(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>

---

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. )

---

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

lol no worries, what a delight

[wannasmash]

Midoriya keeps trying to reach the power of his Quirk, just in case he can save himself another broken thumb. It won't come, but of course he expected this.

"It's OK... Rose-san, it's working... Everything will be fine..." He can't speak too loudly, so his voice is low and guttural with determination instead. "We're getting out of here, and I'm going to save you!"

He takes his time marking his target again with his foot, not out of reluctance, but to make sure he gets it right. He can't afford to lose more than he absolutely must. He smashes his other thumb without hesitation, clamping his teeth on another grunt of pain. The injury heightens the fight in him, brows furrowing over wild eyes. He uses the unharmed fingers of his first hand to guide the second out of its shackle.

He stands, catching his breath and steadying his feet. He recalls the first day of school, when his teacher threatened to expel him because he was about to incapacitate himself. Midoriya put his unwieldy power into just his fingertip, hurting himself far less than he did in the entrance exam. Looking at his teacher proudly, he said, I... can still move.

Feet planted firmly under him, remembering part of his humble origins, Midoriya feels like he did in that moment--in pain, yes, but invincible.

"I'm going to find something to free you. I'll be right back. Scream if they come. I won't let anything happen to you."

[rosae]

Maybe it would be better if she could find a numbness through this. Some unfeeling emptiness. Some days she thinks she's close to that state — but it never lingers. It can't. Upset comes pouring back in about Sharon, about what the little girl had been through in her previous life, the reality of her situation. About the loss of her now. It's that upset that fuels Rose, pushes her harder and harder.

Maybe it'd be easier if she could feel numb about this, but she won't; she can't. Instead, she feels a pain so intense that it makes her sick, and she feels like she's going to be ill, moaning as the boy breaks his other thumb. She's sobbing by this point, almost like a child herself; the tears seem endless.

As he frees himself and stands, her head stays bowed, feeling too heavy to lift, but her eyes look upwards to him. With horror and sorrow and apology — he should never have had to do that. And even if it would have been virtually impossible for her to protect him through all of that, a deep, intense guilt sears through the woman's core. A child, maimed in front of her very eyes. She swore she'd never let that happen again.

"Don't— don't go—" Alarm rises in her as he says he's leaving, but it's weak and breathless and she gives in almost as soon as she says it, falling silent again in favour of her own quiet sobs. Even now, all she can do is stay here and wait for this poor boy to rescue her; he's still protecting her. Rose closes her eyes and cries as she waits, legs curled feebly under herself, body feeling limp. It's almost too much to take...... but she still hangs on, because there still is the thought that she can try to help him after he returns. Try to..... help his hands, as much as she can.

[wannasmash]

His brave face falters a little. Her crying hurts him in his chest, twists it up with an ache like the one in his hands. He can't just brush it off, even if he's in a hurry for both their sakes. Without hesitation, he crouches next to her.

"It'll be OK. Please, remember to breathe," he whispers, trying to keep his voice low and measured. This was the part of the Provisional License exam he did worst at, calming a mock victim down. But he's learned a few things in the field since that day. "I know it seems bad, but we're going to make it. I'm just going to find a key. It wouldn't make sense not to have one nearby. I'll be right back."

He's up and reaching over the stall door (like ones in a farm to keep animals), finding the latch with his remaining good fingers. Thankfully it's a simple one. but it takes effort to lift it carefully without the metal making too much noise. His thumbs throb angrily, making it hard to concentrate. He's gone with a soft padding of bare feet.

Less than a minute later, he's hurrying back to Rose's side with a key clutched between the good fingers of his right hand and two pencils in his left. He drops to his knees and struggles, for too long he thinks, to turn the key in the lock.

[rosae]

It's wrong, it's wrong, he's leaning close to her and trying to reassure her, and she can't do anything in the immediate moment for this poor boy..... Rose can only nod, trying to say something but her voice cracks, splits apart, and then she watches as he moves off, doesn't take her eyes off of him until he manages to escape the stall after some finagling, slipping away.

The woman sits there sobbing quietly to herself for those few moments until the boy returns — with a key, and pencils, and she doesn't stop to think about what those are meant for, still too filled up with horror and ache for him. She tries to be as still as possible as he works the key into her cuffs, but her own hands are still trembling uncontrollably.

Finally, when he manages and she feels the cuffs loosen, split open, Rose gasps aloud and immediately turns to him. There's a desperation as she reaches forwards, hands finally free, finally capable of reaching for him.... but she hesitates when her fingertips are an inch or two away, not wanting to grab him, hurt him more....

"Let me— see—" she gasps softly, holding her hands out, palms up. The need to assess and try to help him overwhelms everything within her. Even the need to escape.

[wannasmash]

"I'm sorry I took so long."

It wasn't long, but every moment in danger stretches painfully. He almost reaches for her too, thinking she needs to be held for a moment, he a hero and she a person needing rescue. Just as he remembers he's in no shape to, her gesture strikes him as so much like his mom, who cried profusely when he was hurt...

He nods, not meeting her eye. He can't.

First, he takes the upper part of his left sleeve with his teeth and tries to tear it from the jumpsuit at the shoulder. His hands aren't touching anything, but every movement screams pain.

"I need you to divide this and make splints," he says, voice muffled around the fabric. The pencils are explained. "The Lumenarium has Blood Ministers who can heal with magic, but I've got to give them enough to work with and avoid permanent damage."

He remembers his friend splinting his arms in the forest. He was running on pure adrenaline then, but she judged it necessary to quickly do it. She helped him go on for just a little longer before he collapsed. Midoriya refused to collapse today.

[rosae]

Rose doesn't dare physically take his hands, just keeps her own cupped gently in the air as she moves closer to look down at his fingers for a few moments. He needs a doctor, is her desperate thought, but it's one that's squashed immediately by their circumstances, by the smell of stale hay and and moldy wooden floors, by the reminder that they're somewhere cruel and horrible. There is no hospital to take him to, no medicine to ease the pain, no one to help her with this poor child.

And then Deku's working again, trying to tear the fabric of his clothing with his teeth, and Rose gasps quietly, giving her head a quick jerk. "Don't— Let me—" Her shaking hands lift up to his shoulder, but then move right back away as she begins to rip pieces of her own jumpsuit instead. She rips long shreds from the legs of them, understanding what he's saying. Splints. God, how did he even... know how to do that?

She can't hesitate. Rose nods again, still giving soft gasps around her tears, and leans in close to him, holding up the strips she's managed to tear loose. "O-okay. I can do that. I know how. Took a first aid course when my daughter was little."

It's almost a rambling thought, but also maybe something to give him a bit of distraction, words he can listen to through the pain. And Rose slowly starts to work, reaching ever so gently for one of his hands. She barely touches, fingers only softly grasping his palm and the top of his hand, and begins to use a pencil to splint his thumb.

"I was... terrified something would happen to her. There's so much stuff kids can get into, you know? So much that can happen." She sniffles wetly as she tightens the fabric; she has to make it a firm hold, but she knows this is hurting him.

"So I thought— a course would help. I was the only new mom."

[wannasmash]

He'd be a terrible hero-in-training if he didn't also learn basic first aid. It's all part of UA's comprehensive hero course.

"That's good... I don't need to explain... You're really helping me so much, thank you."

Midoriya wants to ask her more about her daughter, like how old she is or if she's in school, just to keep Rose grounded. But it's a struggle to speak through the pain as Rose tends to his hands. So he just listens, occasionally jerking his head in a nod.

She has a daughter. Of course she's worried. This is like her worst nightmare then. I'm sorry... I'm sorry... He winces and sucks in his lower lip to keep himself from making too much noise. His thumbs are useless at this point, so he knows they need to be bound to the sides of his palms. He'll just have to make do with the rest of his fingers. Better still, not use his hands at all.

When she's done, he wipes his face on his sleeve. It makes sense he can't stop sweating, given his injuries and their situation. Thanks to Rose, already he feels like moving his arms will cause less agony. And now, a bit dangerously... he's getting used to the pain. It will be his constant companion until he can get to the hospital. He hopes Rose will be with him as well.

"Is your daughter in this world?" His voice is steadier now. He takes a breath and rises. Unspoken, he's asking, Is she here?