#of monsters and mice

[smurf-myoun]

A pretentious analysis and retrospective of my own fucking work:

(As a treat, of course.)

I've been attempting to get back into writing as self care. So, of course, I'm re-reading (and editing for grammatical errors in Go Back to Bed) my fanfics on ao3, as I appear to have lost their original word documents in the hellpit that is my OneDrive. God forbid Microsoft do its fucking job I guess?

Of Monsters and Mice

Go Back to Bed, You're Only Dreaming

Warning for discussion of character trauma, though at a very basic surface level, and comparisons to my own real life person trauma. There shouldn't be any major spoilers for either fic, or anything really triggering, but just in case I put this under the line break, if I did my formatting correctly. Triggers tagged in my fics can be assumed to apply here.

And I started to realize that the premises of my fics are really, really close. I mean, I knew that of course. It's why I gave myself so much shit for starting to write Go Back to Bed.

But, as I was just writing down comparisons between Blue and Olivia, quietly kicking myself for writing the same protagonist twice in a row, and then actually publishing them in two separate works on ao3, I realized that they are similar in very few ways. This is news to me.

Because, you know, yeah, they're both women transported from 2022 (the same year, even!) in our world (er, well, not actually our world, but our world adjacent I guess?) to the world of The Vampire Diaries. It's even around the same time, shortly before the ball. They're both traumatized, both college students, both supernaturally different in ways they don't fully understand, and both clearly have some kind of anxiety disorder.

But I surprised myself in that, despite their similarities, they're different characters and different stories. I desperately wanted them to be different, but was terrified they'd be fundamentally the same.

Blue and Olivia both have trauma stemming from a young age, this is true about them both. But their trauma is very different, and they both react to being traumatized in different ways. Blue is sad and anxious, desperate to not be hurt anymore, and doing anything to make sure pain doesnt happen again. Olivia is angry and anxious, and desperately clinging to what scraps she can gather in ways that are, quite frankly, destructive to herself and her relationships.

One thing that hit me hardest, looking at them both, is that they both share, more than anything else, a palpable loneliness.

In Olivia, it is highlighted by the loyal friends and supporters she is surrounded with and can't bring herself to lean on for support, or trust with all of her, even the nastiest parts. (Especially the darkest, deepest parts.)

In Blue, it is highlighted in the fact that she is terribly, tooth-achingly alone. Olivia has always been other, alienated by circumstance, but Blue had her otherness thrust upon her in the same way her status as a supernatural being was thrust upon her- violently and with very little warning, by someone who aimed to hurt her beyond repair.

I think the saddest part about both of them is I can see myself in them both, like they were chunks of my trauma carefully carved and molded into homunculi of story. I've been both Blue and Olivia, and I think the order in which they were created is also the order I was them- Blue first, then Olivia.

... literally none of this was intentional.

[theveryworstthing]

"every other Wednesday the old "sailor", the  lord's secret lover, the musician, and the new priest hang out for a few hours after closing time at the local bar. this is probably fine. "

trying out some designs for a rodenty race.

[mice-rats-daily]

Today's mouse is one of the Mice Krispies from Moshi Monsters!

[lowpolyanimals]

Monster Mouse from Monsters, Inc.

[woodenela]

🕒🐯Mit dir an meiner Seite🐯🕒

My submission for the lawsanlaw anthology of 2024 If the text is too hard to read, I put it in the alt text as well :)

This was so much fun to do. My initial submission grew so much in size that I wouldn't have been able to finish on time. I WILL finish it though, just on my own time without the stress, haha. Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it :)

[madcat-world]

Forest Fight (1 of 2) - Sandara Tang

[zillychu]

mice cream waffle cup (with sprinkles!)

[hemlock-is-typing]

And then I forgot all about them, perhaps immediately after posting this.

I never wrote them into Of Monsters and Mice- probably because I stopped writing, period.

It's nice to find the random snippets of ideas buried in random, bizarre, and hidden places scattered around my life. I've been finding a lot recently- documents in OneDrive, scraps of paper that were secretly written work, and now Tumblr. Cool.

Some Character Notes

I figured I'd also post some of my rambling notes about my characters, since I'm thinking about this. Names, genders, powers and backstories of upcoming OCs are still in flux- I haven't fully cemented anything in but some of Blue's capabilities.

These notes are brought to you by my rotting brain- meet the nephilim married couple!

Dorothea Gale

Age: Looks to be late 20s, maybe 27?

Pronouns: She/her

Taken from: Kansas, 2017

Powers:

Mastery over plants- growth, generation, movement, etc

Supernatural speed

Empathy with plants and animals, including humans

Size manipulation (from human sized to inches high and back again)

Can shapeshift into feline forms

Inhuman features:

Pointed, fae-like ears hidden by wild red curls

In the sun, without Erika's powers, her skin has a pearlescent shine to it, and reflects light.

Notes:

Has an accent from the midwest only when upset, otherwise sounds faintly British

Speaks Bulgarian, French, English

Quiet, contemplative

Married to: Erika

Erika Adeyemi

Age: Appears to be early thirties

Pronouns: She/her

Taken from: France, 2019

Powers:

Illusion mastery

Teleportation

Brief spurts of flight (more like hovering, or jumping in low gravity)

Compulsion-lite (broken if eye contact is broken, or the will/emotions of the compulsee is stronger than Erika's power)

Inhuman features:

Different sized pupils ringed in copper

Bone white hair (shorn close to scalp)

Crooked, too sharp teeth

Notes:

Appeared in New Orleans shortly after Marcel came into power

Speaks French, Spanish, English

Has a French accent- born in Marseille, France

Optimistic, despite all she's been through.

Married to: Dorothea

[cinder-starlight]

Biker Mice fic concepts!

1/2

Part 2 can be found here

this is concept art I have for a fic I’m planning on making after I finish the ‘94 series, a few notes before I get into it:

- this is 1 of 2 parts, once I post the other part I will link it to this post for those who haven’t seen it and vice versa, this post will focus on the concepts/ideas me and a friend have for a fic

-I’m not done with the series, this is just what I have so far, I’m on S2 E16 as of now, but a lot of the fic is gonna be heavily based off the ‘94 show

-no spoilers for the fic itself

Special thanks to my homie @voiddraws2much who is watching the series with me and helping me with the fic (wonderful artist btw)

Also there’s a lot of words to go with the art so I hope you like reading lol

First and foremost I kinda wanna start with Limburger and his goons,

This was my first concept of them wholeheartedly, I might tweak them all later but out of everyone I’m proud of how greasepit and Fred turned out

For Fred—we liked the idea that he was just a weird little guy, but since we specialize in man-made horrors we wanted to kick it up a notch, making him specifically a mutant/hybrid between an octopus, lion, dog and human. Y’all aren’t ready for the angst I have planned for this little guy

For Greasepit—me and my homie took a surprising liking to him, we felt bad for him a good chunk of the time even when he was being evil (when I tell you the scene where he’s crying about his life savings broke us, we were devastated for the poor guy). I don’t know how much of his life or past gets mentioned if at all in the show but me and Void conjured quite a story for him to work off of.

For Karbunkle—we planned that he was the first to work with/for Limburger, with Karbunkle having the longest history with him compared to Fred and Greasepit combined. (I’m aware I made him a little too crusty of an old man and that may or may not be fixed—I’m struggling drawing this guy). Can’t say a lot on him since it might spoil what I have planned but let’s just say he was Limburgers ticket to earth >:]

Finally for Limburger—the idea behind him was for plutark to have a bit of an evil underwater vibe, think bioshock but more unsettling. I gave Limburger the uncanny design of a human-like fish with the idea that I wanted him to be as scary as his actions towards the world and people he has working for him. I wouldn’t consider this a spoiler but an idea we have for him is that he’s wearing the skin of the real Lawrence Limburger, giving him an uncanny appearance if you look too close, as per this drawing Void did of her take on his human disguise.

One thing that kinda threw us off with the series was the fact Plutarkian’s stink, I understand it’s a bit, cheese stinks, fish stink—but Void proposed that Plutarkian’s begin to stink once they’re out of water for too long—which is what I’ll be applying rather then them being rancid 24/4, with the added bonus that they smell like corpses rather than—whatever the mice smell them as. We’d also like to lean in harder to the kind of greedy and corrupt person Limburger is and the people he represents.

One thing we both liked was how they’d hire mercenaries each episode almost—though I don’t think we’d be adding and redesigning EVERY character they’ve summoned, but we are looking to add a very particular fellow and his lady.

Hard Rock and Darla—I know they only really had a role in the S1 finale (as far as I know) but they felt too iconic, something about their dynamic was adorable, Hard Rock reminded me of Jareth the goblin king for some reason while Darla felt like a mix between the hex girl Luna and Calypso from potc (style wise for both). I definitely wanna make them at least a little more significant—maybe even tie into one of the mice if anything >w>

Void’s take on Hard Rock (left) and my takes on both Hard Rock and Darla(right)

Next

The Mice! Plus their human

This one was a bit of a head scratcher since for the most part we wanted to keep it the same but also had to tinker around a little, so they’re still under some construction.

For Throttle—I for the life of me cannot get the vibe I want right, something about his style is too iconic to change but I wanna spice it up a little, so here’s the few outfits/concepts I came up with for him—after the road ravens episode I couldn’t NOT give him sleeves, he looks sick as hell! Although I don’t really count it as a spoiler since I did somewhat mention it in another post—this squeaki boi is my target for my oc x canon shenanigans >:] look at him, how could he not be?

For Modo—Definitely love this goober, but I had to throw a shirt on him—what if he gets cold :c I was fighting to try and redesign the harness thing on his chest—initially wanting to go with a more cyberpunk style but changed it to a thicker vest of sorts inspired by military gear.

For Vinnie—I think out of everyone Vinnie’s design was set from the start, I drew him once and immediately loved it, the only idea I had was him being the type to strap dynamite or flares to himself without regards for his safety. In Void’s words “he’s always tweaking” other than that a part of me is trying to contain the amount of angst I have planned for this guy, I don’t even think Modo is safe either I’m rubbing my hands together like an evil fly

Modo and Vinnie’s concept designs can be found in this post

Safe to say for throttle and Modo though that our only thought was this:

For Carbine—Truthfully I initially didn’t have a lot planned for Carbine especially since we only saw one episode of her, but I read a bit of the recent comics and saw snippets of her character elsewhere and read a little about her from other fans, me and my homie void have very differing thoughts on her but it was agreed we had to fix her fit (my cousin said her og design looked like she was dressed in mustard???- I’m wheezing-)

I definitely am looking forward to potentially writing/drawing more of Carbine, I have quite a bit planned for her for when she comes up accompanied by Carbine and Throttle angst, I love drinking tears if you couldn’t tell—

Finally for Charley—we don’t have a lot planned for Charley other than our own takes of her backstory (idk if her actual backstory is ever mentioned in the show or comics, we just took creative liberties with this) and her trying to help with the guys, I love that she wanted in on the action and although I feel she doesn’t get to throw hands often enough, I think she’s always one bad day away from putting someone in the hospital lol

As for characters like stoker, Harley, rimfire etc. we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there QwQ

I am eepy and have been concocting this post for a while now even while the poll was pending so I will frankly have to leave the oc’s, other canon characters I plan to use and world based concept art for the next part of this post QwQ

Hope y’all enjoyed tho :3

[bensboards]

A g3 Mouseacedes King Stimboard perchance?

with like pastel pink blues and yellows and maybe a mouse of course ????!

G3 Mouscedes King Themed Stimboard ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ˎˊ˗ with mice and pastel pink, blue, and yellow colored gifs

💗|🐭|💙 🐭|👑|🐭 💙|🐭|💗

[drakkonyan]

GUESS WHO MADE AN AU MUAHAHAHAHAHA

hell yeah!

ok so basically, ive always like the idea of "what of instead of Squeaky Steven had fused with Mr Cheese" so did it!

this AU occurs after Dr. Wordgirl brains, basically 2B was trying to get spare pieces from the swap ray when conveniently Mr cheese broke into his lair, conveniently again he shoot the ray at him. Now the thing; he didnt swaped mind with Cheese, SQUEAKY DID

by doing so, not only did 2Bs got less vicious and feral, less craving of cheese and more civil, but also colder and more dangerous, getting himself a whole criminal gang and going on less bombastic and spectacular robberies and crimes, and becoming more coldblooded and dangerous as a criminal

basically the AU goes on over how he goes worse and worse while Wordgirl, Squeaky and even the Henchmen need to do detective work in order to bring him back to normal, since he's become more evasive

(yes this is inspired in The Great Mouse Detective and thats why Maria is a big kittycat and also 2Bs lowkey pet/killing machine, but like, let me be lol. Might change stuff in order to differentiate it and not to make it just mouse detective but Wordgirl, idk)

[pencilzart]

More creature doodles

[sofipitch]

*In Gideon the bone construct has many legs and a scorpion tail, in HTN there heralds are bees, in NTN the heralds appear moth-like. I think this means we'll probably get more big bug monsters

[shevr]

[spotaus]

... So i SWEAR this isn't intentional...

Im back... Again. And on brand... Again.

Um so that flesh eating shapeshifter kingdom...

Is there any known kingdom it would neighbor? Does it neighbor Orchard since Dust apparently has been there? Do you have any ideas for what they would look like? Does DUST have an idea for what they look like? Do they just out of habit shift into things familiar to those in proximity since its hoe they hunt? DO the hunt by shifting a luring humans into a sense of security? When Dust used to make deals with them would they find it more polite to shift to something similar to a skeleton but just... Wrong and uncanny valley? Since they hunt humans and not monsters or animals so they have had no need to mimic those perfectly tu lure them in unlike with the humans. How many eyes would they have. Do the dishes look great and appealing? Would some look more raw and grotesque like how some people eat raw beef? Would they gift things from their country that would be made of for example human teeth in jewelry or human skin in like bags or such like we did and still do for the teeth and bone of animals and leather/pelts? Would they keep humans like we do cattle?

I'm... Gonna stop for now, yeah. I am very enthusiastic about shapeshifters... Especially those that could be classified as skinwalkers and/or flesheaters. They're funky.

Blinks my big ol eyes at you 🥺. Glad to have you back Flesh Anon! And please know I'm gonna go a lil crazy about this ask because!! I love worldbuilding! And it also incorporates magic-laws from another of my projects so!! Double-win!!

So, first, I DO think it neighbors Orchid! Though, only through a treacherous little stretch of land, because *technically* about a mile radius of no-man's land exists between it and other kingdoms! It's a longstanding kingdom that no one dares to really bother because, well, the monsters there are NOT welcoming of humans for obvious reasons. I think it'd be to the northeast of Orchard, entirely landlocked and almost a sort of buffer that deterred the warring factions from even glancing at Orchard (between the freaky shapeshifters and the God-Kings? Yeah, no) but the two never made an alliance. The citizens of Orchard, while treated poorly, welcomed all species, including Humans, and so this shifting kingdom (thinking of calling it 'Whistling' because it sounds cool lol-) didn't take that kindly and decided to keep to themselves.

And, Dust's operation as crime-lord extended pretty far- (and suddenly I'm realizing that him visiting would throw a wrench in the whole Storm thing so: slight retcon: he invited visitors over on multiple occasions, and they would bring him/cook him meals, still as a part of sharing culture-) and they had good meat for the selling, so Dust did what he had to! He has several folks he knows from the crime days, but he can usually get a sense for a shifter if he's around one, anyone sneaking in or playing refugee.

Appearance Question!!! Okay. Once, a long, long time ago, these monsters were driven out of their homes. They used to be spread all across the continent, solo-hunters or living in small groups. They'd hunt humans just as humans hunted a deer. For food. No one knows why their magic needs human flesh to function, but they tried to stay modest and only take what they must. Live amongst the people. These monsters are born into the world in the shape of a mist, and take any solid shape they like, so long as it does not resemble a human. These are the easiest forms to maintain, but if a monster wants to looks like a human, they must eat the flesh. Most monsters back in the day would appear as just that, monsters, but when they were found out and driven from their homes to the Whistling Wastes? They banded together to start their own land. They disguised as humans, luring them in, keeping them captive generation after generation, eating them as they saw fit. Now? Now that the wastes are filled with life and their food supply is secured? They tend to just look like normal monsters, indistinguishable unless someone spots them changing shape. Ofc, some who work with the humans try to mimic them, put them at ease, and the disguises are just ever so wrong. These are the uncanny Valley moments.

^Along those same lines, monsters who disguise as human without eating flesh often lose their form much more quickly, and tend to wear human disguises while hunting when they're away from home + easy prey. Dust has seen a Whistler lure someone down an alley and lash out before they could even scream.

<- Long story short? These are still monsters fundamentally, they are made of magic, so it's the solid humans which are hard to mimic and less monsters (though if they don't have a perfect idea in mind anatomy can get... iffy and almost body-horror for either way-). And most skilled monsters will have a set of 'persona' they put on to lure in their prey, but a starving or young one will totally take a person or voice from the preys normal environment and horribly twist it! (Oh!! And they would totally shift to look like skeletons when around Dust, and *he* would find it uncanny, if only because he can tell that under their clothes they didn't form the bones quite right so they shift a bit awkwardly!)

Meal-wise? I think it really depends on who's visiting or cooking! Some monsters prefer to eat the flesh Raw and juicy and still warm, while others take pleasure in cooking! And the funniest bit? Seasoning and additional flavors? Super super faint to a Whistling monster, because their magic refuses to recognize it as food/input that's important unless it's cranked up super high. So? Those who put flavor into their dishes? They are INTENSE. Which makes the meals very yummy sometimes, or too much, depending on any normal species eating it. Meanwhile others focus on presentation! I think those who meet with Dust focus more on the presentation and less on taste, because They think the aesthetic is important haha!

The gifts idea is super sick and I didn't even think about it! I think they're very sparse to waist resources, but I do like the concept of bones and leather! I think the most common gift of peace is a string of carved human teeth/bones. If it's placed on a door or worn on a person, it's a sign that this place/peeson is safe for their kind and an ally. Meanwhile they keep things like the leather to themselves for their weapons, armor, bags, etc. Though! Hair is strangely a big export for them too, because they tend to let humans tend to their own hair and it comes in different textures + colors that can be used in weaving and other fiber-arts. Human vertrebre are a big deal too, old traditions in which, giving a loved-one a vertebre is equivalent to throwing an apple in ancient Greece (it was a method of confession). Vertebre are displayed in many ways but are always safe and treasured!

And you nailed it! Humans are totally kept like cattle. Maybe a bit more humane, but not particularly. Most Whistling monsters view humans as lesser lifeforms and don't truly bother to acknowledge their sentience. It helps that *most* humans in Whistling are so many generations deep with only a few new ones every year or so? Yeah, they don't know any better. (I actually think Chara (Killer's backstory) was bought from Whistling in an auction as an infant and raised in Orchard post-smuggling.) Sometimes a monster will have attachments to a certain human and keep them around, like the cow you bottleraised from a calf you keep around? But that's far and few between, and usually those humans are miserable because they see what happens to the others.

(Fun fact! The oc I'm directly inserting for this area, Pretender, showcases a fun quirk about Whistling as well! He's a monster who works as essentially a Human Vet, and will heal health complications in stock/pet humans. He does it for the love of the job, he knows human anatomy better than anything because he studied, and he's great at it. He's also the best disguised in the whole kingdom. Only thing? His reputation as a doctor is SO well known that occasionally he gets letters or desperate humans coming in looking for treatment for illnesses. And he'll do them! For free! Because he's just having fun with it. The humans in Whistling are the most healthy humans across the continent, rivaling Sanctuary, and it's because without morals they were able to study. Eventually Pretender runs into a stray human who's usually non-verbal and young and kinda imprints on him, and he humors it. Only to get really attached and accidentally stop seeing humans as lesser, which throws his world-views for a loop lmao but that's unrelated-)

ANYWAYS!! Glad You're excited about this other kingdom! They won't be mentioned much/at all in the Main story I don't think unless it's a cameo, but I love fleshing it the world and it adds so much texture to the chaos happening around Orchard haha! (Also, again, perfect excuse to weave Doppletale's story in!)

[denaturedalbumin]

Dia de Muertos, Tomb and Altar.