#gelidia

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Wanted to draw Gelidia with sunglasses & a big sun hat, which became this.

Summertime in the pokemon world kinda sucks when you're from a world without sunlight.

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Y'ALL I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY RE: GELIDIA AND THE TIME LOOP ULTRA BEAST THING

(And I'm kinda almost completely reworking their character as a result)

Okay so in trying to figure out UB-Ouroboros, even though time loops are a fairly recent trope/narrative device (at least according to the minor research I've done), there are examples of similar things in ancient stories. For example, Prometheus: as punishment for giving fire to human, Prometheus is bound to a rock, and an eagle is sent to eat his liver, which would grow back overnight only to be eaten again the next day. Prometheus is essentially stuck in a time loop!

So! Gelidia could be an analogue of Prometheus, and the UB could be a mix of Zeus and Aion (the latter being a god of time, particularly cycles).

So the UB could be electric/dragon type, and maybe Gelidia was a member of the Ultra Recon Squad but tried to capture this UB in the hopes that it could bring back light to their world. Unfortunately, an Ultra Wormhole opened up and took both of them to the pokemon world.

I kinda want to change what Gelidia's partner pokemon is to a fire type. As funny as it is to just have a shiny Mew, thematically, I think they should have a fire type.

And maybe instead of having landed in Kanto, they actually landed in Area Zero. Maybe to keep just a tinge of humor, their partner pokemon could be an Iron Moth they just kept following them around (which in canon, that pokemon is known to do).

UB-Ouroboros hates Gelidia for trying to capture it, as well as being caught by an Ultra Wormhole and taken to another world, so it puts Gelidia in time loops as an attempt to torture her. Unfortunately, they landed on opposite sides of the world, so it uses all it's energy just focusing on putting Gelidia in time loops and can't prevent Gelidia from breaking out of them. It is slowly but surely attempting to hunt her down to put her in a permanent loop.

Gelidia's short term memory still sucks, but I think I will have it that they do remember bits and pieces of their home world, so they are aware from the start that they're an alien.

They both possessive and generous at the same time. If they buy or are given something, they will despise anyone who tries to take it away; however, if asked for something, there's a good chance they'll let you borrow or keep it (depending on how attached they are to it).

Despite their very sensitive skin & being prone to heat sickness, Gelidia loves to spend time outside in the sun. While part of them yearns for the home they had before, they don't really want to leave this world.

They still enjoy reading romance novels and work as a cashier at Chansey Supply in Mesagoza, but figuring out how they ended up in this world is kinda on the back burner. They are just vibing. *cue that tweet that says "I was put on this earth to do one thing. Luckily I forgot what it was so I can do whatever I want"*

Edit: okay upon further research I may also try to sneak some references to Pandora in Gelidia as well since she was also part of the retribution for Prometheus stealing back fire for humanity (and Pandora is just one of those figures that I'm fond of). Might do this more with Gelidia's design, as Pandora was dressed in a silver gown and veil, although Hermes giving Pandora "lies and crafty speech" and a "deceitful nature" lends itself to Gelidia love for white lies. Plus if you look at pre-Hesiodic myth, Pandora was a giver of gifts, rather than the receiver she's shown as by Hesiod. This duality also lends itself to Gelidia being both possessive generous.

So Gelidia is both Prometheus (the thief who brought a gift to humanity & was punished for it) and Pandora (a controversial figure, known for bring evil to mankind but is not the villain she's often painted to be). Gelidia wished to help her people with a grand gift, only to fail and be sent to another world & punished. I could also put as, she sees herself as Prometheus (as hero unjustly punished) whereas UB-Ourboros sees her as Pandora (bringer of bad things).

Also, unrelated to all that, toying with the idea that rather than being half blind, Gelidia suffers from bouts of temporary blindness due to a rare disease but I'm not 100% sure yet. Idk how to justify it beyond "I felt like it", but the half blind thing also feels just tacked on (which it kinda is, to justify having her hair cover one eye).

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Trying to come up with ideas for an Ultra Beast that would be responsible for the time loops Gelidia gets stuck in

So I thought maybe I could base it on an ouroboros and a clock, for obvious reasons (if not obvious: clock because time, ouroboros is a snake eating its own tail; representing a cycle of death & rebirth, as there aren't really any symbols specifically for time loops afaik).

I looked at the "ultra beast fakemon" tag here in the hopes I might get ideas, and someone mentioned a pokemon AI generator. As an artist I have... reservations about AI image generation, howeverI don't believe it to be the devil's work or whatever and the generator I found for this primarily uses official pokemon as the seed or data set or whatever.

I think the first image I got looks kinda cool? Not quite what I have in mind though.

Unfortunately, including "ouroboros" or "paradox" (and those words by themselves) mostly just got me the same basic form (a circular mechanical looking thing)

So I thought, what about using a fusion as a basis? Something that is visually a cross between Rayquaza and Klinklang.

I came across aegide's "infinite fusion generator", put those two in, & I REALLY like the one on the right

So! New drinking game: take a shot every time I say "so" or "also" in a ramble lol That's a decent base/reference, but I still need to make it mine.

First, I don't have a name name yet, but I figure it's UB designation could just be UB-Ouroboros. Typing... dragon steel? I was thinking the color palette could be more like Dialga.

Might add more to this later when I have more.

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Sometimes, a time loop goes very, very badly.

The vast majority of time loops feature benign events. Just average moments Gelidia is forced to relive until they realize they're looping again & get themself unstuck.

But I felt like drawing something a little bloody & I like the idea of Gelidia being forced to kill someone in self-defense during a time loop. Possibly multiple loops. (And maybe the first time they kill a human, the feeling isn't so unknown to them. Maybe the feeling of still warm blood splattering across their face brings back a vague memory from before they fell. Maybe that scares them more than their current predicament. Then the loop resets and all Gelidia remembers is a very bad nightmare.)

I also headcanon that folks from Ultra Megalopolis (is there a word for them? Megalopolitans?) have blue blood. They also don't require as much oxygen as humans (so if you wanna kill one via asphyxiation, you've gotta keep a hold on them a bit longer!)

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Gelidia tries putting on makeup to look more human (but ends up deciding that it is worth neither the time nor the money).

Even if she does get a lot of stares, people very rarely ever ask Gelidia about her skin (and it's usually children).

They come up with various different responses on the fly, such as "it's a costume" or "I have an extremely rare genetic disease" or even just saying "I'm an alien from another planet". If pressed about it (again adults usually just move on while children are more likely to ask more questions) they'll just make stuff up.

One time, a kid asked about "that stuff on your face". She assumed the kid meant her skin, but they were like "no, the spots!". They were so caught off guard that they just replied "I don't know, they weren't there this morning."

They've learned that they find some enjoyment in lying; the more outrageous the lie, the more fun it is. They try to keep from doing it unnecessarily though; only to keep themself save or just harmless joke lies. Their peers learn to accept that Gelidia keeps all personal information private.

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EDIT: Old info, I've reworked Gelidia's character so most of what is said here is obsolete & crossed out.

More stuff about Gelidia

Mew comes and goes as it pleases. It usually makes itself only visible to Gelidia but it will also play little tricks on her sometimes. She secretly worries that one day Mew will grow tired of her and abandon her.

Despite this, Gelidia hasn't bothered trying to use a pokeball on Mew, or to catch any other pokemon. They've been tempted to (they really like poison type pokemon), but don't believe they're capable of taking proper care of a pokemon.

Gelidia visited Alola after finding some blurry photos online of people that look like her (the Ultra Recon Squad) there. Unfortunately it was well after the events of USUM, and all they were able to really get was a lot of rumors and hear-say.

They came to Paldea after hearing about paradox pokemon, hoping that if the rumors about ancient/futuristic pokemon from Area Zero were true, maybe it would be the key to preventing their time loops. Unfortunately they don't really have a way to get down into Area Zero, so for now they're just biding their time in Mesagoza.

Gelidia is considering enrolling in Naranja-Uva academy, but they can vaguely recall how well they did in academia in their own childhood; rather, that they did not do well. Tests are hard when you can barely remember what you did yesterday.

Very, very touch starved. They've taken to reading romance novels whenever they're feeling particularly lonely.

Regarding gender/pronouns, they initially found it to be confusing. Most people assume they're a woman, and they have no problem with that; as a matter of fact, they don't really care what pronouns people use for them. Whenever asked, they just shrug and say "it makes no difference to me". They feel that since they don't refer to themself in third person, there's no point in it. They've been known to use the wrong pronouns for other people as well, especially for a while after they fell, but they've taken to referring to everyone as they/them for simplicity.

They experience attraction to people of any gender as well (again, it makes no difference to them). They feel a bit awkward when they realize they find someone attractive, since they're not human. They try to reassure themself that their skin is the only significant difference between themself and humans, but they don't really know for sure. They've never been to a doctor since falling, so for all they know, their internal biology could look vastly different from the human diagrams they've seen.

[ghostlight-express]

EDIT: I'm reworking this character so a lot of the info here is obsolete.

Introducing yet another OC: Gelidia

A former citizen of the Ultra Megalopolis who got sucked into an Ultra Wormhole and landed in the cave outside Cerulean City, Kanto. They woke up to find a shiny Mew watching them, which guided them out of the cave & has been following them around ever since.

Gelidia covers up their skin as much as possible, mostly just because they're very sensitive to sunlight & will burn quite easily (but also due to the fact that their bluish hue draws a lot of unwanted attention).

In the years since they fell they've traveled around they've taken to studying medicine and have a fondness for poison type pokemon. Unfortunately, their awful short term memory makes retaining information difficult. They're extremely grateful when they finally get their hands on a Rotom phone.

Until they feel comfortable around someone, they'll tend to try to match their mood & mannerisms when interacting. On their own, they're generally pretty chill, preferring to take things as they come rather than worrying themself to death over all the things they've forgotten.

As for getting stuck in time loops, they have no idea how or why they happen. The loops so far have varied from an hour long to roughly a week. Their memories of the loops tend to feel like dreams at best and a vague sense of déjà vu at worst, however Mew seems to retain all memories of the loops & will often let them know before too many cycles have passed. Over time they've gotten better at breaking out of loops once they realize they're stuck, but they secretly fear that one day they'll get stuck in a short loop while they're asleep and Mew won't be around to wake them up.

They have a hard time getting close to people, partly because of their memory issues, but also it's hard to really trust people when they tend to look at you like you're an alien (which yeah, Gelidia is an alien, but they don't actually know that; they've never heard of Ultra Space since falling).

They're currently living in Paldea, working as a cashier at a Chansey Supply in Mesagoza.