Sighing lightly, she looked about her and, coming to some kind of conclusion, lay down, the disc encircling her middle bending under her weight. Laying her front limbs out, she crossed one over the other and laid her head upon them, closing her eyes in boredom. She began to consider things she could do: find a secluded lake to bathe in was an option, but she'd done that yesterday and had not carried out any demanding tasks since, so it would be completely pointless. She could grace her subjects with her presence, but the attention wasn't even vaguely interesting anymore.
Opening her eyes, she peered at the empty Hall of Origin in slight distaste, wishing that someone was here. Anyone, anything she could talk to, something to take up her time-! She raised her head as the thought occurred to her, and set about thinking of which legendary she had not conversed with for some time. After settling on Lugia, Arceus began to secure a psychic connection, before pausing. Lugia had, just last week, informed her of the recent development in his and Ho-oh's relationship and - once she had given her permission - declared that he was going to spend some time with Ho-oh.
Arceus smiled half-heartedly, letting the connection drop. She needn't disturb him - how could she have forgotten about speaking to him, in such a short time?
Bored again, she impulsively rolled over, so she lay in a similar position to before, just several metres to her left. Looking over to where she'd been previously, Arceus wished something would happen. Anything. There weren't even any out-of-the-ordinary conflicts she might need to keep an eye on - Darkrai and Cresselia were asleep on their respective islands (or, she curiously noted, the same island), Heatran, Shaymin, and most of the other legendaries calling Sinnoh home were going about their daily business of protecting, Dialga and Palkia were in their separate dimensions. Further away, Mewtwo was training, Reshiram and Zekrom were in some ruins (perhaps they were exploring) and Kyogre and Groudon were... conversing. She blinked. Talking? Where was Rayquaza..? He remained in the upper atmosphere, peacefully unaware of the world below. She turned her mental attention back to the two classic rivals, and felt mild confusion as she sensed good emotions from the two, then smirked idly. Another two that had set aside their differences. It made less work for her, but it was alarming the speed at which age-old rivalries had been dropped for far more... intimate relationships.
Arceus rolled over again, ending up close to the wall.
It was good, she supposed, and she was extremely happy for them all. She enjoyed the fact that they weren't arguing, but they visited her even less. None of them visited that much, obviously thinking she was busy in her Hall, apart from the annual meetings she set up to keep track of matters. Not that she needed to, it was, essentially, a rouse to cover up the fact that she just liked seeing them all, having the Hall of Origin full like it seemed to be intended.
A jolt of uneasy frustration ran through her, and she stood quickly, galloping around the empty hall in idle circles.
No, it wasn't that she wasn't happy for all those who had decided to settle with another of their prestiged equals, it was merely that... Well, as much as she detested admitting it, she felt lonely too. No humans ever came here, nor any mortal pokémon, and even those deemed 'legendary' by the humans visited rarely, and mostly on her request. She was bored of using her powers to amuse herself - although causing clouds to gather and snow to form within the hall itself while she'd been clutching the plate emanating a freezing aura had been fun for some time.
Halting mid-step, she smiled - why not create a human form for her to occupy? She could walk through her lands without notice, hopefully, and perhaps try some of the amusements the humans had made. They seemed to be good at finding things to avoid whatever it was they usually did. So could she. Mind set, she bounded gleefully back to her original spot and settled again, closing her eyes and concentrating, beginning to thread together bones, muscle and tissue that would form the basis of her human form.
"What are you doing?"
She'd not gotten very far with the form, but still was annoyed at the interruption. Opening her eyes, she was met with a fairly undesirable sight too: Giratina stood at the far end of the hall, portal closing behind him as proof that he had not been there long: she found herself glad that he'd not observed her running around.
She knew she'd wished for anyone, but she really didn't wish to speak with Giratina.
"Nothing of interest to you, I'm quite sure." She flicked her eyes to the small pile of plates behind her, wondering if she should pick up the intense black one that would put her at an advantage against the massive ghostly dragon. "What can I do for you?" She drawled, making evident in her tone that she didn't wish to be disturbed from her previous activity. Giratina shifted, stretching his shadow wings out as far as possible, before letting them pull loosely to his sides.
"Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd visit my dear creator." She narrowed her eyes.
"I am not 'your dear' anything. If you have nothing you want, you should return to your realm. I assume everything is in order there?" Arceus mentally sighed, knowing that she had to be polite to him. He infuriated her, confused her and still, she had to ignore that. The loneliness was (mostly) preferable to talking to him.
"Yes, there is nothing strange in the Distortion World. Relatively. Still distorted as usual."
"Good." Giratina made no move to leave, instead stepping towards her.
"You were very focused before. Trouble somewhere?" Noticing that she was still laying down, she stood, bringing herself to her true height. It was no match for his height, but she decided it was a less vulnerable stance should he decide to attack. His niceties were putting her on edge.
"No. Quite the opposite - the realm is quiet today. It is rather peaceful." She peered off to one side, at the clock (useful invention of the humans that was) she'd installed at some point to foil Dialga if he decided to play tricks on her. It didn't display the correct time, just a time that she had little interest in, and it made periodic clicks, loudly echoing across the hall. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it before in her boredom.
"You mean uninteresting." Giratina's voice interrupted her yet again. She looked back at him, finding him halfway across the hall.
"I said peaceful, and intended it to be meant as I said."
"If it is so peaceful, Arceus, why did you call for me?" She stilled, trying to gage whether he was serious or not. Quickly deciding he couldn't be, she mentally checked over her defences. It was highly implausible that she'd called for him, putting aside the fact that she wouldn't have wanted to in any case.
"I believe you may be mistaken. Another being must have called for you, for it was not I."
Giratina laughed. Laughed. At her. Arceus bristled, frowning and narrowing her eyes at him.
"May you, then, point me to the other being who goes by the same name who resides in the Hall of Origin? Since you seem adamant it wasn't you." She watched him carefully.
"Even if I had called you - and I would not - why would you respond?" Giratina didn't even look mildly put-out, still slowly making his way over to her and wearing an odd expression. Arceus, for the life of her, could not work it out. It was why she had given Mespirit the mastery of emotions, not herself. She did not need them, and did not, consequently, understand many of them.
"Because you- sorry, whoever made this call - seemed rather lonesome."
She barked a sharp laugh that sounded almost like she'd agreed. Arceus gritted her teeth in frustration - she did so hate how Giratina so easily got under her skin.
"I am not, as you put it, lonesome."
"So you admit you called me." Giratina looked vaguely smug, and it came across in his tone. He paused several metres in front of her, yet he still towered over her.
"I did no such thing! I'm a god, how can gods become lonely!" The odd expression made its way back onto Giratina's face. Arceus almost growled. Why couldn't she work it out?
"Oh, on the contrary, gods get lonely all the time. It's why Kyogre and Groudon are no longer at war. It's why Lugia and Ho-oh fly together. It's why," Giratina looked back at her, having averted his sight up to the high ceiling while he'd been speaking, "I am here now. Are you not fed up too?"
"Of course I am." she muttered under her breath, yet he still heard it.
"Why don't you do something about it?"
"I am! I was, even, before youcame here. Now go! I want to-" She halted her words. He did not need to know anything of her plans. She turned away from him. "Go. Are there not warring spirits in your realm?"
"What did you want, Arceus?" He murmured, almost sounding distracted.
"Nothing. I am happy here."
"You are contradicting yourself. What did you want?"
Her anger, loneliness and desires mixed, and she felt no longer able to stem to flow of words from her mouth.
"I want freedom. I want out of this stupid big empty hall for even an hour. I want to run without anyone giving a second glance, feel the elements... I want to see the world I created! I want company..." She cursed mentally at all the things she'd divulged to him in her moment of weakness. There was no reason for her to leave here, but... She wanted to, so much. She couldn't deny that Giratina was her first voluntary visitor since Reshiram and Zekrom, apologising for their forced battle against each other, two hundred years ago. Arceus felt an odd feeling ripple through her, making her want to curl up in a ball somewhere no one would find her, subdued by the rain that wished to escape her eyes... Perhaps this was sadness, spoken of by so many humans. Perhaps she had been deluding herself by the fact that during the brief time of troubles, she had had many visitors with news from all the regions. Yet aside from that time, less than five beings had entered this hall voluntarily in the last millennia.
So, she mentally concluded with no small amount of resignation, she was probably the loneliest being on the planet. Her fellow legendaries all had counterparts which whom they could converse or just spend time with if they wished. Even Rayquaza, who spent years in the atmosphere, was able to reach someone in his moments of lonely awakening.
But Giratina's presence only made her feel worse, exacerbating these emotions because he was to be her opposite.
A glimmer of power twirling out of her broke her out of her thoughts, and yet for some confounding reason, she didn't break it off immediately. Perhaps if enough of her latent powers were taken, she might feel tired enough to dismiss these most mortal ideas of hers.
Instead, Arceus turned to face Giratina, and was consequently almost blinded by a flash of pure white light and the feeling of the string of power cut off abruptly.
It took some time for the light to stop dancing on her mind to allow her sight to return as normal, and when it did, she opened her eyes to find two human forms at Giratina's feet. She went from peering at them to looking at Giratina alternately, trying to piece together what had occurred.
"Do you... like them?" The ghostly dragon spoke while she'd been looking at the forms. One had flowing locks of light grey hair, the female one, and the male form was slightly taller than the other, with spiky jet black hair. She peered at Giratina quizzically.
"Like them?" she said slowly, as if tasting the words. The Distortion World guardian looked almost embarrassed.
"I'm sure they're not as fine a craft as yours, but you could touch them up. Wasn't this what you were making when I arrived?"
She nodded, confused.
"You used my powers to create these..." Giratina nodded at her statement. "For what? Why are there two?"
"It's only fair that I come with you."
She raised an eyebrow.
"With me?" It felt like her mind wasn't working properly. She couldn't quite believe this... offering. It somehow felt like more than what was apparent on the surface.
"When you go to the human world." He took a breath, averting his eyes from her to peer almost ashamedly to some point behind her. "Spirits don't make good conversation."
Oh. Oh, she thought, finally understanding.
"I didn't call you, did I? Not specifically. You felt my emotions and came. Because you were lonely too."
Giratina grinned, and Arceus felt a convoluted warmth in her chest.
"'Misery loves company'. I heard some spirits saying that. Shall we go?"
"Idiot," she proclaimed, yet it held none of the previous bite, and she followed him in assuming the forms he'd created with her involuntary help.
Somehow though, she couldn't bring herself to care.
I pondered whether to post this or not, but in the end, I kind-of like it, and hoe that you do too? It's probably out of character and unbelievable in buckets, but hey.