video | un: Da Silva

[rosae]

( The feed opens to a woman who's clearly seen better days, hair a mess of disheveled layers and eyes circled in dark. Fellow Warmbloods might be able to relate to the way she moves — as though hardly daring to, even the most subtle shifts of her body resulting in little stabs of pain.

Despite the wince that flinches across her features as she settles back against a nest of pillows, the woman offers a quiet laugh. )

This is probably the worst time to show my face on here, huh. But I hope the rest of you who have this flu, or whatever it is, are taking care.

Anyway, since all I can really do is sit here... ( —a wry little smile; it's been weeks and she's still not too thrilled about being home-bound— ) ...it's been giving me a lot of time to think.

( She reaches very slowly for something that was just off-screen, drawing it gingerly into her lap. It's a brown teddy bear. )

This is something from my home that ended up here with me. It's my daughter's. When she was little, she had a very hard time with sleep. ( An understatement to be sure; the progressively dangerous sleepwalking spells are what she now knows were supernatural callings to her daughter's fractured soul. But Rose won't divulge that quite so openly. )

This guy brought her comfort, so in turn, he brought me comfort, too. ( She can't quite hold the stuffed animal to her chest the way she wants to, not with physical contact being as painful as it is, but one arm dares to loosely curl a bit closer around it, protective. )

Do you have anything here with you, from your home? If you don't mind sharing, what does it mean to you? This sick old lady would love to hear your stories.

Comments

[unphase]

[she really likes Sharon, hopes to become her friend. Tinya's like a sunflower if the sun were friendships. without friends, she withered. that was why it was such a relief to be here, rather than the other world. she'd lost too much there]

Is it...I've heard rumors. Rumors about warmbloods being in pain this month. Is it that or--or something else. Please tell me to stuff it if it's too personal.

She did. [Tinya nodded] There was a house on fire. It seemed like there were people inside it, screaming for help. I'm a coldblood, so fire can't do anything to me, so I wanted to at least try to find someone. But the more I looked, the weaker I felt.

Your daughter went into the house to get me before the worst could have happened.

[rosae]

( Rose can't help grinning at that, tickled. )

No, it's perfectly all right. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Which kiiiind of gives me hope that it might be ending, soon? Things seem to change on a monthly basis around here, don't they...?

( Hopefully as the month ends, so will this illness. Of course, that just makes room for whatever new horrors the new month will bring. )

She... did? ( Rose's eyes are widening, and her voice softens to a hushed whisper. She knows all too well of her daughter's horrendous experience with fire. Rose can never forget that anguish, still has nightmares about it regularly. To hear that she went into a burning home to help others... Her heart swells with ache, but also pride. )

I'm so glad you're both all right. That sounds.... god. Like a nightmare. ( She'll absolutely need to check in with Sharon and see how she is. Even if they'd survived the ordeal, it surely must have been traumatising. And with that thought in mind, she hesitates, peering worriedly at the girl. )

...Are you all right?

[unphase]

[she's used to being told to not be so nosy. but it was out of concern, not some...awful motive]

They do. And it's impossible to tell what's going to happen until it does. At least it's not as bad as the other place.

[she wasn't sure if she was looking forward to April. her birthday was in April, she'd be turning nineteen but with the life experiences of technically three lives lived to sort out]

Yes. [from Rose's reaction, it seemed like that was even braver than Tinya had initially given it credit for. she'd been terrified, but she hadn't wanted to make it all about her. that was her usual tactic, plaster on a smile and pretend that everything was okay, really]

...it was. The screaming never stopped. And there were these--these shadows in the room. At least that's what it looked like. [Tinya looked away from the camera for a moment, reining in her own reactions]

Me? I'm fine! [she is not fine]

[rosae]

Were you brought somewhere else strange, before Trench? Or do you mean as bad as where you come from, originally? ( Rose wonders, not meaning to pry: her curiosity is a soft, gentle one. Concerned, more than anything.

That concern only grows as she listens to the girl continue to speak. Rose has lived through a few harrowing experiences in this place and she knows how horrible, how cruel it can be. That doesn't make it any easier, though. It just makes the feeling of ache and dread worse. She's so glad that Sharon is here with her, but sometimes she wonders if it was selfish of her to so desperately wish for her daughter to come to this place, with all of its horrors. )

Shadows....? ( Her eyes widen again, imagination running wild with what the girls might have encountered in that place. )

It's all right if you aren't. Fine, I mean. ( Rose offers gently. She won't claim to be a mind-reader, but she can see the girl struggling a bit. ) It sounds like a horrible thing to live through. I think I'd have nightmares for a week. ...Probably longer. ( She gives a soft chuckle, though her brow is knit. )

....I know this place can be very cruel in what it makes people live through.

(CW: coerced sex, underage)

[unphase]

I was somewhere else. It was mostly a nightmare, one I spent entirely too long in. [she sounds firm. there were many people she missed from it, but the rest could go to the Void.

she'd rather take physical danger tinged with emotional danger than have to constantly worry about sex. whether or not she was appealing, whether or not she'd find partners, if she was even welcome. it was hard being the youngest person there and she'd found little sympathy for the fact]

That's--that's the best way I can think of to describe them. Yes. Is that...common? [she doesn't know. she's gaining on her third month, but it still means three months away from her estranged husband and sick child.

and Tinya's eyes grow huge. she's not used to being the one worried over, she's always been the one to do the worrying, carrying everyone else's emotional burden while repressing her own. both in the other world and back home.

it's on the tip of her tongue to give another denial, but. her own mother had been cold, forbidding, and prone to using her beautiful, friendly daughter as a spy, whether Tinya wanted to do it or not] .....I. Um. I'm not. Entirely. It's just. The screaming.

[she takes deep breath, puts the omni into private mode and takes the plunge] I--I died once. Burned to death.

[rosae]

( Rose's expression turns grim at that. She's bumped into a few other people here who were brought somewhere else before Trench. She was, too. )

Truthfully, I'm not sure. I've seen plenty of strange things here, but not so much about shadows. I wouldn't be surprised if that's some common occurrence in this place, though. ( Her lips press together tightly for a moment, thinking deeply about it. Before the girl continues, and Rose is staring at her, her eyes slowly widening.

Burned to death.

Yes, that's.... familiar. So familiar that it almost cripples her for a moment, like she's lost the capability to move her body. Rose sits there, and then finally releases a soft, shaky exhale. But there's a clear horror in her eyes, suddenly glossy as though with emotion, with memory. Very slowly, she turns her own feed to private, too. )

Did.... did someone do that to you? Or was it an accident...?

( She ventures so carefully, with a trembling voice, and she hates asking at all. Hates making this poor girl have to think about such a horrible thing any more than she has to. But Rose is... thinking that this possibly has a connection to her own daughter. What if this poor girl was a victim of the Brethren, too? Or something similar? She doesn't know how intricate the threads might be woven, here. But she means to find out. )