aeiough

trying my best to keep these notes to visuals, or else we'd be here all day listing things! (but if you want more, feel free to ask)

Sam - Not a lefty. He gave up his dominant arm without thinking - He tucks the loose sleeve into his shirt to keep it out of the way

Joel - His shirt collar is warped from chewing on it - Wears velcro shoes because he can't tie a bow yet

Sophie - Wears velcro shoes because she doesn't like to tie her shoes

No one in this family knows what a damn hairbrush is...

Dan - Almost always without shoes

Hellen - Wears coveralls. She's really living up to slasher chic

Roaches - Their size varies depending on roach numbers

Ernest - Taller than he seems because of his slouch - Wearing way too many layers, even for cold weather

Monty - Doesn't lace up his boots

Xaria - Her Demonia-style boots are thrifted knock-offs

Lyle - Tries to make himself look smaller than he is - Has crooked teeth

Astronomers - In addition to colors and cloak details, they can be distinguished by eye shape and body type

Frederic - Has the prettiest lashes in the entire building - Looks like that one blue-eyes meme when he glances at you

Sam, a human, suddenly found himself a protector. His mind buckled and unspooled to accommodate his new being.

For about ten years, Sam helped the Earth recover from the worst of what the Visitor did. He rescued people, cleared paths for supplies, crushed monsters that got in the way--and then the need for that just kind of... ended, over time. He was left a friend of everyone, in a sense; everyone knew of him, perhaps even had interacted with a fraction of him. His mind sprawled out across billions of sensory organs and interactions, but did not linger. And over time he just... tired of it. It was wonderful at first, but the nonstop barrage of everything wore him thin.

Dimly, in a vast mind that hits its apex and began to reel backwards, he grew to miss what he used to have; when he was small, and had a home, and was mortal, when he did not have a planet to oversee. He had friends. People he cared for so much. Earth has recovered and is safe without him. He could have anything on the planet if he so desired but, would he desire to be again limited by being not-a-god? Would he allow himself to be selfish and abandon them in favor of living a quainter life.

His mind drew into itself. The outermost fringes of his being began to sag and wither. Flora flourished where he fell apart into mucus and mineral water. His body cracked and dried and pulled into itself for an escape.

He'd hatch from himself, desperate for an out, and be made small and more mortal. He still looks about the same, just much smaller (though still about as convenient as trying to fit a draft horse in your house).

so. when I first drew this AU, I decided that he'd crash through the roof of his old apartment (see first image). BUT upon further thinking, I think the apartment gets swallowed by the main trunk of Sam's growth, and people in it move away. either way Sam busts through someone's ceiling

Either way, everyone thought Sam was dead. They struggled to believe that the man who took them under his wing got personally plucked into space by Cthulhu, turned into Earth's savior, and then burst from his own desiccated corpse. But it was him, it was Sam, and eventually they welcome him.

Joel, Sophie, and the ratbaby were left abandoned by Sam. I haven't decided who, yet, but someone else in his circle of friends takes them in (current options are: Hellen, Sybil, and Lyle on the fringe as a weird "family friend"). The three kids live together into adulthood.

Sam struggles to communicate verbally at first. He can get by simple emotional states with whistling or huffing through his spiracles. It takes time for him to remember how to speak words. His mind can drift or lag; after so long being infinitely sprawling and complex, he's cornered himself into something humanlike again, and he struggles with adjusting. He also moves weirdly. He's just struggling in general.

Miscellaneous dynamics (not exhaustive):

The kids have a lot of weird feelings about him. With age they gained a greater understanding of what exactly happened during the apocalypse and why, like the killing of Joel's family and Sophie's mother.

Hellen, even if not a primary caretaker, still cares for the kids. She works in a little gardening center. She softened slightly with time, also in part due to helping with the kids, but still remained imposing. Extremely bitter at Sam at first for not engaging with any of them that he was still alive.

Adding a lightened version because this looks so much better on the tablet I drew it on and the moment I transferred it to the laptop it darkened CONSIDERABLY and ate all my lineart.