#skoodge is trying to be the reasonable one

[ms-scarletwings]

On Defective Irkens

“It is theorized that Tak may also be an Irken defect because-“

“Say guys do you think Skoodge is defective? He did a thing he wasn’t told to do once do you suppose-“

“Service Drone Bob's contempt for the Tallest is extremely abnormal, even for most defective Irkens…”

“Hints of the comms officer being a defective are seen when-“

Ohhh mauling the fan wiki writers grr biting biting thrashing and then turning around to the rest of you before I’m done, you bet, for I have sat and listened for over 12 years of leaps and speculations of this sort and now I’m now one of the ones who gets to have what the cool kids these days call a hot take on the matter.

By the end of this I’M going to bring up and expose who I actually think may be the only other defective Irken(s) in the show besides Zim, whom I’m aghast I haven’t seen anyone suggest before.

But before anything else, I want to front one preassumption center and loud.

It took me a long time to guess at why very few people can ever seem to get on the same page of what it actually means to call an Irken defective. Implicitly, the bulk of what we are given is that something can be wrong with a member of this species, and Zim is our prime and singular clear example of that. So there’s a ton of trying to find patterns between Zim’s behavior and that of other Irken characters. Weirdly (to me), a lot of people have, in their efforts, chalked the status up to a sense of rebelliousness or insubordination- a defectiveness in the manner of D&D illithids, stomping out disloyal break-aways from the collective hive mind with punitive wrath. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool concept, and it’s definitely closer to my opinion at least than the comparisons to real life mental disorders or disabilities. Not knocking the comfort or the enthusiasm, obviously.

From my view of the canon, I hope it’s at least apparent to other fans that “defective” isn’t some empirical measurement or status to Irkens. Look at the way they determine the defects from normal society. IRL, if I have a faulty device on my hands, there’s some way out there to tell me in a clear cut fashion if there’s a problem and what exactly it is. If it’s code, it can be scanned and debugged. If it’s mechanical, something can be seen, fixed physically. Most organic health problems are only different in the complexity of the matter, but the entire purpose of medical research is to come close as we can to bridging that gap. In Irk’s people, that line is rapidly becoming one long smear of wet chalk. I’m going on like this because if defective paks were akin to hardware actually being damaged, as Purple had put it, it doesn’t make as much sense that they are neither “fixed” nor given real, concrete diagnostics. The only way we know of that the aliens are tested in a since on this merit is by existence evaluations. And existence evaluations are anything but empirical, impartial events. They’re worlds more political and cultural than clinical.

Digest the terms we keep seeing all around the concept: Innocent, justice, trial/evaluation, Judgementia, these are terms of judicial courts and moral weight and sentencing. In effective practice,

Irk labels defects by what one does, not by what one is.

Yet, defection is presented as if that’s not the case, and there are reasons for that. Reasons that reinforce the current power structures and promote what its leadership has decided is healthy for the broader society. When Zim was merely re-encoded from invader status to food service work, it was a more secluded evaluation, presumably done on Irk. His only seen witnesses then were the Tallests and the single control brain dishing the judgement. His existence evaluation, on the other hand, rings more similarly to the IRL historical practice of literal “show trials”. Show trials were something that existed way less for the actual crimes of the accused and so much more for their audience, which, show trials are always for an audience. Three main points about them off the Wikipedia cuff:

• Typically, the defendant of such has already been determined to be guilty (oftentimes of completely fabricated transgressions), and the trial serves mostly to make a massive public spectacle and warning of the accused.

• They tend to focus on retributive punishment over correction. The disproportional brutality and lack of mercy is often the point.

• Their goals are propagandistic in nature, and there’s many notable examples to be found in the history of Nazi Germany, the USSR, and in witch trials across the world (because it was never just Salem).

A formality? Well, that much they couldn’t have more brazenly admitted to. Retribution? There’s hardly a more absolute punitive sentence I could craft up over obliteration PLUS Damnatio Memoariae. And as for the degree of spectacle, I will let you make your own observation here.

Believe it or not, the part where my comparisons along this line end with Existence Evaluations is that their standard for taking place isn’t actually this cartoonishly oppressive one that some fans try to make it out to be. In “The Trial”, Zim was not having his data read for some binary is/is not determination… he was having his experiences and actions interpreted by how much damage he has done against the Armada. He said it himself, that hotseat is reserved for criminals. Likely outright traitors and maniacs. Those who have given cause to alert the brains to a genuine existential threat to their civilization and who have repeatedly failed every opportunity given to redeem themselves.

Defective doesn’t just mean “different” to Irk. We’ve hardly seen an exploration of what the median Irken example even is, because the more we see of any one of these characters, the more they show us their eccentric uniqueness and will. Yes, Irkens are authoritarian; yes they’re over-militarized; yes, they’re a supremacist breed aligned under one ruling military… but listen, they are not literally The Borg, or illithids.

The biggest victims of this government itself are those races it colonizes. Average civilians on the other hand, they get to largely enjoy all the vices and pains and indulgences of hyper-space-capitalism. The height-ocracy may limit their opportunities, but even the lowest drones among them are supposedly hired into their positions in return for wages. Irkens are pretty selfish, but in a rugged individualism sense. It’s a dystopia of atomization instead of collectivization. If everyone had agreed that “defective” had anything to do with arrogance, free will, or an ability to feel one’s sense of self worth, no one would ever be pointing to Skoodge as a possible example. That guy’s the poster boy for what it means to be a “tool” in the derogatory sense. I’m not forgetting that he technically never even left his job. He was fired and more or less forced into hiding, and he’s still not even that perturbed over the whole thing.

Moreover, it also takes some extreme acts of harm to justify such a trial. Real harm- not rebellious attitude or even disrespect to authority. The control brains and the tallests alone get to define that threshold, and neither Tak’s/Zim’s insubordination nor Bob’s audacity concerned them enough for a ticket to Judgementia. In fact, they really don’t seem that bothered at all by deserters and those that abandon their encoded function. Tak is likely to be merely the responsibility of her janitorial squadron, the same way that enforcing Zim’s banishment was the responsibility of his Frylord. Because Irk actually does have standards of justice and layers of bureaucracy to work within when it comes to dealing with true malice. Small fry problems are for the lower rungs of the ladder to handle, until they become a higher priority by necessity. Incompetency alone isn’t a crime, either. The go-to punishment for failure in one function is demotion to a lower position. These are the only Irkens formally not allowed to change jobs, making what they do a kind of communal service or forced labor sentencing. Remember how Tak’s motivation for leaving Dirt wasn’t solely dissatisfaction with the grunt labor? Remember how she kept justifying her actions by the logic of fairness and setting things right? Not to mention how she fully made the Tallest aware of what she was up to and how her plan was well crafted enough to probably work out exactly like she wanted. Tak is utterly as loyal to the empire and competent as any invader. She was genuinely just dealt a shitty hand, and her response to it is at least understandable.

She even went to great lengths to identify and specifically target Zim and to use a planet that otherwise had less than no value to the armada’s operations. She is a great foil to Zim, but I can’t see how she’s any bit defective, only full of rage that she was screwed over by the actions of a real disgrace to their species. Genuinely destructive cases like Zim are an incredible rarity. Such a rarity that I can only guess it took this long for him to go to Judgementia because his degree of dysfunction outright baffles the system. It also would appear that it’s an event of such significance that it can only be set into motion by the command of the ruling Tallest. By murdering a couple of them, and then being a clown show for a couple more, he inadvertently bought himself some time.

And the crazy thing to remember here is that Zim doesn’t even understand that his actions are an existential threat to the Empire- that he IS a whole supervillain to his planet. This is how effective Irken programming and the education plugs are. They’re supposed to do 99% of the work of setting up the population, even the lowest drones, for not turning out like traitors to their kin in the first place. ALL of them grew up on a steady diet of the same drip-fed propaganda and essentialist ideology as their most militant soldiers. So I can see the logic behind the conclusion that the only explanation for criminals in their society must be outright brain damage or corrupted data… and I’m not gonna lie I do openly headcanon that the latter case is exactly what happened to bad egg Zim.

The limits of only having the one example in him notwithstanding, I’m anything but against theorizing about who else could be “worthy” in the Irken sense to also stand before those brains, playing sweaty advocate for the worth of their continued existence and all. I just don’t see it in Bob, or the Comms officer, or any other invader. Tak, there may be some hypothetical ramp to that end, in her future, but as things are right now, I only see a candidate that has become comfortable right in the control brains’ biggest blind spot of all. See, eggs don’t always have to crack in order to go bad. Sometimes, maybe they just spoil. Sometimes, I believe just the right conditions and time can turn them downright rotten.

Dramatic musical flourish, please.

I forget whoever said the quote “Power doesn’t corrupt, It just exposes who people really are”, but I’m a huge fan of the fact that they did. In my opinion, it’s less about power itself and more about a complete lack of accountability that allows the weakest and most toxic seeds to really fester in a seat of authority. Indeed, we all know that there is something pathetic, and vapid, and cruel floating around The Massive’s bridge. I am saying I’d call Red defective, but I couldn’t be certain enough with myself to say that Purple’s largely the one carrying a lot of fault. His greatest sin is his negligence and enabling his companion. whoever we can say shoulders more of the blame, they have been running this horror show as a joint unit, so they will both bear the guilt. Without a doubt, these two are terrible- popular maybe, but terrible leaders. Like, more responsible for the near ruin of their home world and species than I can even pin on Zim at this point. By almost every measure once you hold them up to Miyuki’s and Spork’s barely few moments of would-be screen time, they’re the worst Tallests for the Empire we’ve ever known. It’s too bad that they have no one over them we know of to flag them for an existence evaluation, because I am assured that the real orchestrators of the Armada would be disgusted to look over their track records since they took power.

I mean, what can I remember just off the top of my head?

- Full awareness of Zim’s blackout-causing history before the beginning of Operation Impending Doom I and not keeping a close eye on him, removing him from his position, or keeping him away from the homeworld’s WoMDs

- Overseeing the shipment of faulty equipment to Invader Tenn (even if the packages had not been switched, the Megadoomer still had a potentially fatal flaw), and then presumably NOT giving her urgent guidance/assistance to avoid being captured by native hostiles

- Showing an egregious amount of immaturity and frivolity when making logistical decisions, such as the flight path of the Armada or how conquered planets are utilized

- Repeated abuses of their standing, trying to extra-judicially get rid of subjects over the pettiest reasons (if they had the formal authority to just vaporize Skoodge, Bob, OR Zim on the spot, they wouldn’t need to come up with convoluted and indirect methods that they only hope kill said targets)

- Upon Zim returning to them from his banishment: not sending him back to Foodcourtia and not refusing to humor his wishes to larp as an invader

- Oh yeah, also granting Zim at least some invader tech and allowing him to leave Conventia in what I assume is a ship he could have only stolen

- Still not dealing with Zim with extreme prejudice in a timely fashion after the events of Backseat Drivers from Beyond the stars, or investigating enough to find out and deal with prisoner 777

- HAVING WAITED THROUGH ALL OF THE ABOVE BEFORE SENDING FOR ZIM’S EXISTENCE EVALUATION

- Spending the bulk of their reign so far dicking around in space and gorging themselves. Seriously, Red showed us one act of proactive competence… and it was in order to fix a mess that they allowed Zim to get them into. Not to mention, the Resisty got away from that scrap after thoroughly humiliating their flagship.

Red, and by extension, Purple, are the almighty, Tallest threats to the entire Irken project of galactic conquest, as much as Zim would have loved all the credit in the universe. By what they’ve done, and who they are. He might be damaged, but them? There’s some defective moral character if I’ve ever seen.

#invader zim #iz #iz theory #iz headcanons #tallest red #tallest purple #iz tallest #iz the trial #defective Irkens #long post #scarlet talks about things #Tallest slander

[emeraldspiral]

Top 10 Invader Zim Characters Besides Tak, Skoodge, and Zib Who Should've Made a Comeback in No Particular Order:

#1 Ultra Peepi

There's like a million Godzilla movies + giant robot anime to draw inspiration from for a sequel. We saw at the end of Hamstergeddon that Peepi crash landed back on earth somewhere. So he could be in hiding, burrowed underground, or he could've mutated further and grown gills to hide deep in the ocean. Just invent another monster so there's an excuse to go and awaken Peepi to fight it and make the concept as stupid as you want. The show even already established that a giant Santa monster revisits the planet annually, so the return of Ultra Peepi could double as a sequel to the Most Horrible Xmas Ever. Give me Ultra Peepi King of the Monsters.

#2 Iggins

A big issue with Gaz is that being apathetic and wanting nothing to do with Zim or the paranormal as core facets of her character makes it difficult to create interesting storylines for her. So she mostly ends up just existing to be someone Dib delivers exposition to and to make snide remarks at his expense. GameSlave 2 worked really well for her because there was actually something for her to care about and you got to see how Not So Above It All she is compared to Zim and Dib when it comes to the few things she's passionate about. So it seems like if you want to do more episodes centered around Gaz it'd be a good idea to bring Iggins back as a recurring thorn in her side. Maybe it starts off with her not taking him seriously and beating him without much effort, so she can still see herself as not being like her brother. But then Iggins starts to really get under her skin and she feels like she has to teach him a lesson, but he just never learns. Like Zim, Iggins is too egotistical and overconfident to admit defeat, and it starts to drive Gaz crazy after awhile and eventually she becomes just as obsessed as her brother with trying to beat him and prove once and for all that he sucks.

#3 Service Drone Bob

I would love an episode about him fleeing the empire after they attempted to kill him and joining the Resisty. Actually, what would really be funny is if they did the concept I came up with where they do a Resisty story, but troll the audience by only showing them little slivers of what sounds like a really exciting story as cutaways from a silly, inconsequential no-stakes story completely disconnected from it. But like, in those brief glimpses, you'd get just enough references to what's happened off-screen to form an impression of this whole Zuko-esque character arc that Bob's been through of having his eyes opened and unlearning Irken propaganda and being at war with himself before finally deciding to join the Resisty and then having to win their trust and establishing deep bonds with the rest of the group. And then it all ends with one cutaway indicating that they're about to go into the final all-or-nothing battle and then the last cutaway reveals that everyone died and their actions made no impact on the status quo and will never connect back to Zim in any way.

#4 Chammy Wamboo

I think there was a lot of missed potential with Chammy's first appearance. It's hinted that she has actual supernatural abilities, which makes her vaguely unsettling, but the story didn't really go anywhere with it. I think a good way to bring her back would be if she just appeared with no explanation and started harassing Zim and Dib again but this time it seems like it's actually working and it's freaking them out. Eventually, they figure out that Chammy got back to earth by using her powers to brainwash everyone in her path into being her friends and cooperating to help her get home. Now that she's back she's not going to try to reason with Zim and Dib anymore, she's going to make them be friends whether they like it or not. So it's no longer even a question of whether Chammy's just wrong about their relationship or if Zim and Dib are just being stupid, stubborn idiots who can't see that their lives actually would be better if they became friends. The issue now is that their free will is being violated and she's treating real people like dolls she can mash together and make kissy-noises with.

#5 Invader Tenn

I think a lot of Tenn's popularity is owed to her being one of very few female Irken characters and one whose brief appearance in Megadoomer gave rise to a lot of speculation about what might've happened to her next. The earliest versions of the fake fanon Invader Dib storyline involved an attempt to rescue Tenn from the Meekrob, but I kinda like the idea of her ending up in Moo-Ping 10 and teaming up with Tak to escape. Really though, there's an infinite number of possibilities for whatever happened to Tenn after Megadoomer. Was she left for dead? Did the Tallest blame her for failing her mission even though it wasn't her fault and banish her to a place like Dirt or Foodcourtia as punishment? Did she ever find out Zim blew up her Megadoomer?

#6 Zorphic aka "Madness"

The dog that terrifies Zim turning out to be an alien was such a good twist and I wish we could've seen him make good on his promise to get revenge on Zim for his betrayal. I think he has an interesting personality that sets him apart from a lot of the Zim cast but we never got to see what he's like in retribution mode.

#7 Bill

Outside of Career Day I think we only see Bill once more briefly in Chickenfoot and then again in the Lil Meat Man story, where I don't remember him really doing any of his usual schtick of wasting Dib's time and making his field of expertise look bad, they just kinda drive around together trying to catch Zim but always getting to where he's been after he's already left. I think there could've been some more funny episodes with Bill stepping on Dib's toes. Like Dib needs to follow Zim into a location but Bill is blocking him because he thinks there's a real monster in there and Dib's trying to convince him that it's just a cereal mascot and the real threat is Zim. Or Dib and Bill are investigating the same phenomenon but they disagree about what's causing it. What it actually is is plainly obvious to Dib, but people either believe Bill instead because some poorly timed coincidences make Bill's theory look right, or they just buy into his absurd leaps of logic because they think the complexity of the theory makes it more well thought-out than Dib's simpler, more straightforward explanation. Basically Bill is like a YouTube pop culture theorist making garbage arguments and Dib is the person making debunking videos that unpack all the logical fallacies, glaring omissions, and outright lies used to support his flimsy thesis that ignores what's overtly communicated by the text.

#8 Dwicky

I feel like there's a bit more mileage that could've been gotten out of getting Dib's hopes up and teaching him a harsh lesson by having Dwicky repeatedly promise to help him, only to flake out, until Dib finally realizes that just because he's an adult and he believes him doesn't make him reliable or a worthwhile ally.

#9 Membrane's parents

We only see them briefly in the comics but I really want to know more about Dib and Gaz's grandparents and what relationship they have with them. Are they even still alive? Do they visit ever? Membrane apparently chooses to believe in Santa because he can't bear to think his parents would give him socks for Xmas, so he must otherwise have positive feelings toward them which makes the disappointment of getting socks feel too contradictory to his perception of them to reconcile with. But then again, Dib and Gaz seem to be pretty fond of Membrane, but as outsiders the audience can see that he's a terrible parent and hope that when they get to be teenagers they'll start to realize it. I just feel like if we got to know more about their grandparents we could understand better why Membrane is such a bad father. And who doesn't love a good story about unpacking generational trauma?

#10 Snarl Beast

It's a fucking crime this space cat didn't become a regular cast member. Like I've said before, Snarl could've been like Dib's GIR. An adorable-on-the-outside-but-actually-horrifying little creature who fucks things up for Dib more than he helps, but Dib would never dream of parting with it, and Hot Topic could print money off of it.

#invader zim #snarl beast #chammy wamboo #bill the paranormal investigator #dwicky #zorphic #madness dog #madness chihuahua #invader tenn #service drone bob #iggins #ultra peepi #tenn

[weakly-skoodge]

Week Twenty Seven!

How many loops have passed, now? How many times has Zim gone out of his way to find him again, alone, sitting on a rock on a desecrated planet. Does it matter? No one is around to watch. No one remembers.

No one but Zim.

He leans his head against the sole seat of his Voot, and stares up, unblinking.

Sometimes, they hold hands, and Zim is struck with the sudden urge to rub his thumb against the palm of Skoodge's. An action far too gentle to be coming from the mighty Zim, but, eh. No one else is around. And no one will remember. So, one loop, when he finds Skoodge's hand in his once more, he gives in to the temptation.

Skoodge cries.

Zim tries not to do it again.

All of it accumulates. Zim learns more about Skoodge than he would ever care to have learned in his entire lifetime. Little things. What makes him cry. What his favorite color is.

He thinks darkmatter donuts taste good. The how and why of anyone liking them ever are completely lost to Zim.

Lost. A familiar sentiment, especially to these current times. Time. Many singular time.

Being in a timeloop gets confusing.

Irrelevant.

Zim shakes his head and slaps his cheeks, pulling himself back to reality.

All of these events and loops are important. They conglomerate and congeal and condense into one mass of thoughts and ideas. Everything. The talking, the hugging, almost the… blech, mouth-pressing, which hasn't happened since the first time fortunately, the petty arguments that escalate into bloody fights. It all brings them, to the here, the now, in the most recent loop.

They're talking.

Again.

About useless, arbitrary things. Nothing that will stick, that hasn't stuck already. Not words, at least. Only impressions of joy, of shared smiles and laughs. Things no irken should share, not unless they have the privilage to. Things that they've both already shared before.

And Zim realizes what he wants.

He wants this.

He wants to be… as much as he hates to admit it, friends.

They used to be. He knows that much.

He has impressions of things before. Some full memories. Holding hands, leading, seeing, laughing, breathing. Out to the side of a cliff, in a trench, out in barren dunes. But mostly feelings.

The talking is familiar. Comforting, in a way nothing else has ever been. Nothing else, not since before.

Before what?

Try as he might, as by Zog he does try, he can't sum it to the forefronts of his mind. It’s all a distant, corrupted memory, now.

"Why did we stop?" he asks Skoodge, upfront and blunt, as usual. There's no point in elaborating. The full-body flinch is enough for Zim to tell that Skoodge knows exactly what he's asking about.

Irkens aren't the best at beating around the bush. Far too impatient. Skoodge is an outlier. He would wait for anything, if he believed the end result would be rewarding in any substantial way.

For crying out loud, he's still sitting here, now, in this loop, basking in Zim's glory.

"You don't know?" He waits. Patient, as always, for a response to his own question, one that won't come, clinging to some way to divert his attention and redirect the conversation. Unfortunately for Skoodge, he has already used this tactic against Zim far too many times for him to fall prey to it anymore.

He turns away in defeat. His claw picks and fiddles at his sleeve and glove.

"I… didn't really… treat you good enough, for you to have any reason to stick around."

That doesn't sound right. Skoodge is treating Zim plenty nice now. The other half is more believable, on it's own. Zim is far too comfortable with abandoning people who could otherwise have been valuable assets to him.

"Is that the truth?"

Skoodge tugs his gloves further up his arms. A useless action. They're already pulled up as high as they can go. "Yes."

Liar.

There's no time to call him out. Already, they've been engulfed, the honks of time-bending creatures completely taking over Zim's senses as he returns to square one.

These creatures could stand to be more courteous towards the guy who, essentially, gave them an entire outhouse-universe, free of charge. Would it kill them to give him a little more time to exist?

It's fine.

He'll just have to ask again. Faster. More efficiently.

It can't be too difficult. It's in an irken's nature to be efficient. He can do it.

If nothing else, he will do it because he is Zim.

That simple fact is explanation enough.

"Are we friends?"

Skoodge takes a moment, to mull it over. Likely, he's going through english vocabulary to figure out what that word even means, again, as he already has many times before. As he already has and hasn't remembered.

"… No." He pauses. Zim thinks, this is where it stops, this is where he backtracks, immediately tries to remedy it, where he looks at Zim with a smile tugging his face and a laugh bubbling in his throat, ready to say gotcha.

No.

In a cruel twist of events, Skoodge instead continues on.

"I don't think we are."

#weekly skoodge #written skoodge #yayyyy #unfortunately the entirety of this fic is written in zims perspective so you dont get to hear skoodges rambling thoughts

[random-iz-stuff]

Headcanon:

Despite what he claims, Zim does actually have people that he cares about. It’s a small group, but a group nonetheless.

The first and most obvious person in this group is Gir. Although Zim saw Gir as just a regular (albeit stupid) SIR Unit at first, he quickly realized that Gir was a defective SIR Unit and had unrestricted sentience that other SIR Units don’t (even when given maximum sentence, SIR units aren’t fully sentient and can only do things that are beneficial to their mission. Gir can think and do whatever he wants.). And yet, despite invader protocol in this situation being “dismantle defective unit and return it to mission control to be given a new one”, Zim refused to do that. Maybe Gir had grown on him. Maybe Zim sympathized with Gir, being a defective himself. But for whatever reason (probably a mix of both options) Zim refused to get rid of or attempt to fix Gir.

And he definitely cares about the little robot. Zim clearly doesn’t like seeing Gir upset and even seemed hurt when Duty Mode Gir claimed that he didn’t enjoy working with him. Over time, Zim slowly learns to understand Gir more and speak his language in a way. We see this a couple times throughout the series, where Zim manages to give instructions to Gir in ways that he understands.

Although Zim hates to admit it, he’s grown to view Gir as a little brother figure of sorts. Which is a bit of a problem for him because that sort of connection to a defective object is considered “defective behaviour”.

The second person in this group is Skoodge. Zim’s best friend throughout smeet academy.

Zim is one of the only people that actually gives Skoodge credit for conquering Blorch and actually views him as a capable and effective soldier despite his short height. Zim treating Skoodge as an equal despite Skoodge being incredibly short is actually a long running thing between them, as Zim did the same thing all throughout his smeethood and continues to do so now, even though treating shorter irkens as equals is considered a minor (meaning fixable) defect.

Zim throwing Skoodge to the Hogulus wasn’t Zim being cruel or purposely sacrificing his friend. It was a calculated move.

For all regular trainees on Hobo-13, failing a course just gets you sent to a holding cell until the whole thing is over. Zim however, isn’t a regular trainee. There are people actively betting on his death in this situation, so it’s very safe to assume that Zim won’t be teleported to the safety of a holding cell if he fails part of a course and gets put in life threatening danger. Zim is aware of this.

Now, when trying to figure out how to get past the Hogulus, the most efficient course of action that leaves all but one person out of danger is simply throwing someone down to distract the thing. And out of all the trainees there, Skoodge, the conqueror of Blorch, has the most experience out of all of them and has the best chance of surviving against the Hogulus. Hell, Zim wouldn’t be surprised if Skoodge managed to kill the thing by himself. Plus if Skoodge is ever in real danger, he’ll just be teleported to a holding cell. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Skoodge has canonically completed training at Hobo-13 in the past. He’s already faced the Hogulus before and knows what to expect.

And the thing is, Zim is right. Skoodge not only survives the Hogulus, but manages to escape from it and even manages to get through the rest of Hobo-13’s gauntlet (which is made for a team by the way) SOLO. If Zim had just been a little bit slower Skoodge would have caught up to him and accompanied him during the fight against Sergeant Hobo 678.

Zim sacrificing his other teammates however, wasn’t a calculated move or anything like that. He just wanted to survive and if that meant sacrificing his other teammates, sure. He doesn’t know any of them and sometimes you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette.

Zim holds a great deal of respect for Skoodge and vice versa. Zim openly treats Skoodge as an equal and friend and gives him credit for the conquering of Blorch. Skoodge also treats Zim as an equal despite knowing about Zim’s defects, and has even helped hide them from His and Zim’s superiors so Zim wouldn’t be deleted, despite the fact that treating a defective as an equal is in and of itself a defect and actively helping a defect hide their defects instead of reporting them is not only a defect, but minor treason.

Zim cares about Skoodge as well. When he saw the footage of Blorch’s organic sweep (he couldn’t watch it live because he was busy with the events of Battle of The Planets) with Skoodge not getting proper credit for Blorch and someone else claiming to be Skoodge, Zim was appalled and actually called the Tallest to tell them. The Tallest ended up telling Zim that it was a mistake and Skoodge had been confused for someone else, nothing more, and Zim believed them.

When he saw footage of the real Skoodge getting fired from a cannon into Blorch for the organic sweep, Zim actually put some of his takeover plans for Earth on hold, flew to Blorch and flew over all the areas where Skoodge could have landed, trying to see if Skoodge survived the fall. He was unable to find him. Seeing Skoodge alive and well on Hobo-13 was a massive relief for Zim, he just couldn’t show it because full emotional access is a major (meaning unfixable and worthy of deletion) defect and the Tallest were watching him.

After the events of Hobo-13, Zim took Skoodge out for a night of drinks, to celebrate his conquering of Blorch. This was a bit difficult to do, as the irken drinking age is 20 and Zim and Skoodge are both 15 years old, but luckily for them Earth is out of empire jurisdiction and caffeinated beverages (the irken equivalent of alcohol) are easy to acquire there.

There’s also the fact that the entire series can be partially attributed to Skoodge. Zim’s original intentions when escaping Foodcourtia to go to Operation Impending Doom 2 was to see Skoodge and one other person off before they were assigned to their planets. He only realized that he could ask for another chance at being an invader to make up for ruining Operation Impending Doom 1 when he was about halfway there.

Speaking of that other person Zim wanted to see at Operation Impending Doom 2, the third person in Zim’s group of friends is Tenn. His twin sibling.

It’s rare for irkens to have siblings. The only way for it to happen is for the smeetery to have some extra genetic material left over when making a smeet, which always results in a twin sibling. Zim is the result of a smeetery having some extra genetic material after making Tenn. So he’s the younger twin.

Just like Skoodge, Tenn was fully aware of Zim’s defects back when they were both smeets in the academy, and actually knew about them before Skoodge did, but actively helped Zim hide them. Fully knowing that doing so was both a highly defective act and treasonous to the empire.

Zim, Skoodge and Tenn were a tight knit group back in smeet academy. Frequently sneaking around in areas where they weren’t allowed and causing chaos both on purpose and accidentally. A major goal of theirs was seeing Irk’s surface, as smeet academies are kept deep below the surface of Irk and irken smeets aren’t allowed on surface until they graduate and are considered adults.

Skoodge was actually the responsible member of the group. Zim was still Zim back then (although he was almost a completely different person back then) and although nowadays Tenn is a capable invader that was assigned to the single most dangerous and important planet marked for conquest, they’re still directly related to Zim, and share his ability to create chaos the likes of which irk has never seen. The smeet caretakers still have nightmares about the time they left Zim and Tenn alone together with an open flame. Out of the three of them, Skoodge was the one with the most common sense and least desire to cause chaos, although he’s still fully willing to do so if the opportunity presents itself.

The three of them all were and still are defective, just by wildly different amounts. Zim is the most defective of the three. It’s impossible for him not to be considering that he’s the most defective irken of all time. Tenn isn’t even close to the level of defection that Zim is at, but she’s still defective. Skoodge is the least defective of all of them. He’s still defective, but it can be hard to tell at times.

Zim actually managed to stay in contact with Tenn while they were on their respective missions. Making the occasional call with one another to talk about mission stuff. Zim tried to do the same with Skoodge, but Blorch isn’t exactly the most technologically advanced planet and by the time Skoodge had a working means of communication, he had already conquered the planet.

Zim took Skoodge’s supposed death via organic sweep pretty well all things considered. Zim did not however, take Tenn being declared MIA on Meekrob well at all, although that may have been because of the circumstances of Tenn’s disappearance. With Skoodge, Zim saw him get launched out of a canon into Blorch’s atmosphere. He knew what happened to Skoodge. Zim had to dig through piles of classified information and jump through quite a few hoops to find out what happened to Tenn.

Tenn’s capture on Meekrob is a heavily censored part of Operation Impending Doom 2 for the same reasons that Skoodge’s takeover was heavily censored, but in reverse. Tenn was the highest evaluated invader and was sent to Meekrob because of that, as Meekrob is both one of, if not the hardest planet to take over and a long time archenemy of the Irken race. And now that their “best of the best” star invader has apparently failed their mission, the public aren’t allowed to know because that fact implies that the irken empire isn’t able to take over a planet. It implies that Meekrob is stronger than the empire’s best. Tenn was hyped up as “the empire’s top invader” and now them failing their mission throws the empire’s strength and the invader program as a whole into question. So it took several months for Tenn to even be declared MIA to happen and even then they were only declared MIA among the higher ups of the empire, who are now refusing to answer questions about what’s going on on Meekrob. According to them, Tenn is still there and is perfectly fine, but “complications in her mission have made communication impossible for the foreseeable future”. Said “complications” have also somehow warranted the parking of an entire irken fleet in the vicinity of Meekrob.

Zim noticed that something was wrong not long after the events of Megadoomer. Tenn hadn’t been returning his calls for a long time and after some investigation, Zim found that the entirety of Meekrob had suddenly gone silent, with no new empire news as to what was going on down there. Zim tried to figure out what was going on, but all his efforts came back with nothing, prompting him to go to the Tallest since they’re the “mission control” when it comes to high priority invader missions, like Tenn’s conquest of Meekrob and (at least according to him) Zim’s own invasion of Earth. (This was several months before Tenn would be declared MIA among the higher ups of the empire, so at the time, the only people who actually knew were the Tallest and a couple of the Massive’s pilots that were in the room when it happened. You could count the people who knew on one hand.)

The Tallest refused to give Zim any information on Tenn because:

This is heavily classified government information,

Even if this information was to be released, it would only be given to the higher ups, which Zim is not.

They believed that if Zim were to learn of Tenn’s capture (keep in mind here that Tenn is not only one of two irkens that Zim considers an actual friend, but also his SIBLING), there’s a non-zero percent chance that he could take it upon himself to go off on a rescue mission, and since this is ZIM, said rescue mission could potentially destroy large amounts of the armada and end up being more destructive to the empire than it would be to Meekrob, especially in the area around Meekrob, where the presence of the armada is now extremely important.

So Zim walked away from that meeting empty handed, but he still knew that something was up and wanted to investigate further.

And Zim got his answer soon enough. Turns out when Zim acquired the Massive’s blueprints and hacked into the thing, he wasn’t doing it with the sole purpose of bringing the Massive to Earth. That was still his main priority, but he also maaaaay have stolen a couple of confidential documents relating to Meekrob and Tenn’s mission, just while he had the chance.

The Tallest and those around them have actually discussed the possibility of telling Zim about Tenn’s capture and sending him on an official rescue mission (after getting the armada near Meekrob far away from the proposed “Zim Zone”), with the stated reasons being that either Zim comes back with their star invader and Meekrob in ruins, Zim comes back alone with Meekrob in ruins or Zim simply doesn’t come back. Plus it’s a mission that Zim is guaranteed to not refuse and if Zim does manage to accomplish something, all it takes is a simple video/photo edit that adds eyelashes and curled antennae to Zim and the story will go from “Local Idiot Zim heroically rescues Invader Tenn/conquers Meekrob” to “Invader Tenn finally completes mission after months of radio silence”. It’s considered a very stupid joke of an idea that should never be used on account of Zim being far too unpredictable and the first person that suggested it got thrown out an airlock, but the Tallest are running out of ideas at this point.

Unbeknownst to the Tallest however, Zim already knows about Tenn’s capture due to the documents they stole, and just like the Tallest feared when he first came to them looking for information, is planning a rescue mission. It’s one of his most elaborate and thought through plans as well, as Zim doesn’t want to take any risks. He’s got a small section of his base dedicated to his Meekrob rescue mission, containing weapons, maps of Meekrob (with Zim’s best attempts at figuring out the locations and constructions of Meekrob’s prisons and military bases on them), backup plans, technology he threw together specifically for Meekrob, medical supplies and anything else that Zim believes is necessary for said rescue mission. Zim has no plans to tell the Tallest about this mission because he knows that they’ll probably veto it, plus he learned about Tenn’s capture by stealing confidential documents, so it’s probably for the best that the Tallest don’t know that he knows.

The Fourth and final person in Zim’s group of friends isn’t an irken, but instead a Vortian. Prisoner 777 to be precise.

Back when Zim worked as a scientist on research station 13, he and Prisoner 777 were close friends. Their rooms were right next to each other, they frequently worked together on larger projects, Zim even attended the guy’s wedding. They were close.

That’s how and why Zim has his children. You see, back when Miyuki was Tallest, Irkens and Vortians were allies, but things were still tense between the two races. Prisoner 777 knew this back then and made a deal with his irken friend. If a war broke out in the future and he was ever killed or captured, Zim would take his children and keep them out of the hands of the empire, giving them to someone outside of empire territory and jurisdiction if possible. Zim agreed, but didn’t entirely know what he was going to do in that situation, since he was just a scientist back then and had no real desire to become anything else.

And then a few years later, Red and Purple became the Tallest, started OID2 and declared war on Vort. High value Vortians like Prisoner 777 were captured and imprisoned, and just like the two of them originally planned, Prisoner 777’s children were secretly brought to Zim, now an invader living on earth, located extremely far away from any irken territory.

Zim isn’t going to launch them into space. The button he has labeled “Launch Children Into Space” is actually the light switch for their containment pod. But he needs to make it SEEM like that’s the case. Harbouring Vortian children on an invader mission is super illegal since Vortians are now considered a captured race and those children should be in a prison instead of Zim’s base outside of empire jurisdiction, BUT if Zim pretends to use them as a bargaining chip to get information out of a high value and usually uncooperative prisoner, ie the father of those children, Zim gets a pass and what he’s doing isn’t considered illegal since he’s using them in ways that make them more useful with Zim then they’ll ever be locked up in a prison.

Not only are the children allowed to stay with Zim due to this, but this whole act keeps Prisoner 777 safe as well, as as long as Zim has his children, he’ll be willing to give the empire valuable information and is worth keeping alive.

Zim and Prisoner 777 and both aware of all this, but they need to put on a massive act and make it SEEM like 777’s children are in danger of being shot into space because those calls to Moo-Ping-10 and heavily monitored, and Zim can’t be seen being friendly with a Vortian prisoner.

Meanwhile, Zim is trying to find any possible way to give Prisoner 777 his freedom, through legal means if possible since Zim refuses to outright break into Moo-Ping-10 and bust him out, as that would be treasonous to the empire. So far, he’s come up short, but is still looking at possible loopholes that would let him legally (or at the least semi-legally) set a prisoner belonging to the empire free.

#invader zim #headcanons #zim #gir #skoodge #Tenn #prisoner 777 #Zim has exactly four people that he considers friends #that also consider him a friend at the same time

[verm1c1de]

i made. an au.

more under the cut:

basically the irkens and the vortians have swapped roles except theres also some extra fuck-up-ery! lard nar ((henceforth called lord nar)) is the patriarch of vort, the tallest are fake rulers, and zim,,,, is still not immune to propaganda. meanwhile dib seems a little. out of place. out of time, maybe? anyways.

basically a ballsfuck long time ago the vortians and the then-still-space-conquerers irkens got into a war and the vortians won. somewhere along the way they realized irkens were fucking Delicious. they dont view themselves as monsters, after, all, they take good care of their produce! the irkens are still under the impression that theyre free and Not being farmed despite all the evidence to the contrary. the tallest are there to keep up this facade, under the condition that they get the best care and luxury. but theyre still up for the chopping block like the rest of them

lord nar is. BATSHIT INSANE. and a bit of a showman. hes still a coward, to the point of paranoia even, and likes to hide rather than confront actual problems. not that hes the Worst leader ever, but thats why he has 777 ((win gert)) as an advisor. he doesnt trust anybody else. win gert is actually kind of a better leader than him, but lord nar stole the spot of patriarch and win gert doesnt really care that much in the first place. he just wants him and his kids to be well taken care of, and the role of the partriarchs sole advisor pays well. he also likes to help zim cause trouble just for shits and giggles. it irritates lord nar to no end but theyre besties and he cant just get rid of him.

zim fully believes that the vortians arent trying to eat them. why would they? theyre so nice and soft and squooshy, thats just dumb! lord nar loves him! hes his favorite! heck, hes practically his pup! he just wants a little more,,, something to actually do in this boring paradise. he wants to become an invader like the irkens of past! what could possibly go wrong with that? Then zim fucked up real bad and lord nar got tired of his shit and tried to kill him. he never really saw zim as anything more than cute livestock, huh? that sure wont traumatize a child At All! now hes on the run with dib, who saved him from his fate on the dining table

meanwhile, dib isnt from here! literally! hes the reason the timeline got fucked up ((somehow)) and now hes trying to fix it. but. everythings so different now. this Cant be the same zim that tried to destroy earth, the same one that was his so dearest rival? this has to be fixed. somehow. and hell need zims help to do it

i was gonna baked you a resisty skoodge, but i eated him :((

#iz #invader zim #iz au #lord nar au #lard nar #zim #prisoner 777 #the tallest #which one? who the hell knows #dib #dib membrane #my art #tw cannibalism #not really Cannibalism but sentient people are being eaten #anyways i had metalcrusher stuck in my head during school and that led to this. sorry #not sorry lord nar is pretty #bitches love sci-fi roman-eque empires #uhh #zade #zadf #zadr #????????? #a lil bit #eyebleed #eyestrain #tw eyestrain #bright colors #high saturation #high contrast

[refried-ghost]

It was never the planned to write Red and Zim.

I was very on the fence of writing any sorta romance in Everyone is Running Away, but the tension I wanted between Zim and Dib always seemed to demand it. Like if Zim forgives him for the vivisection the thing that fucks them up is gonna have to be entirely different.

Then there was getting Zim off planet. I need some reason he ran. Initially it was to try and fix Computer. But that didn't explain why he wouldn't come back. Skoodge was already there. Had been taking care of Zim for a couple years after he slowly bounced backed. And having Zim freak out about playing with his feeling fit pretty well.

The Skoodge and Purple's conflict was something I had in mind since the beginning. The rift caused by Purple pointing out how Zim treated the smaller. How he frustrated he was getting with it. Skoodge drew a line in the sand saying Zim needed someone. Purple had Red now. He didn't need Skoodge and he wasn't going to chose to continue to be close with someone who issued this kinda ultimatum. It was initially something I cooked up for The Almighty Longest. Adding a crush on Purple's end seemed fun. Especially after that snippet I wrote where Skoodge was sitting on his lap.

The desire to rewrite a pretty fucked Prazr fic were Zim doesn't get he aroace has been there from the beginning. Totally separate from Everyone is Running Away.

But it was writing my mostly morally bankrupt version of Red that sealed the deal. If he was a more normal Red. A bit more confident or considerate I probably wouldn't have done it.

So no Prazr but Rapr and Razr. If someone floating the idea of a romance with Zim to this version of Purple he'd be disgusted. Not only cause he realized how uncomfortable it makes Zim, but also cause it just felt wrong to him.

Purple didn't know about the Razr going on, but if someone pointed it out he wouldn't have been to surprised. Probably more mixed feelings towards Red, but not much. The taboos surrounding intimacy weren't clearly defined. It really wasn't talked about. If you were tall enough there was a single sex ed lecture and that was it. So having one or multiple partners didn't strike them as any stranger then anything else relating to it.

But yeah everything that's before the show wasn't planned.

Zim and Purple are still gonna have their shit sorted in a platonic slowburn fic in Everyone is Running Away. And I'm very excited about that. No romance. Just giving space for Zim to breath in the middle of all that grow tension.

#refriedramblings #self notes

[amyisherenowitsokay]

Here's an interesting one. How do you balance and deal with the deus ex machina situation of Irken technology? Even in the show, said technology is ridiculous. Seems like it'd be far too easy to shoot plot in the foot if there's absurdly simple (even if they're ''but wait, what if'' or something) solutions.

Both how do you muse, plan and construct it in your writing but also how did you figure it out for re:mhny 1? Additionally, any personal headcannons you brewed up? Favourite canon or personal technologies?

I enjoy answering these, tysm for sending them in.

(Long answer under the cut)

My general attitude towards Irken technology is to make sure everything either has a purpose or a punchline.

For example, in re:mhny1 I totally could have had Zim be able to whip out some magic space-crowbar that's regularly used to pop off malfunctioning PAKs, or have it exist but have him have trouble trying to get his hands on it, etc.

The easiest route I take and/or my headcannon is that Irken technology is by and for IRKENS, not people, and therefore cannot be used for people. Irken technology is much more advanced in the IZ universe, even with Membrane's contributions to humanity. They're extremely adept at war, fighting, infiltration, and anything that could cause general harm (such as giant water balloons to throw at your enemies' heads from space). But re:mhny1 didn't need weapons of war, it needed medical aid. And not just any medical aid, but medical aid to a human. It's the reason Zim struggled to monitor Gaz's vitals, but was able to tear through Valkian security.

The only things Irkens build for other species is shock collars, chains, etc. Everything else is for them and them only. In the same way some of our medicine is lethal to animals, so is Irken medicine, but unlike people, Irkens would never see a point to trying to make accommodations or equivalently-effective technology or medicine. If Zim had been faced with let's say Skoodge with a broken PAK, even excluding the expertise I gave Skoodge in this fic, Zim probably would've been able to pop it off in a couple hours. Maybe a day, max.

I sort of touched on this explicit theme in re:mhny1, but essentially the way I handle it is keeping that theme of compatibility and usefulness in mind. Zim had plenty of ways to monitor and x-ray Gaz, but sometimes they were finicky and insufficient, such as in chapter 6. Chapter 6 was basically me wanting to sip on that good fanservice juice, but it's also got a perfect example of justifiable technological limitations when utilized for cross-species application.

"Her monitoring bracelet was sending only the bare minimum signals. It was a wonder he hadn't noticed sooner how insufficient the data was. The device was calibrated to the much more simplistic, refined information of an Irken. Humans, unfortunately, had so many squishy bits and thumping bobs that it was impossible to evaluate their well-being. Not with this little data, anyways.

So that really covers the 'purpose' section of 'purpose and punchline.' For punchline, chapter 4 has a good example and also has one of my favorite pointless gags with Zim's weird chair:

". . . Do you mean a seesaw?"

Basically I'm much more free with technology if I think it'd make a good running joke, but otherwise I utilize Zim's tech as tools to aid or progress the storyline. I knew I wanted Gaz to get stuck with a PAK for a prolonged period of time, and I also knew I wanted Larb's memories to trickle into Gaz's consciousness. I wanted her to have understandings of Irken culture without Zim uncharacteristically revealing everything and anything, and also to late create the conflict between them in Chapter 11, when Gaz is privy to Zim's most closely guarded secret about his Defectiveness. To achieve that, I broke the PAK, and also made it possible to delete the consciousness and create an empty shell. Additionally, this further aids the story since the lack of a host personality leads to the discovery that Gaz has more control of it in emergency situations, and let's her go full fight mode in the finale chapters.

Basically, if it's not going to contribute, then I don't even bother bringing it up or mentioning its existence to keep readers from pondering "why don't they just use xyz?"

If I had to explicitly pick a favorite piece of technology, I think it'd have to be the PAK legs and/or PAktcles, when they're more flexible and prehensile. The PAK itself is cool, but the spider-crawly-laser-stabby-grabby-grip qualities of them are unparalleled in their coolness. They're so fun to work with from a narrative perspective. Those aren't really my headcannon since they ARE just cannon qualities, but I guess it could be argued that my utilizations for them are sometimes unique? Ish? Lmao.

If Irken technology can do ANYTHING, then it can also bend to my will. Hehehehe.

#amyisherenowansweringyou #i shall get to your follow-up question as soon as possible kind reader #re:mhny1 #mhny series #invader zim #iz headcanons #irken technology #irken #zim

[harveyb-wabbit92]

Invader Zim scenarios: reactions to Hair cuts.

[Okay so like Zim and the tallest are under the impression that human hair is actually, super small antennas and freak out when they walking on you getting it cut or trimming your hair.]

Zim: 

Zim pulled himself away from his computer and he got up from his chair and stretched, his legs felt tingly and numb; protesting from having to stand up suddenly a few seconds of wiggling his legs fixed that, and the short Irken made his way to the elevator, he needed something to eat. When he got into the kitchen Zim saw Skoodge making a bowl of choco-poofs {Zim, Drena and Y/n did a little experimenting to see what earth foods were safe for Zim to eat.] the slightly taller Irken snatched the bowl before the stubbier Irken could even take a bite.

Skoodge frowned as he watched Zim eat and with a sigh made another bowl. "Say. *much* where's Dren?" Zim asked assuming his mate was out shopping or monitoring the Dib-stink's family, however what Skoodge told him made his blood run cold! "Hm, Oh she said she was getting her hair cut?" in a flash Zim had spat his cereal out covering Skoodge in in milk and bits, the stubby Irken moaned in disgust as Zim rushed out of the house. 

Zim followed the tracker he placed in her bag and found the salon Drena was currently sitting in Zim's pulse quickened as he saw that butcher woman bring a pair of blades close to his Drena's head, needless to say both the blond and her stylist nearly crapped themselves as the door bust open and this green skin kid stepped in shrieking. "GET THOSE WRETCHED BLADES AWAY FROM ZIM'S LOVE WORM!?" Drena nearly choked on her saliva as Zim started threateningly advancing on the stunned stylist, the blond jumped up from the chair excused herself for a moment dragging Zim into a far corner.

"What are you doing?" she hissed as the still agitated alien who kept trying to glare over her shoulder. "stopping that butcher from mutilating you." Zim huffed as Drena looked at him incredulously. "Butcher me? You mean my hair cut?"  the Irken shuddered in disgust. "How can you just let them cut off your antennas like that?!" the blond blinked. "Zim my hair isn't like your antennas." Now Zim was the one confused.

Drena tried to explain what hair was and what purpose it served. "It's like...Grass! Y'know grass?" the Irken nodded slowly. "And when grass gets to long, it's harder to keep under control so people cut it, but it always grows back." Zim seemed to understand as he shifted uncomfortably. "And doesn't hurt?" he pressed keep his eyes trained on Drena's face. "Nope!" She chirped.

The stylist coughed the blond looked over and saw pointing at her watch... right appointment. "You can watch if you want?" Zim reluctantly stayed and watched the Stylist get back to wok on Drena's hair his stomach churned as he watch the scissors snip away at he blond locks an hour later her waist length hair was now at her shoulder blades.

Drena looked pleased with the result while Zim was still mulling over the fact she willingly had pieces of herself cut off for cosmetic reasons. "What do you think?" Drena asked fidgeting with a strand Zim cautiously reached up to run his hand through her neatly cut mane. "It's nice..." he mutter a pink hue donning his cheeks, Drena payed the stylist and the two went home where Skoodge fainted when he saw Drena's hair cut! He thought hair was a another word for nails and freaked.

========================================================================

The Tallest: 

Y/n stood nervously staring into the mirror a pair of scissors in one hand and her combed bangs in the other, while her audience consisting of her boyfriends younger siblings watched wide eyed from her bed. See this morning Y/n noticed her hair was getting a bit long/longer and decided she needed a trim. Well Red's sister Varda overheard her talking to herself and thought she misheard the liaison when she said "I need to cut my hair..." under her breath when the young Irken asked what Y/n meant?

The little Irken nearly had panic attack! which alerted Purple's brother Xarr who found Y/n trying to console the sobbing Irken child, who proceeded to tell the assassin what was up, needless to say you had a heck of a time explaining that your hair wasn't the same as their antennas, and that no one was forcing you, nor had you committed a crime against the Tallest! It was just for cosmetic reasons! like nail painting or wearing make-up.  

Of course now the two younglings wanted to see you cut your hair, And that's how you ended up this situation! Xarr and Varda just sat on your bed gawking a to you... 

Y/n carefully brought the scissors to her bangs as Varda and Xarr's antennas slowly stood up straighter in anticipation. When the door open and... "Y/n have you seen....WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Purple shrill voice broke the silence causing everyone to jump, Y/n gasped as the scissors were yanked from her hand by a frazzled Red, she looked over as saw Purple covering Varda and Xarr's eyes as the two protested. "What the krell were you about to do?!" Red demand causing Y/n to recoil from the harshness in his tone. "C-cutting my bangs?" the human squeaked as the two Irken rulers looked at her appalled.

While their siblings were talking over each other repeating what Y/n had told them earlier. "It's fine, it won't hurt!" both Purple and Red were at a loss... While Y/n gave them the same explanation she gave the kid, of course Red and Purple were a little more stubborn then their siblings, So Y/n resorted to showing them a photo of when she was a child with way longer/shorter hair then she has now both Tallest were speechless as they kept looking at the photo and back at you unsure. "And this doesn't hurt?" Purple inquired brow arched. "I promise it doesn't." Y/n affirmed as Red reluctant gave her back the scissors.

Y/n's audience grew to four as the Irken's nervously watched her comb out her hair and snipped away a few inches off her bangs trying not the look ill, 10 minutes/half hour Y/n was done and examining her handy work. "Okay everything looks good and even." Y/n turned to look at her observers. "Wha'cha think, good?" Xarr and Varda both complimented her, being young and eccentric, self-dismemberment was considered totally cool, so they had no problems with it. 

Red and Purple on the other hand, just smiled sheepishly and nodded, Oh boy... This is something they'll have to get used to, not two days later you introduced them to hair chalk and dyeing when you walked passed them sporting teal and pink streaks in your hair.

#invader zim x reader #Invader Zim #invader zim skoodge #the tallest x reader #tallest red #tallest purple #zim x reader #invader zim oc: Xarr #invader zim oc : Varda #invader zim fanfiction

[cozymochi]

(Scared to be off anon but I understand that you don’t want drama in your askbox so it all good)

ANYWAYS- do you have any mini tutorials on how you draw Irkens or the Tallest? Cause holy sh*t the way you draw in the canon style makes me go 👁👁

Love your art!!💕

AAAAAA THANKSSS, And sorry this took. I dunno. Weeks to respond to, but after frequent trial and error I could not for the life of me come up with any “tutorial.” 😔 I’m kind of a failure like that. I’m not even much of a “teacher”

You can take what I have though, even if it’s pretty sloppy and unfinished 😭 And I can try explaining stuff, but this premise is really broad 😔😔 I wouldn’t know where to begin. Any canvas with a pink background is the “new” stuffI tried drawing specifically for this ask, while a white canvas is old.

Sorry that u had to go off-anon though, and sorry if this is a bit of a hot mess that isn’t very concise or helpful and primarily just… nonsense. I’m sure better “explanations” exist. Again, I’m not a teacher nor a tutorial person, really

I drew up this random image at one point in the hopes that It’d be something?? But, tbh. It probably doesn’t help. So I have no idea if this breakdown even makes a lick of sense. I just know they consist of mostly basic shapes. I meant to go in more “detail” but my brain got destroyed.

Every part of Zim’s body is a triangle in some way. Like, if u look at that image maybe u can see what i mean but 😭😭 idk.

It’s mostly just, I suppose, a matter of remembering that despite the fact these are 2D characters that are extremely stylized, they do have some kind of 3D form involved at all times. I personally keep Zim as my “rule of thumb” basis or something when drawing Irkens. Everybody is just a fucked up version of Zim. The Tallest’s heads are just Zims, but longer. Or, Skoodge [not pictured] is just Zim’s head but wider (and he is ALL head pretty much).

There was one time someone asked me advice on how I draw the Tallest, and to this day I never finished it, and with how busted my mindset became towards my own work, i probably never will.

Sorry I don’t really get into the body much, but I tried to recently (as you’ll see) and didn’t get far.

But, kinda like the Zim thing, the Tallest are also basic shapes. They’re a bit weird on having triangles and circles though. Though, I suppose it would be more accurate to call them spheres, cones, and some cylinders.

Random aside: I think folk get stuck on the joints of their arms in relation to their shoulder pads a lot… I try to keep in mind that their arm joint is always locked in a single place, yknow, like actual shoulders. The pad just moves with the arm.

Sorry the drawing is so sloppy this is where my mind fell apart.

Uhhh the Tallest are kinda weird with their long necks and craning. I kinda see where the neck connects with the body as some kind of “pivot” point. That is, if I were to be a lot stricter with that dinosaur neck. There’s a reason that neck tends to be shortened or ignored altogether.

Zim’s eyes are a bit more self-explanatory being ellipticals (not so much circles tbh, but eh). While the Tallest have parallelograms (not rectangles, their eyes don’t have any right angles- i keep that in mind too) They’re also weird since their one of the few characters whose eyes don’t stick out of their head when turned to the side. But, they do curve with their head— but not when facing forward.

Tho sometimes they do wacky shit like this so they tend to break their own “rules” anyway. I dunno. There’s really no set right/wrong means, I just keep a lot of that minor stuff in mind. I think it all would just depend on what you’d want to do

Irken mouths are weird, a lot of the “rules” that used to exist like more strict geometric stuff doesn’t exist anymore due to art evolution. But, again, I really think it just… depends…?

Have no teeth, stretch the face, put the teeth at the bottom/top, don’t leave the face, break open the face, etc etc depends on what u want.

Anything I do at this point just came from watching too many clips or sometimes digging around the comics.

i used up the image limit but there’s no other drawings anyway 😭

the end?

This isn’t all that helpful or satisfying I’m really sorry, I really don’t know how to explain this at all at the moment. Sometimes I do, but maybe I don’t. I also didn’t wanna leave this in my inbox any longer.

Maybe just study reference sheets, or if u can get ur hands on any notes from the art book- reading those might be useful. Sure, they’re outdated, but i dunno they sometimes have useful notes involved

thanks tho for asking anyway, normally i do like answering this sort of thing but I really did just fall apart at some point and messed it all up

#cozy ask #this is a terrible response sorry

[reptile-ruler]

The Great Assigning

Rapr week day 6: ROLESWAP.

Invaders Red and Purple are assigned their first mission by the delusional Almighty Tallest Zim.

Read on AO3.

The murmuring of the crowd sent flutters through Invader Red’s entire body. From the stage of the main hall on Conventia, the audience looked like a writhing ocean of swarming Irken soldiers. Thousands upon thousands of eyes watching them… and why? This event had come so suddenly, and he, among with his fellow Invader trainees, found themselves about to receive their first mission months before they even graduated.

It wasn’t his place to ask questions. The Almighty Tallest worked in mysterious ways. 

“Did you see the curly fries they had at the cafeteria?” Purple leaned in to ask, “I hope the Assigning goes fast because those fries smelled delicious.”

Maybe all the attention from the bustling crowd had dampened his appetite, or maybe it was just the nerves, but he couldn’t imagine wanting curly fries right at this moment. “We’re about to be assigned the mission of our lifetime, and you’re thinking about food?”

“Every moment without fries in my mouth is a moment lost, Red!”

He didn’t get much of a chance to argue, because at that moment the Announcer announced the arrival of the Almighty Tallest. They both straightened back into attention. All Invaders, and the crowd behind them, wiggled their antennae as pillars of flame exploded upwards, reaching the high ceiling, the heat feeling like a punch to Red’s cheeks.

A loud, grating laughter filled the hall long before he caught a glimpse of the Tallest. It originated from a platform descending from the ceiling and there he was. His armor was the same shade of pink as the Invader uniform (a signal of the empire he dreamed to build, perhaps, or maybe it just matched his eyes?) and both arms raised, his face split by the eye-crinkling grin that he carried.

“I think the flamethrowers are a bit much”, Purple whispered.

The Almighty Tallest overall was... a bit much. But they didn’t get to have an opinion about that. “Shush!”

“Just sayin’.”

Red shushed again, more violently, just as the platform reached the ground. The Tallest, of course, didn’t, floating in place high above his subjects. As he should, being the All-knowing and All-powerful, Almighty Tallest.

“My Invaders!” he spoke. “We finally meet. Be amazed by my tallness!”

They stood taught under his gaze as it wandered between them. Being the Elite of the Elite was one thing, but none of them were as superior as the Almighty Tallest. Not even Purple or he, who towered over their peers and were the Best of the Elite of the Elite. The Tallest wore a satisfied smirk, as though what he saw was to his liking. Red really hoped so–he’d worked his entire life to get here!

“As you may know you’re all here to be assigned your first enemy planet”, the Tallest said. That much was obvious. They were Invaders, it was their job! Or… should be, if they had finished training. “This shall mark the first step of Operation Impending Doom Two! My most brilliant plan yet! HAHAHAHA-”

Impending Doom… Two? Red had never heard of an Impending Doom One.

Purple must have had the same thought, because he couldn’t stop himself from blurting, “What happened to the first one?”

“Oh, I had to cancel Operation Impending Doom One”, the Tallest waved his hand around. “The Invaders weren’t good enough. Bunch of old squeedgers to the blarbsnortch, yup. Lame. They died from just one stomp with my Megadoomer.”

“What?” Red said, and immediately realized his mistake. 

“I had to stomp ‘em!” his Tallest said, looking more annoyed than anything. “Not good enough! But you… yes, you will not disappoint your Tallest Zim, will you?” A grin, one which made Red feel like he was prey being stared at by a predator, spread across his Tallest’s face. “No, you will not. I won’t allow it!”

Red glanced to his side to see how his co-Invaders reacted to this. He saw Purple’s throat bob as he swallowed, but even he seemed threatened enough to keep his big mouth shut. Of course, it wasn’t their place to question the Almighty Tallest, but…

He’d decided to personally kill the previous batch of Invaders. The world spun as Red searched his mind for reasons that they could have been dispatched. They couldn’t have been that much worse than the class currently standing on the stage of the Main Hall. In fact, those guys had actually graduated! 

While Red’s entire class had suddenly been rushed out of school to attend this Assigning… filling up the vacant slots. It all started to make sense now. 

The screen behind the Tallest lit up into a map, showing all known constellations and planets which were inhabitable or inhabited. Red recognized it immediately–he’d studied it every resting cycle for weeks to try to memorize which planets were marked for conquest and which ones weren’t. That was a test he was happy to not have to take. 

“THIS is how the Assigning is going to work!” the Tallest exclaimed. A table rose from the floor, and he picked up a small object from it. “I am going to throw this dart on the map, and wherever it hits, one of you is sent to conquer. Ingenious, right? Yes, it is, because your brilliant Almighty Tallest came up with it!”

No one argued, but Red could feel the desperation spreading across his classmates. This was ridiculous. 

Purple cleared this throat.

“My Tallest”, he began, head low and voice respectfully quiet, “I don’t mean to disrespect you, but can I ask why?”

A short beat of silence. It was enough for Red's brain to roar up with worst-case scenarios. The kinds of punishments Purple might endure for speaking up. What would he do if the only person he cared for got thrown into the depth of space? 

“Because I think it’ll be neat!” the Tallest grinned.

Purple didn’t press further. The Almighty Tallest’s smile softened for a bit, satisfied at getting his point across. 

“Step forward Invader Larb!”

And so Red watched the Invaders get assigned to enemy planets. Larb could barely hold back tears when he was assigned to Meekrob, despite having studied specifically the skills necessary to Invade Blorch or Vort. Skoodge was assigned to a sun, and when he pointed out that suns couldn’t really be invaded, the Tallest kicked him off the stage and laughed. Invader Tenn took it in stride when the dart landed on a planet that they actually had a peace treaty with. 

“Invader Purple!”

“Hoo boy”, Purple sighed as he stepped forward, leaving Red alone as the last unassigned Invader. 

The Tallest picked up a fittingly purple colored dart and inspected it, as though the dart itself held all the knowledge of the universe. Then he looked down at Purple and ficked it away. Not even looking at the map.

The dart hit the furthermost corner of the screen. Nothing existed even in the vicinity of that area. Purple stared at it. 

“There’s nothing there, my Tallest”, he said.

“Hm?” Zim looked over. “Oh, right. Well! Go there and conquer the nothing!”

“... How, sir?”

“Eh? Not my problem!”

Red felt nothing but sympathy as Purple nodded and stepped back. So it was his turn. His Tallest called for him and he stepped forward. Up close the height difference felt much more pronounced. He craned his neck upwards to salute, and forced himself to not avert his eyes as his Tallest judged him, looked him up and down like a megadonut on display at Plumpin’ Donuts on Foodcourtia. 

The Tallest reached for the table, but paused. “What? Where is my last dart?”

The table was empty, all darts apparently used, wedged into the digital map and no doubt ruining the screen. 

“Hey! Who planned this?” The Tallest looked around as though one of them were to blame. “Someone miscalculated how many darts I would need!”

The Invaders all shuffled. No one dared to answer, and, of course, none of them had been involved in counting enough darts anyway. 

The Almighty Tallest huffed. “Ugh. Useless. No matter! You!” He pointed at Red. ”Just go with the previous guy. Duo-mission. Yes. Crisis solved. By ZIM!”

Red blinked. Oh. He’d get to go with Purple. “Yes, my Tallest.” Before this Assigning, that would have felt wrong, but all things considered… it could have been worse. 

He could have been told to conquer a sun. 

His gaze wandered to the purple dart, placed right in a spot of dead space, with nothing for lightyears around it. At least he wouldn’t be alone. 

The Almighty Tallest concluded the Assigning with a few inspirational (or maybe delusional) words to the Invaders, and then to the soldiers in the audience. They were dismissed, and Red hurried up to Purple’s side as they walked straight to the curly fries stand.

“What a shipwreck!” Purple said. For once Red didn’t scold him for the borderline critique of their Tallest’s decisions. He just hummed.

Faced with the prospect of having to travel to the corner of known space, allegedly to ‘conquer’ it, while not having had the chance to even properly graduate… Red didn’t want to think about it. Hopefully the guy who sold fries sold drinks too, because he was going to need it, by Irk. 

Purple’s gloved fingers brushed past him, and he looked up. Ah yeah. That was the only upside, wasn’t it?

He’d have someone by his side.

@almightytallestevents

#invader zim #raprweek2021 #my writing #I wanted to make this scene for months!! and suddenly i was prompted to do so yayyy

[rancoeur-the-unfortunate]

Pills (Chapter 29)

(Hello everyone, Rancoeur here. I know it's been a while since I last updated this book and I am truly sorry about that. But it's been so long since I've seen Zim or have even read fanfics about it. So in a way I sorta fell out of love with it. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop updating this though. This book is a monument to how my writing has evolved over the years and is my pride and joy. I will finish it, even if it kills me. It will be awesome and I can't wait for it. Thank you for reading this and please accept this 3300-word chapter as my apology. I know it's a little short and I did want to add more stuff to it but then it just looked bloated and I didn't like that. I hope everyone is staying safe out there. Have a nice day.)

Monday morning, Dib slowly got out of bed and stretched as his alarm clock rang. The boy rubbed his eyes softly before grabbing his glasses from the nightstand and put them on his nose after turning off the said clock. He glanced outside, noticing the dark clouds coming in, and sighed.

"Already looks pretty gross out there," he muttered to himself before he started to get dressed for school.

Honestly, it felt weird to sleep on a bed after sleeping in a tent for a week. Aside from just being comfier it kinda felt... lonely. Like someone was missing.

The boy shook his head as he slid on his coat and began the trek downstairs to greet Gaz and his father. Another rare day of eating with the Professor.

"Hey dad, hey Gaz," he smiled a bit and went to the fridge to grab some juice. When he grabbed what he wanted he pulled back and shut the fridge, only to find his dad right behind him holding a new device to his head. He reeled back in surprise, "dad?!"

His dad smiled at him and waved him off, "no need to worry son, I was just testing out this new invention I'm making on you. Says here your serotonin levels are higher than usual. You must be in a good mood!"

Dib gave his dad a nervous smile and laugh before backing away to the table where his sister was eating with one hand while simultaneously playing her new game with the other.

"Yeah, you haven't mumbled about killing Zim all morning. What's wrong with you?" She spoke between bites of cereal.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just too tired to think about killing Zim," Dib shrugged as he poured himself a bowl.

"That's bull and we both know it. You talk about capturing Zim in your sleep, I can hear it in my room," Gaz tossed a glare his way before going back to her game.

Dib rolled his eyes, "whatever." He muttered as he began eating.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation in his chest.

Zim tentatively stepped out of his home. The Dib had told him that the skool children had already forgotten about the drugs, but he still felt fear. Like there were still eyes following him as he marched down the sidewalk. A feeling of uneasiness seemed to wash over him.

Eventually, the blocky, grey building came into view. A few children were loitering about, waiting for the bell to ring. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Zim just sat on a bench and waited alongside them. Only observing them slightly.

Humans were weird on Mondays, Zim had no idea why though. Something about that particular day of the week seemed to drain all of the energy from the weird meat bags. One kid looked like he was about to fall on his face from exhaustion.

Down the street, he spotted the Dib and his little sister. A part of Zim was fearful. Now that everything had gone relatively back to normal, would Dib go back to trying to expose him?

When the two entered the skool's grounds, they separated. Gaz went to sit on the steps, playing her video game. While  Dib glanced about, when he looked his way, the human... smiled at him.

Causally Dib stepped closer and closer until the two were only a few feet apart. There was a moment of silence between them, both of them just staring at each other. It was obvious they both wanted to say something but neither knew how.

Eventually, Dib sighed and spoke a little quietly, "hey uh... can I sit here?" The boy gestured to the spot on the bench next to Zim.

Zim looked surprised for a moment before he crossed his arms and looked away with his usual snark before quipping a quick, "you may."

Dib chuckled to himself, "same old Zim." He said as he sat down beside the green alien.

With that, the two sat in silence once more, the two of them just looking down at the skoolyard. Humans shuffling about like zombies, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, Zim slumped out of his uptight posture and looked down in his lap, fiddling with his thumbs.

It was Dib who once again broke the silence, "so, what evil plan is it this time?"

Zim looked up at the human in surprise, "eh?"

"You know, to take over the world and all that?" Dib smirked and leaned close, "or did you forget your mission."

Zim immediately perked up and sneered in disgust, "of course not! And to answer your first question. WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW!" He shouted that last part accidentally as he pointed an accusatory finger at the boy.

Dib just laughed, clutching his stomach as Zim tried to regain his composure. Zim couldn't help but giggle to himself slightly.

"In all seriousness," Zim started once the two had calmed down. "I don't know... I know I have a mission. But at the same time, that mission was given to me by them." Zim found himself glaring at his own hands. He clenched them into fists.

"It feels so strange, to have a purpose one second only to realize that purpose was only given to you to get you out of the way. And now that I see past all their lies I... I don't know. I have no idea what I should be doing, or what my purpose is now or what I'm even still doing on Earth." Zim sighed and closed his eyes, he knew Dib was looking at him, either pitying him or laughing at his distress.

Instead, he felt a hesitant hand on his shoulder. Zim looked up at Dib who was giving him a comforting yet awkward smile before pulling his hand back and sitting properly.

"If we're being truthful right now I guess I'll be straight with you," Dib spoke as he laid back on the bench and looked up at the sky. "The main reason why I wanted to help you was because I was hoping you'd leave once you realized what your mission was." Dib hummed to himself.

"But now that you're off your drugs and ready to leave... I..." Dib paused, "Don't get me wrong, I still hate your guts." He huffed but then frowned, "but the thought of you leaving now... it just doesn't sit well with me." Dib admitted.

"Funny how the one I considered my worst enemy could become someone I might even call my..." Dib paused again and looked at Zim with an emotion ZIm couldn't decern, "friend."

Zim stared at Dib in complete silence, 'friend?' Dib smiled slightly before going back to looking at the cloudy sky.

Three minutes passed before Zim opened his mouth, "Dib I-" Before he could finish the ever-piercing sound of the bell rang, cutting him off. Simultaneously, Zim was both annoyed and grateful for the interruption.

"Well I guess we'll finish this talk some other time," the human spoke grabbed his bag, and got up. "I'll see you later Zim," Dib gave one last smile before waving goodbye and walking away towards the school building.

It was then that it hit Zim, he'd never seen Dib smile so much before. The boy seemed genuinely happy in Zim's company. It felt so strange, a foreign feeling, a feeling he hadn't felt since, "Skoodge."

Suddenly it felt like all the air had left Zim's respiratory organs and he fell to his knees on the ground. Tears were building in his eyes until eventually, the dam broke, and he started sobbing loudly. Trying and failing to gasp for air. His cardiac spooch felt like it was being squeezed like a stress toy. It hurt and Zim was just figuring out why.

All alone in the Skool courtyard, Zim was crying. Crying like a long-forgotten smeet. Eventually, the Irken just laid down on his side curled into a ball. How could he? What was wrong with him?! How could he have hurt Skoodge like that?! His best friend! His partner! His mate!

How could he have hurt someone so close to him, so one who had seen him at both his best and his worst?

The tears wouldn't stop.

Eventually, his thoughts went back to Dib, the human who even despite their mutual hatred for one another still sought to help him. To get him off those horrid drugs and saw him as a... a friend.

Suddenly it felt like time itself had stopped. A friend.

Zim had a friend. Quietly the little alien stood up and whipped his eyes. He found himself staring up at the sky, just as Dib had. The clouds seemed to have gotten darker, it was likely going to rain soon.

He should probably get inside-

A hand came out from behind him and covered his mouth roughly, cutting off his thoughts as he went into a panic. That was before it all went dark.

"So uh... what is it exactly?" Tallest Purple asked a hand on his chin as he inspected the strange being before him, keeping his distance of course.

"A Murthen, my Tallest, female, foot soldier class." The Doctor spoke, his back upright and arms tucked neatly behind his back as he gave a quick bow.

They all stood on the bridge of the Massive. The two Tallest were near the controls while the Doctor and his captive stood at the other end of the bridge. Behind the Doctor stood Skoodge, the little Irken was practically sweating bullets as he clutched Raz's egg. He kept his mouth shut, but every time he even glanced at the Murthen or her collar it felt like another ton of weight was added to his shoulders.

"A Murthen?" Tallest Red gave a confused and disgusted look at the blue figure, "ok...but what's it doing on our ship."

"I believe she will be a great help to our mission to subdue Zim. Despite her lower rank, she is incredibly capable and has experience in both war and combat.

"I mean, so did Tak," Tallest Purple crossed his arms.

The Doctor actually laughed and it was the most haunting thing anyone in the room had ever heard. "Oh, my Tallest, Raz here, is certainly no Tak, trust me."

"I don't even trust the way you just said trust me," Purple muttered in the background as Tallest Red stepped forward.

"Murthen, Murthen where have I heard that name before?" He squinted his eyes at Raz as Tallest Purple stepped behind him, "was it a planet we conquered."

"I assure you my Tallest, Murth most likely will never be claimed," the Doctor hummed.

'He seems so sure of himself,' Skoodge thought.

"Why's that?" Tallest Red asked skeptically.

"This is why," the Doctor spoke as he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Before anyone had any idea what was going on, Raz raised her arm, showing a previously concealed weapon. She aimed it at one of the foodservice drones and fired and a blue beam-like laser shot out.

"AHHHHHH!!!" A scream ripped through the room as the service drone fell to the floor, the donuts he was carrying, splattering beside him. He had been shot in the lower abdomen and was clutching his melting chest in a frenzy. He was quite literally melting on the floor. Eventually, he fell silent as he collapsed on the floor, smoke coming off his body.

The two Tallest jumped back in fear, "WHAT IN THE US WAS THAT?!" Purple screamed.

"Show them," The Doctor gestured to the two with his head.

Raz held out the gun, displaying it in front of the two leaders. It was small and compact, not unlike the blasters the Irkens used. This one however was silver with a grey handle, on the sides of the round barrel were tempered glass that displayed a blue liquid.

"This is just a ground soldier-grade weapon. Yet it has the capabilities to destroy Irken armies. It's filled with a chemical compound known as H2O aka water. Due to our solubility when an Irken comes in contact with it, we tend to melt. However, that's not everything. The water is also mixed with a compound only found in Murthen waters, it is known as Gr4F8 aka Blue Gix. Mixed with water it lowers the boiling point to room temperature and creates energy in the form of light and heat. This creates the beam you just witnessed. This gun alone could destroy our entire empire and that's not even half of it." The Doctor nodded toward Raz and she lowered the gun.

"This is the kind of weaponry that can be expected on Murth, that is why we can not conquer it yet. I'm sure with a bit of studying we could find a way to make ourselves immune to this but until then. We'll just have to leave Murth unconquered. At the moment, however, I believe we should get back to the topic of Zim."

"R-right right, Zim," Tallest Red stuttered, trying to keep his composer. "Are you sure she's fit for the job?"

"Oh my Tallest, you have no idea," the Doctor smiled that irksome smile of his.

"Zim won't know what hit him."

The rest of the discussion seemed to fade out for Skoodge as he stared, wide-eyed at the dead Irken before him. He had just been shot, no warning, no nothing. He was just doing his job and he was shot and then forgotten about. Like his life meant nothing.

Already some of the cleaning drones had come over, collecting the body to be disposed of. Most likely going to be tossed out of the airlock like trash.

Skoodge looked to the egg in his hands, little Mur. Every time he looked at her he just felt more and more guilty. Her carrier was being controlled against her will and he was the cause of it.

Now he had to carry her around, an actual burden on his shoulders.

"Alright then, I guess it's settled, we'll be leaving the quadrant in a few hours to start heading for Earth," Tallest Red's voice cut into Skoodges thoughts and he felt panic run through him, that means they'll be leaving Murth and Raz's family.

Before Skoodge had a chance to voice his concerns, the Doctor was already leaving with Raz in tow.

Quickly Skoodge ran after them, once they were out of the bridge and in one of the Massive's many hallways he spoke up, "Doctor! What about the egg! There's no water on the ship!"

"Your pretty good at stating the obvious," the doctor hummed, not even bothering to look at him.

"B-but-"

"Look Skoodge, I already told you. If you want the egg, you can keep it. But that makes it your problem, not mine," the Doctor growled, getting agitated by the shorter Irken's nagging.

"But Doctor!"

Suddenly the Doctor spun around and pointed glaringly at him, "no! I'm tired of hearing your squeaky insignificant voice!" He shouted, "one more word out of you and I'll reveal the secret about your lack of pills to the Tallest!"

At first, Skoodge was terrified but one look at the child, strapped to his chest and he was quick to shoot a glare of his own. "And reveal yourself?! Fat chance!"

"Oh please! you don't think I don't already have the Tallest under my thumb?!"

Skoodge paused and stared up at the Doctor wide-eyed, "what?"

"You heard me, I've had them on my drugs since day one! I have nothing to fear from them. Just like I have nothing to fear from you! You short, intolerable, idiotic, service drone!" The Doctor raised his hand to smack Skoodge only to collapse to his knee in pain. He grimaced and gripped his right leg in pain, a new bump already showing through his pants.

"Damn it!" He snarled and began to roll up his pant leg, showing the ugly lump on his calf. To even the Doctor's horror, it seemed to be splitting off into two.

"Damn things are getting worse," he muttered to himself and looked to Skoodge expectantly.

Almost on instinct, Skoodge pulled out 4 syringes from his pac only to pause before approaching.

"What the hell are you doing, help me!" The taller Irken demanded.

"No! I will do no such thing until we return Raz and her egg back home!" Skoodge demanded himself.

"And ruin your chances of taking over the control brains and getting Zim back?" The Doctor sneered, gripping his leg tighter now.

"The ends don't justify the means, Doctor!" Skoodge snarled.

"Fine," the Doctor stammered out, already looking out of breath from the pain. "W-with friends like you, who needs enemies," he growled and snapped his fingers, and Raz, who had been standing beside him stoically this whole time, tackled Skoodge.

The scariest part wasn't those sharp webbed fingers, or those strong four arms, no it was those cold eyes. Raz looked completely dead on the inside like she was just a body heading the commands of something that wasn't her. It was terrifying.

She was quick and strong as he pinned his arms and legs down before grabbing the needles from his hands and kicking him away once she got what she was after. Not even bothering to be careful about her egg, thankfully Skoodge used his own body as a shield for the fragile thing.

After that, she knelt before the Doctor and began to siphon out more of that green stuff from the lumps. She managed to get one of the lumps to go down but it seemed the remaining two syringes weren't enough to lessen the larger one. Only reduce it, as Raz got up to get more from Skoodge she was stopped by the Doctor standing up.

"Leave it, this will do for now," he hissed as he pulled his pant leg back down, hiding the bump. "And you," the Doctor glared at Skoodge.

"You're lucky I'm far too busy right now to deal with you. I do however have this to say,"  he looked down on Skoodge the lighting making him look absolutely terrifying. "If you pull that again, I'll make you watch as I dissect that egg." With that threat, the Doctor turned around and left Skoodge on the floor, Raz following obediently behind him.

Skoodge felt sick to his stomach like he was about to throw up. He clutched the egg tightly, trying desperately not to cry. How was he supposed to go on? He needed to save Zim, but at the same time, just the thought of abandoning Mur and Raz left Skoodge feeling sick.

"Oh, what do I do," Skoodge held up the egg, staring at the little Murthen inside as if she could give him an answer. What worried Skoodge was just how developed she was now. Her four arms had all formed and little pink and purple spots decorated her body, soon to make the pattern of one or both of her parents. Her eyes were slightly open now too. Revealing dark purple eyes.

"Oh Mur, you're going to hatch soon aren't you?" Tears started to form in Skoodge's eyes, "and your carrier won't even be there to witness it." Skoodge covered his mouth with one hand as he scooted to press his back against the wall in revelation, "and it's all my fault."

"I'm a monster," he whispered in horror. Just as he was about to break down, crying. Skoodge felt a shift in the egg and looked down at the little Murthlet inside. She had moved her hands from the clutched position they had before to the shell of the egg. She had just placed all four of them there and it completely mesmerized Skoodge. Four little blue hands with little webbing in between, even tiny little claws on each finger.

Skoodge felt a small blush form on his face in surprise before a small smile crept onto it as well. He placed his forehead on the shell, ignoring the slight burning sensation it caused, and smiled.

"I know I've hurt you and your family. But I swear on my life, I'll keep you safe, I promise."

#pills #invader zim #invader zim zadr #zadr #zim x dib #Zim #Dib #Gaz #Skoodge #the doctor #Raz #Tallest red #Tallest Purple #drugs

[weakly-skoodge]

Week Fourteen!

Skoodge leans himself forward, sitting as upright as he can, and yanks his antennae, slaps his cheeks, and motivationally whispers "Pull yourself together. you're an Invader, for Spork's sake!" to himself. "You're not at the end of your line just yet." Irkens do not have breakdowns. Invaders do not have breakdowns. Especially not in hot wired ships in empty parking lots in the middle of the night. He's going to make it through this, by golly! Tallest as his witness!

… Except…

… His Tallest are dead, aren't they…?

Is there… anything, left for him? Is there no one around to bear witness to him push forward?

With the current state of the Empire…

Is there any reason for him to even try?

He pinches at his neck. Rolling the metal chip underneath his skin between his index and his thumb.

There should be. There is.

The last time Skoodge remembers being happy was…

“I made it! I’m alive!”

Hobo-13.

He slumps back into his seat.

Why? What sense does that make?

He almost died. Again.

All because he was on Zim's team. Why would anyone be happy about that? No one in the known universe would be happy to see Zim, to be near Zim, to have Zim treat him the exact same way he used to back when –

"Oh, that’s. That makes sense."

Zim was treating Skoodge exactly how he did back when they were training to be Invaders.

Using him as bait, pushing and shoving, the teasing and taunting. That typical, smug expression on his face – the only expression that will always belong right there, on him. The one face, expression, that could tie any irken's spooch in knots. Haloed by the starlight.

It felt right.

More right than anything these past decades has.

Lying around in temporary housing units provided during downtime, facing enemies and surpassing them, finishing assignments and receiving praise (if there was any). It was never enough.

Is he too selfish? Too wanting, too demanding?

Skoodge has never been praised for his accomplishments. Not by anyone important. He's not sure he wants to.

All he wants is to go back. Doesn't he?

Training looks so much more appealing, these days.

Exchanging smiles, hiding laughs. Grabbing hands, leading feet.

He curls further into his seat, fingers still firmly pinching his skin. "… You're an idiot. Skoodge." He stares at his boots, at the floor of his ship, and then at nothing at all, soaking in his pure, unadulterated stupidity.

A giggle dislodges from his throat, and as his eyes close and his brows pinch with joy, he feels even more stupid than before.

The laughter dies down, and the ship is blanketed in an eerie quiet. Only the fans of the ship and his own PAK keep it from becoming completely silent.

There should be tears, forming under his eyes, right now. They always do when he thinks about training too hard.

Guess he's tuckered his ducts out from all the crying he did earlier today.

Coward.

Big, stinking, stupid runner. Running around like a headless… something.

Can't even insult right.

It'd be better, if there were someone else doing it. Maybe. Someone to keep him in check. And keep him away from all… this. Nonsense.

Skoodge opens his starmap, looking over nearby galaxies and systems, wracking his meat brain for which planet he's looking for. And when that doesn't work, he wracks his PAK for memory of where the Tallest sent him. Any mention, any name. Anything at all.

He taps the most backwater, out-of-the-way galaxy he can recall being on Irken maps.

There it is.

Does Zim even remember Skoodge?

Would he want to see me if he did?

Skoodge isn't sure what Urth is like…

The sounds of reconstruction and devastation linger, just outside his ship.

With a shaking claw, he taps the map until directions pop up in front of him. He commits every detail to memory, saving the location of Urth's and its galaxy in his PAK.

… but it can't be worse than this 

The engine spurs.

#weekly skoodge #auauuah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !! #unfinished part of my unuploaded fic. eat #written skoodge

[random-iz-stuff]

What would tenn do if she was rescue by zim from meekrob? Would she follow order from the tallest to take the credit if zim trash the planet(is zim so he will)? Or go to earth with him to see what his been doing on earth.

It would really depend on the circumstances of their rescue. Because there are two separate groups trying to get to them, The Armada and Zim, who is working without the Empire’s knowledge or approval.

Zim isn’t supposed to know about Tenn’s capture. No one but the highest of the Irken society (that being the Tallest and their advisors) is supposed to know about it, but Zim learned about it anyways.

Zim originally suspected that something was wrong not long after the events of Megadoomer, as he had been in semi-frequent contact with Tenn up to that point, and asked the Tallest about it. After all, they’re the people that are directly in charge of high priority invader missions like Larb’s invasion of Vort, Tenn’s invasion of Meekrob and (presumably) his own invasion of Earth. But the Tallest gave him nothing because it was classified information that cannot be released to the public.

So Zim, knowing that something was wrong but being unable to get any information from his leaders, took some classified documents from the Massive when he took control of it in Backseat Drivers From Beyond The Stars. Just while he had the once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Since then, Zim has been working on a Meekrob Rescue Mission, and it’s one of his better plans, with Zim trying his best to make sure that there are as little flaws as possible before he decides to attempt it. He’s got a whole room in his base dedicated to it.

But while that’s going on on Earth, the Empire is trying to think of it’s own solution, and as much as the Tallest hate to admit it, Zim may have a large role in it.

Now, Tenn’s rescue poses several massive problems to the Empire. Firstly, they can’t make it obvious. The Irken public cannot know that their highest evaluated invader failed their mission. Tenn is one of the faces of Operation Impending Doom 2, right next to Larb (sent to Vort) and Grapa (after he replaced Skoodge), and the fact they they failed their mission would ERADICATE trust in Operation Impending Doom 2 as a whole.

And unlike Skoodge, they can’t replace Tenn with someone else. Skoodge is a short Irken that no one cares about or paid any attention to, not to mention that he only became a face of OID2 AFTER he conquered his planet. Tenn was hyped up as the best invader the Empire had and people actually paid attention to them. Tenn along with Larb were central figures even BEFORE the great assigning, and people will DEFINITELY notice if they’re replaced. This means that the Empire’s options are a bit more limited than what you’d expect.

There’s also the fact that Tenn was assigned Meekrob for a good reason. Meekrob is notoriously hard to even get close to given how aggressive the Meekrob are when it comes to people entering their territory. They rarely ever leave it and they never under any circumstances let people in. Even when conducting trade, Meekrob meet up with trading ships outside their territory and don’t let trading ships enter their borders. And once you’re on the planet, good luck because Meekrob is so hard to remain on that it’s almost comical. The atmosphere is toxic to any non-Meekrob life, Meekrob can speak to each other via telepathic networks so one person finding you means that everyone in the area knows where you are, Meekrob are tough in battle and will shoot first and ask questions later, and you probably don’t have much gear because sneaking onto Meekrob usually requires a small, fast ship with little cargo to avoid detection.

So a rescue mission needs an extremely capable soldier that will most likely be working alone due to how hard it is to get even one person on Meekrob. They will have little to no help from the Empire once they arrive and will be going up against an entire planet’s worth of people. And that’s before you consider how they’ll escape. It would require absolute stealth, especially since Meekrob is actively watching for invaders now. In other words, you need an invader. No other type of soldier is equipped for the job.

But the thing is, the Empire doesn’t want to use invaders that have already completed their missions. Successful Invaders are popular figures in the public eye, and one of them being sent on a mission of any kind would be a big thing, especially a mission ordered by the Tallest. There’s also a very large chance that the invader will fail this extremely dangerous almost-suicide mission, meaning that the Empire will need to cover THAT up too. So they need an invader or something with invader training, but that invader needs to be pretty much unknown by the general public, so when they inevitably get sent to their death and disappear, no one will notice or care.

The Empire can’t pull invaders from their current missions either, so that leaves us with exactly two options: Skoodge and Zim.

Skoodge is an extremely effective invader and because of his height and the fact that he wasn’t given credit for Blorch, no one knows who he is, nor will they care when this short Irken dies. But no one wants to use Skoodge because of his height. If Skoodge succeeds and brings back Tenn, most likely leaving Meekrob completely exposed and ripe for the Armada to swoop in and take over in the process, people will know. And it would be very difficult to wipe all traces of Skoodge from Meekrob related media. Footage would need to be destroyed or covered up, voice clips from calls would need to be destroyed or covered up, and so on. And if anything goes wrong there, an extremely short Irken will forever be attached to the destruction of Meekrob. It’s too risky and would be a nightmare to cover up.

That leaves us with Zim. Even though his current mission is fake, Zim still has invader training, and can be quite effective in the right situations. He’s also Zim, so no one will notice or care about his death.

It also guarantees that Zim won’t get in the way of mission like he might if it’s done without him, as the Empire remembers how he came looking for information regarding Tenn before and some are paranoid that he’ll somehow figure it out and throw himself at Meekrob without a plan, throwing any prospect of a rescue mission into jeopardy.

Plus, unlike with Skoodge, Its much easier to edit out Zim if he does succeed. Zim and Tenn have the same body shape, eye colour, etc, with the only large difference being in height. All the Empire needs to do is add eyelashes, curled antennae and a few inches of height to Zim in any footage he appears in and the story instantly looks like Tenn did it all on their own. Plus, even though Zim is below average in height, he’s not as extremely short as Skoodge.

Using Zim also gives the Empire several possible outcomes, all of which are at least slightly beneficial.

Outcome 1: Zim fails. This means that Tenn remains captured, but Zim is no longer a problem. Plus there’s a good chance that Zim will take a good chunk of Meekrob down with him.

Outcome 2: Zim success and brings Tenn back to Empire space. This means that Tenn is safe and Meekrob is most likely in the perfect position for the Armada to take over. Zim is still alive, but he can be sent back to Earth while getting none of the credit due to how easily the Empire can photoshop Zim to look exactly like Tenn.

Outcome 3: Tenn dies on Meekrob and Zim returns empty handed. The worst outcome out of the lot of them, but even here Zim’s escape from Meekrob would leave it open for attack.

The only problem is that this plan involves Zim. The single most unpredictable Irken in existence. Even if the Tallest tell him exactly what to do, they’re still less “guiding him” than they are “pointing him in the vague direction of Meekrob and hoping for the best”. All plans for Meekrob involving Zim also involve an evacuation plan for every ship near the Meekrob system, because Zim being involved could damage the Empire more than he damages Meekrob.

Plans detailing how exactly Zim should be used also vary wildly. Some say that Zim should be given proper, modern invader equipment for this mission instead of the trash he’s normally given to maximize the chance of him succeeding, others say that he should be sent with what he has even though it isn’t modern invader tech to minimize the amount of collateral damage and destruction that he could cause, and one guy suggested a three step plan that goes as follows:

Step 1: Put Zim in a giant mech like the one he drove in OID1.

Step 2: Fire the mech out of a massive cannon directly at Meekrob, hopefully smashing him into Meekrob’s surface before anyone has a chance to react.

Step 3: Tell Zim to go ham and watch the fireworks from a safe distance.

This plan was not received well and has started several arguments.

Neither Zim nor the Tallest are aware of each other’s plans. The Tallest don’t know that Zim knows about Tenn’s capture and don’t want to tell him unless they’re absolutely certain that he can be effectively used, and Zim is under the impression that the Tallest would never use him in a rescue mission because he’s already on a different Super Important and Super Secret Mission here on Earth and definitely doesn’t want to tell the Empire about his planned rescue mission because he stole classified documents to learn about Tenn’s capture in the first place.

So what happens to Tenn after they’re rescued (and even if they’re rescued at all) depends entirely on what happens first; the Tallest swallowing their pride and rolling the dice with Zim or Zim completing his preparations and going for it without the Empire’s knowledge or approval.

If Tenn’s rescue is an Empire Mission, Tenn would be immediately brought to the Massive for debriefing, medical stuff, the Conquering of Meekrob and it’s organic sweep, dealing with Zim, the like. Tenn would be given credit for Meekrob and Zim would be shoved to the side. Even if Tenn wanted to give credit to Zim, the Empire wouldn’t allow it.

If Tenn’s rescue is done by Zim on his own, Tenn would be taken back to Earth and Zim’s base for a while to recover from everything (Maximum security Meekrob prisons aren’t exactly nice places to stay for long periods of time), but would eventually head back to Irken space and the Massive for most of the above reasons.

Once again, Tenn would be forced to take full credit for Meekrob because the Empire doesn’t want anyone to know that they failed and got themselves captured, plus the Empire might not even know or believe that Zim was involved at all. The Tallest might assume that what was actually Zim sneaking onto the planet and blowing a good chunk of it up in the process was simply Tenn escaping on their own.

And even if they don’t assume that, Meekrob have a lot of enemies. Even the Resisty refuses to work with them. That massive event that happened down on Meekrob could have been anyone, Irken or not. And the Tallest have no reason to believe it was Zim as long as you ignore Tenn telling them that it was Zim. After all, that walking defect could never do something that impressive on his own.

#invader zim #asks #headcanons #zim #Tenn #I should write down my headcanons for Meekrob #because I have a few of them

[refried-ghost]

The whole thing was crushing to Zim in away few other things had been. The death of Miyuki. The Trial. That one time he'd gotten his head stuck in tear in reality.

Skoodge tried to help. So did GIR. Computer. The defective human didn't bother, but she'd try comfort the accomplished invader. Gaz had been there a few times she couldn't look him in the eye. He preferred it that way anyway.

It was a reality check. A nasty, bloody one. A glimpse into a full blown nightmare, that could have been the rest of his existence, only ended by that stupid, ugly faced Skoodge, who was far too kind for his own good, too loyal, and the two human girls that openly disregarded him.

HE showed up once. Managed to slip passed the defense systems while Krysa was dropping stuff off for Skoodge. She smashed a bottle over his head before anyone had a chance to react. Zim had probably the worst panic attack he'd ever had. Gaz was called apparently. She dragged him off threatening Krysa if she tried anything else. The girl rolled her eyes. Skoodge though, Skoodge was enraged over the whole thing.

"The only reason he isn't dead yet is because of you!" He jabbed Gaz. "You said you'd take care of it!" A step forward. "You said Zim'd never see his face again. So, why in the fuck is he here?!"

Gaz looked at him with wide eyes as she held her weakly struggling brother. She opened her mouth to speak, but caught the glimpse of a grin from the other girl. Her blood boiled.

"What are you smiling at?" Venom dripped from every word. Krysa's gaze snapped from Skoodge to Gaz. She motioned dismissive to the Irken. The gamer growled.

"Great! Not even an answer," Skoodge's held his head. "Get out."

Gaz wanted to argue, but Dib was began to struggle against her.

"NOW!"

"Fine." She began to drag him out.

"There's no next time!"

"I know," she mumbled.

They watched her go. Listening as the door slammed. Then a bit more. Eventually the Skoodge's shoulders dropped.

Krysa touched the irken's shoulder, glancing over it at his face. "I didn't know you had it in you to yell like that."

Skoodge flinched and shrunk in on himself a bit. "Uh, yeah... I guess sorta lost it." He sighed. "That wasn't very mature of me, huh?" A shameful blush enveloped his face. "I hope Zim didn't hear that," he whispered into his hands.

Kyrsa twirled around on her good leg and grabbed one of the grocery bags from the floor. "I'd disagree, but honestly, is it really a problem if you were?" She placed the items into sink after shaking off the glass shards. Metal claws picked up the pieces.

Skoodge didn't know how to answer that, instead he looked at the floor.

"I need to check on Zim."

She turned on the tap washing blood and sauce down the drain.

Zim was huddled in his blanket, GIR laid a top his head and neck half hugging him, half patting him. "Shoosh shshoosh shu. Take the piggy. Take it," the robot pulled a pig from his head and shoved it into Zim's face. The Irkens breathed harder. GIR frowned and tucked the piggy into the blanket. "There!" He slid off Zim landing on his head.

But his master wasn't smiling still. He shook violently, wrapping the fabric around him as tightly as he could as his PAK made an skipping whir. With each skip there'd be this quiet almost snapping noise, accompanied by a fully body flinched. Sweat poured down his face.

GIR's frown deepened. He waved his hand infront of him, but was distracted by the magenta that colored it. "Ooo." The eye glow wasn't new, but he'd never noticed how the light bounced before. He flexed his tiny hand.

The stitches were impossible to ignore. They should have been healed by now, but they weren't. Somehow he knew they never would be. They tugged tightly on his skin, feeling as it they tear it if he didn't just stop breathing. He wanted to stop. Or at least slow down. But he couldn't. Not after HE broke into his base again.

Everyone wanted him dead. Zim was painfully aware of that. From the moment he'd shoved that smeet back into the chute. He'd placed a curse upon himself. Countless times as a smeet or in his plug his clutch mates and the smeetry worker or overseers had tried to kill him. Some were direct. Holding him down and trying to rip off his PAK. A handful succeed with dislodging it. Others went with schemes. Handing a tiny Tenn enough poisoned snacks to take the six of the out and making her promise to share with her friends. Only stopped by them getting stolen by Tallers. Their teacher was horrified and furious when he'd found them all dead.

It wasn't necessarily when they'd meet that this desire would develop. But even Red and Purple wanted him dead at this point. They'd used too be the closest to him, so why would anyone else be any different?

It was always his fault too. Zim'd always know that. He shoved his head in the tear. He created the blob. He'd reminisced over the creature to them seconds before it'd eaten Spork. He'd half given up and decided to mess around with HIM.

He couldn't turn off his mind.

Zim weakly struggled against the restrains only half aware of what was going on. It was almost as if his brain meats ceased functioning. HE screamed throwing the phone. The Irken flinched as-

The spear slammed into the ground next to his head. The guard stepping firmly on his chest. Miyuki screamed as the blob tightened it tentacles around her. Her PAK legs shot out frantically stabbing at it. But-

His PAK legs were stuck. The sticky substance had seemed to weld them together. With annoyance Purple pulled out something sharp.

The blade glinted in the light. HE was wearing the sickest grin Zim'd ever seen.

It was suspended in a fluid, cloudy eyes looked vacantly back at him. The skin slightly open revealing a near empty cavity in the torso. The vortian's voice drowned out by the ringing in his ears.

It was pinned down, the tiny, slimy creature's underbelly exposed, a scalpel rested in his own hand. The teacher removed organs from their carcass one by one. Holding each up for the class. He looked back down to the frog, and without much of a thought cut into it.

He screamed and struggled against the restrains. His fog suddenly gone. The blade caught repeatedly on his tunic as it moved. A trail of blood bloomed behind it. The messy gouge only seemed to make the human laugh.

The timer ticked down as he ran for his PAK. Legs weak and heavy, with each step the life seemed to drain out of him. A hand grabbed his ankle. He fell hard. Through blurry eyes he looked down at the half dead Irken snagging him. With a spike of adrenaline he raised his other foot and-

A loud snap echoed throughout the jungle. Red looked at him with terror, then frantically readied his weapon. Zim looked down to find a crushed bone under his foot.

A hand wiggled within his flesh grazing over broken bone. The pain was explosive.

"Zim?" The voice almost seemed as if it was underwater.

The explosive heat that seemed to ripped him apart, that was also a part of him, turned icy cold. His thoughts melting way and dragged on forever at the same time. And he was sure this was how he was going to die.

Zim puked.

#refriedrambles #zim #Skoodge #gaz #gir #everyone is running away

[oddberryshortcake]

Do you think Irkens are discriminatory against eachother in ways other than just height? If so, what are they? And how does that effect Zim?

Oh absolutely 

Short Irkens are the lowest tier within their society and they are treated unfairly in many different ways! (And Zim suffers from a lot of this)

Bob the table-headed service drone is a great example of just how disadvantaged short Irkens are. 

Bob is the shortest Irken we’ve seen so far, a few inches shorter than Zim. His job is literally just being a table. Due to his short stature, he is treated as furniture instead of an Irken. When he was hatched and failed to grow past a certain point, it stands to reason that someone like Bob might not have even received basic military training and was instead immediately coded as a table before he even had a chance to make something of himself. 

Zim is legitimately lucky. If he were just a bit shorter than he already is, he likely would have never been sent into training, nor to Vort Research Station. He definitely wouldn’t be allowed to enter invader training either. (Zim is also referred to as the shortest invader they have, so that says a lot about how impressive it is that Zim made it to that point)

Another big disadvantage short Irkens face is the fact that despite their accomplishments, they will almost never be recognized for it due to their height. Skoodge not only conquered Blorch, a horrible planet where the Tallest deliberately assigned to someone short, but he conquered it first before any other invader. He did something amazing, and how is he rewarded? He isn’t. They toss him out because his short appearance isn't what fits Irken’s criteria of beauty and brilliance. They hand over Skoodge’s accomplishments to a taller Irken who didn’t do anything, just because they were tall and fit Irken standards. (Skoodge is very lucky as well, as he’s just a bit taller than Zim. If he were Zim’s height or shorter i’m sure he’d likely be in the same situation as Bob)

The way Irken society is currently functioning, it’s impossible for a short Irken to succeed and be recognized for their skills and talents because they are so low on the hierarchy. 

Short Irkens are doomed to fail, not because they are inherently worse than taller Irkens, but because Irken society just doesn’t wish to acknowledge or recognize them. Irken Society wants short Irkens to fail so that they can remain the servants of their world, the drones who at as furniture. 

Zim is short and defective. I’m sure he’d be bullied for his abnormal behavior and intense emotions if he were normal sized, but the fact that he’s little definitely intensifies the disdain his peers feel towards him. 

Zim doesn’t view himself as low on their hierarchy. When the tallest called him “Very small, a tiny little thing” he felt nothing towards it. Those words didn’t make him feel inferior, because Zim thinks he has a lot to offer Irk and doesn’t think being short is even a problem, so that can’t stop him! 

It’s this sort of attitude Zim has that makes me think that’s why Skoodge is buds with him despite the fact that Zim is extremely difficult to work with. Why the hell has Skoodge been the one Irken to treat Zim decently all these years? Despite the trouble Zim gets him in?

Because Zim is a small Irken, he still actively tries to be a leader, thinks outside the box, and has never given up in trying to cultivate his own place on Irk. 

Zim is confident in himself and tries to do so much more than what is expected of him despite his size. To a short Irken, that’s pretty damn motivating. 

#Invader Zim #IZ analysis #IZ meta #Irken lore #Irken society #thank you so much for this ask i had a fun time answering this! #Anonymous

[harveyb-wabbit92]

The tallest x tall! reader: Snacks? Snacks!

The tallest endure one of Zim's awesome updates about his "mission" only to be distracted by what the banished Irken is eating, a misunderstanding and jealousy ensues.

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

Two hours.... that's how long this damn call has lasted. Red stopped listening to Zim's bantering about ten minutes into the call...and Purple? Well, Red was fairly certain his shrill counterpart was never listening to Zim to begin with! Speaking of which... the red eyed Irken tiredly side-eyed Purple warily, it was pretty clear the purple eyed Irken had drifted off to daydream land; if that dazed and drooling visage was anything to go by... 

"Oh-ho, Tar no! If I have to suffer through one of Zim's calls, then your gotta suffer with me!" Red lowly hissed and smacked Purple upside the head "waking" his dazed out co-ruler from his daydreams, Purple looked like he was about to retaliate when something caught his eye. "Hey.. What’s that?" Red blinked and turned his attention on to the screen.

He just saw Zim eating while watching him and Purple duke it out, It was like they were in the Elites again! Except, Wait... why is that snack yellow? "Yeah... what is that, it doesn't look like Snack-rations." Then Skoodge came into view eating something similar to what Zim was having, but it was light pink and dark brown. "Wha-Oh this is pudding Y/n made, I got Banana with black sugar caramel and Skoodge is Dark choco-Strawberry." Zim said said with a shrug.

For some reason Skoodge decided to choose this moment to speak. "She doesn't just make pudding either, she can make candy, Ice-cream, donuts, cakes..." while he was listing off the the types of sweets, Y/n can make neither him nor Zim noticed Red and Purple go rigid as they absorbed this new information.

Y/n... their Y/n can. make, snacks?! Delicious snacks, that she's wasting on failures like Zim and Skoodge?! Such a cruel provocation cannot go on any longer! Zim finally noticed Red and Purple's irritation, He suddenly remembered something and panicked. "Wai-" the Tallest hung up on him and immediately called Y/n.

The tall woman was getting home from work when she was suddenly greeted by two pouting Irkens on the obnoxiously large and out of place alien monitor in her dining room. Immediately her mind went to one thing. "What did Zim do now?" she sighed thinking Zim tried to do something dumb like teleporting the Massive to Earth or sent them a box of bees and they caught him! there was tense silence as Y/n tried to coax Red and Purple into telling her what was wrong? "You really don't know what you did?" Red spat Y/n was taken aback by his sudden hostility. "Snacks!" was all Purple was able to muster out as he angrily paced behind Red, which befuddled Y/n more.

"Snacks??? what did Zim try to take your snacks?" the earthling guessed on a whim, but that was quickly shot down by Red speaking up. "Does it feel good making snacks for those two?" he huffed in disgust Y/n on the other hand was still very much lost. "What?" she inquired as Ede realized what was up and explained it to her in binary (there was an incident at work, Ede's vocal module was damaged.) The S.i.R unit carefully explained through beeps and whirls that on Irk giving or receiving homemade snacks from someone is a sign of great affection and respect, and it's a pretty big deal if the person giving out said snacks is taller than the receiver.

You're pretty much telling Zim and Skoodge that you love them! ...which technically you do, but not romantically. "Oh... so it's like that, okay." The human hummed intrigued before noting Purple and Red's vexed expressions and realized how this looked to them.... "Oh no, not okay!... I uh, didn't know giving Zim and Skoodge some leftover pudding was like a big deal in your culture, cos on Earth it's not quite that big a deal!" Red cocked a brow as Purple stopped pacing and looked at the human warily. "I just gave it to them because I made too much for my coworkers retirement party, I was in charge of dessert, and they wanted pudding instead of cake." Y/n took out her phone showing them photos of Y/n and Co-workers having a party posing in front the dessert table with a banner.

[We'll miss you Ben!]

They assumed Ben was the old man sitting in the center of them, Red noticed the elder's jaw was hideously disfigured. "What's with his..." The red eyed Irken gestured towards his mouth, Y/n got a distant look in her eyes and chuckled darkly. "A while back Ben caught someone who didn't belong in our ranks. They tried to silence the old hard-ass by removing his tongue.." Purple looked like he was gonna be sick as Y/n continued the story. "I'm not sure on the details, but by the time we got to Ben we found one dead spy, and Ben holding onto what was left of his jaw, Don't need to tell ya why he was asking for pudding instead of cake."  the entire communication hub was silent as the tallest and the communication officers absorbed this story. "Tar's mercy..." someone muttered in shock.

Y/n awkwardly coughed snapped everyone out of the funk. "I didn't mean to upset you guys, I was just doing one last favor to my mentor..." Now Red and Purple felt like jerks, they came at you up in arms assuming the worst, it never ever occurred to them how different Earth and Irk cultures were, For you it was just an innocent exchange between friends, Zim realized this and was trying to tell them before hanging-up, But Red and Purple jumped to the conclusion that you were cheating... 

the was another pause before Y/n spoke up again. "Uh, I still have some pudding if yo-" Red and Purple were practically climbing on each other as they yelled. "Yes!" Y/n went to her fridge and took two bottles one bright purple and the other was dark red and put them in the small teleporter the Tallest had sent over, in seconds the the two Irken leaders were holding milk bottles that matched their colors.

"Red you got red velvet caramel and Purple you got Popping Cotton-candy."  They didn't hesitate digging in Red was satisfied with his pudding it the red-velvet had rich creamy bitterness that was evened out by the sweetness from the caramel sauce, While Purple was a giddy giggling mess, the pop-rocks topping his pudding was tickling his mouth with every bite, the cotton-candy flavor was just right, They really need the recipe for these. Y/n watched her boyfriends enjoy their snacks while she was enjoying her own (fav flavor) pudding, All was forgiven and Y/n had a few new fans to her baking skills.

#Invader Zim #invader zim x reader #the tallest x reader #tallest red x reader #tallest purple x reader #Platonic! Zim x reader #invader zim skoodge #tall! reader #human reader