“When in doubt, squeeze till something breaks.”
— Josephine Doe,
(A.K.A Lady Shady)
Josephine Doe was the name given by humans when she and her brother Thad were found without memory. Her original name was Kierra, given by her mother.
Josephine lives a lonely life since her 'death' at 11, because she finds that Thad is much better off without her. She remains in the shadows, keeping up with every detail of his life by stalking him through the internet or school records.
Since she lived on the streets all her life in the human world, she never went to school, thus never learned how to read. Therefore she can't fill in an application form for an ID. She lives in a motel room instead of renting a house.
She likes to collect things, she steals her collectibles. She is called a kleptomaniac on multiple occasions, and also sets buildings on fire.
Before the series begins[]
| Spoiler warning! |
| This article contains plot details from Sweet Ruin. |
She and her newborn brother Thad escaped from Apparitia, the murky realm of the Phantoms, as it was destroyed when she was 8 years old. they are the only ones known to have survived. Her mother sacrificed herself to keep the portal open, so Jo could get herself and her baby brother to safety. Jo made a coocoon around them looking like crystal. They floated in nothingness, the ether, for eons, but they didn’t age. Though she never felt hunger, she would cut her wrist and feed the nameless baby.
"Her tale had floored Rune. The two of them had barely escaped their home world—and only because of their mother’s sacrifice. Then, floating in the ether, they’d seen behind the curtains of the universe. Eventually, they’d gone into stasis—as the Møriør did. But that didn’t negate their age. Apparitia had died thousands of years ago. Josephine must be the oldest living of their hybrid species. The primordial." - Rune after overhearing a conversation between Josephine and Thaddeus.
Jo had been found wandering the outskirts of Houston (Texas) with Thaddie, wearing black robes and speaking “gibberish.” Of course there weren’t any parents to claim them. Since she didn’t remember anything before this, she was outraged that no one came for them.
With so sign of parents, they were adoptable. The siblings were placed with a man whom was likely to be a paedophile; as he assaulted Josephine the first night. Jo taught him a lesson by burning his house down. This man is referred to as ‘dickward.’
After this, Josephine had no trust in the system, and avoids to be in there at all costs. Not only fearing for herself and her baby bro to be treated wrongly, but also to be separated from Thaddie. She continued to steal food and pick pockets to support them.
One and a half years later, a the tiny library had seemed like a good hideout for the day. She’d planned to steal some comics and wash herself and Thaddie in the bathroom like the rest of the homeless did.
The Library was owned my Mrs. Brayden, or MizB. She had set out food for Jo and Thaddie, then backed away, as if she were luring feral cats. They’d dropped by the next day, and the next, until Jo actually trusted her enough to leave Thaddie for an hour now and then.
When she went out alone, she mostly stole money, but sometimes she sneaks around the Houston gang to throw them off their game. Jo thinks of them as the bad guys, and tried to be the hero. She couldn't do much since she's young, small and on her own, but she tried anyway. She pulled a huge stunt the night before the series begins; she lit their house on fire with them in it.
MizB wants to take care of the two, offering to launder their garments, to give them their shots and even to adopt the two. She and her Mr. Brayden were okayed for adoption. Josephine didn't want anything like that; Thad was hers, and hers alone.
Physical Appearance[]
Josephine is about five and a half feet tall. Her appearance is different when she consumes food instead of blood, when she's in ghost form and when she's solid. She has hazel irises with blue flecks, they turn black with emotion.. When she cries, she cries pink tears. She has long, brown wavy hair and her skin is the palest alabaster. She wears ghostly makeup, black clothes (all in various stages of disrepair), combat boots, strappy stiletto's, miniskirts, pushup bras, a tight scarlet strapless micromini dress, black jeans and band shirts. Sometimes she wears shirts from Rune. He called her goth once.
She has a curvy figure. Her chest and hips are gravity-defying, according to Rune. Dark smudges highlight her gaze, and heavy eyeliner and hollow her cheeks. Her full lips are blood red. She has high cheekbones and a haunting airiness about her face.
When she is in phantom form, She becomes a faint outline, the circles around her eyes deepen and her lips turne pale. Her visage turns almost colorless, except for her irises; they glow, brilliant blue and amber. Her hair billows as she floats.
As long as she consumed blood, Jo retains a ballin’ figure. Without it, she turned all sickly again. Her eyes and skin would be jaundiced, bones jutted. Every time she pulled down her hoodie, more of her hair would fall out. This is what she looked like as a child.
She has regulair, curved ears with two helix piercings. She has her nipples, navel pierced, and a horizontal clitoral hood piercing. She wears a small ring on one of her toes. She has black claws, which she polishes with clear glitter nailpolish at one point.
She wears six bullets around her neck. These bullets are the ones the Wall from the houston gang shot her with. She wears them to remind herself that she's twisted, and can never go back to Thaddie.
She is said to smell like Meadowberries mixed with warm rain.