Once upon a time

“Hah, yeah, your name’s a bit long. How about just Pon? Three letters, like mine.”

Ree moves their hands again — P-O-N. Seems simple enough. The little champion gives an encouraging smile.

“It takes a bit gettin’ used to! But hey, you’ll get the hang of it. I did, and I’m not very smart, so…”

They keep signing as they speak. The best way to do this is immersion. They don’t know why they know that.

“See? It’ll get easier in no time.”

Ogerpon sighs exhausted, but shows zero sign of wavering. Instead her face takes on a determined look, and after shifting to move her mask into her lap so she can have it closer and worry less about losing it, she tries again - this time, as Ree suggests, only going for the three letter shortening.

"P-o-n." Once again, each letter pronounced accompanied by the appropriate sign. Her fingers shake but Ogerpon's elated when she gets it done.

"Ah!" Her exclaim basically lights up her face all on its own and she kicks her feet a little in the sand, lightly kicking some of it against Ree's feet. A light gesture of teasing and play.

"Pon!" She signs her name again. And again, again, again. Her eyes sparkle with pride and excitement and Ogerpon beams a bright smile at Ree.

#skullkxd

“Yeah! Sign and talk. It’s a little easier to do both at the same time for me.”

Ree keeps signing as they talk — a little slower, so Pon can follow along. They bring their hands together, and then out.

“For names — there’s two ways. Finger spellin’ and then sign names. Let’s start with finger spellin, so you get used to that. Here.”

Ree holds their hand out, forming an R, and then an E, and another E. They hold their hand back to their chest.

“That’s my name, Ree. For ogerpon… it’s…”

they sign an O, a G, an E, followed by an R, and then a P, another O, and an N.

“See? Like this.”

Ogerpon watches them do the signing, the grass type trying to memorize as much of it as possible. One by one, she imitates each sign with her clumsier fingers, but it's only when she tries to do the finger signing of each letter that she somewhat seems to get a hang of the concept of it.

First,

"R-e-e?" Each letter pronounced accompanied by a slow but determined sign.

Her own name seems a little too long for her yet, though. She attempts it, but Ogerpon increasingly keeps finding herself stumbling, getting a little frustrated with herself.

She growls in frustration, quickly knocking her knuckles against her own forehead, minding her horns, as though trying to chastise herself. Luckily, she doesn't do it very hard.

"Pon..."

#skullkxd

horrificmemes

Questions for Immortals/Ancients

For ancient and/or immortal muses, here are some questions to build your headcanons!

😇Do you think you’ll ever experience an afterlife? 😷Do you have any weaknesses that could challenge your lifespan? 👥Have you met others like you? 👨‍👨‍👦Are you part of a family of ancients/immortals? 🎈Do you remember the start of your life? How long ago was it? 💔Is there anyone from your past that you missed for a long time? 😢Do you still think about people you knew years, even centuries, ago? 👶Do you have children? If you don’t, do you think they would be like you? 🍼 Would you ever consider having offspring with a mortal? 📕Do you ever run out of things to be curious about? 📗What is one of the most valuable things you’ve learned? 📘In the remainder of your life, what else do you hope to learn? 💀What is your opinion on death and mortality in general? 🥀Do you create bonds with mortals or avoid getting attached? ☹ Talk about your memory of a tragedy you’ve witnessed. 🖤Do you believe immortality changes someone for the worst? 🕗In your time, what has been one of the most interesting time periods? ⏳Do you ever wish you had a mortal lifespan? 😿Is there any one person you would sacrifice your immortality for? 🎁Name one thing that never gets old or loses its charm for you. 🔮Have you ever considered (or looked for) ways to end your immortality? 🤡How do you deal with avoiding suspicion while living forever? ✨Other than immortality, do you have other supernatural abilities? 🌱What is one thing about the world you’ve come to appreciate? 🌼Have you traveled? If so, name one place that you love the most. 💾Do you ever have trouble with new technology? 💗Is there one mortal in your life you will never forget? 🎼What is your opinion on how music, art, and culture has changed? 💕Do you think two immortals could handle one another’s company forever? 🙄How do you handle boredom and monotony? 💿What is one (or more) inventions you’re thankful exist in your current time? 👿Would you ever use your power and knowledge to destroy? 🌋Do you think you will be alive to see the end of the world? 🗻Do you ever want to escape society altogether for a while? 🤠Have you ever disguised yourself or gone by different names?

#Ask box

It takes Ree a second to connect the dots on what she means. When they do, though, they snap their fingers.

“Oh. Yeah! Yeah. I can teach you. Easy as pie.”

They do not in fact know if this is easy as pie, it. Well. That’s fine. They’ll figure it out.

“Let’s see … uh… maybe …” they move their hands, again, as they talk. “Clearly you can. But maybe it’ll be easier for ya if I teach you to sign and talk at the same time?”

#FINALLY gomen im so slow jesus #adhd makes me distracted 24/7 #skullkxd

"Sign... talk." Her reply is quiet but concentrated as Ogerpon attempts to follow Ree's suggestion. She sits in a crosslegged position in the sand before Ree, and lifts her leafy wingarms, the leaves shifting to resemble hands a little more closely. It's not perfect, and her fingers are just as lithe as they were earlier, but Ogerpon's so pumped for the opportunity to learn this that she seems entirely oblivious to the potential that she might fuck it up.

Let's not immediatly catastrophize, though!

Ogerpon wonders for a second if it was okay for her to just sit out here like this where humans can just see her, but ... it'd taken a while for Ree to learn she's a pokemon, so, normal people would probably from afar not be able to tell she's not human either, right?

"Pon!" She nods to confirm. Teaching talking and signing at the same time was a great idea!

"Name?"

pathologising

why cant I just bite people when they piss me off like what's the fucking issue here

my two favorite legendaries would get along exactly like this i dont care what you say

(also yesterday i looked at my previous post and it was at 80 notes and now it's at fucking 1200 WHAT IS HAPPENING I DONT USE THIS SITE A LOT YET THANK YOU SO MUCH A)

#SELF #OHHHHHH

“Ogerpon.”

Well. That ups the chance that she’s a Pokémon pretty damn high. Though, they don’t know what ultra humans name their kids, so…

They grin, before offering a hand.

“Aight, bet. It’s nice to meet you, ogerpon.”

They’ve met stranger Pokémon. Ogerpon is fine as she is. And she’s calmed down significantly since her earlier panic, which is also a win.

#skullkxd #food m/#i love them ur honor

She looks at their offered hand, then smiles, now confident in the friendliness in this person. Her fingers are light, lithe, with an almost orchid like elegance, but clearly a little roughed up from frequent use. They also almost fluidly seem to face into long, large leaves that gave the appearance of.... feathers?

She also clearly has tiny claws. Not big or sharp enough to actually harm anyone, and looking more like clawlike fingernails, but they exist.

When she hears them say her name again, Ogerpon can't help but smile and giggle, her face lighting up. She shakes Ree's hand.

"Not. Good. Words." she points at herself with her free winghand, a little embarassed. "Learn?"

“hell yeah. Down the hatch.”

Ree takes the half offered and pops it into their mouth. It’s a frosting covered one, which indicates it’s cotton candy— good choice, good choice.

She really does remind them of Silva. It’s kind of funny. Nostalgic.

“I’m Ree, by the way,” they say after they finish chewing, pointing to themself. “Just Ree.”

Ogerpon relaxes a bit, now sitting down in the soft sand fully, her legs crossed. She likes the frosting, and decides to take another out of the box, when Ree introduces themselves to her, or rather, tells her their name. Now she has a name to call her new friend!

"Heh-! Ree. Ree!" She points at them. It's a good name! One she can say very easily. One that easily rolls off her tongue. (Thank you Arceus that it wasn't a more complicated one haha!)

She then turns her fingerpointing at herself as she pops another cookie into her mouth. "Uhm..." She averts her eyes, another small wave of sheepishness, one she didn't manage to fight off this time.

It's very quiet when she finally manages to introduce herself.

"Ogerpon."

They don’t comment when she takes off her mask. Don’t want to spook her by calling attention to things. It’s better to act casual about this stuff, right?

Seems like she’s enjoying the cookie. Ree takes another sweet treat and breaks it in half again, popping that one into their mouth too.

They don’t know what sort of things Pon has had to go through. But they don’t need to know. Just show kindness and generosity and the rest should be a piece of cake.

“I make these, as a side hustle,” they comment, rolling the other half of the cookie between their fingers. “It’s a lot of fun. I sell em sometimes, to people who want em. Whaddya think? Tasty, or nah?”

She doesn't know what a "side hustle" is, but it also doesn't really matter to her in that moment. What's more important is that Ogerpon decides that these cookies are, indeed, pretty good, and she graciously accepts the other half of the second cookie, popping that one into her mouth as well.

Hmmmmh. These definitely taste sweet, but not any flavors she readily recognizes. She likes em tho! She gives Ree a somewhat shy, but definitely goofy grin and a thumbs up. "Good. Tasty!" She grins a fangy grin, then takes the initiative. The young oni decides it's her turn now to reach into the box and take a cookie, breaking it in half and eating the first one.

She then offers the other to Ree in turn.

“Yeah, they’re snacks. Look.”

Ree pops the top off, showing the cookies. These ones are leftover from valentines — bright pink, strawberry and cherry and cotton candy and pepto bismol flavors. Ree picks one up, snapping it in half before popping one piece into their mouth, sowing her the inside.

“See? They’re tasty. Or. Most of em, anyway. You can have the whole box if you want.”

They just have to take certain flavors out…

Regardless. They’re glad Pon isn’t freaking out too hard about any of this. It’s weird, but like, Ree doesn’t mind.

“Promise they’re safe.”

Oh she's still very upset don't worry- but that's inside feelings, her own problems! At this moment she startles a little when the lid pops off, but the snacks inside do smell very delicious.

Ogerpon watches Ree break one cookie apart and show her it's insides, and she looks with great interest, watches them chew, and then decides to take the other half of the same cookie from them. Gently so, as to not accidentily hurt them somehow with erratic behaviour.

"Okay. Snack." She hesitates for another moment, giving Ree a long look through her mask as though to try and assess by their facial expression wether or not Ree had actually meant it when they tried to calm her down.

Maybe trust was something given, not earned. Her shoulders, previously tense, seem to relax and in doing so lower their position by a little. Ogerpon now takes her sparkling mask off, deciding to show trust and willingly let Ree see her face.

She's still embarassed, but she'd have to do this eventually, if they were really going to be her friend.

She's about to eat her half of the cookie, when she pauses, failing to make eyecontact. God damn it, she hates how shy she is. Get a grip, Ogerpon!

She eats the cookie, chewing thoughtfully, using her thoughtful chewing as an excuse not to look at Ree directly. Totally thoughtfully, of course.

“Hey — it’s okay.”

They know she’s not human — probably some sort of Pokémon, though she might be from an ultra wormhole? — but Ree’s chill with it. They hold up their hands, trying to tell her that it’s really fine.

“You can hide if you need to, but I don’t mind. Whatever you’re chill with is fine with me.”

She must be hungry, though, with how she basically inhaled her treat. Ree’s hands move to their pockets, before they pull out … a Tupperware of cookies.

“You want some of these too?”

#skullkxd #Food m/#nothing quite as well working for making friends as feeding the random kid that got u out of a pithole

It sounds to her like they're trying to calm her down, and Ogerpon fidgets with her leafy fingertips in response, thinking about it. Language barriers have a way of making communication hard in such a profound way, but... well, if she can't talk well with words, maybe in another way she could?

Ree had used these hand gestures before. Maybe those can help? She wondered what they mean and if she can learn them.

But in the meanwhile, her fidgeting stills, and she looks at Ree for a little longer as they dig into their pockets to show them... is that a box?

She's still a little shy. She doesn't like how she looks- but maybe it really is okay? If that box holds more snacks...

Ogerpon mentally slaps some confidence back into herself. "Pon!" She moves a little closer again, crouching in the sand before Ree, first looking at them, their face, then the tupperware box.

She reaches out, her finger- or was it a leafy feather?- about to touch the box, then hesitating for just one other moment.

"S...snack?" phrased as a question, both of if she'd said that word right and if this are, in fact, snacks.

Then she touches the box. Feels weird- must be plastic.

WOAH. Okay. She doesn’t know about personal space, but Ree’s too startled to protest —

that, and this girl?

Her face definitely isn’t human.

That’s …

Okay. Yeah. Okay.

They can work with this.

Ree blinks a little, face being squished by lithe little hands, and snorts softly.

“Yeah, yeah. Your tongue is red too.” They flip their Rotomphone into selfie mode to show her. “See? Pretty cool, right? Some foods can turn your tongue all sortsa colors.”

That phone flies! It reminds her of the rotomphones she'd seen back in Paldea and Kitakami with her other friends. Ogerpon seems mesmerized with the flying phone and the image of herself it projects, giggling when she sees her own tongue is all red as well.

Then she realizes. Jumping off of Ree, on whom she'd basically perched at that point literally just moments ago, scrambling to grasp her mask out of the sand as the vine that had been always touching it as a theft alarm of sorts lifts it for her and Ogerpon covers her face again with it.

She's. She's so embarassed. She presses her face into the soft wood and crystals as though it gives her comfort. Does Ree think she looks weird? She looks weird, doesn't she?

She stands back up, feeling a bit better now that she has her mask on her face again. Can she still save the assumption for Ree that she's just a weird human kid? She hopes so. She doesn't want there to be a weird wall of sorts because she isn't human.

That makes making friends so hard, she'd found over time.

“Yeah, you’re welcome. Don’t stress about it. I’m the one who should be thankin’ you.”

After all, she helped them get unstuck out in Maile. It was the least they could do, right? Ree sticks out their tongue — stained red.

“Hey. Check it out. It changes your tongue color.”