Characters World of Darkness: Attrition - [Mortal] Kaitlin Vandussen

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

Name: Kaitlin Vandussen


Personal Information:
Public Identity: Kaitlin Vandussen
Nicknames: Kat
Real Name: Same
Occupation: Working on that...
Legal Status: United States Citizen, living in Los Angeles
Marital Status: Umarried
Known Relatives: Reynolds Vandussen (Father), Felicienne Devereaux (Mother)
Deceased Relatives: -

Physical Traits:
Weight: 143 lbs
Height: 5' 7''
Apparent age: Late teens
Gender: Female
Ethnic Background: Caucasian
Eye Color: Gold-Flecked Green
Hair Color: Honey Blond with pale highlights
Handedness: Left
Age: 17

Appearance: A very cute and attractive young woman, with a lean and trim figure, toned curves, and a pair of firm and perky breasts. She's particularly fond of her long and strong legs. Her hair falls short of her shoulders and is worn loose and windblown, and her eyes are large and green, flecked with gold.

She moves with a remarkably fluid and easy grace and favours casual clothing and sportswear, worn loose or tight to aid movement. She has several piercings through each ear and one through an eyebrow, and wears a friendship bracelet around her right wrist.

Personality: Energetic and vivacious, almost always moving, with a never say die attitude - when Kaitlin gets knocked down, she gets up again, an almost necessary trait in a freerunner and skater. She alternates between enjoying company and preferring solitude. She's sort of uncomfortable with her rising bisexual, but like most everything else, she'll take her lumps and deal with that too. However, the revelation that there really are things that go bump in the night has severely knocked her off kilter.

Background
All her life, she's been running... But was it towards something or away from something, something she couldn't even define, that was the question.

Kaitlin was born and grew up in Las Vegas, raised only by her father, since her mother ran out on them when she was just a baby. With no mother figure in her life and Reynolds Vandussen working long hours as a security guard, Kaitlin often had to fend for herself and was a tomboy and wild child growing up. She learned to cook and be handy around the house from an early age, it was just her and her dad, after all. But the energetic wildness in her heart called to her and as much as she loved her father, he wasn't enough to keep her content.

Almost running before she learned to walk, Kaitlin spent most of her time outdoors, active and enthralled with extreme sports, competing with the boys of the gang of street kids she ran with. And she was treated just like one of the boys... until she entered her teens and started to develop more woman curves. At first she was annoyed, thought it was stupid they were treating her as if she were delicate porcelain just because she had boobs, but she quickly she was every bit as tough as they were. And when they started showing interest in her, as a girl, Kaitlin learned the fun in a whole different sort of extreme sport.

Kaitlin and her father didn't have much money, so she was mostly self taught in her athletic endeavors, even sneaking in to watch the Cirque de Soleil performers train when she could - the friendlier ones showed the cute and enthralled girl a some moves, to her delight. Her father found enough cash to enroll her in kick-boxing and martial art classes - if she was spending so much time on the streets, he wanted his to know how to defend herself - but he couldn't enroll her in acrobatic or gymnastic classes, despite her pleading.

With hard won skills, Kaitlin considered some of the street kids she ran with, wondering how they could afford such sick boards and skates, or to attend competitions in other cities, other countries, even. Some of them even lived in the Underground - which in some places, wasn't nearly as bad sounding as you'd think. And then one night, when she was twelve or thirteen, she found out.

She was running with a gang of amateur freerunners through the landscaped yards of the high-class residences surrounding the Las Vegas Country Club, when passing through a yard that was dark - the security lights not flashing on, she was pressed into climbing into an open second story window, being the only one small enough to fit... Excited and scared, she did it, only finding out later that the guys had cased the place and knew the owners were out of town. Her take from the easily fenced swag, mostly jewelry, watches, and personal electronics, was more cash then she had ever held in her hands. It was a lot more than she ever got from shoplifting or dining-and-dashing.

This was how they could afford all their things and how she could afford it too. Besides, it was only from people who had more money than they needed anyway, right? They could afford a few small loses, so she could afford to attend professional competitions with professional equipment. And maybe a few other things... Besides, it was a thrill and a rush.

To her father's consternation, his daughter was as likely to spend the night out on the streets as she was in her bed, and though he never said anything or had firm evidence, he suspected what she was up too. He tried grounding her, but then had to deal with her morose sulking or the fact she'd just as likely ignore him, so he relented. Still, he worried, feared that like her mother, she would disappear without a word, but Kaitlin always came back.

Nighttime was her favourite time in Las Vegas. The heat of the sun was cut down and if anything, the city seemed even more alive. She loved the blending of shadows and neon lights, and even knowing there were bad sorts out there, she never feared the night. It just added a spice of danger and possibility. Running through the shadows and across rooftops, it felt like you could find anything and nothing could find you. It was awesome...

Until one night, after graduating high school, she saw something she never expected to see, and suddenly, the night was irrevocably changed in her eyes.

Kaitlin and her first and only girlfriend Madison Madsen were partaking of the liquor cabinet and seeing what small items they could find in a conveniently empty house. How she had ended up with a girlfriend still surprised her - Madison had pursued her all year and had finally gotten her drunk at a party they had invited themselves to and to Kaitlin's chagrin, she found out she liked girls as much as she liked guys - maybe it was growing up mostly with guy friends and having many of the same interests. Her street friends were certainly jealous that she ended up with a girlfriend hotter than theirs, the ones that even had girlfriends.

There was something... odd about the house. Though of modern design, the furnishings all seemed old, Victorian, if in good condition, with few modern electronics. There was even a turn-table with records! And the place was eerily clean, as if it was a showroom. There wasn't a single thing in the fridge or freezer and the blinds were heavy and black, blocking out all traces of starlight. But the bar in the den was fully stocked and the antique jewelry chest was just left out in the open on the vanity in the master bedroom.

Kaitlin and Madison where in the master bedroom, handing a bottle of Jack back and forth, giggling as they tried on some of the jewelry by the moonlight filtering in through a window they had opened, when they heard the front door crash open, followed by a muffled scream. The girls barely had time to hide in the closet before a tall, pale-skinned woman strode in, holding a boy about their age by his neck, a hand over his mouth. At first, Kaitlin thought she was stunning, then the woman turned, moonlight falling across her cheek, revealing the savage claws marring her face and damaging an eye.

And then the 'woman' smiled, revealing lengthening canines and bent over, biting the boy on the neck! Clutching each other, Kaitlin and Madison watched in horrified fascination through the slatted door as the woman drank the boy's blood, a thin line of crimson, looking black under the moonlight, trailing down the line of his throat, and they could see her terrible wounds closing right before their eyes, as if they never were. They couldn't say it, but both of them were thinking it: Vampire! And this one didn't seem like the sparkly kind.

Their hearts pounding, not daring to look away for fear that if they did, the vampire would be on them, they started as the blood-drinking woman's head snapped around, looking back and down as if her gaze could pierce the floor, blood-stained lips peeled back in a snarl. Then the woman dove for her bed, reaching for something under it. A second later, a large man burst into the room saying something that the girls, in their fright, didn't understand, just as the woman flowed back to her feet, a pair of silver knives in her hands.

The terrible strangeness was just beginning. As the woman darted forward, the man howled, tensing as he grew, flesh and bone contorting with a sickening crackle, grey-black fur sprouting from his skin, face extending into a muzzle, fingers lengthening into claws. He met the vampire's attack head on. Werewolf! And not the hot Taylor Lautner kind!

The girls screamed, clawing open the closet door and making a run for the window and escape. Kaitlin made it. Madison didn't. The sudden movement had attracted the attention of both predators. A silver dagger found Madison's bowels while a casual sweep of a huge, clawed hand ripped away half of her head. Tears flowing, Kaitlin didn't stop. She leapt through the window and fled while the vampire and werewolf turned on each other.

She couldn't stay here. The night used to be her friend, but now it was full of monsters. Full of terrified desperation, she began packing her old, beat-up stationwagon with all her belongings. The commotion woke up her father, who demanded to know what was going on. She wanted to tell him, she really did, but either he'd think she was insane or worse, believe her and then the dark would be full of monsters for him too. And what if the survivor in that fight tracked her down to him? She couldn't do that to him, so she mumbled something, saying she just wanted to leave early to attend the X-games in LA, praying he would buy her excuse and almost begged him to come with her.

She almost cried when she saw the look on his face. He thought she was abandoning him too, just like her mother, and he had no intention of leaving his home. He thought her larcenous activities had led her into something dark and heavy, but he had no idea how bad it was and she couldn't explain it too him. She gave him a fierce hug, promising she would be back, praying he would believe it, though not sure if she believed it herself. She had lost her girlfriend, her home, her love of the night, and maybe even her father in Las Vegas, she wasn't sure if she could ever come back.

So with a heavy heart, she finished backing in a frenzy, and as the sun began to dawn, Kaitlin fled Las Vegas, heading to LA as the only other place she sort of knew, having competed there several times during the Summer X-games, and planning on competing again.

She was running again, away from an old life and into a new one... one full of things that went bump in the night.


Name: Kaitlin Vandussen
Concept: Freerunner-Thief who saw too much

Breed: Bastet

Species: Pumonca (Were-cougar)

Accord: Sun-Chaser

Virtue: Fortitude
Vice: Gluttony


Attributes

Mental: Intelligence - 2, Wits - 3, Resolve – 2
Physical: Strength - 3, Dexterity - 4, Stamina – 3
Social: Presence - 3, Manipulation - 2, Composure – 2


Skills

Mental Skills (-3): Academics 1; Crafts 2 ; Investigation 1;
Physical (-1): Athletics 4 (Climbing, Jumping); Brawl 2; Larceny 3; Stealth 3 (Moving in Darkness)
Social (-1): Expression 1; Persuasion 2; Socialize 1; Streetwise 1 (Black Market); Subterfuge 2


Merits: Sleepwalker **** (Free); Parkour ****; Fleet of Foot ***; Iron Stamina ** Striking Looks **; Contacts * (Fences); Fame * (X-Games Champ: Girls' Skateboard Street & Climbing), Fighting Style: Evasive Striking (JKD) **

Parkour Merit

New Merit: Parkour (• to •••••)
Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Athletics ••

The sport of parkour began in France, and has quickly spread to other parts of the world. Parkour demands a level of athleticism from its practitioners that few other sports do. The purpose of parkour, which is also called "free running" or "urban running," is to move as quickly as possible through an environment with a variety of obstacles, sprinting through the terrain and using a variety of climbing techniques, leaps, rolls and other athletic movements to navigate. Watching an expert traceur (one of the terms for someone who practices parkour) at work is awe-inspiring, like something out of an action film. Though the technique comes from well-disciplined training, imbedding a certain body of movements and techniques into the parkour's instinctive reactions, the goal is a flawless, seamless flow of movement from one obstacle to the next, with hardly any pause in speed or movement.

This "flow" is the goal of traceurs — it is the highest achievement of a practitioner of parkour to achieve a Zen-like state of lack of thought, where purest instinct and reaction drives the movement. Skilled traceurs speak of sometimes being aware that they've accomplished a tremendously difficult feat heartbeats after they've accomplished it. Through intensive training to drive home certain actions when confronted with certain obstacles, the traceur can depend on his instincts, rather than his thoughts — which are vulnerable to fears and doubts — when moving through the urban environment. Traceurs gather in clubs. Though the sport has begun to catch on, and some of these clubs are receiving corporate sponsorship, the clubs tend to be quite informal, with members gathering in a given place on a given day of the week to work on their techniques.

Dots purchased in this Merit allow access to special athletic maneuvers. Each maneuver is a prerequisite for the next. So, your character can't have "Cat Leap" until he has "Flow." The maneuvers and their effects are described below, most of which are based on the Athletics Skill.

Flow (•): Your character has some basic training in the techniques of parkour, allowing him to act instinctively to obstacles and jumps. When using running or using the Foot Chase rules (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 65), your character may negate hazardous terrain penalties equal to his Rating in the Parkour Merit. Additionally, the roll to gauge a jump distance (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 67) is a reflexive action.

Cat Leap (••): Your character has mastered some of the twisting leaps, landing rolls and wall taps used by traceurs. When using a Dexterity + Athletics roll to mitigate damage from falling (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 179), your character gains one automatic success. Additionally, add one per dot in this Merit to the threshold of damage that can be removed through this roll. Thus, if the Storyteller decrees that only three
successes may be garnered to reduce falling damage, the traceur with three dots in this Merit may actually use six successes (assuming the player accumulates that many, including his automatic success).

Wall Run (•••): Your character has mastered the quick wall-run and leaping climb techniques of parkour. When using Athletics to climb (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 64), your character is capable of scaling heights of 10 feet + 5 feet per dot in Athletics as an instant action (rather than the normal 10 feet), though every full 10 feet
beyond the first imposes a –1 die penalty.

Expert Traceur (••••): Your character has trained so extensively in this athletic discipline that its maneuvers are normal and instinctive for him. Your character may designate any Athletics roll that involves running, jumping and climbing as being a Rote Action (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 134). However, when doing so, he is less able to react to events that don't have to do with navigating the environment, causing
him to lose his Defense for that turn.

Freeflow (•••••): Your character has achieved the freeflow that is the holy grail of traceurs everywhere — he acts without thinking, his movements flowing, graceful and quick when he enters "the zone." He can perform any Athletics action that involves running, jumping or climbing as a reflexive action, rather than an instant action. Doing so requires that the character has been running for at least a full minute previously; any use of this ability before that minute mark requires the expenditure of one point of Willpower, however.

Feral Heart: 1
Willpower: 4
Harmony: 5

Respect:

-Ferocity 1

-Passion 2


Health: 8/13
Initiative: 6
Defense: 5
Speed: 15/26
Size: 5/7
Perception: 5
Perception Roll Bonuses: +2/+4

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Favors & Aspects

Fang & Claw 2 (L)

Keen Senses (All)

Catwalk 1

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Darksight 1

Extraordinary Specimen 1

Leap 3

Righting Reflex 3
Tell -1 (rib tattoo appears in animal form as dark fur on the flank in the same design)

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War-Beast: None

Dire Beast (Including Extraordinary Specimen): Strength +4, Dexterity +4, Stamina +3, Size 7, Health +5, Speed +11 (species factor 8), +2 Perception Rolls

Primal Beast (Including Extraordinary Specimen): Strength +3, Dexterity +3, Stamina +2, Size 6, Health +3, Speed +9 (species factor 8), +2 Perception Rolls

Experience Log

Trait/XP Type Rank Gain/Spent Current Total
Creation - +50 50 50
XP From -2 Morality - +10 60 60
Strength 2 -10 50 60
Composure 2 -10 40 60
Strength 3 -15 25 60
Striking Looks 2 -4 21 60
Contacts 1 -2 19 60
Iron Stamina 1 -2 17 60
Iron Stamina 2 -4 13 60
Brawl 2 -6 7 60
Fame 1 -2 5 60
WoDA Restart Bonus - +5 10 65
XP Earned for August - +3 12 68
XP Earned for September - +3 15 71
Escape From Las Vegas - +1 16 72
Evasive Striking (JKD) 1 -2 14 72
Evasive Striking (JKD) 2 -4 10 72
October - +3 12 74
November to February - +12 24 86
March - +3 27 89
Boot-Scooting Boogie - +3 30 92

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

Kaitlin's Tattoo:

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

Starting a new XP log, starting from where the last one left off, since I can't get the table to format right.

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Experience Log

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Earned:

March, April, and Revival: 26xp

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Expenditures:

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Balance: 56xp

Total: 118xp