Katherine Black - Art by Little Boy
Name: Katherine “Kate” Jennifer Black
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Hometown: Lakeside, Wisconsin
Grade: 12
Hobbies and Interests: Music, Reading, Watching Romantic Comedies.
Appearance: Standing at 5’7 and weighing 130lbs, Kate just manages to maintain a healthy weight, and stands in a stark contrast to her parents, who are both short and overweight.
Katherine is Caucasian, and fairly pale, burning easily. She has a wide face, with a soft jawline marked with a faint scar from an injury as a toddler that she hides behind concealer, deep blue eyes, large ears and a large nose. Kate keeps her hair hair down to her upper back, her fringe parted to the right to cover a large mole she has on the right side of her forehead. Her hair is naturally ginger, but she keeps it dyed a reddish brown, occasionally adding in blonde highlights. This was in part due to childhood bullying over her hair colour.
Clothing wise, Kate usually dresses in bright colours, occasionally adding a darker items in for contrast. When she was abducted, she was wearing a light blue t-shirt, a bright orange zip-up hooded jacket, a knee-length denim skirt, a pair of three-quarter length leggings, and a pair of red converse trainers.
Biography: The youngest of two sisters by a year and three quarters, Katherine Black was born to Joseph and Irene Black, a fairly wealthy who dealt in Property Development. Due to the closeness of their ages, Kate got on well with her sister Samantha, and the two were close friends for much of their childhoods.
From a young age, Kate was bullied at school, causing her to become distant to most of the students in the small school she went to. Due to this distance from the other pupils, Katherine spent most of her time with her sister, causing her to have trouble talking to people outside of her family.
From a young age, Kate enjoyed reading, always being found on the playground sat under a tree with a book in her hand while the other children were playing. This lead to her progressing much faster than the other students in her small school. And, as such, when everyone else in her class were still learning to read, Kate was beginning to read novels. Kate specifically enjoyed the Harry Potter series, which she began reading when she was nine, and still keeps a beaten up copy of the first book to this day.
Due to this fast progress, Kate got overconfident when it came to her schoolwork as she got older, spending little time on revision and homework, deciding that she should spend her time doing other things. As a result, her grades began to slip, and Katherine's parents got worried, but Kate herself didn't seem to care, spending most of her time reading magazines or watching films.
After failing a big test, however, Katherine was shocked into taking action, and has spent the past two years desperately trying to make up for lost time. This has been very effective but between Kate's frantic studying and a part-time job she took up at the local coffee shop, she has been left with little free time to pursue her interests.
One of the few interests Kate has been able to continue, however, is her love of music. Kate always finds time to download the latest releases while revising or studying. Thanks to this, she has a wide range of knowledge when it comes to songs, and can reliably list off the entire discography of most major singers or bands from the past five years. However, despite her love of listening to music, Kate has never attempted to learn to play a musical instrument.
Another one of the interests that has persevered is her love of films. Kate watches anything, but her favourite genre of films are Romantic Comedies. She generally justifies saying that they're her favourite genre by saying that they're so over the top that they loop around to being funny. However, if you talk to her about them it becomes clear that this is just an excuse.
Advantages: Kate picks up new skills easily and can adapt well to a given situation.
Disadvantages: Kate isn't athletic in the slightest, which could definitely cause problems for her. Kate has trouble talking to people outside her family, which will definitely give her trouble in making allies.
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Power: Dental Regeneration
Conclusion: Oh dear.
The above biography is as written by ZettaMagnetic. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.
Evaluations
Kills: None
Killed By: Succumbed to various wounds
Allies: Taryn Gregory
Enemies: Joel Deitrick, Ashlie Jackson, Keira MacDonald, Raymond Pietrowski.
Mid-game Evaluation: Kate woke up at the beach in the cove, quickly believing her situation. Upon identifying her power, she was immediately distressed by its uselessness. Kate was soon approached by Taryn Gregory. The two reacted positively to each other, quickly introducing themselves and forming a sort of impromptu alliance in the face of the potential danger represented by another student in the area, Joel Deitrick. As Joel stumbled towards them, they discussed him briefly, Taryn wondering whether she should shoot him. Kate considered this, then rejected it, saying they should talk instead. Kate approached Joel, but he attacked her, then, when Taryn threatened to shoot him, went for his gun. Kate retreated, and Taryn shot Joel in the shoulder, incapacitating him. Then, while she held him at gunpoint, Kate took his belongings.
Afterwards, they left the beach, making their way to the holding cells. There, upon entering, they heard a person fleeing deeper into the building. Following the noises, they discovered Ashlie Jackson. Taryn suspected that Ashlie was the "banshee" listed as a killer in the announcement, and the two girls went after her, hindered somewhat by her voice. When they finally cornered Ashlie, they attempted to communicate with her, eventually forcing the girl to disarm and write on a piece of paper. Kate, trying to get a better hold on the situation, got closer to Ashlie, looking for clues. Ashlie, however, grabbed Kate, holding her hostage. Ashlie threatened to cut Kate's throat, and gave her a small cut to prove her seriousness, then dragged Kate out of the building before releasing her and running off. Kate and Taryn were soon forced to move on, as the holding cells became a danger zone.
For a time, they traveled, until Kate needed to rest at the church. The two girls spoke for a time, telling about their pasts and getting to know each other better. Taryn promised Kate that they would go to New York together after the end of the experiment, though she knew that only one of them was supposed to survive. Taryn gave Kate a small crystal of her blood, as a souvenir. The girls were soon disrupted by the arrival of Keira MacDonald and Raymond Pietrowski, who were searching for a place to rest. Kate went around the side of the church, seeking an advantageous position, while Taryn confronted the newcomers directly, holding Ray at gunpoint. The situation soon devolved into a massive standoff, until Keira got too close to Taryn, who tried to take her as a hostage. The two struggled for control of a gun, and, when Taryn seemed certain to win, Ray shot at her, skimming her hand and making her drop the weapon. Taryn's power caused her blood to crystallize into a spike, which she used to stab Keira, mortally wounding her. As Ray cradled the dying Keira, Taryn and Kate left, disheartened by the event.
The girls next made their way to the great divide. Kate stumbled across the corpse of Jay Harland, visible now in the daylight. They prepared to move on, when Samantha Reynolds arrived, calling out to them and proposing a temporary truce. Though suspicious, Kate and Taryn accepted, talking with the girl for a short time. They three discussed their experiences with Ashlie, and traded some information. Samantha also shared some extra rations with Tarn and Kate. As the conversation went on, Samantha became increasingly distant towards the others, while Kate became increasingly optimistic about the prospects of going home. Finally, Samantha split from the group, announcing that she was going to live but telling Kate and Taryn to do their best to win if she couldn't. Kate considered calling Samantha back, but decided not to, reflecting that if they ever met again, things could go very differently.
Kate and Taryn sat for a time, until Taryn spoke, admiting to Kate that she had been using her since the start of the experiment. Kate rejected this out of hand, causing Taryn to explain further. Even afterwards, though, Kate remained confident in their friendship, refusing to leave Taryn. They agreed to stay together until the end. Soon after, the final announcement came on. Kate was distressed when Samantha's name was announced. She and Taryn, along with the other three finalists, were ordered to report to the Black Forest. They went, arriving in a different part of the forest from the other two present finalists, Ashlie and Simon Matthews.
Before long, Kate and Taryn were approached by a new boy, Khalid Shamoun, who allied himself with them. Khalid cautioned Kate and Taryn that The Organization was lying and would not release the winner, having invested too much in their research, but also encouraged them to stay strong and carry on. Before they could make much further progress, however, Khalid was killed in an ambush by Ashlie.
Kate and Taryn struggled with Ashlie, each girl receiving wounds in the process. Eventually, however, Taryn managed to kill Ashlie. She and Kate talked, trying to figure out a way to survive, but in the end they passed out from their wounds and presumably died.
Post-Game Evaluation: The most worthless mutation manifested, and she made it so far? I guess this goes to show that powers aren't everything.
Memorable Quotes:
"I got something like, um, Dental Regeneration... why, what did you ge-?" - Kate shares her power
"It... wouldn't be right to shoot him and I don't think we should just, like, leave him here to get killed by whatever, um, psycho comes when we leave. I-I think it'd be better if we, like, took him with us." - Kate suggests the merciful option
"T-Taryn... Stop! I-I have his stuff... please, can we just leave him and get off this beach?" - Kate displays greater empathy than Taryn when faced with the wounded Joel
"A-alright... um, this sounds really rude but, um, C-Can you possibly like, um, not talk for a second?" - Kate to Ashlie
"Um... and I'm C-Carcinogenic. I can, uh... I can give you cancer by touching you. It's uh, slow, and um, really really painful." - Kate tries to bluff about her power
“I… I’d, um l-love to see the city, um, if we… Yeah, I’d, um, love to see the city if, um, when we get out of here.” - Kate to Taryn
“Put, um, put the guns down! L-Leave her alone!” - Kate tries to be menacing
"I... I wanna go home. See my parents and, um, my sister again. G-Graduate, y'know. That, um, that kinda stuff. " - Kate explains her plans for the future
"Taryn, ...No you haven't." - Kate reacts to Taryn's claim that she had been using Kate
"...I'm not going anywhere, okay? I don’t care what you’ve said, or what you’ve done. You’re not getting rid of me that easy.” - Kate declares that she will stay with Taryn
“To the end.” - Kate to Taryn
Other/Trivia
- Kate was one of the four characters present since the start to make endgame. Together with Khalid Shamoun, they formed the final five.
- Kate was the only member of the final five to have been rolled during the game.
Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Kate, in chronological order.
Your Thoughts
Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF Evolution or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Katherine "Kate" Black. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!
- Kate, like Taryn, is a truly special character and a large part of what made Evo so great. Dom's an excellent writer, and my opinion is that Kate is his best work. Kate's one of the most grounded, realistic characters in the game, and everything she does has emotional weight behind it. Kate's special for a lot of reasons, and I think she's a character who's really worth the read-through. Evo may have gotten a bit stalled out at the end, but it was one crazy, amazing experience, and Kate was a huge part of that. I'm just glad to see her story reach a conclusion. Well done, Dom. - MurderWeasel