Blank, P.I.
Gendermale
Age32
Inner or Outer City?Formerly Inner, currently Outer
AppearanceBlank is an older-looking man of average height with a slim build. He has slightly-tanned skin and somewhat-slanted eyes that hint at some Asian heritage, though he does not recall exactly what, nor does he care. His hair is jet-black and he neglects to get it cut. Instead, he lets it grow out and ties it into a ponytail. He is more likely to shave his face, but will occasionally go a few days without and develop a strong stubble. Casual clothes in subdued colors are his go-to, so he doesn’t stick out.
BackgroundThe man who would later be known as Blank was born to a middle-class family of the Inner City, as their only child. His father was a detective and he aspired to be one just like him. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed in the line of duty when Blank was a teenager. Instead of distancing himself from his father’s career, he embraced it, feeling a need to fill the gap left behind. His mother did not approve, creating distance between them. It was around this time that Blank started using liquid emotion more liberally, to counteract his loneliness and depression following his father’s death.
Blank soon became a detective and his late father’s old friend, the commissioner of police, arranged for him to date his daughter. Blank fell in love with the beautiful girl, and they were quickly wed. Blank settled into his job well, owing to the vast amounts of liquid emotion available to the police force and their families. His wife, who remained at home, was also a heavy user who struggled with apathy. Blank did not notice that his wife’s use of liquid emotion was exponentially increasing, since long hours at the station kept him away from home. When he could be home however, he gave her all the love and attention he had to give. What he did notice was that she was an excellent cook.
It wasn’t long after Blank became a detective that the Inner City was devastated by a spree of murders. Young girls would go missing, and soon be found eviscerated — skinned and flayed. Such a thing was unheard of in the Inner City and the police force was up in arms. Blank was assigned to the case, and as one of the younger detectives, he saw it as an opportunity to prove himself while getting justice for the victims. Many thought the murderer was coming in from the Outer City, since it was assumed nobody from the Inner City would be capable of such an heinous act. Blank was hesitant to accept this hypothesis and remained vigilant, often putting in extra hours of his own accord, conducting his own investigations. Some nights he did not come home at all. The case haunted Blank, and he dedicated his every waking moment to it. His wife was very understanding, and always had a wonderful meal prepared whenever he could be home.
Though the other detectives were focused on the Outer City, they still came up with clues that Blank implemented in his own private investigation. They knew the girls would be kept somewhere in the Inner City while they were being tortured and killed, but they had investigated every abandoned building in the city. Blank investigated the girls’ autopsy reports and found that each girl had been exposed to a strong dose of emotion — love — before being abducted. This was an incredibly strong emotion that was only available to government employees, such as the police. Horrified, Blank brought this to his father-in-law, the commissioner, only to be dismissed with the idea that love was also illegally synthesized in the Outer City, which was why he was having all his detectives, including Blank, focus solely on the Outer City moving forward. Blank was sent home early to rest, and he left the station in low spirits. On his way home, he spotted none other than his wife, heading into an alley. Worried, he followed her to what appeared to be the back door of the local butcher shop, which had already closed for the day. She unlocked the back door and entered, closing it behind her.
Blank felt uneasy, and quietly entered the door behind her. One of the large meat freezers was open, and he heard some disturbing noises. He peeked inside, and what he saw shocked him beyond all rational thought. His wife, his beautiful little housewife, was wrist deep in a young girl’s intestines. She saw him and laughed, explaining that she was doing this because the liquid emotion never worked after all. Killing and “prepping” the young girls for her precious husband to eat, all the while being his secret nemesis, was the only thing that gave her any kind of emotion. Everything went red for Blank.
By the end of his night, Blank’s wife was dead, and he was in custody. His father-in-law, the commissioner, met with him alone and explained. He had known that his daughter was a sociopath, which is why he tried to marry her off to him. He thought it would help her. Instead, it seemed that while Blank was at work, she had rented out a meat freezer from the butcher shop where she worked before meeting Blank. She had been dosing children with the love emotion that Blank had been bringing home for her to cope with having a husband at work — a standard practice among police officers to ease the stress of their relationships. While they were drugged, she would take them to the meat freezer and tie them up, torture them, and cut them up. She had killed over twenty young girls, becoming one of the nastiest serial killers in recent history for the Inner City. That was why the chief of police was going to cover it up and frame the owner of the butcher shop. Blank’s wife would be remembered as his last victim. Blank would be the tragic hero detective who found them. He would be put on psychological leave indefinitely and receive a pension, able to live the rest of his life peacefully by keeping his access to top-grade liquid emotion.
Blank left the Inner City immediately afterward, taking advantage of his credentials to bring his police gun with him. He stopped taking liquid emotion and cast away his old name, filling the void with booze instead. He eventually decided he needed to keep himself busy and became a private eye, though he was very picky with his work. Eventually, he found steady work assisting a lowkey group of rebels online by providing insight, secrets, advice, and occasionally surveillance. After blacking out one night and finding a homeless girl named Trinity outside his apartment, he took her in and found himself feeling too guilty to kick her back out into the street, so he made her his assistant.
PersonalityBlank is blunt, sometimes to the point of being abrasive. He is also paranoid, and always carries his old police gun with him just in case. When he drinks, he is a bit softer and more eager to reveal a dry sense of humor and an enjoyment of telling and listening to stories. Despite wanting to put his days as a detective behind him, to the point of killing off his old name, he still possess a strong sense of justice. He will often help others, especially young girls, since he feels a need to atone for his late wife’s sins.
Level of addictionNone
Pro or anti liquid emotion?anti
Other/Extra infoBlank enjoys lurking online imageboards and chatrooms and will often be in as many as twenty at a time. He claims he’s monitoring them but does truly enjoy watching others interact while they are under the cover of anonymity, going so far as to believe that true discourse can only be had on these darker places of the Internet. He also enjoys drinking, particularly hard alcohol. He does not eat meat of any kind.
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