sinnerrr sorry to bug you with an ask if you've already talked about it, but seeing you in my notifs reminded me that i kept meaning to ask about courtney's markings 👁👁
Ahhhh Kiki!! 💙💙 You never bother me, I actually don't think I actually got to talk about her markings so it's a great chance too! I've never went in detail quite yet only because I wanted to work on the first story of the "Courtney-verse" as we call it for now with her Great-Great-Great Grandmother in Part 1. But with my progress it'll be months soooooo, let's get into it!!
Let's take the old model sheet draft I used as reference for how her whole body looks!
The reason why Courtney and her family have these markings is because of an ancient curse accidentally placed on them by Part 1 girl's (who's name is Florence, I didn't wanna just say Part 1 girl that's disrespectful lol/j/j) father before his death. Her whole story is finding more cursed people like her who end up just trying to use her to give birth and we're gonna kill her and her husband to give all their energy into the child. The child is born, husband dies, Florence kicks mother-in-laws ass, gives up her child in hopes of giving her a better life before willingly giving her life to Dio like seconds before fighting Jonathan. After her story, we kinda see how each family member copes or deals with the family burden.
Now what is this curse I've been yapping all about? Basically think of Hamon, then reverse it! The curse is like a vampire or pillar man's portable phone charger in a sense, with them being able to heal the undead. Cursed people are stuck in a limbo of being undead but still human. Like vampires, they live longer and age twice as slow as a normal human; but it messes with their human DNA from little things wounds healing slowly, constantly being cold, or being extremely depressed as we see with a handful of family members. To know whether someone is cursed is by the black markings on their body, everyone is born with them and it isn't until puberty hits that the energy of the curse completely takes over the body. Then all the iodine and aluminum in the markings start pumping full force, and then the struggle between humanity and being undead instantly makes itself known. There's no set age; it happens. Courtney and her twin sister Ai both got taken over at a very young age due to their mother's over abundance of energy and not taking the proper measures to ensure her daughters safety. Take one of their other sisters in Part 5, Vera, who has the markings and only a little bit of energy but not much due to the lack of energy she was given at birth from being almost so close in age to her older sisters. Actually Courtney's sisters are a good way to show how siblings inherit the curse, from the older two who are mentioned to be the most dangerous in their family before passing it on to their own children, to their youngest sister, Felicita, seeming not to inherit any traits despite us seeing her at the age of 17. Also fun fact! With the iodine and aluminium in a cursed persons body, their salvia becomes quite a powerful antiseptic especially since smoking has become a vice to help get energy out of the body!
I hope this explanation helps with understanding and if you have any questions my ask box is always open! ^^