Likes and follows from askthedemonhunter because I made an rp blog before a personal blog. 27/She-Her-Hers. Please tell me if I'm doing something wrong. If I'm doing something wrong and I don't know it, I want to be able to fix it or at least try to get better.
hey guys never forget that black queer people exist and they deserve the sunshine just as much as white queers do EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR BLACK QUEER PEOPLE WOOOOOOOOO🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
for those curious, this is joanne, a 15-year-old sumatran tiger currently living at phoenix zoo. it's very sweet to see her playing and tumbling around like this at her age -- she's got some people taking care of her if she still has this energy at that age.
i did see some users in the notes who were concerned about her looking 'scrawny', or wondering if she's maybe a juvenile -- far from it! at 15, joanne is very much considered a geriatric tiger; she's a grandma. she is, however, a sumatran tiger (panthera tigris sumatrae) -- sumatrans are the smallest extant subspecies of tiger, built more for the sweltering jungles of sumatra than the blistering cold of the amur river or the dense forests and mangrove swamps of south asia.
when you're used to seeing amur or amur-bengal hybrid ('generic') tigers on television or online, most of which are often overfed and overweight, a sumatran is going to look a bit weird, but joanne looks to be in wonderful shape -- look at those muscles flex and that coat shimmer when she moves! that's a healthy old lady for sure. props to joanne's keepers for taking such good care of her.
So, I got really into Pokemon Relict and wanted to write a thing for it.
Spoilers for the ending, since this is kind of a bad ending scenario.
Featuring some severe projecting from me~
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In the end, you gave up.
No matter how hard you fought, you couldn't defeat Arceus. You threw yourself into battle again and again, but each time the result was the same. Your pokemon fell to him one by one until there were none left to fight. You tried different team configurations, used different items, but nothing ever changed.
Every time, Arceus defeated you with ease.
The Lake Trio looked upon you with clear pity every time you approached the highest floor. They didn't comment on the futility of your quest. They didn't need to. All it took was a look to tell you exactly how they felt about your situation. You couldn't help but wonder if they had known what Arceus had done all along. A part of you wanted to scream at them, to demand they do something. But deep down, you knew that would be just as useless as your attempts to best the Creator in combat. In the end, there was nothing they could do either.
For a time, you tried just... not battling. He wanted to see you fight, so you wouldn't give him what he wanted. You just planted yourself down on one of the respite floors and refused to move. To your frustration, this failed to faze Arceus in the slightest. He simply settled down nearby and waited, watching you intently. You tried to ignore the feeling of his gaze on your back, doing whatever you could to amuse yourself. You played with your pokemon, talked to the Lake Trio, did some light exercise. And all the while, Arceus continued to wait.
Many days passed this way, until your patience began to wear thin. You were growing tired of the same four walls, the same conversations, and the same activities. Your brain screamed for new stimulation, for some kind of change, but you didn't want to let Arceus win.
"Are you alright?" He asked as you paced the length of the floor. It was starting to feel oppressive in its familiarity.
"I'm fine," you practically snarled out. "Just leave me alone."
Arceus sighed. "Do you truly hate me so much that you would rather make yourself miserable than travel with me?"
"You kidnapped me!" You rounded on him, tears welling up in your eyes. "You took me away from my friends and family to be your- Your toy!"
Arceus remained frustratingly calm in the face of your anger, holding your gaze with his hands folded in his lap. "Friends and family who haven't even noticed you're gone," he pointed out.
"That's not the point!" You yelled. "You kidnapped me!"
"I did," Arceus replied, without the slightest hint that he saw anything wrong with the statement. "But many would see being chosen by me as a blessing. It's not often one catches the attention of a god."
You groaned, covering your face with your hands. "You have to understand why I'm upset! Most people don't react well to being kidnapped!"
"Most people aren't chosen by a god."
You wanted to scream. You wanted to grab him by lapels and shake him until he let you go. But you knew that fighting him yourself probably wouldn't do anything. So, instead, you just turned away and stalked to the other side of the floor to bring out some of your pokemon to distract yourself.
Not long after that incident, you began to realize you couldn't outlast Arceus' patience. Your sanity was hanging on by a thread and he was completely unfazed. You supposed it made sense. He had millennia of practice in waiting, after all.
So, your crusade of combat began once more.
Only to meet the same results.
Again and again, you threw your pokemon against the almighty Creator, and again and again, you failed to best him.
"Don't you think you're putting your pokemon through unnecessary pain?" Arceus asked after your latest attempt to beat him.
"You want me to battle forever!" You snapped. "Wouldn't that be putting them through unnecessary pain?!"
"Fighting wild pokemon is very different from fighting me," Arceus replied, his tone almost reminding you of a disappointed teacher. "They have a chance of winning against a wild pokemon. They have no chance of winning against me."
You gritted your teeth, staring down at the pokeballs in your bag. You had to admit, you did feel bad throwing your pokemon against Arceus again and again. They fought so valiantly, only to fall every time. They had to be getting tired too.
"Is what I'm offering truly that bad?" Arceus asked, his voice softening. He knelt before you, cradling your face in his hands. "You have nothing waiting for you outside of this place. No one will even notice you're gone." He rubbed his thumb over your cheek, smiling gently. "Wouldn't it be better to stay with someone who wants you around?"
You tried to avoid looking at him. He had a point, loathe as you were to admit it. The life you led had been a solitary one. You had some family and a few friends, but you weren't particularly close to any of them. You'd wanted to get closer, to forge stronger bonds, but it had just... never happened.
And now you were here.
Alone.
Faced with the fact that no one you knew would miss you.
"I told you, you're the most interesting thing that has happened to me in ages," Arceus continued, continuing to tenderly rub your cheek. "I enjoy your presence. I enjoy spending time with you. I would miss you if you weren't here. Isn't that something humans want? To have someone like that in their lives?'
You did want that. You did want someone like that. Someone who wanted you around. Someone who would miss you. As messed up as this situation was, there was something so tantalizingly tempting about Arceus' offer. About the idea of having someone so interested in you.
"What if you get tired of me?" You asked quietly.
You feared what would happen if Arceus eventually grew bored with you. He was a god, after all. If he eventually tired of watching you battle... what would he do with you? Would he kill you? Transform you into something else just to amuse himself further? You didn't know what the limits of his powers were and you didn't want to find out.
"Then you can go home," Arceus answered. "This place exists outside of time and space. I could return you to the exact moment you left. No one would ever know you were gone. Not that they would have noticed anyway," he added, as if to add insult to injury.
"So, I just... stay until you get bored?" You asked. "Or until I die of old age?"
"You won't age here," Arceus said. "As I said, this place exists outside of time and space. You will never have to worry about hunger, thirst, sleep, or death. You're completely safe here."
Completely safe, except for whatever Arceus might do to you.
And there was no telling what that might be.
You'd already been shown that you had no idea what he was capable of. A part of you couldn't help but feel foolish. You'd been lulled into a false sense of security by traversing the tower with him. Despite knowing logically that he was the god of your universe, you'd come to view him as a peer, perhaps even a friend. He'd acted so much like a person that you'd forgotten that he wasn't. That he was something so far removed from you that he could never truly understand what it was like to be a human. You'd forgotten he was playing pretend, solely for your sake.
You could feel tears welling up in your eyes. You didn't want to be Arceus' plaything.
But... wasn't it better to be wanted than to be alone?
Not to mention, you were so tired. You had been fighting for so long now. You didn't know how many times you'd climbed the tower now, how many times you'd thrown team after team at Arceus. You were exhausted. It would be so much easier to stop fighting. To just... go along with what Arceus wanted.
"....Alright." Your voice was barely above a whisper.
Arceus visibly brightened, moving his hands down to rest on your shoulders.
"You'll stay?" He asked, sounding so genuinely hopeful that it almost made you forget that he had kidnapped you.
You nodded mechanically, your gaze falling to the bag in your lap.
"Thank you." To your surprised, Arceus gathered you in his arms, pressing you to his chest in a hug. "I'll make sure you won't regret this."
You already did. But what other choice did you have?
.
So, you stayed.
You stayed and continued to battle for Arceus' amusement. You ascended the tower, battling gym leaders and wild pokemon, and when you reached the top... You just went right back to the bottom. There were no more fights with Arceus. No more attempts to struggle against your gilded cage.
Arceus, to his credit, never seemed to tire of watching your battles. Sometimes he would even ask about your life before the tower, listening with rapt attention to the stories of your mundane life. He gazed at you as if you were the most fascinating thing in the world. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he'd trapped you in this place. If you just focused on the battling and the banter with him, you could forget your situation. But that never lasted long. Something would always happen to remind you that you were trapped.
When you grew despondent, Arceus was always quick to remind you of why it was better here.
"No one outside this place misses you," he would say. "But I would miss you if you weren't here. I would be quite lonely without you. And I think you would be too." Then he would take your hand and smile at you. "Isn't it better to stay and not be lonely?"
You would nod and force yourself to smile. He was right, wasn't he? That was part of the reason you had stayed. Because you didn't want to be alone. Because at least this way... you had someone who cared about you.
"Not to mention," Arceus always added. "You're much safer here. All you need to worry about is battling. Isn't that more fun?"
It had been at first, sure, but the longer it went on, the more tedious it became. Your pokemon seemed to be getting tired as well.
That was the problem. It was always the same nowadays. All you did was battle and climb. It had grown monotonous. You and your pokemon had grown too strong for any of the wild pokemon to serve as a challenge. You blasted through whatever was put in front of you.
"You seem to be growing... bored," Arceus remarked as you reached the top floor once more. "Would you like for me to change things a bit?"
You went very still, acutely aware of Arceus' gaze upon you. Did he even know what a dangerous question he'd posed? If you said "yes", you had no idea what changes he might make. You already knew how he'd chosen to deal with his own boredom. Would he try to kidnap more people so you wouldn't be less alone? Or would he put you up against foes you couldn't possibly hope to win against in an attempt to make things more interesting?
Arceus tilted his head to the side, watching you intently. "I don't want you to be miserable here," he said. "If there's a way for me to make it less painful for you, I would like to know."
You had to be careful how you answered this. You didn't want to give him any ideas.
"A change... would be nice," you said slowly.
"What sort of change would you prefer?" Arceus asked. "I could bring in legendary pokemon for you to battle. Perhaps even collect some more trainers."
"The legendary pokemon... might be nice," you said. "As long as they're alright with it."
You didn't know if the other legendary pokemon were as sapient as Arceus was, but you certainly didn't want to anger them by dragging them into this place and forcing them to fight you. It was much more likely that they were take their frustration out on you than on their creator.
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Arceus assured you. "It's very kind of you to take their feelings into account, though." He smiled and squeezed your hand.
He'd grown much more physically affectionate since you'd agreed to stay. He would often take your hand, put his arms around you, or rest his head on yours when you were on the respite floors. You didn't entirely know how to feel about it, but you didn't have the energy to tell him to stop. It had been a long time since someone had been physically affectionate toward you like this. It was almost nice, if you didn't think about the situation you found yourself in. He was still as warm as an ordinary human, and his weight could be rather comforting.
"Wait here and I'll speak to them." Arceus gave your hand another squeeze before letting go and disappearing.
You sat down on the floor and just stared at the ground. Might as well just wait for him to get back.
It wasn't like you had anywhere else to go.
It took less time than you had expected for Arceus to return. He seemed rather pleased as he popped back into existence, immediately approaching and wrapping his arms around you.
"What did they say?" You asked, shifting a bit to try and get a good look at Arceus' face. Unfortunately, that didn't seem possible, so you resigned yourself to just resting your head against his chest.
"They agreed to battle you," he replied, resting his chin on your head. "Oh, this is going to be so interesting."
"You didn't bully them into it or anything, did you?" Despite the confirmation of their agreement, your concern over retaliation hadn't lessened. Even if the others were legendary pokemon in their own right, Arceus was still the creator god. It was perfectly possible that he'd thrown his weight around to get them to agree to his proposition.
Arceus scoffed, absentmindedly reaching up to stroke your hair. "I did not bully them into it," he said. "I simply made my case and they agreed that it sounded like fun."
You allowed yourself to relax a little bit. At least you didn't have to worry about them taking their frustration out on you.
"You'll enjoy this, I promise," Arceus continued, continuing to stroke your hair. "Who else can say they've had the opportunity to battle the gods? You're a very lucky human."
"Yeah... Very lucky..." You didn't feel lucky. In fact, you felt quite the opposite.
Arceus pulled back, cradling your face with one hand. "You'll do wonderfully, I know you will."
"Thanks." You managed a weak smile.
You just hoped you could live up to those expectations.
.
He was so glad the human had decided to stay.
It had been rather distressing to watch them try in vain to defeat him. They had been running themselves ragged in their desperation to fight against him and their pokemon had been suffering as well. He did understand why they were upset, abducting them had been a lapse in judgement on his part, but the prospect had just been too tempting. Simply watching the universe without interfering could be so tedious sometimes. He'd yearned for something to do, some sort of break in the monotony.
And then he'd discovered them.
Someone he could take without any consequences. Someone who could entertain him. Someone who could be a companion, a light in his lonely existence. The temptation had been too great. Humans could be selfish. Didn't he deserve to be a little selfish sometimes too? Besides, it wouldn't affect anyone to take them. No one would miss the little human. Sure, their friends and family would probably wonder where the human had gone, but eventually they'd move on, and the human would be forgotten. As if they had never been there in the first place.
So, he took them.
And it was perfect. Exactly what he'd wanted. At least, until they reached the top of the tower and he'd revealed the truth to his human. He had to admit, the betrayal and anger in their eyes had hurt. But he'd been sure that eventually they would realize what a blessing coming to the tower was. They had been alone, just like him. Now, neither of them would ever have to be alone again. They could have each other. And he would have the entertainment of watching them battle. This was good for both of them. Not to mention, the human didn't have to worry about growing old, or getting sick, or about paying rent or buying food or any of the things that had been a part of their existence outside of the tower.
He'd given them a gift.
A chance to live out the pokemon trainer's dream of endless battling.
And eventually... he knew his human would come to realize this.
no dude it's so cool how attached you are to that character who is singled out and ostracized due to the external monstrousness that clashes with their internal spark of humanity. and i love how drawn you are to themes of horror and love, nature versus nurture, otherness, isolation, and the abject. i bet you have normal feelings about your own personhood
"We met him on the rooftop to pick up the chemicals. He wasn't wearing his mask, but that almost made it worse...his skin was clammy, his fingers thin, and when he looked at you, you couldn't see his eyes..."
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