Deren

Deren used to be a talented filmmaker of great renown. She was well-versed in filmmaking and was called the Master of Grotesque Romcom. But she has since stopped making movies, for reasons unknown.

In the Blockbuster Films Incident, the unleashing of her power wrecked public property and caused a large-scale stampede. She should be detained as soon as possible.

--

The subject's works still contain residual Mania effect. With her permission, they have all been removed to eradicate possible contamination.

Having spent time with Chief during the Blockbuster Films Incident and in the Bureau, the subject gradually begins to trust Chief and becomes more willing to open up.

Chief's talks with the subject have been effective. Though her mindset is yet to be entirely shaken, she's not as pessimistic and indifferent as before.

During the investigation of Blockbuster Films Incident, Chief met Deren, who had been assisting OwO with film production. While resolving the crisis, Deren's powers were unleashed, causing a series of accidents including damage to public property and people being trampled. After the incident was resolved, she sought help from Chief and agreed to be detained by the MBCC.

A well-known director whose work won many DisCars, Deren was regarded in the film industry as a rare talent. She was well-versed in many aspects of filmmaking, such as writing, camerawork, soundtrack, and editing. She is also observant; she is attuned to people's feelings but knows when to step back to better dissect those feelings. She masterfully wove together the characters, the story and the mood into a breathtaking work of art.

The movie Deren had intended to submit for DisCars consideration was dark yet romantic. Based on what she had observed, the movie brought to light the struggle and outcry of those trapped in the darkness. But under pressure from the film distributor and investor to improve their chances of winning, Deren agreed to have the movie re-edited by someone else. The re-edited version won many DisCars, but it failed to convey the message in the director's cut.

Deren didn't attend the DisCars ceremony that year, nor did she give any interviews. She received many compliments for the movie, but the compliments were nothing more than a flattering label. She left Eastside and gave up her directing career. She became nonchalant and indolent, putting up a shield of indifference to protect herself against the absurdity of the world and the stupidity of her followers.

After the disastrous end of the DisCars, the Chief returns to Dollywood to investigate whether any of the Apostle's power remains. They quickly run into Deren, who is fleeing from a group of producers and reporters eager to rope her back into the film industry. She and the Chief escape together, and the Chief brings her back to the isolated safety of the MBCC. There, Deren readily agrees to be detained. She doesn't seem bothered by incarceration or the need to follow the Chief's orders, only interested in free food and accommodation and the ability to avoid the industry that wants her back.

Confused about her motivations, the Chief asks Deren about why she quit being a director, famously not attending the DisCars five years prior when her film Guest List for the Ball won the highest honors. Deren replies that the version of the movie submitted for consideration was not the directors cut; it had been edited in such a way as to completely change the message that she was trying to convey. Because of that, she saw the event as something for the judges and audience, and nothing to do with her. Despite her feelings on the subject, though, Deren claims that she does not remember what her intent for the film had actually been. the Chief can't believe this, and decides to investigate independently.

During the interrogation, you learn that Deren's awarded film from five years ago is called Guest List for the Ball, but she refuses to talk about its content.
You want to learn more about Deren, so you decide to continue investigating on your own.

While pondering how to learn more about Deren, the Chief comes across Luvia Ray and realizes that she is in the film industry, and thus might have some insight. Luvia is a big fan of Deren, and produces a flash drive that contains the now-banned theatrical release of Guest List for the Ball. The film is avant-garde and conceptual, shot from first-person perspective and depicting the viewer's encounters with a variety of attendees at a party. Each attendee is scared and struggling with some sort of abstract ailment and they are each called, one by one, to dance in the center of the ball by a chorus of ominous voices that promise to bring them happiness. The first is a girl in a white dress is looking for someone to love her, who dances with a man whose face is in shadow and becomes increasingly beaten down. A pale-faced boy wants his siblings to be taken care of before he dies, and thorny vines grow through his body, tearing apart as his dance goes on. The final attendee is a woman in a suit, who tries to help the protagonist escape from the ball, but is dragged back by the other guests. As she dances, her suit transforms into a gown. Despite their ailments during the dances, however, the final shot of the film shows them all lying together in a field of flowers, apparently having been granted the happiness they desired.

Luvia and the Chief discuss the movie, and agree that it deserves the many DisCars that it won. Deren reveals that she has been listening to their conversation, and is bemused by their praise until the Chief points out that it feels like something is unresolved, and asks if there will be a sequel. Deren abruptly storms off, leaving behind her notebook with ideas for the film.

After watching the non-director's cut version of the film, Deren shows up. She asks you what impression of her the movie left you.
She seems indifferent to your answer. By the time you decide to continue investigating, she's already walked off, but a notebook about Guest List for the Ball is left there.

Nightingale reports that an Eastside councilor has taken Deren away for a temporary release. She hands the Chief a livestream of an interview Deren is giving in Dillywood, where she half-heartedly answers questions in an evasive and unhelpful way. The crowd of reporters is unfazed, and continues to pressure her further. Through the Shackles, the Chief instructs her to run away, and they meet her escaping through the back alleys. The Chief takes her a factory in the city, and reveals that they had found and read her notebook on Guest List for the Ball. They discuss how the final film ended up being heavily edited; Deren had envisioned a story about people who accepted their fate, and then found that it came at the cost of their destruction. However, it was made it into a story about people's dreams coming true. Nevertheless, Deren accepts what happened. She recognizes that a lot more people than just her were invested in the movie's success, and that her vision would not have been as widely accepted and would have wasted the efforts of everybody else who worked on it. So, just like the characters in her director's cut, she stopped making movies and accepted reality.

You help Deren flee the reporters' cameras and questions, and the veil of mystery about that movie is finally lifted.
Deren feels bored about "having no choice but to accept reality". That was the main reason she stopped making movies.

The Chief and Deren continue their conversation. The Chief reveals that the factory they are at was owned by the woman whom Deren based her movie on. Deren had found the woman's journal at a junk shop, and read about how she had a shrewd mind for business but was forced into marriage by her family. She became the inspiration for the third character in Guest List for the Ball, while the first two dancers were both inspired by employees of hers at the factory. The Chief continues to explain that the factory is now owned by that woman's brother, and that after seeing Deren's film, he was inspired to honor her dream and name the business after her. The two of them both agree that the movie should have ended the way Deren envisioned it, but that it could still inspire beauty in its final cut.

Deren attends the delayed DisCars ceremony, having announced that she would debut a new film there after all. She instead screens her director's cut of Guest List for the Ball, which initially confuses the audience as they believe it to be the same movie as five years before, but then begins to disturb them as they see how different this version of the story is. Deren exults in their discomfort as she finally walks the red carpet out of the awards, after having refused to do so when Guest List for the Ball first premiered.

Accepting reality doesn't mean giving in to fate. In life, most people dream until they can't anymore. But there are always those who'd rather dance barefoot on fragments and catch the last glimmer of their dreams. These people are inevitably deemed as lunatics by others, but... that's not a big deal, is it?

Deren has been nonchalant and indolent ever since she arrived at the MBCC. She goes about her business, including tasks assigned to her, without much enthusiasm, although she seems to agree with everything, never raising objections.

Deren has the habit of springing joes on her interlocutors, jokes that often leave them lost for words. If a joke falls flat, she won't feel upset; she'll just smile, eyes narrowed, then turn around and leave.

Deren carries a pen and notebook in person wherever she goes. If she notices something interesting as she goes about her life, she will whip out the pen and notebook and make a note or two. You've learned that the notes she makes are ideas for movies and material that she can use in movies. To most people, the notebook is more like an unsavory collection of their embarrassing deeds.

Deren once offered to make a documentary about the MBCC, but Chief declined, saying that the existence of the MBCC should be kept a secret. But she's persistent, still busy convincing Chief to give her permission to make movies based on the life stories of the Sinners.

[Deren is sitting on the couch in the Recreation Area, watching a movie.]

Deren: Are you interested in this kind of arthouse film as well?

Chief: ......

• Prompt: Interested.
• Deren: Then come over and watch it with me. It's just started.
• Deren: 😘

• Prompt: Not interested.
• Deren: Sigh, forget it. I'll have it all to myself.
• Deren: 😥

[Deren suddenly interrupts you in the middle of the conversation. She produces a notebook and begins jotting notes.]

Deren: Hold on... I have to note down what you just said.

Chief: ......

• Prompt: Why do you want to remember what I said?
• Deren: Because what you said just now is interesting. It will make a good line for the protagonist in the script I've been writing recently.
• Deren: 😏

• Prompt: Did I say something wrong?
• Deren: No. What you just said inspired me. I must note it down now so I don't forget it later.
• Deren: 😉

[The first half of the stage play rehearsal ends when the lights suddenly go out. In the darkness, you feel Deren's gaze from beside you.]

Deren: Big spectacles always go straight to people's heads. Kind of like this play, who knows what kind of mess or miracle the next act's gonna bring.

• Prompt: Relax. I'll make sure everything runs.
• Deren: So you're sticking to the shadows, huh? Chief, we really are the same breed. For the stuff that actually matters, only the people on the sidelines ever get a clear look.
• Deren: 😏

• Prompt: I'm looking forward to it.
• Deren: Then don't be in such a hurry to slip away. I have a feeling this finale won't disappoint you, Chief.
• Deren: 😘

⚠ Good Tutor

Deren takes a keen interest in instructing Lynn in photography.

System Notifications: Deren takes a keen interest in instructing Lynn in photography. She has even made a list of textbooks on photography for Lynn.

• Prompt: Can you teach me too?

⚠ Professional Film Selector

Deren makes a great contribution to the improvement of both the staffers' taste and the Sinners' taste.

System Notifications: Since Deren joined the MBCC, both the staffers' taste and the Sinners' taste have been improving. It's attributable to the fact that the movies she chooses for Movie Night are both entertaining and informative.

• Prompt: Good review

System Notifications: What movie has Deren chosen for this week? You can't wait to find out.

⚠⚠ Material Accumulation

Supervision System: It's past time for Sinner Deren to return to the detention area.

System Notifications: Supervision System: It's past time for Sinner Deren to return to the detention area. But she remains in the library. Go or stay?

• Prompt: Yes

System Notifications: You walk into the library. Deren is sitting at the window, absorbed in writing.

• Prompt: Remind

Chief: Deren, it's time. You should go back to the detention area now.

Deren: Just a minute. Let me finish this one...

Chief: What are you writing?

Deren: Just some interesting little stories. Check out this one here, if you're interested.

System Notifications: You open the notebook Deren has indicated. In it are short paragraphs and little stories. They're the inspirations she has written down.

Chief: "A precious friendship is forged in Purgatory. Freedom gained through mutual reliance and support."

Chief: "A pair of Robin Hoods who rob from the rich and give to the poor in the name of justice."

Chief: ...

Chief: They read familiar to me.

Deren: Small wonder, considering where I'm drawing inspiration from.

Deren: I have to admit that reality can be more magical than the cinematic wonderland.

⚠⚠ Use of Hypnosis

Chief receives a new request.

System Notifications: Supervision System: Chief, you have a new request.

Deren: Hi, Chief, can I have a few more hypnotherapy sessions?

Chief: What?

Deren: You sound surprised. Is my request really that bizarre?

Chief: No one has ever made such a request before.

Chief: Why do you want more sessions? I've read the hypnotist's report. You seem to be in good mental health.

Deren: I just find it interesting. During hypnotherapy, I get to talk to my subconsciousness, which helps me better understand my inner self.

Deren: Sometimes some amazing ideas come to me while I'm hypnotized.

Chief: I see...

Deren: To be honest, there's another reason for my request, a very important reason.

• Prompt: What?

Deren: Which is... I can sleep to my heart's content during hypnotherapy without being accused of slacking.

Chief: ...

⚠⚠⚠ Additional Skills

Pepper's patch of wheat in the greenhouse has ripened. A group of helpers are harvesting it.

System Notifications: Pepper's patch of wheat in the greenhouse has ripened. A group of helpers are harvesting it, Deren among them. She seems a skilled harvester, you think to yourself as you get closer.

• Prompt: Ask surprisingly

Chief: Deren, you're helping harvest the wheat?

Deren: You sound surprised. What? I don't look like someone who knows how to harvest wheat?

Chief: I am surprised. I didn't know you were interested in agriculture.

Deren: Well, my knowledge of agriculture is limited to wheat harvesting.

Chief: How so?

Deren: In my school days, there was this teacher who was obsessive about location shooting.

Deren: To prepare for a movie, he once found a patch of land and planted wheat on it with the rest of the crew, six months before the shooting of the movie.

Deren: The wheat grew surprisingly well. Me and some other students were asked to help harvest it.

Deren: And the teacher made a handsome profit from selling the harvest.

• Prompt: Tease
• Chief: You can't call yourself a decent director if you don't have some extra skills, right?
• Deren: Haha, quite right. Directors and their quirks...

• Prompt: Sigh
• Chief: It sounds like a lot of fun, filmmaking.
• Deren: It is fun. Exhausting but fun. I miss that feeling.

⚠⚠⚠ Imaginative Training

One lazy afternoon, Deren lies on the lawn in the outdoor activity area looking at clouds.

System Notifications: One lazy afternoon, Deren lies on the lawn in the outdoor activity area looking at clouds.

• Prompt: Sit down next to her

Deren: Chief, you guys have created an impressive simulation here. Look at the sky; it looks uncannily real.

Chief: It's a real-time simulation of the view outside. The naked eye can't tell the difference.

System Notifications: She chuckles and points at a cloud directly over your heads.

Deren: What does that cloud look like to you?

• Prompt: Think

Chief: Hmm... It looks like a man with a pipe in his mouth, and he has a dog on a leash.

System Notifications: No sooner have you finished describing than the cloud starts changing shape.

Deren: What does it look like now?

Chief: The dog... It's becoming a man with a beard... Wait, it's changing back to a dog.

Deren: Now let your imagination run free and see if you come up with an interesting story according to the changes in the shape of the cloud.

Chief: Hmm...

System Notifications: Your mind is a blank; you shake your head.

Deren: Here is a random example. A great detective who can crack any case, no matter how insolvable it looks, but that's all thanks to his dog.

Deren: As far as the detective's concerned, his dog is a disheveled middle-aged man who can be called upon at any time to whisper answers in his ear.

Chief: That's... unorthodox.

Deren: It's a great imagination exercise. It's fun, isn't it?

• Prompt: Indeed
• Chief: You really are an incredible director. You can think up a movie simply by observing a cloud.
• Deren: It's just an idea. It takes a lot more to turn an idea into a movie.
• Deren: But if you want to learn more about filmmaking, I'm more than happy to help.

• Prompt: Doesn't seem so fun
• Deren: Ah, do you really think so?
• Deren: What can I say? I am a boring person...

A loose-fitting article of clothing that is scratch and stain resistant and comes with convenient deep pockets, suitable for filmmakers who are always on the move.

The creation of delusions and dreams can also dominate reality.