Rene is involved in a thread with Adrian Tudor Varias (Sin) on his journal, here. This thread pre-dates the thread with Cassidy by at least a year, which means it is taking place in a parallel dimension, with parallel dimension Sin.

Rene's first post -

Rene was in a good mood, and eager to be in an even better one. He swung into one of the non-tourist bars: darker, older, no neon, and well-worn. He winked at the owner/bartender, Delfeayo, and got a fond smile in return. He intended to check out all the patrons, see all his choices, but he was immediately drawn to a dark haired man, sitting at the bar. There was something about him. He pricked at Rene's empathy. Rene approached him, silent as an assassin, graceful as a thief, and slid onto the seat next to him. He was a damn handsome devil too. "Hey, cher, I'm Rene. You havin' a good night?"

Rene is presently in this thread, with Cassidy Summers-Essex.

He is imprisoned by Sinister who kidnapped him from a parallel dimension. He doesn't yet know that he is not in his own dimension. Sinister has been experimenting on him. Cassidy is forced to watch, and is often allowed to go to the cells and talk to Rene and the other imprisoned mutants at night.

Sinister is going to train Rene to use his powers, so he will have excelent control over them by the time he is rescued.

What MAY happen (discussed with Stacy and approved by Gavin) is that Melinda Dyars/Shatter, who has just returned from Sinister's lab, may convince the X-Men to return to the lab and rescue others, including Rene.

After Rene is returned to the X-Mansion, I'd like to ask someone to play Gambit/Remy LeBeau for me, or nextgen_parent Remy Lebeau, so that Rene can have a conversation with him (whom he's never met in his own dimension), and eventually figure out, from certain inconsistancies, that he is in a different dimension, and that only Sinister could send him back, so he is pretty much stuck and cannot go 'home'.

"Den, Marie Jolie, she come to de edge o' de bayou, and she start ta cry, 'cause she know she ain't never got de stregnth to get 'round it, an' if she try ta swim it, dem gators dey eat her fo' sho'." Rene was in full Cajun mode. It was a Cajun story, so it was easier to tell in the right accent, plus the little girl in the cell on his right and the little boys in the cells across from him seemed to like it. It made them giggle. Extra bonus, for some reason it really annoyed the big cat man who was walking the perimeter of the cells that night.

"What did she do?" asked Taylor, the little boy across and to the left of him. At least Rene thought he was a boy. He was partly made of fog, so it was a tough call.

"Well, you know, one o' dem gators, he swim right up ta her and he pull his two arms outta de water and he cross dem right on de land, like he settlin' in fo' a long chat. Marie Jolie say, 'Please, please, monsieur Gator, don' eat me. I wouldn't be disturbin' you at all, but de devil hisself is chasing me!'

'De devil hisself?' de gator say, 'well, looks like you got a choice to make, you. You can climb up here on my back, an' I'll take you right 'cross dis bayou, me. An you get away from dat devil, or you sit right dere and wait fer him to get you.'

'How I know you not gonna eat me soon as we get out in de middle o' de bayou?' Marie Jolie asked.

'I promise I won',' de gator sighed long and deep, 'guess you just haveta trust me on dat, chere.'

Marie Jolie t'ought she heard a sound behind her an' she jumped up on dat gator's back quicker den a blink! And de gator, he did jus' like he said. Dropped her off on de other side and tol' her just which way to run to find de nearest church.

Den dat ol' gator turn around an he see de devil. Now de devil, he don' like water, so he was jumpin' up and down and jus' havin' hisself a full out conniption! So Gator, he swim hisself over ta dat devil, and he give him de same choice he gave Marie Jolie. Devil thought he too big and powerful to ever get tricked, so he jump right up on dat gator's back. Gator swim him out to the deepest part o' de bayou, whip 'round real fast and grab dat devil leg in him mout' and ate him right down! And dat was de end o' dat."

"How could an alligator eat the devil?" A cynical woman in a cell on the other side of the little girl spat out.

'Thanks a lot, you're being an enormous help, seriously' Rene thought to himself. "'pparently you never been to de bayou, madame, 'cause I will tell you what, don't matter if you a human, mutant, devil, metal man with a ugly red diamond on you head, big ol' cat or what, one o' dem gators eats you, you stay eaten."

"I LIKE that story, Rene!" Aimee, the little girl in the cell next to him declared.

"I'm glad," he smiled at her. "I like it too."

"If I had gator, I'd call him Killer!" Gaius said from across the corridor.

"I'd call mine Buddy."

"I'd call mine Tater."

"I'd call mine Princess!"

"I'd-"

"SHADDUP!" Sabertooth hit the switch that sent and elecric shock through all of the cells' metal floors and walls.

It hurt, and it left Rene shaking and twitching. For the millionth time he wondered what the hell these people wanted with him, who they were and why it was taking the guilds so long to find him.

He heard the big cat's footsteps stop in front of his cell. "Guess what storyteller? It's your turn to have a sleep over in the lab." Sabertook grinned cruelly.

Name: Rene Julien Boudreaux
Codename: Absinthe
Age: 18
Birthday: December 13
Height: 6’1
Weight: 135 lbs
Eyes: Green, they turn a more vivid neon green when he is using his kinetic power.
Hair: Blond
Relatives: [in a parallel dimension] Bella Donna Boudreaux (mother), Remy Etienne LeBeau (father)
Base of Operations: Xavier School

Skills: hand to hand combat, weapons training, excellent sniper, silent stealth, knife skills, advanced knowledge of poisons (preparation and administration), advanced education, speaks English, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, German, Danish, Finnish and Latin.

Powers: He can charge any inanimate object with kinetic energy, his energy signature however is green, rather than his father’s purple. He must be able to see or touch an object to charge it. He has empathic abilities, and he can project strange images and hallucinations into the minds of others to render them hysterical, catatonic, terrified, elated, etc, any extreme emotion. He has enhanced balance, flexibly and agility.

History: His birth and existence was kept a secret from his father whom he has never met. His mother made sure that he had the best, most intensive training from both Master Thieves and Master Assassins. He was given the best education in France from ages 4 to 7, then in Quebec from ages 7 to 9, then returned to New Orleans to attend an exclusive private school. He was trained to take over the leadership of the United Guilds. He was also taught how to move about in high society, how to survive as a homeless Quarter rat and how to be a pureblood Cajun. He was not taught how to trust or be close to people. Nor how to form friendships or handle love affairs. When he was 16 his powers emerged, and he asserted his independence, mostly by staying out late, drinking and participating in other illicit activities. But he also finished his education and continued to work for the United Guilds as both a thief and an assassin. When he was 18, he left New Orleans in search of his father. On the way he was kidnapped from his dimension by Mr. Sinister, who brought him into this, the Marvel-NextGen dimension.

Personality: Rene is outwardly, friendly, flirty, and fun. He makes passes at both men and women, and is attracted to both. He likes to make people laugh. He knows how to blend in and be comfortable will all types of people, but he has learned that at the expense of being himself. He feels he can only be himself when he is alone, so he will retreat sometimes and hide from the world. He does have strong opinions, and when the occasion arises he does not back down from an argument or fight. He presents himself as an innocuous ‘pretty boy’ but he is always the dangerous thief and the deadly assassin.

Miscellaneous: Rene is a bit of an adrenaline junkie and nothing is to risky for him to try. He loves animals. He’s good with children. He plays the guitar. He smokes, drinks and sleeps around. He misses home.

Player: Sinnie

Email: nypperkin@yahoo.com

AIM: Sinthe18

Character Name: Rene Julien Boudreaux

Character LJ: http://www.scribbld.net/users/rjb_absinthe

Character Code Name: Absinthe

Physical description:
Height: 6’1
Weight: 135 lbs
Eyes: Green, they turn a more vivid neon green when he is using his kinetic power. His energy signature is also green.
Hair: Blond
Build: slim but athletic, well defined muscles. Stronger than he looks.
He is a native New Orleanian, and his mother and most members of the guilds are Cajun, but his normal accent is just the soft southern drawl of the New Orleans Garden District. His first language is French and it does show up here and there, but generally he is pretty easy to understand.

Age: 18

Birthday: December 13

PB: Mitch Hewer


Abilities: His agility, flexibility and balance are enhanced. He is an empath, and can use that power to project thoughts and images into others’ minds. He can kinetically charge any object as long as he can see or touch it. He is a trained thief and a trained assassin. He has expert training in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and poisons. He was taught several foreign languages, and has some skill with computers, security systems and locks.

Weaknesses and flaws: His ability to project thoughts and images into other’s minds is limited by circumstance. For instance, in the dead of night, while breaking into a facility, it is easy to project calm, and even sleep into the mind of a guard. During a fight, that’s too difficult, so he’ll pull from the negative emotions around him and project a nightmare hallucination, which would provoke terror or hysteria in the victim. If he has to use his power when no one is around, drawing only on his own emotions, it can exhaust him and scramble his brain up for a few hours. Similar effects occur if he must project calm to a victim during a fight or hysteria in a calm situation. It is also affected negatively by how he is physically at the time. If he has a dislocated shoulder, it might take longer and use more energy. If he has a concussion, forget it.

His agility, flexibility and balance are better than what a normal human could achieve, no matter how much training he/she has. But it’s not infallible. He gets tired, he slips, he falls, he gets distracted and misjudges distance, then doesn’t quite make it from one roof to the other. It happens. Usually he walks away with the feline attitude of ‘I meant that. That’s exactly how I intended that to go’.

His charging ability is limited by the size of the object charged. He can charge small things and throw them around all day, light people’s cigarettes, warm up some coffee, no big deal. But the bigger and denser and object is, a thick titanium door for instance, is gonna take a lot out of him, and he may not be able to charge anything for a while after. Also, he can be hurt by the explosions caused by his charges, Shrapnel is shrapnel and he is not immune. So it’s dangerous for him to charge an object in a small space or charge an object he has contact with like the walls, floor or ceiling of a room he is presently occupying.

He is a trained assassin and needs to remember when to stop short of killing. It’s a learned behavior and it is his inclination to not just subdue an opponent, but finish the job. This is only in real fight situations however, he knows how to spar and train with team members without killing them!*LOL*

His mental shields are not well developed so he can be read by telepaths. Often what is going on in his head is completely different from what he is showing on the outside.

He is also a thief, and though he is not a kleptomaniac, some shiny and valuable objects may prove to be too much of a temptation.

He is looking for a family, though it’s a subconscious yearning, and that can be exploited. He specifically wants to find his father, and any father figures he comes across can have undue influence on him. He also sublimates this desire for love and affection into initiating sexual encounters. He enjoys bedmates of either sex, but usually is not on the same page as his partner regarding monogamy.

Home: New Orleans, Louisiana

Alignment: Hero

Relatives:
Mother: Bella Donna Boudreaux
Father: Remy LeBeau (But they have not yet met)
Parallel Dimension Half-siblings: Alisa LeBeau, Entienne LeBeau, Sophie LeBeau (He is not yet aware of any of them)

Backstory: He was born in a parallel dimension to Bella Donna after the defeat of the Brood, which means after Remy had given her the elixer. So far he has aged normally, but it remains to be seen if he will continue to age once he reaches full maturity. He lived with Bella Donna full time until he was four years old at which time he was sent to France with three members of the Thieves Guild to begin school and training. When he was seven years old he was sent to Quebec with three members of the Assassins Guild to continue with school and begin Assassin training. At age ten he returned to New Orleans to attend Holy Cross, an all boys Roman Catholic Boarding school. Here he met the sons of old, respected, powerful and rich New Orleans families. On weekends he went ‘home’, to a large mansion in the Garden District, where he generally saw his mother. She usually spent four to six hours on Saturdays teaching him the inner workings of the United Guilds, how things were run and what responsibilities would eventually fall to him. Of course training as a thief and as an assassin was continuous, with his teachers and mentors changing as he advanced so that he was always taught by the best at whatever skill he was mastering.

Bella Donna wanted Rene to be a part of New Orleans society. To know the manners and customs of the rich. But he was also taken down to the French Quarter and the Ninth Ward, and taught how to blend in, what the codes of conduct were there as well. He needed to be comfortable everywhere and with everyone, or at least know how to make everyone everywhere comfortable with him. She wasn’t raising no damn snob! And she wasn’t raising some little candy ass who‘d be afraid to walk alone through St. Louis Cemetery Number Two, at midnight, with no flashlight or weapons, either.

It was not announced, or emphasized by any means, but people involved with the guilds, and of course the guild members themselves, were aware that he was the ’heir apparent’, the prince of the guilds, so to speak, and would be the patriarch one day. It was rumored that Remy LeBeau had fathered him, but Bella Donna never confirmed that, and let it be known that, if the peace was to be kept within the United Guilds, then Rene would never, under any circumstances, be discussed with, or God Forbid, ever meet Remy LeBeau. No one was to say a word to Remy about Rene, and vice versa. Rene was sent out of the country any time Remy was known to be anywhere near Louisiana.

Rene was curious about his father, but no one would ever tell him anything. He felt lonely often because he was away from his mother and cousins so much, and as soon as he would get to a point where he was doing well in his training and being able to please his trainer and become somewhat comfortable with him or her, it would be time for him to go with someone else and learn something new. His mother didn’t want him to make friends at school, because she said making friends was just the backwards way of making enemies. Rather she wanted him to be friendly with everybody. The result of which was that he knew everybody, but nobody really knew him.

Rene’d been pickpocketing since he was five, and moved on to bigger, more dangerous thefts as he got older. At twelve he planned and executed his first solo theft involving guards, security systems and safes. At 13, he made his first kill. It was quick, quiet and neat, his mother was very proud. For the next two years he began slipping away from school, going to the Guildhouse, getting his assignment, completing it, and slipping back into school nearly every night. During school vacations and summers he would be taken to different countries to learn the language, how to blend in, steal and kill there without getting caught.

Then, the summer after he turned sixteen, he was home for a week between jobs. His mother was at the Guildhouse working, and he was laying outside by the pool, hoping no one would decide this would be a good time to test him on any of his skills. He just wanted some peace, to relax and do nothing.

Then he saw a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t alone. Moving his head slightly, in what looked like a completely natural adjustment, to make his neck more comfortable, he could see a figure crouching behind the bushes under the magnolia. He really wasn’t up for this shit right now. He focused in and could see a knife sheath on a belt. He stared at it and suddenly it felt as if all of his anger and frustration became a physical force, moving up through his body and then out of his eyes! The knife sheath, and then the belt glowed a brilliant green. The figure popped up, yelling and trying to get the belt off. Rene tried to stop whatever was happening, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t stop this weird energy flow and he couldn’t close his eyes or look away.

People had begun to come out of the house to see what all the yelling was about when the knife sheath, the knife inside, and the belt exploded with a huge “BOOM!”

The figure was Mojo, one of his mother’s top advisors, he screamed, apparently hurt.

Rene was scared to death, and his first instinct was to run over and help him. Or maybe just curl up and cry. He’d never hurt anyone without meaning to before. But he saw how every one was looking at him. They were scared too, maybe even more than he was. His training kicked in. ‘Make the unexpected work to your advantage’, it had been drilled into him for years. So instead he sat up, looked each person directly in the eye and said, “I am trying to relax.” Then he calmly laid back down and ignored them. They seemed frozen in shock for several moments, then, as if someone had flicked a switch, they were running all over, some checking out Mojo, someone calling a doctor, some going back into the house to get cold towels ready, as Mojo was carried through the door. Within five minutes Rene was alone again, and he knew he wouldn’t be disturbed for the rest of the day. He felt the tension of always keeping himself on the alert drain away and his muscles actually went loose. He didn’t know what he’d done, or how, and he knew it probably would mean bad things for him in the future, but this, here, right now? This felt good.

His mother arrived home shortly and couldn’t quite get her emotional gauge to rest on angry or upset. For hours she’d scream at him, and then she’d cry over him. Then yell and threaten, then cuddle and promise. For the first time, she told him straight out that his father was Remy LeBeau. That his powers were not the same as those the assassins got from Candra, instead he was a mutant. He could feel her love for both him and his father inside his head somehow. The way he’d felt the fear of the others before. He kept it to himself, but knew he’d find a use for it.

Bella Donna’s solution to the situation was simply that Rene would have to stay in New Orleans, where the guild members could protect him, and keep his mutation secret. He would train and learn to use his powers the same as the other assassins did. And that was her last word on it.

Rene went on his next job, and while he was out, he could feel the emotions of people around him. Some were having a very positive reaction to him, even though they were just passing on the street. He followed up on that and gave his virginity to a handsome stranger in room 3307 of the Pontchartrain Hotel that night. Then he went down to the bar, met a senator’s beautiful daughter and spent the rest of the night with her in the penthouse suite.

He woke up, showered and completed his assignment, it was a quick kill, and went just as unnoticed in daylight as it would have at night.

His mother was furious, but it had no effect on him. Rene was done with being her little overprotected soldier. He came and went as he pleased, spending his night in a bar or in someone else’s bed. But he finished every job he was given, he had loyalty to his guild and he wouldn’t let them down.

He used the information his mother had given him to take a tiny bit from here and another bit from there, cover his tracks and set up his own Swiss bank account. He knew he’d need it later. He began asking everyone about his father. What he was like? Where was he? Why did he leave? Did anyone know how to contact him? But he ran mostly into brick walls. The Guild members knew that Bella Donna didn’t want Rene to have any information about Remy, and whether they supported that or not, she was their Guild Mistress.

So Rene scraped up what he could from some whispered rumors and news reports and the day after he graduated from high school, he stuffed some clothes, money and weapons in a backpack, and started hitchhiking up the east coast, toward Salem Center.

Three days and four nights later, Rene was walking up the side of the road in a particularly deserted area of the I 10 when a tesseract opened in front of him. Before he could even process that, he'd been pulled into the Marvel - Next Gen dimension, drugged, tested, and thrown into a cell in Mr. Sinister's underground lair.

How do you plan to introduce the character to the game?: Have one of the teams rescue him from the clutches of Mr. Sinister.

What are you planning to do with this character?: Make a little trouble. ; ) No, really, I want to involve him in relationships, have him teach his skills as well as learn their ways of living and relating to each other. Possibly have him at some point meet the Gambit of this dimension or some of his children, depending on what is agreeable to them and what fits into their plans and plots.

What do you want to see happen with this character?: I want him to learn how to get close to people and form friendships. I want him to learn that freedom and responsibility aren’t really opposites. I want him to have fun. And I’d like him to be able to kick some bad guy ass!

Sample scene:
(I’ll write for other characters in this, but obviously I won’t be doing that in the RP)

Rene slipped through the gate, and avoided the motion detectors. He was half-way to the mansion when someone picked him up by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground. His eyes widened as sharp metal claws emerged from the man’s hands, stopping just short of his neck.

“We don’t like uninvited guests, kid. You got two seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t rip yer heart out right now.”

“Has anyone ever told you, you’ve got lovely eyes?”

The claws pressed into Rene’s throat, “One second.”

Rene swallowed nervously. “I need to find Remy LeBeau.”

Wolverine, relaxed slightly. “What’s yer business with him?”

“Uh, I’m his son.” Rene hoped that counted as ‘business’ to the big man, his knee was getting awfully heavy on Rene’s gut.

Wolverine made a disgusted face, then leaned forward and sniffed at Rene’s throat, and at the small beads of blood that were welling up where his claws had been. Yep, kid was telling the truth. And he did have a similar scent to Remy’s. “Shit.” Wolverine got off the ground and pulled Rene up with him. It was only then that Rene realized how much shorter the man was.

“Gambit!” Wolverine yelled.

“Oui, mon ami?” (Yeah, dude?) Rene could just make out a dark figure on the roof, and the tell-tale light of a burning cigarette.

“Better get down here. The stick turned blue.”

“Pardonne-moi?” (Excuse me?)

“Says he’s yer kid.”

The figure stood, he was tall and looked to Rene like God himself, standing in the light of the moon. “Quel est votre nom, cher?” (What’s your name, bud?)

“Rene Boudreaux, monsieur.” Rene answered politely.

Remy, shifted his weight nervously, then did a back flip down to the yard, and began walking toward Rene and Logan. “Et qui est votre mamman?” (And who is your mother?)

“Bella Donna Boudreaux.”

By this time Remy had reached them and he leaned in close to inspect Rene. He could see Belle in every feature. And damned if those weren't his dimples. He stepped back and looked over at Logan. “Merde.” (Shit.)