With their PREDICTABLE AMBITIONS...

         quote tbd

selective rp blog for G-Cis Harmonia Gropius from Pokemon | follows from “ picavecalyx ”

As Ghetsis reached for him, Aiden reflexively flinched and cringed, eyes squeezing shut as he anticipated something painful. But nothing happened and so he opened them again to glimpse that hand hanging over him like the sword of Damocles moments before it snatched his mask. The ghost clung to it for dear life, not wanting to be brought any closer to Ghetsis, but terrified to let him keep a lone hand on it. His gaze was locked with Ghetsis’s, transfixed and unable to break. At the demand for his name, Aiden’s sense of self preservation to obey Ghetsis clashed with the one which dictated that Plasma boss should never learn his identity.

“I-I don’t remember! I-I don’t know who I was!”

A lie told in panic and not a very good one. If he didn’t remember his former life, he’d be a Cofagrigus, not a Yamask. But did Ghetsis know that? All Aiden could do was hope that he didn’t and that he hadn’t just doomed himself.

      Oh no, no, he knew quite well how the evolution of Cofagrigus worked...After all, his own was so quick to be reminded that it had nothing but a forgotten memory--a weapon, a devourer, a destructive force. Did this little Yamask want to forget? Want to be nothing more than a tool? He could have that arranged.

      Ah! But what a drastic action that would be, instead the man just tsk’d a couple times, his grip on the mask growing tighter as he stared rather relaxed--if not a linger irritation beginning to surface in that eye--at the weak little pest.

He was still pleading with himself to wake up from whatever this was. Still praying that this was some illusion. Yet that relief never came and this all felt horrifyingly real. The worst part of it was how Ghetsis’s voice overrode every sense of better judgement. How it reached down and twisted itself around something deep inside of him. How horrible to find that after all this time and even through death, Ghetsis still has such power over him.

His question went unanswered and Aiden knew it was best not to ask again. He didn’t have the courage to speak to the man again anyway. Reluctantly, he heeded the command and drew closer, though he stopped before coming within arm’s length.

It was odd how he still felt all the reactions his former body would have had. A racing heart, mouth dry as a desert, a chill gripping a spine he didn’t have. No one other than Ghetsis had been able to draw out quite the same level of pure dread. All he could do to alleviate it was keep his gaze fixated on the floor and hope he would be given an opportunity to escape.

      So obedient. He liked that, he preferred that. Ghetsis narrowed his eyes somewhat as he looked up and down the little ghost Pokemon. Faces so quickly blended together, he would have to remind himself who had died recently--or since the beginning of Plasma perhaps...Or was it before? Surely this little pest was in the recent years if it reacted this way.

      “ Now... ”

      The man--he was more than simply a man, how dare anyone believe him otherwise--turned his palm downward, as if he were to reach. Though for the moment it was still...As if once more he had become a statue, frozen in time, in anticipation. He wondered if this ghost was used to that, used to waiting for their demise...

      Oh but patience would be reward when his hand moved quick to grip around the mask held by that little tail. Grip a little too tight as he pulled it towards him. 

Ghetsis had always towered over him, even in life. But Aiden’s diminutive size as a Yamask made him seem more monstrous than ever. As Ghetsis spoke, Aiden’s every instinct screamed at him to flee. To not even bother to hear the words and to do everything in his power to save himself.

And yet, he obeyed.

He knew far too well what happened to those who didn’t and the fear that gripped him wouldn’t allow him to do anything else. And so, despite his every desire to the contrary, he did as he was told and turned to face the terror which loomed over him. He couldn’t maintain steady eye contact and his gaze bounced between Ghetsis and the floor. Though he did manage to squeeze out a terrified response.

“W-w-what… d-do you w-want?”

      Ghetsis watched silently, as a statue might, ever viewing it’s world but it’s high pedestal of inhuman stone. Carved within the image of gods and imagining marble. Though unlike stone, unlike gods, this man could move, and this man was alive. Was real. The smile so twisted yet sweet only grew as one eyed gaze set upon the little ghost. Pathetic and shy, shaking and constricted. 

      How he had half the mind to grab it and strangle it with his bare hand...Oh but he held back, for the moment. Curious, more than anything. What was it--the mask was what identified who’s spirit this belonged to? 

      For such reaction, for such submission, would he be blamed for believing this could have been someone that belonged to him? 

      No. No. Not at all.

      “ Come closer, come to me. ”

      He wouldn’t care, no, no, no. The little spirit was nothing if not mundane. Perhaps it was the thought that perhaps another little sprite had ended up in his territory, his castle. It wasn’t as if they weren’t uncommon. Wanderers lost and weak. 

      No, it was the reaction that tipped him to something else. The simple line of his mouth twisted to a smile, the tall man seemingly towering now, remaining hand spreading slightly as if in greeting.