IIn my workbook, Thursday

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Spectrobes: Origins - Menahat's off-screen scenes and other things #4

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NOTES: Not that this one took a while to write, it's more like I left it for a while because I was going through a terrible creative block. I actually had a majority of the chapter written down before I left it, so now that I've continued it, it didn't take too long until I was happy with it.

Chapter 4

He-e-e-elp…

        “Huh?”
        Zig looked to the East.

Somebo-o-ody… 

        “Whuzzat noise?”
        He loosened his grip on his shovel.

Ple-e-ea-a-ase…

Zig was one of three men; the first to notice the peculiar cries over the sounds of shoveling that dominated the air. Suddenly, the shoveling died and the remaining two would turn their heads towards the cries, as well.

“Oh, I dunno,” Gorrik replied. 
“Is that a ghost? Creepy!”

Beht shook his head doubtfully, “Sounds like a man crying inconsolably.”

Then, Gorrik, to Beht’s answer, “Like real? Or a ghost?” 

Beht tried to ignore him. 

It was most likely the weeping that they all heard came from a very real and very distraught man, but the trio had already been out in vast isolation for (what felt like to them) so long – isolation long enough for them to wonder whether or not the weeping was really there. In the end, the three men concluded that the cries may as well be real, after all.

“Ah man….” A sour tinge of guilt poked at Zig.
“I don’t think I ever faced a time where I’d end up feelin’ like that. It’s already rough as it can get out here.” 

Beht and Gorrik shared with him the same sentiment.

“If there really is a man lost out there, then we gotta find him! Help the poor feller out!” Gorrik suggested.

Zig nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s go, then!”

The three men picked up their shovels, then it was towards the noise they went. 

“You know, Gorrik, at the same time, that whole ghost thing you mentioned could be true as well,” Beht commented.
“I mean, this whole planet is a giant graveyard if you think about it.”

“Whaddaya mean?” 
Gorrik turned his head, to which Beht noticed. He noticed Zig do so too, both his younger brothers looking at him as if they had no clue about what he had just said. But then he remembered that Zig and Gorrik weren’t exactly well-read, or interested in reading at all, and decided that he didn’t want to waste his time spelling out to them the history of Menahat for the rest of the day. He sighed.

“Anyways, Zig,” Beht began.
“You don’t think the boss is going to find out we’ve gone off track, do you? This might take a while.”

“Now that ya say it…”
“Hmm…”
Zig thought for a moment.
“From how the fella sounds, how long d’you think he’s got left?”

Beht tried to remember the sound of the weeping.
“He’s dehydrated, for sure, but he might still have some life in him.”

Zig thought some more.

“No harm in just heading on over there, if you ask me!” Gorrik interrupted.
“We can even work there! Who knows? Might have what we’re looking for?”

The annoyed look on Zig’s face immediately disappeared. 

“Ah! That’s right – the ruins! Let’s go faster!” Zig agreed, and the three of them picked up the pace.

No matter where he walked, Gorrik never looked straight ahead. Even if he tried, he’d only last at most thirty seconds. It never mattered how tight or populated a place was – whether or not he was in a bustling business district or whenever he would go out clubbing or raving (as he often did, particularly in his early twenties), he’d constantly bump into people and objects,  knocking things down from small glasses to tall, heavy shelves. It was always that Gorrik found something that grabbed his attention in one way or another. Here in the desert, he saw a lone cactus. He saw the sand and the way that the sunlight glittered on its many grains. He saw shapes in the sky; a few of them, some of Menahat’s many moons. And then he noticed the clouds, how they were so thin and scattered. 
Suddenly, there shone a foreign dot, a bright dot which dragged behind it a glowing trail. Gorrik caught sight of that, too.
“Did I just see a shooting star? A meteor? In the day?!” 

Zig and Beht exclaimed with surprise, wondering how that kind of thing would be even possible. 

“Are you sure? That’s an incredibly rare occurrence,” commented Beht.

Gorrik flinched in astonishment.
“It’s rare?! Like, how rare?”

“Crazy rare.”

Gorrik observed the dot more closely. It was still in the sky! Then whatever the dot was, it was no shooting star.

“It’s gettin’ closer!” noticed Zig.
“That a UFO or somethin’?”

“Technically, you’re right…” reaffirmed Beht. But, even being the most knowledgeable of the three, Beht admitted he had never seen such a thing before. 

“Straight outta fiction, ain’t it?”

“Absolutely. ”

“This could be huge! Crazy!”

The three curious men continued to marvel  at the mysterious object in the sky until it finally disappeared behind the mesas ahead.

Gorrik turned immediately to his two older brothers. 
“Oh man, we gotta see what it is! We gotta check it out!”

In the direction of the dot’s descent, Zig went.
“Well, let’s go!”

Then, Gorrik exclaimed in excitement and was soon jogging behind him.

Finally, followed Beht at the back. For the last time, he glanced at the direction of the weeping man. “Are we just going to forget…”
But, he saw Zig and Gorrik were already far ahead of him.
“Tsk, never mind. Maybe we can just come back later.”

NOTES: I know I like to headcanon Zig, Beht & Gorrik as half-brothers, but I don't know how explicitly I should mention that detail in the story. But then I thought to myself, "oh well, it's not like enough people give a crap anyway," so I just went ahead and mentioned the word 'brother' a few times here and there. I decided not to spill out too many details about their familial relationship and keep it more story-focused, as accurate to canon as possible. 

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Stuff from my sketchbook so far

So, I'm right now going through a pretty annoying art block, so here's what's in my sketchbook so far

Some portraits that made it to the first page.
Feat. doodles of OCs Kamilla & Ruwei :D

I have no idea, drew them in an ordinary-looking car on a road trip

The return of the girls from Menahat

Some words in Tagalog.
Also, them getting ready in a mirror like this is a normal everyday thing.

Them uncomfortably trying on the NPP uniform,
knowing they're not a fan of any authorities

Assorted doodles, feat. Kamilla :D
Just the heads of the three of them doodled with a gel pen

Challenge

I want to try to mimic the art style of the dialogue sprites from the DS games and make one of Neal, Zig, Beht and Gorrik. I think that would be fun 

Eh, boy?

Something dumb I wrote in my notebook. Better off in comic form, or if I could do animations.

Rallen and Jeena marvel at their victory over a Krawl swarm.

SUPERIMPOSE: BATTLE COMPLETE!

Rallen and Jeena see Zig, Beht and Gorrik nearby a giant cactus.

JEENA: Oh look, it's those three again.

RALLEN: Let's go talk to 'em!

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

JEENA: Hey, how've you been?

ZIG: Aaargh! Where are they?!

Zig looks at Jeena.

ZIG: Maybe there ain't no ruins buried down here, but we still gotta keep lookin'.

JEENA: Uh-huh?

Zig looks behind him to Beht and Gorrik.

ZIG: Beht! Gorrik! Better kick it up a notch!

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

GORRIK: Heya!

RALLEN: Whuddup?

GORRIK: We're looking for the entrance! The big ticket! The way in!

RALLEN: ...And why?

GORRIK: If we don't, the boss is gonna flip his lid! Or clobber us! Or even both!

RALLEN: Your boss will WHAT you guys?!

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

JEENA: Hi there. You seem to ha--

BEHT: Well, who do we have here?

JEENA: Rude.

BEHT: Fancy yourself a treasure hunter too, boy?

JEENA: Wait-- Huh?

BEHT: I'd look somewhere else if I were you. There's nothing around here.

Beht stands confidently.

JEENA: ... ... ... Hey, genuis,

Beht looks at Jeena.

JEENA: I hate to break it to you, but I'm not a boy.

Beht stares blankly at Jeena. Then confusion hits him.

BEHT: ... ... ... Hold on. Wait, what? Where's that redhead you were with? 

JEENA: ...

BEHT: That was... Wait right there, girl!

Beht grabs out his script.

BEHT: What does this mean? I... What? This is...

JEENA: Y'know, Rallen's not the only person you'll get to talk to! Just saying.

RALLEN: What was that, Jeena?

Rallen runs up to Jeena.

RALLEN: Oh...! What happened to that guy?!

We see Beht lie down on the ground.

BEHT: (Shakily) ...if I were you. There's nothing around here. Well, who do we have here? Fancy yourself a treasure hunter too, boy? I'd look somewhere else...

RALLEN: Jeena, WHAT did you do to him?!

ZIG: What she do to WHO?! Oh GOD! What's wrong with ya, Beht?!

GORRIK: Ah! Beht! MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN! Oh man, he's freaking out!

ZIG: Ah man, y-ya gotta snap out of it! We can't go on without ya! Hey!

GORRIK:  Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!

RALLEN: ...

JEENA: ...

RALLEN: Jeena what happened?

JEENA: We'll discuss this in the ship, later.

Incorrect Quote #6 - Spectrobes Text Generator

Made with the Spectrobes Text Generator: [link]

From: 'Incorrect Quotes #6'

Spying on Miss Neal

I like to doodle the girls from Menahat from time to time.

Cursed thought, but could she potentially become a manic pixie dream girl

Peep

What're they looking at?

Flippin' tha birdie

Look at these wannabe bad guys

More database crap

Their database portraits are now on the internet :D

I have no idea what use this will have for me, but whatever

You know what?

When I do digital illustrations of these guys, I think I should stop being lazy and actually draw that retro-looking groovy patten on the yellow parts of their outfits

It's now June 2025

How Beht lost his job

Beht is still behind in the number of posts he has compared to the other two, so here's a story on how he lost his job
(Okay I guess this one doesn't really count since Zig's tagged here, too)

So, Beht mentioned at one point that he lost a job before working for Dyrus. Key word: "lost". I imagined this scenario:

He's driving a truck full of oil or something. And that giant tube thing holding the oil says in GIANT writing, "FLAMMABLE CONTENTS. DO NOT SMOKE WITHIN 50FT OF VEHICLE". 

So one day, Beht decided, "Screw it. To hell with it." and he smoked, which was the dumbest decision anyone could make. And then, I don't know how it works, but something definitely caught fire and everything went downhill from there. 

Thankfully there were no casualties, given that Beht was the only one at the scene. He tried to lie to the authorities by saying, "Some idiot decided to smoke here and ran off." which quickly got dismissed because they got a hold of his phone and showed him the text message he sent to a group chat between him, Zig and Gorrik containing a selfie of him in front of a fire saying, "I think I made a mistake" and Zig replying, "BEHT YOU MORON", "DID YOU SMOKE AGAIN", "I TOLD YOU TO QUIT THAT SHIT A YEAR AGO AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED", and then Gorrik freaking out. 

And so, Beht got fired from his job, guaranteed to decrease his hireability to near zero.

Incorrect Quotes #6

Zig [SURNAME], Beht [SURNAME] and Gorrik [SURNAME] -- Personal Assistants Private Henchmen Errand Boys Bums -- Dyrus's remarks: There's a saying amongst the officers: If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. If it's not worth doing, give it to those three. They ache for responsibility but constantly fail to complete set tasks. Astoundingly incompetent. Possibly orphaned.  Probably have more teeth than brain cells collectively. Promotion prospects: comical.

Source: Red Dwarf, obviously altered to suit the characters a little more

With D(C)yrus's DS sprites: (here)

Hanging out with the boss

Funnily, I've made up some stuff about Dyrus, too. For instance, he's got a few secrets -- that he's extremely arachnophobic, and that he has a collection of soap-opera box sets, for instance. Also, I have no idea how Zig, Beht & Gorrik even make it into his private property, despite (likely) being heavily monitered by cameras and security guards.

Anyways, some sitcom-y kind of doodles

Humidity just does that

So, I'm at the Philippines to help mum with her high school reunion stuff, and I've forgotten how much the heat here is different from Australian summers. It's more humid so you feel all sticky, and it gets awkward to stand up from a faux leather couch while wearing short-ish shorts, haha.

Dyrus ordered him to get rid of that tarantula
(or Kaio's equivalent, since the animals are probably different there)

Gave Dyrus some severe arachnophobia to punish him a little. And to give him some more humanity, especially since I like to make the three invade his private life sometimes (so, headcanons like this should come naturally). Also, this may be a little out-of-character for Zig to gently carry a tarantula with his hands, but I just thought it would be a little funnier this way. Maybe he's just trying to act tough.

Zig is a bit particular when it comes to loyalty

Also, I have another unfinished doodle of the bros intruding Dyrus's marathon of a soap opera, where there's an intimate scene on TV causing Zig, Beht & Gorrik to freak out, covering each other's eyes, so Dyrus screams at them, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" I hope to get to finishing that someday because I think the delivery is hilarious xD

Neal but not Neal

I dunno what exactly, but liked the vibes of this one enough to post it

Fired

There's a funny scenario in my head where after they get fired, they feel so lost. They stumble across Neal and he teaches them about the wonders of a boss-less life. They enjoy it for a while, but suddenly they stop functioning and claim to need to work under a terrible boss. And so they try to get back to Dyrus, who coincidentally is looking for disposable pawns because his existing workers are too useful, and so they all end up back together x'D
 

Typical henchman stuff

Telling Neal to take them to the ruins, or else…

(All this happened off-screen, but I do wish there were cutscenes for this plot point xD)

Interrogating the poor explorer

(featuring da boss)

AU with free roaming Spectrobes

Neal’s gone exploring with the bros and is actually not being threatened in this scenario. (Unfortunately for Zig & Gorrik, all the nerd stuff comes first)

Something more slice-of-life-y

A bit different from the more action-adventure/humorous sort of tone I’m used to doodling. Zig is definitely going to use this information not for bad-guy purposes at all xD

Jeena in the trio’s outfits

Personally, I like the look she has with goggles on.

Also, she and Beht share the same know-it-all pose — that being the reason I drew her like that xD

Madame D.

IDK I just felt like seeing how I should make R63 Dyrus look like xd I wanted her to give off the same vibes as (how I draw) Dyrus himself.

But... Why? Who on Earth would want to see this? ... ... ... ... ...C'est moi :P

Look at this evil filthy capitalist lady! She's eeevil!!!

Also, screw perspective, these are just dumb doodles

First Disguise

Unassuming valley girls, that's the disguise x'D

Based off this: 

They're kinda killin' it, not gonna lie

Dedication to the boss is everything

Tea break at a tea shop

Stereotypical henchmen stuff

I hope to put them into more disguises in the future xD

PowerPoint night

(We actually used Google Slides, but whatever)

Anyways, two of my best friends and I had a PowerPoint presentation night, and I saw this as a great opportunity to fully introduce them to the guys from Menahat xD

Here are some highlights

The slide that introduces the characters

The three

The three, individually

The others

Misc stuff

I also introduced the girls from Menahat

I think it’s unfair how (slightly) little attention I give to Beht compared to the other two, but his genderbent version has me head-over-heels. I think I need to compensate.

Some comments I remember:

• One of them feeling bad for Gorrik in that opinions chart with the bros, he's the only one with positive comments about the other two
• They've been Pokemon fans, especially in middle school, stated that the bros were so Team Rocket coded x'D
• Something along the lines of "How did we go from this to that?!" when discussing Beht and the female version I created from him x'D
• (If I remember more comments, I'll add them)