(open) — have you seen a little girl?

[rosae]

<sup>Who: Rose Da Silva / horrormom + you!
What: Catchall — includes general & event prompts.
When: Throughout the month of November.
Where: Various places around Trench, The Tower, etc.

Content Warnings: distressed mothers / themes of missing children / religious themes & imagery / fanatical cultists (from Rose's canon as well as Trench) / event-related warnings in later prompts (sleeper farm, imprisonment, bodies, etc.) / blood</sup>

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MOM ON A MISSION

( Rose Da Silva is somewhere strange and frightening — alien in ways, like some place frozen in a time that's not hers — and her little girl isn't beside her anymore.

Rose has lived this before. And like last time, there's only one single purpose driving her: to find her daughter. The difference is that this time, there are seemingly no clues to follow, no little puzzle pieces left behind. Something within Silent Hill had called to her, guided her through its monsters and nightmares, showed her where to go. Here (wherever here even is; she's heard the name Trench but Rose thinks it must be some extension of that otherworldly place, of Silent Hill) she's all on her own. And so she keeps looking.

Through November, it's what she does: wandering the streets and shops of this place, seeking out information, searching. Like last time, she won't stop. )

^{ooc ➤ Throughout the month, Rose can be stumbled upon just about anywhere throughout Trench. Feel free to wildcard your character encountering her roaming around your district, near your home or business, etc. I've listed some specific scenarios below, but I'm 100% flexible. The titles of each section below link back to the game info about them, for easy reference!}

i. WILLFUL MACHINE
( Rose soon enough finds her way to a hub of activity, stunned by how lively it is in comparison to Silent Hill. No townspeople scrounging through the dust of abandoned buildings for scraps of food, no deadly-quiet spaces in which time seems to hang heavy and tense, before those sirens wail to unleash a nightmare.

It almost seems... like a normal place, here in Willful Machine. The smell of fresh things cooking, the bustle of civilians buying and selling from various stalls and shops. And yet, with that comes a new type of dread in Rose: this place is huge and there are many more people here. It would be much easier for a tiny little girl to stay lost.

Well, she certainly isn't shy about asking questions. You might see her — a well-kept woman in a long tan overcoat and knee-high boots, approaching various stall owners, asking to speak to whomever's in charge. No one really seems able to give her a straight answer on that, but she's not giving up; of course she isn't. Rose keeps looking around, keeps asking. Maybe she winds up at your business, or approaches you on the street as you're browsing. Her questions generally cycle between:

'Excuse me, can you tell me who's in charge around here?'
'Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a little girl? Long, black hair? She's only nine.'
'Hey, do you know where I can get a charger for this? Like an electronics place, or a pharmacy or something?', in which case she'll be holding up the cell phone that's hanging from her neck by a strap. ...This was a Prime Mom Cell Phone in 2006, okay. )

ii. DARCMOUTH
( This place feels more familiar. With its dreary haze, the fog that seems to be a permanent fixture. Like a dream — just on the cusp of becoming a nightmare. Rose makes her way through Trench's fishing district wide-eyed and alert, a perpetual chill down her spine as though in anticipation of some monstrous thing to come crawling out of the fog her way. No monsters come and no siren sounds, but she can't relax, hands shoved into the pockets of her coat, shoulders hunched upwards against the November chill, even more nippy out here by the sea. It bites her cheeks and nose, leaving them flushed red.

She wanders the docks, listening to the deep creak and groan of boats slowly moving up and down in the water, trying to ignore the heavy stench of fish and brine. On occasion she has to tuck her nose into the crook of her elbow, swallowing down a gag. If, for some reason, you are also at the gloomy district, you might see the woman who looks severely out of place yet purposeful — searching nooks and crannies, stepping lightly over a mound of fish entrails to peer into the frosted-over windows of a rundown old warehouse, its entrance locked. She's dragging her nails against a window, and then crouching to find a dusty brick, which she starts hitting the window with — though its glass is extremely thick and doesn't immediately bust. Rose doesn't stop, however, because she is absolutely determined to break in and doesn't seem to have any real concern for who might hear her doing so.

Or maybe you hear her doing something else — shouting, running — after someone, the glint of something large and shiny held in their hand (a locket with the Virgin Mary on the front). Maybe you can help stop the thief from taking off with what is clearly very precious to the woman. Rose is pretty fast, but the person who stole her locket knows the ins and outs of this place, taking turns through alleys, around trade stalls, and she has no way of stopping them. No weapon, no powers; all she can do is run.

Eventually, Rose also finds her way to the shoreline, the place she remembers coming up from. Something here... feels different, somehow; it's some awareness she can't quite explain. As though within her spirit something is stroked so gently that it's barely a touch at all, and something inside of her shudders gently in response. She won't turn away from it, no. Rose slowly makes her way down that soft black sand, eyes narrowed and teary against the sharp sea breeze. By now, she's... tired, and she aches in a way she's beginning to grow used to aching.

She doesn't know how long she walks, but at some point she comes across something lying there where ocean meets shore, waves lapping up against where it's wedged into the sand. The woman slows almost to a halt, feeling as though the breath has been knocked out of her. Then she's approaching the item she already knows she recognises, crouching to gently lift it up out of the sand.

Rose gasps, falling down onto the sand, legs tangled beneath her as something racks through her very frame; it's a reaction that physically hurts. She presses the item to her chest (it's soaked through, cold and limp against her), and wails loudly out to the ocean — a name, Sharon.

If you get close enough to see, you'll realise that what she's holding is a brown teddy bear. )

iii. CRENSHAW
( When she hears about an orphanage in this city, Rose immediately finds her way to it through word of mouth, some desperate hope still remaining in her. It's all she has, that desperation, that hope: the two mingled together into an almost tangible presence up under her sternum.

Her daughter isn't there. She looks for her amongst every single lost child currently inhabiting the orphanage — calling for Sharon and then Alessa — but her little girl isn't there.

She might show up there, though. God, she might. Maybe if someone finds her and brings her somewhere safe... And though Rose can't possibly keep watch every day, she does end up visiting the orphanage very often, perched on the cold stone steps outside of it, the bag that washed ashore with her tucked close to her feet. On her lap, she holds a couple of drawings, and she keeps looking over them — one a cheerful, child's depiction of sunflowers, the other a... much more horrific sight. The woman's frowning deeply as she examines them, brushing the pad of her thumb gently over the crayon art, seeming to be searching for something within. Some hidden clue that maybe she missed.

Beside her, a white dove sits, docile and calm, occasionally fluttering her wings and giving soft sounds as she keeps a look out. )

THE SLEEPER FARM ➤CW: EVENT WARNINGS APPLY; SPECIFICS WILL BE IN SUBJECT HEADERS

( She sees what they do — how they take people, and though Rose doesn't know where that may be or why, she knows she has to follow.

She's trembling to her core as she quickly trails the horrible thing that was maybe once a person into the black hole it creates, but she's faced horrible things before, and she will never back down from facing them again. Not if there's a possibility that her daughter is threatened.

She never sees the attack coming, but it must have caught her in the act. She wouldn't have tried to evade it anyway, wouldn't have tried to escape. She has to end up wherever this thing is taking people; there is no other option for her. And so Rose is knocked out in an instant, a willing captive. )

i. THE STALLS

( When Rose comes to again, it takes her a few long moments to try and pull herself from her thick, stunned haze. She keeps her eyes closed, though her other senses begin to pick up on the things around her, and she knows that she's been taken to a nightmare.

The sounds of machinery whir and thud and grind somewhere not far away; the potent (familiar) smells of oil and must and what she recognises as blood greet her as though she'd never left. Rose slowly peels her eyes open and stares at the room she's currently in — not so much a room at all, but a sort of stall, like what an animal would be contained in. Her heart skips a beat so hard that she gives a shaky, pained sound.

The Darkness, she immediately thinks. What those in Silent Hill had run from, hidden from in their Church, tried to keep at bay with their beliefs. Their faith..... their ugly, twisted, monstrous faith. Their fear, their cruelty. She'd helped destroy them and their Church, watched Alessa rip them apart as they screamed.

But it isn't over, she thinks. Those deformed creatures that take people here... they could be connected to The Brethren, maybe working for them. Some of those cultist people could have survived the massacre back in Silent Hill. They could have taken her Sharon again.

It's then that Rose realises she's not alone in the stall. There's someone else — and she calls out to you, her wrists bound together behind her back, shackled. Fuck, if that's not familiar, too. )

Hey! Hey, you awake?

ii. STORAGE

( Or maybe you encounter her after you've escaped from your holding pen and are making your way through the industrial, bleeding labyrinth. By then, Rose has gotten out of her own shackles and grabbed a large wrench she found lying around, holding it to her chest. There's some blood smeared across her jumpsuit and staining the soft blonde of her hair, smudged against a cheek; it's not her own blood, but she's been exploring and brushed across a hanging body or two (or three or four, it's endless, the mutilated bodies in this horrible place are endless.)

If you've had the misfortune of being hung up and are clearly alive, Rose will rush over to you; she'll help you, won't leave you behind. Or maybe you're safely on the ground and happen across the woman exploring one of the countless rooms. Quiet and barefoot, tracking blood-stained footprints across the cold ground, Rose doesn't seem to be searching for a way out. No, she's not trying to escape. Not just yet. First, she has to see if Sharon is here and she's not fucking leaving until she searches every single room.

So she explores dark storage spaces filled with tools or piles of bodies in bags, the wrench held tightly in her hands. She's afraid, of course she's afraid, but something other than fear is what drives her. She's done this before, not so long ago at all; she'd gotten her daughter back no matter what it took. At the time, it felt like it took everything, every single thing, but oh— there's more left in her; she feels it now, a certain anger she's grown to rely on rising up from the well deep within her. And she'll use it to protect anyone who needs protecting, and to kill whatever stands in her way now. )

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WILDCARD / ETC

^{ooc ➤ Hit me up on plurk (skeletals) / discord (large bat#2354) / pm / Rose's plot post
Respond in prose if that's your preference, and I'll gladly follow suit!}

Comments

[rosae]

( Rose can't help feeling defeated as she sits there in the black sand, holding her daughter's soaked teddy bear to her chest. Maybe it should be giving her a fresh hope — it could be a sign, after all, that Sharon really is here — but in the moment, it just feels like a reminder of what she's lost. And losing the locket... it's a deep, deep ache.

It has a photo of her little girl inside. It's the only way Rose has to see her face, her child's sweet smile. She hasn't entirely given up on looking for it, maybe she can ask around later, but.... right now, she's too tired. Too exhausted. She wants to give up.

Then Rose hears a voice and looks up, startled. It's..... a child, and some sort of animal. The woman stares, tear-glazed eyes wide. For a moment, none of this seems real.

The little girl... has her locket, holds it out to her. Rose gasps quietly, hardly daring to believe it. How....? Carefully, she reaches for it, drawing it to herself. )

Thank you. ( She almost whispers, voice soft, stunned. ) You... got it back from him? All by yourself?

( Concern immediately drips into her tone, brow furrowed deeply. )

[sparkknight]

[Oh no. The lady looks like she was crying. The locket must have been SUPER important to her. She wonders if the locket is like Klee's Dodoco that her Mom made. Well, she even much more glad to have gotten it back. Though, maybe she should have found a way to make sure the bad man was put somewhere to think on the bad things he did.

Klee nod before pointing to Dodoco whose paw pops out from her fur to wave at Rose ]

Uhuh. Dodoco helped a lot. Klee got your locket back after Dodoco sat on the bad man. Um, are you okay? You looked really sad The locket must be super important right?

[rosae]

( Rose blinks widely at the creature that seems to go beyond clever, seemingly quite sentient. She offers a little smile, before looking back up at the girl. Slowly, she lifts the locked up, opening it to reveal a photo of a little girl inside.

With long dark hair and eyes that are a much darker blue than Rose's, the child doesn't resemble the woman much at all. She holds it up so that Klee can see. )

It is, very important. This is the only photo of my daughter that I have. ( Her smile turns sad, eyes still glazed with tears. )

I can't find her. I've looked and looked all over, but.... ( The woman draws a shuddery breath. ) Thank you so much for getting this back for me. I... hope you weren't in any danger.

[sparkknight]

[Klee looks at the little girl in the locket. Oh this is her daughter. No wonder they lady was so sad that it was taken. She knows the feeling of someone wanting to take something from you like when she though DodoKing would take Dodoco away. ]

She's really pretty miss. You must love her a lot to have her picture with you always! But maybe she's safe, but not here.

[She shakes her head before pointing to Dodoco and turning around to show off a glass ornament that shines red like fire]

It's okay! Klee has Dodoco and my Visionm I can blast any bad guys away! Klee only has permission to use my Jumpty Dumpties out in the open or I'm super big emergencies.

[rosae]

( It's strange, but Rose isn't sure which idea frightens her more. That Sharon is or isn't here. If she isn't here.... then Rose has no idea what to do. She hopes her little girl is safe, god she does, but.... if she's not here then how can Rose find her again? Protect her? That's her role.

But she's watching the other little girl, eyebrows lifting at the display. She definitely doesn't understand all of those words, but she can put two and two together. Her eyes widen a little at the girl — Klee? Is that her name? — and she feels a flicker of worry. Not a fear of the girl, but... for her. She literally just came from a place where her own daughter was targeted, called a demon, a witch. She can't help worrying about this little girl, too. )

You have.... powers?

[sparkknight]

[Klee nods before she concentrates and makes a little flower that look that made out of a laser like light. Soon she raises the little flower and out shoot a beam of light that scorches the ground with a small blast. She doesn't look at all unhappy as she shows it off before she lets the little glowing flower disappear]

Klee can do that! I got Pyro Vision just like Mom. Lord Barbatos gave it to me because Klee was brave. I can do lots of other stuff too. But others can do amazing things with their Pyro powers.

I heard that there's a lady that uses her to make THE BEST fireworks. My big brother has Geo powers. His flower can lift Klee up high. Mr. Diluc can make a fire bird with his powers. It's really amazing!

[rosae]

( Rose gives a soft gasp at the display — a flower made of bright light, shining in the dismal foggy gloom of the shoreline. Then the flower's shooting a beam that burns into the ground, and Rose's eyes widen further. Just who... what is this little girl? )

So this is... normal, where you come from? Everyone has powers, like you do?

( Her voice remains soft as she addresses Klee, trying not to seem too affected by what she's just witnessed. It would be a lie to say she's not a bit unsettled by it, but her main concern here is this child. And Rose isn't sure whether people around here might target her for having powers, the way the people in Silent Hill had targeted Alessa. )

You don't have to hide your powers?

[sparkknight]

[Klee nods. Living in Mondstat, she knows that there are only a few Vision users, but other people can do amazing things without them. To her, ]

Well, not everyone. Klee knows not everyone gets Visions because your super special if you can get on. But I know lots of people can use magic even without Visions like alchemistd, witches and science people! Miss Lisa could use magic before she got a Vision! Umm, Vision are supposed to make your magic stronger.

[Klee thinks about that question since she hasn't heard of people hiding their Vision except that one place. Before she shakes her head]

No, it's okay to have a Vision or magic. Umm, sometimes there are people who are mean to people with Visions, but Klee hasn't ever met one.

[rosae]

( Rose's eyes immediately widen just a bit further at one of those words, and she can't help leaning forwards a little, the drenched bear still clasped firmly against her chest. )

Witches? There are witches in your world?

( Visions, magic.... This is clearly some kind of norm for this little girl's existence. But the word witch definitely stands out. It's what those people in Silent Hill had called her daughter, amongst other terms... Demon, witch.... )

My little girl... I think she had some kind of powers, too. I never knew about it, because it was... kept hidden. But there were bad people after her. They called her witch... they wanted to hurt her.

...I think you should be careful showing your powers to people around here. Someone bad could see you, could try to hurt you.