-BASICS
Name:Â Sebastian Crenshaw Age / D.O.B.:Â 36 / March 21, 1987 Gender, Pronouns & Sexuality:Â cis-male, he/him, bi-sexual Hometown: Los Angeles, California Affiliation:Â The Syndicate - Cleaner Job position:Â EMT Education:Â Bachelors of Science, Doctorate of Medicine Relationship status:Â Single Children:Â 0 Positive traits:Â (5) Assertive, Loyal, Self-Sufficient, Dependable, Unassuming Negative traits:Â (5) Manipulative, Obsessive, Callous, Blunt, Secretive
Bio TW: Abuse, Assault, Child Abuse, Death, Terminal Illness, Emotional Abuse, Violence, Miscarriage Mention, Self-Harm
-BIO
Sebastian Crenshaw. It was a name that attracted attention, and from the time he was little attention was something he had received in spades. He was doted on by his mother; as her only child he was the light of her life and she never hesitated to make him the center of her world. Throughout his younger years, she took him everywhere she went: charity events, church, even to her office job as a receptionist at a local bank; where he was oohed and aahed over, constantly being passed from one person to the next. Those experiences stuck to him as he continued to grow, filling him with an emboldened sense of confidence and charm. His teachers fawned over how intelligent he was, often complimenting his mother on how bright he his mind appeared to be and recommending he be moved up into the gifted classes. However, not everything ran smoothly in young Sebastianâs life. From the moment of his conception, his father had been angry; Mr. Crenshaw was a notorious penny pincher and the idea of raising a child, of paying to raise a child, infuriated him. When his wife had come to him with the news that they were pregnant, he showed his appreciation with his fists. He never touched her face, he liked her to look pretty; instead his hands pounded against the soft flesh of her body, trying to rid himself of the burden of another mouth to feed. Eventually he resigned himself to becoming a father. Unlike Sebastianâs mother who showered him with affection and love, his father scarcely paid attention to him. Only deigning to speak to the boy if he had done something unspeakable; wanting a new toy, asking for seconds at meal times, or even putting too much ketchup onto his plate. Each offense was dealt with swiftly and harshly, the belt Mr. Crenshaw used leaving long red welts against his sonâs skin. His mother and father stayed in their loveless marriage for eight years, during which time Sebastian tried desperately to please his father, scoring an A on every test and assignment in school, and even going so far as to forgo meals in his attempts to earn the manâs praise. It was all to no avail and as each perfect test he brought home was crumpled up and thrown away, a deep, festering anger the little boy could not understand started to fill him. He started to act out in school, threatening smaller students than himself with bodily harm and starting small fires in the classroom trash cans. Finally, as she watched the changes in her beloved sonâs behavior, Mrs. Crenshaw had decided sheâd had enough of her husbandâs vile behavior and left him, taking the only thing that mattered, her son, with her as she fled.
The few years following the split between his mother and father was a calm period for Sebastian. His transgressionâs and anger faded into the background as he continued to excel in school. Still fascinated with fire, the adolescent took an interest in chemistry. Often he was left home alone to his own devices, as his mother was forced to take on a second job just to make ends meet. This led to an early discovery of sex and by the time he was 12 he had already lost his virginity. Sex became an outlet for all his pent up frustration and lingering anger. He was tall for his age, and in a fit condition due to his constant running from the bullies who picked on him for being âtoo smartâ or âthe teacherâs petâ, which allowed him to pick up girls as much as four years his senior. Everything was going reasonably well, at least as well to be expected for a boy his age who had suffered through what he had, until his mother fell ill when he was only 15. It was early onset dementia, they were told nothing could be done, but that disease could be managed, its progress slowed with the use of medication. The medication was too much for his mother to afford on her own, all seemed lost. He did the only thing he could think of, the only course of action that could help make his motherâs ultimate descent into pain more manageable; he reached out to his estranged father. Sebastian knew through his mother that Mr. Crenshaw had remarried soon after the divorce was finalized, and to a woman with more wealth than Sebastian could even begin to understand. His expectation that his father might have changed, grown into a better man, spurred him on and he made the call. Whatever he was expecting, it was not the ultimatum his father had delivered. Iâll take care of that worthless mother of yours, so long as you come and live with me and my new wife and her children. Iâve told her we still communicate and itâs starting to look suspicious that Iâve never brought you home. Sebastian roared a glorifying, âFuck you!â Before slamming the phone back into its receiver. A rage so dark it terrified him began to boil in his blood, shooting aggravated neurons through his spinal column and into his brain. Without thinking, he traveled to an abandoned building, chemicals from his high school and matches in his bag. The fire felt cleansing. Cleared his mind and revealed to him the only path that made sense. He would help his mother.
From that day forward he worked two jobs while also struggling to finish school. In the early hours of morning and late hours of the evening he worked at a local supermarket stocking shelves. The owner had taken pity on him, paying him almost double what the other boys were making, but it still wasnât enough. It allowed him to keep the roof over his and his mothers heads, but it was not enough to get her the help that she needed. Desperate, he turned to a local criminal organization. His adeptness with fire kept him around and he was paid to clear out crime scenes and keep his mouth shut. Sebastian was also taught for the first time how to defend himself. That part may have been a mistake, for as his anger grew and festered, he began to use his talents to get revenge those who had wronged him. It did not matter if the person had merely bumped into him on accident or if they had thrown the first punch, he treated them all the same. His fascination with fire was something that he could not explain and as his motherâs dementia progressed in its ferocity, he began to grow more attached to it. The warm lick of the flames felt comforting and watching the thickened smoke billow into the air felt as though his worries were being set free. His relationship with the flame became loving. Sometimes in his worst moments of despair he would even burn himself.Â
Finally, after what seemed like a life-time of work, Sebastian graduated high-school, with honors and the position of Valedictorian. It was a momentous event, yet one his mother could not be there for as he feared losing her in the crowd. The one bright side was that he had been offered a full-ride scholarship to the local college in their advanced pre-med program. It was something he was grateful for as it provided him with on campus housing, meaning that all the money he made could go to his motherâs care in the new facility he planned to set her up in, no longer able to meet the needs of her full time care. His first year of college went well, until the spring of 2005. Sebastianâs mother finally slipped from his grasp, so sick she could not even remember her sons face, though she never in all her confusion, forgot his name. The loss tore through him so viciously that he attacked the doctor attending, nearly ending the man's own life in the process. Hours later, after sitting in the holding cell of the city police station, Sebastian was released; the doctor was refusing to press charges, stating he knew how loss had the ability to awaken the darkest creatures inside of them all. Overcome with rage and anger and nowhere to put it, Sebastian became reckless. He started sleeping with as many men and women as he could, using their bodies for his own pleasure before tossing them aside, tired and spent. The unlucky ones who were able to quell that rage often woke up to find their homes engulfed in flames. It was the beginning of a pattern that would take hold of his entire life when it came to relationships, including the one he held with fire. Exactly a week after his motherâs passing, a small funeral service was held, with the only people in attendance being himself and the priest. He had just finished laying a bouquet of beautifully colored roses on his motherâs grave when a vaguely familiar voice called out to him. It was his father, on the arm of his second wife, dressed in a suit of charcoal gray, as if he did not even have the decency to pay proper mourning respect to his deceased ex-wife. Seeing red, he charged at the man he held personally responsible for his motherâs untimely death. It was said by the doctors that her disease had been onset so early in life through repeated concussions and beatings to the head, and Sebastian knew just who was to blame for that. He launched himself at the man, viciously screaming, kicking, biting. Doing anything he could to inflict even an iota of damage onto the man who had ruined his life. Once the rage in his blood cooled and he stopped to take a breath, his father appealed himself to his only true born son. He gave Sebastian the address to his posh house on the hill, stating he could come by anytime to talk if he so chose. Without responding, Sebastian walked away.
The open wound left from his father gaped wider and wider as the weeks passed on, fatherâs day,, a month after his motherâs death, he truly lost it. Voices in his head were speaking to him, each drowning out the other in their quest for revenge and all he wanted them to do was stop. All he wanted was for the pain in his chest to melt away, for the pounding ache of his head to fade away. The voices speaking to him seemed to take on a mind of their own as they screamed out for revenge. It seemed that in almost the blink of an eye, he had arrived at his fatherâs remote location house, his feet carrying him against his will up the long winding pathway, hands knocking on the door without his consent. When the door opened, the screaming of voices reached a symphonic uproar, their clamoring cacophony blinding him at last. When he next awoke from the fever-pitch, blood coated his hands and clothing, the sticky half-dry substance pulling at the hair of his arm. Pressing a hand to his head, his eyes blinked slowly open to take in the carnage around him. His father lay dead beside him, his eyes and heart carved out, because he could not see, and did not care about the damage he had done to his son. In the doorway leading to the next room lay his fatherâs second wife. Hues of dark bruises in the shapes of fingertips fleshed against her alabaster skin. Her death had been a mere necessity, he had needed to go through her to get to the true target of his rage. For a few intense moments Sebastian struggled to comprehend the sight before him, until his swollen mind kicked into overdrive. He couldnât go to jail, he had a life to get on with, he had to help the people like his mother. Sebastian turned to his oldest friend, the flame, to save his life.. Thunder rolled over head, the sound booming through the eerily quiet house. Too scared to do anything more, Sebastian turned tail and ran naked to his car. Before the key could turn into the ignition, a resounding crack sounded as thin veil of lightning struck the weathervane sitting atop the house. Within seconds, the roof was engulfed in flames, the image lighting up his rearview mirror as he sped away from the atrocity he had committed. For the first month after the incident he was jumpy; every sound making him whip around, his eyes ticking and twitching from severe lack of sleep. The news of the Crenshawâs death appeared two days after the murder when their kids came home to find the house burnt to the ground. Investigators suspected foul play, as the charred bodies left behind had not breathed in any carbon monoxide from the fire, the fire that had destroyed any and all evidence pertaining to who might have killed those two nice people. The firefighters were adamant it was onset by the strike of lightning, and the case began sliding further and further back as new, fresher cases began to take precedence. Eventually, the file was set back to rest with all those of the other unsolved murders that had come before it.
Since that night, Sebastian has never again heard those voices, though the demons of his past echoed through his mind; leaving him even more prone to physical violence than he was before. He graduated college top of his class and went on to study neuroscience, using his knowledge and skills to help those like his mother. He even entered into a relationship with a nice man, someone whom he cared deeply for. Unfortunately, it was not a healthy one, as the stress and wear of his demanding job often caused Sebastian to lash out at his partner both physically and mentally. It felt like everyday he had to come up with new and more grand gestures of apology, just to keep him around. Until after one particularly bad day. He snapped, beating his partner to within an inch of his life, telling him gruffly that he had already killed two people, and wouldnât hesitate to make him number three. Then he left. He quit his job at the hospital, changing his phone number and email, leaving no forwarding address. Enough money was sent to a lawyer from the money his father had left that Sebastian hadnât had to deal with the messy cleanup of the incident or questions from suspicious cops. That was how he ended up in New York at age twenty-seven. He took up position as a resident at a well-known hospital and continued his extra-curricular hobby of setting things on fire.Â
On one such occasion he was particularly unlucky and was caught. After eight years in prison Sebastian is finally back out on the street and will forever owe the man who gave him a second chance as a family. He had heard of Sebastianâs work and recruited him as a cleaner. Both Sebastianâs medical background and handiness with fire worked well for the criminal organization that Sebastian would later learn was the syndicate. A new name was also gifted to him. One that allowed him to get work as an EMT, another thing that comes in handy when it comes to cleanup. He has more than a few murders under his belt now, because if there is one thing he is as a man itâs loyal. The Syndicate have become his second family and he would lay down his life for them if need be. Thankfully all that has been needed so far is to continue cleaning up other peopleâs messes.
