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sapphorror · 4 months

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So there's this Moment in the beginning of the Zimvoid arc where he's going on about how he's the only Irken to show up on Earth and when GIR is like 'but tak!!' he has zero recollection of who she is, which like. on balance I do enjoy, because much of the zatr/zatp appeal in my eyes is the coolest girl you know trying and failing to be the ultimate archnemesis of the most embarrassing candidate imaginable, and lacking object permanence wrt one of his most formidable enemies is a very Zimcore thing in general, but at the same time, in Tak's particular case I'm not so sure the characterization is accurate, based purely on the way he treats her in her one flagship episode.

For one thing, he refers to her by name—which wouldn't be all that notable, except in the grand scheme of things, Zim doesn't really address all that many people by name, enemy or otherwise. Granted, some of this is probably just that she's Irken, who all seem to get tiniest sliver more notice from Zim (if not exactly respect), but there's also a Tone to it—a certain je ne sais quoi in the way he tells her 'It's over, Tak!' that reminds me of the way he addresses Dib and the other rare enemies he views as adversaries rather than mere obstacles

Even more unusually, he actually acknowledges her skill and calls her good ('Not as a good as me—but still good!')*. This isn't ENTIRELY unprecedented, given that Zim does have a pattern of inflating the abilities of the people he's bested by in order to maintain his ego, but even still, it's not all that often he straight out comes and says that someone is a worthy adversary—even with Dib, this aspect of their dynamic is more of an implicit, obvious truth than something he'd ever articulate.

All of which is my long way of saying that Zim seems to have a surprising degree of respect for Tak, at least insofar as he can be said to have respect for anyone, which is... interesting. And definitely something I'll be thinking more about

* tangential addendum to this but I'm also reminded of the "you're a worse pilot than I am (wait...)" quip and the fact that makes out at least two occasions where he's directly compared her to himself. Hm!

#invader zim #iz posting #zim #tak #zatr #if you want it to be #zatp #meta #my meta #natterings #i dont really have any point to make here i just think that it adds a chewy shade of nuance to their dynamic i haven't explored much #incidentally while I'm not that big on tagr #when I DO ship tagr #it is exclusively in the form of 'coolest girl you know tries and fails to be the arch-nemesis of an immovable wall of apathy'#(or alternatively as part of a Gaz/Tak/Zim/Dib trashfire foursome but that is besides the point)#so clearly the takeaway here is that I just really enjoy tak having a very specific brand of hard time

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lilyharvord · 4 months

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Hi! Long time fan here. Since COVID era actually. 😅 I was looking back at your posts and I noticed that Project Nightshade was never published or snippeted.

I wondering if you’re going to publish it or if you’re willing to post what would have happened. No pressure, just wondering. Hope everything is going well. Also wondering how your novel went? Is it available to purchase?

Here's some snippets from Project Nightshade (: There not much but it's honest work. (:

The blood drained for Mare’s face, and for a moment, her legs almost gave out. If she was being called by Evangeline this early in the morning with a summons from the Premier, then it was serious. Serious enough that it could be Lakelands pushing the line like they feared they would do for the past week, or it could be Piedmont had decided they actually did want to question the State’s sovereignty and the States’ alliance with Montfort. Her heart pounded a little faster at the fact that this could be a military summons, and that was far more likely if she and Cal were both being summoned. She would take the Lakelands any day over Piedmont. With the slow teetering of their country into chaos thanks to Farley’s constant pressure with the Guard, they were running deep into their Treasury. They wouldn’t be able to afford a full scale assault like Piedmont that could drag on for another year or two, or three.

Mare shuddered at the thought. Deep in her mind’s eye, she saw her daughter’s face aging in those years. She could almost feel the sickening sink of her stomach that would cut through her when she returned from that fight and saw her daughter waiting for her patiently on the tarmac, those years haunting her eyes.

If it were that, Evangeline would have lead with it though. Forcing a blanket of calm so she didn’t scare Coriane, Mare pursed her lips at her own quick swing toward fear.

“Radis is on his way out the door. He is leaving office today, and Carmen is being sworn in this afternoon.” Mare grumbled, finally crouching down to help Coriane balance the glass while she drank. “He doesn’t give me orders anymore.” She strokes her daughters hair for extra measure, watching her throat bob as she drank deeply. It soothed any of few ruffled feathers she still had. She wasn’t going anywhere, Coriane was still young. She wasn’t missing her daughter’s life. It felt like a battle to admit that, almost a half lie.

You and I are good liars.

She shuddered at the memory of that voice. It had been a long time since Maven had whispered in her ear, but sometimes, she still heard him, felt his fingers brushing her hair off her cheek or clenching her fingers like she was a life line and could pull him back from the edge. It had been so long since she’d heard his voice though, so long since she had been stressed enough to let his ghost in through the gaps in her armor—

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“We are not alone anymore.” He finally said, and the council chamber exploded in surprised and confused murmurs. Mare leaned forward to glance at Evangeline at the tail of Radis words. Her words from earlier floated through the haze: it’s impossible for such a thing.

Julian stood, his skin pale as he flushed with either anger at being excluded from this development or some other emotion. “We have no evidence that there is anyone beyond our continent that survived the devastation. As far as we are concerned the sea swallowed whatever might be left.”

Radis dipped his head in understanding, his eyes flashing in the light as he replied. “We were wrong. A radio transmission was intercepted this morning proving everything we once knew false.”

In the resulting silence, Mare heard the faint rumble of far off thunder. A storm was about to hit Ascendant. She could feel the lightning taking shape in those clouds, felt the change in the air the same way she did when she climbed up Storm Peak for training. It was still miles away, but she clenched her hands into fists to avoid the sparks that wanted to take shape between her fingers. Cal’s hands tightened on her shoulders in response, and she knew the hairs on his arms were standing on end as she channeled that energy through her like a glorified lightning rod.

Radis turned and nodded to a young man no one had noticed lurking in the shadows of the doorway. All eyes turned to him, and he straightened to his full, dimunitive height before stepping forward with a box. A recording device, Mare realized, her lips drawing into a tight frown.

Holding it out to Radis, he dipped his head as the Premier pressed one thin, pale finger on the playback button. Static punched through the silence of the chamber, only to be followed by a faint buzzing and then a two tone beep.

Cal leaned forward to hear better and the wave of heat he released washed over Mare like a hot breeze, and stirred Coriane awake. She blinked open sleepy eyes, and glanced around in confusion at her surroundings as the recording played and changed everything.

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Her heart pounded in her ears but she forced her voice to remain even as she said, “And what does that mean for you?”

“The message asked for a Calore king. I’m not a king.” Cal shrugs, but his eyes were burning and Mare knew now what that meant.

“He wants you to go.”

“To keep things cordial.” The words were carefully chosen, and probably not what he actually wanted to say, or what Quinn had said. “He doesn’t want to piss off a country that we know nothing about by sending a delegate that they didn’t ask for.”

“That’s not right.” Mare insisted as she pulled away from his grip, her annoyance manifesting in the bulb above their heads whining. Cal didn’t even react to it, years with her teaching him the nuances of her ability now and that if she wanted to shatter the bulb, she would.

He sank back to sit on the cycle, his hands falling between his knees while he turned his attention to the rain outside. “What do you want me to do? Ignore a direct order?”

“Was it a direct order?” Mare grumbled as she craned her neck and tried to find Coriane. Her daughter had been strangely quiet for too long. She couldn’t see her, and that worried her until she saw a faint flash of amber eyes in the darkness. Expelling a sigh through her nose, Mare called to the shadows, “Don’t eavesdrop Coriane.”

Her daughter’s mass of curls proceeded her as she sheepishly poked her head out from behind the shelves. “Are you going to fight?”

“No love, we’re not.” Cal said with a faint smile as he held his hand out in a quiet invitation of her to stop lurking in the shadows. She scurried to him with a clean rag, and he took in gratefully before saying, “We were having a conversation.”

Coriane’s eyes sought Mare for confirmation, and she got it in the form of a terse nod. “We were talking. If mommy and daddy were fighting you would know.” She smiled faintly at the implication of her comment and crouched down to move Coriane’s wet hair out of her eyes. Cal’s hand found Mare’s shoulder and squeezed gently to get her attention.

She glanced up at him, and then followed his eyes to a figure that moved beyond the window. Mare yanked Coriane into her arms and stood so quickly, she staggered for a second. There was another door out of the garage, a failsafe Cal had built just in case. Neither of them liked to be in a place with only one entrance and exit anymore.

The door into the garage opened slowly though, and a young solider stepped through. His eyes found them in the corner and he clicked his heels together before saluting smartly. “General Calore, Captain Barrow.”

Cal rose slowly, wiping his hands with a frown while Mare set Coriane back on her feet. The girl clung to Mare’s leg in response and eyed the man warily like her parents. The soldiers nodded and moved aside as Radis stepped through the doorway, brushing water off his dark coat. He glanced around the space before raising a brow at the organized chaos on the shelves and the little table at the side.

“Apologizes, but I called ahead and no one answered.”

Mare’s lips drew into a deep frown. If he’d done that, it had been while he was probably sitting outside their house, because the phone had not rung that morning.

“What do you want Radis?” Cal’s voice was dangerous, a warning in and of itself as he edges around Mare and Coraine to set the rag down on the table. He slid something off the table then, and Mare realized belatedly that he had taken his bracelets off and left them there.

The older man smirked at the atmosphere in the room, comfortable even in the presence of two people who very easily could remove him if they felt threatened. Tilting his head to the side, he said, “Premier Radis, General. I hold the title for another hour.”

“That’s a second politically and you know it.” Mare replied coolly, setting a hand on Coriane’s head as she eyed the two soldiers standing outside the door with their rifles strapped across their shoulders and in their hands. They were the new models, the ones that Kilorn told her had a faster clip. As if we have any reason to make the bullets move out of that monstrosity faster, her friend had spit to remove the taste of those words before draining the last of his beer. She had agreed with him. “Did you need a small army to come talk to us?”

“That answer depends on how you react to what I propose.” Radis stepped into the space before glancing down at Coriane as if he just noticed her. She edged further behind Mare, and glanced up at her with a creased brow that Mare smoother out with her thumb gently.

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