Zadr Fanchild for Irken Empire Collapse AU
Okay so I've decided they're getting their own post because I cannot ramble about her in the main posts without severely derailing the conversation (also if I go off topic no I didn't).
Her name is Dulce! After the Spanish word for sweet/candy (I absolutely love the canon fact that the Membranes are Mexican-American and will be adding tidbits of it into the lore when I get the chance (^v^). Zim and Dib settled on the name upon noticing how closely her eye color resembled the classic Dulce De Leche cream used in many Mexican desserts (even though the color would later clear up and become more of a gold color that resembled Dib's own eyes, they'd still stick with it because of it being a common enough Spanish name while still honoring Zim's heritage) .
She was born in the fall in October some 6 months after Zim and Dib found out they were expecting (and just a few months after they officially got together).
The pregnancy was very hard on Zim because unlike a "normal" Irken pregnancy, which lasts 3 months btw, she lasted longer because she grew to almost the size of a human newborn. Had she been a normal human she would have been considered a preemie.
Fun fact: Normal Irken pregnancies always result in an egg that needs to be cared for by the bearer for another month before the smeet hatches. Unfortunately for Zim that was not the case for Dulce. She came out in what would best be described as a variation of the human amniotic sac that quickly burst open as soon as Dulce left the womb. (I mean at least she waited to leave. Would have been very uncomfortable for Zim if it has ruptured while still inside of him).
Dulce took a very large toll on Zim's body. Both because pregnancy is a naturally hard thing for Irkens to experience. But also because his Pak couldn't decide whether or not she was a threat or an actual part of Zim's body. When it finally settled for "Not a Threat" it began diverting nutrients and energy towards Dulce in a way that left Zim feeling in bad shape. Whereas typically the Pak functions to keep Zim working at peak capacity (insane super healing, immunity to most diseases, super fast reflexes, energy regulation so that Irkens don't need to sleep) yeah all that goes away as the Pak goes into overdrive to keep both Zim and Dulce alive and growing. For the last remaining month Zim straight up cannot use his Pak at all, not even his Pak legs (It is a very miserable time for him, even if he gets extra snacks from Dib as compensation to keep his energy up for the pregnancy). Even after pregnancy it took Zim a while to get back to "normal"
Zim's body naturally produces a very sweet subtle pheromone, but it increased dramatically during and after the pregnancy which was meant to help soothe Dulce while in the womb and after she was born. It is a very sweet fruity scent that smells like a native plant of irk that faintly resembles a mixture of apples, pears and pineapples.
After his pregnancy he still smelled like his own natural phermones but with a hint of a caramel scent to him (Courtesy of Dulce. Having smeets permanently alters an Irkens scent profile) Dulce smells primarily like caramel with a bit of Zim's fruity scent, as well as, surprisingly enough, cinnamon (Which she gets from Dib. Zim and Dib hypothesize that after the whole 10 Minutes to Doom incident Dib's genes changed just enough to be compatible with Zim that he could reproduce with him as well as produce his own pheromone). Thus, the caramel scent is Ducle's own unique scent that she imprinted onto Zim because he carried her for so long. So she smells like a mixture of herself, and her parents.
Dulce is the first "natural" irken born in hundreds of thousands of years (which means she has no Pak!). After the Irkens turned to cloning, having natural children and family units in general fell out of fashion. Sex also fell out of favor after a time. You'd think with cloning being the main way of reproducing sexual organs would be done away with (and you'd be partly right) but an incident in the Irkens past led to the reintroduction of sexual organs as a precautionary measure against extinction (I think I'll make a separate post about this later. I've given this a lot of thought if I'm being honest) Modern day Irkens can have sex and reproduce, they're just unaware of it because that information is suppressed and the acts highly discouraged by the Control Brains.
On a slightly sad note, while Zim loves Dulce very much, sometimes he feels detached from her because he's never had parental figures of his own nor does his species encourage family bonds. He often doesn't know how to react to certain situations involving raising her. It's like he has all of the anxieties and instincts of parenting but he's unable to trust himself enough to make the right decisions. Not having any information on natural smeet raising (much less a half human irken hybrid) also makes him doubt his decisions. For this reason he often turns to Dib to make the first move regarding decisions about her health and well being. If Dib's not around he'll take charge, in quite possibly the most incorrect way (but things turn out more or less okay each time).
Fun fact! She has a cousin named Diego! Gaz got together with a gamer guy in her last year of highschool. The relationship...did not end well. She got pregnant and gave birth after graduating highschool and cutting contact with her trash ex boyfriend. While Gaz is a much better mother in the current times, she really struggled in the beginning with a newborn, she suffered from post partum depression which made her already standoffish personality worse. Dib naturally stepped in to help his sister and Zim tagged along to help because he and Gaz had developed a genuine friendship and mutual respect for each other by this point. Helping take care of a human baby, while icky and gross to Zim at times, awakened Zim's parental instincts and opened him up to the idea of having children around in the future (it mildly helped him calm down from the stress of having his own when he found out he was pregnant). Zim and Diego have a close relationship due to the fact Zim was around a lot and took care of him as a baby. He was estatic when he was told he would be getting a cousin at age 4. He was the ring bearer at Dib and Zim's wedding while Dulce was the flower girl. The two cousins are very close thanks to their parents making an effort to be in each other's lives.
As of the current timeline of the AU, Dulce is almost 3! She's still just a baby who's likes and dislikes change depending on her mood (and she makes sure everyone knows it). That said she likes her Papa (Zim), Daddy (Dib), cousin Diego (6), and Aunt Gaz. Jury's still out on Grandpa Membrane (She doesn't like how loud he is).
Dulce likes the color purple (mostly because her Papa likes purple so much). She also likes the color white, specifically in gloves and boots (this is because when she was flower girl at Zim and Dib's wedding she saw Zim wearing white gloves and boots alongside his wedding dress and thought her papa looked "absolutely beautiful!" And is now obsessed with wearing them as well so she can be "just as beautiful as her papa!".
Zim is really fashionable in his clothing while still managing to be very conservative due to his Irken upbringing demanding that everything below the neck be covered (and sometimes depending on the occupation even the neck and half of the face) which means that Dulce for the most part also gets dressed very conservatively. That means for the most part almost all of her limbs are covered up (the only reason she's ever not fully covered up is when Dib decides to dress her).
She's a big fan of fashion and clothes thanks to Zim as well.
Alright if you've reached the end of this long bullet list than you've earned the right to see what she looks like (This is not my art, it's my friend's work that would prefer to remain anonymous)
Hi!! I'm glad you like her extended lore @pinksugarpeach! Also your idea for her tag is so much better than what I had I'm immediately adopting it lol!
I spent a good bit of time thinking about how I wanted Zim to feel about Dulce and ultimately settled on "it's complicated" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. You're right in that his cultural upbringing negatively impacts him raising her. He's torn between his natural instincts (Irkens were heavily focused on child rearing when they used to actually have them. Matter of fact the whole reason they are raised underground by computers and robots is because if adult Irkens ever saw an actual smeet in real life they'd immediately become protective of it and adopt it. in turn the smeet would imprint on them as parental figures) and how he was raised. He simultaneously adores her and is jealous of her. Both feelings terrify him so as a result he keep a certain emotional distance from her while still spoiling her endlessly. This is actually something I can see becoming an issue later on in the future when Dulce realizes how Zim treats her, especially in comparison to how he treats Diego (those two are very close and Zim almost sees him as his first child) and spoiler: her younger brother.
Dib also has his own issues as a parent due to the fact he was created as an experimental clone of Professor Membrane. He knows this and deeply resents it. He had a hard time accepting it once he was told the fact and grew even more resentful after he was ultimately declared a success by his dad when he finally chose to work at Membrane Labs for the job stability it provided him and his family. Something about being dismissed by his dad as a failure up until he finally fit the mold that his dad had in mind for him. Dismissing his interests and actual intelligence unless it fit PM's version of them. Yeah, this boy has never had a good parental figure to look up to and as a result he struggles to raise Dulce. But fortunately he is part of a species that does still raise its own young and has like parenting books that he can consult. Zim does not. So he's slightly better equipped at this parenting thing than Zim. Slightly.
Unplanned but Beloved Babies Gang! Dulce and Diego are living it up! Probably helps that their parents are actively trying to make sure they have better childhoods than they themselves got lol. But they're good they're Gucci! (✯ᴗ✯) Though I do imagine problems occuring later on between them when they're older.
As for your ideas on how she interacts with her peers and rules over them, honestly I like it! I'mma be honest, I haven't really given much thought to Dulce as she grows older aside from like her being very self assured, confident, bratty, but cute. I still have her stuck at baby/toddler age in my head. I knows she's confident and self assured because her parents, despite their short comings, have raised her with love and care. She knows she's loved and cherished deeply and that has affected her personality. Her brattiness though is very much a result of being irken lmao. She's very demanding and sassy but she does it with such a cute face she can get away it almost all the time. She's a little diva when she grows up I think. (also your idea of her laying claim to the playground as it's queen had me rolling laughing. Little dictator in the making lmao). Whether she's popular or not I've yet to decide (though it would be funny if she is popular to contrast with Dib and Zim's school experience and have them looking at each other panicked like "do you know what to do in this situation? No? okay") but I do agree that the other kids would view her as slightly different, "exotic" maybe as you suggested.
Your idea of Dib having to do double back and start working hard to convince everyone Zim and his daughter have always been normal, "what to do you mean that's weird that's not weird!" Lol. I have so many elaborate ideas about this part of this AU. Zim by this point has gained a better disguise and thus Dulce is good on that front but they both have particular mannerisms and ways of doing things that just slightly makes you squint at them funny. (I might write a ficlet in the future regarding this)
I'm glad you found her interesting! I've given her a lot of thought and I just really wanted to write about her (but to write about her I felt the need to get into Irken culture, reproduction, Diego and Gaz, and a bunch of other things yk?) I'm glad she's finally out there tho! Next up is Irken Empire Collapse AU part 3! (With maybe a side tour for another AU and an art piece of Dulce and Diego)
Edit: I fucked up I meant to reblog this with this being part being added on but I accidentally saved it to the original post. I would fix it but I'm on mobile right now. I might just leave it here (╥﹏╥)
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