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〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Verity Willis
CHARACTER AGE: 'Early to mid-twenties', says Ewing. I'll stick her at 24.
SERIES: Marvel 616
CHRONOLOGY: Loki: Agent of Asgard #8
CLASS: Neutral party, leaning more toward good. Verity isn't a hero or a villain, she's one of those largely unremarkable New Yorkers who watches the supes on the news.
HOUSING: Maurtia Falls, Residence 001.

BACKGROUND:

From a world relatively the same as our own, superheroes and supervillains are as common as cereal and attacks in New York are practically a weekly event. With the likes of the Avengers, Young Avengers, X-Men and numerous other groups floating around, Verity is an Every Man who usually only sees such things on the news (as she mentions wryly to Enchantress, "The last time I saw you, it was on a news bulletin telling me to lock my doors and windows.") and ranks as one of the unnamed masses until one day, at a speed-dating cafe, she happens to see through one of Loki's illusions without knowing it and ingratiates herself into the life of the Norse God of Mischief. She dubs herself a 'human lie detector', a relatively unremarkable talent/power to own in a world where people can blast things with rays from their eyeballs and bend reality itself. Her role, as a result, is one of a supporting character in Loki: Agent of Asgard who was written specifically into the story to rebuff all of Loki's attempts at deception and to help him along the way to bettering himself. She essentially pops up in between all of Loki's adventures or cameos mid-way through as a grounding force, a touchstone for decency.

PERSONALITY:

A relatively normal young woman, Verity owns the power to see through any lie. First introduced as a discontented speed-dater, she inadvertently called attention to herself by snapping at every man who lied to her face about their intentions or profession and, owing to her special gift, never noticed that when Loki sat down in front of her wearing an illusion she immediately saw through; he was veiled as an older man, yet she saw the truth of his horned, armoured form. Throughout her entire life, Verity has been dissatisfied with falsehoods, not only because she can't turn off the gift that acts "Like the noisy baby in the movie theater that spoils the whole film" but for the simple reason she wanted to believe in the fantastical. So much so, to the point that she had fairies tattooed up her arms to reflect these deep desires. Up until she meets Loki, Verity explains that she could never watch films, read fantasy novels, or even believe in Santa, instead taking up refuge in physics and mathematics, subjects which had certain outcomes and caused her no distress.

With a power essentially "shouting at her", her suspension of belief never for a moment takes flight until the God of Mischief sits down and tells her the absolute truth of who he is, shattering the suffocating cage she lives in; her gift is finally silent when she listens to wonderful stories and Loki is "a link to an ongoing true story of fantasy and magic and heroes". With their newfound friendship comes a bond which isn't based on Verity fearing being lied to or in danger of growing easily irate, mostly because Loki wants to be "better" and not to have to resort to lying in the first place (which will all come to a head when, the writer states, he can't in future issues). For all that Verity hasn't had the best experiences with making friends, given to wonder if Loki isn't her best friend despite his faults, she never lets him walk over her, setting rules for how she's comfortable allowing him to utilise her power during one of his missions. When he breaks her trust (lying by omission), she storms into his apartment and demands to know what was so important that he couldn't treat her like a human being. When Sigurd flirts with her, introduced as Asgard's first hero, she refuses to be impressed and calls him a creep to his face.

Verity has had a tough time growing up without adventure or fantasy, which she would love to immerse herself in, yet she isn't weaker for having missed out on any of it. She can laugh at her situation, even tattooing herself with the 'lies' that bother her just because she likes the idea of them so much. She's steadfast, more than anything. This is a trait best shown when she involves herself in overseeing Loki's development, something Verity's character was directly written to achieve through her power. Nevertheless, by exchanging the same line with him ("Thanks for the lie") when white lies are necessary to keep them both calm, they level with each other easily. "What do you need" and "It's okay, I'm right here" are comments she makes when Loki loses the majority of his confidence, there to buoy his spirits. No longer is she just a rapt listener greedily drinking down the amazing tales Loki can tell her, she cares for his well-being and counts him as one of the most important people in her life.

Which is why she holds herself back, on the verge of tears, when a magically-bewitched Loki tells her he has no time for mortals.

It's not enough that he tells her he doesn't want anything to do with her, she brushes off the cruel words in favour of recalling his earnestness in begging her to "Trust me, trust in me, Verity". Loki's bewitched meanness forces her to face the fact that the former God of Evil, once just one more costumed reason to lock her door, is in fact very much a part of her best friend's history and can't be discounted. Amora tells Loki that Verity is "a mortal who can't even see the bad in you", which isn't necessarily true, it's just that Verity believes in Loki's desire to overcome his worse traits and rise above, first and foremost. He asked her to trust him, sincerely, so that is what she does with dogged devotion, applying to Lorelei for help navigating "all this magic stuff". She plies his case when he is locked up in a cube outside of time and space, earnest in the belief that he is at the very least owed the chance to improve on his past. In addition to supplying a supportive role, she guides more than Loki's morals and figures out a plan all on her own when it comes to fixing Latveria's hateful state of affairs by exacerbating the Sword of Truth's abilities, leading Loki with a viable plan of action without pause for thought.

A touchstone for truth, Verity had lived surrounded by lies constantly screaming at her from all directions. In the maniacal mess of it all, when she finally found a friend who "said sorry when he screwed up and meant it", much like the way she inked determination into her very skin, she determinedly believed in the best of him despite all evidence to the contrary. She continues to do so.

Verity isn't a genius or the owner of outrageous superpowers, she won't be the one running into a battle with guns blazing. Even so, she proves that there are different ways of staying strong.

POWER:

• (CANON) LIE DETECTION Always knows when she's being lied to. It hasn't been specified exactly how, an innate ability since childhood, but she can also see through illusions. It doesn't matter if she's looking through a computer screen from a thousand miles away, she can still see the truth regardless. Her detections have limits, however. For example, if she asks someone their favorite color and they lie with 'blue', she would not immediately know the real answer, only that blue is definitely wrong.

( "I can see through any lie, remember? Even sarcasm." / "I see through lies, doesn't mean I can't tell any." )

• (GAME-GRANTED) TELEPATHY Acting as scaffolding for expanding upon her current ability to detect lies. Whenever she senses deception and as her ire/anger over it escalates, the white static 'noise' in her head starts to focus and helps her to read the mind of the liar. Lies will act as a catalyst for honing her telepathy, which will both infuriate and make it more difficult to gain control over this power, rather than making it simple. Surface-level mind-reading has to be practised consistently and wards implemented.