You've come from the dew in the forest and there they will be waiting for you. Strange creatures they are, and you must take care and rule them from the stars.
ABOUT
Justine is a sweet girl. The perfect daughter, beautiful, submissive, virtuous. She is no longer as naive after having died, but still can be put too much trust in authority figures if they earn her sympathy. There is a grace of her own in her, that betrays her high and noble birth, that makes everyone almost supernaturally disarm in her presence. She is good at singing hymns, dancing, sewing, and she speaks several languages including latin. She loves making her own clothing.
After being resurrected she can heal supernaturally well, and as mentioned, has the ability to fly, though she is often afraid of it unless it’s relatively close to the floor or Alucarda is flying by her side, holding her hand. She is reluctant to use her powers for anything other than healing, fearing the animalistic frenzy she fell into after being revived. She is almost never far from Alucarda.
Backstory
Justine’s (Girl in checkered print) story is simple and sad: Her parents died when she was 16, and ended up in a convent. Sister Angélica always wanted a daughter as a child, and saw in sweet Justine a beautiful young girl of good morals and character. She was gentle, pious and virtuous, and beautiful and from a noble family to boot. Who wouldn’t love her?
The sweet girl had a very gentle but sheltered upbringing, filled with a lot of love. The daughter of an aging couple, her parent’s deaths hit her incredibly hard and with very little family, and none that could take care of her. Because she was still a minor, she was sent to one of the convents sponsored by her parents: Not to live as a nun, but to grieve in security and peace. Despite her only having to remain there for a little over a year, Justine was incredibly sheltered, and unused to interacting with peers her age. This may be why she saw nothing to worry about in her new room companion, a girl named Alucarda (The girl in black).
Alucarda was the daughter of a witch, and a witch herself, though without a mentor she’d often misunderstand her senses and power and where it derived from. Justine, being able to sense her keen talent, and enjoying the girl’s unusual personality, was besotted immediately. Alucarda would always dress in black, hunt abandoned cemeteries and buildings for treasures, and talk to spirits and satyrs. She was like a prince in a story to her, and for once she found it easy to keep a secret from her carers (Alucarda’s powers, which would go against the very pious convent which housed them both). One day Alucarda even gave her the ability to fly, and they lost their virginity to each other under the moon.
Being a witch, she was not a believer, and often resented the convent she was stuck living under. During a class at Church, Alucarda convinced Justine to play a prank –Just the once- and recite a Bible verse backwards, naming Lucifer. Unfortunately the headmistress, who then went to hit Alucarda in the back of the head, activated some of her powers of protection and sent her flying back.
Now truly believing that both girls were possessed, nothing the girls said could convince any nun from it being a jape, nor that Alucarda meant her no harm. Much less when it was discovered that the bond they had with each other was more than platonic. Sister Angélica did her best to protect the girls to no avail. The girls were yelled at, locked in closets, separated, and beaten. Justine accepted all punishments given to her. This only convinced the nuns that they were right.
Eventually, a priest was called, and he told both girls they needed heavy punishment but then they’d be able to leave. Justine, who had never been in danger from an authority figure, and was worried for her sweet girlfriend, gladly obeyed. She did not even try to go away. She was just scared and tired of being yelled at, and thought that at worst they’d cane her and she’d be able to go to her room. The priest’s idea would turn to be much more painful: She was tied to a makeshift cross and surrounded by naked nuns who would take turns lashing each other, in a seance much more disgusting and painful than any of the witches of Alucarda’s coven could ever hope to imitate.
After being tied, she was stripped and lashed, but it did not stop there. The priest began to stick hot metal rods into her body. It was pure torture. A torture she slowly died from, after a few days. Convinced that the girl was not yet ‘saved’, torture continued for long after, until one of the nuns also died from the lashings she allowed to her own back. A doctor was called, and the usefulness of the torture put in question, and Justine was sent to the mortuary.
Her story does not end there. Alucarda sought her corpse, and, channeling her powers in a trance, managed to resurrect her. Unfortunately she woke up in an animalistic frenzy and tried to kill her surrogate mother, making the rebirth even more painful and traumatizing (Because Alucarda had to put her in an ancient grave, cover her with the blood of horses, which sent her into an animalistic frenzy) but she later on came to her senses.
Sister Angélica left the convent, and is now the guardian of both girls. Justine was allowed to claim her inheritance earlier under the condition that she does not share the priest’s torture of her (The church is unaware of her supernatural rebirth, and simply assumes the girl went comatose. Justine is not telling the truth).
