#❧ ⸺ ch. verona

[strywoven]

just wanna yap about a small detail ( as usual ) :

a VESSEL is a host which already has a pre-existing soul ; a “CASK” ( or “casket” , if you want to be funny with it ) is a pseudo-vessel , transmuted from flesh , blood and bone that lacks a pre-existing soul to make it living and/or sentient and functional.

now , in-canon , it’s not novel that certain sorcerers create thralls or puppets. however , the idea of making one of ACTUAL ORGANIC MATTER and depositing a soul within … is. at least , it WAS back when it was first introduced to society in the 1500s by the Valhyrs. already a clan known for their questionable craft , people were even more appalled when they began experimenting with certain aspects of their own abilities. namely , why use a corpse when it’s already necrotic ? why not remake the body and simply grant the soul a new body ? why not perhaps go so far as to fundamentally remake a soul ?

the issue with this is that souls are notably fickle. getting it to bind to anything BEYOND its natural host was always tricky for most sorcerers ( even those with experience ) ; it took extreme care and the rite proved immensely tasking , one wrong move and the soul would be shattered. eventually , though , the process was streamlined and became easier for the Valhyrs. and although only the MATRIARCH of the clan practiced it , this of course meant verona eventually practiced it as well ( if only sparingly ) .

which means , you guessed it , verona was the one kaëltyr entrusted with transmuting ( & thus maintaining ) its current human cask and performing the rite to bind its soul to the cask. now , we could say it was STRICTLY PROFESSIONAL , but you and i both know there is something DEEPLY INTIMATE about entrusting an inordinately lethal sorceress to extricate your soul , handle it , and replace it into another form.

[strywoven-moved]

Below , you’ll find a long rambling about Kaen’s tie-in relevance to Verona’s ( the primary muse over on valhyr ) FF7 verse:

As a preamble , Kaen’s mother – Jane “Doe” Rolav – remains characteristically the s a m e in this verse as she does in Kaen’s natural verses ; she is impoverished , an unstable addict , and Kaen’s primary abuser.  From there , most of the similarities tend to part ways.  

Jane , at the start of this story , is a 30-something with a hard-to-feed habit.  She does not pay much attention to Kaen even though Kaen is the one bringing in the money to support her habit and squandering up resources for them to SURVIVE .  If it was not for Kaen , they would have both been killed a long time ago.  Jane is manipulative and irresponsible , just as she has been for a long time.  People know her as someone who “isn’t all there” unless she’s high when she seems – ironically – to be completely lucid and happy.  Jane is also very much BLACKLISTED by many of the blood-families for “shopping around” for drugs ; she is notorious for racking up a tab and never once paying anyone back unless it involves fucking it away or selling Kaen’s labor.  So , just imagine how convenient it was for Jane , when Miss Verona Valhyr of the equally INFAMOUS enterprise from topside came down from on-high and was found waltzing ‘round the slums— There would be no better opportunity.  Their first conversation went something like this:

J: Y’re not human. I can tell. Ya’ got that stink.

V: What sort of stink, love?

J: . . . Like death. 

But , Jane jumped at the chance , almost frothing at the mouth when the woman said she would be willing to work up a contract on the terms of “buy now pay later”.  But there was something Verona made clear to Jane : if you take this option , you will incur interest much faster.  Jane simply accepted regardless of the warning.  People asked w h y Verona would take such a risk and if you wanted a simple answer , she would tell you , “I pitied her.”  A shame , in Verona’s eyes , considering Jane was so pretty and had the cunning to do what she liked— It was a WASTE of a woman.  But such was business.  For the next several years , Verona served Jane as a provider ; Jane , like people predicted she would , did not pay Verona back for her services even medically when she overdosed or got ill multiple times.  And as we know , Verona couples the outstanding debt with interest the longer it goes unpaid.  Perhaps it was that pity which kept Verona so patient , or perhaps it was the knowledge of Jane’s child which kept her from acting out of turn.  Either way , nothing was done.  But it still did not end well.

Early in March ( when Jane was ~42 and Kaen was ~18 ) , Verona is interrupted in a business meeting by her second-in-command , Pandora , who mentions he has Kaen on the phone.  He further explains that “the Doe is deceased,” to which Verona is not necessarily surprised but a bit perplexed.  Something in his expression is telling her this is not the typical call they would get.  Dismissing herself from her client , Verona takes a trip down to the slums with not only Pandora but a few of the others ( including Morfid who knows a good deal about forensics and body analysis ) ; an entire team comprised of people to make this GO AWAY , to make this as though it had never happened.  It is very clear at this point she has done this before.

When she arrives she is greeted by the whizz of a bullet bursting by her shoulder through the open doorway.  Again , not surprising , simply confusing.  What she finds is Kaen crouched beside the deceased in a strangely protective manner , a loaded pistol aimed right for her ; the room suggesting a struggle.  With a simple wave of her hand , her people begin to assess the situation and “fix things”.  When Kaen begins to protest them taking away the corpse , Pandora is there to seize them and hold them.  Verona is there to follow , asking what happened.  It took some coaxing but the story comes out : an act of self-defense , an act of survival – it was either her or them , and Kaen chose themselves over their mother.  After consoling the sobbing thing , Verona asks them to listen to her , as what was to follow would be important.  

What Kaen had done was warranted and deserved no guilt.  However , Jane owed Verona an awful lot of money and Verona is not so daft as to assume someone so poor has such a big sum of gil lying around.  Because Jane is dead , that means any and all debt she incurred now falls to Kaen.  Before the youth can panic , Verona continues : you can work it off , I won’t ask you to pay it.  From that point on , Kaen was seized and taken into custody by the Chimera ; they would work for her yes , but they would also be given a new livelihood , a new family—

A NEW START under the shadow of a woman who pretends to be human.

[strywoven]

as usual i've nothing worth contributing for this , the lord's day. but simply consider ( for your misery ) : back in the day , someone was ogling verona's hands - clawed, ringed, delicate but wrought with sharp edges fit to tear and rend - and prompted her rightly , "how... do you pleasure a woman with fingers like those ?" and verona , wriggling her claws , clinking her rings , shrugged and replied , "very ... carefully ... though , who says i ever use my fingers ? i've been told i am ALL MOUTH , after all." yes , the other person did proceed to get up and leave.

[strywoven]

so , you know how verona has the ability to extricate ( & consume ) souls ? but is also a woman of culture who loves music ?

what do you think is the over-under of her taking the souls of those whom she truly did not respect nor care for and imbruing them within vinyl records ... to play over her gramophone ... for other people whenever she had those big , massive gatherings of elites for feasts and political affairs ? now , you might be thinking , "mav , wouldn't it be less 'music' and more just horrible sounds ?" and you , dear reader , are absolutely correct ; yes.

but the image of verona sitting with a few of society's upper-caste PLAYING A RECORD OF WAILING & AGONIZED HOWLS & INHUMAN NOTES backed by some lovely piano chords , with a contented smile on her face like , "we might call this an opus , hm ? truly enchanting."

[strywoven]

-taps mic, leans in way too close- brothers , for me it's the way kaen and verona are correlated and entwined.

consider verona's habit of pressing her claws beneath the chin of someone , forcing their head upright which compares to kaen's urge to rest their burning touch to the base of someone's skull , steadily and surely applying pressure to keep control ; consider when verona says , "it is just GOOD BUSINESS !" and when kaen says , "'s jus' BASIC INSTINCT !" ; consider how verona is hedonistic and might ask you , "for what do you desire ?" whereas kaen is innately besital ( however they deny it ) and will ask , "wha' d'ye fear ?" ; consider that verona is the impetus to kaen's reawakening , and that kaen is the salvation verona's been craving for ages , the fire she needed to cull her ache and dull her scorn while also festering and cultivating kaen's own.

[strywoven]

no , actually , if i wanted to go stupid , go crazy with the integrated lore between verona and kaeltyr , i would expand upon the "verona lost her heart" bit and incorporate the lore from dragonheart ( 1996 ) where draco sacrifices half his being ( his heart ) to preserve einon ( lit. incanting the oath , "half my heart to make you whole" ) ; you cannot tell me ... that would not suit. and kaeltyr would follow the same steps , coming to the realization that it has "preserved a great evil" and in the same vein , manifested their own by granting verona such clemency in the form of giving her a portion of its very heart. guys , lemme cook.

[strywoven]

anyways , i wanna briefly discuss the moment when everything fell apart for verona back in the 20th century-- that very obvious point when her state of being completely COLLAPSED in upon itself ( every sense of moral obligation , every regard for her fellow sorcerer ... annihilated , torn asunder ) .

picture , if you will , surrounded by “peers” ( though none were really so welcoming of verona , none so accepting ; she always suspected their contempt , she could smell it on them like a foul , festering perfume ) , enduring their company , AWAY FROM HOME IN A WHOLE OTHER TERRITORY .  and then , you notice several of them exchanging glances , checking the time - 12:30a , oct. 31st , 1931 - and slowly , surely , beginning to form a collective around you.

something , something is not right.

you remember lenore BEGGED YOU not to leave the night before , saying something about how it “felt wrong” … but you ignored her , dismissing it. and now , 12:35a , you feel it , you see it in flashes : wife and daughter , thrown to the ground amid the chaos of your clan’s estate being raided , executed by single gunshot , the sound ringing in your ears ( the echoes of wife's final words : by god , verona , please - please forgive them ! ) before everything in the present falls completely quiet.

… to say verona was beside herself in that moment was a GRAVE UNDERSTATEMENT .  verona is well-known for her composure , but there was no maintaining herself when the reality of it all sunk in ( premeditated ; all of this , right down to being lured away from home & surrounded en-masse to limit a route of escape ) .  she confronted those who brought her out to begin with.  as you might well imagine , it led into an altercation and with her being forcibly restrained.  however , if you know anything about a woman scorned - especially one that can conjure incredible physical strength - you could probably envision that it took several people to detain her and keep her still.  

she was FURIOUS , yelling at all of them , "cast your stones , the lot of you , when none of you are without sin ! when none of you are beyond becoming monsters just as i have !" the price , two lives - two innocents - caught in the crossfire of a war that never truly ended.  her fury escalated further , accosting them all for being "senseless mongrels" and for promising she would destroy each one of their families in return , perhaps not this century , but later ( a promise which is later fulfilled ) .

when that curse was laid upon everyone present , one of the sorcerers quite plainly took the shot and blew off half her skull , saying in turn , "i think we've heard quite enough of that. happy birthday , ms. valhyr."

to which someone in the crowd , horrified , was like , "is she even dead ?"

and the man ( idk i keep calling him jerome ; some european council big-wig ) replied , "evil does not die.  it simply festers."

i should point out : even with half her face blown away and her body “dying” , own viscera smeared across the marble floor … she was CONSCIOUS & LAUGHING ( if only for a few moments ) , albeit weakly , but the effect was there , people were terrified of her and that sentiment would remain for good.

and what's worse , these people DENIED allowing her the right to see the bodies , to say good-bye to them.  so it is ASSUMED that they simply tossed the carcasses unceremoniously into an unmarked ditch somewhere ( & no , verona never found them ) .

[strywoven]

so anyways , yknow how in modern verses how verona is HEAVILY TATTOOED ? marble flesh inked by coiled black as black serpents , plumes of smoke , and bleeding poppies ? what if - and hear me out - the poppies themselves are not in "bloom" until she activates her technique / powers ... hm ...

[strywoven]

smth smth , no-one asked for this either , but here is verona's jjk verse. under a cut for length , as usual.

Just as a brief overview of Verona's clan :

The Valhyr clan is extremely secluded and reclusive , done so entirely by choice to preserve the purity of own prowess and pedigree ; they are only about a few dozen to a hundred or so strong , which is absolutely NOTHING in comparison to the dominant clans of the time and of the modern eras which remark on their heritage in ill-favor.

Their staying power in the community is relative to their near-perfected techniques - known for such craft as necromantic rites , conjuring , curse-bearing , illusions , and so on - which have been used to manipulate and mangle the control ( & spirits ) of the greater clans for many generations.  These techniques are OF FEMALE HERITAGE ONLY , and the Valhyr clan has followed a very strict matriarchal code ever since this was discovered ( however , practices of male infanticide have thankfully fallen out of favor , but the manipulation of the womb & body to propagate female offspring were still enabled ) .  Their code is so enforced , in fact , that they view men as LESSER & WEAKER than women ( think the exact opposite of modern patriarchy & more extreme ) .

Their techniques - colloquially considered “dark craft” by Scandinavian Jujutsu society - are CONSUMPTIVE IN NATURE , which simply translates to : every time a technique is used , the individual sacrifices an equivalent part of themself to utilize the technique in question ( at a soul-based level ) .  The Valhyr’s have come to understand that they can “recover” this damage to their existence by devouring / cannibalizing others ( yes , including people’s souls , too ) .  The clan will oftentimes have LARGE BANQUETS & FEASTS to celebrate the sacrifice of the people they hunted , slaughtered and prepared for consumption ; it is considered a venerable way to die , to feed their technique and to sustain their livelihood.

However , because these techniques are so dangerous to practice , most women often die before their mastery can be obtained ; the current Matriarch of the clan , alongside her councilwomen of masters , achieved their marks with great price ( sacrificing aspects of own humanity ) .  Typically , most young women ( ~20s ) die before they can secure control over their power , being consumed and/or entirely possessed by their techniques.  For this reason , many women in the clan are often hurried along into arranged , usually political , marriages to produce “strong and stable” offspring ( for every generation , the valhyr power grows ) .  This is also part of the reason as to why the clan is small ; there’s a lot of death and uncertainty in their existence.

Life ( birth - adolescence ) :

Born in late-19th century ( Oct. 31st amid the 1890s ) Scandinavia to the Valhyr clan.  Not the most noble of bloodlines , but certainly one of the most INFAMOUS & DANGEROUS , with relatives dating as far back as the Viking Age ( ~8th century ) , recorded in Old Edda as “savage priestesses” and “barbaric sage-women”.  The name is relatively well-known throughout the Scandinavian region , holding root in FEAR & FEROCITY .

Verona was baptized , like all of the infants , in blood and ash , and smudged by purifying smoke under the watchful eye of the BLAZING GLORY itself ( the benefactor of humankind , kaëltyr , who watches over all souls , indeed took notice of this child … as she took notice of it , looking down upon her with a knowing smile upon its maw ) .

From birth , Verona was considered strange , if not “ill” ; even during baptism , where most infants would shrill and squirm , she was CALM & STILL , her eerily gleaming silver eyes fixed pointedly at a place above the council’s heads , upon a figure none could perceive.  All throughout her infancy , too , Verona gave off this uncanny aura of vigil quietude , hardly ever crying , barely ever stirring ( as if , some said , she was possessed since inception ) .  The Matriarch of the clan disapproved of her immediately , taking note of her eyes and the trance-like stare , the sharp and malignant glint she perceived within them and their demonic appearance ; “OMEN” she called her , and the clan henceforth regarded her as such.

By adolescence , Verona’s traits only grew increasingly more concerning ; her silence preceded her , a “death-like” gait , able to stride about from place-to-place in complete quiet , undetected like a spirit.  She was forced to wear a chime so people could sense her coming ( one , of course , that she would displace onto other children or wandering curses to play tricks on the adults ) .  It became apparent that the Matriarch was right about her eyes , about the strange presence the young girl possessed ; her stare only grew more potent , more pervasive , able to render others within the clan ENTRANCED & ENRAPTURED .  She would use this mean little trick of hers to sneak off-grounds and wander into other clans , leaving her own people struck dumb and dazed for several hours before it was even discovered she’d gone missing.  As punishment , the Matriarch ordained that she wear a blindfold that would suppress this newfound technique of hers ( one only a few others in the clan held at all ) .  Even in wearing it , people continued to say they felt her staring , watching , observing.

Verona swiftly began education , both in the natural order ( science , history , math ) and in combat order ( training her techniques ) .  Because her mother - Prym - was a councilwoman , Verona was tutored also in politics and in the arts , being privately groomed to usurp control of the clan when she reached an appropriate age ( ~16-18 ).  The training regime - for both aspects of her upbringing - were IMMENSELY STRICT and left little room for the young girl to enjoy being a child or to savor her innocent years.

Because the techniques of the clan progressively increase in power ( but also reasonably destabilize ) with each new generation of daughters , it became quickly apparent that Verona was A PRODIGY amongst her classmates , just as her mother was.

Life ( teen - adulthood ) :

Verona , unlike her peers , made for a very troubling , very hard to control young woman.  With immense potential at her disposal , she was arrogant , devious , and cruel , with little moral bounds to speak of.  There was one training session where she continued to exert an illusion onto another young woman , even when being told to stop , until her peer became a sniveling husk that collapsed onto the ground in a drooling , convulsing heap.  And another time , when she was performing the mastery course for a technique when she extricated the soul of her opponent in front of the entire council ( including her mother and the Matriarch ) and proceeded to devour it and the other’s essence in whole.  Appalled , but not entirely surprised , the Matriarch CONDEMNED Verona and her rapidly growing aptitude , denying her any further education and resources.

Prym , however , was stalwart in the idea that she would push Verona to take over the clan and upraise it to new heights.  Although disgusted with her daughter’s practices and brutality , even despite the clan’s own rites , she went against the Matriarch’s wishes and , in blackmailing a few other councilwomen to participate , continued to train Verona.

Verona’s prowess grew to be no secret , a newfound master of the unified trinity - mind , body , spirit - with techniques to match ( necromancy / necrosis ; illusion ; enchantment / possession ) at just 16.  As with all former masters , and due to the nature of the techniques themselves , Verona sacrificed measures of her own mind , body , and spirit to PERFECT EACH ONE , leaving her arguably less human than most of her counterparts in the clan.

And by the following year , at 17 , she challenged the Matriarch for control of the clan : a battle to the death , wherein the loser would be butchered and symbolically consumed by the clan to “return to her daughters”.  Predictably , Verona won and became the new Matriarch , successfully heralding a bloodier era for the Valhyr clan.

Verona was … AMBITIOUS as a leader ( perhaps overly so ) .  And she had every reason to be , with her strength.  However , when she proposed an all-out insurrection against the rest of the Scandinavian territories , she was met with concern ( the clan is too small to survive a war , they warned her , we have the techniques but we don’t have the manpower ) .  But Verona assured them she had the ability to provide the resources.  Confused and mortified , everyone watched as she invoked an “old friend” : KAËLTYR , effectively supplanting it , beseeching it for a boon of both virtue and power.  When Kaëltyr laughed , “You seek a boon to begin a war ?”  Verona , still knelt at its hooves , replied , “Nay , I seek a boon to WIN A WAR , to usher my clan from the shadows and into the light , to stand hand-in-hand beside the divine , as is our right.”  Amused by the response , Kaëltyr granted the request , offering favor , though cautioned that “All great things do fall , as all great people so do too”.

In the 1910s , the clans had fallen into widespread civil upheaval ; a bloody , brutal feud ensued with Verona at the helm , painstakingly claiming the whole of the Scandinavian territory and removing control from former clans , devouring the men and preserving the women to bolster their numbers ( which were already granted leverage by Kaëltyr’s cursed progeny enlisted to their aid ) .  She became known by the moniker , “THE MATRIARCH” ( an infamous warmonger & fearmonger which assuredly earned a place in history henceforth ) .

With control secured and the clan’s numbers increased , a modicum of peaceability had been bartered.  And Verona set out into economic and political affairs ( obviously with a side-business of slaughter ) , one of which was starting up several businesses ( namely a gin company at the end of the brief prohibition era in this time period ; this , still operated in modern-day ) and beginning to seek the company of European society elites ( many of whom had already heard of her various exploits & frowned upon her appearance in the upper-echelons ) .

It was through these jaunts in high society that Verona met Lenore ( aged ~mid-twenties ) , a simple human woman who did not practice Jujutsu sorcery but enraptured her just the same.  Shortly after meeting her , Verona began to court her ( perhaps a little dubiously ) .  And though both respective families disapproved of the union , they married and settled together ; the era of “THE MATRIARCH” dissolved all because of a single woman.

By 30 , Lenore and Verona were living in domestic bliss while the world continued to turn chaotically around them.  Lenore eventually convinced Verona to have a child ; they have a daughter and name her Ravona.  But 4-5 years later , as Verona is out - as usual - speaking to Jujutsu elites , away on business , a raid is performed on the estate , razing it to the ground and arresting several members , executing Lenore and Ravona for the sins committed by Verona herself.  Always privy to death , Verona senses the conflict , but especially the fall of her family , before she has a chance to act any further , she too is seized and contained.  Unwilling to take any chances with her powers , authorities sew her mouth shut , conceal her face , bind her body and chain her in an underground chamber where , they assumed , she would simply rot to death.

But one does not come under attack underprepared.  And again , even in her weakest , even flayed by her grief and scorn , she manages to conjure enough energy to invoke Kaëltyr.  It is uncertain what transpired within Verona’s body within those days she was chained and isolated , but when she was taken to trial , brought before a judge who would assuredly sentence her execution , Kaëltyr was there , amid the masses , commanding all authority , and stating simply , “I reclaim this woman.”  There was nothing to be done about it.  Thus , rather than kill Verona ( & rather than risk insighting the spirit’s terrible wrath ) , those in authority simply sentenced her to exile ( & thus into the god-curse’s hands ) .

Life-Death ( present-day )

Verona is serving a life-debt to Kaëltyr ; having sought its benevolence many a’time through her existence , she has incurred penance to be repaid in full.  Following the god-curse’s proclamation , Verona was inoculated ( she consumed its flesh , she bonded to its immortality & essence , she sold her soul ) and now lives in constant cycle of sacrifice , a process of dying and undying over and over again to not only repay its favor for her , but also to seek the grace of being permanently absolved of her transgressions ( & inevitably death , released from the cycle ) .

Verona is registered as a SPECIAL GRADE CURSE USER ; but categorically exiled and removed from all Jujutsu society for the rest of time.

After having endured the grief of losing the only two people who matter to her , Kaëltyr offered her PEACE ( read as: it removed Verona’s human heart , her body & spirit now remarkably sustained off of Verona’s necromantic technique & Kaëltyr’s immortal will ) .

Because Kaëltyr ( Kaen ) is in Japan , Verona is there , too.  Where it goes , Verona HAS to follow , per their pact.

Verona’s immense negativity conjured a curse some several years ago ; a massive , chimeric entity that tried to kill her when she was asleep.  Rather than kill each other , Verona “tamed” it and named it - Pandora - and it , he , now lives in her shadow , serving as her companion.  Pandora , ever since , has been feeding upon Verona’s sorrow , rage and innate strength and progressively becoming more powerful himself.  They often fight in tandem to one another , together.

Although Verona appears as a woman in her mid-thirties ( she stopped aging ) , she has this uncanny beauty and ethereal aura that speaks to something NOT QUITE HUMAN at all ; too sharp , too predatory , too dangerous... But remarkably alluring.

Verona presently lives like a rich , influential bachelor ( per Kaëltyr’s own influence ) ; she brazenly flaunts her power , flirts with ( married ) women , and continues to manipulate and murder humans , consuming them for sport and pleasure.

Verona is also the last member of her clan’s bloodline.  However , she claims she cannot carry children and thus , when she is released from the cycle of penance , the Valhyr name and likely the power , too , shall die alongside her.

Although the moniker , “THE MATRIARCH” did not carry into the modern-day , she is sometimes known as “St. Valhyr” ( again , something Kaëltyr propagated ) .  The public is privy to this information and are skeptical of whether or not Verona is a legitimately canonized saint … Though some DO IN FACT refer to her by this title.

[strywoven]

guys. do you think ( re: the cursed gramophone + records ) that there are times the souls retaliate against being condemned in such a way and just. mock verona's authority ? consider , she walks into the room and the gramophone - unprompted - kicks on with elvis' "devil in disguise" ( oh yes you are ! ) . and verona is just SEETHING . you cannot tell me that hasn't happened a couple times.

[strywoven]

this is going to come up in a post from the queue but i just want to remind everyone that verona WAS married and DID have a daughter ( before they were brutally butchered & taken from her ) . and while they were alive she had enormous maes hughes energy ; very much , "did i tell you about my beautiful wife and perfect daughter?" and GOD FORBID YOU SAY NO -- because she will show you , i mean DOZENS of photos and chain you down and force-feed you stories about them.

actually , no , i stand corrected. nothing's changed. she still has those pictures and if you so much as breathe a word about lenore and/or ravona , you are sealing your fate ; godspeed , good luck , you will be stuck there with her regaling you about her WONDERFUL , AMAZING , GORGEOUS WIFE AND LOVELY LITTLE DAUGHTER AND WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING THIS IS IMPORTANT , I DO NOT CARE IF I'VE TOLD YOU THIS STORY 10 TIMES --

[strywoven]

alright but liiiike how funny ha-ha would it be that if , sometime prior to kaen's banishment from the celestial plane , they stole verona's essence from the tomb and ESCAPED WITH IT to living world and now everyone is like ??? please do not tell me that little runt has the titan-- please tell me that is not what happened-- and :)) but also consider that kaen makes a pact with verona , for the price of their pure god-soul :)) isn't that just sooo hilarious ?? wait , why aren't you laughing ??

[strywoven]

genuinely what is interesting to me is that verona ... DOES NOT HAVE HER HEART . shortly after she took her wife , she gave her heart ( yes , literally ) to the other woman. and once lenore died , the other titans confiscated the heart and hid it away from verona , believing that by keeping it from her , it would subvert her power. following the seven days of ruin , she did happen to reclaim it from their theft but , amid her grief , she did not consider returning it to her host. so instead , it remains LOCKED AWAY & SEALED ( this , partly because she vainly thought she could distance herself from its emotions & desires ) ; this has been so for the last several centuries. but when i tell you that verona is the sort who would 100% hand over her literal heart to a lover she deems worthy ... i am not joking. straight up , she will kneel and hand you the chest in an act of TRUE OFFERING & DEVOTION .

[strywoven]

note : no-one has to share this thought - nor even agree with it - but the concept i'll be talking about in this post WILL be implemented into my personal canon for certain muses ( knives , verona ) going forward.

physically speaking , plants - and therefore independents , too - share several similar traits to humans ( psychologically , as well , with the disposition to be communally involved / attached to the collective ) . however , i - personally - believe the dimorphism is noticeable with their internal anatomy ; with their organs. namely , the distinction of what the HEART is. the heart of a plant is less an organ and more of a CORE . this core , i believe , resembles something like A STAR ( read as: a cosmic mass of energy , a cumulative source of power & essence ) .

the core does actually function in the same manner a heart would , fueling and nourishing the body , keeping it sustained and very much alive ; to remove the core is to immediately destabilize and destroy the entity it is attached to ( no-one has been able to survive doing so considering these cores are pure energy , light & sound ; performing an extraction is oftentimes lethal for all parties ) . and also , much like a star , it shifts through various lifestates to accentuate the wellness of the given plant.

in example , verona's core is currently in a volatile , near-end state following her massive frenzy many years ago. in essence , her core went nearly SUPERNOVA , tearing apart her body and producing an incredible destructive force the likes of which still bear burden on her body nowadays.

we could also go so far as to speculate these cores potentially act as seeds ; they are likely the first pieces of a plant to take shape , the rest of the entity growing / forming around it.

i also imagine the core is a potential source of the frequencies plants give off , each sound / song unique to the specific plant.

although it is not advised to come into contact with a core - unless of the same species , where a core-connection is oftentimes a sign of great bonding - verona has been known to "give pieces" of her own to others ; lenore , pandora and now kaen ( but also sloan who did so on accident during a confrontation ) , have all in some way come into contact with her core and been severely ( if not violently , detrimentally ) impacted by it.

[strywoven]

what is : THE SEVEN DAYS OF RUIN ? ( pertains to main verse & trigun verse )

main verse —

oftentimes when asking verona exactly WHY she was removed from her post amongst the divine hierarchy and forced into exile ( entombed for several centuries ) , she will likely evade the question , refuse to answer you directly.  however , get close enough to her and the presence of the past begins to infringe on the present ; for as kind as she deigns to be , she cannot quite expel the ache of the sin that served as the impetus for her fellows severing her from the celestial plane.

although not explicitly mentioned in the context of her “biography” portion , i have mentioned ( as much as she has ) that she had a wife and daughter ( lenore & ravona , respectively ) .  it is not hyperbole to say that verona’s ENTIRE WORLD revolved around these two.  in a time when she was becoming more powerful , a more prominent figurehead in the pantheon and dismantling the strength of the other titans , there began a coup to ruin her able and ready succession as the titan of war ( as much as her intentional reign over the pantheon & the chaos which would surely follow with it ) .  the titan of death - who served as a constant source of contention for anything verona did - personally caused the massacres of both lenore and ravona ; the corpses mutilated and destroyed , their souls reduced to little more than fragments , thrown to the farthest wastes of the cosmos , never to be seen again.  verona , for all her prowess , had no means to bring them back ( at least , not whole ; not as they were , not without ruining them in the process ) .

she was inconsolable.  

in her maddened state of grief , verona unleashed a massive calamity the likes of which the pantheon had NEVER SEEN before then.  she raged for seven days and seven nights , her form disfigured and shaped as some cosmic , many-eyed / many-winged entity ; all blindingly aflame , setting alight anything and everything in her path , opening infernal maw and swallowing things whole ( soul & all ) .  the amount of sheer destruction verona caused created a wound on the celestial plane that still , to this day , the pantheon has yet to recover from completely.  some gods , those who were wounded and those who managed to find shelter , say they are still haunted by the screams ( both verona’s & the cries of the dying ) , by the smell of the carnage , by the look of FRENZY in the she-titan’s face ( by the streaks of tears smearing a bloodied , burning countenance ) .

as you might imagine , this expended much of her energy and it left her EXHAUSTED & EXTINGUISHED .  this became the perfect time to launch a counter-attack , to throw the god-eating monstrosity into shackles and fling her into her ( near-permanent ) tomb.  and for a while , the celestial plane knew peace , knew order.  but , as with anything , it was not eternal ; but verona’s sense of RAGE & GRIEF certainly seemed to be , and she will likely confess that these were the only things that kept her warm and alive in her time imprisoned.

trigun verse —

not much is different for this setting.  as a consequence of humans purposefully killing her wife and daughter , verona retaliated by causing an act of annihilation that - quite literally - went down in history ( & likely did not go unnoticed by her fellows , if i had to guess ) .  it was rather recent , too , being approx. 60 or so years ago.

her destruction took a toll not only on the lives of humanity , but on the planet itself , leaving wounds on its face that not even the sands can cover completely ( blackened streaks , broken & cavernous ground , all irradiated with remnant echoes of a strange , uncannily harrowing energy ) .  this event is written in texts - both educational and fictional - as ‘ the seven days of ruin ’ .  those who witnessed the event cite it as being CATACLYSMIC ; like some cosmic force suddenly dropped from the sky and burned a warpath through the world and everything upon it.  others have called it CELESTIAL in nature , believing it a sign as THE END OF DAYS ( something inevitably perpetuated by verona’s later actions as much as knives’ ) .

the only reason verona stopped her destruction was because pandora intervened , begging with her , PLEADING with her , “please , see reason , are you willing to destroy yourself for this ?  find peace , ronnie !”  to which verona , with her many voices simply replied , “is this not reasonable ?  is this not deserved ?  there shall never be peace again , that i can assure you.”

pandora went so far as to take a knee in front of her and OFFER HIS LIFE to save the rest of humanity from her revolt ; he bargained with her , making a deal to coax her to “come home”.  inevitably , verona accepted and went back to wellspring ( a town markedly sitting atop one of these mass graves she created ) , and fell into a sort of stasis for a time.  verona may not be keen to admit to it , but this took a great deal of her strength and , by extension , drained a portion of her life-energy.

verona has a painting rendition of the ‘ seven days ’ .  it sits in her manor by the piano , where anyone can see it and question her about it ( but good luck getting a direct answer ) .  the people of wellspring are AWARE of her being the source of the event , but also will not talk about the fact.

i cannot stress enough the fact that , in either verse , verona nearly DESTROYED HERSELF over grief. and she still has not come to terms with these emotions , with the loss of her wife and daughter. her resentment runs deeper than you can possibly imagine.

[strywoven]

although an antiquated practice by the standards of today's MODERN GODS ( foolish as they seem to be to her & her brood ) , verona did indeed indulge the rite of sacrifice. though only ever if the boon requested would warrant such a toll ; the price paid , after all , must equate to what is asked. the idea that the titan of war "collected virgins" became a HIGHLY PROPOGATED phenomena , one that verona did not even attempt to thwart in her younger eras. such a defilement of own power and mantle was simply another reason her fellows thought less and less of her over time ; such was a reason she continued to accrue more power. there was , however , always a stipulation to her demands : she would never take sons or men of any kind ... it must always be the women ( ones wives and daughters were never safe when bartering with her , that was for sure ) .

oddly , some stories claim verona never actually devoured or destroyed any of the women she "stole". there's no clear consensus as to what happened to those souls ; some say she gathered them and kept them safe and far from the plague of humanity , some claim she granted them an essence of her power and made them into a coven ... there's no real answers.