Josephine was born in Wales to a poor farming family of German descent, where she grew up under the shadow of a "perfect" older sister. Her family only had the money to send one daughter to private school, so Josephine, being the younger and less "perfect" of the two, received her elementary education in public school—which she hated with a fiery passion. She was quiet and studious, wanting to get through her education without being noticed. She was, of course, therefore teased and tormented constantly by her classmates.
One afternoon, at the age of ten, Josephine was seated under her favorite tree, reading Alice in Wonderland. The vague thought came to her that she'd like to be able to talk to the flowers as Alice did, but, owing to the fact that it was past the harvest, there were no flowers to be had. Her mind continued to focus on this fact; as she stared into space, she felt something tickling her hand—and looked down to find that a daffodil had sprouted up between her fingers. She started, breaking what sort of idle concentration she'd had, and the flower degenerated back into the soil as though growing backward in time. Josephine, at first, thought she was dreaming; however, over the next several weeks, she took to experimenting with her newfound powers, learning how and to what extent she could manipulate plant life. Winter setting in impeded her trials, so she returned to her studies. She kept her power completely hidden from both her parents and her older sister.
Over the next three years, Josephine continued to work as hard as she could at her studies, surpassing all expectations had for her. She joined her school's tennis team and soon became their star player, both for her accuracy and her ability to confuse her opponent. As her physical and mental skills developed, she spent additional time crafting her powers, keeping a small garden and selling flowers and vegetables for pocket money.
As she was about to enter high school, Josephine was offered a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school in York: a full scholarship, including room and board, on basis of both her grades and the understanding that she play on the school's tennis team. Her parents were both shocked and overjoyed; her elder sister, Marianne, was furious. She found the fact that her younger sister had surpassed her unacceptable. When Josephine left for school, Marianne refused to accompany the family to drop her off at the train station. Marianne had graduated from her private school and moved into her own place by the time Josephine came home for her first summer. Since, the two have rarely spoken and continue to be on unfriendly, if not hostile, terms.
Josephine went on to graduate Salutatorian in her class, losing the Valedictory title to her rival by one hundredth of a GPA ranking. Her academic skills earned her a second scholarship into Harvard University, where she spent her freshman year majoring in botany. When it proved to be no challenge for her—to the point of being dull—she shifted her major to law, not in spite of but because of its reputation for being one of the most difficult occupations. Her change of major accompanied a one-year transfer to the University of Pennsylvania; still, she did not find law to be challenging enough for her. After her third and final transfer, to Oxford University back across the pond, she settled on a double-major in law and psychiatry, and earned master's degrees in both fields.
After her graduation from Oxford, Josephine spent several years practicing law and psychiatry in London, representing anyone who would pay her the right amount. Josephine had never been one to have much of a "moral center," preferring to go along with whatever benefited her most. This ideal had only been cemented by her relationship with her sister, of course. While still living in London, Josephine began expanding her sources of monetary income: if she was self-made, why not make herself the best life possible? She began investing in the stock market, purchased small portions of in- and out-of-city real estate, and took to gambling. She had remarkable skills in all of these endeavors, increasing her own worth and using her money in whatever ways she saw fit.
Work in London eventually began to bore Josephine. Once again looking for a challenge, she has decided to move to New York City, where the anti-mutant front seems to be strongest. Now, to see if the landlord for the apartment she desires will accept her offer.
Josephine does not only use conventional methods of gaining money: she is a thief by nature, and quite adept at not getting caught at it. Her work with criminals has garnered contacts through which she is able to "cheat" at the stock market, among other things, and though since her transition from school life into real-world society she has rarely if ever executed physical thievery, she is not above paying other thieves to steal things for her.
