#alienkind

It’s a strange sort of familiarity. I know them, yet they feel so detached from me at the same time. I went into the field of anthropology in a similar way that a human would go into the field of zoology or marine biology: passion. There’s so many layers to why I’m passionate about humankind. In a nutshell, it’s like this: “We’re so close in proximity, yet we’re so different. It makes me want to study you further!”

Although my perspective could be described as the “friendly alien” trope, it’s ironic how my species is portrayed as the direct opposite of that (except for Hoopa). Through each experience, humanity is something I’ve pursued for a while. And from a human perspective, that pursuit is something they fear.

Regarding my forms, Yautja are the closest example of an outwardly malicious alien race. My kind hunt what we deem to be the strongest of the strong, and we tussle with humankind a lot because of it. Yet, I have no memories associated with this experience. It’s a fictionflicker, but it’s a prominent one. I quell my hunting instincts with games featuring stealth, hack-and-slash combat systems, and comically bloody first-person battles (ex: the Ghostrunner series). Otherwise, I’m best described as an unblooded Yautja who was brought up by humans. If anything, I’d be considered weak and a disgrace to my clan. Alas, there’s no clan to claim me so I don’t care about it as much.

As for the rest, the best way I can describe them is eldritch. I don’t consider myself an eldritch entity, but my experiences technically apply to this descriptor. I’m called a “demon” outside of Golden Country, but only because humanity can’t conceptualize my being beyond those sorts of folktales and legends. I’m not from their world, and what I was able to do exceeds anything they’ve seen or done before. Therefore, they rely on what they’ve made up to understand who or what I am. This interpretation is likely based on my habit of consuming desire, too. I could devour the desires of any species, but human desires happened to be my preference.

The same applies to myself as an Illegitimate. I’m not the entity replacing Hikaru Indou, but I’m a part of the same species as him. We’re also mistaken as spirits, demons, gods, etc. That’s because we’re incomprehensible to your average human being, so they categorize us in ways that make sense to them. Similarly to being the Winged Lion, my species’s sustenance is gained by devouring something of theirs. Human souls in this case, rather than desire.

As for Hoopa, I’m a djinn-like being originating from space. My species gets in trouble constantly for meddling in human affairs and taking anything we see simply because we like it. Oftentimes, I see myself as a pokémon in a trainer disguise. I blend in amongst them, be it in context to the games I play or the people I talk to externally. I feel like my avarice has led me to chase after something that’s out of my reach— chasing after humanity— so I imitate them. Trainers may not recognize my species as aliens, but we’re still as alien as they come.

None of these experiences are detached from humanity. My kind may hunt them down, leech upon them, or toy with them, but having lived with them influences this connection by a pretty big margin. Every now and then, I’ve tossed around things that could specify this relationship I have with humanity. Whenever I feel like a human, I know I’m not a member of this world’s human species; their mundaneity doesn’t align with my experiences as a fictanthrope, but I love this branch of humanity nonetheless.