Description 

Josephine is a soft-spoken and kind-hearted young woman with a calm temperament. She is most easily recognized by her love of the color yellow, which she wears constantly. She has long, raven black hair, part of which she ties back with a yellow hair ribbon. She has green eyes and deeply tanned skin, with freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. She stands at about 5'2" with a slim, almost frail, build.

Early Life 

Josephine was born in Richmond, Virginia to a lower-middle class family. Her father was a general store owner, so she spent her younger years going on trips every so often alongside him and her brother to makes deliveries and collect wares in the family's old horse-drawn wagon. She loved those trips, and cherished seeing the world outside of Richmond for all that it was. It was a simple life, but a fairly pleasant one.

Josephine spent her youth trying to learn. She was never put into school, but her brother was, and he brought his schoolbooks home and taught Josephine to read. Despite the rudimentary teaching, she did not become fully literate until much later in life. Although reasonably competent with reading, she struggled majorly with writing. Even more intriguing to the girl than reading, however, was the instrument her elder brother had been learning from his friends in town. She begged him to teach her, and so after dinner in the evenings, he would let her sneak out with him to the ally behind their home. It was there that she learned to play the guitar, learning the chords and old songs that her brother so graciously taught her. Nothing felt quite so sweet as those moments.

However, as Josephine got older, things worsened. Her mother had always been an intense woman with extremely high expectations of Josephine, and as she reached adolescence, those expectations came crashing down. Josephine was no longer allowed to join her father on his trips- in fact, she was rarely allowed to leave the house. Between the ages of 12 and 18, Josephine was stuck in that townhouse for practically all hours of the day. She was, according to her mother, being prepared for her future. Her mother, and, by proxy, her father, held the belief that marriage was something that was expected of almost all young women of her standing, but she had no interest in the idea. She knew that life as a married woman in the city wouldn't grant her any happiness, nor the freedom she so desperately longed for. Unfortunately for Josephine, her mother had already selected a man for her to wed.

He was a horrible individual, albeit wealthy. The realization that her time was running out hit her hard, and she realized she had to make a move. She spent months saving and planning, until finally, the night before her wedding, she ran.

She only informed her brother of where she was going, and didn't have much to take with her. She packed a few dresses, all the money her brother could spare, and her old guitar. Then, she saddled one of the draft horses her father kept for his wagon, and slipped out into the lantern-lit streets of Richmond. It was difficult those first few years, but she scraped by busking for coin and renting out tavern rooms. Her meek temperament stemmed from her sheltered childhood, and Josephine maintained a tendency to back away from both conflict and opportunity. Every bit of coin that didn't go toward food or shelter was saved until, years later, she could finally afford a train ticket out west.

Present Life 

When Josephine arrived to New Alexandria, she first found a friendship among individuals like Red Leblanc, Leo Brennan, and Jof Bergman, who introduced her to the career of ranching. Red gave her a job at Lone Elf Ranch, where she learned to help with horse and cattle drives. Although she was inexperienced and had never worked the land or with livestock before, she fell in love with the freedom she felt on the plains. It was a simple life, but one she had never experienced before, and so she stuck with it throughout her time in state. Many of these individuals became some of her closest friends, especially for her first couple of months. One of them helped to teach her to read and write properly, which she continued to work on for several months afterward.

After experiencing a difficult break-up, Josephine found herself struggling with a sense of purpose in-state. On a whim, she decided to to telegram Inya Nordskov regarding a poster she had seen about medical apprenticeship. She met with Inya and Frank Landmark that very day, joining the company. That same day, she met fellow apprentices Scarlet Storm, Thomas Anderson, and groundskeeper Shiloh Weston. With each of these people, she formed a tight-knit bond, and it rekindled her interest to stay in-state. Under Inya and Frank's guidance, Josephine flourished in the field of medicine. She was determined to help people and to achieve bigger things. In this time, she also grew extremely close with Scarlet, forming a long-term sisterhood and friendship that Josephine would grow to rely on.

Josephine tried again with another romantic relationship, but ended up spending several months waiting for a partner who never returned. During this period she spent the majority of her time doing medical and ranch work (with Bullock & Ross Cattle co.) to keep herself busy. It was a period of hope which eventually turned into despair, and the realization of being abandoned yet again cut her deeply. During this time, her mentor, Inya Nordskov, was killed. Josephine and Scarlet ended up having to do her autopsy, a task that opened Josephine's eyes to the profession ahead of her. Josephine also helped Scarlet through the loss of her father around this time. This period of death was difficult for Josephine, but also an experience of awakening. Not long after, Josephine finished her apprenticeship and finally obtained her surgeon's bag. She began teaching and taking on apprentices a month or two later, finding joy in passing along the knowledge that Inya had given her.

After this period, Josephine sort of settled into a period of balance. A family had begun to form between herself, Scarlet Storm, Shiloh Weston, Vyacheslav Volotski, and Amos Weston. She also finally gave up on the man she had been waiting on and later decided to try out a relationship with Arthur Thompson, who she brought into the family as well. This group of people became her home base- the individuals who she could trust with anything and everything.

Affiliations 

Employment:

• Rose & Merigold Medical Practice
• King's Cross General Practice (formerly)
• Lone Elk Ranch (formerly)
• Bullock & Ross Cattle Co. (formerly)

• Arthur Thompson

• Scarlet Storm

• Shiloh Weston
• Amos Weston
• Rowan Ward
• Joseph Upshur
• Colt Calloway
• Red Leblanc

Quotes 

"....Huh?"
"Mi'lady!"
"Not my circus, not my monkeys."
"Don't talk to my wife like that."

Trivia