Tibby Ole Naidu was born to Wendy and Baruti Naidu. Her mother a British chef who was traveling in Africa when she met Baruti in Johannesburg. The connection was instant and though her family the Cromwells cautioned her against marrying a man that appeared to have shady dealings she ignored them and they married a year after meeting. Another year went by and Tibby was born on June 19, 1990. The family of three split their time between Johannesburg and Britain. While her father’s family business was in South African, he could work from the UK just as well. Her father and his side of the family were smugglers. A family of smugglers going back generations. Wendy, of course wanted her daughter having nothing to do with that part of her father’s life.
Being a biracial couple was accepted but heavily stigmatizing in Tibby’s neighborhood. The frequent back and forth from Africa to the UK mostly saved Tibby from the bullying of her peers but she still caught bad days at her school. The trips to her mother’s home in the UK were a welcome reprieve. While there Tibby would hangout with her favorite person in the world, her cousin Remi. Remi was a few years older but they grew close fast. Remi was an amazing dancer and Tibby loves to watch. With the steady increase in bullying and things getting not so safe for Tibby’s mother. Her parents decided to have her home schooled and spend more time in the UK. This meant she was closer to Remi, trips around the world with her cousin and Aunt and uncle became the norm, this went on from the ages of five to twelve.
She visited South Africa once a month during those years. Noticing that she had a love for the wild cats, she often spent her time outside in the wild with them along with her older cousins on her father’s side. Her favorite being a caracal but she could never get one to stay put. Vicious little shits. She dreamed of petting a lion but everyone knew that was how you lost a hand. Though they (the felines) always seemed to tilt their head at her. Taking her in curiously. Most cats clinging to her immediately or first out of a group. Unbeknownst to Tibby and her family at that moment. Tibby had manifested an ability. It wasn't until a random afternoon in the wilderness her cousins playing beneath her as she napped soundly in the tree branches above. She was having a vivid dream. She was so low to the ground. Her senses so aware of her surroundings. Tibby? leaped through the air landing to bound towards a small group of kids and a kid napping in the tree above. It was Tibby. And upon seeing herself through the cat’s eyes she awoke with a cry. She was twelve. She hid this from her family. Afraid of what they would say, even Remi. Though she was soon using her ability daily, her knack for felines being chalked up to Tibby having a way with animals. Tibby overtime begun a friendship with an African golden cat and caracal. These two cats strangely interacting with each other and Tibby spotted them once. She started the long process of bonding with them over the next few months. Never coming to close but always trying to communicate with her ability. They were curious of the girl, though distrustful. She named them Adze (the Caracal) and Oya (the African Golden Cat).
A few months before her thirteenth birthday her mother died unexpectedly. She had cancer and it was caught too late. The death of her mother sent her father into a deep depression. He began to change, drinking a lot becoming more reckless. Her birthday Tibby was taken on her first smuggling trip with her father and his band of criminals. Off to Madagascar they went. During these times Tibby was seen by her cousin Remi but spent a considerable more time with her father’s side of the family. Tibby’s trips with her father also introduced her to a wide range of feline. She took the time to learn each of them and study them. Trying to bond with them, the bigger cats like the Lion were the hardest but she had gotten a cub to follow her and play one day. That play date ended swiftly as its mother came to collect him. Madagascar was an insane place to be, Tibby loved to wander the streets with the other kids though her skin color was a bit of an issue. She was ordered to stay near the ship if not on it. Tibby’s wandering stopped the day she ran into a human trafficker, he followed Tibby until she was in a alley alone and attacked. Shocked and afraid Tibby called out with her ability to all the nearby felines in the area and passed out. When she awoke she was on the ship and they were sailing away back towards home. Whatever big cat she ended up summoning had left nothing of the man that had attached her. She confessed to her father that she had a gift and he took it in stride. Tibby became her father's most trusted scout.
It was during the year of 2006 that Tibby’s party side came out. She and Remi were out celebrating Remi’s new starring role in the ballet the night before the bomb on November 8th. The night was great and the morning was filled with horror. Remi lost her mother and Tibby was depressed to lose now not only her own mother but her aunt as well. Remi closed herself off from Tibby and she understood, she returned to Johannesburg to continue work with her father. It was a year later when she was seventeen that she witnessed her cousin manifest on the stage. There was something like feedback for Tibby and she was thrown off by the fact that her cousin could be like her. She didn't get the chance to share it though, Remi closed herself off from contact immediately and Tibby felt that to be a sign. She worried what her cousin would think of her actual occupation.
School had all but stopped from the time Tibby joined up with her father who wasn't so much running the show anymore and at eighteen Tib had to take the reins from her father due to his incessant drinking and deteriorating body. The transition was pretty hard on Tibby but she ran the ship with a steady hand albeit a few hiccups. After a doomed run to Madagascar and losing four men including her second oldest cousin on her father’s side Tibby handed the business over to her eldest cousin Demarco and left the country. Registering before she left because she was caught in a raid on a drug lord’s place. She took Oya with her but Adze couldn't be found. Ocelots were in danger during that time, their coats so beautiful they would go for a high price and so Tibby set out for America on a stolen ship that she was gifted by Demarco. She named it Ibeji after the Orisha twin gods on Africa.
Life on her own was lonely at first save for Oya but she couldn't have full on conversations with the cat. Arriving on the west coast of the United States after a long and hard journey across the seas. She almost didn't make it, the contacts she had gotten from her working with her father provided her with places to stop on the way. Ships to meet with on the way too to refuel and keep herself fed. As she arrived in the harbor of Long Beach she was mystified with the west coast. All the different looking people. With their funny accents! She made her way up to LA proper, leaving her boat in the harbor and spending most of her time on the beaches. This was how she found two things she loves to this day, cannabis and Caspian.
Whilst wandering around Venice she was approached by a man who wanted to sell her some cannabis. After schooling him on how weak his product was she offered to help him out. She had contacts and so she joined in business with Jessie. A young but hungry small time weed dealer. Tibby didn't want to be the face so she allowed Jessie to run things and she just collected her part of the profits. Around the same time she crossed paths with a man named Caspian. Oya didn't like him but there was something about him… later that year they met again on the beach randomly. Unofficially their first date. Tibby was wild and untamed, Cas as he was soon affectionately called kept her more grounded. He was more on the straight and narrow. Tibs enjoyed pushing him over the edge at times to see how far he would go. It was a young love.
Two years into their relationship the second bomb went off. After being being separated when they tried to escape together Tibby wound up alone with Oya and after spending a few days looking for him she decided to get the hell out of the United States running to Ibeji and setting sail for Johannesburg. By the time she arrived home the fighting had spilled out everywhere. Mazdak, a pro Evolved group was growing in power. There were rumors that her father had disappeared. Someone had said he was working with Mazdak. Some even said he had manifested an ability. Tibby launched herself at the fighting doing what she could to help her old neighborhood stay safe. Each day searching for signs of her father. She never did find him and one day the neighborhood that she was so desperately trying to protect was burned to the ground. On that night Tibby fought with everything she could and failed. Having to retreat Tibby rushed for her boat stumbling across Adze. She couldn't keep herself to stay around following dead ends. Maybe she could find Cas.. setting sail she headed back to California and sailed along the waters and the shores searching for any news of a man like Cas. She couldn't find him anywhere. She wasn't sure if she ever would. With Oya and Adze (who was proving to be more than a little difficult at keeping under control) Tibby she set her sights on New York. Picking up more contacts along the way she started her smuggling business again. Getting things for people that were hard to find had once again become her thing. Selling and gathering secrets had become even more lucrative. She settled into the Safe Zone becoming the woman people know to come to when they want to get something in the Safe Zone.. or out.
