Catherine Kirigiri

Concept: “Mad” Investigator

''Life’s biggest question is not “what”. It’s a single-syllable word, but it’s not “what”. It’s “why”. Why does the universe exist? Well you could very well say it’s the laws of nature that lead up to this point. After all, we are just sentient chemical reactions, and chemistry is dictated and controlled by a set of rules. You could find exceptions to those rules, but even then there are reasons why those exceptions exist. Which again, follow those rules perfectly. We might not know “why” right now, but the “why” is still there, waiting to be acknowledged by it’s own creation. But “why” do those laws exist? Why does every atom want eight valence electrons in it’s outer orbital, and not, ah, seven. Why not seven valence electrons? Why not nine? Why eight? Even if you say that they need an even number of electrons, there’s still the question of why eight and not ten or six. ''You could say “The laws dictate it so”, but the laws follow some sort of logic. Religious fellows often say “Well, a higher power has deemed it that every atom wants eight valence electrons and not any other number.” Well then, “why” has that power dictated it so? Do they just really like the number eight? Or maybe eight has some mystical hoodoo power to it that not even said higher power can control? Why eight? And furthermore, why does that higher power exist? Why do those laws exist? And no. I will not discuss quantum physics with you. Don't even go there. Nope. Nope. I am a "Mad" Detective, not a "Mad" Quantum Physicist. But back on track.'' ''The universe came from a single ball of light and atoms. And then it exploded. The Big Bang. But where did those atoms come from? Were they made by a higher power? And if so, where did that higher power come from? Was there just a vast void that was lonely and wanted something to fill the gap? Why did it have the capacity to feel, then?'' ''That’s why life’s biggest question is not “what”, or “how”, it’s “why”. You can always know “what”, or “how”, but asking “why” will always lead to a twisting maze with no end in sight. ''But I think there’s a way to navigate the maze of “why”. And there is an end to the “why”.' Maybe it's hopelessly complex, and not even the Illuminated can possibly hope to make even an inkling of sense from it, not even to themselves. But we don't know that. Forgive me for being rather cliche and making a stock reference, but it could very well be 42.''

Catherine Kirigiri’s first word was “why”. Actually, that’s a joke by her mother. Cathy's first word was "sock". But it’s not that hard to believe. Ever since she could ask questions, Cathy had always asked “Why”. Why does the sun shine? Why will it hurt your eyes if you stare into it for too long? Why does it make you turn blind? Why does it hurt if you trip and fall over? Why does being hurt make you cry?

Such questions she peppered her father and mother with along with bizarre observations that they dimissed as the faulty mind of a child. Eventually her elementary school gave her a certificate for “curiosity” like they did with certain virtues. It didn’t matter much to her father, Osamu Kirigiri, who had other issues to deal with. Being an investigator in the World of Darkness is a frustrating task, and even moreso if you wish to keep your morals. He refused to shelter his child from the dangers of the world. This lead her to have a dim view of humanity, but she continued to press forward on her endless quest to learn more and more. She just didn't care that humanity was awful and bad and only cared about themselves. She grew bored easily when she ran into walls at her school when she kept asking the teachers "why". Cathy was even repramainded a few times for "questioning authority", although it was not the reflection of a rebellious streak but an honest curiosity. When her parents got cable, Catherine immediately took a shine to the computer they got and used the internet on a daily basis. Not to socialize or watch anime, although she did that too on the web. It was mainly to look up answers. Lots of answers. She didn't even need the "talk" from her parents, having figured it out via the internet. It was during this time she stumbled upon a flame war between two Geniuses. Although when she registered an account on the forum and asked them questions, they chased her out, assuming she was a troll. During this time, Osamu allowed Catherine to watch detective dramas. Catherine ate them up like candy. She also loved to watch magical girl shows, and she never really quite grew out of them. This is also why her Aesthetic resembles pink plastic toys and look like stuff out of a girl’s fantasy. But if you deride it she’ll get huffy and demand to know what is wrong with girly things. And unlike her usual questions, it’s supposed to be rehetorical.

Eventually, at the tender age of 17, she asked too many questions to a high school teacher. He was her favorite teacher, a middle aged man by the name of Doctor Duvall. …Who happened to be a rouge Neid. He immediately recognized she was at the cusp of catalyzing, and felt threatened of this new genius. But he couldn’t kill her. Investigator Kirigiri would be on his ass for the murder of his daughter, and he might find his lab during the investigation. So he bided his time until grad night. Doctor Duvall made his move, and gave Cathy the answer to “why”. He got her alone, and overloaded her mind with just enough information to shatter everything Cathy knew of the world, but not enough to awaken the light of Inspiration in her.

…From that day on, Catherine never asked “Why” again. She became Duvall’s beholden. She had two lives from now on. She attended a community college to become a police investigator like her father, but she did dirty work for Duvall. Several years passed, and one night he gave her a ray gun. Duvall informed Cathy he had captured a rival Genius’s robot, and asked her to destroy it. He would have done it himself, but he was concerned the robot might kill him. It was by pure chance he got the robot, and he had no time to make up some elaborate way of killing it.

And so Cathy entered the robot’s holding cell, ray gun in hand. The automaton was by no means hostile to her. It was humanoid and resembled a little girl. The little girl explained that she was built to replace the mad scientist’s dead daughter. It didn't understand why it had to die. It's not like it feared death. It couldn't feel in the first place.

She asked Cathy a question. A question she herself used to ask others so long ago. “Why?” Cathy, being a Beholden, was unable to answer. And although she destroyed the robot, that unanswerable question haunted Cathy’s mind. ''Why? Why? Why?'' …. Later on, while Cathy attended class, the rival Genius shoved up at Duvall’s doorstep. With ray guns. Yeah, maybe pissing off a Grimm wasn’t such a good idea. The Grimm destroyed the whole lab, and stormed off in a huff. As Duvall’s hold on Cathy broke, the light of inspiration came roaring back into existence. It broke free of all oppressive chains binding it down, and reached a fever pitch in intensity. Yes, there was a "why". She was a Beholden, and carried a stillness within her. An ideological stillness. But now that stillness would be rocked forevermore by an eternal storm of ethereal light and starstuff. At the end, Cathy was left with the same burning desire for the truth she had years ago. But now she could do something with it. Her understanding from before felt nothing compared to this newfound knowledge. It didn’t matter that it didn’t work in front of mortals, or that her father and mother outright deride her madness. It was a gateway to learning more knowledge outside of the internet or mundane libraries. A brand new world had opened up in front of her, a treasure chest full of wisdom that she had yet to plunder for her own gains.

Even if it wasn’t legitimate science, it was still a new method, unlike any before. In fact, she felt lucky to have this opportunity. While before a wall could stop her and that was that, she (potentially, after all she was at the stage where it was a miracle her little ipod-scanner thing worked reliably) could now phase through the wall or outright destroy it with her ray gun. Or invent a drill to go under the concrete on which the wall lied. All she had to do, was to tell herself it wasn’t how reality really worked. Which was easy to believe. After all, she was special, and because of this her inventions worked this way. If she were the mundane girl from before who got her hands on these machines, they would go haywire. But you didn’t accomplish things gazing at the world with your jaw slacked. There were still bills to pay, food to cook, interpersonal drama to gossip and speculate about with others. Although Catherine detested doing so, she had to admit she was lucky to be a beholden before her catalyst. She heard bits and pieces of Genius culture from Doctor Duvall’s correspondances. So Cathy set at work looking for a way to get into the “Peerage” that Duvall scorned, and got subscriptions to the Scholastics. While bored, Catherine recalled one time reading something mentioned in the back issues of one of the magazines that Duvall had one day. Something about the mysterious disappearance of supernaturals. At that time, she was a Beholden. Unable to pursue anything that intrigued her. But now she was free, and used everything in her meager power to get the truth behind the strange event. But everything was out of her reach, or unable to give her any meaningful answers. To Cathy, a good answer also lead to more questions, not as hideously vague or short as the ones she found. She kept asking why, but the answers never came. But she did not give up. Not even when the Martains and Megas were also stumped. By the way, she owes a ton of geniuses favors for those trips to the bardos. Finally, she resolved to go down to Atlanta itself. She sold her house, moved her lab and precious belongings to the back of a Ford Camper, and took a cross-country trip to Atlanta. Where she set up shop as a private investigator, and bought herself a nice little business office, while Cathy lived in her little Camper. Okay, maybe lab space was cramped, but she never really liked to waste time making Wonders. Unless the Wonder could help Cathy gain knowledge in some way. After all, the theories the Wonders worked on didn't apply to reality. Inspiration is a tool.

Personality
Cathy, like most Geniuses, tends to be called a "Weirdo" within reason. Cathy hated her time as a beholden and will usually not submit to people unless it benefits her. "Ensuring you don't get eaten" counts as "benefits her". Will also ask rude questions sometimes out of genuine curiosity and make people uncomfortable. However, Cathy also has common sense. While everyone is shrieking and flailing around, or remain indecisive, she very calmly walks across the room and shuts off the malfunctioning wonder.

Plans
Get ranks in Occult

Get Technomancer Merit

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