Kaitryn Delacroix

"Ubi angeli fortitudine ingressus timent calcare"

=• Youth in America •= Kaitryn Delacroix grew up in a small town in the American heartland - Dubuque, Iowa, to be specific. She played along the bluffs of the Mississippi river as a child, and was fond of exploring the caves. She wasn't afraid of the dark - she never had been. And why should she be? It wasn't as if there were eldritch evils lurking in the shadows after all. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, Atlantis is a myth, and there are no real monsters... This was the safe, comforting, and quite false "reality" that shaped Kaitryn. She grew up an athletic young woman, who loved stories set in the Age of Chivalry (although she tended to ask why it couldn't be the princesses slaying the dragon.) and developed a real interest in the history of the church her parents raised her in. Her father had been to Oxford, and moved to the states after he married to teach at the University of Dubuque. When she'd asked occasionally, why he'd moved here, rather than he and Mom moving to England, he'd just smiled, and said he'd wanted someplace quieter to raise a family. Still, it had taken an inordinate amount of wheedling to get him to allow her to apply to Wycliffe Hall - and to append his endorsement to the application. Her mother had finally put her foot down. "You can't keep her here forever, Richard, you know that." Her father, looking as worried as Kaitryn had ever seen him muttered something she didn't think he'd intended her to hear; "...but I wanted her safe - safe from that world..." and then in a clearer voice "But you'll have your way, Kat, as you always have. I'll write them." So, in 2007 the nineteen year old Kaitryn hugged her parents, and boarded a plane to the United Kingdom, were she would, or so she believed, live out her dream of studying the history of the christian faith at Oxford.

=• Life at Oxford •= Kaitryn settled into Oxford like it was a second skin. She felt very much at home. As she poured herself into her studies, she got the reputation of being a bright, if perhaps overly-focused student. She could get lost among the stacks, and became well-known to the staff on the closing shifts, as they'd regularly have to remind her that "it was time to be getting along, miss…" During her second year she met Lilly Saint-Claire when she heard Kaitryn complaining about the rents on nearby flats, and bemoaning to a classmate that she didn't have a flat-mate. She introduced herself, and after talking their "wants" and "musts" for a flat, and a flat-mate, they decided to give it a go. They've become quite good friends over the past five years, with Kaitryn being the flywheel to Lilly's more extravagant schemes. It was Lilly who prompted (or perhaps nagged?) her friend into finding "something other than books" to spend her leisure time with. Lilly's idea had more to do with clubbing, or shows, but Kaitryn had other ideas. After Lilly managed to knock the idea into Kaitryn's head, she thought that something more physical would be a good idea. She'd done gymnastics and track in high school, but she didn't think she had time for something that competitive here, so she began to look into the various Martial Arts - and found the second ruling passion of her young life. The sword. Kaitryn had loved the idea of sword fighting her entire life and, to her surprise and delight, it seemed that a renaissance in the recreation of actual medieval combat techniques was underway. She joined a HEMA-certified club, and threw herself into that world with the same abandon she had done with her studies. Lilly was appalled by the notion, but her friend was happy, even when tired and bruised, so despite her dashed plans of an expanded social life, she was happy for her friend. Her first half-decade at Ofxord passed withou real event. Oh, Kaitryn noticed the occasional oddity. Strangers would occasionally stop and do a double-take when seeing her (is white hair really that odd?) Or sometimes cross to the other side of the street. And every once in a while she'd see.. things, out of the corner of her eye. Things that weren't really there, of course. (Clearly, she had been studying too hard…) And there were bees. It seemed like whatever she was living, there would soon be bees. She didn't mind them; she'd never been stung and she liked the buzzing noise - they'd been there in Iowa, too, now that she thought of it. Her parents had never knocked down the hives at home, so she convinced her roommates to leave them alone and the bees reciprocated. And then came the trip to Tokyo. She and several of her fellow graduate students had been given the opportunity to go to Tokyo for a seminar, on the feudal religions of Japan. They had quite enjoyed both the city and the discussions when everything - everything changed.

=• Tokyo; Autumn, 2012 •= Kaitryn had been having nightmares - the one blemish on the trip, but she'd blamed them on jet-lag. This one, however, she didn't seem to be able to wake from - at least, that was her initial belief. There were screams - strange cries in the night, and the hotel was shaking. Emergency lights were on in the hallways, and as she and Lilly, her room-mate, hastily donned clothes they joined the exodus to the streets below. Amidst the dark and chaos, they found some of the other students from the UK, and huddled together, a pool of shared language in a sea of half-understood Japanese babble, half-glimsed shapes, and unnatural screams. She still thought it was a dream - what else could it be? But then something rose up from the subway. Something she saw, and... The next she remembers she was running - away from those… things. From the seductive whispers in her mind. From the blackness so bright it blinded that came from the Orochi tower. She was dragging Lilly, who was screaming. They were both ahead of the surge of humanity that was fleeing - humanity, and that which devoured. Kaitryn wasn't consciously aware of where they were going. But at some level, she must have recognized a refuge when she saw the temple. The old man standing in the archway beckoned, and she darted towards him. "Please - there's... Pardon, do you understand me? It's... it's coming..." she was nearly babbling. Lilly had collapsed at her feet. "I understand more than you know, child. But yes, I speak your tongue. You and your friend are welcome here - but be swift, what approaches is not welcome, and the barriers will not distinguish friend from foe, nor will they hold long against the coming darkness." He bowed slightly, and walked towards the temple behind him. Kaitryn had to physically drag Lilly after her. The oncoming mass of humanity - and worse - was nearly upon them when she crossed the threshold, and then... They were streaming past. Like black? (why black?) water in a river split around a rock. It was as if the small Shinto shrine did not exist. "And for them, it does not. For a time, at least." said a voice behind her. As she whirled, startled, the monk's gaze sharpened. "It is an honor to meet one blessed of Gaia." he said and bowed, more deeply this time. "And doubly so to have assisted such a one - the days grow dark, and all such will be needed soon." Kaitryn was confused. And scared. She had finally realized this wasn't a dream - she very nearly panicked. "I... I don't understand? Me? Blessed of? And what was... is... that?" she made a vague uncoordinated gesture towards the mass of less-than-human things behind them. "What's happening?", this last was nearly a shriek. With an effort, she calmed herself. "What's going on?" The monk nodded to himself. "Those are, indeed, important questions. Perhaps you should visit the gardens - the flowers are beautiful even by moonlight, and the bees would be pleased to see you safe." And he turned, and was gone. Kaitryn found this an entirely incoherent response, but Lilly clearly needed to be away from… what was outside - and the garden had to be better than out here, where they could still see... things. The garden was lovely by moonlight. And there were bees, who did seem to hover in her vicinity. The humming was.. comforting. Now that they couldn't see (or hear - why couldn't they hear the outside world?) Lilly had calmed down, but she was still mindlessly babbling. As the fear-lent adrenaline rush left her, Kaitryn felt her legs tremble as she sat/collapsed onto a stone bench. This wasn't real. This had to be a nightmare. "But you know better, do you not, Kaitryn of the Cross?" Said the monk. "Your... father? Yes, your father knew better as well - he is a wise man. Wise to have left when he did, wise to have married whom he did, and wise to have let you go as he did. Treasure that wisdom, young Kaitryn, and sleep." With those words, the terror-born fatigue overwhelmed her, and she drifted off, but not before hearing "... not here, not now, little friends. Trust me in this..." The next morning, she awoke in the Tokyo airport, where the reports of the "terrorist incident" in downtown Tokyo had little to do with her memories of the night before. Lilly, on the other hand, seemed to find nothing incongruous about it - the alarms, the orderly evacuation on busses, finally falling asleep in the airport - it all seemed quite real to her. Kaitryn wondered if her memories were the nightmare she had initially believed them to be. She had mostly-convinced herself of that by the time they got back to England.

=• A lull in the storm •= Kaitryn did her best to immerse herself back into the comforting normalcy of her life in Oxford. And to most people, those who saw her only during the day, she made a splendid recovery from the trauma she had experienced. But it was a facade. And Lilly, if no-one else, knew it. Kaitryn's usual dead-to-the-world sleep patterns were wrecked. Her flat-mate would be up at all hours, staring into the night, or murmuring in her sleep. Once, she awoke, screaming. Kaitryn's streak of stubborn self-reliance continued to thwart Lilly's attempts to get her friend to seek out professional help. Lilly, while not as obviously stubborn as Kaitlyn, was no mean schemer, and eventually she would have worn down her friend, but events intervened before she had success.

=• The Secret World •= Disdaining the doomsayers of the Mayan apocalypse, Lilly was headed down to visit her family in Kent. She wasn't altogether happy about leaving Kaitryn alone, but the winter festival for her MMA club was happening, so she knew her friend wouldn't be altogether alone. As Kaitryn dropped her friend at the train station, she had no idea her life was about to change. Kaitryn knew that tonight was going to be another of "those" nights. Where she would relive Tokyo in her dreams. She knew she should get help - but she didn't want to be locked up, and she was pretty sure that telling people what she was seeing in her nightmares would do just that. Impossibilities. Things that just couldn't be happening - weren't happening. Despite her best efforts, however, she finally drifted off. But she wasn't - entirely - right. She would dream, but not of Tokyo. For a small, glowing form buzzed in the room, unseen as it meandered its way towards Kaitryn's slumbering form...

=• The Templars •=

Kaitryn's awakening to the Secret World was traumatic. The memories of Tokyo, and the dreams… Followed by the uncontrolled manifestations of her "gift", left her shaken. As she struggled to find some stability, to somehow center herself again, she wondered if she had lost her mind. But the depressing reality of lightning-scarred walls and ruined electronics made an all to sordid statement of fact.

After a few days, she had managed to get things under control to the extent that visible lightning was no longer arcing to nearby objects, although she still "zapped" anything electronic she handled for more than a minute or two.

She was trying to decide if it was safe for her to venture out of the flat, when a knock came on the door. Looking through the door peephole, she saw a black-haired woman with a red maltese cross necklace waiting on the other side. Kaitryn didn't recognize the woman, but she thought someone had probably noticed the damage to the electrics. Struggling to come up with a plausible explanation, she opened the door.

But the woman hadn't come about the electrics. At least, not in the sense Kaitryn had thought. She was here to recruit her into the Templars. Kaitryn was incredulous, but the woman seemed not to care, one way or another. She gave Kaitryn a letter, and an address in London. After another night of troubled dreams, and occasional arcs of electricity, Kaitryn decided to go. What did she have to lose?

She would find out; The Templars wanted a soldier, not a scholar. The shock of recent events left her uncharacteristically quiet in her interview with director Sonnec. Perhaps this misleading first impression has led to some of the challenges in their professional relationship. Sonnec feels Kaitryn has a lack of focus on "the bigger picture", and a "regrettable focus on individuals" in the situations she's been put into.

Despite (or perhaps because) of her "regrettable focus", Kaityrn has been something of a rising star in the Order of late. Her work in Solomon Island, Egypt and more recently Transylvania - along with a notable mission for the Council of Venice - has led to her rapid rise. It's possible her father's connection to the Order has had something to do with that as well but she's been reluctant to "pry", as she deems it, into her father's past in the Order.

=• The Scarlet and Cross •=

Recently, she's come to believe that the Order is, despite Sonnec's efforts, too mired in the traditional rivalries of the past to effectively deal with what she perceives as a fundamental shift in the environment.

What happened in Tokyo - and the subsequent events worldwide - are not just an outlier in the "normal" scheme of things in the secret world. Kaitryn believes that there's a fundamental shift in the threat environment taking place, and that the Templars, as a whole, are still too much in reactive mode.

This has led her to seek out affiliated organizations within the Order who might share her belief that the situation is more urgent than the Order as a whole believes. And who, to be frank, aren't as willing to stride to salvation over the (regrettable, to be sure) forms of those innocents who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

After doing some discreet research on her own (Oxford has excellent libraries) and casual observation of fellow Templars in the field, Kaityrn approached the Scarlet and Cross Institute, and applied for a position as an investigator, which was recently accepted.

=• Recent intel •=

Field observations, subject: Delacroix, Kaitryn B. Random EM fluctuations appear to be gone. Subject now seen using electronics on regular basis.

Peak EM readings still anomalously high, and no evidence of non-electrical elemental powers displayed.

Subject has been seen to be repairing wounds. This appears to take a toll on subject; on one occasion, healing a gunshot wound resulted in the subject begin rendered unconscious. Typical blood-magic phenomenon not present.

Subject recently seen in company of unknown female youth, audio surveillance referenced the name "Cathy" as well as references to her as subject's "sister". Subject has no siblings. We recommend further investigation.

Subject appears to be eager to assist others in trouble, this tendency could be exploited to cause subject to be placed in a vulnerable state, if acquisition is desired.