![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Maria App -- Lab of Nature
Dec. 3rd, 2024 07:20 am[CW: Murder, terminal illness, death, depression, suicide & identity crises.]
OOC INFORMATION
Name: Clari
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
awakened or PM
Permissions: Here
Age: 38
Other characters?: Dee Reynolds | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Who Invited you?: Already in the game
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Maria
Assigned Nickname: The Dreamgirl
Age: Unclear. She appears and acts like a woman in her 20s, but as she is the product of James Sunderland's desires, she is only a day or two old.
Canon: Silent Hill 2
Canon point: Post-game, In-Water Ending
Character Information: HERE
Personality: When we first meet Maria in Silent Hill 2, the most obvious thing about her is that she looks exactly like James's deceased wife, Mary, who had come down with a debilitating illness that left her bedridden. According to James, only Maria's hair and clothes are different, but there are other differences too, that are evident in Maria's personality. For starters, she is flirtatious and more sexually extroverted than Mary. The game doesn't outright state this, but it is heavily implied by the way James reacts to her. For example, when they first meet, Maria grabs James's hand and tells him to 'feel how warm she is.' James pulls away in shock and comments that she really isn't Mary, implying that Mary would have been more conservative in her interactions with him. Furthermore, Mary wears clothes that are very conservative, whereas Maria does not. She speaks in a sexually suggestive, seductive manner toward James when he finds her in the prison cell, and she also acts like this when she grows weary and needs to rest in the hospital. She plays on her resemblance to Mary to try and convince him to let her tag along with him, in a way that seems manipulative. And her manipulation of James only gets worse as time passes.
The truth is that Maria is a creation of James's mind and a manifestation of the town of Silent Hill. She is not a real person and exists to both help remind James of how he murdered Mary and to tempt him away from her. She is a delusion and, according to the book of lost memories, exists because James can't face his crime on his own. She is, in her own way, a reminder of what James did to Mary, a manifestation of his guilt, and a product of James's desire to see Mary again. She flirts with and tries to seduce James because her role is to tempt and (indirectly) punish him for his sins. If James accepts Maria, it means he's forgotten about Mary and hasn't atoned for his sins. It means he becomes further wrapped up in his own delusions, and it means he isn't worthy of redemption. This is evident if players get the "Maria ending." The Maria ending shows James leaving Silent Hill with Maria. In this ending, Maria begins to cough -- just like Mary when the illness began to take hold of her. James comments that Maria should do something about it. This ending shows a James who has been tempted away from Mary, and who is most likely doomed to repeat history with Maria. Maria and the town will punish him, in this scenario, by putting him through the same suffering and heartache he'd endured watching the sickness take Mary. The title of Maria's side scenario, Born From a Wish, also heavily implies that Maria is a creation of James's desires and wants. The illness stole Mary's vibrancy and turned her into someone who was bitter and resentful, and James wants that vibrant version of Mary back. Silent Hill games are largely up to interpretation, but it is possible that Maria represents what Mary wanted to be for James too. Mary expresses frustration and anger over the disease that has ravaged her. She states that she feels pathetic and ugly, and Maria is a "more attractive" version of herself. So not only is Maria born from James's wish, but it's entirely possible that she's born from Mary's wish too.
She openly flirts with James, and occasionally teases him. When they first meet and James states that the Lakeview Hotel was his and Mary's special place, Maria teases him about it and then tells him that she was just joking when he reacts negatively. When James can't open a fridge at the hospital and asks Maria to help, she teases him because he's "supposed to be the big man around here." She can also be cruel and insensitive toward James, saying and doing things that cut a little too close to the bone or lack consideration. For example, when they first meet, she suggests that James may have hated Mary. And when James seems more concerned about finding Mary than he is over Maria's wellbeing, she bites at him, and states that "all he cares about is that dead wife of his."
Maria demonstrates a clingy nature. She doesn't react well to being abandoned, begging James not to leave her alone. She berates James for walking away from her when they first meet because the town is full of monsters and there's no one around. Maria doesn't want to be alone or left fending for herself. She fully expects James to look after and take care of her, and when he fails to do that, she grows angry, jealous, and fearful. She acts similarly in the Born From A Wish scenario, when interacting with Ernest. Ernest states that he wants to be left alone, but Maria refuses to do so because she wants to see another human face. She doesn't want to be left alone, she's afraid of being hurt, and she will do whatever she feels she needs to in order to be with another person. She puts her own comfort above others, but a lot of this is motivated by the aforementioned fear of being alone. Maria demonstrates, on multiple occasions, a fear of abandonment and a fear of not being seen as real. Maria feels a need to remind James that she's real throughout the game, even if James doesn't appear to be questioning it. She wants to be seen and doesn't want to be left behind. She lashes out if she feels someone doesn't care about her enough, because once again, she's afraid of being left out in the cold. Mary states in her letter to James that she's wrapped up in a cocoon of pain and loneliness, which slowly wore her down. Mary experienced pain and loneliness, so Maria -- a being that is born from James's delusions -- possesses an inherent fear of those things.
At the end of the game, when Maria sees that James won't give up on Mary, she demonstrates her fear of abandonment and her clinginess once again, insisting that she's what he wanted and that she's different than Mary. She grows angry when she feels rejected by James, transforming into a monster and attempting to kill him once she realizes she's lost and she can't tempt James away from his wife. Her anger toward James is one instance of her unpredictable, often moody, and jealous behavior. Another example of her moodiness is in the hospital, when she doesn't like James mistaking her for Mary, and quickly shifts from relief to full-blown anger at his (admittedly lackluster) response to her finding him again after they were separated. In this particular scene, she then proceeds to shift from anger to fear and clinginess once again, yelling at him and then insisting that he's supposed to take care of her. It is said that Mary became bitter and moody in the hospital when she was sick, so it is likely that Maria's own moodiness represents this aspect of Mary.
This brings me to Maria's identity crisis. Maria is a deeply conflicted person because she knows she exists to torment and punish James. She slowly comes to understand her purpose during Born From a Wish, and when she realizes that her only purpose is to exist as a tool to torment James and test his worthiness, she contemplates suicide, but decides to go forward and do exactly what she was created to do. She can't exist without James, being a product of his mind, and this is the reason for a lot of her behavior toward him. James is her entire reason for being. Without him, she ceases to exist, and so she wants him to accept and care for her. And yet, she is also seen struggling to accept that she is a tool that exists solely to punish and test one man.
Maria's protective side comes out when she and James try to find Laura during the main scenario. Maria is very determined to find her and shows a high level of concern toward the girl. Mary was close to Laura, so Maria feels the same level of protectiveness toward her despite having never met her. Maria also demonstrates a level of thoughtfulness by considering Laura's feelings and well-being. She also shows concern when James hurts himself with a bent needle in the hospital, and she tries to connect with Ernest because she seems genuinely concerned over his wanting to be alone during Born From a Wish. Maria can also be quite inquisitive, pushy, and determined. She demonstrates this in Born From a Wish. When she finds Ernest, she pushes him to answer her questions. When he asks her if it's really necessary for him to answer her tedious questions, she answers with a confident 'yes,' and isn't deterred by his attitude toward her at all. She proceeds to investigate the Baldwin mansion and starts questioning him about Amy Baldwin when she finds the girl's letter. When something strange happens (and that's common in a place like Silent Hill), Maria asks questions and shows a desire to understand the situation.
Again, Maria isn't Mary but she appears to possess fragments of Mary's memories and traits and, in the prison cell scene, almost seems possessed by her. This is where she begins to fully lean into her role as punisher, using Mary's memories to confuse, manipulate and torment James. We see more of Maria's ability to be cruel in the way she acts during this scene, confusing and tormenting him by appearing as a being that is both Mary and Maria at the same time. She brings up their time at the hotel and makes it sound like James is speaking to Mary. Then she coldly states that she's not his Mary, and proceeds to speak to James in a vague, confusing manner, playing on his guilt, desperation, and heartache. The way she proceeds to speak to James in a sexually suggestive manner is a part of her role in James's story as well. The player can see her trying to tempt him away from Mary, trying to make him forget about her so he'll fail to redeem himself and become doomed to repeat history.
In summary, Maria is a complex being. She isn't a real person, but merely a creature born from a wish, and given form in order to help one man find -- or fail to find -- redemption. She is her own person in many ways, with her own fears and concerns as seen in Born From a Wish, but she's also influenced by the memories and emotions of a dead woman. She's capable of being a protective, thoughtful, and curious person, but she can be cruel and manipulative too. She's a tool created by the town of Silent Hill to punish and torment, but she also wants to be loved and is afraid of being abandoned and alone. She wants James to love her and take care of her, and she wants him to forget Mary and accept her. She uses Mary's memories and experiences against James but wants to be seen as her own person as well, and is thus a very conflicted and complicated being.
Roommates?: One or two would be fine!
Triggers/sensitive topics you'd like to avoid?: Graphic eye gore/trauma, needles, nail trauma
RP SAMPLES: One
Two
Three
OOC INFORMATION
Name: Clari
Contact:
Permissions: Here
Age: 38
Other characters?: Dee Reynolds | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Who Invited you?: Already in the game
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Maria
Assigned Nickname: The Dreamgirl
Age: Unclear. She appears and acts like a woman in her 20s, but as she is the product of James Sunderland's desires, she is only a day or two old.
Canon: Silent Hill 2
Canon point: Post-game, In-Water Ending
Character Information: HERE
Personality: When we first meet Maria in Silent Hill 2, the most obvious thing about her is that she looks exactly like James's deceased wife, Mary, who had come down with a debilitating illness that left her bedridden. According to James, only Maria's hair and clothes are different, but there are other differences too, that are evident in Maria's personality. For starters, she is flirtatious and more sexually extroverted than Mary. The game doesn't outright state this, but it is heavily implied by the way James reacts to her. For example, when they first meet, Maria grabs James's hand and tells him to 'feel how warm she is.' James pulls away in shock and comments that she really isn't Mary, implying that Mary would have been more conservative in her interactions with him. Furthermore, Mary wears clothes that are very conservative, whereas Maria does not. She speaks in a sexually suggestive, seductive manner toward James when he finds her in the prison cell, and she also acts like this when she grows weary and needs to rest in the hospital. She plays on her resemblance to Mary to try and convince him to let her tag along with him, in a way that seems manipulative. And her manipulation of James only gets worse as time passes.
The truth is that Maria is a creation of James's mind and a manifestation of the town of Silent Hill. She is not a real person and exists to both help remind James of how he murdered Mary and to tempt him away from her. She is a delusion and, according to the book of lost memories, exists because James can't face his crime on his own. She is, in her own way, a reminder of what James did to Mary, a manifestation of his guilt, and a product of James's desire to see Mary again. She flirts with and tries to seduce James because her role is to tempt and (indirectly) punish him for his sins. If James accepts Maria, it means he's forgotten about Mary and hasn't atoned for his sins. It means he becomes further wrapped up in his own delusions, and it means he isn't worthy of redemption. This is evident if players get the "Maria ending." The Maria ending shows James leaving Silent Hill with Maria. In this ending, Maria begins to cough -- just like Mary when the illness began to take hold of her. James comments that Maria should do something about it. This ending shows a James who has been tempted away from Mary, and who is most likely doomed to repeat history with Maria. Maria and the town will punish him, in this scenario, by putting him through the same suffering and heartache he'd endured watching the sickness take Mary. The title of Maria's side scenario, Born From a Wish, also heavily implies that Maria is a creation of James's desires and wants. The illness stole Mary's vibrancy and turned her into someone who was bitter and resentful, and James wants that vibrant version of Mary back. Silent Hill games are largely up to interpretation, but it is possible that Maria represents what Mary wanted to be for James too. Mary expresses frustration and anger over the disease that has ravaged her. She states that she feels pathetic and ugly, and Maria is a "more attractive" version of herself. So not only is Maria born from James's wish, but it's entirely possible that she's born from Mary's wish too.
She openly flirts with James, and occasionally teases him. When they first meet and James states that the Lakeview Hotel was his and Mary's special place, Maria teases him about it and then tells him that she was just joking when he reacts negatively. When James can't open a fridge at the hospital and asks Maria to help, she teases him because he's "supposed to be the big man around here." She can also be cruel and insensitive toward James, saying and doing things that cut a little too close to the bone or lack consideration. For example, when they first meet, she suggests that James may have hated Mary. And when James seems more concerned about finding Mary than he is over Maria's wellbeing, she bites at him, and states that "all he cares about is that dead wife of his."
Maria demonstrates a clingy nature. She doesn't react well to being abandoned, begging James not to leave her alone. She berates James for walking away from her when they first meet because the town is full of monsters and there's no one around. Maria doesn't want to be alone or left fending for herself. She fully expects James to look after and take care of her, and when he fails to do that, she grows angry, jealous, and fearful. She acts similarly in the Born From A Wish scenario, when interacting with Ernest. Ernest states that he wants to be left alone, but Maria refuses to do so because she wants to see another human face. She doesn't want to be left alone, she's afraid of being hurt, and she will do whatever she feels she needs to in order to be with another person. She puts her own comfort above others, but a lot of this is motivated by the aforementioned fear of being alone. Maria demonstrates, on multiple occasions, a fear of abandonment and a fear of not being seen as real. Maria feels a need to remind James that she's real throughout the game, even if James doesn't appear to be questioning it. She wants to be seen and doesn't want to be left behind. She lashes out if she feels someone doesn't care about her enough, because once again, she's afraid of being left out in the cold. Mary states in her letter to James that she's wrapped up in a cocoon of pain and loneliness, which slowly wore her down. Mary experienced pain and loneliness, so Maria -- a being that is born from James's delusions -- possesses an inherent fear of those things.
At the end of the game, when Maria sees that James won't give up on Mary, she demonstrates her fear of abandonment and her clinginess once again, insisting that she's what he wanted and that she's different than Mary. She grows angry when she feels rejected by James, transforming into a monster and attempting to kill him once she realizes she's lost and she can't tempt James away from his wife. Her anger toward James is one instance of her unpredictable, often moody, and jealous behavior. Another example of her moodiness is in the hospital, when she doesn't like James mistaking her for Mary, and quickly shifts from relief to full-blown anger at his (admittedly lackluster) response to her finding him again after they were separated. In this particular scene, she then proceeds to shift from anger to fear and clinginess once again, yelling at him and then insisting that he's supposed to take care of her. It is said that Mary became bitter and moody in the hospital when she was sick, so it is likely that Maria's own moodiness represents this aspect of Mary.
This brings me to Maria's identity crisis. Maria is a deeply conflicted person because she knows she exists to torment and punish James. She slowly comes to understand her purpose during Born From a Wish, and when she realizes that her only purpose is to exist as a tool to torment James and test his worthiness, she contemplates suicide, but decides to go forward and do exactly what she was created to do. She can't exist without James, being a product of his mind, and this is the reason for a lot of her behavior toward him. James is her entire reason for being. Without him, she ceases to exist, and so she wants him to accept and care for her. And yet, she is also seen struggling to accept that she is a tool that exists solely to punish and test one man.
Maria's protective side comes out when she and James try to find Laura during the main scenario. Maria is very determined to find her and shows a high level of concern toward the girl. Mary was close to Laura, so Maria feels the same level of protectiveness toward her despite having never met her. Maria also demonstrates a level of thoughtfulness by considering Laura's feelings and well-being. She also shows concern when James hurts himself with a bent needle in the hospital, and she tries to connect with Ernest because she seems genuinely concerned over his wanting to be alone during Born From a Wish. Maria can also be quite inquisitive, pushy, and determined. She demonstrates this in Born From a Wish. When she finds Ernest, she pushes him to answer her questions. When he asks her if it's really necessary for him to answer her tedious questions, she answers with a confident 'yes,' and isn't deterred by his attitude toward her at all. She proceeds to investigate the Baldwin mansion and starts questioning him about Amy Baldwin when she finds the girl's letter. When something strange happens (and that's common in a place like Silent Hill), Maria asks questions and shows a desire to understand the situation.
Again, Maria isn't Mary but she appears to possess fragments of Mary's memories and traits and, in the prison cell scene, almost seems possessed by her. This is where she begins to fully lean into her role as punisher, using Mary's memories to confuse, manipulate and torment James. We see more of Maria's ability to be cruel in the way she acts during this scene, confusing and tormenting him by appearing as a being that is both Mary and Maria at the same time. She brings up their time at the hotel and makes it sound like James is speaking to Mary. Then she coldly states that she's not his Mary, and proceeds to speak to James in a vague, confusing manner, playing on his guilt, desperation, and heartache. The way she proceeds to speak to James in a sexually suggestive manner is a part of her role in James's story as well. The player can see her trying to tempt him away from Mary, trying to make him forget about her so he'll fail to redeem himself and become doomed to repeat history.
In summary, Maria is a complex being. She isn't a real person, but merely a creature born from a wish, and given form in order to help one man find -- or fail to find -- redemption. She is her own person in many ways, with her own fears and concerns as seen in Born From a Wish, but she's also influenced by the memories and emotions of a dead woman. She's capable of being a protective, thoughtful, and curious person, but she can be cruel and manipulative too. She's a tool created by the town of Silent Hill to punish and torment, but she also wants to be loved and is afraid of being abandoned and alone. She wants James to love her and take care of her, and she wants him to forget Mary and accept her. She uses Mary's memories and experiences against James but wants to be seen as her own person as well, and is thus a very conflicted and complicated being.
Roommates?: One or two would be fine!
Triggers/sensitive topics you'd like to avoid?: Graphic eye gore/trauma, needles, nail trauma
RP SAMPLES: One
Two
Three
