ladies-and-gentlebugs

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

the

bug

is

snug

and smug

#teehee #dot

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how fricken cute some of the art in the Bug's Life children's books are? Because they are. Somebody put some love into these.

Take a look, tried to add as many as I could find:

Also man, did they make Atta a mood:

#aw these are adorable

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

I started drawing Flik and then…I couldn’t stop drawing Flik😅💕 my second oldest cartoon crush. Mushu came shortly after the same year. 1998 was a good year for sweety-pie blorbos…🥰

#flik

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

saw a deactivated url that read francisladybugofficial, where's the internet board for missed connections

#clover talks

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found this neat little flik ornament while I was out today

#a bug's life #flik

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🐞🌷

#HELL YES!!!! AHH HELL YES #slim #francis #franslim #ah fuck i need to start drawing them again huh

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

😻

#being reminded that i love how you draw them op #francis #slim #franslim

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

before I forget! I haven't posted on here for a while but today is the 25th anniversary of a bug's life! even if I'm not as into this movie (or as active among the fanbase) as I used to be, I still think of it fondly. maybe someday I'll return to posting here properly, but for now I just wanted to acknowledge today's anniversary. see you around 👋

#a bug's life #clover talks

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

prompt: atta, purple, happy/laughing

for @little-piojo

#cute <3 #atta

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

Doodled from memory.

A Bug’s Life gave me a lifelong love of both insects and unashamedly dorky characters.

#aw! #flik

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

#mesmerized by this... #rosie

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

hey thanks for the tag :)

Relationship status: single

Favorite color: teal

Song stuck in my head: liquid smooth by mitski

Three favorite foods: mattar paneer, breakfast potatoes, and chocolate cake (specifically my mom's)

Last song I listened to: clocktowers beneath the sea from the a hat in time soundtrack

Dream trip: I really want to visit the kirby cafe in japan ✨

Last thing I googled: live a live walkthrough

Tagging: @bringyourownbug

@detroitbecomekarasbitch tagged me so here I am lollll.

Relationship status: Single.

Favorite color: Blue and purple sksksk.

Song stuck in my head: All Of The Girls You Loved Before by Taylor Swift.

Three favorite foods: Chinese, Italian, and Mexican food.

Last song I listened to: All Of The Girls You Loved Before.

Dream trip: New York, Amsterdam, and Canada.

Last thing I googled: The list of Gilmore Girls episodes.

Tagging: @abugeatbugworld @bluemoonbeam15 @giantbugfangirl

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

Falling, Part Two

part one

dedicated to @whiteswarmart and their undying love for dot and dim. thanks for the inspiration <3

“Wake up, sleepyhead. We’re almost there.”

Dot rolls onto her belly and cracks one eye reluctantly open to see Dim gazing back at her. The moonlight reflects in his pupils, tiny stars sparkling in pools of black. She doesn’t remember falling asleep on her beetle friend, but it must have been hours ago.

“Five more minutes, Dad,” she says with a yawn. His laughter rumbles in her bones and she digs her knees deeper into the sides of his nose, afraid of saying something so funny he’ll shake her right off.

“Not ‘Dad,’” Dim corrects her. “I’m your brother. Remember?”

Dot smiles and pushes herself into a sitting position, swinging her feet back and forth over the dirt several inches beneath them. “Do you really think of me that way?”

Dim looks surprised by the question. “Of course,” he says. “You and all your friends. Don’t you think of me that way?”

Dot’s heart aches at the hint of hurt in her friend’s voice. Rosie once told her that Dim was abandoned by his parents and left on his own until the black widow took him in, so he tended to be extra sensitive when it came to the idea of family.

She scoots forward to plant a kiss between his eyebrows, leaning back just in time to catch the light pink hue rising in his cheeks.

“Of course I do. You’re the best big brother ever.” She cups her hand over her mouth and says the next part in a hushed voice. “And Francis is the best Den Mother.”

“I heard that, you little raisin!” the ladybug shouts from somewhere inside the wagon.

Dot giggles, then glances backward to see the other circus bugs beginning to stir from their slumber. Flik is the only one who seems to be wide awake, standing at the edge of the wagon’s opening and gazing into the distance. The expression on his face makes her stomach curl into knots.

At this moment, Dot’s friend doesn’t look like a chief about to lead his warriors into battle against the grasshoppers.

He looks afraid.

His eyes suddenly flicker to Dot’s, and just like that the fear is gone. A tired smile takes its place. She gives one right back, adding a thumbs up for good measure. Out of the corner of her eyes she sees Dim doing the same.

Flik’s smile widens before he’s summoned by Slim, who wants to go over their plan one last time. He gives her the smallest wave before turning his attention to his troops. Dot wonders if he’s slept at all since leaving the Island.

“Are you nervous, Your Highness?”

Dot smiles at how the beetle insists on calling her by her royal titles, even though she’s told him a million times that Dot is just fine.

“A little,” she admits, tracing the tip of her finger along the curve of his nose as she thinks through her answer. “I mean, I think the bird will work. It’s Flik’s invention after all, and his inventions are the best. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

Dot bites down on her lower lip as it begins to tremble. She hates how after all this time the fear is still there, waiting to strike.

To remind her how small she is.

“I’m afraid of seeing Hopper again,” she finally says. Something sparks painfully in her chest. “And Thumper.”

“Thumper,” Dim repeats slowly. His eyes narrow, the stars eclipsed by angry shadows. “He’s the one that made you fall?”

Dot nods, clenching her eyes shut as she tries to push the memory from her mind. Her stomach swoops as though she’s in mid-air again, dropping like a stone through the fog and waiting for the ground to break her fall. And everything else.

What was that breathing trick Atta taught her? In, one-two-three. Out, one-two-three. In, one-two-three. Out, one-two—

“Princess?”

Dot opens her eyes and swivels her head to look at Dim. The fury in his eyes has melted into worry and…something else. Pain?

Dot gasps as she realizes that her fingertips are digging into her friend’s flesh. She quickly lets go, wincing at the tiny divots left behind.

“Sorry Dim,” she whispers, ignoring the prickle of tears in her eyes and giving him a wobbly grin.

He doesn’t seem to hear her. “I oughta rip that Thumper to shreds,” he seethes, stopping to paw at the ground as though getting ready to charge.

Hearing her gentle friend say something so violent cheers Dot up instantly. She giggles and leans over to pat his nose. “It’s okay, Dim. I’m okay now, right? Besides, I can fly now thanks to him.”

She emphasizes her point with a flutter of her wings, a sensation that still feels strange in the best kind of way.

Dim is quiet for a moment. Somewhere in the distance a cricket chirps, announcing to the world that night has fallen just in case they didn’t notice the darkness.

Finally the beetle speaks. His voice is so soft that Dot almost misses it.

“Yeah, but he still tried to hurt you.”

Dot can’t bring herself to look into her friend’s eyes, knowing that if she does the tears will come back and she might not be able to stop them. Instead she lays her cheek against the bridge of his nose and runs her hand along the smooth skin of his cheek.

“Yeah, he did,” she whispers.

They’re both silent for a while. Eventually Dot rolls over so she’s lying on her back, staring up at the stars peeking through the canopy of clovers above her. It seems like only moments ago she was staring up at that same sky from the top of one of those clovers, her heart breaking in two as she remembered how Flik and the circus bugs had looked after Atta sent them away. She’d refused to sleep that night, sure that the bad dreams would come back and there would be no one there to wake her up.

No one to protect her.

But now they’re here, and they’re going back to fight the nightmares together. She doesn’t have to be afraid of grasshoppers anymore. The bird will scare them all away and the ants will be free from them forever. Even if some do stay behind and try to fight, Dot knows her friends won’t let anything happen to her. After all, Dim is twice the size of all of them. Even Thumper.

Dot’s antennae perk up, a smile slowly spreading across her face. She flips onto her stomach and then rises into the air, hovering so she’s at eye level with her very large beetle brother.

“Hey Dim,” she says, flashing him her most mischievous grin. “Wanna help me get Thumper back?”

#fanfic #❤️❤️

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

Falling, Part One

written with my friend @whiteswarmart in mind. this first part is more dot and flik-centric, but don't worry, you'll see more of dim in part two <3

also included a little nod to @little-piojo's headcanon about flik's hands because i just love that 🥺

“So when did you start flying?”

All eyes are on Dot as everyone waits for her to answer Flik’s question. She loves being in the spotlight, especially when her audience is a bunch of performers.

“Well,” she begins, spreading her fingers in a dramatic flourish. “The grasshoppers came to get their food and Hopper wasn’t happy, so me and the Blueberries went to hide in the clubhouse. That’s when I heard two of them talking about the plan to squish my mom, so I decided to go get help. But when I left, I ran into…into…”

Her pause is broken by a muffled cry from P.T. Flea, who hangs from the ceiling in a cocoon of Rosie’s web. Dot swallows, kneading her hands together as she tries to form her jumbled pieces of memory into a coherent story. The room is suddenly too hot and too quiet.

What was the question again? ‘When did you start flying?’

When I had to, or else I would have died.

Flik sees it immediately, the panic Dot can hide from everyone but him. A crease appears in his temple. He crosses through the sea of circus bugs surrounding her, then kneels down so their pupils are parallel and folds her hands into his. She can feel the calluses on his palms, battle scars from late nights in his workshop.

“Dot, what’s wrong?” he whispers, like they’re the only two in this crowded wagon. “What happened?”

What happened?

She remembers running without knowing where she was going or who she was going to. She just knows that she has to tell someone else the words she wasn’t supposed to hear. They’re going to kill my mom.

Flik’s name has barely crossed her mind when she slams into a leg that wasn’t there before. Dot looks up into the eyes of the monster that has visited her dreams every night since the day she came so close she could feel the hot breath on her face and see his jagged teeth gleaming with spit. And here she is again, feeling the breath and seeing the spit dangling above her, and this time Flik is not here but Hopper isn’t either. There are no fingers wrapped around her middle or spiked nails pressing into her side, anchoring her within reach of those teeth.

So she runs.

The monster makes a grab for her and misses as she darts between the legs blocking her path. Everything after this moment blurs together. She remembers her heart beating loud in her antennae, her breath slicing her chest like cactus needles with every step. She remembers gray and green and a long slide down a blade of grass.

At some point during their chase Dot hurts the monster. She doesn’t know how it happened, but she hears his screams behind her and finds herself feeling a little bit sorry even as she keeps running.

Dot suddenly becomes aware of Flik’s eyes on her as he rubs the smallest of circles into the flesh beneath her knuckles. When did her hands start to shake?

The other bugs are watching her too, unsure how to help something that a joke or magic trick can’t fix. They have never seen middle-of-the-night, post-bad-dream Dot. They have never held her to their chest while she sobs herself back to a sleep that will only wake the nightmares up again.

But Flik has. He knows this Dot well.

“Take your time, Dot,” he murmurs, lifting his finger to catch a tear she hadn’t realized was falling. “Tell me about the monsters.”

She’s stuck at the edge of that cliff, staring down at the fog hiding the cracked riverbed miles below her. It’s the place where she watched Flik sail away on a dandelion, cheering him on even as her heart sank because she knew he would be too far away to fight off the nightmares. It’s the same place she sailed away on her own dandelion, only this was an accident and it almost carried her right into the mouth of a big red monster with wings that worked.

And now she’s here again and a different monster is coming and she’s pumping her wings and pleading with them to work and then her toes leave the ground and maybe just maybe she’s really going to fly this time —

— and then Dot hears the sound she hears every night in her dreams and the monster is here and he’s reaching for her and her foot is slipping and then she’s

falling

falling

falling.

Dot tries to remind herself the monster doesn’t win this time. The fact that she’s here is proof that her story ends in flight.

But right now, all she can remember is the fall.

“It was Thumper,” she finally says, staring down at her toes. Flik’s grip on her hands tightens. “He chased me and pushed me off the cliff.”

There’s a collective gasp from the bugs around them, punctuated by a roar that shakes the cardboard walls. P.T.’s cocoon swings wildly from the ceiling. Everyone turns to see Dim, who until this point has been trailing quietly behind the wagon, stamping his feet and tossing his head with rage.

“Nobody pushes my little sister off a cliff,” he snarls.

Dot giggles at this. She then turns back to Flik, who releases one of her hands so he can cup her cheek in his. The look in his eyes breaks her heart. She leans into his palm and lets another tear fall, hearing the words he doesn’t say.

I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep you safe.

Dot reaches her own hand out and spreads her fingers across his cheek so they mirror each other. He smiles at this, and she smiles back.

“You can’t save me from all the monsters, Flik,” she says. “And besides…”

She leaps into the air, wings buzzing gloriously behind her as she floats above the proud gazes of her friends.

“This one taught me how to fly.”

Flik laughs for the first time since Dot got here. She’d forgotten how much she loved that sound.

“He sure did,” he says, then reaches his hands towards her. She tumbles safely into his arms and he carries her over to the yellow stick that lines that wall of the wagon, which Manny informed her is something called a “pen-sill” that humans use to write with. They sit down, Dot making herself comfortable in his lap.

The circus bugs seem to sense that this is a private moment. Francis clears his throat and mentions something about checking on a loose wheel. Heimlich rubs his stomach and declares that if he doesn’t find some leaves to eat soon he’s going to faint on the spot. The rest of them come up with various excuses to vacate the wagon, and soon the two ants are the only ones left.

Except for P.T., of course.

It’s quiet for a few minutes. Dot rests her head against Flik’s chest, suddenly aware of how tired she is. They have a long day of traveling ahead if they want to make it back to the anthill by nightfall, and now that their plans are made there isn’t much to do except sleep and wait.

Dot’s eyelids are just starting to flutter when she feels a soft tap on her nose. She looks up to see Flik smiling down at her. “You’re the toughest little seed I’ve ever met, you know that?”

She raises her eyebrows. “Don’t you mean rock?”

He chuckles. “Touché.” 

They turn to look at the pebble she’d found earlier that evening, a reminder to them both that growth comes slowly. Afterwards they’d tried to explain the metaphor to the confused circus bugs, but they were too hung up on the rock to see the bigger picture.

That was okay with Dot. It took her a while, too. And she kind of likes that it’s her and Flik’s secret.

Flik clears his throat and she turns back to him. He jerks his head towards the wagon’s opening, where Dim is still following behind them. The beetle’s eyes are narrowed at the ground and he’s muttering angrily to himself. Rosie is perched on the crown of his head, speaking softly into his antennae and stroking the tip of his nose.

“Maybe you should go talk to him,” Flik murmurs. “Before he decides to turn around and try to take on the whole grasshoppers gang himself.”

#oh i love this! #fanfic

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

just imagining dot alone in her room after all the festivities at the end of the movie and admiring herself with her new crown 🥺

#OHHH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS #that's so cute #dot

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

I have Reached my Commission Quota for this Week which means I CAN Doodle as FAST as I CAN! Katy would love a Bug's life!!!

#hell yeah

[ladies-and-gentlebugs]

like and subscribe if skinny is your favorite grasshopper from bugs life! :)

#he’s not slim anymore he’s just skinny grasshopper now