Christina Rossetti

Bio

AKA: The forgotten Transcendent

Status: Alive

Birthday: 5th December

Age: 40

Height: 192cm

Weight: 62kg

Blood type: B

Likes: Religion, fruit danish, wine

Dislikes: God, men, war

Ability: In an Artist’s Studio

Ability namesake: In an Artist's Studio

Job: Researcher

Affiliation: Paulownia Court (Prometheus Institute)

Appearance

Christina is a tall, gaunt woman with dark auburn hair, hazel eyes and red lipstick. She has a beauty mark under the right corner of her mouth. 

Casually, she wears a long, brick red turtleneck dress underneath a lab coat, with black flat shoes. Her hair is pinned back in a french twist, with two strands left loose at the front. She wears a silver cross on a chain around her neck. 

Formally, she wears a dark grey slip camisole with dark lace at the top and dark trousers under a sheer black robe with intricate embroidery all over. Her hair is tied in a half-up style with two braids, with two strands left at the front. She also wears black slip-on kitten heels.

Personality

Christina is a solemn woman whose gloomy outlook on life causes her much sorrow. Having lived through many atrocities, and gone through many painful events in her past, she no longer believes herself worthy of happiness, and thus keeps to herself more often than not. 

She tends to approach things rationally and logically, carefully going through each step before moving onto the next, as she finds it gives her control of her life and herself- something she desperately seeks. For the same reason, she is christian, seeking a form of control in religion, although she tends to ‘forget’ her christianity when she becomes overwhelmed, turning to the bad habits of her past, causing her to spiral. 

However, despite her misery, she does care about those around her, and, in her own way, will try and take care of them. Often this means quietly helping in the background, rather than being front and centre about it, however her efforts generally do not go unnoticed. The other members of the Prometheus Institute all consider her to be invaluably helpful and, knowing what she does for them, try to help her in return. 

She takes her work seriously, but conducts herself seriously outside of work as well. She sees science as her refuge and finds comfort in her research, but finds herself feeling inferior to those around her. Despite being older than many of her colleagues, and wiser, she feels that due to her rank being lower she is less valuable and unnoticed, which scares her slightly. 

Deep down, she is conflicted, both afraid of being forgotten and of being in the centre of attention. She recognises the pain some of her actions have caused, as well as how much others have hurt her, which causes her to loathe herself and think she is unlovable and in turn unworthy of loving. Inside, she often feels empty and disconnected from the world around her, however she rarely tries to commit any drastic actions in response to this, thinking that it would only be more of an issue to those around her to disappear and leave a mess behind. 

Ability

Name: In an Artist’s Studio (アーティストのスタジオで)

The user can trap anyone in any form of art, so long as it is the original piece, and it has a border, or frame, turning them into a part of the artwork. In order to leave, the victim must either be let out by Rossetti herself, or escape through the frame.

Picture Imprisonment

Skills

• Weapons proficiency
  • Having fought in the Great War, Christina is proficient with multiple types of weapons. 
  • Her favourite to use is a whip.
• Specialised knowledge
  • Christina is knowledgeable about abilities in many aspects, as well as how they may impact a user, allowing her to fight against abilities with great ease.
  • She is adept at spotting abilities and figuring out their weaknesses quickly, even when the ability has very few visible signs of being used.
• Medical knowledge
  • Christina has a degree in nursing, and is capable of administering basic healthcare and patching up wounds.
  • Having worked as a military nurse, she is also capable of providing emergency healthcare and minor surgeries with minimal equipment.

Background

Christina was born and raised in London, where she lived with her grandparents. Her parents, who were involved with the military, were rarely home, leaving her grandmother to raise her. As she grew up, she found that people were attracted to her, and for a while she revelled in the attention. At 18, she became an art model in order to support herself, following the death of her grandparents and her expulsion from their will, and entered into a relationship with a painter she worked with. However, they began abusing her, causing her to flee. She ended up joining Oxford, as she was well-educated and came from a rich family, where she studied medicine and obtained a fast-track degree in nursing. Shortly after, she joined the military, and was sent to be a nurse in the Great War. When the use of ability users became a tactic in the war, Rossetti was roped into the Transcendents.

After the war finished, Christina left both the military and the Transcendents, receiving membership to the Paulownia Court in the process due to her efforts in the war, and in her time in Oxford. She began learning under the (at the time) current Dean of England, where she became an integral part of ability research until the Dean passed. During the ensuing power struggle, she took charge of all ongoing research until Mary was elected Dean by Murasaki Shikibu, at which point Christina was asked to look after Mary, and continued to be a key part of England’s scientific forces. 

Timeline

• 40 years ago
  • Christina Rossetti is born
• 22 years ago
  • Became a model
• 20 years ago
  • Ran away from her relationship
  • Began studying at Oxford
• 17 years ago
  • Became a registered nurse
  • Joined the army
  • Joined the Great War
• 16 years ago
  • Joined The Transcendents
• 15 years ago
  • Left the army
  • Joined the Paulownia Court
• 7 years ago
  • Joined the Prometheus Institute
• 4 years ago
  • Discovered Blake

Etymology

Christina: Follower of christ

Rossetti: Red-haired

Namesake

Christina Rossetti

English romantic, devotional and children’s poet and sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who wrote ‘Goblin Market’, ‘Remember’ and many other poems. She was in several of his paintings. Alongside this, she also wrote several carols, including ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, which was later scored by Gustav Holst. 

Trivia

• While the real Rossetti did not work in any sort of medical field, she did work in St Mary Magdalene’s house of charity in Highgate- a refuge for ex-prostitutes, where she helped take care of and rehabilitate the women there. 
• The real Rossetti was a model for many of her brother’s paintings, including ‘The Girlhood of Mary’, just as how Christina was an art model as well. 
• Her love of fruit danishes is a reference to the poem ‘Goblin Market’, wherein young women are tempted by delicious fruit. 
• Christina’s religion is another commonality with her real life counterpart, who was a devout christian who wrote many poems about her devotion. However, both also struggle with their religion, with many of Rossetti’s poems questioning her faith or lack thereof. 
• Christina’s ability comes from the poem ‘In an Artist’s Studio’, which she wrote to express her feelings about the male depiction of women in art.
  • It is believed that her feelings also stemmed from her time as an art model for her brother.
• Christina doesn’t sleep often, due to night terrors, but will usually sleep between 4am and 9am. 
  • On days where she does not sleep, she and Mary keep eachother company while continuing to work. 
• Despite her horror at Mary’s coffee, Rossetti usually takes her flat white with a shot of whiskey and three sugars.
• On more than one occasion, each of the other members of the Prometheus Institute have called her ‘mum’. 
• Due to her education, she is able to read and understand Latin and ancient Greek. 
  • She is also able to speak French and Spanish, among other languages, due to her time in the war.
  • She can understand morse code.
• Rossetti eats the least out of all the members in the Paulownia Court, despite being the only member of the Prometheus Institute who can cook without burning the kitchen down.

Relationships

Appellations

Mary Shelley

Mary and Christina first met when Mary was promoted to Dean, with Christina being assigned to help Mary after her mentor, the previous Dean, left. Christina quickly discovered that Mary was not a rational, level-headed, patient person, like the previous Dean, and instead was… the exact opposite, for the most part, causing her to become slightly envious of how Mary was able to become Dean, despite being in the Paulownia Court for far less time. Christina admires Mary’s dedication to her work, however believes that Mary’s overenthusiasm is a detriment to her wellbeing. She tries to help Mary when she can, and will do her best to protect Mary both as a friend and as a colleague. 

William Blake

William was first introduced to Christian when she found him while in town. She saw a lot of her own loneliness and misery in him, and took him to the Paulownia Court in order to save him. He greatly admires her for saving him, and is thankful to her for caring enough to help him. She sees him as a kind boy, and pities him for having to live his life in fear of his own ability’s destruction. Through her research, she tries to help him control his abilities in order to help him live a normal life. 

Arthur Rimbaud

Christina first met Arthur while working with the Transcendents. They were friendly acquaintances, but nothing much more, as Rimbaud did not know her for long. For what little time they did know each other, she got along with Rimbaud most of all the Transcendents. After hearing of his death, she went to Japan to pay her respects, out of camaraderie for one of the few who shared her pain from the war. Whenever she is in Japan, she will visit his grave and pray.  

Paul Verlaine

Christina first met Paul alongside Arthur, and initially, they got along and were friendly acquaintances. However, Christina often found herself slightly unnerved by Paul’s inhumanity, causing her to withdraw herself from him. Nevertheless, she still holds respect for him, as a fellow Transcendent, but keeps herself at an arm’s length, fearing his Corruption. 

Ogai Mori

Christina and Mori have met very few times, however both have heard of each other on multiple occasions. Christina dislikes Mori’s tactics during the war, and finds his manipulation of the young Yosano abhorrent, while Mori is intrigued by Christina’s abilities, which creeps her out. On the few occasions they have met, Christina has regarded him with cold indifference. They have never met alone.

Jean Genet

Of all the past Transcendents, Christina likes Genet the least, finding her to be stuck-up, pretentious, and dismissive of real issues. They unfortunately worked together on multiple occasions, and to this day are still made to work together often, due to their seniority within the Paulownia Court, and the proximity (academically and geographically) between England and France. Christina does (begrudgingly) admit that Genet is good at what she does, and while she dislikes Genet’s approach to her work, and life in general, she does concede that Genet is of higher seniority than her, and is willing to listen to Genet, provided she gets her own word in as well.