ｒｏｓｅ ｂｙ ａｎｙ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｎａｍｅ

Rose Canton is born into a predominantly religious family that stems all the way to the Puritans on her father's side, while her mother's side are the descendants of the witches and warlocks which the Puritans persecuted and executed. Specifically, Rose is a descendant of the plant witches -- those who could speak to the earth and call it to bind to their will. They were the procurers of wonderful medicines and undoubtedly saved many lives with their magics -- however they were considered sinful by the Puritans, and so, they were all but wiped out. The survivors were those who had married to the powerful officials, who kept their husbands and wives off the scaffold, whether out of kindness or greed.

Now, everyone knows that you can't just wipe out magic without causing a backlash. The survivors of the witch hunts remembered the horror, the pain, the loss of family and friends, and it made them bitter as they grew. Bitter enough for a select few of the witches and warlocks to form a pact with Lucifer in exchange for the power to fight the Puritans. By these magicians, there were many murders and silent, mysterious deaths that went uncalled, and though time passed, the people never forgot. And neither did Rose's mother, who had been abandoned as a child, but adopted by the local pastor in her hometown. This is where Layla Evans was bullied, tormented, and treated harshly by her guardian, and practically arranged in marriage to Norman Canton, who would become the father of Layla's only daughter, Rose Canton.

Rose's father, Mr. Canton, names her "Rose" because he intends for his daughter to be the perfect daughter for which he'll receive much praise and admiration. Rose's mother mysteriously passes away (she'd been a victim of Mr. Canton as well, and had overdosed on valium) when Rose is three, leaving Rose to the mercy of her father's teachings. Mr. Canton raises Rose to be the best and want the best, never settling for second place -- which is unfortunate, as each time Rose gets something less than perfect, Mr. Canton verbally beats his daughter and locks her up until the next test or paper.

He also teaches Rose to believe that she herself is a beautiful, pure creature, and any "naughty" impure thoughts are another person entirely. The way he describes the matter is that Rose is Rose but Thorn, all the nastiness that appears to Rose, is Thorn. So Rose continues to grow, unknowingly developing her Thorn side into a whole other personality who kicks and bites and haunts Rose's dreams. It isn't until Rose is seventeen when Thorn is filled with enough negative energy that she takes control of Rose's body and murders Rose's father. Thorn then lies down in a pool of Mr. Canton's blood, and lets Rose return to the forefront. Needless to say, Rose is horrified to find her father dead, and panics when she sees the murder weapon in her hand, but then Thorn makes herself known, telling Rose, "The bastard had to go, Rosie."


Rose;
Rose Canton is the sweet girl that your prim, proper, Catholic mother wants you to bring to dinner on Thursday nights, and show around to all her canasta-playing friends, each more prim and Catholic than the last. Rose smiles sweetly to everyone she meets (at least those who don't look shady), nods her head politely at the elderly, and remains quiet when someone is speaking. Raised to be a good little girl, Rose takes pains to do everything proper, like her daddy would want. And that is not just a figure of speech. Rose grew up under the verbally and emotionally abusive hand of her father, Norman Canton, a very religious, fire and brimstone kind of man who rarely let Rose out of his sight, except for schooling. Growing up, Rose had no friends, no romantic interests, and she was never allowed to spend time with any of the children her age outside her church's youth group, who ironically were less than saintly.

She is very shy around boys her age and blushes whenever she hears someone cuss (although, when Thorn cusses, she retains her disturbed disposition that is ever present when Thorn is present). She believes that short skirts are no more than lingerie and that bikinis are practically stripping yourself nude. She doesn't like clothing that accentuates her body's natural curves (as that is more up Thorn's preferences) and doesn't spend all too much time in social events that aren't a library get together or a small study group. She especially doesn't feel comfortable around suggestive media, such as sexual natured movies and lustful lyrics in modern music. She usually gets up from wherever and runs away from what disturbs her, making her miss out on many new experiences.

She's never worn nail-polish, had anything pierced, or worn a dress no shorter than knee length. Everything about the world and her age group culture frightens Rose, and yet, it also excites her. A caged bird, gaining wings, Rose is often forced into situations by circumstance where she must confront her own fears and strictures, mostly thanks to Thorn, who enjoys shaking Rose a good one. Such as when Rose woke up one day after falling asleep in an open-all-night library the other night and found herself lying in a fraternity's bed, bottom half clothed, but topless and smelling of alcohol. Thorn had taken Rose's body out for a night of raving, dressing up in comfortably skimpy clothes and high heels, with enough makeup to pass for a horror movie extra. Rose had been horrified by her appearance, and after grabbing suitable clothes out of the frat boy's dresser, she high-tailed it and left. She spent the rest of the day in the of the New York Subway's restrooms, wiping off the make-up and scrubbing herself down as best as she could with hand soaps and toilet paper.

Rose has a strong fight or flight response system, in which, she often flies away from dangers. After two years of dealing with Thorn and the messes she makes (inadvertently making Rose the victim) Rose will bolt at the first hint of instability or danger. If someone looks suspicious, she never gives them the chance to speak before turning away -- it is only when the person attempts to make Rose see them, that they get any response. And that usually isn't much above "LEAVE ME ALONE" which she's wildly shouted from building to building in New York City as she runs from police coming after Thorn, and from vigilantes who have a habit of dealing with teenagers and split-personality disorders with a personality of a murderous psychopath.

Of Thorn, Rose is terrified. This part of her is murderous, insane, vulgar and violent. Thorn is everything that Rose's father warned Rose to not emulate. Thorn also mentally and through a form of psychosis, physically abuses Rose. Rose is Thorn's punching bag and toy, and it gives Thorn absolute thrills to make Rose's life miserable, committing actions that Rose finds distasteful, such as wearing revealing clothing and flirting with men twice her age. Primarily, Thorn steals Rose's body when Rose sleeps and does as she pleases until she herself sleeps, and then Rose returns to her body. Thorn specifically likes to do vulgar and horrible things and fall asleep there, so that when Rose takes back her body, she wakes in Thorn's fresh new mess. Rose lives in constant fear that Thorn will take over and commit more heinous crimes, and so, she often tries to go without sleep, and when she does sleep, she prefers being in the middle of nowhere, where Thorn would have to travel miles to do the damage that is Thorn's specialty.

Due to her sleeplessness, Rose is commonly jumpy and easily spooked (something encouraged by her flight response) which has made her the joke of rotten people who try to take advantage of Rose, but ultimately end up the latest kill on Thorn's murder list. This is another reason that Rose likes to keep far away from other people. Stranger Danger does not even cover how convoluted are Rose's fears. Rose's father had taught Rose that, unless the person has his (or "God's approval - air-quotes because he liked to think himself one) consent. Otherwise, Mr. Canton declares the people devil-spawn and refuses to allow Rose to associate with them. Neither had she been allowed to even speak to these people, as her father would drag her forcibly back to their house where he's slap her and order her to go to her room and miss that night and the next night's meals. His entire punishment methodology revolves around starving, yelling at, and roughly treating his daughter, convincing her that she is a horrible creature and must beg forgiveness.

In regards to her powers, Rose is terrified, though fascinated. The first time she showed her powers was at age five, and when her father caught Rose growing a rose out of the dirt in their garden, he was enraged and slapped her, lashed her, and imprisoned her in her room for three days straight, citing he was ashamed of his daughter's control of the Thorn in Rose's side, sullying the beautiful, pure creature who is Mr. Canton's daughter. Mr. Canton refused to let Rose out of her room until she promised to never show Thorn again, and to never let use Thorn use "that sinful trick" ever again. Rose has kept this vow for so long, that now that it is broken, using these abilities still feels as if she's shaming her father (though how horrible he had been) and committing herself to Thorn, as Thorn uses the ancient sway of Green constantly. That is not to say that Rose does not use her abilities. Only when she absolutely needs them, such as escaping from trouble and working at keeping Thorn at bay.