#we need more zadr anyway

[intheticklecloset]

TickleTober Day #31: Trick or Treat

ZADR (Invader Zim)

~~~

“Trick or treating, Dib?”

Dib rolled his eyes with a smirk as he opened his front door and gestured for Zim to come through. “It’s ‘trick or treat,’ and we haven’t started yet. I have to finish getting my costume on.”

“Other humans are already beginning to demand candy. We will be late,” Zim said, frowning.

“I’ll be quick, I promise. Want to follow me up?”

Zim set his empty jack-o-lantern candy bag by the door as he followed Dib through the living room and upstairs to his bedroom, passing Gaz on the way. They exchanged nods – they weren’t really on great terms yet – and soon the Irken finally got to see what his human friend had been keeping from him all month.

“You’re going to be a sea thief?”

Dib laughed. “It’s called a pirate, and yes, I am.”

“What inspired this?”

“I don’t know.” Dib picked up the headscarf and started tying it. “I guess I’m just over being UFO hunters and astronauts every year.”

Zim hummed noncommittally, eyeing him as he finished donning the scarf, eyepatch, plastic sword, and boots.

It was only after he was entirely dressed that Dib realized.

“Wait – you’re not in disguise,” the human said, shocked, a bit of panic in his tone. “You’ll be seen, Zim! Where’s your costume?”

“I need no costume,” Zim replied evenly. “I am not of Earth. I am not human. Therefore, I can go as myself among them for once and get a free pass for doing so.”

Dib was silent for a long moment. He hadn’t even considered that having to disguise himself all the time might be exhausting to the Irken. He smiled and strode up to him, taking his hand. “Well, you’re going to get a lot of comments about how good your ‘costume’ looks.”

“I am prepared for the flattery.”

Dib laughed again, playfully digging into Zim’s side. “Of course you are.”

“Dihihihihihib!” Zim protested, though he made no move to stop him. He merely let himself giggle and squirm for a few moments before retaliating, grabbing Dib’s hip.

“Hehehehey!” Dib laughed, pulling him in closer so their foreheads were pressed together. Now that they were older, Dib had started to gain some height on Zim, but it wasn’t a drastic difference. Not yet, anyway. “Ready to get some candy?”

“Snacks are a revered item to Irkens,” Zim replied, smirking. “Of course I am ready to make my demands.”

“They’re not demands!” Dib laughed, still holding his hand as they headed back out of his room together.

Zim scoffed. “Then I shall consider them offerings. Payment for not destroying the planet.” At Dib’s slightly concerned look, the Irken winked. “I am joking.”

The human smiled back and handed him his candy bag, then grabbed his own. They opened the front door and faced the darkening street that was beginning to fill with more and more costumes. “Happy Halloween, Zim.”

“Happy Halloween, Dib-stink.”

#fanfiction #tickle drabble #coffee shots #tickletober #invader zim #dib membrane #zim #zadr #tickling #ticklish #tickle #SURPRISE!!

[amyisherenowitsokay]

You know what just to SPICE it up a bit imma say zadr too bitch

This bitch tryna give me arthritis smdh. Making me out myself for my dual-ship on main, can't even believe a bitch.

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

1. How did they first meet?

School. We must never forget the infamous handcuffs scene.

2. What was their first impression of each other?

Pure, unrivaled loathing.

3. Did any of their friends or family want them to get together?

Gaz said "kiss already" and throws things at them when they're getting too far away from "I want you dead" territory and well into "you want to fuck me so bad and it makes you look stupid" territory. Professor Membrane thinks they're adorable.

4. Who felt romantic feelings first?

Dib. Hormones get the best of us all. You can only be obsessed with someone so long before motivations get blurry.

5. Did either of them try to resist their feelings?

Zim would nearly break his PAK and commit accidental die trying to delete the emotions or install an emotional inhibitor. Dib would have a full mental breakdown trying to sort through it, which would manifest poorly in his behavior and negatively impact his ability to engage in their usual altercations. Pro tip: if you are painfully attracted to someone, being in a position where they pin you to the asphalt or lean over your desk to hiss insults at you is a bad idea.

6. If you had told one of them that the other would be their soulmate, what would they think?

I stand by what I said on my ZAGR post in that Zim doesn't know what a soulmate is, or the concept of a soul, but given this is in regards to his arch-nemesis instead of a creature he's mostly indifferent too, he'd be pissed at the insinuation he was in any way bound to Dib. Dib's fragile psyche would not survive the revelation.

7. What would their lives be like if they had never met?

Really empty. Their rivalry and parallel situations regarding neglectful authority figures is what keeps them going for so many years.

GENERAL

1. Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

As someone who thinks Zim doesn't understand even the concept of not being a possessive jackass, I think Zim just sort of concludes after awhile that, regardless of Dib's feelings, or even Zim's own feelings, whatever they have makes them wholly and entirely each other's. Just completely and hilariously misunderstanding the concept of a relationship, but still being incredibly presumptive in assuming they already have one. He also doesn't let Dib know of this revelation either, so eventually Dib explodes about his crush, and Zim's like "we are already together???? moron???" Dib could argue, and he kind of wants to, but he also never expected Zim to reciprocate, so he just sort of nods and is like "you know what, sure" and that's the end of it. They do not have an anniversary, but Dib's not really like that, and Zim doesn't know anniversaries are a thing anyways.

2. Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?

Again, stealing from my own ZAGR post, but I don't think Zim's really a 'date' person who would plan out that sort of thing. Dib is an awkward moron with arguably worse social skills than even Zim, and mentally comes to the conclusion that dragging Zim on investigations is basically like a date, and Zim doesn't bitch about it anymore than expected, therefore he is a master of romance, so it's fine.

3. What was their first kiss like?

Awkward, and quick. Dib is not a great communicator, nor is he great at explaining things like human demonstrations of affection, especially not when Zim's scowling impatiently at him through is fumbling and stuttering. He just goes for it, and it's quick and he misses his mouth almost. Zim is extremely surprised, especially when Dib makes terrible excuses about needing to be elsewhere and flees. Zim does his own research, and their second kiss is predated by a lecture about being better than Dib at everything/Dib being bad at everything. It is much more successful, even if afterwards Dib instigates a fight about Zim's tongue being weird.

4. Were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

First everything, except kiss. Gretchen kissed Dib in high school as a dare. Zim will never forgive her for it.

5. What’s their height difference? Age difference?

I'd die to make them the same height, but I think the image of Zim being average height while Dib is a gangly big boi is just too funny. Zim would be pissed, and Dib would be so smug but so uncoordinated.

6. What’s their relationship with each other’s families?

Gaz interacts with them as minimally as possible, because they are loud and gross and annoying, but she's okay with Zim overall. They have a mutual understanding that Dib is stupid, completely reckless, and requires constant supervision to keep him from getting eaten by a ghoul or something. Gaz does genuinely trust him to skewer anything that tries to kill her brother, but she also knows that Dib isn't the only one with 0 sense of self-preservation. Dib was initially wary of Professor Membrane's reaction, because his dad is sort of unpredictable when it comes to his only son, but the Professor's only commentary is that he is glad his son finally made it official with his 'little green friend.' Dib then realizes that the implication in that perpetual comment about Zim had air quotes around that "friend" part all along.

Dib thinks Gir's gross and loud and doesn't get him, but he likes to team up with him and/or use him as a means to annoy Zim. The Base hates him, because now there's two morons with no sense of self-preservation that it needs to keep track of. Minimoose and Dib are bros.

7. Who takes the lead in social situations?

Zim, if only because he is arguably more 'charming' than Dib's fumbling attempts at communication with non-paranormal parties.

8. Who gets jealous easier?

Zim. Dib I think would have his 'HTTYD Hiccup moment' as he gets older, but still has that ingrained low self-esteem from years of ridicule and abuse. He is completely oblivious to the new attention he gets. Zim, however, is not. Dib never really notices the cause of his weird snarling and clinginess, but he shrugs it off as Zim just being weird and continues with whatever he was doing.

9. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear?

Zim is a slut, I will die on this hill.

LOVE

1. Who said “I love you” first?

Dib. He says it casually, in the dark, when they're on a stake-out to find some wood goblin or something. He says it like he's talking about something plane and unremarkable.

I think a ZADR relationship would need Zim to be a lot more independent in terms of researching how romantic relationships 'work,' since Dib's not a great communicator, and there's an ingrained rivalry that will never dissolve between them, no matter how many times they kiss, so Zim would be a lot more motivated to figure things out on his own. He would, in this circumstance, know the weight of Dib's way-too-casual admittance, and it would be a huge shock to him. He'd be pretty shaken about it for awhile, and Dib's not bothered when he doesn't reply. Dib would be pretty sure Zim would never admit it, but he does, eventually, because he refuses to be a coward about it.

2. What are their primary love languages?

Verbal affirmations. With their self-esteems firmly in the toilet in Zim's kitchen, being able to have someone validate them who they respect would mean a lot to them.

3. Who uses cheesy pick-up lines?

Dib. He uses it to start fights with Zim about linguistics and metaphors. Also, he's 99.9% positive Zim secretly is flattered by it, but hates that he is.

4. How often do they cuddle/engage in PDA?

Zim is very clingy, but Dib's too on the move to really pin down for a good cuddle frequently. He's twitchy and his minds always racing, but every once in a while when Zim's completely fed up, or Dib's running on fumes but still forcing himself on, Zim will all but pin him to a cushioned surface and force him to sleep. Neither of them are PDA people.

5. Who initiates kisses?

Zim. Dib's really shy about it, and also normally too distracted to pay Zim the attention he so obviously deserves, and often misses Zim's 'signals.'

6. Who’s the big and little spoon?

PAK not comfy against sternum. It's also easier to force Dib to sleep if he's the big spoon, because he can pin his limbs.

7. What are their favorite things to do together?

Paranormal investigations, and morally ambiguous and/or largely dangerous experiments.

8. Who’s better at comforting the other?

Dib, which is hilarious, because he's about as smooth as a cheese grater, but he is very attuned to the person he's been obsessed with for years, and he can also relate to a lot of his issues. While Zim usually shrugs off the sentimentality and the empathy, dismissing it as 'pity,' the affirmation means a lot to him.

9. Who’s more protective?

Zim. He has to anticipate his lover's stupidity to make sure he stays alive to hunt ghosts another day.

10. Do they prefer verbal or physical affection?

Verbal. Hormones are real, but there's something that eases the sting of years of abusive in a crooning praise or a sincere compliment.

11. What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?

https://open.spotify.com/track/3IvUhEVbbA81QnEVhsFHiH?si=b3c5787c9ff14105

12. What kind of nicknames do they call each other?

It is primarily age-old insults that lack the bite and sincerity they once had.

13. Who remembers the little things?

Dib. Zim isn't inattentive by any means, cataloguing all of Dib's weird habits and nuances and what not, but for all the compensating Zim does to keep Dib safe and healthy, Dib reciprocates in meaningful gestures. He remembers to pack Zim-friendly snacks on their road trips and ways to keep Gir entertained, if they have to bring him. He always checks the weather and has an extra coat, just in case. Never makes Zim feel bad about needing to check, just one more time, to see if he got any incoming messages from home.

DOMESTIC LIFE

1. If they get married, who proposes?

Dib.

2. What’s the wedding like? Who attends?

It's just Gaz, Minimoose, and Gir. Membrane is too far away to attend, but that was deliberate. Dib didn't want his tendency to make things about 'the Membrane line' effect the intimacy and importance of the ceremony. Also, Zim insists on incorporating some Irken rituals into it, so it'd be hard to make excuses and explanations to why Zim wants Dib to fuck with his weird pink backpack during their wedding.

3. How many kids do they have, if any? What are they like?

No kiddos. Neither of them would be interested, even if it was biologically possible.

4. Do they have any pets?

Seriously, Gir counts, right?

5. Who’s the stricter parent?

Dib. Zim refuses to parent Gir when Dib is more inclined to do it, since he's more irritated by it.

6. Who worries the most?

Dib has perpetual anxiety. So does Zim, but he masks it better.

7. Who kills the bugs in the house?

Dib, to prevent the gooey grossness that is Gir's bug-breath.

8. How do they celebrate holidays?

Just with Gaz.

9. Who’s more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning?

Zim will strap Dib to a bed himself to get him to go the fuck to sleep, because it's been over 48 hours you insufferable human, and--!

10. Who’s the better cook?

Dib's idea of cooking is a microwave, salt, and pepper. Zim is forced to learn the wonders of human food to keep his idiot from dying of malnutrition.

11. Who likes to dance?

Gir.

#my hand #is deceased #invader zim #ZADR #asks #Zim #Dib #amyisherenowansweringyou

[captainkirbypunch]

My love has left tumblr once again.

As many of you may know, the account under the name MDZADR, has left tumblr. They felt unsafe in their fandom, and as such have deleted their tumblr and AO3 account due to the bad memories linked to them.

As a part of their departure, they have asked me to post something in their name, as follows.

If you want more details about how I came to this realization, continue to read. If not, here is your summary:

TL;DR: For the safety and health of this fandom, I wanted to spread the word that Mooping-10 is filled with people who absolutely cannot be trusted, creating a very hazardous environment for the zadr community, and MelodyoftheVoid is connected to all of those people, living a double life amongst those of us that don’t “ship zadr correctly.” She has plenty of friends her inner circle knows nothing about, and nobody on either side knows who she really is. 

Full story below.

I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye. Nobody did anything to me today, but this just wasn’t worth it.

My AO3 and tumblr are both gone. I didn’t say goodbye because I didn’t want to look like an attention seeker.

Here’s the thing. I wasn’t going to name drop, but you guys need to know the truth. I’m instructing my boyfriend (hi y’all) to turn asks off for his own safety after this because this is going to be a nightmare, but... allow me to tell you the full story. I’ll try to break up the text so it’s less difficult to read, but this is important. I’m sorry to air discourse so publicly, but please... I need you to listen to me.

I’ll start from the beginning, without being vague anymore about who “she” is. I request that you please read the whole thing and not skip parts of it. The whole story matters.

I finally returned to the fandom about two months or so ago. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t do well in my thoughts while left alone too long, so I posted saying I would stop messaging people I knew because I didn’t want to bother them. There were only two people I was talking to at the time, but one of them is famous so I didn’t want to message her directly saying that. Doing so would have put her in a position of feeling obligated to say “you’re not bothering me” rather than just simply being able to sigh with relief from no longer being contacted. 

But the first person to contact me was the famous person, and she asked if I was okay, and told me she liked talking to me.

God, I actually cried.

But, that’s just her. Melodyofthevoid is the type of person to talk to people in the fandom, totally unaware of her demigod status. She comments on stories, interacts on posts, messages first... a pillar of kindness, so it seemed.

But let the story continue.

Over time, we were talking more often. 

Mostly sending memes (cause everyone I knew, myself included, aren’t exactly great at holding conversations. No shade. Memes are a love language). I was still in the hero worship stage of our relationship, so my view of her was that that was perfect.

Now, let me bridge a connection with a new story idea I got around December 28th or so, and my thinking she was perfect.

I had recently finished watching Madoka and questioned “If I had magical powers, what would they be?” It then turned into its own story idea, basing creators’ powers around the strengths and weaknesses in creations. I actually realized “oh fuck. My stuff is incoherent. My friends’ works aren’t too different...”

Thus spawned the name “Incoherent” for the project.

What does that have to do with this? Well, here’s the thing that really fucked everything up quickly. 

This was not on purpose, because originally the project (which I had told nobody of yet at the time) was all about improving your works, making platonic friends, dressing our personas in cute outfits, and writing fun magic.

While listening to music and thinking of the story one day, my brain accidentally shipped my persona with hers, and I couldn’t unsee it. And I’m lousy at keeping my own secrets (other’s are different) so she found out on probably day one or two about my weird crush because of an ask meme of all things. 

She didn’t try to put me off any, which was another problem for future things to come, and so I decided that since Incoherent was finally making me feel alive again and feeling the euphoric feelings of love wouldn’t hurt anything (I figured they’d mellow out on their own eventually because that’s how infatuation works) since they helped fuel my inspiration, and then we would just continue from friends to better friends one day and this part of our lives would be over.

Besides, the forbidden is attractive somehow, and makes stories more entertaining. She’s aro/ace, so I had no chance anyway. Someone safe to crush on, in her own way.

This isn’t a story of a love betrayal however. There was no such thing. But it’s important to the story because Incoherent is where my mistakes were made, and hers brought to light.

By this time, I had a handful of people I was talking to, and I created a discord server for the project. Only my boyfriend (hi!) and I were in it at the time. I was not-so-subtly asking my friends what they’d look like if they were a magical person, what their names would be... I thought I would have had to lure Melody in to make her want to join us, but I managed to get her in very easily. Everyone was happy and excited! It was a no obligation, no time limit thing for us to enjoy, a little sandbox to play around in. 

Sure there were plans to make it bigger and I was working on art to the best of my ability, but it was gonna be a fun thing mostly. No pressure on anyone.

And how things started becoming a problem was that the rest of us posted publicly about the project and interacted with each other’s posts relating to the story, but she had started to interact publicly less and less with our things, and everyone noticed it.

It wasn’t because we were greedy and wanted the popular girl to reblog our things. It’s because we had a feeling she was ashamed of being seen publicly with us. The reason we were worried before then and started making that connection was because I mentioned I was going to ask another user if they were interested in joining Incoherent. Melody was the only one that seemed uncomfortable, and I messaged her asking about it. We agreed I wouldn’t invite that person but I knew things were off about it.

That person is like me. How long until Melody didn’t want to talk to me anymore? A few days ago, the other shoe finally dropped. A member of our little group and I were talking and (let’s call them Friend for simplicity. They asked to not be name dropped here) Friend was worried they had made Melody upset by tagging her in a meme picture they drew of her persona, and the two had agreed that Friend remove the tag. This spawned an anxiety-filled conversation where Friend and I expressed our concerns about Melody not interacting with the project, or us.

So since I wanted reassurance that that wasn’t the case, I messaged Melody with my concerns. I told her I had the feeling she was ashamed of being seen in public with us because of her friends, and she didn’t refute me. She simply told me to go get some rest. I messaged back with “I’m right.”

I deleted Discord off my phone for hours and nearly deleted my Tumblr, AO3, and the server after my boyfriend helped pass messages between us. Melody confessed that was the case because her friends expressed discomfort with my works, and she was playing both sides.

Her words, not mine.

Melody told me she would be withdrawing from the Incoherent project because it wasn’t fair to us if her heart wasn’t in it.

She didn’t stand up on my behalf when they said things about me. Her friends are the type who talk behind creators’ backs for shipping zadr “incorrectly.” Worse than antis because they actually participate in the “pro-shipping” side of the fandom. I broke that day and messaged her at 3 am.

We finally spoke at 3pm. We both missed each other. I tried to understand more. I wanted it to be more like a conversation rather than an interrogation. It was only one-sided however, and she never opened up further. And I made some mistakes and poor choices of words, and we ended up parting ways permanently right there. 

I nearly deleted everything, but much like a coma patient attached to many machines on a hospital bed, my blog was kept alive a little longer by people sending kind words in droves. I was briefly fuelled by spite, wishing to watch the world burn by making everyone on the "correct" side of the fandom upset by posting the worst, most vile content this fandom has ever seen.

I was also welcomed with open arms by a very kind server with fellow degenerates, all of them screaming and crying and partying when they managed to get me in their server. It was so heartwarming...

But as I spoke to others about my situation, I realized something. A disturbing pattern.

People telling me horror stories about how Mooping-10 was cult-like. How the people running it were antis. I was even told once that they have a secondary server where they go to have their talks and do their work, likely the place where the real bashing is held.

The server itself has rules against such behavior, but I suppose it's different when they do it.

One person (and this is the most unnerving part for me, personally) told me Melody actually set off alarm bells in their head without having even done anything yet, and the most disturbing part of the story was that one of the moderators was afraid and upset because they got Covid, and received basically no moral support at all. Only getting told "spoiler that. Sorry you got Covid".

I was horrified. That server has 100 people in it. How many of them are the same? They act like popular kids in school who picked up an unpopular main character and then bash others, and the main character joined in because they don't want to be left behind by their new "friends".

To put it short, back to my point:

TL;DR: I simply only wanted to spread the word that: Mooping-10 is filled with people who absolutely cannot be trusted, creating a very hazardous environment for the zadr community, and Melodyofthevoid is connected to all of those people, living a double life amongst those of us that don't "ship zadr correctly". She has plenty of friends her inner circle knows nothing about, and nobody on either side knows who she really is.

#Invader Zim #zadr #tagr #rapr #zagr #mdzadr #MelodyoftheVoid

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Hi hello I ship the computer and membrane now and I’m very frustrated because it’s only your fic in the Ao3 tag and I don’t trust myself to write anything lmao. I love you but also how could you. I thought I escaped rare pair hell when I escaped home/stuck

I thought I escaped rarepair hell when I left the Naruto fandom.

But here I am.... Making crack ships again.

I can't really believe I invented two ships in two fandoms that were well liked enough.

So I guess from a veteran, tips for surviving rarepair "hell" that I honestly wish someone told me when I was 19 and an over sensitive idiot:

"Just cause people don't draw it or make content on it doesn't mean people hate it."

I find that's true for most rare pairs.

They're just kinda combinations that no body thought of before. Either cus they didn't interact canonically.

So when people hear of something like this existing, it's usually meant with confusion, and bewilderment. Like "those two???"

But then if ya bother to dig a little or just let someone enthusiastic talk about it for five seconds you're like "oh yeah I can see that now"

People typically don't hate crack ships. Like if they do, it has to with personal preference.

Like the two smartest minds in the world mutual bonding over their "sons" and having a mutual respect for each other might seem boring to some people honestly.

Like... I get it. But for me, personally, I'm not a teenager anymore.

I've seen the enemies to lovers thing a thousand times. I've seen teenage pining a thousand times. I've seen the cliches and common misunderstandings in selfish relationships a thousand times for drama or comedy and I'm bored. I'm just kinda bored of the same song and dance I see very often with the Zadrs and Zagrs out there.

As an adult it just doesn't appeal to me, even when the characters are aged up to their 20s. Cause usually in those ships when they're aged up that much, it seems to be the authors goal to make either Dib or Gaz as sad and pathetic and lonely as possible. I can't speak for everyone, but that's just what I see.

So like it kinda makes sense I somehow ended up shipping only canonly adult characters, in their mid-thirties (or equivalent from the computer. He was dad on activation) who are both in stable and comfortable positions in thier lives right now. Who both are vastly inexperienced with love just because neither of them have never felt it before for obvious reasons.

Me and @paketdimensioncomic kinda wrote the fic as a joke cause we were so angry about some troupes that we often see.

I mean, there will be misunderstandings for comedy but they're both typically solved with communication cause both of these idiots failed the class at how to understand their own emotions.

(also, I highly recommend the Moo-ping10 server. We are throwing brainbrane headcanons at each other very often. Just pm me and I can invite you.)

Anyways, sorry for rambling about it.

Yea.

Professor Membrane needs a friend and peer his equal he can talk to. The man is an island and only has his kids and people who work for him. Membrane just needs a better social network and I think his quality of life and parental skills will improve overall.

Computer needs someone to talk to who actually appreciates him and treats him like a person. Zim takes him for granted and he most likely always will (without character development) Computer needs someone to vent to and listen to him for once. And someone he doesn't need to dumb down information for.

Professor Membrane is used to talking to AIs and even when he does find out that "Oh the person who I was talking to on the phone with was a parental AI all this time" I doubt his opinion would change much and he'd just be more fascinated by it's technology and how it can seem so alive.

Anyways.... Science Dads.

They live in my head rent free every day.

(aside note: Zim's Computer is the only character to make a dick joke in the show so I kinda run with that, that he probably has a dirty mind a little. He is the internet, afterall.)

#invader zim #brainbrane #like i find it funny they also have the longest names so normal ship name conventions have to apply to them lol #danachan's asks #danachan's replies #professor membrane #Zim's Computer

[shadowofthelamp]

More Together

Decided to finish off this thing I started back in Janury in honor of the Carnage trailer. Zadr Venom AU. Yes, Zim is named Doom, because how was I supposed to resist? Likes, replies, and reblogs appreciated!

Rated: T

Warnings: Mild mentions of gore/Venom canon-typical cannibalism, alcohol, and a brief moment where Dib remembers that he likes aliens a lot. 

Wordcount: 1175

In his twenty-four years of life, Dib had seen and been through a lot. He’d been knocked on his ass by more paranormal creatures than he could count, had lost six bs for one reason or another, and had worn his throat out screaming into three different pillows, two of which he’d then torn to shreds.

This, though?

This was new.

His arms rested against a creaking oak banister as a head made of a viscous substance that wasn’t quite black (but it was so deep of a red it may as well have been) settled on his arm, thick strands woven around his bicep underneath his sleeve.  That head had enveloped his entire body, had- had-

God, he could still taste the viscera sliding down his throat, still feel the crunch of skull between his teeth. He reached his free hand up, tugging his top lip up to make sure that he hadn’t grown shark teeth outside of the transformation. The sharpness of his canines wasn’t very encouraging.

There had been rumors of an alien crash. It had been dark, and he’d only had his flashlight and a taser, and yes, it was incredibly stupid, but that was what he did. Went off into dangerous places to prove the unprovable, to capture the uncapturable, to find the truth that no one else could or would. There had been searchlights, and he’d ducked behind a tree and cursed himself for forgetting to charge his phone. A cat had wandered past, and he���d only had seconds to consider how strange its eyes were when the searchlight had flashed on them before something had leapt forward and smothered him, an icy chill sinking through his skin and through muscles and bones to curl around his heart like a fist.

He’d run, ripped up his entire apartment for whatever food he could find, and then had started hearing voices other than his own. That was something he had been certain he’d grown out of, at least outside of hauntings. (Getting kicked out of the kid’s asylum three times meant you were either sane or so round-the-bend nobody could do anything for you anyway.)

An hour later, he’d turned into a monster, ripped a man’s head off, and stuffed it down his throat, so needless to say things had gone rather downhill from there.

The voice had pulled itself out of his skin with ruby pupil-less eyes and the most oil-slick and disgusting head Dib had ever seen, called itself Doom, declared they would be perfect together, and then passed out on his arm, half-sinking back into the skin. Which was where they were now, on the back porch of a bar that Dib had long since learned didn’t ask many questions as long as he paid his tab on time. He was glad he was wearing the trench coat that had both sleeves fully intact to hide his new “friend”, because even apathetic barmen may have been just a bit curious about the literal fucking alien chilling on and squirming under the skin inside a patron’s arm.

The porch had cleared out with the November chill, and Dib swigged a third shot of whiskey to wash the taste of guts from his throat.

“Stop that.” Oh, goody, the eyes were back.

“Stop what?”

“That horrible tasting sludge. I command you!” Dib’s arm jerked. He would have spilled the drink if he hadn’t already finished it, condensation dripping down and flattening a bit of hair on his wrist.

“I needed to-” There were other people staring at him. He narrowed his eyes, snarling, and they quickly looked away. Still, he dialed down the volume. “I needed to get the taste out of my mouth.”

“Intestines taste delicious, that liquid just burns!”

“Intestines taste like- like guts, guts don’t taste good raw!” Dib hissed back.

“They do, your unrefined human palate just has to adjust, then you’ll see.” Doom flopped Dib’s arm around a little more. “You need more muscle, muscle comes from meat!”

“Look, just because protein’s expensive-”

“Eating people is free,” the alien still hanging out on Dib’s arm said smugly, tendrils creeping down Dib’s other arm and shifting around his neck.  

“Eating people’s going to get real expensive if anyone catches us,” Dib said, fighting back his immediate monkey-brain xenophiliac responses to what felt like tentacles caressing his skin, pressing down just hard enough that it was clear Doom was only arguing as a formality and could probably regain control at any time. “Look. It’s not that there aren’t people who don’t deserve-”

“Of course there are! We’re on the same page!” Doom pulled back, reforming next to Dib’s neck, and the man pulled his coat collar up. “There is pain in you, Dib, rejection and fear, but together, we can fix it. Together, we hunt both man and beast-”

“-Sort out the frauds and the stupid cops and people who deserve to be eaten, and manage catch the real things,” Dib muttered as Doom purred, actually nuzzling against him. Like some kind of gooey alien cat.

“Yes, yes, exactly! You have strength and intelligence, I have power beyond your wildest dreams. Humans have rejected you-”

“Thanks a lot, goo-boy,” Dib interjected before Zim continued, one tendril tightening around his thigh as a warning but only drawing a rush of blood to his cheeks.

“-But I have not. On my planet, they misunderstand my genius, but here- here, I can be more. We can be more. You are the only being worthy of me, Dib-human. Be honored!”

There was something to the bright echoey timbre that Doom had that didn’t quite fit the fact that the only solid thing about him (them, it?) were the rows of razor-sharp teeth, but it was rapidly endearing Dib to the alien. Maybe it was the edge from the booze, or maybe that guy they’d ripped to shreds had been running high enough on adrenaline that the hormone was being digested and processed by now and making him go stupid.

“You know what?” Dib licked his lips, getting the last of the whiskey taste out as Doom gagged next to him. “I call the targets.”

“Is that a yes?”

“On a trial basis, understand? I can still find some way to fry you out of me, but I’m not about to look a superpowered gift alien in the mouth. Yet.”

He really hoped that the nip Doom made on his neck was supposed to be playful, but the fact that the alien was rumbling happily and pulsing joy through his body meant it was probably a good bet.

(Dib ended up puking up the whiskey twenty minutes later while Doom alternated cussing at him and crowing about being right. It was only remembering just how strong he’d felt when they’d been together that kept Dib from trying to make him stop with the blowtorch stuffed in the back of his closet.)

#invader zim #venom #zadr #feeling on the edge today and actually tagging things #shadow writes stuff #iz blogging #iz #zim #dib #zadr venom au

[irkenheretic]

A Found Family AU With The Control Brains Could Actually Work, And Here’s Why

This all started as a spite-born joke, but honestly the more that I thought about it, the better it sounded to me. 

First off, this meta is gonna be going purely off canon materials. I will interpret certain lines to mean certain things, but there’ll be an alternate explanation if you don’t agree with that interpretation. 

Second, this meta is going to assume that the Control Brains are three- or more- separate entities. Which is actually supported because of this line:

Singular pronoun! 

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m gonna be judging this by a three-part metric, and going into what we actually know (and don’t know) about the Control Brains. (Spoilers: We don’t know much, and the most popular idea of their role in the Empire is pure fanon.)

Metric one is Do these characters like each other? (And if not, could these characters realistically like each other in the future?)

And judging by The Trial, I’d say... yes, actually! They seem to get along just fine. First off, they’re able to cooperate enough to conduct trial without fighting. Second, they don’t seem to be putting up with each other and act on amicable terms.

YMMV, but I see these lines as them quipping with each other. It’s kinda subtle, and lost in the fact that they both speak in monotone, but they seem kinda snarky in the same way Zim’s computer is. 

(And if they were annoyed by each other, we’d know- the Brains are capable of expressing emotions like annoyance, we see them get ticked off at Zim multiple times.)

And even if they didn’t like each other, or are only presenting as friendly to keep public image up, they could still feasibly like each other. The main appeal of ZADR/ZADF is that both Zim and Dib dislike each other but are in similar societal positions, with unique experiences that only the other can relate to. Therefore they could learn to connect using that shared experience. And whatever experience the Control Brains have being Control Brains, the only other beings that share that experience are other Brains. They’d end up getting along out of sheer desperation, at some point. You can’t spend eternity with someone and not like them at least a little eventually.

Which brings us to metric two: Do these characters deserve a family at all?

Again, I actually would argue yes. Hear me out.

So, it’s a popular (albeit unspoken) opinion in fandom that “good” characters deserve nice things like a family, and “bad” characters don’t. If you’re a fan of redemption arcs, the scope of what is a “good” character broadens, but there are still some characters even the most open-hearted of redemption-lovers won’t touch. The Control Brains, across the board, seem to fall into the latter category every single time. 

But what have they actually done wrong? Like, canonically.

In The Trial, they conduct Zim’s Existence Evaluation. This is their job and we can infer they’ve done it before.

In The Frycook What Came From All That Space, we see one of them re-encode Zim from Invader to Frycook. 

In Tak: The Hideous New Girl, one of them doesn’t let Tak retake her test.

And that’s it.

“But they rule the entire Empire-” Nope, that’s just fanon!

“But the Zim Wiki says-” In the words of Eric Trueheart, "The Invader ZIM fandom wiki is a wonderful labor of love by some very dedicated people, but it's wrong at least 25% of the time."

But fine. Let’s look at exactly what the Zim Wiki says. From the page of the Control Brains themselves, it says that the “Control Brains run the empire and their conclusions even have to be accepted by the Tallest, which means that the Tallest have no real authority over the people of Irk, and are simply figureheads (not unlike a constitutional monarchy).”

But when do we see this? Well, during the end of The Trial, the Tallest have no power to overturn their ruling. 

But do you know what that sounds like?

A FUCKING JUDGE.

If the President goes on trial, he still has to defer to the judge. That doesn’t mean that the judge is secretly in control of America and that the President is just a puppet on strings. It just means that the judge is doing his job and the President isn’t running around completely unchecked. (Please refrain from making the obvious President jokes on this post. I get it, I hate him too, but... please lemme have this post.)

There is no real evidence in the show proper to suggest that the Control Brains are all-powerful tyrants and that the Tallest are at their mercy.

And, really, would you talk like that to someone that held your life in their cold, unfeeling robot arms?

So, bottom line is, the Control Brains in the show act like judge, jury, and executioner in trials. That’s it, that’s all they do. Just because they’re called the Control Brains doesn’t mean they control everything. They could just control the trials. “Controller” could be the Irken word for “Judge,” and that’s where the name was derived from. Mechanical judges. 

“But they’re still defending awful things!” Okay, I see your point there, random person I made up to argue with on my meta post.

Which begs the question: Why? Why are the Brains acting like that? 

Well, they’re computers, right? Computers built to serve a purpose, and their purpose is this. That’s it, right? But they’re sentient. If they didn’t like it, they could protest! The fact that they don’t protest makes them complicit, and Bad Characters, right?

Guys... they’re computers.

What do you do to a computer that stops working the way you want it to?

We don’t know what the Brains think about their job. They could love it, they could hate it, they could see it as a necessary evil, they could be completely apathetic after centuries of doing it (if they’re even that old, which again, is not confirmed.)

But IF they didn’t like it... the hell are they supposed to do about it? They’re important pieces of machinery, possibly swarmed by techs ready to correct any sign of them not working right. They could have some sort of programmed-in limitation to keep them obedient. They could’ve tried, with disastrous results. They’re not like Zim. They can’t just quit. They’re computers rooted in place, closely watched for defects, and they have nowhere to go.

(And even if they did leave, who would take them in? Where could they go? Even if they downloaded themselves into PAKs or into robot bodies, the adjustment period from being a giant invulnerable heavily guarded computer to something that needs to actually fend for itself would be maddening and possibly dangerous.)

And honestly? I love Zim to bits, but he did wreck the planet and he did deserve exile. They’re just carrying out the sentence. He did cause many many disasters in Irk’s history. Plus, the Tallest were the ones that trialed him in the first place, but they have fans!

The worst thing they’ve done, unprovoked, is not let Tak retake her test. Or, more specifically, they made her wait to retake the test. We don’t even know why! Did they go “You couldn’t even get out of a room so we don’t want to send you to an enemy planet?” Did they go “You have to wait because half of Devastis is down and we’re working on half-power and half the space?” We don’t know! We literally do not know! (Plus that was only one of them.)

And I’m gonna say it: if Zib “I’m going to strand and brainwash Zims in order to commit multidimensional genocide” Membrane deserves a family, then so do the Control Brains because at least they didn’t do THAT in ACTUAL CANON.

There’s no good transition to metric three, so I’m just gonna say it: Do these characters want a family?

This part is short: We don’t know. 

They could think the idea of a family is stupid and antiquated. They could not know what a family is at all. They could want a family. They could see the entire Empire as their family. They could already see each other as a family. 

We don’t know! The concept of a family never comes up during their appearances, so we have no way to know their thoughts on the subject.

Good thing fandom is transformative and we can make headcanons n’junk! (And really, who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned “character/characters don’t want a family and are gruff and standoffish but over time warm up to the others and they end up super close” found family story?)

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that. Also that the Control Brains are pretty funny characters in The Trial. 

I just like these guys a lot and I wish other people explored them more outside of the “these are the token evil badguys” role they fill every. Single. TIME.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. 

#invader zim #control brains #invader zim analysis #invader zim meta #PLEASE reblog this i spent like an hour on it #and thats not counting the draft in the form of a discord rant #live from conventia #meta tag

[anyu-blue]

OOF

Okay so you know how sometimes in the creative process ideas sneak up on you?

Well I just got one of those in the sense that I feel like I got punched in the face it snuck up on me so fast and was/is so hard and heavy I’m left a little stunned and reeling...

Yeah..

Haha

Sooo in the possibly futile idea I may one day write it or have some reason to have written it down here we go:

Iz story in which after the Florpus movie (Maybe- IDK I haven’t seen it or 99% of Invader Zim soooo who knows) Dib is more or less forced or convinced (not sure which direction we’d go here) to gain a more... rigorous form of therapy, in which he becomes calmer and of course is lead down the path most other people are- in the sense he becomes ‘normal’.

Of course it would start with Dib actively avoiding Zim- his brain conflicted and fighting itself, but as time went on he’s become a totally different person (I’m thinking he becomes a football player sort of TOTALLY different). Calmer, level headed. Kind, but slightly aloof. He’d gain popularity with the most normal of the normal and grow to be a forgettable face as much as just a ‘decent’ person. I think he’d gently avoid the sciences- as that would have been the cause for his mental break when he was 12 anyway- and pursue other, more practical, and normal human things. Gaz wouldn’t be immune to all this- their father might just have to accept Dib as a lost cause and be proud of him for what he COULD do rather than pursue science like he want him to... in which case Gaz will become the target of her father’s overbearing desire for a successor. She’ll be amazing at it... but withdrawn in a more forlorn way- calmer as well.

What this entails is he is convinced through RIGORIOUS therapy that Zim is, in fact, a human with some weird medical condition(s) and eccentricities himself- which for normal people are to be avoided.

In my version of this story (regardless of how the show or movie turns out cuz idrk their real relationship, really) Zim would definitely take notice and having had been exiled completely from the Irken race on threat of death (or worse). Zim would not entirely give up on domineering over the human race, but he would funnel it in a different direction- screw the tallest (more or less- though he’d NEVER NEVER say it out loud) this is HIS world and he will find a way/ways to make it more to what he wants/needs.

But anyway.. Zim would notice and would realize Dib’s sudden loss of potential. I don’t know that he would know why Dib gave up to begin with- not knowing about the severe therapy- all hush hush- thinking it was some human need to process the trauma that was their space adventures. He’d just give him space as he himself would be processing it all and changing a part of his core self to be not for the Irken race, but for himself (ROUGH when you are genetically engineered to be self sacrificial for the cause)... And by the time he notices Dib is actively avoiding him.... by the time he notices Dib has all but forgotten him... Zim has more pain and wrenching to go through.

ANYWAY

Zim WOULD eventually notice. He wouldn’t be held back in grades because GIR can help as a stand in, and so does Zim’s own knowledge and ‘medical’ condition excuse- he can pass his classes with zero effort and blah blah... but he’d notice that Dib is... different. And he’d notice he doesn’t entirely like it. And of course he’d be more of the ‘shy kid’ after all is said and done. But one day he’d approach Dib (because Dib certainly isn’t going to come talk to him, despite the stares and more Zim tries to burn into him) and try to talk to him. Dib would be completely neutral-level kind. Knows Zim’s name, but the memories are all... twisted and weird and blocked, more or less. So it’s basically like they were never enemies or whatever they were. Almost like they never knew each other at all.

And that would hurt. It would HURT in a way Zim finds too familiar and wrenching. Dib would ever be kind, but yeah... his soft kindness and gentle letting down of “Hey, bud, I’m sorry but I’m not sure what you mean and I got some stuff to study for, bye.” that’s totally NOT Dib... but is? But no...?

Cue Zim with another breakdown/loss and a bit of his old self resurging to never back down- to get Dib back- the ONE who KNEW and sure maybe judge him, but with Irken adgenda off the table maybe they could be friends?!

Shenanigans of Zim being a pest/bother in school and stalking and otherwise, and Dib TOO GOOD at suddenly looking the wrong direction (almost like a reflex, weird), and having someone else around, and some backfiring... Dib’s kind gaze getting harder and harder to bear because it’s almost like PITY.

Possibly lots of blood. Possible gore? If I could stomach it?

Some themes of self harm, and psycosis, and dark thoughts/themes, and perhaps even some.. em.. nsfw unsolicited offers like Zim screaming “I’ll even let you dissect me!!” in the middle of the cafeteria to try and get SOMETHING of the old Dib back.

Possible Zim physically attacking Dib on a few occasions too. Possible Zim starting to wonder if he IS a human with severe mental issues... he knows he not lol but the IDEA and he’s just SO confused!! and at a loss.

Lots of reckless behavior.

REALLY rough...

But.. knowing me...

I adore happy endings... so all that pain and toil and turmoil would be worth it.

Dib would start to crack. Fight himself too. Try to maintain. Try not to maintain. Realize he has this weird reflex and weird physical reactions around Zim. Know SOMETHING is.. wrong.. off... Epic Mental breakdown ensues.. Not sure about Gaz, but she def has a part...

In the end... they would save eachother.

I’m thinking this would also be a ZaDr type fic... cuz I love messy love too... lonely and never lonely all in one.

But yeah.. *ahem*... all of this hit me in the span of like 5 seconds earlier and I’m... *croaks* I’m TOTALLY okay...

*Squeaks*

#personal #fic idea #holy hell #iz #invader zim #dark headcanons #dark themes #trigger warnings apply #Zim #Dib #readmore #fandom stuff #writing it down #for later maybe #I feel like I got punched in the face... maybe the gut too #feels #oof the feels #the feels

[millennialzadr]

WHY I LOVE ZADR!!!

HEY GUYS WHASSUP? LMAO

So this is a whole ass giant long post of me absolutely spewing my feelings of love for ZADR, it was the very first thing I wrote when I made this blog and I think it’s a nice, positive thing for my fellow shippers to inhale and enjoy 👌👌

it was originally a reply to mitarashiart’s post about why HE loves ZADR (link in replies) but I decided to delete that and make my own post since MY WHOLE ENTIRE TEXT WALL WAS SHOWN IN THE REPLIES and drowned out anyone else who was trying to talk (thanks tumblr mobile u fuckin idiot)

I had also posted a summary of an AU that I’m working on in the original post, but decided to remove it since it just about doubled the length (I’m thinking about posting it separately along with the wips I’ve been putting together, we’ll see 👀)

But ANYWAY, here is about a million reasons why I think ZADR is the fucking best, so if you like reading gushy gay ship feelings, please enjoy ❤️❤️❤️

[Posted June 2019][WARNING, LONG ASS THOUGHT BARF]

SOOO, holy hell y’all my journey back into this fandom has been a wild and unique experience for me, i went from adding invader zim to my bookmarks on kisscartoon, rewatching the series, finding out theres a movie coming out, finding out there was a shitload of content i’d never seen before (commentaries, lost episode scripts and audios, panels, the COMIC, episodes i’d never seen because the dvd i used to watch was scratched!! and a FUCKLOAD of quality modern fan art like oh my GOD) and finally curiously googling ‘zadr’ (which i was way into when i was maybeee 13/14) to see if there was any interesting new art, and holy hell, mita (the artist above) singlehandedly THREW me down the hole into modern zadr hell, first with his absolutely stunning IZ art (all his art is dope tho check him out yo), then reading the above explanation put the final nail in the coffin like, 100%

so i wanted to add onto his post here on why this ship got me so fucked up, both for anyone who might be wondering why on earth i’m shipping two characters from a kid’s show (i’m very aware how weird that is at first glance trust me) and also so i can get some ideas down for possible future reference (will i ever draw them? maybe)

(first of all, a disclaimer, and this is not pleasant to write but it’s important to address for clarity’s sake: I have no interest in romantic or sexual relationships between minors, and do not ship zim and dib as they are presented canonically in the show (as children). what i’m interested in is the conceptualized relationship they may have as modern adults, and i view zadr more as taking the concepts of existing characters and experimenting with them with different interpretations, which i personally think is a constructive and fun creative outlet, especially if these characters hold personal significance for you (childhood faves of course). growing up together is an important facet of their relationship, and certainly they were important to each other even as children (see: mopiness of doom) but as an adult i’m personally curious about what kind of adults they might’ve become, and that’s the focus of my interest. i’ll still be reblogging regular IZ art because it’s dope but if you see shippy looking art of them as tiny lil beans its either friendship or chibis (and i personally headcanon zim as getting taller with dib but some people stick with his canonical height when drawing them as adults, which is super short. it still doesn’t mean he’s a kid). aaand i wish i didnt have to write this and it would just be obvious but we live in a sick sad world and it is sourced from a children’s cartoon so i feel its necessary. end of disclaimer)

NOW THAT THAT’S OUT OF THE WAY

- ok, first reason’s a bit obvious - the nostalgia. holy hell, the feeling of rediscovering a ship that was popular when i was a preteen during the mid 2000s and discovering a totally new perspective on it as an adult comes with an almost totally overwhelming sense of nostalgia and comfort, as well as inspiration!! the kind of art that seems so common for zadr, these sketch pages of scenes and expressions and visual gags where artists would just scribble every idea they had and LOVE doing it, this was exactly the kind of art that made me so passionate about drawing as a kid, and it still sparks such a powerful feeling of love and admiration for me to this day. fan content of iz and zadr is simultaneously achingly familiar and totally new and fascinating, and it just makes me SO damn happy to consume, it is most definitely my new comfort content. and just, GOD. THE ART!! SO GOOD. FUCK

- now for the characters themselves: for some reason i just really love the thought of a mid twenties, modern Dib?? lanky goth dork, disaster bi, depressed as shit, uses bad sweaters and memes to cope?? when i was a kid i didn’t even LIKE Dib, but now i totally sympathize with him! he’s just a hyper obsessive nerd wishing there was more to life than the situation he got stuck with, how wildly relatable. he was a pretty big asshole as a kid (even to people besides zim) but he was also totally isolated and constantly bullied, so there’s a lot of room for growth. i feel there’s a lot of juicy character development potential for that boy, and there’s always been a special place in my heart for characters who are totally sad and screwed and hopeless, but there’s one thing, or person, that means the world to them and could possibly save them…

- aliens. Zim. i love nonhuman characters, i love monsters, i love aliens, i love characters that don’t understand human shit (and thus have much less room for shame or fear bc theyre just totally oblivious the negatives of modern society) and need guidance (bonding!!) from their human. i also love morally grey characters and characters with skewed logic, they’re always really interesting, and Zim himself just has such a unique personality and set of mannerisms, he contradicts himself a lot and you can never quite expect how he’ll behave, and i love that in a character, it makes them super versatile and fun, especially since there’s so many different possibilities for their development. Also, Zim is a gremlin, a little shit, and a disaster. I also love those traits in a character. And don’t even get me started on his character design?? big sparkly eyes? expressive antennae? monster teeth? complimenting colors? he’s adorable.

- mutual obsession. for someone like Dib, who seems almost repulsed by how boring and slow the people around him are, Zim quite literally personifies Dib’s  escapist fantasies, both as an inhuman entity from beyond the stars, and as a person who’s knowledge, charisma and mystery far exceeds that of anyone Dib has met in his entire life. (so basically what i’m saying is that for a shunned, jaded misanthropist, an actual alien is terribly alluring, even if said alien is dangerous, stupid, and possibly insane). not to mention Zim vindicates Dib’s entire life passion, the supernatural! Even when their relationship is totally negative, there is not a single inch of room for Dib to get tired of Zim. as mita explained, they validate each other. for Zim, WHO AGAIN, IS TOTALLY SHUNNED, ISOLATED, AND HATED BY EVERYONE HE KNOWS, Dib is the only person in the universe who gives a single shit about him!! he gives Zim credit as a threat, a capable invader, which if you ask me is the sole thing Zim is after (he’s hellbent on his mission because it would win him the approval of the tallest, all he’s ever wanted is recognition from the people he thinks so highly of). He literally gets depressed when Dib isn’t around to pay attention to him, not even the tallest were enough to motivate him before Dib came back. these two have no one and nothing without each other, and while lifelong nemeses is fine and dandy, i personally prefer friendship, affection and love, cause i’m a softie like that. how could they possibly get there after years of actively trying to kill each other?? well, i think under just the right circumstances it could become a possibility after a long, long time.

- growth. i. love. me. some. good. character growth. especially for characters with trauma/mental illness, bc again, relatable. these boys have issues, and as mita mentioned, their canon stories are actually INCREDIBLY sad! but the happy thought is, they could recover! they could help each other recover, for little reason other than the two are the only source of happiness for each other. now of course this also opens the gate for angst lovers, but at the same time offers potential for comforting, uplifting content of the boys supporting and inspiring each other, maybe even to the point of becoming happy and healthy enough to create the lives they want for themselves (as in appreciating life and doing things that make them actually happy instead of the delusions of grandeur they both sought when they were younger). gimme that positive shit and let the poor beans be happy  щ(ಠ益ಠщ)

- LITTLE THINGS. LITTLE THINGS THAT ONLY COME WITH CHILDHOOD FRIENDS. WITH HUMAN/NONHUMAN. WITH THE SHOW’S WEIRD LOGIC. Zim being the person Dib knows best and vice versa. Zim having an involuntary respect/admiration for Dib because he’s tall. Learning each other’s needs, limits, and communication methods, both emotionally and biologically. Sensitive antennae. Affectionate bickering. Being less insecure bc your partner literally has no idea why you see your flaws as flaws. Laughing at the flaws they do notice because they make no sense. Zim only wanting to eat waffles and chow mein. Dib being forced to overcome his depression lethargy and stay hygienic/keep the apartment clean because Zim has a sharper sense of smell and is afraid of germs. Endless conversation about anything and everything because they’re from literally different worlds, and endless intrigue. TOUCHING. TALKING. DOING EVERYTHING LIKE ITS THE VERY FIRST TIME AND ALWAYS NEEDING THE OTHER TO GUIDE THEM. HOLY HELL THERE IS SO MUCH POSSIBILITY FOR TINY LITTLE MOMENTS THAT MEAN THE WORLD. FUCK. GOT ME FUCKED UP.

so that wraps up the why. fuck man. its just such a good ship. if you read this big ass text post, thank you for indulging me, i hope you enjoyed it! because i enjoy it very much 👀 so stick around if you’d like to for a shit load of IZ and zadr content on this blog, possibly (MAYBE) even from me!! come roll around in alien hell with me why dontcha ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ its a fun time! thanks for reading!!!

-

SO THAT’S MY MANIFESTO Y’ALL, FEEL FREE TO REPLY WITH YOUR OWN REASONS!! I WOULD LOVE FOR THIS POST TO JUST BECOME A BIG GIANT PILE OF LOVE AND YELLING!! GO NUTS! SCREAM ABOUT IT! INFODUMP! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! I’LL READ EVERY LAST REPLY! Y’ALL DESERVE TO ENJOY YOUR SHIP BC IT’S LITERALLY THE FUCKING BEST!!! LOVE Y’ALL!!!!!!

#in this trying time of shippers being stressed over discourse #i offer a gift<3 because i love you guys #and we should spread the love #i want yall to go OFF #tell me every little fuckin thing about zadr that makes ur heart doki OK #LETS GO 👏👏👏 #invader zim #zadr #text post #my post #long post

[eloarei]

1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 13, 17, 23 (some of these are random and some aren't)

Thanks for the many questions, Socks! Sorry I didn’t answer them earlier; I decided answering asks on mobile sucks.  ALSO, this is going to be super long haha sorry.  1.  Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?       Well, my most current project is one I just started brainstorming. It’s (hopefully gonna be) a Fallout 3 series, with my latest fic being the starting point. LW/Fawkes is a ship I liked immediately when I played the series some years ago, but I never got around to writing for it, probably in part because there’s already a super good longfic about them, and I just didn’t think there was much else I could say. But my LW is different from Choco’s LW, and lately I wanted to start something self-indulgent. Although I have enough ideas for this to maybe be a single 30k fic, I’m choosing to do a series of shortfics instead, so that I’m not burdening myself with another long project. Fic series are great in that way, because it’s basically complete with every new fic.       On top of that, I have... probably 3 other things I want to make significant progress on this year. First is another Fallout fic: Same Heart. I’ve posted 8 chapters already and have almost 2 more done, but due to the slow-build nature of it (and my tagging) I don’t expect to have almost any readers until at least chapter 10 (when the ship characters finally meet). I’d like to at least get that far this year.       A project I’d love to finish by fall is the unreleased “The Wilderness”, a Venom zombie AU that I started for NaNoWriMo 2 years ago. It’s about 55% written, and my goal is to have as much of it done as possible before the sequel movie comes out. If it’s not done by then, I still plan to post whatever I have.       And lastly-ish, my novel... thing. Rogue. I’m in the process of editing it, although I’ve taken kind of a break lately. And as soon as I’m done with the edits and can get a couple of people to read it (just so they can tell me if certain parts are stupid and need changed) I plan to start the next book in the series... which will probably end up being book #1, actually, if I do them modern-era chronologically. It’s... gonna be a process. ^^;  2.  Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project.       In my upcoming FO3 fic series, I’m honestly just kind of weirdly looking forward to... how do I put this? Exploring my own vaguely-traumatic experiences through fic. I’ll always do a happy ending, if possible, but before we get there I really want to run these two through the ringer of... being given something they were led to believe was impossible, being judged for it, having it taken away, and then being told “well maybe it’s for the best”.       When it comes to future projects, I guess I’m really excited about writing the new Rogue book. “Reaper”, I guess, is its unimaginative working title. I’m anxious about it, because I thought Rogue had some really deeply emotional scenes, and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to accomplish that as well with this new one, simply because the characters don’t have the same level of desperation about each other. I need to figure out what’s unique about their dynamic and push that. I guess I’m looking forward to the challenge.  3.  What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)       Hmm gosh. Technically there’s a scene in the later chapters of Mobius that I already wrote, but it wouldn’t take place until probably chapter 3 or later, and I just lost all steam on that fic, sadly. But every time I poke through my notes I make myself cry reading it. It’s a scene where one character knows it’s going to be the last time he sees the person he loves most, and he can’t explain his pain to anyone. I really just want to get there so I can see if it makes other people cry like babies haha.       But on a completely unrelated note, there’s also this ZADR fic I started writing in like 2009, and I absolutely didn’t want to do the work to get to the fun middle scenes, but basically it was an AU where young adult Dib went to live/work in the thriving multi-species space community, where he’s... I dunno, studying alien biology I think?, and he ends up with Zim as a roommate. The scenes I really wanted to write were about the two of them getting into like a bar fight with some tough types, and Zim gets his pak ripped off/damaged in the process, and Dib has to sort of take care of him through a horrible fever. But then it turns out that the pak was not a life-support system like they thought, but actually a growth inhibitor so they (the people in charge of the Irkens) could choose who became the Tallest (the leaders). (And also it hindered reproduction, etc.) So basically the two of them accidentally start to unravel a galactic conspiracy which also involves corruption in the Earth government, etc, and Zim gets taller but spoiler alert, he still doesn’t get tall enough to challenge the Tallest lol. Sadly, I doubt I’ll ever actually write that fic. Sounds like too much effort lol.  7.  What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?       That’s such a hard question. Ummm. How do I put any of that into words? ...I think one of the things about my writing is that a lot of the time nothing really happens in a scene, and the story mostly focuses on a character thinking. Like, enough happens so there’s something for them to think about, but I think I tend to put a lot of emphasis on POV character’s thoughts, to the point of sometimes seeming stream-of-consciousness. I’ve been told that this makes my stories feel alive though? So I think it appeals to some people, though I’m sure others would find such stories boring.       Oh also, somewhat along these lines, I like to add commentary that is only somewhat relevant, usually in parenthesis at the end of a sentence or paragraph. (Honestly, it’s not unusual to see one in every paragraph if I’m writing something slightly humorous.)  9.  Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?      I would LOVE to write primarily longfics! However, I just don’t have the time or energy for it, and I don’t write fast enough. So I end up with a lot of oneshots under 10k. I had to challenge myself to learn to write short things though, and then it’s really about writing something short, not about writing a specific story.       Generally, I’m both pantster and plotter. I tend to write the first chapter/few scenes/maybe as much as 10k, just by the seat of my pants. After that, I look at what I’ve got and write out a plot to continue from there. Plotting everything out before I start just doesn’t work for me, but if I try “pantsing” anything longer than 15k I know I’m gonna have an absolute torturous hell of a time.  13.  Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?      Lol I think anyone who’s reading this knows I share my stuff online. Primarily on my AO3, though there’s some other stuff floating around here on tumblr too.  Most of the time if I keep something to myself it’s only because it’s not finish enough to share. So, sure, there’s plenty of that, but the goal is always to share it eventually. If I ever get around to finishing a novel, those will probably be the only things I don’t just post online. (Though I do post most of my OC stuff currently.)  17.  Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?       I think that inevitably my readers will always perceive me and my writing a bit differently than I do. That’s just... interacting with people. Nobody knows you entirely. However, I am as open and honest in my writing as possible, and I actually think that reading my fic is the best way to get to know me. I like to hope that I am an open book to anyone who has read many of my words. =] While you may not know the details of my life, I think you would have a good insight into my personality.    23.  What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?       Like... my oldest fic/story that I’ve never written or posted? Not counting stuff I’ve consciously abandoned (things from middle school, mostly), my original fic series, “Damsel and Company in Distress” aka DamselCo. is definitely my oldest story. I think I started fiddling with it in 2006-- which makes it pretty disappointing that it’s gotten next to nowhere. XD; But the story is my baby, and it’s been my baby for so long that anyone who’s followed me ever is probably at least vaguely familiar with a few of the characters.  Now maybe one day I’ll actually give it the attention it deserves, though I’m sure it’ll need significant revamping. After all, a lot has changed in 14+ years. Ideas that were new and subversive then are probably already stale. 

#elo talks #elo fics #ask meme #writing #long post #braincoins

[cat-gwyn-gunn]

Who on this earth is trash talking your writing??? Aaaaaaaaaa. Well anyways I love it!!! It’s part of what pulled me into this zadr trench in the first place. Zim following dib into space is very romantic. Also the characterizations were so damn good. Your ocs are super effin cute, usually I’m a brat about ppls ocs in stories but yours add so much to it. But yeah honestly the zadr fandom is kinda a garbage fire rn ;-; hopefully the discourse blows over soon.

Well most of the trash talk is about the OCs. Like it's not specifically my writing, but it's hard when you join a new Discord server only to find people talking about how much they hate OCs in fanfiction. Like...it hurts, you know? And yeah I know logically they were just talking in general but I have RSD so my brain immediately saw it as "oh they're talking about me."

Also like...people need to give OCs a chance, man. Like all the characters you like from this or that fandom? They're all someone's OCs. And that's the Tea.

There's also just me being insecure as fuck and seeing other fics (especially ones with similar premises) getting more recognition than mine. Like don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for whatever attention I can get, but when I first started posting Polaris it got so much of attention. Like people were all over it. My inbox was always full of people giving me full commentaries, and I got so much fanart of Midge. I have them all saved. I know it sounds selfish and stupid, but I miss it. I feel like an old, irrelevant pop star(bad comparison I know). And like, I can't force people to read my stuff, so I've pretty much just accepted that I got my little taste of fandom fame and now it's over haha.

It's part of why it took me so long to finish Sualocin (besides spiraling with depression and PTSD). Like I said we write what we want to read, but when you pour your heart and soul into something you're not getting paid for, getting some feedback and recognition is nice. And I think it's worse when you get a huge wave of recognition and then suddenly it just...disappears.

Anyway, sorry for the rambles! Thank you so much. I'm glad you like my writing. Hopefully I can get my motivation back at some point haha.

Also yeah. The whole IZ fandom needs to pipe the fuck down, honestly sjsjsj

#cat.answers #zadr #iz interstellar #iz polaris #iz antares #iz sualocin #iz fanfiction

[terribluh]

i wrote this for me

ive got this zadr au in my head ill never do anything with and its not particularly special bc every iz fan comes to this inevitable zadr au lmao

this got very long and probably ooc lmao rip dont worry u dont have to read it in fact please dont read this i did not format this at all and i did not proofread 

basically dib and zim are dating and dibs home situation has deteriorated, and in light of irkens managing to escape the florpus hole, they kinda go, “lets be young and free and run away together” and so they go to space!!! i feel like these self serving jackasses probably wouldn’t join the resisty straight up?? theyre too dumb for that, like yea dib has a hero complex and zim would probably love to be incharge of people but alas, dibs actually an asshole and zim probably wont hurry to align himself with irken enemies despite kind of being one himself.

so they float through space. things r kinda bad kinda good, but theyre surviving. the irken armada isnt exactly after them, but i imagine they probably have a run in with irkens who just start trying to kill zim and realize avoiding irkens is something they should do. the idea that zim terrifies the tallest is hilarious bc then they operate on a, ill avoid u if u avoid me basis and thats such a concept bc im thinking dib and zim become space pirates. will be honest, got a lot of inspiration from ravagers in gotg bc thats an aesthetic and i was way into kragdu at some point in my life. also im a slut for space operas.

they r in space, kinda keeping to themselves and stealing things. they become space cryptids. i love the idea that they become space cryptids lmao. zim is just such a small irken and dib is this tall gangly human and no one knows what the fuck a human is. lots of humans are fucking weird to other aliens stuff. also i love the idea of them in a fight with space bounty hunters or something, and dib gets shot and just keeps going. this strange lanky figure in a dark coat with blood spilling from his injured shoulder just not going down. and zim as an irken is functionally immortal anyway so theyre like an unstoppable team. i love battle couples! 

i like the dynamic they could of had in canon, someone made a post once, where zim wouldve been the one to fight and dib wouldve been mission control, but i think in this au, it would be the other way around? or more equal idk. zim has to learn to do the talking bc dib dont speak alien, and dib has to protect zim a lot. and then over time they just pick up each others slack lol. i just like the idea of dib being kinda intimidating looking, which when paired with zims shit eating grin is such a combo. 

theres probably a scene where an alien is like ooh scary bounty hunter that even the fucking irken armada avoids and is scared shitless but its just dib. and dib, never having seen this kind of alien before, starts asking a million questions and is just kinda offputting/adorable lmao and then zim has to drag him out. 

anyway things keep like this, they hash out a living on stealing and trading. their number 1 priority is avoiding the massive and any irkens out there. maybe dib misses earth. maybe zim misses… something. the ship they have is kind of scrap and very much homebrewed, all stolen parts and mishmashed pieces and it was originally zims voot lmao, but zim is a genius and dib is a membrane and it still works. zims house computer is in the ship now and minimoose lives in the vents.

and then theres gir. i love gir but also i feel like theres a lot of untapped gir related angst like, gir is essentially scrap??? shit breaks 

they shut him down a lot for his own good bc he malfunctions sometimes and its awful bc zim loves gir. 

and then one day, zim and dib making a run for it, dib scooping zim up and hoofing it with the alien in his arms shooting over his shoulder and yelling at dib at the same time. and someone or something hits gir hard enough he shuts down, eyes dimming into black and collapsing mid giggle and zim loses it, destroying the attacker while dib grabs for gir and checks his internals and has no idea how to fix him because nothing seems wrong. 

and this is something like the breaking point. things were ok, but now things arent. maybe zims pak is broken, has never worked properly, is dying, and they get by with scraps and parts but its very borderline. and the ships basically scrap and supplies are always tight but they make do. 

but then gir shuts down, and suddenly they cant keep living on scraps and avoiding the armada. bc they need to fix gir no matter what  

maybe theyre like theres no parts enough to fix him oh no, but look theyre right around the corner from the massive and it just so happens the resisty are attacking so zim and dib are like. “were really doing this arent we” and the computers like sigh ok 

they really intend to grab a random sir unit and cannibalize it for gir and jet but zim cant keep his mouth shut and suddenly theyre arguing, fighting their way through some irkens that are really just doing their jobs and had the misfortune of running into zim and dib making their escape and its really strangely easy. zims kind of an op destructive force and dibs so used to fighting zim at this point these irkens are like ants and theyve been in space for like a decade at this point, and theyre always in danger anyway, and its easy to get into the swing of it. shoot shoot stab kick yell at zim blast an irken. 

and next thing they know theyve busted through the door to the bridge where a showdown is happening between the tallest and the resisty leader and everyone deer in the head lights. 

both parties yell “ZIM????” like the beyonce meme and zim instinctively goes “yes it is i ZIIIIM” and dib facepalms behind him the tallest are like panicking and the irkens milling around start gunning for zim and the resisty in equal amounts and theyre severely outnumbered and zim and dib start fighting for their lives foreal this time 

and zim yells, “computer! bring the ship around!!!” and dib is like “zim if i die like this-”, “you won’t zim guarantees it.” and its kind of romantic but theres plasma beams everywhere and a deactivated sir unit in zims arms and theyre both hurt but thats what its like, thats what its always like for them and honestly they wouldnt change it for anything. 

maybe dib gets zim to go on ahead and escape without him with the sir unit, or zim goes on ahead himself all i have a plan. and dib is mistaken for a resisty agent bc he obviously isn’t irken and unwittingly teams up with then and then all hope seems lost and dibs like “we’re screwed- “

and gir blast through the glass of the ships bridge all, “Maaaryyy i missed you!!!!”

“gir youre ok!”

and then gir barrels into dibs arms, dib jolting back from the impact with an oof 

“i died but im ok now!” gir screams as he cuddles into dibs neck  

and its v cute but dib is kinda preoccupied with not dying and hes just like “thank fucking god get us out of here” and girs eyes flash red and he salutes “yes sir!” and jets off by grabbing onto dibs back with his tiny hands and thats when the ship pulls up. zim is in the drivers seat and everyone fucking sees him because hes screaming, why is he screaming? hes zim, of course hes screaming. they get away all well and good but lmao their interference was enough that the resisty was able to escape with far less casualties than they wouldve had. 

bc they were losing, real bad lmao zim and dib saved them but they dont even care because that wasnt what they were going for but to the resisty theyre heroes and to the irken armada theyve declared war. and dib and zim are just like “our actions will not have any negative reprecussions no siree.” bc theyre idiots!! 

their actions have negative reprecussions. 

and then they join the resisty. 

and at some point dib goes home and reconciles with his family and gaz kicks his ass 

anyway i just love the idea that zim and dib dont do nothing on purpose but every damn thing they do affects something big. like some kinda cosmic karma, i amn jus standing herr kinda thing lmao a lot of coincidences and pure luck shenanigans. 

an overarching theme of “everything in zim and dibs lives suck except for how much they love each other” 

#mine #its late but i saw a fanart and was like damn i love that #this is the fanfic that plays out in my head sometimes before i fall asleep #gir and zim family relationship rights #iz #zadr #i probably wont ever write it bc theres tons of plot holes and characterization issues i dont like #but i still really like certain elements lmao

[not-a-space-alien]

hey its me again wall of text sorry not sorry

k i saw your little treatise justifying zadr and yknow its a cartoon its not the worst thing ever of course nobody is gonna sue you for reblogging fanart or burn you at the stake or w/e and im glad you decided to open yourself up to a differing opinion but zim IS portrayed as an adult. there was even an unfinished episode where zim’s childhood and growing up training from start to finish would be shown so by the time of the pilot he is definitely a full grown developed adult by irken standards especially if hes a former member of an elite military force like the invaders. jhonen has said that the irony and sad comedy of zims character is that hes a grown ass man and a war veteran to boot who VOLUNTARILY goes to an elementary school every day and throws hands with an 11 year old boy who should be well below his notice because he’s that pathetic and desperate for validation that he’ll stoop to seeking it from a child. it also sets up a dynamic between them where dib is CHALLENGED by having to go up against an adult with way more experience than him while dib is just a child, so when he wins its more meaningful, which is a common trope in childrens fiction that an underdog young hero has to take down a powerful adult villain.

jhonen might joke a lot but he’s serious about this part of the characterization of zim and dib and he even went to great lengths to make dib look and act more like a kid in ETF (more emotional and naive, designed to look smaller/softer, going in depth with his relationship to his dad and sister and needing his dad to protect him at the end when he’s too overrun to fight alone) just to drive home the point of how young he is. it was a very deliberate move and jhonen knows what hes doing ESPECIALLY since he also left zim pretty much unchanged and also includes gags about zim’s relative maturity like animating him briefly grimacing because his joints are sore and the part where he pretty much gestures to his crotch and goes “theyre afraid to look at ALL-A THIS”. like you would not see jhonen do that sort of joke with an underage character ok. dont confuse his social awkwardness and self deprecating/trolling humor for not knowing the difference between right and wrong and not acknowledge when he means something sincerely because he doesn’t just clown on people and troll ALL THE TIME 24/7 hes a human, and times have changed with more awareness on issues such as the grooming of minors so he can go back on things he may have said in the past that he doesn’t agree with now or said by mistake. he has said enough times that zim is older than any human alive that its safe to take his word for it by now. judging by the one strip he did in JTHM about johnny murdering a pedophile who was about to prey on squee i think his stance on protecting kids is pretty clear. also i wouldnt put it past jhonen to have redesigned membrane to be more chaddy looking to divert the adult fandom’s attention away from dib and throw the fangirls a bone but thats a whole nother can of worms lol.

and the justification that zim is immature so hes essentially on dib’s level is a reversal of something lots of kids hear from either creepy or ignorant adults who tell them theyre “so mature for their age”. no matter how emotionally mature you are it wont ever compensate for the number of years youve been alive so that’s not very sound logic, and even in fic where theyre both adults it’s still pretty weird because it doesn’t erase their history where zim knew dib as a kid. that’s sort of like a grownup waiting with bated breath until a kid is “legal” so they can start dating. kinda like when jacob imprints on bella’s newborn daughter in twilight then having it handwaved away by saying he’ll wait till she’s grown up, which understandably drew a huge amount of criticism. it’s a loophole that might be mildly acceptable in some cases but the context leaves it colored with a residual ickiness that sets off some red flags for me and a lot of other people.

also you said zim is an alien and therefore the situation itself is unrealistic, but the reason invader zim’s writing resonates with people is because zim is written with very HUMAN emotions and motivations and part of the humor again is how irkens despite being aliens from another planet mirror some of humanity’s worst flaws such as being petty, gluttonous, willfully ignorant, arrogantly believing they are special and better than everyone else, easily manipulated by propaganda, all too eager to greedily colonize other societies etc making them not so different from us at all. so the premise out of context might not seem realistic but the idea of a sad burnout adult who doesn’t realize how humiliating it is to be consistently outsmarted by a kid less than half their age IS realistic and applicable to human interaction since we’ve likely all met someone like this before at one point in our lives for example a schoolteacher who has a personal vendetta against one or more of their students and has nothing better to do than antagonize them, or a really dumb parent that you fight with a lot.

another thing, i know you and other fans probably have a lot of sentimental value and nostalgia attached to zadr because you probably shipped it back when you were a kid yourself and you cant be blamed for something you liked as a kid, but youre an adult now, and you have to listen to the portion of kids in the fandom who dont like zadr and say without question that the age gap makes them uncomfortable. those kids ARE the priority. we’re grown up now and we have to put our feelings aside for them because that’s part of being responsible and mature. i feel like zim himself is a pretty good example of how not to act at our age [shrug emoji]

and anyway a lot of the same elements of zadr can be explored with zadf just as well with just as much potential for cute moments and as a bonus is it’s not creepy

You do bring up some good points, and I’m not saying you’re wrong...  But honestly I’m still not convinced.  I mean, stuff that Jhonen said, the thing is even if it’s the author saying it it’s still outside of canon, that’s the reason why Neil Gaiman got flack for Good Omens because they didn’t write an actual kiss or hug or hand-hold between Aziraphale and Crowley yet Neil Gaiman went on Twitter saying they were queer representation.  I still don’t really put much stock into what he says because the unfinished episodes and Jhonen’s commentary don’t really change the dynamic that’s actually in the show.  And again...Jhonen said if there were going to be romance in the show it would be Zim/Gaz, so he’s either a huge hypocrite or doesn’t view Zim as being incompatible with Gaz.

I do think it’s much better when Dib is an adult and it just makes more sense, and I actually do prefer zadf to zadr and if i were going to ever write fanfiction or make fanart it would probably just be zadf, just because i know this does have some stuff to think about and I totally respect that you have a different view of it, but i honestly just don’t see it that way.  The analogy with Jacob imprinting on Bella’s child in Twilight isn’t really the same thing honestly.  The author in that situation tried to make it not......that....by saying that imprinting isn’t always a romantic relationship thing, and that Jacob would be more of an older brother, but honestly that doesn’t really negate the impact of grooming that kid would have with Jacob around.  The idea that Zim would somehow be grooming Dib seems really silly to me although you’re right, I think his characterization in Into the Florpus has evolved somewhat especially with regard to Dib wanting to get his father’s approval, but again Zim has parallels with that in trying to please the Tallest.  the world-building and characterizations are inconsistent and scattershot at best.  Like no, zim isn’t waiting for him to turn legal, that’s absurd, they’re nemeses coming at each other then learning to be friends.  You’re right that that doesn’t have to be zadr but I still tag it as zadr so people can block it if they want to.

Like, I’ve seen people ship Zim with Professor Membrane instead of Dib.  That seems very weird to me.  that professor membrane would have a relationship with someone who literally goes to his son’s elementary school and who doesn’t know anything at all about human behavior and emotions.

I feel like with this discussion people don’t really understand the problem with age gaps. With age gaps, it’s not a matter of mature/immature, it’s about development.  A ten year age gap sounds like a lot right?  a 25-year-old and a 15-year old would absolutely have a predatory “relationship.”  But a 35- and a 45-year old, that’s perfectly fine.  Having a difference in age doesn’t automatically make the relationship unhealthy.  so if Dib is 25 and Zim is [whatever the hell aliens years i still don’t really take Jhonen’s word for it bc he’s not consistent], that’s doesn’t mean it has to be bad.  The thing about telling minors they’re “so mature for their age” to try and convince them that a person interested in them isn’t a pedophile is that we know a human being who is 15 isn’t developmentally at the same level as a 25-year-old regardless of their behavior.  What is Zim?  All we have to go on is how he acts, and he acts like Dib is an equal match, it’s not “he’s immature for his age,” it’s very unclear.  Raw number of years isn’t the ultimate decider, for example in DnD lore elves reach maturity at, like, 100 years old so a 25-yo human trying to get with a 50-year-old elf would be predatory to the young elf even though the “younger” one is technically twice as old as the human.  Do you see what I’m saying?

I also don’t really buy the idea that Invader Zim’s writing resonates with people because Zim is ~~so human~~.  The guy steals a bunch of kid’s organs in one episode and flies into a tantrum over the slightest inconvenience.  You have to be reading really deeply into it and dig into some old internet archives of things Jhonen Vasquez has said to paint it as realistic.  You can do some interesting things with it wrt like, Zim being defective and starting to experience human emotions but that’s mostly fanon.

Well, you’ve given me some things to think about, thanks for explaining your side to me.  I’m still going to tag things as #zadr so people can block if it can’t plausibly be categorized as zadf.  I’m not actually making any fan content for Invader Zim so the point is kind of moot, but if I ever do I’ll definitely take this into consideration.

#invader zim #zadr #submission

[shadowofthelamp]

Greener Grasses

Thinking about this post about Swap Zim. Might add a continuation later.

Wordcount: 1050

Warnings: Light Zadr

“I’d be a good irken,” Zim declared. He was laid out on his back, one leg bent up at the knee and the other crossed over it as he stared up at the sky through the haze of pollution. Dib had offered him his telescope, but he said that he kind of liked picking out shapes and patterns in the smog when they were outside. That way, he could choose his own constellations from what he could see, since it changed every night.

Dib was sitting up- his Pak made it a bit difficult to lay on his back without a chair specifically designed for an irken. He was watching Zim more than their surroundings- when you’ve seen dozens of planets, the sky from one or another is only an exercise in finding Irk again as fast as you can. In a sky as polluted as this one? Forget it.

“You would,” Dib agreed, and Zim puffed his chest out, pleased as punch. 

“Of course I would!” He turned to look at Dib. “So, how many kinds of jobs are there for irkens?”

“Well, there’s as many as we need to keep the Empire running. We can get slave labor or drones for the boring or mindless ones.” Dib started counting off on his fingers. They’d have his head if they found out he was telling secrets to an inferior pre-contact species like Zim, but the smile on Zim’s face and the chance to just talk without judgement was too good to pass up. “I’m a military biologist- I study local animals on planets that are either marked for conquest or already under Empire control, to see what they can be useful for before just exterminating them. Gaz is an invader- they sneak in under the radar to study planetary weaknesses. There are scientists, soldiers, historians…”

“I’d probably be a soldier. Or even better, a commander!” Zim raised a fist, and it shook slightly from how tightly he was clenching it.

“Really? I’d think you’d be an inventor or biological engineer. You’re good at that, despite having such pitiful resources on this planet while your mind was developing.” Dib tilted his head. “Or still is, rather. Humans only fully mature in their twenties, right?” 

Zim raised an eyebrow. “I am a good inventor, but I’m meant for... for something more!” He grinned. “You landing in this city… it was a sign. A sign that Zim had been made to show the world what I can really do.” He leapt to his feet. “With your alien stuff and my brains and rugged determination, we can accomplish anything.” He practically marched to the edge of the roof, and Dib used his Pak legs to push himself up before following him as Zim folded his arms behind his back.

“That doesn’t tell me why you’d prefer to be a soldier. Inventors still give the soldiers their cool guns, and those are needed to actually conquer anything.”

“The military is important for irkens, is it not?”

Dib nodded. “Most of the Empire revolves around keeping it well-oiled.”

“Then that’s where I’d belong. Right in the thick of everything, creating glory for the honor of the Empire- and for myself.” His fingers twitched. “I’d know exactly who and what I was, and my name would be on the lips of every recruit down-rank of me. Everyone would know and respect Zim.”

Dib’s antenna twitched- there was something in Zim’s voice that he couldn’t quite decipher as he stared down at the city below, the lights flickering against his scarred face like the embers of a crashed engine.

_____________________

“Are you sure about this?” Dib raised an eye as Zim sat up on the table. 

“Of course I am.”

“It’s risky.”

“Life is risky. I could get hit by a car tomorrow, and this could save me! Do you want me to get hit by a car, Dib? Huh? Do ya?”

Dib pulled down the extra-thick goggles and snapped on a pair of medical gloves. “Of course not, I just don’t want you whining to me during recovery.”

“Zim does not whine.”

“Zim forgot last week with the werewolf.”

“Hey, he came up behind me! You were supposed to be lookout!” Zim protested, before Dib pulled out the drill. The color flooded Zim’s face as he realized it was bigger than his head. “So that’s-”

“I’m drilling holes into your spine to install the Pak properly. Unless you want me to just slap it on and have it decide to attach sideways?” Dib moved to set the drill down, and Zim waved his hands. 

“No, no, I can handle it!”

“Good.” Dib set a hand on Zim’s cheek, and the human leaned against it, nuzzling his skin against the glove. “I’m glad you want this. Humans live such short, sad lives.”

“Humans stink,” Zim agreed with a slight nod. “And this will-”

Dib pulled his hand back. “It will extend your life significantly and will shift some of your insides to be a bit more irken in order to maintain compatibility. Your skin might change hue slightly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you develop a few more allergies, but we can always just get you more irken foods, that won’t be too big a deal to just up the orders from Foodcourtia that Gaz and I need anyway. You’ll still be mostly human. I’ll need to keep monitoring you for about a month, of course, but after that there shouldn’t be too many surprises.”

“You’ve said the Pak has your brain. There’s not-”

Dib shook his head. “It’s factory-clean, don’t worry. They send out replacements if one gets damaged sometimes, for the computers to reupload particularly important irkens into. The only one who’s going to be in there is you once it fully syncs with your memories.”

Zim nodded, sagging a little in relief as Dib pulled out an anesthetic mask. 

“Good. This is my body, no one else can have it!”

“Now, just relax.” Dib set the mask over Zim’s face, and within seconds his eyelids were fluttering. “When you wake up, it’ll all be over.”

Zim gave a little smile before his body fell limp in Dib’s arms, and Dib carefully laid him down on the table before picking up the drill.

#aip swap au #aip #iz #iz blogging #invader zim #zadr #only uses the tag once a millennia but it's at 1am #shadow writes stuff

[dib]

if you don’t ship zadr (which I’ve found things saying he’s 160 earth years, but 10 earth years is 1 irken year, so he’s 16 and I think it’s unfair to he called pedophiliac? i don’t ship it, but it’s also heavily implied that the tallest took their position before they were nature enough to bc of the other tallest dying, and we see at least way more mature irkens in the series,, so I just don’t think it’s fair to make zadr out to be so terrible), then is there anything you ship in iz?

Haven’t seen a real source on him being 160 earth years / 10 earth years= 1 Irken year thing yet. It is on the wiki but there is no cited source. 16 year olds probably shouldnt be dating 12 year olds anyways? That is the equivalent of someone in the middle of high school dating someone fresh out of elementary school (I am not sure if the school in the show is elementary or middle school)

Maybe not related, but since a lot of people still think Jhonen just “suddenly stated Zim is an adult recently to stir up discourse”, he states in this commentary, “The saddest thing is Zim’s not a kid! He’s like an old man basically.” (this is from what, 2005?)

The Tallest taking their positions early could be possible, but the age they took the positions at is not stated anywhere. We could also note that Zim does not look much different from other Irkens other than the tallest, so is every Irken a kid? Is Tak a kid? A lack of maturity does not equal child, as there are tons of adults in both real life and Invader Zim that are absolutely not mature.

And no, I don’t really ship anything in invader zim, I don’t really feel the need to find something to ship in it? That being said, I’ll reblog other artists ship art if I don’t see anything inherently wrong with the ship itself, Dibper is p cute tho lol

#shipping discourse #Anonymous #ask

[esterofila]

H-hi... so.... this is my ZADR story on Wattpad! I’ll be posting the Prologue here, in case you’d wanna see it, but if you’re interested, I’d really appreciate your support! The username is UnknownIrken, and that’s my only ZADR story on there. Please, read it if you’re interested! I update ~somewhat~ often (when I get the inspritarion to), and I don’t think it’s that bad of a story, myself. Anyways, here’s the prologue, and if you like it, please read the rest of the story and share! Thank you!! 💕

——————————-

It's happening. It's finally happening.

Dib was about to be a father. He could hardly contain his glee, as he paced around Zim's labs, both nervous and ecstatic.

He, unfortunately, wasn't allowed to be present for the birth. If there was one thing to know about Irkens...

It was that they gave birth ALONE. 

The stress of birth, pain, blood, etc. is enough to kick up their primal instincts. Pregnant Irkens in labor tend to attack anything, even their own mates, while giving birth. Only the baby is spared from their wrath. So Dib, for his own safety, was locked outside Zim's little birthing room, waiting, waiting, waiting.

"Z-Zim can handle this...", The Irken smiled weakly before going into the room. His face was pale, but flushed, and his legs shook. "Don't even think about us. I do not typically know how long birthing lasts, but I expect it will take a while..."

"And what, you expect me to just forget about you?"

Dib was in quite the panic. Moments ago, they were talking about something mindless on the living room couch when Zim let out an agonized screech. With horrible shuddering gasps, he croaked out "Baby!"

"Not a chance. W-what if you pass out and can't do it, or-"

"The computer will handle it!", the Irken hissed in pain, impatience, and his instinct kicking in. "Please, do not worry for us! I'll be back out before you know it, with baby in arms!"

Zim pressed a hasty, but loving kiss to Dib's face, and then made his way into the birthing room they had set up weeks earlier. The door closed right behind the alien, and Dib was left alone for now.

18 hours.

18 hours his partner was locked away in the room, taking his time. Dib was about to go into conniptions when the computer alerted him that the birthing was finally taking effect, and he'd see his child and spouse within a few hours.

Dib had not slept, eaten, or even sat down for all 18 hours. All he did was pace, mumble, and beg for the computer to let him know what was happening. All it replied was, "Just relax. They're both fine."

The poor distressed yet excited human was about an inch from going more insane, when the door *clicked *, and gently swung open.

Zim lay on the bed put inside the room, weary, tired, and had huge sticky tears running down his face. But not from pain, from joy. Their baby was here!

Dib practically sprinted over, but slowed his pace when he saw his daughter for the first time.

She was stunning. The perfect mixture of Irken and Human. 

Finally.... he could have a perfect family.

~***~

"Incoming Transmission from Irk's Capital", the computer called out, beeping softly.

"What? why?"

Zim held their baby, glaring at the screen with rage, confusion, and concern. The Empire couldn't have possibly known about Zim's birth only days before... He took the right precautions..... However, if he didn't answer, they'd know he wasn't on his "mission." He silently quit his job years ago, only pretending to be an Invader should the need arise. But in reality, he himself had not harmed the planet in near 8 years.

Zim gently but firmly pressed baby Pluvio into Dib's arms, and shooed him off to the other side of the room, where the two of them couldn't be seen. Zim straightened out his uniform, stood to attention, and told Computer to accept the call.

The screen flickered, and an Irken stood before him. Zim had no idea who this Irken was.

"Greetings.....", Zim said, with a respectful bow. "May I help you?"

 The Irken held a tablet in their hands, and cleared their throat.

"Invader Zimmari.." 

Uh oh. Zim swallowed hard. His full name... This didn't sound good.

The other Irken continued. "It is with great honor to announce that due to your Royal Irken ancestry, and the lack of Tall Irkens to stand line for leadership, that YOU are our next Tallest." The Irken sat down their tablet, and clapped. 

Zim's blood froze, and he felt himself swaying. "N-no.... that can't be right!"

Dib's eyes widened. He also felt like swaying, but he was sure falling to the floor with a baby in his arms would be completely stupid. Instead, he leaned against the wall, shooting Zim a "What the crap" look from across the room.

"Oh, but it is!", The Irken said, with a smile. They were clearly oblivious to Zim's reaction. "You are our new leader!"

"W-what about our current Tallests?!"

"Fired! The control brains feel as though they wasted too much time with snacks and parties.... they were never leadership material in my opinion, anyways. But you are!"

Zim swallowed again, antenna lowering down to his back. "I'm not even tall!", he squeaked out quietly.

"Recent studies show that height has nothing to do with leadership. It truly takes a great brain, strategic skills, and fearlessness!"

"I NEARLY BLEW UP OUR OWN PLANET!"

"Nobody will care with you in charge. We will see you shortly. Congratulations, my Tallest! We look forward to a bright new era!"

The Irken ended the transmission, and Zim instantly fell to the floor.

Dib walked over solemnly. He tried to say something.... but he couldn't.

Life, from now on, was supposed to be whole and perfect. Zim obviously couldn't bring Dib and Pluvio with him.... Despite him being Tallest, there was a strict "No Oustiders" allowed. Besides.... Zim broke quite possibly the most important rule in the Empire.

No. Falling. In. Love.

Zim shuddered, looking up at Dib. He, too, didn't know what to say. 

The alien slowly stood up, walking into Dib and wrapping his thin arms around his taller mate's middle. Dib rubbed his back softly, without saying a word.

Now what?

~***~

Dib and Pluvio had to leave Zim's base shortly. If they were caught in the base with him.... they'd likely be killed on the spot by guards coming to escort their new Tallest.

So, they spent their limited time together in the living room, on the couch. Zim held his baby, hugging her and nuzzling her sleeping figure, not wanting to leave his mate and child.

"Why can't we just run?", Dib suggested through tears that slipped out without his knowing. "The universe is so huge.... they'll never find us."

"Yes they will.", Zim said in the same hollow, gray voice he had used since he first heard the news. "I can't run. They'd get suspicious and kill all three of us."

Dib bit his lips and wiped his unwelcome tears away. "Then why can't we--"

"We just can't.", Zim interrupted, still hollow. "I can't do anything."

"Zim... I can't raise a baby on my own, and I can't live my life without you."

"You have to.", Zim said, looking up at Dib. "She needs you."

"She needs you too! Pluvio needs the both of us!"

"Our baby needs you more.... I swear, I'll keep in touch as much as I can.... But I'm afraid the only option I have is becoming a Tallest.... and who knows? Maybe Zim will be able to bend the rules...."

The alien's face lit up slightly. "If I prove to them my leadership, they all might follow when I recommend taking down the 'No Mating' rule...."

Dib bit his lips harder. He felt it was a long shot.... but to be honest, anything that gave him hope was worth holding onto at the moment.  He said nothing in reply. He only pulled Zim closer into his lap, and enjoyed his company while he could.

They stayed in a melancholy silence for a while, when the computer chimed. The Carrier, a ship specifically designed for transporting Tallests discreetly, has entered the solar system. Zim stood up, turning to Dib. They had to leave. Now.

Zim kissed Pluvio's head one final time. "Remember mama loves you, and I swear I'll be back one day. Please, grow up well, and happy, and safe."

He handed the still sleeping baby over to Dib, and then pulled the human into what would be their last kiss for years. The pair both had tears streaming down their faces, Dib's tears lightly burning Zim's face. Not that the Irken cared.

They finally pulled away after several minutes. They were losing time.

"Keep her safe, and make sure she grows up well. I want her to be proud, happy, and fine without me.... And you need to be strong too, Dib."

"I know.... it'll be so hard, though.", the Human said, sadly. 

Zim nodded, his antenna still drooped. 

"The Carrier has passed Pluto.", the computer alerted.

Zim perked, starting to feel panicked. "Agh! They're moving so quickly.... Remember, go far, far away until you KNOW the Carrier leaves, Dib. And then, the base is yours. Every door, safe, and secret is unlocked. I love you. Now run!"

Dib nodded, turning towards the door. "I love you too! Please, be a good Ruler!"

And then, Dib and Pluvio left. He walked down to a park nearby, sat under a tree, and tried to soothe the waking baby.

The Carrier quickly transported Zim from the base. Dib could see the small magenta ship from here, and watched it leave.

Dib felt his heart shatter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was the Prologue. Hope all who read it like it! I stole the name Zimmari from a fanfic I read years ago. I don't remember the fanfic's name, or author. But know I don't take credit for the name.

Hope you liked it!

#invaderzim #zadr #invaderzimzadr #zim #zimxdib #dibxzim #dib #zadrkid #lovechild #kid #wattpad #story #invaderzimfanfiction