🌹 RAZZMATAZZ 💙

CONTENT WARNING: Abuse

On the surface, Razz is charismatic, outgoing, and always willing to lend a helping hand. He is favored by the police especially because of his insistence on offering aid on local crime in the area whenever possible. He’s also set up plenty of community fundraisers, gatherings, etc, all in the name of keeping good will among the city. However, this is a blatant form of manipulation to worm his way into even the thinnest of creases in society. He was dragged into the criminal world all too young, and the corruption that resulted shaped him into the man he is today.

Razz has a dangerous, almost monstrous need for public approval. He is incredibly conscious about his image and how he’s perceived by others, his manipulation is not only for material gain, but also for social gain. He adores being the center of attention and having everyone right under his finger tips. The lack of such power puts him in a terrifying position, as without it he feels he is weak, and he knows all too well that weakness is not tolerated in any regard when it comes to people as dangerous as the ones he often deals with.

Despite his flamboyant disposition, there really isn’t a true personality underneath all of Razz’s bravado. All he seems to care about is getting ahead and being liked, so much so that he’s completely lost himself in it. His lack of a true identity matches with his lack of morality. As he grew older, he found himself caring less and less for the people around him, despite so desperately seeking their approval, he started seeing them more as objects than living beings. Everything became about advancing, looking good, and so forth, that even now in adulthood he still has the emotional maturity of a child. But…things weren’t always this way. Razz once was a good man, but those days are long gone now. The person who masquerades as him is merely an illusion, but how can you mourn someone who is technically still alive?

Razz was orphaned at a young age, his mother died in childbirth and his father quickly abandoned duties of taking care of him amidst his grief. This led to Razz being tossed around foster care, and at times even forced on the street. Razz’s turbulent living situation gave way to little stability in his life, but also developed his skill for charming and some could even say razzing (ha) up the folks he would come across. Razz had always been social since he was a toddler, it’s what guaranteed his safety in most circumstance. So, as he grew up, he began to hone that skill.

As he reached his early teenage years at around 11-12 or so, Razz became introduced to a new…particularly offputting set of individuals. Little by little with Razz’s dwindling hopes for his situation, new figures began to position in his life, that being positions of criminal authority. Being so young and impressionable (and admittedly desperate), Razz began finding himself huddling close to the outlandish crowd, finding not only guardianship, but also safety in their arms. Their lack of restraint meant they would protect him no matter the circumstance, but only as long as he did what they said, after all. If he were honest, he couldn’t even really call them criminals! They were simply doing what they had to do to get by, it was nothing more than that. The world put them in this position, and he wasn’t going to let it keep him there. This was a matter of survival.

Initially, the requests were quite simple, such as simple pick pocketing which later evolved into full blown stealing. In fact, on one such steal, he would come to see his life change forever as he attempted to rob a nearby mattress store, which seemed to have been only stocked with one cashier for the night. Razz walked into the store, acted casual, then stole cash whilst the cashier wasn’t looking, though it seemed the person behind the register was not going to let him get away without a fight. Once the person caught up to him, Razz quickly realized it was someone quite unlike anything he’d seen before.

A tall, long brown haired maskeretta stopped him, demanding he returned the stolen funds at once. Razz, of course, panicked, as the maskeretta threatened to turn him in if he didn’t do anything that instant, so he came up with a deal. Razz told the maskeretta that if she let him go scot free, he would return the money and in fact, as repentance, introduce them to the new criminal connections he had made and help them gain funds of their own. He had a feeling that the evidently teenaged cashier needed it, and he wasn’t opposed to having another person like him around for once.

At first, the maskeretta hesitated, but again, the desperation her situation seemed to reek of convinced her into trusting Razz that he would help them out of whatever circumstance they’d place themself in. So, she went along with it.

That was the day Razz and Masky became friends.

As time progressed, Masky and Razz developed a very deep bond. Essentially becoming best friends (and literal partners in crime), the two climbed up their criminal organizations ranks together and found companionship in the process. They were both criminal informants, essentially more focused on relaying info and deals rather than carrying out violent crimes (though for Razz especially this began to change). They both often got into mischief together, such as the heinous Wrecking of Anastasia Belova’s car incident the two caused, and other assorted pranks around the place, and even a few small petty crimes here and there.

They were there for each other through and through, and nothing would change that. Despite the rose colored glasses they wore about the situation, though, as time passed, the requests from their criminal overlords started demanding more and more of the two…but they weren’t going to worry about that for now! They were doing what they had to do, and so what if they had a little fun? Isn’t that what life was about?

Obviously, Razz and Masky’s bond became so close it was impossible to keep Masky’s younger sister, Bea from knowing of his existence. Though Bea wanted to trust Masky that Razz was good, she couldn’t help but find herself feeling that something was incredibly wrong whenever he was around, especially as the two got closer and closer. And for that, she wasn’t wrong.

Razz and Masky’s bond was close, yes, but it was quickly torpedoing to an unhealthy state. As brought up previously, Razz grew up with instability (and especially loneliness) and never really having a place to call home, this and his lack of any other kids to really bond with around the criminal gatherings made him latch onto Masky’s friendship, and hard. Masky was essentially the only thing grounding him in any sort of morality or compassion as things got more and more tense as they got higher in the ranks, but even that was wavering as Masky found herself giving into greed and wrath. Although Masky had Bea to at least keep her from going completely off the rails, Razz had nobody keeping him from slipping into complete depravity.

…And slip into depravity he did. Razz slowly started to become more and more immoral and absolutely indifferent to the horrors happening around him. His humanity started to leave him as he began viewing people as props more than living beings. The once mischievous, but well meaning boy out to fend for himself was slowly starting to die and was being replaced with a husk of who he used to be. Unfortunately for Masky though, she couldn’t keep up with this change until it was far, far too late.

Masky and Razz’s friendship became…turbulent to say the least. As Masky rose above Razz in popularity, he was often pitted against her, causing a form of jealousy to fester within him among other conflicting emotions. That and Razz’s new form lack of morals led to him becoming much more manipulative and vindictive, now lashing out at Masky and tearing into her whenever she seemed to tick him off in any capacity. Along with the new found anger, Masky also started to note the passive aggressive cold nature Razz began to develop as well. When he wasn’t lashing out, he was ignoring her for days on end, pretending as if she didn't exist, then coming back as if nothing had happened. Razz had also begun to exhibit incredibly violent outbursts, often destroying the things around him whenever he was dissatisfied (especially with himself).

Masky couldn’t come to terms with this troubling new onset of behavior, however. She was convinced that because Razz was her friend, because he cared about them, that he couldn’t hurt her. She convinced herself she was going crazy, Razz would never hurt her. Would he? She had to believe that he wouldn’t. However, it wouldn’t be Masky’s own doing that gave her the reality check of the situation at hand, but rather, it would be because of Bea.

Specifically, the fact Bea had found out about what Masky had been doing.

Masky had kept her criminal affairs a secret from Bea for ages, and after Bea found the money Masky had been collecting from her activities, well, let’s just say she had a lot of questions to ask. Though it’s elaborated on more so in Bea’s (and later Masky’s) profiles, in Razz’s case the context needed is that Bea demanded Masky quit what she was doing, and Masky complied, not wanting to hurt her sister anymore than she already had. Masky wanted to make a positive change, now starting to recognize the faults she had developed over her time in the criminal world. She was ready to fix what she had done, and start anew.

Razz, however, was not so keen.

Razz heard about Masky quitting via word of mouth first, rather than from Masky herself. At first, he was in total disbelief. She had come so far hadn’t she? Was this all for nothing? Was she stupid? How could she do this? How could she do this to him? Razz couldn’t help but take the resignation personally. Masky planned to confront him about it privately, but quickly found Razz had gotten to her before she expected.

Masky tried to explain her side of everything. She tried everything she could to convince Razz there was another way, that she knew better now, that they had to be better. They couldn’t let this continue anymore, Masky couldn’t sit back and let herself hurt anyone any longer. She had already done enough damage, she hoped Razz would understand and come with her…

But Razz was too far gone for that now. Having grown apathetic and uncaring in the face of actual monstrosities, he did not understand why Masky was "giving up" on what could be a breakout success. And much more evidently so, was outraged at her quickness to destroy the friendship that had been years in the making. Razz felt Masky owed him after essentially starting the path of all of these opportunities for her, yet here she was, throwing it all away. But wasn’t going to let himself get discarded anymore.

Razz and Masky got into a fight, an extremely heinous one, both physically and verbally. Though the graphic details aren’t needed (and also SPOILERS), it ended with the wound that later became the scar on the corner of Razz’s right eye, now a constant reminder of the separation between the two. Eventually, Masky was able to flee, but Razz was not going to let this go. Although his superiors told him that it didn’t matter, and that there would be others like Masky (and even more so that they would make sure she wouldn’t get any word out), he didn’t care. He was upset, spiteful, enraged at what they had done to him. He wasn’t going to let it go, he wasn’t going to let them have the last laugh in all of this.

He swore, somehow, someday, he would get back at them for everything they did to him.

But that chance would have to wait.

Razz took this as an opportunity to keep progressing. He continued rising and rising to the top of the ranks as much as he could, taking every chance even if it meant hurting other people. As long as it guaranteed power, he would be satisfied. Unlike Masky, who after escaping the criminal world was determined to make amends, Razz was determined to become even worse. Becoming more irredeemable by the day, Razz eventually made it the highest he ever could. He had reached the top as a criminal overlord, there was nowhere else he could really go from here.

Razz had entire masses at his command, entire chains of illegal activity working under his words only, and yet…he felt unsatisfied. Despite the temporary distraction, his resentment towards Masky never faltered. And even more so, without her around, he felt completely empty inside. Perhaps all of this “growth” was just a way to get back at her, but it wasn’t enough, he needed more. He needed something to make it all worth it, and more importantly, to make him feel whole again. But what could he possibly do…?

One afternoon, Razz was going about transactions in his office as usual, average chit chat with the lower ranks giving insight on what they had done that day and what else they could provide in the future. Typical. So typical it was a complete chore to the man who was keeping himself from chewing these idiotic men out of his office. But he had to keep his composure, appearances are appearances after all, he couldn’t get so volatile yet. Once the men had left, Razz turned on the television as a distraction from the encounter and called in his assistant to bring him something to drink. When they had returned, Razz began to try to relax and ponder what else had left to do that day, but whilst flipping through channels, a familiar face stung right through his soul.

Masky’s eyes looked right at him. The sight made him go silent. What the hell was she on for? Then he began to look more closely. A couple of other buffoons were beside her, sure, but the main focus was a peculiar looking boy of a species he had never quite seen before. Sort of a cat, sort of a robot, sort of a bunny even…? The broadcast further elaborated the kid was from Chameleon High, and he had won their annual relay race in first place after exhibiting some sort of strange powers, unlike anything he had ever seen. This kid had potential, that’s for sure. If he had control over something like that…it could make him the biggest name in the criminal industry.

Then Razz got an idea. A sick, but all the more enticing idea.

He knew exactly how to get back at Masky now, and he was going to make it hurt. This was the message he had been looking for all this time. Soon she’d see, he’d just have to start getting things in motion…

(THE REST I'M LEAVING UP TO YOUR IMAGINATION FOR NOW! Stay tuned for da Masky Corp you guys...)