#and then she crosses path with vertin..........

[greenlakegalpals]

thinking about schneider again and how she has truely been through A LOT.

ultra religious catholic family from 1920's italy, born as the thirteenth child, in a storm, her mother remarried(divorce is NOT seen so highly in those times especially when youre ultra religious roman catholic, wouldnt be surprised if she was blamed for that). seen as a bad luck. slap in some religious trauma where she wonders if god hates her.

outright neglected and malnourished because there were too many mouths to feed family and very little food to go around in a country so extremely impoverished at the time. then her family moves to chicago usa of all places, now she has to deal with racism ontop of being an immigrant girl who didnt speak a lick of english. had to learn it by force, had to find odd jobs to support her family. considering shes based off a showgirl, very possible that was one of her many jobs to keep herself and her family afloat. so add sexism and the very real and common threat of sexual harrasment she nost likely dealt with. then she goes into bootlegging, though its helping her family..... this brings gangsters and cops and rival bootleggers who dont like competition.

so she had to defend herself and her families future. she had to sacrifice her own principles. shes not a killer, shes not a cold blooded unfeeling murderer. she loves and feels so deeply, especially for her family that she HAD to do the unthinkable, went against everything she was raised to be just to support them. even if it meant killing and lying and blackmailing.

oh and dont forget the religious trauma that made her think next to nothing about herself. she thinks herself as a sinner, cursed and left by god. the way she talks about herself obviously imply she thinks she deserves punishment.

i cant stop thinking about this girl

[acesw]

My thoughts on reversal in Reverse: 1999 (Global Friendly)

I want to define the structures of reversal in the game because of how people tend to mix up death and reversal. Its a topic that I wanted to discuss here for a while, and one of the reasons why I talked about the "Storm" in the first place.

First of all, reversal and death are not synonymous, but they are at the very least somewhat connected. Reversal from the "Storm" is simply what it is, it reverses a person to their previous form and position from a previous point in time. The "Storm" can also potentially revive or remove people from physical existence if the era sees fit. (i.e. it would take out people who weren't alive from a certain time as well as revive those who were)

However, because the "Storm" tends to also distort time, it also distorts people as well. One case that supports this is that Marcus points out that the figures present in the Secession building are physically different compared to the photos she was provided with in the Foundation.

Additionally, because the essences of people—alive or not—are physically recreated, they are recreated as who they were in the set era. Like how we know Isolde and Kakania as who they are now, are rather than who they were in the 1912 era, when Heinrich last interacted with them. (Since the Heinrich came from 1912 (1999+6) rather than 1913 (1999+8) )

When it comes to death, the case is different. The only way the "Storm" can kill someone is if a part of their physical bodies—distorted or not—are preserved in an immunity zone. For example, its stated that Paulina's hand was preserved after the second "Storm," but she was not encountered during the 80s era and forward, a point in time here she would have supposedly been alive as a child. Another would be that all of the geometric forms created from the deceased Apeiron members (that died in the 1987 "Storm") were maintained in the Island during 1977.

In short, a person needs to be physically reversed in entirety to have a chance to be seen elsewhere in the timeline.

This is also why the survivors of all the "Storms" cannot find their past selves. For those from the first, they were never reversed anyway. And those who were picked up from the subsequent "Storms" are already preserved in an immunity zone, and thus they cannot be reversed and recreated anymore.

The only case I'm not sure of is the scenario of someone from a certain era dies during the "Storm" countdown and is reversed in a different one. (i.e. Hoffman) I'm not sure what would happen to them, but my main assumption is that their essence becomes distorted in time and cannot be properly restored.

It also doesn't explain the disappearances that occurred in each reversal. (Mainly how amounts of Foundation branch members increasingly go missing in each era) Although, I don't want to make these as points of debate at the moment because god I hate how convoluted time is here.

For the Schneider fans out there, she would have been reversed normally since she was reversed in an incomplete immunity zone. (the suitcase) However she won't come back as 1:1, since she was reversed to a point where she would've been really young. (as in, 2 years old in 1913) Even with how we're in 1990 now, the circumstances would still be different and it makes it impossible for Vertin and co. to cross paths with her.

That's all that I have, see you again soon.

[murmew]

Smolnetto calls it a punishment.

Smoltin calls it Tuesday exercise.

"Sonetto."

Sonetto looked up from the exam paper in her hands. On the page were several red marks left behind by her now motionless pen. By the looks of it, this student didn't do very well.

"Yes, Miss?" The answer was immediate and clear - as expected of the top student.

The instructor pushed up her glasses, the lens glinted in the afternoon sun from the window, making Sonetto squint a little as the ray passed her eyes.

"Please go out and tell Vertin that her time's up."

"Understood."

Putting down her pen, Sonetto stood up before tucking her chair squarely beneath the table. Everything was tidy, orderly, and without error. On the tabletop, a pile of diminished unmarked papers were stacked on the left, marked papers on the right, and pens placed in a little row at the top of the desk, red, black, and blue.

Sonetto was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped.

"Oh, and you can go after, it wouldn't be fair to cut into your lunch break." The instructor smiled, a rare thing for the usually stern older woman, "I can take care of the rest of the marking, thank you for your help."

Returning the smile, the girl nodded.

"Thank you, Miss, see you tomorrow."

Closing the door behind her, Sonetto turned her head to see Vertin casually balancing atop the hourglass used for punishment right outside the classroom.

The sand had almost completely finished running it's course, with only a minute remaining.

Some passing students snickered, and murmured amongst themselves at the not-so-unusual sight. They were ignored by the serial trouble-maker who was more interested in whatever she saw outside the window across from her perch.

Not following her gaze, Sonetto frowned. "Vertin, you can come down now."

Vertin didn't look down to meet her eyes, gaze still glued ahead. "There are Robins nesting in that tree over there."

"It's almost lunchtime."

"I wonder if they need help."

A bit miffed at being ignored twice in a row, Sonetto's frown only deepened.

Vertin didn't look like someone in timeout in the slightest. For a moment, she contemplated whether such punishment was effective if it was received so nonchalantly, but immediately pushed the thought aside.

A smile was better than tears was it not? Despite Vertin's ardent rule-breaking, it was never done in harm nor out of malice. Plus, as her deskmate, and fellow classmate, it wasn't right for her to wish misfortune upon her.

But... It went against what 'should' be.

Both unconvinced by words and unconvinced by punishment. Steering Vertin onto the 'right' path was more difficult than teaching a carbuncle to speak.

In a self-induced turmoil, Sonetto was at a loss, and so she said nothing. Holding her notebook and pencil case closer to her chest, she turned to look out the window.

Silence met silence. In the hall filled with students, there were only the two of them looking out the same window at the same scene.

The pair of Robins stood on a branch not far from the school building, their orange-red bellies stark against the green canopy where they'd decided to settle.

Movement at the corner of her eye made Sonetto snap her gaze back to the now empty hourglass in surprise.

Vertin, who'd just hopped down, raised her arms above her head and stretched, looking as if she'd just gotten up from a nap. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips, as she met Sonetto's gaze. "Want to help me find branches for the Robins during recess?"

The invitation was both unexpected yet expected.

Sonetto shook her head, face set. "No thank you."

But the answer was very much expected.

Vertin nodded in understanding. She crossed her arms behind her back and smiled at the floor.

"Hm. Maybe next time then."

"Maybe."

But they both knew that there was no 'maybe' and likely no 'next time'.

Offer.

Rejection.

Repeat.

"See you tomorrow then."

A childish stubbornness alongside a hand waiting to be taken in perpetuity.

"See you."

Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.

A scene that played out exactly the same way countless times.

Perhaps next time it will turn out differently?

Without second glances, the two parted ways... until next time.

[spicyjams]

apologies

Sonetto approaches the door leading to Vertin’s office and knocks on the solid wood, the sound resonating through the silence. Waiting for a moment, she shifts her weight from one foot to the other, before crossing her legs. After no reply comes, Sonetto opens the door and walks through, “Timekeeper, are you there-”

-and plants a hard kiss on Vertin’s forehead as they cross paths at the threshold. Vertin’s hat falls off her head but she instinctively catches it before it flutters to the floor.

“Hm? Sonetto?”

Her mouth slightly agape in surprise, Vertin brings up a hand to her forehead to touch the warm spot that Sonetto’s lips had met, a trace of their comforting presence lingering.

“Oh no! Timekeeper, I’m so sorry, it’s my fault…!” 

Her face flushes instantly. Sonetto quickly backs up into the hall and almost loses her balance, when Vertin catches her wrist to steady her. Vertin closes her eyes and shakes her head.

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

Sonetto lowers her head and covers her face in shame, her ears hot and voice trembling.

“I-I arrived 5 minutes and 23 seconds too early for our briefing, I should have known that you would not be quite ready, I s-should have waited longer…!” Her muffled voice comes through her shaking hands, the heat from her tense cheeks searing her palms. She should not have been so impatient to see Timekeeper, she should not have-

“Sonetto, it’s fine. I don’t mind.” Vertin’s voice speaks reassuringly. And why did she sound so amused? Sonetto dares to peek through her gloved fingers to examine her expression. During her panic, Vertin had shifted to lean against the doorframe, her arms crossed and the trace of a smile on her features.

“Timekeeper? What do you mean? That was totally inappropriate of me…”

Vertin’s face shifts to one of displeasure as she straightens back up and gives her a look. She lifts her hand and points to her forehead, her lips in a tight line.

“Actually, I believe you’re right. I need you to check it for me.”

Suddenly alert, Sonetto forgets her embarrassment and steps forward to meet Vertin, her sharp eyes quickly checking her smooth skin for any marks she may have left. After a moment, Sonetto sighs and brings her hand to her chest.

“No, it does not seem to have left a mark. I am relieved…”

Vertin is unconvinced. She tilts her head to the side in displeasure, and her grip on her hat tightens.

“Are you sure? You stepped out of line. Look again.”

Sonetto lowers her head once more in disgrace, her hands frantically coming together in front of her. She meets Vertin’s serious gaze and steps closer to her.

“Timekeeper, please forgive me, there does not seem to be any residual-”

Sonetto freezes in place as she feels wetness on her cheek.

“I’ll be taking that as repayment.”

Vertin winks at her and smiles as she steps aside, elevating her arm towards her office, signaling for Sonetto to come in. The sun’s morning rays envelope them both.

“Let’s get to work, shall we? I was looking forward to seeing you.”

[deepfriedtrout]

Cooking up this one modern au that wouldn't probably turn out to be something, but it is fun spinning it around my head.

bodyguard!sonetto, celebrity!vertin au.

They were childhood friends but due to life circumstances, both of them got separated, with nothing more but letters and gifts being exchanged over the years. The years go by and the correspondences grow less and distant as the two of them pursue their own careers and grow into their own persons. Sonetto turns to working as a bodyguard after realizing she's pretty good at it, Vertin works in the line of... something, i guess, feel free to throw ideas at me, that shoots her into stardom.

After years the two of them finally cross paths, in a formal reception where Sonetto's working as a bodyguard to some person and Vertin's there because she was invited. Something something they meet, catch up a little, on what's been up to them.

Then at one point Sonetto becomes Vertin's bodyguard and then after all these years she gets to know things about Vertin's life that isn't blared through the media, and somewhere along the way she kinda gets integrated into the little (massive) circle of friends and found family Vertin has picked up along the way. Everyone knows Vertin and she practically knows everyone lmao. She's the guy who knows a guy that knows a guy. Vertin also gets to know what Sonetto's been up to, and finds herself also quickly integrated into Sonetto's own circle.

Pretty fun thinking about what the other characters are doing in this world. Maybe i'll put a list here or something.

Pavia and Lilya are Sonetto's coworkers. Pavia teaches her italian/sicilian on their free time and Lilya's the one to keep nagging her to loosen up

And being coworkers for years Sonetto has been dragged to numerous gatherings courtesy of Lilya that she's a pretty common fixture in the Lilya-Druvis househould. Druvis' younger cousin Sotheby adores her.

Vertin and Sonetto were both orphans in the same orphanage, hence why they know each other.

i'm thinking the incident that takes Sonetto and Vertin away is some fuckery happening with the orphanage (cough cough constantine) causes it to be investigated and dissolved, with the orphans being sent to other ones. This is where the two part ways.

Though some time after that, Vertin gets adopted by everyone's favorite foundation parents, Miss Z and Tooth Fairy. something something the toffees Vertin sends to Sonetto on the mail is courtesy of Tooth Fairy.

Vertin Zhang-Campbell rolls of the tongue nicely.

Sonetto, unfortunately, does not get adopted and ages out of the system, but manages to get a good foothold into adulting by being... Sonetto, ever the diligent overachiever.

I need someone to give me last name ideas for her oh god

Verneider are married. The way they first met is as probably as whirlwind and chaotic as canon verneider, but less... murder and death. They have been happily married for a while : )

Feel like Schneider would be an actor. She is the embodidment of a femme fatale lmao

Anyways verschnetto endgame in my head. idk how it happens but the buildup of the three's dynamic is something like "hey my wife saw you from across the bar and we really dig your vibe. can we buy you a drink?"

I kinda want Blonney and Horropedia to be a brief fixture here. Both of them are horror afficionados that have made a name for themselves in their specific crafts (movie director and writer) and Sonetto has once bodyguarded them. She did not have a good time (had to sit through a horror-specific awarding ceremony type thing and had to listen to them talk each others ears off. she is forever traumatized.) also a scene im thinking off is that Horropedia off-handedly mentions Vertin, to which Sonetto of course focuses on, but all in all the scene goes like the one tweet about a dentist mentioning their son is captain america's actor but its Tooth Fairy and Vertin lmao

[fruityfroggy]

ASGKJKUYFG TYSM @anonymocha FOR GIVING ME A DIRECTION TO GO WITH MY RAMBLINGS<3

Anyways…oh Verdigris, I’ve come up with so many extra bits and pieces to her lore in the past month or so and I didn’t really get to talk about her in the first place, so I’m glad that someone’s interested (this is gonna be so long, I can feel it)

First things first, we’ll get the big thing out of the way: her arcane skill. Kind of a big part of her story is how she is a “plant whisperer”, which means that she’s able to hear the voices of plants and therefore communicate with them. This made her form a prominent sense of empathy for plants, as they are unheard by everyone except her.

(Now, a lot of the things I’ll mention about Verdigris will make a lot more sense)

So a fun little fact is that plants have a “way of speaking” that sounds more poetic than your normal speech, since they’re just describing things based off of what they know from nature. And because of her arcane skill, Verdigris does talk like them a little (which just comes off as being poetic/dramatic). Another thing that comes with this “way of speaking” are “Titles of the Plants”, which is the thing that you remind the plants of, that they therefore refer to you by (Vertin is “The Wandering Wind”, Sonetto is “The Shade in Daylight”, etc).

Why am I mentioning this? Well but of course it’s for yuri reasons! Because this is the perfect way for Verdigris to subtly and sapphic-ly pine for a certain arcanist by the title: Ray of Sun (and who this refers to is not disclosed). She mentions this “Ray of Sun” quite frequently in her diary, which I’d imagine could be one of those pages of text you can find between stages, as well as in her intimacy voiceline (which I haven’t written, but we can imagine, okay).

Anywho…when it comes to interacting with other arcanists, Verdigris is very much the most likeable out of my three ocs here (she’s just a cinnamon roll, not toxic or hard to communicate with). So she gets along with basically everyone in the suitcase. Chaotic or calm, she’s patient enough to talk to them. Tho she’s the closest with Lilya I’d say, since they’re bonding over a shared language/heritage and shut up, it’s adorable. Especially since Verdigris didn’t have anyone to speak Russian to for a long time (she lived in Spain, that’s why) and Russian was her mother’s language (she never got to meet her, so it holds special significance to her (things are getting angsty haha)). This problem was the whole reason she created her own critters actually. But hey, now she has someone and the vibes are good again.

As for their dynamic, it’s obvious that they have a “balancing each other out” situation, and I like to call it “Lilya and her designated driver” as a joke. But truthfully, Verdigris is surprisingly down with most of her shenanigans and no one understands why. Lilya kinda just wants to show Verdigris all the “fun stuff” she usually does, and she just goes along with it while some of the other arcanists watch them in horror (they’re just having a good time tho). When Verdigris is busy, Lilya would go visit her workshop to see what she’s doing like: "What you making, Verdie?:]" (she finds it interesting).

Considering what she does, I feel like Verdigris would probably be crossing paths with Medpoc kinda often as well (hehe). Verdigris just isn’t super affected by Medpoc’s hostility, and still treats them very well after getting yelled at. Once they warm up to her tho, she kinda becomes their emotional support (aka the person they rant to while she hands them a cookie or smth), and they’d pass out together while working across from each other, since neither of them remember to sleep (or do anything else).

I also think that she could help Shamane repair and/or upgrade his mechanical arm (since that’s kinda her specialty), and in turn gain a new father figure. Shamane would definitely like her Dendrogues and greet them when he sees them hopping around as well.

Some honourable mentions are the other calm healers (Dikke and Tooth Fairy). Dikke would grow fond of Verdigris for how fair and thoughtful is, but she'd tell her to not be so tolerant of everything. As for her and Tooth Fairy’s situation, they actually have pretty similar vibes, so they’d probably do some somewhat questionable things together that aren’t so questionable if they’re doing it, like baking together (there’s definitely no tooth fairies in the muffins they’re making, don’t question the taste of plums) and going out into the forest to look for teeth.

Oh right! Verdigris also has a small interaction with Pristine after implanting the new heart she made for her, since Pristine’s original heart (crystal) is the thing that makes her body possessable to Arcana (there’s some context from this post that is needed to understand what I’m talking about). This is a big plot point in Pristine’s story, so guess who’s growing attached to Verdigris. Yeah, she kinda just follows her around whenever she sees her from there on out, maybe even tugs on her sleeve saying “Where art thou headed to? Let me go with thee!” (Welcome to motherhood, Verdigris!)

[fruityfroggy]

I !! Want to hear more about your orange critter oc!!

Yap about them PLEASE I fully support the orange critter oc agenda 🤝🤝

Ooh, I’ve never actually thought about having my own orange critter oc before, but it looks fun! Let’s just say that they’re from an au, so that they can fit into Verdigris’s (my other oc’s ) lore better, since their stories are related. I don’t actually know how these critter ocs work, so this just a guess (and what I came up with on the spot).

The two cross paths when Verdigris finds a strange looking orange that has fallen from a tree. This “orange” turns out to be an orange critter, hurt and far from their orange tree home. They were originally mistaken for a real orange, and therefore transported with other oranges to be sold in markets. After escaping, the forest near Verdigris’ house was the closest they could get to a familiar habitat. So of course, she takes them home to heal and take good care of them until they fully recover.

But when they do, they no longer want to go back home to the wilderness. They’ve grown too attached to the warm and gentle care of Verdigris, and wants to stay with her. This of course, is perfectly fine with her, she’s already accustomed to having critters in her home to accompany her. So Verdigris ended up naming the little critter Zinnia (Zinie for short) and that’s how they ended up living with her for years to come.

Verdigris is always so affectionate to her critters, that Zinie begins to catch feelings for their saviour. She always pets and gently holds each critter and they all get to sleep in bed with her. When Zinie’s in their humanoid form, she even lets them hug and snuggle up against her, while she runs her fingers through their hair. They could be imagining things, but…maybe they are her favourite…

Okay, now this is where things can branch out in three different ways for this au. Either, Verdigris does reciprocate their feelings and they they’re happy together (wholesome route), Verdigris does not reciprocate their feelings and instead catches feelings for a certain someone from Vertin’s crew, just like in her actual lore, but causes heartbreak in Zinie (angsty route), or a mix of the two, where all three of them are happy together (poly wholesome route).

Alright, that’s about it. I hope I didn’t misunderstand how critters work as ocs (with the whole human form, critter form thing) too much:)