Summary: Emmet wakes up alone on a mountain, not knowing how he got there, but certain he wasn't there before then. And yet, it seems as if the few pokemon and people he meets recognize him...?
zekingo and reshingo's first impressions of volo are starkly different, haha.
zekingo's first impression is of someone who has strong Ideals (over time, those Ideals get stronger, but they also become darker, filled with anger and hatred). He likes this, but the more he interacts with volo the less he likes. Once Volo figures out zekingo can sense Ideals (even if he doesn't know the specifics of ingo's ability) he tends to avoid zekingo
reshingo, however. volo is absolutely RANCID with lies. something in reshingo's instincts is SCREAMING at him about volo. to fight against this, punish the one who dares speak and act such lies in the presence of Truth Incarnate.
needless to say, volo tries to avoid reshingo from the very beginning lol (makes it a bit difficult to navigate mount coronet, but he makes it work.)
a couple weeks ago i was looking through my ancient submas posts (i do Not remember why lmao) and came across this one and very dearly wanted to redraw it. so. gestures vaguely
emmet with a shocked, lax frown, and Ingo with an elated smile. their characteristic mouth-shapes reversed
so remember the thing about how the rift above mt coronet is what seems to effect him?
yeah. well. distortions are like mini dramatic rifts, you know? and. well,
we've seen what rifts have done to pokemon that have some kind of "Divine" power, whether it be through blessings like the noble pokemon, or are legendaries themselves like palkia and dialga.
needless to say, ingo uhh. ingo doesn't like distortions <3
he doesn't know why, either. just that whenever he gets near them, something Happens but he can never actually remember.
so remember the thing about how the rift above mt coronet is what seems to effect him?
yeah. well. distortions are like mini dramatic rifts, you know? and. well,
we've seen what rifts have done to pokemon that have some kind of "Divine" power, whether it be through blessings like the noble pokemon, or are legendaries themselves like palkia and dialga.
needless to say, ingo uhh. ingo doesn't like distortions <3
he doesn't know why, either. just that whenever he gets near them, something Happens but he can never actually remember.
since he's got thems draconic traits. he's a bit toasty! and fluffy!
the pearl clan kids LOVE him, especially what with how cold the icelands get. personal heater! PRIME cuddle real estate!!!! and even though he looks intimidating he's actually really nice and always takes the time to play with them
so even though he's weird and kinda scary sometimes and very clearly not human. kids are kinda attached to him lolllll.
kinda back with the themes of the clan accepting him despite his VERY blatant oddness and inhuman traits
You dont have to answer me at all if it feels like Im annoying or if you dont know yet what direction you want to take your au, but I am curious! Dry boiler au looks really interesting! How does the Pearl Clan feel about Ingo? I saw you mentioning that he wins them over with time, but I imagine at the beginning it must be hard, do they think he is something sent from Sinnoh or just a weird fucking guy that showed up there one day? Is he able to communicate with pokemon and is that how he gets his team? Also, how is Emmet dealing with all of this? Does he know more about where Ingo might be in this au than in Fulcrum?
eeeehehhehe multiple questions yayyy an excuse to yap <3
How does the Pearl Clan feel about Ingo? I saw you mentioning that he wins them over with time, but I imagine at the beginning it must be hard, do they think he is something sent from Sinnoh or just a weird fucking guy that showed up there one day?
i thiiiink i mention something about this in my next backlog post but i'll say it here as well and Elaborate Much. also bringing this mini comic back since it's relevant;
When the spacetime distortions first began to appear in Hisui, they were met with a region-wide panic. Eventually they learned that they were harmless as long as you stay away from them, and that they only appear in certain locations.
But when Ingo appears, that understanding hadn't been established. They were terrifying.
When they hear an unholy, wretched scream from a creature within one in the Icelands-- a hunting party caught by surprise far too close for comfort being the ones who discovered it-- this only supports that fear further for any witnesses. There's Something in there, something Big from what little they can see through the distance and filmy walls of the distortion.
But then the distortion fades and leaves behind a prone form in the snow. It's seemingly human at first, until someone notices the way the snow has already begun to melt around the body, the individual's claws and fangs, just inhuman enough to set off an instinctual disturbance.
They fear it, but they also fear the potential repercussions of abandoning it. Is it a trick, a trap? While it's not a zoroark's illusion, there are many other creatures out there. Or is it a trial sent by Almighty Sinnoh itself, testing their compassion? (the Icelands are cruel and harsh, so they must be kind to combat it and keep their hearts warm.)
Eventually they decide to bring it back to the settlement, give it a place to rest and recover before being sent away. If it really is dangerous, they can defend against it, but if it's not then they would have to live with knowing they neglected to help something in need. They don't expect it to stay very long.
and then Ingo wakes up. and things get Weird.
This individual, whether it be pokemon or human is clearly not capable of surviving on its own in the icelands at first; It can communicate with human speech, but that only makes it more clear how delirious and disoriented he is, the fact he has no memory at all. (They're inclined to believe him, for some reason, despite the lack of a way to verify his claims.).
(When it first wakes up, there is a feeling of Presence. A similar Presence to the Blessed Pokemon, a similar Presence to what one experiences around the Temple of Sinnoh.)
It becomes pretty clear that whatever this is, it's not ready to be tossed out into the wilds just yet.
After a few days, as Ingo starts to become more oriented, they start to get to know him better. For his appearance, he's shockingly polite. Having expected something more animalistic, simple or broken speech, he's also incredibly well-spoken and eloquent, even if the phrases and metaphors he uses don't make sense sometimes. He might Look strange and pokemon-like, but he seems to be able to converse like a human (albeit a Weird one).
They eventually decide to welcome him into the clan for a number of reasons. (doesn't have anywhere to go, could be a trial from Sinnoh, is genuinely kind, etc). He's pretty weak and unable to do much for a couple weeks, so most of what he does is stay within the settlement and talk to others, do daily, low-energy tasks, etc.
bbbbuuuuut once he does fully recover, the animalistic behaviors start to become obvious. It makes people wary, and there are scandalous whispers of if it was a good idea to keep him in the clan. Not anything genuine or serious enough to sway they decision, but it does get pretty uncomfortable for Ingo in the clan for a while.
Despite that, they DO eventually warm up to him. Partially because he's just so genuine and kind and warm and polite! And partially because he's willing to risk harm to protect the clan. Soemthing something settlement gets attacked, alpha pokemon of Some kind, and Ingo singlehandedly is able to chase it off.
He gets a little hurt, and it's the beginning of the damage to his coat, but after that the clansfolk realize he really isn't a threat to them, despite all his dangerous traits and the fact he's not fully human.
so yeah. to answer your question; at first it's pretty rocky, but it gets a lot better eventually. they do think his creature traits are freaky, and they do consider the From Sinnoh aspect lol
NEXT
Is he able to communicate with pokemon and is that how he gets his team?
ABSOLUTELY able to communicate with/understand pokemon! haven't really worked out any details on how he gets his team, tho. Regardless, it would undoubtedly have SOME influence on it. Maybe other pokemon think his team is weird for treating this freaky pokemon-thing like a human.
Also, how is Emmet dealing with all of this? Does he know more about where Ingo might be in this au than in Fulcrum?
Emmet is! uh. GOOD QUESTION. i haven't thought about what happens there yet, so maybe we'll come back to it but for now it's a big ole shrug.
ingo's appearance will shift smoothy between human and dragon, as mentioned; i've done a Lot of playing around with what he'd look like at various different "states" so here's some in somewhat chronological order. debatable levels of "canon" design
he CAN somewhat control how much he transforms, but not fully.
Something about the rift above mount coronet prevents him from appearing fully human...
that, and he doesn't really remember how to stay consistently one way ljdfksjklfsjlfsdksjfkl
but because he can somewhat control it slightly, he can occasionally suppress the dragon traits. this usually happens when he visits jubilife (though the question is, is that due to the distance from the rift or the accidental masking metaphor lol)
but generally he's just kinda vaguely creature in a way that is ALMOST human but just not quite, as has been consistently shown through all of the drawings of him as a human
anyway uh. @cuz-reasons newest fic. mer au thingy. they mentioned in the notes that giratina's like a bobbin worm to them and i Immediately had to do something about it
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
made him as reshiram look a Little different than "canon" (ie gave him Arms) mostly because i wanted it to be distinct from fulcrum au. so here in this "interpretation" it's like. reshiram and zekrom are formed from human concepts. it only stands to reason that their appearance would change slightly due to the general perception of the human populace yeah? so over the millennia, they've had slightly different appearances. the "current" being as pictured ^^^
(on that note: reshiram and zekrom use literally any pronouns. anything that a human refers to them as, is what they use. the most "common" ones are the most "preferred" but there's no real Actual preference.)
that up there is one of the original drawings but over time doodling it's shifted a little bit and here's a super duper recent one of full dragon reshingo. arguably kinda more a matter of stylistic differences as time has gone on tbh
AND! on the thing about reshiram and zekrom looking slightly different, i did play around with a zekrom design as well. kinda did a little bit of pangolin inspiration here
#also ingo in the third pic under the cut looks like a fuckin barn cat lmao
@cuz-reasons funny you say that;
he's got some Interesting Behaviors. definitely a few creature-ish instincts. lol. occasionally he'll wander away from the clan settlement and come back with a small 'mon like how a cat brings back a mouse
he's very good at hunting! he loves to help the clan! they have given up trying to get him to use actual hunting tools...
definitely some of his more off-putting behaviors, but they still love their fluffy warm silly guy <3
new twin dragons au dropped ("new" -> been procrastinating posting it to tumblr since last. uh. last june. almost a year. just about exactly 11 months specifically. whoopsies.)
ANYWAY. the. there's some stuff i've wanted to do with dragons and submas that can't happen with fulcrum au's rules At All. so i decided. why not just make a whole new au. also why not switch who's who while i'm at it :)
and thus my own take on a reshiram ingo was born
essentially: here, the difference between forms is like a spectrum, rather than a switch like fulcrum au's. there's Fully Human and Fully Dragon, but then everything in between as well. though they both prefer to be Fully Human/Dragon.
When reshingo gets Got to hisui, his hold on his "human" form wavers; with the weird spacetime stuff going on and the amnesia, he constantly has slight draconic traits too that human form.
READMORE BECAUSE THIS BEASTIE GETS LONG, FELLAS
will also include a lot of the art from the very beginning so some of it is kinda old/outdated LOL
very normal human guy who's got fangs and claws and weird eyes and can occasionally breathe smoke and fire. his hair is a little longer and kinda floats. mega fluffy sideburns :) also whiskers i gave him real long whiskers because For Fun. sometimes he's got fur or little feathers here and there? yeah dw about it that's just ingo bein silly :P
the first few drawings:
when he first shows up in hisui; pearl clan little hunting or foraging group come across a strange distortion. distortions are always dangerous, but in this one even from the outside, you can see the silhouette of a massive, raging beast ...
when it passes, they investigate the site for anything left behind, and come across ingo. Even though the circumstances of his arrival are suspicious, they still decided to bring him to the settlement. None of them in good conscience would be able to leave someone behind to freeze in the snow.
but when the bring him inside to recover and look him over for signs of injury or frostbite, they start noticing strange things about his appearance. Sharp fangs, claw-like nails, nictitating membrane (the "third" eyelid that you see in a lot of animals that humans don't have), etc.
the pearl clan takes him in despite this, of course; despite his vaguely inhuman traits, he's still Ingo and wins them over pretty quickly.
the thing is, he has to avoid the spacetime distortions. he never remembers what happens if he tries to enter them...
uhhhh THAT. will be it FOR NOW!!! i have MUCH more about this au, but i think splitting the subjects between posts would be best so here's just a sort of introduction :D
