Josephine Van Rensselaer

Josephina "Josephine" Van Rensselaer is a seventeen year old Slavic Demigod daughter of Lada and Jane Van Rensselaer. She came to camp at thirteen years old

## Basic Stuff

### Name

Josephina Aphrodite Van Rensselaer (Ukrainian: Жозефіна Афродіта Ван Ренсселер)

### Alias

Josephine, Jobe, JJ, Fifi, Fina, Jo, Joey, Joja, Jojo, Josa, Josie, Pepi, Peppa, Phinie, Posy, Posie, Sefi, Sefina, Sephine, Sophie, Ephine, Effy, Jo-Z, Joan, Jayla, Jay, Fini, Fine, Lada

### Residence

Camp Olympia (Currently)Odessa, Ukraine (Formerly)

## Family

### Biological Family

* Lada (Immortal mother)
* Jane (Mortal mother)
* Perun, Veles, Svarozhits, Khors, Dazhbog (half-brothers)
* Svarog, Stribog, and Mokoš (Uncles and Aunt)
* Devana, Iarilo, Morana (Nieces, and Nephew)

## Appearance

### Outfit

* Normally bright colors
* Yellow long-sleeve shirt
* Navy blue polka-dotted skirt
* Gray leggings
* Brown boots

## History

### Early Life

Josephina "Josephine" Van Rensselaer was born to Lada, goddess of love, beauty, spring, harmony, bliss, infatuation and order and the spirit of the awakening earth and Jane Van Rensselaer on April 20, 2004 in Odessa, Ukraine. Jane Van Rensselaer, a playwright living in Odessa, Ukraine and working in a theater, was taking down decorations from a previous play done a few nights ago. A young woman with a pretty face came and offered to help her and as the two took the decorations down, they chatted and talked. The pair found that they had more than a couple things in common and they went to a small cafe across the street. There, the young woman told him who she really was; Lada, goddess of love. It didn´t take long for Jane to fall for the joyous goddess and soon a baby girl was born from their union. To Jane's dismay, the pretty and jubilant goddess had left, leaving only one request: for the baby girl´s name to be Josephina. Apart from the naming request, she left him a dagger that according to her was for "the time of need of the baby girl".

### Childhood

Jane cared for Josephine and treated her as a princess for she was quite a rich woman.T he girl grew up in Odessa and went to Miss Jane´s Academy. There, she was very popular since everyone just seemed happy to be in her presence, they also said she was very pretty and "they'd like to have her prettiness". Josephine also was good at making decorations something that just came naturally to her. She was also living proof to justify the quote, "diamonds are a girl's best friend", loving gems of all colors and sizes. She was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD but it didn't seem like it made her any less likeable, people, teachers and students alike just seemed to like her. At the age of ten, Jane started talking to his daughter about Slavic myths only he implied that they were somewhat real. He told her that she was related to one of them, a certain female goddess of love...

### First Monster Encounter and Getting to Camp

One day, at the age of 12, Josephine was at home alone due to a funeral that her father was attending in a town two hours away. The young girl was trying to sleep but she heard snapping and crunching sounds coming from outside, so she went outside. She followed the loud chomping sounds to the forest behind her home when she saw a monster. It was a bird, the size of a chubby pigeon. It had black wings but the feathers on the tips looked bathed in gold. It had black eyes and it was devouring some kind of animal corpse. The girl screamed and ran into her home, the Stymphalian bird flying after her, it's eyes murderous. She tried to hide but she remembered something her mother had told her. She had showed her a golden dagger and said that it would be in her bedroom, waiting for her time of need. The brunette ran up to her mother's bedroom, the loud and dangerous bird shattering glass, launching sharp feathers all over the place. She searched for the dagger and when she found it she unsheathed it. She rolled away as the bird barelled toward her. It's wings were lodged into the wood of the wall, it flailed, cried out. Josephine raised the dagger up and then plunged it into the head of the bird. It vaporized to sulfuric dust and she did the same with the last one. And she dropped the dagger,looked at the yellowish powder that was on the floor. Stymphalian birds, it was real.

The myths, the gods....the monsters. It was too much. She quickly ran and got $350 she had saved up from her bedroom, a backpack and she stuffed a picture of her mom and the wad of cash into the backpack. She contemplated going to her mother but no, if she went to her maybe more monsters would come and they might hurt her...no. Josephine, once she arrived to the capital of Ukraine, she met a goat boy. He was tall, strong with green eyes and curly hair. His name was Vinnie and he revealed to her goat horns, furry legs and hooves. He called himself a "satyr" and told her he was going to take her to a place where she would be safe from the monsters and that all would be well. She reluctantly complied and once they made it out of town, in a large field of ferns and grass, they were attacked by harpies. Vinnie pulled out a set of pipes and started playing a song that made the grass grow and reach up, trying to smack and ensare the bird women. Josephine unheathed her dagger and stabbed two harpies that were screaming and trying to get out from the iron-hard grip of the grass blades. The other ones screamed and frantically flew off, cawing and leaving Josephine with only some scars.

Josephine instantly trusted the satyr from that moment on. She used some money for a plane ticket to The US. At first the man at the ticket-buying booth refused to give her one due to her being a minor but suddenly he seemed happy; smiling and bidding her a good trip, the dazed-looking man gave her the tickets.  They celebrated Vanessa's 14th Birthday in New Hampshire, Vinnie being quite happy, even sneaking into a bakery and bringing her a cupcake. They made it to California and Vinnie and Josephine boarded a small van with the words CAMP OLYMPIA and he assured her they were close. They arrived at Big Bear and walked from there until they neared a place Vinnie called "Camp Olympia" They arrived and when they did Josephine was surprised at what they told her. The Old Gods, centaurs, nymphs...all true. Josephine made amends with her mother while she and Vinnie were in Los Angeles, she is currently trying to make arrangements for her to visit Odessa in the summer. Upon arriving, Vinnie gave her a small little welcoming gift; a sterling silver charm bracelet that when a certain twinkling ruby is turned clockwise, a golden sword with a red ruby encrusted in the middle of the crossgaurd. She wears it all day, all hours. She was later claimed by her mother.

## Personality

Josephina may seem like the kind of girl who receives a room full of flowers and chocolates on Valentine's day that will last her up to Halloween. She is usually quite an extroverted and friendly girl, though she does filter what she does and doesn't accept in her group of friends. She has a distinctive and fierce unpredictability that many struggle to decipher, one moment she may be smiling to your face, the next she might be trying to take your head off. But in truth, Josephina is a girl who has been raised to put her duty as a caretaker above all else. She has always had strong maternal instincts, although it's evident she rarely applies them. Even as a child, she was always so attentive towards children and often knew exactly what to do in order to see that they were taken care of. But that doesn't mean she is avert to her more distinctive side. Ever since childhood, Josephina has gone out of her way to break every single rule in the book, effectively pissing off almost everybody in her life, especially the nurses that worked in her orphanage. Her anger can be as gradual and swift as a plague, or as destructive and explosive as a powder keg. Luckily, that only applies to people who get on her bad side. She is naturally quite intimidating, due to her steel glare and iron fist. She can make decisions quickly and effectively, often based purely on her intuition. Moreover, her intuition makes her dislike fake or forced things, such as small talk or white lies. So if you're going to lie to Josephina, you'd better not - she'll see right through you. She is armed with a sharp tongue and a sharp mind, one which she never hesitates to exercise for the benefit of herself, though she won't be reluctant to use it for the use of others. This then comes to her honesty; which is brutal, to say the least. If she doesn't like you, she won't hesitate to say it. Her honesty is sometimes seen as cruel, but she doesn't give a damn. Often denies she is a good leader, despite her admirable ability to rally up a troop against seemingly insurmountable odds. Josephina has a boundless passion, one which can take people by surprise. It's perplexing how determined she can become when setting her mind to something, and her loyalty to her task is often ruthless. If her task does not get fulfilled to the purpose she wants, often to its fullest, all hell will break loose. This makes it hard for her if things don't work out - she has proven how self-condemning she can be if things go wrong. Many people underestimate how intelligent and passionate one girl can be, to a fault that is, and she is always willing to use that to her advantage. She is nice, kind and very happy. She´s what could be called a social butterfly and a bit bubbly. She tends to want to help people and tries to help them if they feel down. She can also be described as hopelessly optimistic and believes there is good in everyone. Josephina is kind and treasures her friends, caring for them.

### Fatal flaw

Josephine's fatal flaw is her inability to deny power. She is constantly tempted by the idea of being offered something that will level her above all others, or bestow her a sort of esoteric ability or element. Her ambition is a frustrating and vain creature, constantly gnawing away at her worry that she will never live up to the standards people have set for her. She can hold prolonged and prodigious grudges that can chisel away at both the well being of her and the well being of her enemies, slowly reducing their relationship to nothing but a strained knot of fervent fury. But her desire for elevation, elation and pleasure is something that is constantly inspiring her craving for power, for ascendency, and a feeling of belonging.

## Appearance

Josephine is described as a beautiful seventeen year old girl of Ukrainian descent. She is described as having smooth light tanned skin, light brown curly hair that reaches a little ways past her shoulders, and brown eyes. Josephine is often seen wearing a yellow long-sleeve shirt, navy blue polka-dotted skirt, gray leggings, and brown boots

## Powers and Abilities

### Lada Kid Powers

* She is able to encourage growth and fertility, and even take away those qualities and gradually drain a landscape of its vegetation to fuel herself, in a small region of space.
* She is generally fueled by a presence of healthy or fertile vegetation, and can leech off of those qualities should she require energy. This can cause a landscape to suddenly become blank, withered or dead.
* She is able to inspire a feeling of affection, love, obsession, infatuation, admiration or general favoring in someone or a group of people.
* She is able to detect chemistry, affection, obsession or love between a couple or group of people, and can even detect problems, improvements, or complications in a relationship.
* She is innately able to sense the location of various plants with superhuman precision.
* She possesses the ability to quicken or hasten the cycle of how a plant grows.
* She is able to detect how fertile the land around her is, and can either take away or increase a level of fertility in an area or region.
* She is able to tell when crops or produce are ripe for the picking, or when it will be ripe.
* She is able to hasten or slow the influence of growth in an area: in minutes, a strawberry bush can have it's branches hung down with glistening, plump berries, but the next minute it will be reduced to a mere shrub of shrunken leaves and rotten, putrid fruit.
* She is able to induce an appearance of beauty in herself or a person, but only briefly.
* She is also able to change and alter her own appearance, and the appearance of others, but only very briefly.
* She is able to induce the negative effects of pregnancy, childbirth or labor on a group or an individual, which can send someone to their knees, reeling with absolute pain and anguish, should it be used against them.
* Josephina's voice is able to cause plants around her to flourish, blossom and grow rapidly should she use it.
* She is able to read or detect the emotions of people around her.
* She is able to curse people or cause conflict by inducing an intense infatuation/feeling of affection and love in between two people or a group, therefore causing a massive conflict should it go on for too long.
* She has the power of Zoolingualism, the ability to communicate with and understand animals.
* She can use sunlight to gain energy, similarly how plants use the sunlight to induce photosynthesis and produce their own foods.
* She is stronger in direct sunlight or places that are abundant in plant life.
* She has some affinity with children.
* Since her Mother is seen as a guardian over children and women, Josephina's is quite good at taking care of kids, despite her hatred of people who assume her as a matronly figure, as it reminds her of her time in Odessa

### General Abilities

* ADHD: Like all demigods, Josephine has incredibly enhanced/supernatural reflexes and durability that able her to analyze an opponents fighting style and defend herself when fighting against someone.
* Disarming: Josephine has an innate nimble agility, and has become incredibly skilled in disarming any opponent she may face as a result.
* Fighting skills: Josephine is very skilled at fighting in battle
* Resistance: Josephine is able to resist the persuasive powers of children of love and beauty deities, such as Branwen (Celtic), Aphrodite (Greek), Venus (Roman), Milda (Estonian), etc.
* Persuasive: Josephine is generally trusted by a wide variety of people, who tend to feel some sense of trust once they first meet Josephine. She can persuade people to do what she wants merely by talking pleadingly .But if there's one thing you need to know about Josephine, it's that you should never trust her outright - a mistake an absurd number of people tend to make.
* Sword usage: She is very skilled at using a sword
* Superhuman Strength: As a demigod, Josephine is much stronger than the average mortal
* Superhuman Durability: As a demigod, Josephine is more durable than a regular human being
* Superhuman Agility: As a demigod, Josephine is more agile than the average mortal
* Superhuman Reflexes: As a demigod, Josephine reflexes are greater than the average mortal
* Ukrainian: Being born and raised in The Ukraine, Josephine speaks fluent Ukrainian
* Slavic Languages: Josephine is fluent in a couple of Eastern European languages, those being Romanian, Ukrainian and Russian, however she can also read and translate ancient Slavic runes, scripts and texts in an almost unnatural manner.

## Relationships

### Friends

#### Ambrosia Church

Josephine and Ambrosia are also really good friends. Josephine and Ambrosia love to do karaoke with each other and other things and they are often seen hanging out with each other, along with Hannah.

#### Hannah Schuyler

Josephine and Hannah are also really good friends. Josephine and Hannah love to decorate the camp with flowers and other things and they are often seen hanging out with each other, along with Ambrosia

### Family

#### Lada (Immortal mother)

Josephine loves her Mother enough to respect her. She certainly doesn't have any resentment for her, but she still can't forgive and forget the little effort her Mother instigated to help her out of what may have been her potential despair and death. Lada prefers not to address Josephein's contradictory feelings, often ignoring anything that Josephine will imply whenever she offers something to the goddess' name, or prays to her. As much as the girl admires her Mother, the two have scarce love for each other, and can only safely love one another through actions of respect. The only indication the two are vaguely affectionate of each other is Lada's gift of an enchanted dagger, bestowed on Alessandria when she first arrived at camp and was claimed.

#### Jane (Mortal mother)

Josephine is very close with her mortal mother and often writes to her. Josephine does miss her a lot, and wants to visit Odessa to see her again

## Etymology

A variant of Josephine, this name is a feminine version of Joseph, and means **“Jehovah increases.”**

Her last name, Van Rensselaer is Dutch, meaning **"One who came from Renselaer in Gelderland"** or **"Dweller near a place frequented by deer."**

## Trivia

1. Both Josephine and Marko were born in Odessa
2. She has a very strong liking for pastries and cakes, especially sweet ones, such as mulberry pie (one of her favorites). As a child she would often steal pastries from a nearby bakery in town, and usually get away with it due to her persuasiveness.
3. She has a scent that lingers around her: usually it smells faintly of mulberries, roses and even wine in some cases, despite that fact she doesn't drink.
4. Both she and Ambrosia have opposite color pallets in their clothing
5. She can play the violin very well, and knows several songs off by heart.
6. Her middle is Aphrodite, after the Greek Goddess of Love
7. Josephine is a Taurus
8. Josephine is skilled in gymnastics and has a great level of flexibility.