There is a restlessness that permeates every fibre of Renard's being and which has accompanied him throughout his life, driving him to alternate between feeding the restlessness and running from it. Violence has proven itself time and time again an excellent outlet for this restlessness and Renard has gladly given into it, finding within it a joy he could not find elsewhere.

He is not one to plan ahead. The future to Renard is some nebulous thing that does not concern him, a bridge he will cross when he gets to it. Recklessness and impulsivity are at the root of many of Renard's worst life choices; a life of affluence where crime could be swept under a fine have skewed his notion of consequence. Not helping too is Renard's lack of interest in the well-being of anyone but himself. What happens to anyone because of his actions is none of his concern.

Renard is arrogant in the sense he sees himself above everyone else - yet that is not saying much because Renard holds society at large in such low regard that being marginally better does not equate to thinking himself a god. Yet Renard likes to be worshipped as such. There are few things Renard likes but first among them is feeling powerful, be it by physical domination or being in charge.

Vieux riche

Withholding stability from the Armitage family was the discrepancy between the money they had and the money they thought they had. Centuries of fortune had been stripped in a matter of some unfortunate decades, what with questionable investments and poor accounting, but such losses were in books sealed to the public. The historical weight of being among Rowansalt's economic elite brought with it a destructive pride Renard found asphyxiating. The house of his formative years was one commanded by a mother sober solely if she had to appear competent, and a father who wasted away underneath piles of accounting documents, taking breaks to cope through the vice he shared with his wife. All behind closed doors, of course, because ostracisation from Rowansalt's crème de la crème was the worst fate those sorry excuses for parents could imagine.

Renard despised his family and their obsession with appearances. The label of troublemaker was slapped onto him to soften the embarrassment of having a son who could not play with other children because he would hurt them, who could not be trusted around lighters nor knives. It suited Renard, he found, because it granted him an escape from interacting with his parents' guests; it suited his parents too, because it could justify Renard's absence from family gatherings. Renard attended public school because his parents could not afford private - they told their acquaintances that Renard was attending an expensive private school specialising in children with his... Difficulties.

Lead pipes

The advent of adolescence granted Renard more freedom than it did most by virtue of the fact it allowed his parents to wash their hands of him. He was no longer expected to attend events with his parents. People would ask what the youngest Armitage was doing and be content with some variation of studying or playing sports. Renard could do as he pleased so long as he did not paint his parents in a negative light: he wasted no time in running with that newfound freedom.

Renard became infatuated with the juvenile delinquency prevalent among Rowansalt's youth. The lack of control he had felt in childhood resurfaced into a bitter resentment towards his parents, externalised on whatever came underneath his claws and fangs - and what fortune then, that his violence found itself right at home in that new environment! Just as his forefathers had established themselves in the world of business Renard established himself in the world of streetfights. His musculature and violence won fights, his arrogance and the terror he instilled in other won followers. It made no difference if they followed him out of fear or out of admiration, to Renard all that mattered was that he had become a king in those streets.

The notion of making enemies always remained at the back of Renard's mind but never came to the forefront until his meeting with Lee. Hatred at first sight, Lee was an antithesis to Renard in every way: someone who did not care for power, someone whose fists had never been commanded by hatred. Maybe that latter one changed after his meeting with Renard given the violence of their numerous fights - enough as to attract the attention of law enforcement. Such interventions risked breaking the terms of Renard's pact with his parents, risked painting them in a negative light were word Renard's misadventures to come out, but by then Renard knew how many bottles of percocet to hand his mother for her to look the other way. Intimidation was his plan B.

Suit and tie

The violence of his high school days inevitably slowed during adulthood. Renard's university years featured the odd fight but were otherwise the most peaceful time of his life since childhood. Alone in its notability was the final fuck you Renard gave to Lee, kidnapping his then-boyfriend and roughing him up a bit - or so Renard had planned, but the violence grew exponentially and things slipped into a realm bloodier than intended. Not that Renard cared.

That familial prestige Renard had always despised showed its utility when, having graduated high school, his father pulled some strings to guarantee Renard employment in a sales department at a company. The office was a miserable environment that made Renard crave whatever his mother used to take to cope with existence - but it paid the bills Renard found himself paying for the first time in his life. And in the office he eventually met Theo, an insufferable idiot whose worth to Renard is only in the times they hook up. He misses the life of delinquency and violence and freedom, misses being lauded as a king of dead-end alleyways, but such is adulthood. Renard grit his teeth and accepted his new life.

Playlist

• Recluse - A Lot Like Birds
• People You Know - Dance Gavin Dance