New Arcana Idea to play with. Constantine included.
Arcana returns, but she's significantly weaker than before. At first she is welcome back at Manus, however there is infighting and politics now spreading throughout the order. Without Arcana as the head, Manus fractured into different smaller factions who all have different theories on how to reach their goal.
Arcana wants to retake control of Manus but in her current state she is unable to reign them in. They decide they don't need her anymore. Some also feel like Arcana's sight of her real goal since she met the Timekeeper.
With nowhere else to go, she pops up in the Suitcase. She wants to strike an alliance to take down the current leaders of Manus and start over. Vertin has no intention of letting Arcana continue her reign of terror, but she begrudgingly sees use for Arcana.
So Arcana ends up in the Suitcase but like Isolde she is not allowed to leave freely.
The only person Constantine can't stand more than Vertin is Arcana. The two are always talking in circles around each other and playing mind games. Vertin is highly amused by this until she inevitably gets dragged into it as Constantine's proudest creation and Arcana's greatest obsession.
Honestly the mind games go nowhere. They go off on tangents often since it's more about winning than reasoning. Arcana doesn't give a damn but Constantine is simmering inside because she has no idea what the hell is going on in Arcana's head.
Interestingly, Arcana is one of the few people to make Madam Z openly hostile. Granted it's still restrained but you can tell she wants Arcana nowhere near her baby.
In terms of teamwork, Arcana follows Vertin's orders without question but then suddenly pull a monkey's paw. As in, Vertin will tell her to do something and she'll get it done in the worst possible way. When Arcana's feeling cooperative, they are a terrifying duo.
It's a cycle of people using each other to reach a common goal. I feel like we can explore darker sides of the Timekeeper this way to. She's a sweetie, but she's able to manipulate and scheme just as much as Constantine and Arcana. She can see their train of thought even though she doesn't agree.
When she takes Arcana on missions she keeps in her line of sight at all times. She's afraid of what Arcana will do the moment she takes her eyes off her. Naturally, Arcana will sometimes vanish just to stress Vertin out and do the most mundane things like buy herself a drink or watch the birds in a nearby park. She hangs around and waits to see a frustrated Timekeeper chase after her.
This whole thing was created because I had a vision:
A miserable Vertin and a curious Arcana eating McDonald's in Constantine's office. Constantine is listening to Vertin give her a personal update on how their mission went. Constantine is there listening with her head in her hands and a Happy Meal on her desk.
The McDonald's was Vertin's idea. She was hungry. As much as she dislikes Arcana, she won't let people under her go hungry either. Arcana's never had McDonald's before so this is new to her. She's examining her nuggets and a VERY tired Vertin is opening the sauce to show her how to eat them.
The Happy Meal was bought for Constantine to "cheer her up" because the mission was a disaster and Vertin had to share the news. Essentially she's just screwing with Constantine because that's the only silver lining in the whole ordeal.
Hi hi, my fellow! ^-^
A question, if I may:
When deepening Insight, we use books for the Arcanist; now, you could say that the reason Intelligence and Spirit use two is because they're Primal Afflatus (Afflati?), but my question instead is:
What do you think the three tiers contain in terms of information, for each Afflatus? ^-^
I like to think Vertin doesn't have books dedicated to the special afflatus so she decides that if they're so smart/unsettling then they can learn two things at once. You may be smart and/or creepy, but you're not above knowledge π«΅π
Perhaps the first ones, those papers, include poems and quotes. They're not long enough to contain anything aside from that, but they could still include enough information through their short content.
The second tier must be more into findings, it reminds me a lot of maps so it could be about the origins of their afflatus and how it travels through times and their own body.
And the third are encyclopedias π
i wonder if Vertin sporadically gets bombarded with mind-bogglingly intense, unprompted, long-winded mind chatters. ruminating on and on about "the concept of sanist microaggressions keeps non-consensually clipping my toenails like an overbearing step-mother whenever i try to meaningfully sleep at night"
She does hear voices in her head so I can imagine it lol. The Timekeeper is not ok but she tries to be π«
She's also an arcanist so intense thoughts and feelings are right up her alley. 90% trauma, 10% random thoughts and animal fact. "Do penguins have knees" type thoughts. Inner Smoltin lives on.
Forgot to add her freckles in. It's probably not noticeable, but hey.
So I know this is a reference to Kakanias unlicensed clinic...
But they really couldn't have made it sound more like she was having a bunch of affairs if they tried.
Episode 3 of the new event
Well, if that's the case
37π€Balloon Party
Biters π
Which reminds me. A long while back, I shipped Vertin and 37. The ship was named Verti7
I am still proud of how creative that is
It took me a minute to get it but I did it. Verti-7. Goddamn that's actually pretty smart.
37 making a deal with Balloon Party to go and bite Regulus for eating beans. The sin of sins... And balloon Party was feeling silly that evening.
Regulus didn't enjoy that day and she still gets nightmares.
A formidable duo... Beanhater37 and Evil! Balloon Party will bite your forehead and there's nothing you can do to stop them
Vertin Cutouts SOURCE: reverse 1999 png (telegram)
Regulus: Why does Vertin always do the laundry so loudly?
Sonetto: So everyone knows that no one helps her out in the suitcase.
Vertin, in the distance: *slams the washing machine shut*