subject)
« « « Gullible » » »
« « « OOC INFORMATION
Name: Brie Age: 26 Contact: mackens @ plurk / replicates#2641 @ discord Timezone: EST |
« « « IC INFORMATION
Name: Ren Hana Door: Door Pass for Sub Canon: Boyfriend to Death 1 Canon Point: Game 1, pre-endings. Age: 19 Appearance: Smol fox. History: Content Warning for violence, kidnapping, torture, abuse, and captivity. History has been updated with newer information than previous app. Very little is known about Ren's life prior to canon's beginning, a few months previous. He was born to a Japanese beastkin mother in a secluded compound. After discovering that all of his non-beastkin siblings had been ki in what is suggested to be Alberta, Canada all alone. At nineteen, lonely and friendless, Ren arranged to meet a date at a pub. Despite his nervous excitement, he was stood up. Rather than leaving as soon as he realized, Ren chose to remain at the pub, dejected, and it was what happened next that would alter his life irrevocably. He caught the eye of a man named Strade. Strade approached him, coming over with a beer and some "I've seen some shit" stories, serving to cheer Ren up quite easily with his friendliness. The two spent hours chatting, Ren being lulled into a sense of comfort in a way he had not been in quite a while. It was during this an accident occurred: Strade spilled his beer on Ren, bringing their ongoing conversation to an abrupt close. Apologetically, Strade offered to lead Ren to the bathroom so he could clean up. Together the two went. Unfortunately for Ren, the ‘bathroom’ turned out to be a back door leading out of the bar. As it turned out, Ren’s new companion wasn’t just a cheerful bar patron, he was a serial killer. Weekly, Strade would go out to bars and pubs and wait for someone who caught his eye to come along, usually someone looking depressed or uncomfortable. When he’d found someone, he’d approach them under the guise of a friendly face concerned about someone looking down or troubled. Then he’d bring them home, either using force or through deception. Ren had been unlucky enough to be his chosen victim that night, and the young man meekly submitted with promises to be good right off the bat. His ears and tail, which he’d been able to hide until point, also revealed themselves, only intriguing the man more. Decidedly, Strade took him home. It’s not explicitly told how many days Ren spent in Strade’s basement being tortured. It’s likely less than his typical victim, because though Strade had every intention to kill him, Ren proved to be too interesting. He was rather spineless, noisy, and cried often, and Strade continued putting off finishing him off. Finally, he came to the realization that he didn't want to kill Ren. Instead, he gifted the young man with something: A shock collar built especially for him, with a perimeter set up around the house and a remote his captor kept on his person for easy use. He became Strade's 'pet', given anything and everything he wanted in exchange for enduring occasional torture at the hands of his sadistic captor. When he wasn't being hurt, it was almost like the two were simply roommates, Ren given free reign of the second floor of the suburban house they lived in. Ren lived with the knowledge that Strade was still bringing home victim after victim, none ever having the 'luck' he did, to be spared and simply kept instead. Strade would then stream these sessions on the deep web for money. It's implied in extra material that Ren was forced to join in on these sessions of torture at times, and it's confirmed within the game itself that he was forced to watch the videos Strade recorded of them in twisted 'movie nights'. Ren's life continued like this for months, simple duties such as cooking and keeping the house clean interspersed with an increasing numbers of scars, trauma, and growing stockholm syndrome. Personality: Before Strade, Ren was a fairly normal young adult, if isolated and lonely. He, by his own admission, has no friends and his family didn't really like him very much. He's nervous, timid, and generally doesn't do well around other people. Nonetheless, Ren craves both friends and meaningful bonds. He went out of his way to try and meet a date, and was genuinely upset when he was stood up. He's a hopeless romantic, delighting in magical girl anime and romance films. Despite his timidness, Ren is a kind person. He was trusting enough to follow Strade to what he believed was the bar bathroom, even though he really had no idea who the man was. He was nurturing, risking Strade's wrath to provide the victims in the basement a little bit of care. He took care of Strade, kept him from getting too worked up and going too far. However, Ren was nowhere near perfect before he met Strade. Ren was, in the kindest way to put it, spineless. Whether it's self-preservation or simply him being cowardly, protecting his own life was important to him and he placed his survival above all else. Yes, he would go into the basement to provide some aid and comfort to Strade's victims, but he would not risk freeing them and endangering himself. It was this spinelessness that caused Strade to become so interested in him in the first place. In the interest of self-protection, Ren obeyed Strade to a T. He must have, because at some point the young man earned (monitored) internet privileges and free reign on the second floor of the house. Eventually it wasn't just the shock collar on Ren's neck but a sense of loyalty that kept him doing as he was told. There is no doubt that Ren developed severe stockholm syndrome during his time in Strade's 'care'. A combination of living in terror of being hurt and domesticity, affection, and being spoiled created a lot of confusion for Ren. At some point, he drew the conclusion that Strade loved him, though the man never actually said it. Strade hurt him, yes, but he took care of Ren too. Strade gave Ren whatever he wanted and in return Ren cooked, cleaned, and generally tended to his captor. The terrible things Strade did: Cutting Ren up, forcing him to take part in murder or watch his live streams, general violence for Strade's amusement...they were just another aspect of the man. His own special brand of love. Ren is less moral now than he was before. Although Ren's claims that Strade loves him, he stills harbors a lot of fear and pain in regards to the man. He holds huge amounts of fear over Strade. Nightmares of Strade coming after him will be constant. The truth is that Ren is still a sweet, friendly young man who just wants to find someone to be love and be loved by in return. But he's terrified of his past and refusing to face his ongoing trauma, he does what he can do deny and escape it. Ren's entire motivation is simply that he's lonely. He wants someone by his side who cannot leave, who will love him unconditionally. His desire for love and kindness is so strong that it makes him painfully gullible, as seen in one ending when MC is able to lure him in with claims of having a secret to tell him, only for Ren to be stabbed. Powers and Abilities: Ren's own native powers are ones that come with his nature as a beastkin. A Beastkin is a creature born when a human with magical ability or good luck is able to communicate with an animal and form a pact binding them together as one being and one family. The result is a creature that looks almost entirely like a human, save for animal features. |
Entry tags:
i follow my heart through it all [pidge];
[ When it comes time to leave Duplicity, an offer is made:
Ren and Pidge can return to a world together, but LIES has no control over which one it is. There was a good chance of memory loss for whoever's world it was, due to the time-jumping effect of going to an earlier point.
They could end up back together in Pidge's world, somewhere new and better, where Ren had been wanting to go so badly. But there was the chance they'd end up in Ren's instead. It was a difficult decision. Ren had nothing waiting for him back home, but Pidge...
Still, it was a chance he'd been willing to take, and one that he'd be honestly shocked Pidge had. So he'd held her hand as tightly as he could and gone back with her.
Pidge is laid carefully on the couch. Whether she notices it right away or not, there's something metal and heavy around her neck. It's joined by a chain on her ankle, anchored into the wall. But other than that, it's clear her comfort was the focus when putting her on the couch, a blanket laid over her and a pillow tucked under her head. There's even a glass of water on the coffee table in front of her, the ice cubes floating in it betraying the short time it's been sitting there.
The living room is nice, almost picture-perfect. It's not huge, but not small either, a comfortably-sized room filled with plush white furniture. It could almost pass for a photo in a magazine ad.
Unluckily for both of them, their gamble hadn't paid off-- they'd returned to Ren's world.
Right back to the moment before Ren's own 'journey' had started, waiting for the person he'd brought from the Jackalope to awaken.
He can be heard hurrying around in the kitchen, nails clicking on the hardwood floors as the smell of cooking meat wafts through the house. He hums a tune to himself but keeps one ear perked for the sound of Pidge waking up. ]
Ren and Pidge can return to a world together, but LIES has no control over which one it is. There was a good chance of memory loss for whoever's world it was, due to the time-jumping effect of going to an earlier point.
They could end up back together in Pidge's world, somewhere new and better, where Ren had been wanting to go so badly. But there was the chance they'd end up in Ren's instead. It was a difficult decision. Ren had nothing waiting for him back home, but Pidge...
Still, it was a chance he'd been willing to take, and one that he'd be honestly shocked Pidge had. So he'd held her hand as tightly as he could and gone back with her.
Pidge is laid carefully on the couch. Whether she notices it right away or not, there's something metal and heavy around her neck. It's joined by a chain on her ankle, anchored into the wall. But other than that, it's clear her comfort was the focus when putting her on the couch, a blanket laid over her and a pillow tucked under her head. There's even a glass of water on the coffee table in front of her, the ice cubes floating in it betraying the short time it's been sitting there.
The living room is nice, almost picture-perfect. It's not huge, but not small either, a comfortably-sized room filled with plush white furniture. It could almost pass for a photo in a magazine ad.
Unluckily for both of them, their gamble hadn't paid off-- they'd returned to Ren's world.
Right back to the moment before Ren's own 'journey' had started, waiting for the person he'd brought from the Jackalope to awaken.
He can be heard hurrying around in the kitchen, nails clicking on the hardwood floors as the smell of cooking meat wafts through the house. He hums a tune to himself but keeps one ear perked for the sound of Pidge waking up. ]
Entry tags:
!prismatica: info
▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: Brie
CONTACT: mackens @ plurk / replicates#2641 @ discord
OVER 18? yes!
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: none.
▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Ren Hana
CANON: Boyfriend to Death
CANON POINT: "Ren Won't Let You Die" ending, post Fort Harmony (CRAU).
AGE: 21
BACKGROUND:
Content Warning for violence, kidnapping, torture, abuse, and captivity.
Very little is known about Ren's life prior to canon's beginning, two years previously. He was born to Japanese beast-kin parents and at some point, either had a falling out with them or came to believe they hated him and found himself in what is suggested to be Alberta, Canada all alone. At nineteen, lonely and friendless, Ren arranged to meet a date at a pub. Despite his nervous excitement, he was stood up. Rather than leaving as soon as he realized, Ren chose to remain at the pub, dejected, and it was what happened next that would alter his life irrevocably.
He caught the eye of a man named Strade.
Strade approached him, coming over with a beer and some "I've seen some shit" stories, serving to cheer Ren up quite easily with his friendliness. The two spent hours chatting, Ren being lulled into a sense of comfort in a way he had not been in quite a while. It was during this an accident occurred: Strade spilled his beer on Ren, bringing their ongoing conversation to an abrupt close. Apologetically, Strade offered to lead Ren to the bathroom so he could clean up. Together the two went.
Unfortunately for Ren, the ‘bathroom’ turned out to be a back door leading out of the bar.
As it turned out, Ren’s new companion wasn’t just a cheerful bar patron, he was a serial killer. Weekly, Strade would go out to bars and pubs and wait for someone who caught his eye to come along, usually someone looking depressed or uncomfortable. When he’d found someone, he’d approach them under the guise of a friendly face concerned about someone looking down or troubled. Then he’d bring them home, either using force or through deception. Ren had been unlucky enough to be his chosen victim that night, and the young man meekly submitted with promises to be good right off the bat. His ears and tail, which he’d been able to hide until point, also revealed themselves, only intriguing the man more. Decidedly, Strade took him home.
It’s not explicitly told how many days Ren spent in Strade’s basement being tortured. It’s likely less than his typical victim, because though Strade had every intention to kill him, Ren proved to be too interesting. He was rather spineless, noisy, and cried often, and Strade continued putting off finishing him off. Finally, he came to the realization that he didn't want to kill Ren. Instead, he gifted the young man with something: A shock collar built especially for him, with a perimeter set up around the house and a remote his captor kept on his person for easy use. He became Strade's 'pet', given anything and everything he wanted in exchange for enduring occasional torture at the hands of his sadistic captor. When he wasn't being hurt, it was almost like the two were simply roommates, Ren given free reign of the second floor of the suburban house they lived in. Ren lived with the knowledge that Strade was still bringing home victim after victim, none ever having the 'luck' he did, to be spared and simply kept instead. Strade would then stream these sessions on the deep web for money. It's implied in extra material that Ren was forced to join in on these sessions of torture at times, and it's confirmed within the game itself that he was forced to watch the videos Strade recorded of them in twisted 'movie nights'.
Ren's life continued like this for two years, simple duties such as cooking and keeping the house clean interspersed with an increasing numbers of scars, trauma, and growing stockholm syndrome.
And then the unthinkable happened.
Strade, who had always delighted in leaving his victims somewhat loosely tied to give them the illusion of the ability to escape him, finally made a fatal mistake. The one who would be his last victim (the MC from the first game) got out of their bindings in the night and got their hands on one of his knives. Patiently, they waited until he let his guard down enough to strike. He struck them down, but not before taking a fatal neck wound of his own.
This is how Ren found him when he heard Strade calling for him down in the basement.
Strade demanded Ren's help with stopping the bleeding, too weak to do it himself. And Ren did nothing.
Strade begged him to help. And Ren did nothing.
Unable to stop thinking of all the things Strade had done to him, Ren stood aside and watched in a state of shock as Strade bled out.
Two years of a constant switch between being "taken care of" and hurt left Ren with severe trauma and a prominent case of stockholm syndrome. Believing that Strade had done what he did because he loved Ren, Ren chose to keep a piece of his 'owner'. He clawed Strade's heart from his body and devoured it, so that in doing so he'd always have a part of him. Then he stored the body in the meat freezer kept within the basement, stripping Strade's favorite shirt to keep and sleep with. He used the remote to remove his collar but kept it as a twisted memento. Despite being free, he didn't leave the house.
At some point very shortly after this, Ren is implied to have experienced a slow mental breakdown. Though he had free reign of the house and access to all of Strade's passwords and money, Ren grew lonely with no one else there. Strade's treatment of him followed by the mental break his death had brought had irrevocably altered how Ren thought, and he adapted the "weak people die, strong people live, and if you're strong you should just take what you want" mentality that Strade pushed. Mental state dangerously warped and no longer seeing the things Strade did as wrong, Ren turned to the internet, seeking out a "new friend" on strange websites where people discussed death as a fascination.
It was here he connected with Lawrence Oleander, a reclusive, shy young man with an affinity for plants and a dislike for people due to being treated as frightening and odd his entire life. The two seemed to hit it off, and for the next few weeks they chatted over the internet, eventually culminating in plans to meet up. Ren prepared everything in the house for what was meant to be the result of that night: His old shock collar ready as a hand-me-down gift, and a chain born into the wall of the living room, ready to keep the wearer restricted when need be. He left that night to meet Lawrence at the Jackalope, a pub in one of the nicer areas of the city.
It's here where the Boyfriend to Death 2 finally begins.
While Ren is in the bathroom right before he intends to leave with Lawrence, Lawrence is approached by the Main Character who is seeking the time. Ren emerged to find them speaking and went through the motions of introducing himself. Sensing the discomfort between the two, MC expressed concern for Ren, their first action that would set his sights on them. Waving their concern off, Ren insisted he get them all one last round of drinks for the night. At some point in doing so, he slipped a drug into Lawrence's drink, intending to take him home as his new "friend".
MC stirred things up again, and in a well-intended joke, snatched up Lawrence's drink and drank it instead. But if Ren had learned nothing else from Strade it was that it was better to be adaptable than to have a good plan. He rushed out of the bar with a quickly made excuse of it being late and avoided Lawrence, who rushed out after him. Instead, he hunkered down in the alley beside the pub and waited. Within minutes, MC ducked into the alley, fleeing from an angered Lawrence and weak from the drugs Ren had slipped into Lawrence's drink. Upon being noticed, he offered to help, assuring MC of their safety as they passed out in his arms.
As they slept, Ren whisked MC back to his house. Quickly, he put the shock collar on them and attached the chain driven into the wall to their ankle. He then set about waiting hours for them to wake up, cheerfully preparing a meal for when they finally did so.
Despite what was no doubt a terrifying situation for MC to awake to, Ren lucked out; they were agreeable and polite for the most part. Ren's somewhat-explanation that he had brought them with intent to become 'best friends' seemed to calm them enough that they didn't attempt to lash out at him. There was a minor hiccup when he freed them from the ankle chain to take them to their room and they attempted to flee, but a quick shock from the collar and some admonishment took care of it without a problem. After a confirmation that MC liked their new room, he left them to rest, planning the next part of his "initiation" excitedly.
The next morning he left the house to retrieve Lawrence, presumably under the guide of apologizing for rushing off so quickly the night before. However, Ren's intentions were much less kind, and he dragged Lawrence home bound and gagged, setting him up on a chair in the closet. Once it was ready, he called for MC and invited them to step inside.
It was then he revealed what his real plans were: He wanted MC to hurt and kill Lawrence and through his shared pain and death, they would have a bond deeper than anyone could imagine. It was yet another lesson taught to him by Strade, who believed that the only way you could see what someone was truly was like was inflicting pain and reducing them to a frightened, desperate animal. Pain was a way of bonding, something truly special when shared with another. And Ren, lonely and broken, craved a bond.
MC couldn't bring themselves to do it, begging Ren to allow them to do anything else. Yes, Lawrence had scared them after they left the bar by attacking and chasing them, but he didn't deserve something like this. Surprisingly, Ren agreed to do it for them, saying that it was "a little much" to be asking so soon. Once handed the knife, Ren began his torture of Lawrence, demanding MC tell him how they are feeling as he drove the knife into Lawrence's arm and then his leg.
It's once Ren gutted the man that MC finally blacked out from shock and he finishes Lawrence off.
He took MC back to the living room to rest, retreating to get cleaned up. However, alone and adrenaline running out, the gravity of what Ren did hit him. Killing someone, he realized, was not nearly as easy as he thought it'd be. It was different from when Strade forced him to take part.
Regretful, Ren returned to the living room to wait for MC to awaken. Both were subdued when they did, Ren admitting that he'd never killed someone before, not really.
To Ren's shock, MC called him out on this-- he said he's never really killed anyone, but they'd gone into the basement while he'd been out and found Strade's body. Ren nervously admitted to them that he had nothing to do with Strade's death, and when they inquired further, told them of Strade's habit of bringing "friends" home. The last one had gotten a knife during the night and they both died. It didn't explain the gaping hole in Strade's chest, but MC apparently realized that asking about that might not be such a good idea. As he continued, they said nothing, offering no criticism or words of comfort.
Finally, Ren seemed to calm down.
It didn't matter, he told MC, because he didn't need to worry about Strade anymore. He had MC now. And MC didn't need to worry about anything either.
They'd never leave him, and he'd never let them die.
He'd take care of them forever.
CRAU:
Shortly after finally settling into life with MC, Ren arrived in Duplicity. Following the rules of the city, he was named a Dominant. Ren delighted in this, as well as the way in which it allowed him access to better housing as well as privilege within society. IFor the most part, Ren stayed largely to himself, making casual acquaintances but never really hitting it off with someone enough to consider them a friend. This changed as his relationship with Pidge Gunderson grew.
The two had sparked up a casual friendship upon arrival to the city when Ren offered to have Pidge driven to her housing so she wasn't forced to ride the bus in a paper dress. This quickly turned into days spent together just hanging out and playing video games and discussing technology, and interest that they both shared in leaps and bounds.
A short time into his stay in Duplicity, the PCs were required to attend a party aboard a yacht. This yacht was used to encourage sexual activity, the food being laced with aphrodisiacs and plenty of alcohol around.
When the ship did not return to shore and everyone began to lose their solidity, Ren has the misfortune of going into heat/rut. He had a casual hookup with two other people, before he was discovered by Pidge. Returning to the room they had been assigned to share aboard the ship, Ren and Pidge shared their first time together.
Once back ashore it was made clear: Duplicity was expecting the PCs to begin forming their contracts or there would be consequences. After some consideration, Ren and Pidge decided to contract together. Not long after, on the anniversary of Strade's death, Ren finally confessed to her about his past.
Unbothered by Duplicity's rules and fairly happy, Ren continued within his role in the city with little issue for a few months. There were incidents with the PCs being influenced and their forms changed, but other than that, Ren kept out of trouble.
Eventually the peace was broken, and Ren was stolen from his bed alongside Pidge in the middle of the night. LIEs rounded all the PCs up and send them off to Fort Harmony, a boot camp designed to push everyone into both contracting, sexual activity, and complying with the Dom/Sub rules of the city.
During all this, Ren began to slowly try to form friendships with other people within Fort Harmony, as he had largely kept to himself. He succeeded in developing a casual acquaintanceship with Hannibal Lecter, not at all hindered by Ren's later attempts to rip the man's throat out under the influence of Duplicity's drugs. He even met Shiro and Keith, two of Pidge's fellow Paladins!
After about two weeks, officials from the city of Veracity arrived, publicly executing Doms and Subs that were not falling in line with the laws they were expected to live by. They were used as an example, in a far more brutal manner than Duplicity approved of, for the PCs. This was followed up with a few days of 'events', consisting of a Fox Hunt where Doms hunted down Subs, as well as tests on things like bondage.
Then Fort Harmony was attacked by unknown forces, giving the PCs a chance to run. Ren grabbed Pidge and headed north into the forest, where they met up with Pidge's friends Shiro and Keith. They traveled through the forest for a few days before finally reaching the city again.
Ren slowly worked to adjust back to life in Duplicity, and began to plan on opening a maid cafe.
PERSONALITY: To really understand Ren, one has to consider him in two ways: Ren before Strade and Ren after Strade.
Before Strade, Ren was a fairly normal young adult, if isolated and lonely. He, by his own admission, had no friends and his family didn't really like him very much. He was a nervous, timid, and generally didn't do well around other people. Nonetheless, Ren craved both friends and meaningful bonds. He went out of his way to try and meet a date and was genuinely upset when he was stood up. He was a hopeless romantic, delighting in magical girl anime and romance films. Despite his timidness, Ren was a kind person. He was trusting enough to follow Strade to what he believed was the bar bathroom, even though he really had no idea who the man was. He was nurturing, risking Strade's wrath to provide the victims in the basement a little bit of care. He took care of Strade, kept him from getting too worked up and going too far.
However, Ren was nowhere near perfect before he met Strade. Ren was, in the kindest way to put it, spineless. Protecting his own life was important to him and he placed his survival above all else. Yes, he would go into the basement to provide some aid and comfort to Strade's victims, but he would not risk freeing them and endangering himself. It was this spinelessness that caused Strade to become so interested in him in the first place. In the interest of self-protection, Ren obeyed Strade to a T. He must have, because at some point the young man earned (monitored) internet privileges and free reign on the second floor of the house. Eventually, it wasn't just the shock collar on Ren's neck but a sense of loyalty that kept him doing as he was told.
There is no doubt that Ren developed severe Stockholm Syndrome during his time in Strade's 'care'. A combination of living in terror of being hurt and domesticity, affection, and being spoiled created a lot of confusion for Ren. At some point, he drew the conclusion that Strade loved him, though the man never actually said it. Strade hurt him, yes, but he took care of Ren too. Strade gave Ren whatever he wanted and in return Ren cooked, cleaned, and generally tended to his captor. The terrible things Strade did: Cutting Ren up, forcing him to take part in murder or watch his live streams, general violence for Strade's amusement...they were just another aspect of the man. His own special brand of love.
Ren after Strade is the warping and poisoning of a good person made manifest. No longer is he timid and shy, but now cheerful and confident. He seems to come more into himself after Strade's death, going so far as to reflect this newfound confidence by discarding his glasses and switching to contacts. He knowingly embraced the fact that he was 'cute', and learned to use it to his advantage.
Ren is less moral now than he was before. Where he seemed to hold guilt for the thing Strade did to his victims before, now he easily plans a kidnapping and drugs a drink just like Strade did, seeing nothing wrong with doing so. When MC appears and drinks the drugged drink instead of Lawrence, Ren happily changes his plans, dragging an innocent, unrelated person into his plans. Strade had taught him it was better to be flexible than to have a good plan, and he was excited at the chance to put it into action, to improvise on the spot. When MC stumbles into the alley, he easily lies and acts as if he has no idea why they are suddenly so sick, plying them with reassurances before they pass out. Upon MC waking up and panicking at finding themselves chained and collared, Ren deflects their concern, minimizes their worry as something trivial they would get over quickly. Hesitation in killing Lawrence is regarded not as a moral stance but as a personal failing born on not "hav[ing] the stomach for it". If Ren does it himself, he tortures Lawrence without a second thought, eventually disemboweling him. If not, he giddily watches as MC slits Lawrence's throat, praising them when it's done. He's manipulative, using affection and rewards to push MC toward doing what he wants.
However, the most prominent of his post-Strade behavior is that Ren developed a craving for control. If MC allows him to go unchallenged for long enough while he feels positively toward them, that desire for control becomes true sadism and a taste for power. He seeks out chances for control and doesn't hesitate to inflict pain to do so. Just getting to shock MC for their first act of disobedience gives him such a power trip he turns around and feeds them from a dog bowl.
Inflicting pain and fear is no longer a terrible thing to him, and it's something he has come to enjoy for the sense of control it gives him.
But despite that Ren's claims that Strade loved him and that Ren feels empty with him gone, he stills harbors a lot of fear and pain in regards to the man. He holds huge amounts of fear and guilt over allowing Strade to die, though he was frozen by the memory of Strade's torture when he did so. Nightmares of Strade coming alive again for revenge are constant.
The truth is that Ren is still a sweet, friendly young man who just wants to find someone to be love and be loved by in return. But, terrified of his past and refusing to face his trauma, he does what he can do deny and escape it. His sadism is imitated, a weak mimicry of Strade was. Ren tries to be like him because he no longer remembers what it was like to be himself. Strade crawled inside of Ren and left pieces of himself to fester and rot; Ren doesn't know how to get them out and so instead he pretends he wants them there. He buries himself in layers of pretend behavior he's fooled himself into believing just to feel better. Truly, Ren isn't naturally very well suited to the cruel tormentor act. If the MC is dominant over him rather than letting and expresses a desire for love or sex, he happily returns to his place as someone else's 'pet'.
The entire reason Ren plans to take Lawrence, even when he ends up taking MC instead, is that he's lonely. He wants someone by his side who cannot leave, who will love him unconditionally even if he has to force them to do so. He doesn't want to experience pain anymore.
CRAU Changes:
The biggest change Ren has experienced as a result of his time in Duplicity is the ones brought by Pidge, who was acting as his Submissive.
Though they started out as casual friends who simply hung out and played video games together, eventually Ren grew fond of her. Ren forms attachments quickly, so it wasn't a surprise, but just how much he valued her opinion and feelings did. When his behavior began to go in the way of possessive or controlling, Pidge would put her foot down and bring it to a stop. She would not quietly let him get away with doing whatever he wanted the way that someone less willful might. Having his behavior called out and brought to a stop send a message to Ren, and it was one that stuck. As a result, he's calmed down over time, making an active effort to keep himself in check. He's learned to reign himself in and recognize when he's getting out of line.
An even more important change that she's wrought in him is the slow undoing of the toxic mentality that Strade left Ren with. Where Strade left Ren convinced that his abuse was, ultimately, a sign of love and that pain and suffering needed to be shared for two people to bond, Pidge has proven that to be completely untrue. She accepted himself despite the awful past he divulged to her, and irregardless of the things he had done under Strade's rule.
Simply by being shown that he can love and be loved without having to hurt anyone, Ren is slowly beginning to realize that Strade was wrong. Little by little, he's beginning to heal.
POWERS/ABILITIES:
Ren's own native powers are ones that come with his nature as a beastkin. A Beastkin is a creature born when a human with magical ability or good luck is able to communicate with an animal and form a pact binding them together as one being and one family. The result is a creature that looks almost entirely like a human, save for animal features.
In specific, Ren is a fox beastkin, coming from a line of Japanese fox beastkin who were mistaken by humans for kitsune.
This grants Ren multiple features and abilities:
The features of a fox such as ears, tail, and retractable claws. He also bears markings of the bond made centuries ago, two triangular-shaped red spots on his cheeks. Ren is not capabale of appearing more foxlike, only more human. As such, he is capable of hiding his ears and tail.
He also has better senses than a human, though they aren't as good as those of an actual animal. He can see better in the dark, hear higher pitches and further distances, and his sense of smell is quite a bit better. However, the sense of smell is entirely subconscious to spare his brain from being overloaded with information. As such he can't specifically pinpoint when someone is, say, sweating nervously or aroused or scared, but he reacts to it subconsciously.
He also quicker than the average human, easily able to dodge and work around things such as MC kicking at him while he tries to use a knife on them in another path. He is able to quickly react when jumped at or MC attempts to run, moving almost before they realize he has.
Ren also retains an animal enjoyment of raw meat along with normal food, such as chicken and human hearts. Also raw eggs. Gross.
INVENTORY: Strade's knife, his glasses, Strade's shirt.
MOONBLESSING: Cordis.
HANDLE: Brie
CONTACT: mackens @ plurk / replicates#2641 @ discord
OVER 18? yes!
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: none.
▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Ren Hana
CANON: Boyfriend to Death
CANON POINT: "Ren Won't Let You Die" ending, post Fort Harmony (CRAU).
AGE: 21
BACKGROUND:
Content Warning for violence, kidnapping, torture, abuse, and captivity.
Very little is known about Ren's life prior to canon's beginning, two years previously. He was born to Japanese beast-kin parents and at some point, either had a falling out with them or came to believe they hated him and found himself in what is suggested to be Alberta, Canada all alone. At nineteen, lonely and friendless, Ren arranged to meet a date at a pub. Despite his nervous excitement, he was stood up. Rather than leaving as soon as he realized, Ren chose to remain at the pub, dejected, and it was what happened next that would alter his life irrevocably.
He caught the eye of a man named Strade.
Strade approached him, coming over with a beer and some "I've seen some shit" stories, serving to cheer Ren up quite easily with his friendliness. The two spent hours chatting, Ren being lulled into a sense of comfort in a way he had not been in quite a while. It was during this an accident occurred: Strade spilled his beer on Ren, bringing their ongoing conversation to an abrupt close. Apologetically, Strade offered to lead Ren to the bathroom so he could clean up. Together the two went.
Unfortunately for Ren, the ‘bathroom’ turned out to be a back door leading out of the bar.
As it turned out, Ren’s new companion wasn’t just a cheerful bar patron, he was a serial killer. Weekly, Strade would go out to bars and pubs and wait for someone who caught his eye to come along, usually someone looking depressed or uncomfortable. When he’d found someone, he’d approach them under the guise of a friendly face concerned about someone looking down or troubled. Then he’d bring them home, either using force or through deception. Ren had been unlucky enough to be his chosen victim that night, and the young man meekly submitted with promises to be good right off the bat. His ears and tail, which he’d been able to hide until point, also revealed themselves, only intriguing the man more. Decidedly, Strade took him home.
It’s not explicitly told how many days Ren spent in Strade’s basement being tortured. It’s likely less than his typical victim, because though Strade had every intention to kill him, Ren proved to be too interesting. He was rather spineless, noisy, and cried often, and Strade continued putting off finishing him off. Finally, he came to the realization that he didn't want to kill Ren. Instead, he gifted the young man with something: A shock collar built especially for him, with a perimeter set up around the house and a remote his captor kept on his person for easy use. He became Strade's 'pet', given anything and everything he wanted in exchange for enduring occasional torture at the hands of his sadistic captor. When he wasn't being hurt, it was almost like the two were simply roommates, Ren given free reign of the second floor of the suburban house they lived in. Ren lived with the knowledge that Strade was still bringing home victim after victim, none ever having the 'luck' he did, to be spared and simply kept instead. Strade would then stream these sessions on the deep web for money. It's implied in extra material that Ren was forced to join in on these sessions of torture at times, and it's confirmed within the game itself that he was forced to watch the videos Strade recorded of them in twisted 'movie nights'.
Ren's life continued like this for two years, simple duties such as cooking and keeping the house clean interspersed with an increasing numbers of scars, trauma, and growing stockholm syndrome.
And then the unthinkable happened.
Strade, who had always delighted in leaving his victims somewhat loosely tied to give them the illusion of the ability to escape him, finally made a fatal mistake. The one who would be his last victim (the MC from the first game) got out of their bindings in the night and got their hands on one of his knives. Patiently, they waited until he let his guard down enough to strike. He struck them down, but not before taking a fatal neck wound of his own.
This is how Ren found him when he heard Strade calling for him down in the basement.
Strade demanded Ren's help with stopping the bleeding, too weak to do it himself. And Ren did nothing.
Strade begged him to help. And Ren did nothing.
Unable to stop thinking of all the things Strade had done to him, Ren stood aside and watched in a state of shock as Strade bled out.
Two years of a constant switch between being "taken care of" and hurt left Ren with severe trauma and a prominent case of stockholm syndrome. Believing that Strade had done what he did because he loved Ren, Ren chose to keep a piece of his 'owner'. He clawed Strade's heart from his body and devoured it, so that in doing so he'd always have a part of him. Then he stored the body in the meat freezer kept within the basement, stripping Strade's favorite shirt to keep and sleep with. He used the remote to remove his collar but kept it as a twisted memento. Despite being free, he didn't leave the house.
At some point very shortly after this, Ren is implied to have experienced a slow mental breakdown. Though he had free reign of the house and access to all of Strade's passwords and money, Ren grew lonely with no one else there. Strade's treatment of him followed by the mental break his death had brought had irrevocably altered how Ren thought, and he adapted the "weak people die, strong people live, and if you're strong you should just take what you want" mentality that Strade pushed. Mental state dangerously warped and no longer seeing the things Strade did as wrong, Ren turned to the internet, seeking out a "new friend" on strange websites where people discussed death as a fascination.
It was here he connected with Lawrence Oleander, a reclusive, shy young man with an affinity for plants and a dislike for people due to being treated as frightening and odd his entire life. The two seemed to hit it off, and for the next few weeks they chatted over the internet, eventually culminating in plans to meet up. Ren prepared everything in the house for what was meant to be the result of that night: His old shock collar ready as a hand-me-down gift, and a chain born into the wall of the living room, ready to keep the wearer restricted when need be. He left that night to meet Lawrence at the Jackalope, a pub in one of the nicer areas of the city.
It's here where the Boyfriend to Death 2 finally begins.
While Ren is in the bathroom right before he intends to leave with Lawrence, Lawrence is approached by the Main Character who is seeking the time. Ren emerged to find them speaking and went through the motions of introducing himself. Sensing the discomfort between the two, MC expressed concern for Ren, their first action that would set his sights on them. Waving their concern off, Ren insisted he get them all one last round of drinks for the night. At some point in doing so, he slipped a drug into Lawrence's drink, intending to take him home as his new "friend".
MC stirred things up again, and in a well-intended joke, snatched up Lawrence's drink and drank it instead. But if Ren had learned nothing else from Strade it was that it was better to be adaptable than to have a good plan. He rushed out of the bar with a quickly made excuse of it being late and avoided Lawrence, who rushed out after him. Instead, he hunkered down in the alley beside the pub and waited. Within minutes, MC ducked into the alley, fleeing from an angered Lawrence and weak from the drugs Ren had slipped into Lawrence's drink. Upon being noticed, he offered to help, assuring MC of their safety as they passed out in his arms.
As they slept, Ren whisked MC back to his house. Quickly, he put the shock collar on them and attached the chain driven into the wall to their ankle. He then set about waiting hours for them to wake up, cheerfully preparing a meal for when they finally did so.
Despite what was no doubt a terrifying situation for MC to awake to, Ren lucked out; they were agreeable and polite for the most part. Ren's somewhat-explanation that he had brought them with intent to become 'best friends' seemed to calm them enough that they didn't attempt to lash out at him. There was a minor hiccup when he freed them from the ankle chain to take them to their room and they attempted to flee, but a quick shock from the collar and some admonishment took care of it without a problem. After a confirmation that MC liked their new room, he left them to rest, planning the next part of his "initiation" excitedly.
The next morning he left the house to retrieve Lawrence, presumably under the guide of apologizing for rushing off so quickly the night before. However, Ren's intentions were much less kind, and he dragged Lawrence home bound and gagged, setting him up on a chair in the closet. Once it was ready, he called for MC and invited them to step inside.
It was then he revealed what his real plans were: He wanted MC to hurt and kill Lawrence and through his shared pain and death, they would have a bond deeper than anyone could imagine. It was yet another lesson taught to him by Strade, who believed that the only way you could see what someone was truly was like was inflicting pain and reducing them to a frightened, desperate animal. Pain was a way of bonding, something truly special when shared with another. And Ren, lonely and broken, craved a bond.
MC couldn't bring themselves to do it, begging Ren to allow them to do anything else. Yes, Lawrence had scared them after they left the bar by attacking and chasing them, but he didn't deserve something like this. Surprisingly, Ren agreed to do it for them, saying that it was "a little much" to be asking so soon. Once handed the knife, Ren began his torture of Lawrence, demanding MC tell him how they are feeling as he drove the knife into Lawrence's arm and then his leg.
It's once Ren gutted the man that MC finally blacked out from shock and he finishes Lawrence off.
He took MC back to the living room to rest, retreating to get cleaned up. However, alone and adrenaline running out, the gravity of what Ren did hit him. Killing someone, he realized, was not nearly as easy as he thought it'd be. It was different from when Strade forced him to take part.
Regretful, Ren returned to the living room to wait for MC to awaken. Both were subdued when they did, Ren admitting that he'd never killed someone before, not really.
To Ren's shock, MC called him out on this-- he said he's never really killed anyone, but they'd gone into the basement while he'd been out and found Strade's body. Ren nervously admitted to them that he had nothing to do with Strade's death, and when they inquired further, told them of Strade's habit of bringing "friends" home. The last one had gotten a knife during the night and they both died. It didn't explain the gaping hole in Strade's chest, but MC apparently realized that asking about that might not be such a good idea. As he continued, they said nothing, offering no criticism or words of comfort.
Finally, Ren seemed to calm down.
It didn't matter, he told MC, because he didn't need to worry about Strade anymore. He had MC now. And MC didn't need to worry about anything either.
They'd never leave him, and he'd never let them die.
He'd take care of them forever.
CRAU:
Shortly after finally settling into life with MC, Ren arrived in Duplicity. Following the rules of the city, he was named a Dominant. Ren delighted in this, as well as the way in which it allowed him access to better housing as well as privilege within society. IFor the most part, Ren stayed largely to himself, making casual acquaintances but never really hitting it off with someone enough to consider them a friend. This changed as his relationship with Pidge Gunderson grew.
The two had sparked up a casual friendship upon arrival to the city when Ren offered to have Pidge driven to her housing so she wasn't forced to ride the bus in a paper dress. This quickly turned into days spent together just hanging out and playing video games and discussing technology, and interest that they both shared in leaps and bounds.
A short time into his stay in Duplicity, the PCs were required to attend a party aboard a yacht. This yacht was used to encourage sexual activity, the food being laced with aphrodisiacs and plenty of alcohol around.
When the ship did not return to shore and everyone began to lose their solidity, Ren has the misfortune of going into heat/rut. He had a casual hookup with two other people, before he was discovered by Pidge. Returning to the room they had been assigned to share aboard the ship, Ren and Pidge shared their first time together.
Once back ashore it was made clear: Duplicity was expecting the PCs to begin forming their contracts or there would be consequences. After some consideration, Ren and Pidge decided to contract together. Not long after, on the anniversary of Strade's death, Ren finally confessed to her about his past.
Unbothered by Duplicity's rules and fairly happy, Ren continued within his role in the city with little issue for a few months. There were incidents with the PCs being influenced and their forms changed, but other than that, Ren kept out of trouble.
Eventually the peace was broken, and Ren was stolen from his bed alongside Pidge in the middle of the night. LIEs rounded all the PCs up and send them off to Fort Harmony, a boot camp designed to push everyone into both contracting, sexual activity, and complying with the Dom/Sub rules of the city.
During all this, Ren began to slowly try to form friendships with other people within Fort Harmony, as he had largely kept to himself. He succeeded in developing a casual acquaintanceship with Hannibal Lecter, not at all hindered by Ren's later attempts to rip the man's throat out under the influence of Duplicity's drugs. He even met Shiro and Keith, two of Pidge's fellow Paladins!
After about two weeks, officials from the city of Veracity arrived, publicly executing Doms and Subs that were not falling in line with the laws they were expected to live by. They were used as an example, in a far more brutal manner than Duplicity approved of, for the PCs. This was followed up with a few days of 'events', consisting of a Fox Hunt where Doms hunted down Subs, as well as tests on things like bondage.
Then Fort Harmony was attacked by unknown forces, giving the PCs a chance to run. Ren grabbed Pidge and headed north into the forest, where they met up with Pidge's friends Shiro and Keith. They traveled through the forest for a few days before finally reaching the city again.
Ren slowly worked to adjust back to life in Duplicity, and began to plan on opening a maid cafe.
PERSONALITY: To really understand Ren, one has to consider him in two ways: Ren before Strade and Ren after Strade.
Before Strade, Ren was a fairly normal young adult, if isolated and lonely. He, by his own admission, had no friends and his family didn't really like him very much. He was a nervous, timid, and generally didn't do well around other people. Nonetheless, Ren craved both friends and meaningful bonds. He went out of his way to try and meet a date and was genuinely upset when he was stood up. He was a hopeless romantic, delighting in magical girl anime and romance films. Despite his timidness, Ren was a kind person. He was trusting enough to follow Strade to what he believed was the bar bathroom, even though he really had no idea who the man was. He was nurturing, risking Strade's wrath to provide the victims in the basement a little bit of care. He took care of Strade, kept him from getting too worked up and going too far.
However, Ren was nowhere near perfect before he met Strade. Ren was, in the kindest way to put it, spineless. Protecting his own life was important to him and he placed his survival above all else. Yes, he would go into the basement to provide some aid and comfort to Strade's victims, but he would not risk freeing them and endangering himself. It was this spinelessness that caused Strade to become so interested in him in the first place. In the interest of self-protection, Ren obeyed Strade to a T. He must have, because at some point the young man earned (monitored) internet privileges and free reign on the second floor of the house. Eventually, it wasn't just the shock collar on Ren's neck but a sense of loyalty that kept him doing as he was told.
There is no doubt that Ren developed severe Stockholm Syndrome during his time in Strade's 'care'. A combination of living in terror of being hurt and domesticity, affection, and being spoiled created a lot of confusion for Ren. At some point, he drew the conclusion that Strade loved him, though the man never actually said it. Strade hurt him, yes, but he took care of Ren too. Strade gave Ren whatever he wanted and in return Ren cooked, cleaned, and generally tended to his captor. The terrible things Strade did: Cutting Ren up, forcing him to take part in murder or watch his live streams, general violence for Strade's amusement...they were just another aspect of the man. His own special brand of love.
Ren after Strade is the warping and poisoning of a good person made manifest. No longer is he timid and shy, but now cheerful and confident. He seems to come more into himself after Strade's death, going so far as to reflect this newfound confidence by discarding his glasses and switching to contacts. He knowingly embraced the fact that he was 'cute', and learned to use it to his advantage.
Ren is less moral now than he was before. Where he seemed to hold guilt for the thing Strade did to his victims before, now he easily plans a kidnapping and drugs a drink just like Strade did, seeing nothing wrong with doing so. When MC appears and drinks the drugged drink instead of Lawrence, Ren happily changes his plans, dragging an innocent, unrelated person into his plans. Strade had taught him it was better to be flexible than to have a good plan, and he was excited at the chance to put it into action, to improvise on the spot. When MC stumbles into the alley, he easily lies and acts as if he has no idea why they are suddenly so sick, plying them with reassurances before they pass out. Upon MC waking up and panicking at finding themselves chained and collared, Ren deflects their concern, minimizes their worry as something trivial they would get over quickly. Hesitation in killing Lawrence is regarded not as a moral stance but as a personal failing born on not "hav[ing] the stomach for it". If Ren does it himself, he tortures Lawrence without a second thought, eventually disemboweling him. If not, he giddily watches as MC slits Lawrence's throat, praising them when it's done. He's manipulative, using affection and rewards to push MC toward doing what he wants.
However, the most prominent of his post-Strade behavior is that Ren developed a craving for control. If MC allows him to go unchallenged for long enough while he feels positively toward them, that desire for control becomes true sadism and a taste for power. He seeks out chances for control and doesn't hesitate to inflict pain to do so. Just getting to shock MC for their first act of disobedience gives him such a power trip he turns around and feeds them from a dog bowl.
Inflicting pain and fear is no longer a terrible thing to him, and it's something he has come to enjoy for the sense of control it gives him.
But despite that Ren's claims that Strade loved him and that Ren feels empty with him gone, he stills harbors a lot of fear and pain in regards to the man. He holds huge amounts of fear and guilt over allowing Strade to die, though he was frozen by the memory of Strade's torture when he did so. Nightmares of Strade coming alive again for revenge are constant.
The truth is that Ren is still a sweet, friendly young man who just wants to find someone to be love and be loved by in return. But, terrified of his past and refusing to face his trauma, he does what he can do deny and escape it. His sadism is imitated, a weak mimicry of Strade was. Ren tries to be like him because he no longer remembers what it was like to be himself. Strade crawled inside of Ren and left pieces of himself to fester and rot; Ren doesn't know how to get them out and so instead he pretends he wants them there. He buries himself in layers of pretend behavior he's fooled himself into believing just to feel better. Truly, Ren isn't naturally very well suited to the cruel tormentor act. If the MC is dominant over him rather than letting and expresses a desire for love or sex, he happily returns to his place as someone else's 'pet'.
The entire reason Ren plans to take Lawrence, even when he ends up taking MC instead, is that he's lonely. He wants someone by his side who cannot leave, who will love him unconditionally even if he has to force them to do so. He doesn't want to experience pain anymore.
CRAU Changes:
The biggest change Ren has experienced as a result of his time in Duplicity is the ones brought by Pidge, who was acting as his Submissive.
Though they started out as casual friends who simply hung out and played video games together, eventually Ren grew fond of her. Ren forms attachments quickly, so it wasn't a surprise, but just how much he valued her opinion and feelings did. When his behavior began to go in the way of possessive or controlling, Pidge would put her foot down and bring it to a stop. She would not quietly let him get away with doing whatever he wanted the way that someone less willful might. Having his behavior called out and brought to a stop send a message to Ren, and it was one that stuck. As a result, he's calmed down over time, making an active effort to keep himself in check. He's learned to reign himself in and recognize when he's getting out of line.
An even more important change that she's wrought in him is the slow undoing of the toxic mentality that Strade left Ren with. Where Strade left Ren convinced that his abuse was, ultimately, a sign of love and that pain and suffering needed to be shared for two people to bond, Pidge has proven that to be completely untrue. She accepted himself despite the awful past he divulged to her, and irregardless of the things he had done under Strade's rule.
Simply by being shown that he can love and be loved without having to hurt anyone, Ren is slowly beginning to realize that Strade was wrong. Little by little, he's beginning to heal.
POWERS/ABILITIES:
Ren's own native powers are ones that come with his nature as a beastkin. A Beastkin is a creature born when a human with magical ability or good luck is able to communicate with an animal and form a pact binding them together as one being and one family. The result is a creature that looks almost entirely like a human, save for animal features.
In specific, Ren is a fox beastkin, coming from a line of Japanese fox beastkin who were mistaken by humans for kitsune.
This grants Ren multiple features and abilities:
The features of a fox such as ears, tail, and retractable claws. He also bears markings of the bond made centuries ago, two triangular-shaped red spots on his cheeks. Ren is not capabale of appearing more foxlike, only more human. As such, he is capable of hiding his ears and tail.
He also has better senses than a human, though they aren't as good as those of an actual animal. He can see better in the dark, hear higher pitches and further distances, and his sense of smell is quite a bit better. However, the sense of smell is entirely subconscious to spare his brain from being overloaded with information. As such he can't specifically pinpoint when someone is, say, sweating nervously or aroused or scared, but he reacts to it subconsciously.
He also quicker than the average human, easily able to dodge and work around things such as MC kicking at him while he tries to use a knife on them in another path. He is able to quickly react when jumped at or MC attempts to run, moving almost before they realize he has.
Ren also retains an animal enjoyment of raw meat along with normal food, such as chicken and human hearts. Also raw eggs. Gross.
INVENTORY: Strade's knife, his glasses, Strade's shirt.
MOONBLESSING: Cordis.
Entry tags:
!prismatica: permissions + kinks
INFO
IC
OOC
NAME Ren Hana
CANON Boyfriend to Death 2: Fresh Blood
CANON POINT post-Ren Won't Let You Die ending.
INFO link
MOONBLESSING Cordis
AGE 21
SPECIES Fox beastkin.
GENDER Male.
APPEARANCE link
HEIGHT 5'.
BUILD Small and lithe.
HAIR Red/Orange.
EYES Golden.
VOICE link
FEATURES No tattoos, multiple scars from knife wounds. Noteworthy on face, chest, arms.
PLAYER Brie
TIMEZONE EST
CONTACT replicates#2641,![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
mackens
CANON Boyfriend to Death 2: Fresh Blood
CANON POINT post-Ren Won't Let You Die ending.
INFO link
MOONBLESSING Cordis
AGE 21
SPECIES Fox beastkin.
GENDER Male.
APPEARANCE link
HEIGHT 5'.
BUILD Small and lithe.
HAIR Red/Orange.
EYES Golden.
VOICE link
FEATURES No tattoos, multiple scars from knife wounds. Noteworthy on face, chest, arms.
PLAYER Brie
TIMEZONE EST
CONTACT replicates#2641,
HUGGING
yes
KISSING
yes, but he has a girlfriend so he might be opposed
FLIRTING
yes
ROMANCE
yes, but he's currently in a relationship
SEX
yes, see above
FIGHTING
yes
INJURY
yes
DEATH
yes
MIND-READING
yes
MANIPULATION
yes
OTHER
n/a!
yes
KISSING
yes, but he has a girlfriend so he might be opposed
FLIRTING
yes
ROMANCE
yes, but he's currently in a relationship
SEX
yes, see above
FIGHTING
yes
INJURY
yes
DEATH
yes
MIND-READING
yes
MANIPULATION
yes
OTHER
n/a!
BACKTAGGING
yes
THREADHOPPING
yes
FOURTHWALLING
no
CRAU
Go ahead!
OFF-LIMITS
Nothing.
OTHER
n/a!
OPT IN
Please comment to this post if you are okay with threading sexual themes or scenarios with this character. (Required section for characters who are under 18 years old.)
yes
THREADHOPPING
yes
FOURTHWALLING
no
CRAU
Go ahead!
OFF-LIMITS
Nothing.
OTHER
n/a!
OPT IN
Please comment to this post if you are okay with threading sexual themes or scenarios with this character. (Required section for characters who are under 18 years old.)
FAVORITE
MAYBE
NO
ASK
- consensual non-consent
- general torture
- anything you're unsure of
Entry tags:
!prismatica; ic inbox
Inbox
video
⬤ audio
⬤ text
⬤ delivery
character name ⬤ canon
residential district ⬤ text
moonblessing ⬤ text
residential district ⬤ text
moonblessing ⬤ text
you turned the ones you love into the angriest mob; [Pidge]
[ Despite typically trying to keep himself distances from Strade's...'activities', Ren pretty much always knows what's going on in the house. Really, Strade is more than happy to regale him with the gruesome details when he has a new 'friend' over.
So once Strade's found Pidge in the basement, taking advantage of her unconscious state to get her tied to the pole, Ren's already aware that someone is here. Somehow, some way some unfortunate person has magically found themselves in Strade's basement.
Of course, Strade is kind enough to wait for Pidge to awaken on her own before he starts questioning her. After all, he wasn't in the habit of hurting kids, so Pidge presents...a problem. His basement is pretty damn obvious, what with the bloodstained floors and the excessive amounts of power tools. Sure he could just kill her but for her to be here, it meant she must have lived in the neighborhood and got in somehow. And if someone's kid went missing...
So with a frustrated sigh, he'd made his way back up the stairs, calling back that he'd talk with her more in the morning when he'd figured out what to do with her.
And so Pidge sits in silence for a few hours, only the occasional sounds of footsteps making it into the soundproofed basement.
But as the hours pass, something changes.
The basement door opens, but not with the enthusiastic force it normally does. It's slower, quiet. Like whoever is doing it doesn't want to draw attention to it. It's hard to see that area of the basement in the dark, but hearing the light footsteps on the stairs is much easier. Then the sound of bare feet on cement, cautiously approaching. Something about the movement sounds uneven like every other step is slightly difficult to make.
From the direction of the stairs, a pair of familiar eyes shine in the dark, focused entirely on Pidge. Once he's sure she's still restrained though, Ren approaches slowly, unsure if she's sleeping.
He looks far worse than he ever did in Duplicity, even dealing with the most ridiculous of the city's bullshit. Where Ren in Duplicity is cheerful and confident, this Ren looks...exhausted and terrified. He's covered in various shades of bruises, both on his face and across the parts of his chest and his arms that his tank top exposes. What isn't covered in bruises is marred by angry red knife wounds, some stitched up and some scabbing over. Even approaching Pidge, he looks timid and ready to bolt any second. There's something metal and bulky around his throat, like a collar. A red light shines faintly on the side of it.
In a word, he looks far worse than anything he could have ever actually described to her.
He turns briefly back to the basement door, biting his lip and ears twitching as if he's listening for something. ]
What is he even doing? Y-you look like you're just a kid...
So once Strade's found Pidge in the basement, taking advantage of her unconscious state to get her tied to the pole, Ren's already aware that someone is here. Somehow, some way some unfortunate person has magically found themselves in Strade's basement.
Of course, Strade is kind enough to wait for Pidge to awaken on her own before he starts questioning her. After all, he wasn't in the habit of hurting kids, so Pidge presents...a problem. His basement is pretty damn obvious, what with the bloodstained floors and the excessive amounts of power tools. Sure he could just kill her but for her to be here, it meant she must have lived in the neighborhood and got in somehow. And if someone's kid went missing...
So with a frustrated sigh, he'd made his way back up the stairs, calling back that he'd talk with her more in the morning when he'd figured out what to do with her.
And so Pidge sits in silence for a few hours, only the occasional sounds of footsteps making it into the soundproofed basement.
But as the hours pass, something changes.
The basement door opens, but not with the enthusiastic force it normally does. It's slower, quiet. Like whoever is doing it doesn't want to draw attention to it. It's hard to see that area of the basement in the dark, but hearing the light footsteps on the stairs is much easier. Then the sound of bare feet on cement, cautiously approaching. Something about the movement sounds uneven like every other step is slightly difficult to make.
From the direction of the stairs, a pair of familiar eyes shine in the dark, focused entirely on Pidge. Once he's sure she's still restrained though, Ren approaches slowly, unsure if she's sleeping.
He looks far worse than he ever did in Duplicity, even dealing with the most ridiculous of the city's bullshit. Where Ren in Duplicity is cheerful and confident, this Ren looks...exhausted and terrified. He's covered in various shades of bruises, both on his face and across the parts of his chest and his arms that his tank top exposes. What isn't covered in bruises is marred by angry red knife wounds, some stitched up and some scabbing over. Even approaching Pidge, he looks timid and ready to bolt any second. There's something metal and bulky around his throat, like a collar. A red light shines faintly on the side of it.
In a word, he looks far worse than anything he could have ever actually described to her.
He turns briefly back to the basement door, biting his lip and ears twitching as if he's listening for something. ]
What is he even doing? Y-you look like you're just a kid...
!duplicity app
« « « manipulative » » »
« « « OOC INFORMATION
Name: Brie Age: 25 Contact: mackens @ plurk / replicates#2641 @ discord Timezone: EST |
« « « IC INFORMATION
Name: Ren Hana Door: Right. Canon: Boyfriend to Death 2: Fresh Blood Canon Point: "Ren Won't Let You Die" ending. Age: 21 Appearance: Looking way too fancy. History: Content Warning for violence, kidnapping, torture, abuse, and captivity. Very little is known about Ren's life prior to canon's beginning, two years previously. He was born to Japanese beast-kin parents and at some point, either had a falling out with them or came to believe they hated him and found himself in what is suggested to be Alberta, Canada all alone. At nineteen, lonely and friendless, Ren arranged to meet a date at a pub. Despite his nervous excitement, he was stood up. Rather than leaving as soon as he realized, Ren chose to remain at the pub, dejected, and it was what happened next that would alter his life irrevocably. He caught the eye of a man named Strade. Strade approached him, coming over with a beer and some "I've seen some shit" stories, serving to cheer Ren up quite easily with his friendliness. The two spent hours chatting, Ren being lulled into a sense of comfort in a way he had not been in quite a while. It was during this an accident occurred: Strade spilled his beer on Ren, bringing their ongoing conversation to an abrupt close. Apologetically, Strade offered to lead Ren to the bathroom so he could clean up. Together the two went. Unfortunately for Ren, the ‘bathroom’ turned out to be a back door leading out of the bar. As it turned out, Ren’s new companion wasn’t just a cheerful bar patron, he was a serial killer. Weekly, Strade would go out to bars and pubs and wait for someone who caught his eye to come along, usually someone looking depressed or uncomfortable. When he’d found someone, he’d approach them under the guise of a friendly face concerned about someone looking down or troubled. Then he’d bring them home, either using force or through deception. Ren had been unlucky enough to be his chosen victim that night, and the young man meekly submitted with promises to be good right off the bat. His ears and tail, which he’d been able to hide until point, also revealed themselves, only intriguing the man more. Decidedly, Strade took him home. It’s not explicitly told how many days Ren spent in Strade’s basement being tortured. It’s likely less than his typical victim, because though Strade had every intention to kill him, Ren proved to be too interesting. He was rather spineless, noisy, and cried often, and Strade continued putting off finishing him off. Finally, he came to the realization that he didn't want to kill Ren. Instead, he gifted the young man with something: A shock collar built especially for him, with a perimeter set up around the house and a remote his captor kept on his person for easy use. He became Strade's 'pet', given anything and everything he wanted in exchange for enduring occasional torture at the hands of his sadistic captor. When he wasn't being hurt, it was almost like the two were simply roommates, Ren given free reign of the second floor of the suburban house they lived in. Ren lived with the knowledge that Strade was still bringing home victim after victim, none ever having the 'luck' he did, to be spared and simply kept instead. Strade would then stream these sessions on the deep web for money. It's implied in extra material that Ren was forced to join in on these sessions of torture at times, and it's confirmed within the game itself that he was forced to watch the videos Strade recorded of them in twisted 'movie nights'. Ren's life continued like this for two years, simple duties such as cooking and keeping the house clean interspersed with an increasing numbers of scars, trauma, and growing stockholm syndrome. And then the unthinkable happened. Strade, who had always delighted in leaving his victims somewhat loosely tied to give them the illusion of the ability to escape him, finally made a fatal mistake. The one who would be his last victim (the MC from the first game) got out of their bindings in the night and got their hands on one of his knives. Patiently, they waited until he let his guard down enough to strike. He struck them down, but not before taking a fatal neck wound of his own. This is how Ren found him when he heard Strade calling for him down in the basement. Strade demanded Ren's help with stopping the bleeding, too weak to do it himself. And Ren did nothing. Strade begged him to help. And Ren did nothing. Unable to stop thinking of all the things Strade had done to him, Ren stood aside and watched in a state of shock as Strade bled out. Two years of a constant switch between being "taken care of" and hurt left Ren with severe trauma and a prominent case of stockholm syndrome. Believing that Strade had done what he did because he loved Ren, Ren chose to keep a piece of his 'owner'. He clawed Strade's heart from his body and devoured it, so that in doing so he'd always have a part of him. Then he stored the body in the meat freezer kept within the basement, stripping Strade's favorite shirt to keep and sleep with. He used the remote to remove his collar but kept it as a twisted memento. Despite being free, he didn't leave the house. At some point very shortly after this, Ren is implied to have experienced a slow mental breakdown. Though he had free reign of the house and access to all of Strade's passwords and money, Ren grew lonely with no one else there. Strade's treatment of him followed by the mental break his death had brought had irrevocably altered how Ren thought, and he adapted the "weak people die, strong people live, and if you're strong you should just take what you want" mentality that Strade pushed. Mental state dangerously warped and no longer seeing the things Strade did as wrong, Ren turned to the internet, seeking out a "new friend" on strange websites where people discussed death as a fascination. It was here he connected with Lawrence Oleander, a reclusive, shy young man with an affinity for plants and a dislike for people due to being treated as frightening and odd his entire life. The two seemed to hit it off, and for the next few weeks they chatted over the internet, eventually culminating in plans to meet up. Ren prepared everything in the house for what was meant to be the result of that night: His old shock collar ready as a hand-me-down gift, and a chain born into the wall of the living room, ready to keep the wearer restricted when need be. He left that night to meet Lawrence at the Jackalope, a pub in one of the nicer areas of the city. It's here where the Boyfriend to Death 2 finally begins. While Ren is in the bathroom right before he intends to leave with Lawrence, Lawrence is approached by the Main Character who is seeking the time. Ren emerged to find them speaking and went through the motions of introducing himself. Sensing the discomfort between the two, MC expressed concern for Ren, their first action that would set his sights on them. Waving their concern off, Ren insisted he get them all one last round of drinks for the night. At some point in doing so, he slipped a drug into Lawrence's drink, intending to take him home as his new "friend". MC stirred things up again, and in a well-intended joke, snatched up Lawrence's drink and drank it instead. But if Ren had learned nothing else from Strade it was that it was better to be adaptable than to have a good plan. He rushed out of the bar with a quickly made excuse of it being late and avoided Lawrence, who rushed out after him. Instead, he hunkered down in the alley beside the pub and waited. Within minutes, MC ducked into the alley, fleeing from an angered Lawrence and weak from the drugs Ren had slipped into Lawrence's drink. Upon being noticed, he offered to help, assuring MC of their safety as they passed out in his arms. As they slept, Ren whisked MC back to his house. Quickly, he put the shock collar on them and attached the chain driven into the wall to their ankle. He then set about waiting hours for them to wake up, cheerfully preparing a meal for when they finally did so. Despite what was no doubt a terrifying situation for MC to awake to, Ren lucked out; they were agreeable and polite for the most part. Ren's somewhat-explanation that he had brought them with intent to become 'best friends' seemed to calm them enough that they didn't attempt to lash out at him. There was a minor hiccup when he freed them from the ankle chain to take them to their room and they attempted to flee, but a quick shock from the collar and some admonishment took care of it without a problem. After a confirmation that MC liked their new room, he left them to rest, planning the next part of his "initiation" excitedly. The next morning he left the house to retrieve Lawrence, presumably under the guide of apologizing for rushing off so quickly the night before. However, Ren's intentions were much less kind, and he dragged Lawrence home bound and gagged, setting him up on a chair in the closet. Once it was ready, he called for MC and invited them to step inside. It was then he revealed what his real plans were: He wanted MC to hurt and kill Lawrence and through his shared pain and death, they would have a bond deeper than anyone could imagine. It was yet another lesson taught to him by Strade, who believed that the only way you could see what someone was truly was like was inflicting pain and reducing them to a frightened, desperate animal. Pain was a way of bonding, something truly special when shared with another. And Ren, lonely and broken, craved a bond. MC couldn't bring themselves to do it, begging Ren to allow them to do anything else. Yes, Lawrence had scared them after they left the bar by attacking and chasing them, but he didn't deserve something like this. Surprisingly, Ren agreed to do it for them, saying that it was "a little much" to be asking so soon. Once handed the knife, Ren began his torture of Lawrence, demanding MC tell him how they are feeling as he drove the knife into Lawrence's arm and then his leg. It's once Ren gutted the man that MC finally blacked out from shock and he finishes Lawrence off. He took MC back to the living room to rest, retreating to get cleaned up. However, alone and adrenaline running out, the gravity of what Ren did hit him. Killing someone, he realized, was not nearly as easy as he thought it'd be. It was different from when Strade forced him to take part. Regretful, Ren returned to the living room to wait for MC to awaken. Both were subdued when they did, Ren admitting that he'd never killed someone before, not really. To Ren's shock, MC called him out on this-- he said he's never really killed anyone, but they'd gone in to the basement while he'd been out and found Strade's body. Ren nervously admitted to them that he had nothing to do with Strade's death, and when they inquired further, told them of Strade's habit of bringing "friends" home. The last one had gotten a knife during the night and they both died. It didn't explain the gaping hole in Strade's chest, but MC apparently realized that asking about that might not be such a good idea. As he continued, they said nothing, offering no criticism or words of comfort. Finally Ren seemed to calm down. It didn't matter, he told MC, because he didn't need to worry about Strade anymore. He had MC now. And MC didn't need to worry about anything either. They'd never leave him, and he'd never let them die. He'd take care of them forever. Personality: Before Strade, Ren was a fairly normal young adult, if isolated and lonely. He, by his own admission, had no friends and his family didn't really like him very much. He was a nervous, timid, and generally didn't do well around other people. Nonetheless, Ren craved both friends and meaningful bonds. He went out of his way to try and meet a date, and was genuinely upset when he was stood up. He was a hopeless romantic, delighting in magical girl anime and romance films. Despite his timidness, Ren was a kind person. He was trusting enough to follow Strade to what he believed was the bar bathroom, even though he really had no idea who the man was. He was nurturing, risking Strade's wrath to provide the victims in the basement a little bit of care. He took care of Strade, kept him from getting too worked up and going too far. However, Ren was nowhere near perfect before he met Strade. Ren was, in the kindest way to put it, spineless. Protecting his own life was important to him and he placed his survival above all else. Yes, he would go into the basement to provide some aid and comfort to Strade's victims, but he would not risk freeing them and endangering himself. It was this spinelessness that caused Strade to become so interested in him in the first place. In the interest of self-protection, Ren obeyed Strade to a T. He must have, because at some point the young man earned (monitored) internet privileges and free reign on the second floor of the house. Eventually it wasn't just the shock collar on Ren's neck but a sense of loyalty that kept him doing as he was told. There is no doubt that Ren developed severe stockholm syndrome during his time in Strade's 'care'. A combination of living in terror of being hurt and domesticity, affection, and being spoiled created a lot of confusion for Ren. At some point, he drew the conclusion that Strade loved him, though the man never actually said it. Strade hurt him, yes, but he took care of Ren too. Strade gave Ren whatever he wanted and in return Ren cooked, cleaned, and generally tended to his captor. The terrible things Strade did: Cutting Ren up, forcing him to take part in murder or watch his live streams, general violence for Strade's amusement...they were just another aspect of the man. His own special brand of love. Ren after Strade is the warping and poisoning of a good person made manifest. No longer is he timid and shy, but now cheerful and confident. He seems to come more into himself after Strade's death, going so far as to reflect this newfound confidence by discarding his glasses and switching to contacts. He knowingly embraced the fact that he was 'cute', and learned to use it to his advantage. Ren is less moral now than he was before. Where he seemed to hold guilt for the thing Strade did to his victims before, now he easily plans a kidnapping and drugs a drink just like Strade did, seeing nothing wrong with doing so. When MC appears and drinks the drugged drink instead of Lawrence, Ren happily changes his plans, dragging an innocent, unrelated person into his plans. Strade had taught him it was better to be flexible than to have a good plan, and he was excited at the chance to put it into action, to improvise on the spot. When MC stumbles into the alley, he easily lies and acts as if he has no idea why they are suddenly so sick, plying them with reassurances before they pass out. Upon MC waking up and panicking at finding themselves chained and collared, Ren deflects their concern, minimizes their worry as something trivial they would get over quickly. Hesitation in killing Lawrence is regarded not as a moral stance but as a personal failing born on not "hav[ing] the stomach for it". If Ren does it himself, he tortures Lawrence without a second thought, eventually disemboweling him. If not, he giddily watches as MC slits Lawrence's throat, praising them when it's done. He's manipulative, using affection and rewards to push MC toward doing what he wants. However, the most prominent of his post-Strade behavior is that Ren developed a craving for control. If MC allows him to go unchallenged for long enough while he feels positively toward them, that desire for control becomes true sadism and a taste for power. He seeks out chances for control and doesn't hesitate to inflict pain to do so. Just getting to shock MC for their first act of disobedience gives him such a power trip he turns around and feeds them from a dog bowl. Inflicting pain and fear is no longer a terrible thing to him, and it's something he has come to enjoy for the sense of control it gives him. But despite that Ren's claims that Strade loved him and that Ren feels empty with him gone, he stills harbors a lot of fear and pain in regards to the man. He holds huge amounts of fear and guilt over allowing Strade to die, though he was frozen by the memory of Strade's torture when he did so. Nightmares of Strade coming alive again for revenge are constant. The truth is that Ren is still a sweet, friendly young man who just wants to find someone to be love and be loved by in return. But, terrified of his past and refusing to face his trauma, he does what he can do deny and escape it. His sadism is imitated, a weak mimicry of Strade was. Ren tries to be like him because he no longer remember what he it was like to be himself. Strade crawled inside of Ren and left pieces of himself to fester and rot; Ren doesn't know how to get them out and so instead he pretends he wants them there. He buries himself in layers of pretend behavior he's fooled himself into believing just to feel better. Truly, Ren isn't naturally very well suited to the cruel tormentor act. If the MC is dominant over him rather than lettin and expresses a desire for love or sex, he happily returns to his place as someone else's 'pet'. The entire reason Ren plans to take Lawrence, even when he ends up taking MC instead, is that he's lonely. He wants someone by his side who cannot leave, who will love him unconditionally even if he has to force them to do so. He doesn't want to experience pain anymore. Powers and Abilities: Ren's own native powers are ones that come with his nature as a beastkin. A Beastkin is a creature born when a human with magical ability or good luck is able to communicate with an animal and form a pact binding them together as one being and one family. The result is a creature that looks almost entirely like a human, save for animal features. Samples: note: each screenshot is from a different scene in the discord RP, though the last two are related! there's also suggestions of sexual content due to it being an ongoing story involving kink on occasion. log sample a (on dreamwidth), b, c + d (discord PSL screenshots). |
Reverie Clinic
In absence of a proper, accessible medbay, Ren has opted to open his own make-shift clinic using what they have available to them on the ship.
This clinic is located at Room 26, on Crew Deck 6. It is located next to his own quarters.
Though anyone is allowed in for treatment, Ren has one specific rule: It must be made clear if anyone entering is registered to a room yet. This is because, if they are not, the quarters being used will register to them and then they have to figure something out! This does not mean they will be denied medical attention, however.
LAYOUT
Sitting Area: This will be used for, should it ever actually be busy, anyone waiting to be seen. Generally, anyone not being treated or assisting in running the clinic in some way is expected to remain here for safety and sanitary reasons.
Kitchen: The kitchen is mainly used for the sterilization of any bandages and equipment Ren is able to get his hands on. Once they are able to secure real food and not machine gunk, Ren will arrange meals for anyone resting in the clinic in his own kitchen.
Bedroom: The bedroom consists of four parts: One double bed, two bunk beds, and two wardrobe. Unless there is more than one patient, the double bed will always be used. If requested, the bunk bed can be used for up to two friends who want to remain with the patient if they're needed to stay in the clinic for longer than a night.
If there is more than one patient, the more injured/sick person will be given the double bed.
Clean linens and any extra supplies, such as extra clothes for a patient should they manage to get any, will be kept in the wardrobe.
Bathroom: Obvious. Characters can request assistance in anything bathroom related if need be.
WHAT CAN BE TREATED IN THE CLINIC?
Right now, the clinic is limited to what can be found in the first aid/med kits and what can be done with some jerry-rigging. This means that they can be bandage wounds, treat burns, assess injuries, etc. Broken bones can be set, but it's currently up the air how they will be bandaged.
Additionally, if a character comes down ill, they will be welcomed to stay in the clinic to keep from spreading whatever they have around.
As the clinics capability expands, this will be updated!
WHEN IS THE CLINIC AVAILABLE? WILL IT COST ANYTHING/DO I NEED TO TRADE FOR HELP?
Technically 24/7! Ren and Alucard are pretty much always on-call. Ren will spend a few hours a day in the clinic dealing with upkeep and supplies but he lives right next door, so even when he's not there he can be summoned.
If it's not urgent, Ren will request for it to be arranged ahead of time.
Nothing is expected for treatment at the clinic, though Ren always encourages donation of any supplies found, and he does expect his supplies back.
MY CHARACTER HAS MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE, CAN THEY HELP?
Absolutely! Though it may end up being on more of a 'as needed' basis, as the clinic is so tiny.
This clinic is located at Room 26, on Crew Deck 6. It is located next to his own quarters.
Though anyone is allowed in for treatment, Ren has one specific rule: It must be made clear if anyone entering is registered to a room yet. This is because, if they are not, the quarters being used will register to them and then they have to figure something out! This does not mean they will be denied medical attention, however.
LAYOUT
Sitting Area: This will be used for, should it ever actually be busy, anyone waiting to be seen. Generally, anyone not being treated or assisting in running the clinic in some way is expected to remain here for safety and sanitary reasons.
Kitchen: The kitchen is mainly used for the sterilization of any bandages and equipment Ren is able to get his hands on. Once they are able to secure real food and not machine gunk, Ren will arrange meals for anyone resting in the clinic in his own kitchen.
Bedroom: The bedroom consists of four parts: One double bed, two bunk beds, and two wardrobe. Unless there is more than one patient, the double bed will always be used. If requested, the bunk bed can be used for up to two friends who want to remain with the patient if they're needed to stay in the clinic for longer than a night.
If there is more than one patient, the more injured/sick person will be given the double bed.
Clean linens and any extra supplies, such as extra clothes for a patient should they manage to get any, will be kept in the wardrobe.
Bathroom: Obvious. Characters can request assistance in anything bathroom related if need be.
WHAT CAN BE TREATED IN THE CLINIC?
Right now, the clinic is limited to what can be found in the first aid/med kits and what can be done with some jerry-rigging. This means that they can be bandage wounds, treat burns, assess injuries, etc. Broken bones can be set, but it's currently up the air how they will be bandaged.
Additionally, if a character comes down ill, they will be welcomed to stay in the clinic to keep from spreading whatever they have around.
As the clinics capability expands, this will be updated!
WHEN IS THE CLINIC AVAILABLE? WILL IT COST ANYTHING/DO I NEED TO TRADE FOR HELP?
Technically 24/7! Ren and Alucard are pretty much always on-call. Ren will spend a few hours a day in the clinic dealing with upkeep and supplies but he lives right next door, so even when he's not there he can be summoned.
If it's not urgent, Ren will request for it to be arranged ahead of time.
Nothing is expected for treatment at the clinic, though Ren always encourages donation of any supplies found, and he does expect his supplies back.
MY CHARACTER HAS MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE, CAN THEY HELP?
Absolutely! Though it may end up being on more of a 'as needed' basis, as the clinic is so tiny.
!duplicity: memories
bad memories CW for violence, torture, gore, death, etc
good (questionably???) memories CW for captivity, kidnapping
actual good memories
- being kidnapped from a bar by the man (strade) he was talking with and finding out he was a serial killer with terrible plans.
- one of strade's victims escapes the basement. ren sounds the alarm to save his own skin, resulting in the first murder he's ever witnessed.
- ren is forced to cut off the arm of a frantic, pleading woman. when he tries to refuse, he's electrocuted by his shock collar.
- as punishment for disobedience, being marched into the basement and having his claws ripped out while strade films it for his deep web show.
- strade lies bleeding to death on the basement floor, begging for help, while ren is too in shock to do anything. all he can think of is every time strade has ever hurt or tortured him.
good (questionably???) memories CW for captivity, kidnapping
- drunk strade asking ren to order subway and then cuddling with him on the couch to watch a shark documentary
- strade carries ren up from the basement to tend the wounds he's inflicted and coddle him
- meeting up with lawrence at the bar after talking with him online for weeks
- bringing MC home and putting the shock collar on and chaining them to the wall
- ren tells MC, following Lawrence's murder, that he'll take care of them forever
actual good memories
- young ren playing with his siblings as his parents watch
- ren's first time eating chicken hearts
- receiving a bunch of anime shit in the mail
!how's my driving
Anon is ON.
IP Logging is OFF.
Comments are SCREENED.
If you'd like to contact me directly:
PLURK: mackens
DISCORD: replicates#2641
EMAIL: satellitehearted@gmail.com
!permissions/opt-out
Ren is from a visual novel that is horror/gore-focused. As such, both his past and his route deal with triggering themes. The list for themes possible to come up, in conversation or in brackets, include MANIPULATION (emotional and otherwise), DEATH, VIOLENCE, BLOOD/GORE (in general or in reference to body parts), MURDER, KIDNAPPING, DRUGGING, TORTURE, CAPTIVITY, CANNIBALISM (kind of, ren eats humans but is not human).
This can be some pretty disturbing content, and Ren can be kind of disturbing himself! He has a lot of issues.
As such, this is a screened post for you, if you like, to opt out (judgement free, of course!) of all interaction with Ren, or just some regarding specific themes! Go ahead and leave your name and list of characters and if you'd like me to avoid tagging them all together, or what subjects you'd prefer to have avoided in interaction, no questions asked. Even if it is not listed here, please don't hesitate to specify.
Note: Ren's past involves rape as well. However, as this is provided by supplementary materials on the creator's blog and is not addressed in the game itself, this will never come into play within the game.
art by strade-probably @ tumblr
Note: Ren's past involves rape as well. However, as this is provided by supplementary materials on the creator's blog and is not addressed in the game itself, this will never come into play within the game.
art by strade-probably @ tumblr
