Background

Born at sunrise on August 1st, 1990, at Casa di Cura La Madonnina, an exclusive private hospital known for its first-class medical care located in Milano, Italy, Giulia followed her twin Livia by seconds. Her sister and Giulia were born into an incredibly wealthy family, which many people probably heard of at least once in their life. Gucci. Despite their father being a distant relative and hence not being part of the well-known main branch of the family tree, it provided enough prosperity to live a life of opulence and luxury. While the world was focused on the chaos that was the business Gucci, devolving into internal fights for power and control over the future of the brand, the young family enjoyed life in northern Italy. Milano, Firenze, Genova, Venezia or other fancy places, they’ve never stayed in one place for too long. To ensure that all their needs were satisfied, their parents hired multiple tutors and au pairs to give both the best start possible. Yet, the twins always had each other, never separating for more than a day. As news of the strange daisy incident spread globally, the girls were too young to understand its significance. Unaffected by the seemingly harmless floral infestation, the family continued their travels, heading to the US. They planned a trip across the whole nation. From San Francisco to New York, with stops in Las Vegas, Aspen, and a short detour to the southern states. Their road trip halted in Kentucky as soon as people all around the world became mysteriously and violently sick. Flights were grounded, travel restricted, and the threat became unavoidable. Their father Francesco quickly made a decision he thought would protect his family the most. Most survivors were fighting for rare spots in public QZs, while others enjoyed the luxury of certain bunkers and vaults, protecting them from the outside world. Fortunately, this is where the destination of this road trip was located. Knox Arcadia. Life changed forever. From traveling the world almost every other week to confinement by the walls of this new concrete home. Residents of the Arcadia bunker tried to keep up the facade of living an almost normal, healthy and fulfilling life. Kids attended school much as they had before the outbreak, many adults continued doing what they were working as before: security, electricians, cooks. These were the folk who kept Arcadia functioning. Weeks went past. Months. Years. The twins adapted to this new environment and found enjoyment within this new style of life. The day started with waking up in their rooms, having breakfast and still chatting Italian with their family and attempting to let the old habits thrive. Clinging to old routines, many residents hoped for a return to normalcy, oblivious to the world outside. But it wasn’t all sunshine and happy hobbies for the twins. Even if civilization would come back from this low blow, the two needed to develop certain skills. This was when Giulia began to develop her individual identity, but she still was unable to separate from each other without feeling deeply lonely and insecure. Her friends began to call her Gigi instead of Giulia, and she became quite popular within this protected world. She easily connected with others, realizing her charisma could help her avoid trouble and knowing how to influence people with the right words was an invaluable skill. Not particularly a bookworm, she still enjoyed rummaging through the magazines of the library, slowly delving into the world of fashion, but even more importantly, the origin of her last name. Giulia loved to dress nicely, from princess outfits to unique Halloween costumes, and enjoyed both drawing and designing them. The older she grew, she honored the Gucci name through her dresses and costumes, both making and designing them herself. Though not all were their hobbies, given living in a bunker had its obligations. Those in charge made sure to teach them how to handle and maintain guns, which quickly became another of Gigi's interests. But mostly, she loved to use any kind of materials she could find to improve them, not only in a mechanical sense, but aesthetical. Life could have been peaceful and secure for the twins and their parents. Her father Francesco was well established in the organization of Arcadia and her mother Valentina was one of many adults that took up the role of a teacher for the children. They’ve gone through an outstanding education almost on par with normal schools and high schools, offering to grow up bilingual, as people still believed to return to the old life at some point, despite 6 years passing since the outbreak happened. However, not everyone shared this happiness. Others, feeling bored, turned to the usual remedies. Drugs, particularly the ones that were especially en vogue started to become a problem, a problem that befell Giulia as well. She surely was talented, especially when it was about her interests, but also easily distracted and bored, swiftly gravitating toward the wrong crowd. Her twin often tried to intervene, but Giulia's adventurous and mischievous nature led her into trouble. Without her family and innocent facade, she would have been kicked out sooner, instead, she was able to attend many excessive parties. And so, the inevitable happened. Taking the warnings too lightly, she came back too-high from one of those parties. Completely out of it, Giulia prepared a meal before resting but forgot to turn off the stove, almost burning down her apartment. This fiery accident caused her to get exiled. There was no turning back, and even her parents abandoned her, but there was one person who remained by her side. Livia. Traveling together, they ran into a caravan, deciding to travel along the group of traders.