Info (Impressions/Inventory)

[thedarkbond]

Ren Suzugamori Age 23 Gender Male Height 5'10" Build Slight, "delicate" first impressions Visual: Ren has a tall-ish, very slim build that favours the legs a little in terms of proportions. His hair goes to just under his hips at its longest point, and he has slit pupils similar to a cat's (also feat. obligatory bishonen eyelashes for days). He has no scars/markings besides what he picks up in a game setting due to not being a physical combatant in canon. Fashion: Ren's fashion is probably best described as a vague punk style that ranges from cutesy to classy (the fandom likes to joke that he's a visual kei reject, if that helps). He's pretty much never seen without his collar (or at least something around his neck), boots, and an overskirt, but other points may vary depending on the situation. His normal outfit at his current canonpoint is pictured to the left, though he usually wears black pants rather than maroon, and he's also very fond of oversized, wide-necked shirts when he's being lazy. Alternate outfit examples: 1, 2. Demeanour: Ren is canonically described as "capricious" and it shows in his body language - he can flip from a cute, innocent manner to something much more unsettling instantly. He presents himself as suits the situation, but favours coming off as innocent and dense because he finds it funny (and also it makes things easier on him if people think he's harmless). Even people he's known for years have great difficulty identifying when he's being genuine and when he's screwing with them, but he has more trouble hiding genuine negative emotions than most things. Sound: As with his manner, Ren's tone varies: it's high and light and a bit vague if he's being airheaded, but deeper and darker when he gets into a "playful mood". Sometimes he settles between the two, which is more like his normal conversational tone. His VA is Atsushi Abe, so he can also sing pretty well. Supernatural: To anyone who can read auras or energies or that sort of thing, Ren's aura usually probably reads as a sort of benign darkness that's hiding something deeper - he can manipulate his own aura, but doesn't typically do it unless he wants to come off as someone not to be messed with. When it's shown visually in canon, it's usually dark pink or red, unless he's enhancing it to be more offputting, in which case it's dark purple, or if he's deeply angry, which makes it red and black. It might also be possible to sense the tiniest pinprick of something very evil, nihilistic and empty at his heart, as he houses one of the fragments of the seed of Void from his world, a cosmic-level power of nothingness that's now been broken apart too far to regain its former strength. info Character History (Ren's usual canonpoint is the end of G season 5, or season 9 overall) Ren is the villain of the very first season of Vanguard, set up as a direct parallel to the protagonist (Aichi) with the same powers and a dark mirror of his deck, who skilfully manipulates and humiliates people for his own sadistic amusement. His soured relationship with the rival character (Kai) comes to light later, as well as the fact that Ren had once been innocent and kind, but fell to his own worst desires after unlocking a power called Psyqualia and having Kai abandon him in an effort to find a way to save him from it. After his initial redemption at Aichi's hands, he loses some of his memories and takes on the innocent persona he had previously, but once he regains them he settles between the two personalities, being more mindful about his sadistic tendencies and reserving them for people who he knows can take it. He has a good heart and cares deeply for those important to him, being generally prepared to put his life on the line for them, but the means to his ends aren't always the most benign. Given the choice between the straightforward route and the option where he can draw out the most personal enjoyment, he'll generally take the latter unless he absolutely has to, and when with people more familiar with his many faces, he'll often downplay his heroic actions or personal conflicts brought on by actual morals by framing them as selfish or otherwise insincere. Ren comes from an unspecified but affluent background (considering he had the money to build a massive company HQ at around 13) and tends to avoid getting his hands dirty unless he has to. However, this is less an issue of affluence and more that he's easily bored with anything that doesn't present him with a challenge, and as such tends to either overtly push his menial tasks onto others or simply orchestrate or observe things from the background until something sufficiently interesting for him to step in happens. abilities & inventory Abilities: Ren has a powerful psychic ability called Psyqualia, which is explained in more detail on his power permissions page or on any of his game apps. In short, it allows him to draw people into a psychic image of Cray that's indistinguishable from reality and that he has full control over, for better or worse reasons. It also encompasses a variety of side powers that are much less likely to come up and mostly pertain to his psychic link to the planet Cray, where the units represented in the Vanguard card game live. Ren specifically also appears to have a minor aura reading ability, though it only works on people with particularly noteworthy auras (or the decks of specific special fighters). As alluded to above, he can also control his own aura to some degree, generally for the purposes of making himself feel like Very Bad News even to people who can't usually read auras. On a non-supernatural level, Ren is cited and shown repeatedly throughout canon to be almost unnervingly intuitive, and can often pick things up about people based on very small hints or indications, or even the dreaded "gut feeling" (it's mentioned that if he takes a liking to someone, it's a sign they're a good or at least decent person). He also uses this skill when playing games that require reading people to play effectively, and is quite good at making himself difficult to read in turn (to the point he'll occasionally call people out on inability to bluff). Basically, expect him to be a formidable opponent at something like poker just as much as he is at Vanguard (read: good enough that he has trouble finding opponents who can put up a fight even at world-class), and if you want to point towards things he might be able to pick up about your character in narration, feel free! Inventory: -Vanguard Deck: Ren has his deck with him in most games - it's a 60 card deck with an additional 15 card deck of G units, kept in a dark pink-red hard case. Decklist is some combination of this and this with some additional G units. permissions code credit