Pokémon 2nd Anniversary Prompts – Pokémorphs

[unrepentantAuthor]

My 'prompt bingo' for Thousand Roads' second anniversary was for the theme 'Pokémorphs', to nobody's surprise. I chose to keep things tame and respond with drabbles! I hope folks enjoy~ x

I answered the triple I found most compelling. I would love to return to the other six soon.

Who Are You?	Newly-Challenging Tasks	Morph Fellowship
New Clothes	Unexpected Joys	Wrong Size, Wrong Shape
New Senses	Between Two Worlds	Welcomed or Cast Out?

Who Are You?​

It's a simple enough question. Why so hard to answer?

She goes by 'Dusk', but it isn't who she is. It's 'a' name, not her.

There used to be a sneasel, whose clan-mates called her by a certain name, another name, but that sneasel seems like a relative, a friend, even a stranger. She doesn't feel like 'Dusk'. She would never have made the choices Dusk has made.

She considers answering a different question. 'What' is she? A creature both sneasel and human. A friend, to some. A fighter, always. Things that will last.

She answers, "Does it really matter?"

Unexpected Joys​

It's only when she hears herself still laughing when the laughter of those around her has already died down, that she realises how she feels. A fullness in her chest; a lightness in her head.

The last time she'd laughed like this, she'd not seen her second autumn. She remembers playing in a stream, with other kits her age; getting lightly splashed; tackling them into the shallows; freezing flecks of water where her young claws clipped the surface, to send arcing upward.

She'd lost that feeling as a sneasel. How strange, to find it again, as this strange other thing.

Welcomed or Cast Out?​

"When you return to your people," he says, as if he knows how it will happen. Perhaps he does. He may have predicted it. He may have preordained it. Absol have their ways, wasn't that right? Dusk doesn't contradict him.

"When you go back home," she says, as if she believes there's a home waiting. She doesn't have to be wrong. It just feels like she is – it feels like she wants it to be true for herself. Dusk doesn't contradict her.

"When I've earned the right," Dusk says, as if such a thing were possible.

Nobody ever earns that.

 

[Flyg0n]

Too tired to form proper thoughts but they were very pleasant and I enjoyed them lots! Unexpected joys is maybe my favorite! Lovely descriptions!

 

[windskull]

Hey uA! Here for catnip! These were lovely to read. I think Who are you is the one I enjoyed the most and found the most compelling. I feel like it plays really well into the feeling of being outcast. Not quiet one society or the other. No longer pokemon, but not quite human. And it focuses on those feelings of not really knowing who "you" are anymore, which is a very compelling narrative in my opinion.

On the other hand, while I can appreciate the feelings being captured in Welcomed or Cast Out, it was the one that I struggled to comprehend the most. I think part of the issue is that I initially misread it and was interpreting Dusk's statement as a response to the first two, as if they were asking when she was going to return home, not stating it as fact. I think it's maybe got something to do with the way the drabble is presented, but I'm not quite sure how to describe it in words. The... cadence, maybe? I wonder if there's a way to restructure this particular drabble to make it a bit more clear.

I don't have as much to say about unexpected joys, but it is very cute. I like that it manages to capture little snippets of your world building and of Dusk's character, all in such a tiny little space. And that last sentence makes it feel particularly poignant.

All of these just remind me that I really should get back to reading your main fic sometime soon. I really enjoy the emotions your writing is able to evoke.

Until next time, happy writing!

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Hey, thanks, @Flyg0n! It was really sweet of you to drop a tiny comment so quickly. I'm glad you enjoyed!

Many thanks, @windskull, for a lovely review! I see what you mean about parsing the second piece, and perhaps if I come back to this project I might edit it a little based on that feedback. Delighted to hear such positive thoughts~

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, dropping in for another drabble collection review, and my eye turned towards this one. Now I don’t exactly know a whole lot about Different Eyes or how it works, but I’m assuming based off the title that this shares a setting and characters, so it sounds like a good way to try and get a feel for things from it.

Who Are You?

It's a simple enough question. Why so hard to answer?

She goes by 'Dusk', but it isn't who she is. It's 'a' name, not her.

Oh, so Pokémorphs don’t tightly associate names with themselves in your stories?

There used to be a sneasel, whose clan-mates called her by a certain name, another name, but that sneasel seems like a relative, a friend, even a stranger. She doesn't feel like 'Dusk'. She would never have made the choices Dusk has made.

Because of bodily dysphoria? Changes in thought process? It’s an interesting idea, though I’m not fully sure if this is meant to imply that Dusk is what the character used to be known as before becoming a Pokémorph or if it’s supposed to be something else.

She considers answering a different question. 'What' is she? A creature both sneasel and human. A friend, to some. A fighter, always. Things that will last.

She answers, "Does it really matter?"

Since while the external “wrapping” doesn’t matter per-se, the contents as a person inside certainly do, even if that’s not really on Dusk’s mind at the moment.

Unexpected Joys

It's only when she hears herself still laughing when the laughter of those around her has already died down, that she realises how she feels. A fullness in her chest; a lightness in her head.

The last time she'd laughed like this, she'd not seen her second autumn. She remembers playing in a stream, with other kits her age; getting lightly splashed; tackling them into the shallows; freezing flecks of water where her young claws clipped the surface, to send arcing upward.

Oh, is this Dusk’s perspective again?

She'd lost that feeling as a sneasel. How strange, to find it again, as this strange other thing.

Yeah, it’s her perspective again. Though hilariously, that actually makes me wonder how close (or not) a Sneasel Pokémorph in your setting is to a Sneasler. Since Sneasler are basically the canon version of “Sneasel, but more human-like”.

Welcomed or Cast Out?

Why do I get the feeling the answer to this question is going to be the second option?

"When you return to your people," he says, as if he knows how it will happen. Perhaps he does. He may have predicted it. He may have preordained it. Absol have their ways, wasn't that right? Dusk doesn't contradict him.

Oh, that’s a good omen for how that reunion will go. .-.

"When you go back home," she says, as if she believes there's a home waiting. She doesn't have to be wrong. It just feels like she is – it feels like she wants it to be true for herself. Dusk doesn't contradict her.

"When I've earned the right," Dusk says, as if such a thing were possible.

Nobody ever earns that.

Wait, a “right” to go home? I feel as if there’s a deeper story behind this, but I’m not sure it fully got communicated in the span of about 100 words.

Alright, so I can’t harp on things too hard since these drabbles stuck to the classical definition of a drabble at about 100 words a pop. I did get the feeling that there was a deeper story and context behind what was going on from these different snatches of Dusk’s life, and it made me wonder if they might have been better explored in ficlet-style one-shots where you’d have more room to go into things in a bit more depth such that we’d get to know Dusk a bit better.

Though even with those constraints and quibbles, I had fun reading these @unrepentantAuthor . Dunno if you’ll be writing more short fiction following DE’s characters at some point, but hey, you did pique my interest, and from what I can see of Dusk, it’s a promising portent of what they’re like in their own story.