badmantis

[badmantis]

Oh hey I actually wrote a drabble fic about this incident from Rarl Kove’s perspective: (Set before the invasion) 

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So far, nothing had happened, which was good.  

The ship had docked cleanly, the new tallests had stopped arguing, the hosts had greeted them all politely, if stiffly, and no one had tried to assassinate anybody. Well done. Rarl Kove had earned himself a drink.

He waited responsibly until the tallests were accosted by ambassadors from Slorb (notoriously long winded) and then slipped off to inspect the spread.

The booze table was gorgeous. There were Nuvian cakes, pasties, large bottles of Vortian beer and Greckken liquors, all waiting to be greedily poured into decadent glasses. Rarl choose a green liquor and filled one to the top.

It was sweet and bitter all at once, and burned his palate not unpleasantly. He finished it and choose another bottle, a red one.

“Rarl Kove, I’ve never seen you indulge so much.”

Rarl started, controlled himself, and then deliberately poured himself a generous amount of the red before turning smoothly around.

“Hello Hoctsch,” he said.

The councilor was always bigger than he appeared on the vidcoms at home. Rarl stared up at Hoctsch’s granite bulk and refused to be intimidated.

Hoctsch’s mica eyes glittered down at him from his craggy, dour face. “Babysitting tonight?”

“That,” Rarl replied, taking a sip of spicy red liquor, “is disrespectful.”

Hoctsch smiled slightly and looked across the room at the two juvenile tallests. “They’re very young.”

Rarl agreed, but could not say so directly. He watched Red yawn as the Slorbian ambassadors gestured avidly with all of their limbs.  

Hoctsch sighed. Rarl up looked at his rocky face and wondered if it had been created looking aged and grumpy. Mineral species led strange lives, and Hoctsch was very, very old.

He was suddenly aware of the lapse in conversation. The red bottle was still quite full so he picked it up and gestured to the councilor. “Greckken?”

Hoctsch grimaced and waved a spindly limb.  Ah, no thank you. I am quite full of Bavaratie wine already.”  He suddenly looked melancholy. “It was a favorite of Miyuki’s, you know.”  

“I know.” Rarl set down the bottle and tried not to think about the obvious.

Hoctsch watched him critically. “Why has the Empire refused my communication requests during the last six rotations?”

“Is that all you came over here for?”

The councilor blinked and moved closer to him. “Partly.”

“They gave us orders to put you off.”

“Don’t pretend to be stupid, Rarl.” His voice dropped low and deliberate, but there was no malice in it, only urgency. “Nobody has gotten an audience with them since Vort. What’s going on?”

There was a certain camaraderie between them that Rarl had not felt with anybody in cycles, and that was precisely what made Hoctsch so dangerous.

I want to tell him, he realized helplessly, I want somebody to understand that I’m trying to keep things like they were, but Miyuki’s dead, the Vortians are dead, the universe has gone mad and we’re planning a secret war against everybody.

Instead he said, “You really are unsubtle at subterfuge, even for a politician.”

Hoctsch frowned. “You think I’m dishonest?”

“You’re always mining for information, Hoctsch.”

“I am not dishonest.”

Rarl conceded and took another drink. “Fine. You blatantly ask for confidential information.”

“Well, yes.”

There was a crash and a lot of yelling from the opposite side of the room. Rarl turned just in time to see Red get pushed backwards by one of the Slorbian ambassadors. A crowd quickly formed around the excitement and violence, obscuring their view.

Someone laughed. Then there was the crack of a gun beam.

Hoctsch looked at Rarl. “Should you be.. advising?”

Rarl finished his drink and looked around the room resignedly.

“Nothing can get through that armor. I’ve assassin-proofed them.”

He suddenly noticed Purple lurking on the edge of the crowed, tucking a liquid canister into his pocket. Fisher-replicate me, he thought, they’re drunk.

“Goodbye Hoctsch,” he said, setting down his glass and walking towards the commotion.

"Goodbye. I hope to see you again.”

Rarl nodded back and then went to extricate Red from the crowd.

__________________________

They were on a ship back to Irk twenty mortifying minutes later. Purple was extremely disappointed to miss the entertainment and sulked silently in his seat.

Rarl checked Red for bruises.  There didn’t seem to be any damage but he inspected him thoroughly anyways, carefully prodding and looking for oddities. “You shouldn’t drink at a political function,” he said softly, replacing the bulky shoulder plates.

Red laughed. “Good old Rarl. Where were you during the fight, anyways?”

“I was speaking with Hoctsch.”

“Hoctsch?”

“Councilor Hoctsch.”

Purple interjected from his seat. “He’s the fat waffling rock on tiny legs.”

Rarl suddenly felt indignant on Hoctsch’s behalf. He understands politics exponentially better than either of you, he thought, remembering the camaraderie he had felt at the party. More than camaraderie. Respect.

Miyuki would have talked with Hoctsch for hours, sharing complex debates on politics as well as gossip while Rarl stood by and idly listened or watched the other guests.  He never thought he would miss those conversations.  

Red got up and walked back to his seat. “Well, whatever. We’ve got better things to do at home anyways.” He leaned back and glanced at Purple. “Got any left?”

Rarl left them and went to sit with the pilot.  Past is past, he told himself unconvincingly.

The ship turned, then quickly accelerated out of neutral Council territory and headed home.  Rarl watched the stars move past and tried not to think about Miyuki. They shone bright silver and blue as they streaked by, and remained burned in his vision long after.

Holiday parties! 

#fic #my fic #everyone is drunk and rarl kove is sad #rip miyuki and the old empire

[badmantis]

An exchange gift from forever ago for @perville

The topic was dance. 

(I was going for an animation but instead I ended up with a pile of gesture sketches orz)

#invader zim #perville #dance #zim

[badmantis]

Halloweenies! 

tfw you have a dumb costume and your friend has an awesome one that they parade around in all night

[badmantis]

I love your art! Miss seeing you around the IZ fandom here but glad you're ok! Did you like the movie?

Aww thank you for the note! I did like the movie, very much!

As for why I’ve not been more active even with the movie coming out... I guess I’ll be honest here. It’s really been amazing, seeing one my oldest and dearest fandoms getting revitalized with not just new but worthy content on television, mainstream enough to even be talked about in polite conversation, what a dream.

And what they made was fantastic, headed by the original creator, the actors giving pitch-perfect performances, the inspiration of the original story shining through with the music and the design and everything coming together, the fandom busily making more content than it has in years, yes I will forever cherish and love Good Ome-

#anonymous #ok but actually I'll be wrapping up some requests and fics in october here hopefully since I've finally got my desktop back #Anonymous

[badmantis]

These first two weeks in September are bittersweet for me. I like the warmth.

Link to DA version here. 

Enjoying the last of the summer-

#invader zim #zim #dib

[badmantis]

I had an otter pop today, it was pretty great.

DA link ☛ here

They were friends for just one summer, before Dib betrayed him again. And how glorious it was, to sit with another person and talk about nothing in particular.

#invader zim #art #summer

[badmantis]

It’s really hot and I just put this one up on DA here. The quality of the compression there is actually... a lot better lol

Midi 

@drawbauchery sent me some summer pictures yesterday :)

#invader zim #dib #zim #summer

[badmantis]

*picks at this fic* hmm... arms.

Sketchbook stuff.

Some ideas around Ms. Bitters and Membrane… I imagine there was some sort of event going on that led to the formation of the weird, highly monitored police state everything takes place in (?)

also, awkward parent-teacher conferences 

[badmantis]

Reblogging some of my fav old art this week as I mirror it over here.

Tablet doodles

[badmantis]

Hey all, 

I’m excited for the movie. Also going to be mirroring my work over on DA starting today, (thanks to the person prodding me to do so lol what is happening with wordpress :0) and there’s some things that never made it on this account, so go take a look if you’re interested: Badmantis on DA

#invader zim #deviantart #art #fanart #badmantis #izmovie #iz movie #enter the florpus #how exciting

[badmantis]

Small.png

#invader zim #invaderzim #dib #zim #buggyart

[badmantis]

It’s December and the gang’s all here

#invader zim #invaderzim #gaz #dib #christmas #zim #gir #my art #buggyart #lil doodle #this was going to be the banner but then idk what's going on in this picture

[badmantis]

Sometimes he saw things that didn’t exist flickering about the edge of his vision. There was nothing there but emptiness, no matter how fast he turned to look. He did not believe in ghosts. 

#invader zim #my art #ghosts #dib #invaderzim #iz #denial.jpg #this is an old thing i repainted over #it's kind of meh but it was fun to draw

[badmantis]

Hey!  I’m not dead!  Give me 12 more days for my new tech to arrive and we’ll be back in business. I’m dying to get caught up on all the movie news.

A big thanks to K for looking after my two blogs while I was off taking care of some difficult stuff for the past like…4 months. 

Miss you all  ❤️

#invader zim #going to have a stream as soon as stuff gets set up

[badmantis]

Invader Zim Fandom-

RISE

#invader zim #art #zim #thezimtag #newzim

[badmantis]

When I grow up, I will eat sweets every day, On the way to work, and I will Go to bed late every night. And I will wake up When the sun comes up, and I Will watch cartoons until my eyes go square, And I won't care 'cause I'll be all grown up.

#invader zim #gir #buggyart #aaay this one's from matilda

[badmantis]

There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely know, I very often find confusion In conclusions I concluded long ago,

In my head are many facts Of which, I wish I was more certain I was sure 

#invader zim #art #buggyart