Follow up
okay, so following up to the post I made earlier today-
Now that I've calmed down I think I can articulate what I'm trying to say better. The one thing I'm concerned about is what I did after my driving test.
I know my outburst was foolish. I should have controlled myself a lot better, and not kicked the trash bin.
Technically speaking, i don't think what I did was a criminal offense. I didn't hurt anyone and the trash can didn't break. All I did was indirectly piss off the driving officer, and well, I wasn't even mad at him. I was mad at myself. I even said so when he asked me. So, maybe i'm not going to face jail time.
But what is likely to happen is that the equivalent of the DMV in my country is going to give my parents a call. What they're going to do, I have no idea. I'll take the day as it comes.
Anyways, on to the rest of my life stuff.
My parents are tired. They are very tired of me. Today when I told them what happened, they started comparing my behavior to my cousins and my brother. The usual Asian stuff, "why can they get higher grades, but not you?". The funniest one was when they said one of my elder cousins (who is a girl) passed her driving test on the first try. "Shame on you" according to them.
It's funny. Because when I got back my results, my extended family and cousins were all congratulating me. Even my parents seemed happy, and they said it was respectable. I could branch out to more paths in the future. And yet today? They said it was actually quite mediocre. And that I'm still a disappointment. I even asked them on the day I got my results "Are you disappointed?" and they said no. Lmao.
They've put a lot of effort into ensuring that I have the best future possible. But, this is what I'm giving them in return. More emotional stress.
My mom thinks that, because I think my art is so great, that because I post online and a few strangers give me likes it makes me think that I'm some big shot artist. Yet she said that she knows artists out there who are leagues better than mine. My dad thinks the same.
The truth is, obviously, I don't think my art is the best in the world. Yes, there are people better than me. I just do this because I love doing it.
And with the love of it, comes the fear of losing it. I got into UTDR pretty late into the game. Around mid to late 2022. This was a time in my life when i was experiencing some emotional troubles as well, and man it gave me so much joy. So much so that I dreaded growing out of it or "not being able to enjoy it enough".
Well, lo and behold the inevitability of life. In reality, my drawing tablet was never really mine. It belonged to my dad, who just downloaded procreate for me to draw in my free time. I guess i fell in love with that too much.
Like i said before, today he wiped it clean. Everything. All my old art, unreleased concept art, WIP pages. All gone. And with the rest of my college life ahead of me, I don't think i could continue the comic as planned. Even if I somehow managed to re-download procreate.
I think this is all i can say for now? I thank you guys for the support and kind words, but I'll likely not be as active as I used to be. However, I won't be gone. When I can, I'll try to talk to some of you guys online, because I genuinely do enjoy it.
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“Someday, I'll solve every riddle in the legends of Hisui's Pokémon. And on that day, I'll stand before Arceus at last— No, I will CONQUER it! No matter how many years, how many decades, how many centuries it takes me!”
Rambling Musing under cut
[Addition to this concept]
I can't have been the only person who thought of this; of Volo having died sometime not all that long after the battle at Spear Pillar and because of his excessive spite and hatred, he would come back as a Hisuian Zoroark. I have seen quite a few people do this concept with Akari where she ends up dying during her exile, but I haven't seen it done with Volo after Spear Pillar where he would be at his most vulnerable.
There was one person who had a similar idea whose username I can't remember nor care to, who had an idea (au concept???) of Volo having been a Zoroark the whole time who wanted a better world out of missing the way things used to be pre-human civilization (subtle way of saying he hates humans settling in Hisui and bridging the gap between themselves and pokemon).
Like, I know this is pokemon of all things, but considering the literal fact I made a psycho-analysis of Volo that would prompt practically everyone into going "It's not that deep", I always found it a little too perfect how if one is a believer of the hiker theory or just has any headcanon that he didn't die, that means Volo somehow survived the worst of what was to come after Spear Pillar.
After Spear Pillar, he was emotionally and mentally exhausted and very much not in his right mind because Arceus decided to be a jackass and summon the Azure Flute the moment the spooky plate made its way into the player's hands and set him off again after he calmed down. The anger; the rage and absolute vitriol he felt towards Arceus and still yet so, the player, was still relatively fresh and with his defeat and loss of his greatest ally in getting to Arceus (I mean, I get why he yelled at Giratina but also 🤨?????), that left very large room for recklessness and acting illogically.
Not only that, but with the likelihood that the clans and Galaxy team would catch wind sooner or later that he was the one who opened the rift and nearly destroyed the world by accident in the process then explicitly tried to do so again on purpose, he wouldn't be accepted in any settlement. This also applies to the Ginko Guild: they would want absolutely nothing to do with him once they find out as he'd be a blemish upon their reputation.
So you have a very bitter, very not mentally stable man trying to survive in the wilderness of Hisui almost entirely alone. It's a miracle that in terms of the hiker theory, he manages to survive past that, because the most likely thing that would have happened was him dying— like I can't convey to you just how lucky he was.
But this is ~pokemon~ so of course that didn't happen despite Volo being surprisingly realistic for a character. And to that I query, "what if it did?"
So here we are back at the beginning, Volo died and came back as a Hisuian Zoroark due to his overwhelming spite and hate.
How?
With what I've said previously, I decided that his death would be in the Alabaster Icelands. With there being very dangerous pokemon around, random holes in the ground with steep drops that can easily injure or kill you if you aren't watching where you're going, and deadly blizzards, death is guaranteed for the unprepared. Why would Volo go up that far north if it's so dangerous then— SHH SHUT! I am trying to convey an idea, the minute intricacies are lost on me right now. All I can imagine as of current is that Volo was in the Alabaster Icelands for one reason or another, something happened that was out of his and his pokemon's control and they couldn't save him (I'll tell you this: the cold on its own isn't what would kill him, otherwise his death wouldn't occur because he has his Arcanine.), and he came back as a Zoroark.
Part of the reason for the Alabaster Icelands is that I'm fairly certain? that only those who die— normal Zorua, Zoroark, or humans— there can become Hisuian Zoroark. If they die anywhere else regardless of the other criteria being met I'm pretty sure they can't become Hisuian Zoroarks, so Volo would have to be in the Alabaster Icelands for this to happen to him.
One can only imagine the grief his pokemon felt when they realized the oddly yellow Hisuian Zorua by their trainer's frozen corpse was their trainer. How they would feel that if they knew sooner or were out before it happened, his death would have been avoided. How Lucario, a pokemon that can sense aura, and his beloved Togekiss (because Gamefreak said fuck any visible notion his Roserade cares about him I guess), would instantly know that the Zorua was him.
Now,
for explanations on his appearance and his personality. Since I am unable to draw this digitally without it being immensely more difficult than it should be, I will have to heavily hint towards the symbolism since rarely ever do I draw or write something that is straightforward.
•His color pallette is still a lot like the normal Hisuian Zoroark, aka very white, but the typically red areas in a Hisuian Zoroark's hair and fur are instead the same blonde yellow as his hair from when he was alive. (White and yellow instead of yellow and white huh?)
•The eyes don't look as... narrow... as they should. Strange...
•Is it just me, or does this Zoroark not look as... wispy, as the others?
•Since I do not use color traditionally, I will have to say that the bulbous black areas on his arms and legs are supposed to be a dark red-brown and not a bright red. Hm, wonder why...
•He just has more scars because I personally headcanon Volo as actually having quite a few scars and had that directly translate into his Zoroark appearance.
And now for something lighter (by my standards atleast).
•Upon his becoming a Hisuian Zorua, he gained the ability to understand pokemon and speak with them on their level.
•It took a while for him to figure out how to talk human languages again (like pokeani meowth) and even longer to do so so it sounds natural and not... off (again, pokeani meowth)
•Very spiteful and angry little ball of fluff that simmered down faster than he would have in the even that he didn't die. Since, y'know, your death ultimately being caused by your hatred will make you reevaluate a few things about yourself.
•Loathed not having hands until evolving which only gave him three claws but it's better than useless bitty paws.
•Him calming down much faster and realizing how damaging he was being to himself and to his pokemon by tunnel visioning on figuring out how to usurp Arceus and seeing anything else that wasn't that as being in his way— provided much relief to his team that the person they knew and loved was coming back and not what he was twisting himself into in his downward spiral. (Again, this does happen when he lives, it just takes years rather than like... one)
•Took time to learn how to master casting illusions but the only illusion he can really even do at this point is of himself when he was alive. (Other Hisuian Zoroarks: able to do countless illusions of people and pokemon to varying degrees of accuracy. Hisuian Zoroark!Volo: can only do an illusion of himself but it's absolutely flawless)
•Wears his Celestica pendant at all times (forgot to draw it, don't want to deal with wrestling with my camera phone to retake the picture)
•He also wears his backpack and hat as well; they're not part of the illusion (didn't draw them since I 1. don't know how to draw either and 2. wanted him to be as unobscured as possible)
•He can still be the hiker, it's just that he's a ghost rather than immortal. Yes, his friendly, charismatic demeanor has returned despite him being like this now but there is the difference of a layer of somberness underneath and an even thinner layer of well-concealed vitriol towards Arceus and Arceus alone. (If you've read my post on Quincent and how I interpret Banettes, the same principal of spite functioning as fuel for a flame applies to Hisuian Zoroarks as well. However it is a bit different in that where a grudge functions as the fuel for Banettes animation, spite functions as the tether for Hisuian Zoroarks not moving on in the afterlife. It could be considered "unfinished business" but it's not really the same)
•Yes, this also means his illusion was changed to be that of what he would look like as a hiker rather than when he was in the Ginko Guild (he had figured out that illusion a long time ago since him being mistakenly affiliated with the Guild would be bad and eventually the uniform would become outdated as the Guild would no longer exist in the state it did when he was still alive at the least and would cause people to look at him weirdly)
•Had to get really good at not responding and talking to pokemon or else he garner unwanted attention.
•Can maintain the illusion through being touched so long as he anticipates it, otherwise he kinda just goes poof.
•The illusion obviously goes away when he's asleep and starts to wane when he's tired.
•He maintains the illusion for as long as he can upon awakening but it is incredibly draining on him to focus on maintaining it for such a long stretch of time that he does end up tired far quicker than if he simply didn't do it for so long or so often.
•Can also partially cast the illusion and look uncannily inhuman. +The illusion starts to wane when he's experiencing strong emotions since he can't focus on maintaining it and it's kinda terrifying to see some guy slowly be engulfed in billowing smoke with no known source out of nowhere and watch his features warp and shift into something very much not human.
•His moveset does not contain bitter malice by the time of pokemon platinum.
(•Just for those wondering, no he doesn't blame Akari/Dawn in any way for his death and very much acknowledges it to be no one's fault but his)
•There is also the question of "if Volo is Cynthia's ancestor but he died before he could have children, does she just not exist?" and the answer is: she still does, but she's Cogita's direct descendant now and not Volo's. (wtf is up with Celestica genes? Yeah a lot of the other characters in PLA have descendants that look almost identical to them, but with Cogita, Volo, and Cynthia, we have three people from a single bloodline that have MANY generations between them— that is, if you headcanon Cogita as being Volo's ancestor— and they hardly look any different. WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEIR GENES??? Also forgot about Cynthia's sister who doesn't have a canon design but if Cynthia is any indication...
•Ghost types have the ability of distinctly knowing something's up when he's casting the illusion of himself and basically look at him like '🤨'. Kinda difficult to keep a straight face when a swarm of gastly are just staring unblinkingly at you like "tf is this". +Normal living Zoroarks can instantly tell that he isn't human and get the wrong idea thinking he's trying to trick someone rather than him clinging to the humanity he had.
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