Overview[]
"Kiya Grey is probably the best person I know. Kind, 'giving, a true beauty." - Jenna Davis
Kiya Grey is a Metis woman in her mid-20's, and is a Scion of the trickster god Coyote. She has the power to shapeshift into a coyote, call upon her faith for power, and gives her exceptional skill with manipulation and trickery. She is a current member of the Saskatoon Spook Squad, a small business owner, part-time tutor of Jirou Yukimura, and tribal representative for the Fort Qu'Appelle area. She is best friends with Antares Fletcher, and dating Sergeant King, the police liason for the Spooks.
Early Life[]
If you ask Kiya, she will tell you that she's never been a child, and came from the woods as a fully formed adult. However, the truth is far more mundane. She was adopted at birth outside of her Aboriginal culture. She always felt out of place, despite having a good relationship with her adoptive parents. When she reconnected with her reserve and band as a young teenager, she received the shock of her life when she was told that she was descended from the Manitou Coyote. She visited often, honing her talent for magic and shamanism with the Elders. It was during this time that she discovered the side effect of being descended from Coyote- the ability to shapeshift into the animal of his namesake. From there, she sought out a Master's degree in Indigenous Studies and became close with staff member and mentor, Sayan, and chose to become and educator for a short time until her dealings with the supernatural took too much time away from students.
Spook Squad Squared[]
Kiya Grey is an original member of the Spook Squad Squared. She did not have dealings with the original Squad, but was operating small missions on her own as a contemporary. They were mostly unaware of one another. Her emerging moment came when a cousin of hers was possessed by a Wendigo spirit. She was tasked by and elder to bring a resolution- as peaceful as possible. She and other founding group members defeated the Wendigo, and her cousin is now residing in the Regional Psychiatric Centre, where she visits often.
Throughout her time with the Squad Squared, she has proven capable of bringing others to her side, deceit when necessary, and uses throwing knives well in a pinch. She is also quite the brawler in her animal shape, and can tangle with most enemies. However, being the jack of all trades often means you are the master of none, and seeing her friends have such strong skills to cast or fight makes her question her place in the group. It is because of this that she started to take more of a role gathering ideas and making plans.
During this time, Kiya encountered many of her cultural spirits, including Coyote, who comes to give tasks and advice- both of which are unintelligible and usually in dreams- Badger, her grandfather's rival, and general annoyance to Kiya and the Squad Squared when in his physical form, and a few enslaved ancestor spirits (again, in dreams). She cannot regularly communicate with spirits as a power, and has only truly seen them in dreams or in a physical form used to further an agenda. Her ties to the spirits dropped heavily when she partnered with the whirlwind demon Ephippas after helping to defeat the person enslaving him. He became her demonic copilot and changed her casting to wind, and her coyote form became larger and more powerful, but as a trade-off, she was compelled to take down enemies more and more brutally, and slowly lost her ability to empathize, and often protested taking certain cases that wouldn't benefit her. After a brief time together, they both decided that Kiya was, at her core, too human to continue the partnership, and Kiya had started feeling urges to harm Squad members in the heat of battle. They voluntarily separated, but still get together every Thursday night to play video games. Kiya is now refocused on connecting with her ancestors.
After the betrayal by Kemen, Kiya was absolutely enraged, as she was the person in the group who had embraced him the most sincerely. They had become roommates and business partners, and she had to reconcile all of the good times with the fact that he had turned on them and joined the Black Court. This caused her to re-examine how trusting she had been, and since then used her skills at lying and manipulation to teach herself to detect deceit in others. After Antares signed the contract to take him down, she immediately came to his side, and even pressured Emma into it by using her future children as leverage. She did, however, feel conflicted about it, despite knowing that Kemen had become, or would become a dangerous monster. In the final battle with him, he left severe burns up her right arm, causing scars in a flame pattern that remind her that just because she values loyalty, there are those that will take advantage.
Personality[]
Kiya, like all of the Squad members, has evolved greatly over their time together. When they came together, although she valued loyalty above all else, she didn't take much seriously and had a pretty happy-go-lucky attitude, even while facing down demons, vampires, or ghouls. She loved a good party and all the substances associated with that (though was never an addict), meeting and socializing with people, casual sex, and generally just a good time. She had little thought to the consequences of action, because for her, there weren't any at the time.
Seeing the injuries, death and destruction started taking their toll on her, and she slowly became more serious. After her friend Antares lost an eye and the death of Nika she was absolutely devastated and started to understand that the consequences of "monster hunting" could be lasting and real. This is when she took on Eppiphas as protection, and turned more serious, angry and vengeful. She still joked, but they were darker and more macabre, unlike the fun, light, or "dirty" jokes she would make before.
Since the departure of Eppiphas, Kiya has returned to a calmer and happier version of herself, but the jokes still don't come as easily, and neither does her laugh. She stops to consider things a lot more and often steps in to prevent rash decisions. She is more unsure of the safety of the group and much more protective. However, on her nights out to The Prairie Lily with the Squad and the police officers in the know, she can often be seen reverting to her old, happy-go-lucky self.
Relationships[]
Adam King[]
Kiya and King started out having a rocky relationship. Kiya was resentful of law enforcement and their role against the Aboriginal community, and let that come out with some sass and back talk. After being in contact for awhile over various supernatural issues that came to the attention of law enforcement, she came to respect him and consider him a friend. She started to jokingly ask him out to fluster him on speakerphone in front of the Squad Squared while talking about a job, and eventually, whether it was a gradual wearing down or genuine interest, he accepted. They revealed their relationship at the remarriage of Emma at the Lily. Despite the age difference and the other inherent difficulties, their relationship works quite well- both know they don't have a lot of time to offer and both work odd hours (both being law enforcement of sorts), and this has led to understanding rather than resentment. They struggle and argue when she and the Squad act rashly or in a way that could expose the supernatural- in other words, cost him his job. Kiya has become very protective and will warn against action that would get him fired. Kiya became more attached to him after the battle with Kemen, where she was terribly burned, and realized that their chosen profession could actually kill either of them. King is also the only person Kiya will never lie to.
Antares Fletcher[]
Antares Fletcher is Kiya's best friend, and platonic soulmate. They often joke about having been married in a former life. They have no romantic feelings for one another, but their friendship and care for each other is evident in the friendship. When they first met, they had a friends with benefits relationship, which stopped when Kiya started dating King. Antares is one of the few squad members she rarely questions, as she trusts his judgement, even when he is a little Wintery. After she found out Bianca had lied to and kept secrets from Antares, she held a grudge far longer than he did. They can usually be found hanging out at the Prairie Lily or fighting monsters.
Jirou Yukimura[]
Having a background as a educator made Kiya a natural choice to help Jirou keep up his high school education, though when he showed more interested in a career in magic, she gave up on teaching things that would have no use to him and started teaching practical skills to get along in the real world, like Canadian law and custom. She sees him as a nephew figure, but does not see him as a child- rather she sees him as a very capable person who can look after himself. She likes to make him laugh when he's feeling reserved, and often cautions him against rash action, seeing the same rashness in herself at his age.
Alphonse Herrero-Schmied[]
Alphonse is probably the group member that Kiya has most consistently argued with, however, this is usually in the spirit of friendly debate, or trying to find a plan of action, and not out of animosity. They disagree on many tactics and ethics, but at the end of the day, Kiya has a lot of respect for him and his work, both as an artist and a colleague with the police. Alphonse is also the only one Kiya has told about the fact that she feels as if being partnered with Ephippas made her colder and less compassionate. She determined he was the best and safest person to confide in because of their argumentative nature and not in spite of it. She knows that if she needs to be talked down, Alphonse isn't above shouting over her and calling her out.
Bijoux Clarame[]
Kiya has a soft spot for her friend Bijoux, and has fought against her family to keep her safe. She is especially envious of her mind magic and ability to manipulate people with will rather than words. She has had to...forcefully encourage Bijoux to do certain things, although she has always felt guilt afterward.