I am out here entirely reinventing bittybones for a different fandom bc I'm allergic to simply making a crossover fic or handwaving the world building to be "you just have to accept that this is the way it is, I'm NOT explaining it" but honestly it's okay I think exercises like this are enrichment for my enclosure. Below is me describing my world building exercise to make Juicebox 6 inches tall.
okay I already said in a previous post but I'm obsessed with the character Juicebox from Look Outside. You really don't have to know much beyond the extremely basic premise of Look Outside to understand what I'm about to talk about, lemme say it: in the game, there's some weird shit happening in the sky outside, and if you look at it you get Cursed and turn into a monster. Some people go completely crazy, others stay sane but LOOK horrifying, or some mix of both. Some characters are still completely human, others have been cursed, and as long as the cursed characters aren't like actively harming people everybody seems cool with them.
Anyway so listen. I must consider this dichotomy when reinventing bittybones for Look Outside. A lot of the characters (including the player character AND both characters heavily associated with Juicebox) are still totally human. Have not looked outside. I kind of see no reason to make them Small.
Here is my personal fun AU for tormenting blorbo: scrap the bittybones, these things are homunculi. They get made by companies as pets/companions but there are VERY strict laws in place to regulate HOW a homunculus gets made to assure they have a high quality of life because it's really easy to fuck up the process and make a REALLY fucked up little dude. I would think in this fun world I've created there is SOME kind of magic at play, maybe only the magic that makes the homunculi, or maybe more, but nothing even close to a "fantasy setting" like it's mostly real world. Maybe there are a lot of laws that also stipulate you can't make a homunculus to perform labor, bc they ARE kinda people and the law RECOGNIZES them as people KINDA (lesser people, but still with rights) so the smaller ones as pets is a loophole/middle ground. Imagine it's a little similar to lab animals and how regulated that whole thing is and how deeply the scientists that do animal research care about the wellbeing of their animals.
So there's a bunch of totally normal homunculi, maybe they can look different (made to order) or maybe it is reminiscent of bittybones where the companies mass-produce different "breeds" of them made from different material and that way it cuts down on design time (bc the math, time, effort, and materials involved to make these things is ASTRONOMICALLY high which is why there aren't a billion running around, if an amateur tried doing it they'd make a pile of moaning sludge that dies within the hour which is a criminal offense punishable by jail time)
The regulations for the homunucli would be super strict and all of the "designs" have to go through a bunch of people and get approved before they can be made. Some things they HAVE to have: mobility, the ability to speak, opposable thumbs, all the stuff you'd imagine a thing needs to have to live a pretty decent life. Sometimes things come out slightly wrong and you might get a mute homunculi or one that can't walk well, but there are safety nets for little guys that need help. Organizations or "rescues" or what have you, because even WITH all the regulations and care, sometimes shit happens. And it's fine! obviously there's plenty of humans without the things listed who live full and happy lives, but the GOAL is to make homunculi that can do all the things a typical human can.
BUT!!!! People still try to make "bootleg" homunculi, which is where Juicebox comes in >:] There's a lot of ethical debate around the practice as a concept, and some people think homunculi should stop being made entirely, but EVERYBODY with a conscience agrees that you shouldn't be trying to make one if you do not know EXACTLY what you're doing, because the results can be really bad. I think all of the cursed humans in Look Outside would be poorly made homunculi created outside of the regulations.
Juicebox fits here because he is just a fucking mess of a character. Like, physically. He's constantly secreting green acidic goop. He doesn't have hands, just three pipe-fingers (that, again, are constantly secreting green acidic goop) and he seemingly can't (or MAYBE chooses not to) talk. He looks fucking insane and scary. he is a fucked up little thing.
So for my twisted purposes, that's AWESOME, because it means torment for blorbo. The green goop?? yeah that's cause whoever made him fucked up so bad that he can't properly 'digest' anything he eats and the goop is the magic waste created, and if enough builds up it just starts leaking out of his hands and mouth (or if it's REALLY bad he just vomits up a bunch, which isn't ideal bc it is slightly acidic) the weird pipe tentacle fingers? Not ideal for dexterity! He makes do, but those ain't up to code. For my dark fantasies he also cannot speak (honestly when I think about this fuckin scenario I imagine he sounds like a low-pitched, half-broken squeaky toy if he HAS to make a noise) which, again, that isn't how it's supposed to be!
I doubt I'll ever actually write this, but rn in my head it'd be a 2nd person fic n Sam is the POV (he's the player character in the game but he's got some Sauce, he isn't a total blank slate or anything) and Xaria and Monty (Juicebox's friends in-game) are the ones that find him pretty sick and beat up and drop him off at "some losers" door, which just so happens to be Sam's. But I imagine they come back later to see if the "little freak" they dropped off is still alive and they make friends w him. The only reason I wouldn't make Xaria and Monty the main characters/POV is because I'm reasonably sure Xaria would want absolutely nothing at all to do with a little homunculus thing, let alone one I've decided is disabled (or maybe she does care about him when they find him but not enough to keep him and definitely not enough to put in the work of taking him to the doctors and all that). But Sam adopts a disgusting greasy rat child and feeds it his own blood so I do think Sam would take on the destructive and disgusting Juicebox.
Yeah that's my bittybones reconstruction to fit other medias so far. And, honestly, the bittybones could just..... be here, too. I effectively said "but what if ANY character could be a bitty..." and ran with that bc I neeeeed it I neeeeeeeeeed a 6 inch tall Juicebox you don't understand. This was not NECESSARY to do AT ALL yet here we are. I think I could have just said "yeah here is a bitty and it's Juicebox" AND YET HERE WE ARE. I love imagining things. This is all just existing in my head right now though so if anybody had thoughts or feelings or suggestions I would LOVE to hear them!!
Side note, if you're fine with some body horror/psychological horror (with no jumpscares, lots of humor, and a surprising amount of found family dynamics) I really really REALLY recommend Look Outside, it's REALLY fucking good and I dunno why but it does give me Undertale vibes. I have not been this obsessed with a game's characters SINCE Undertale to be honest.
