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I’m slowly working on a Heisei era Godzilla fanfic where Godzilla is shrunk down to action figure sized by a very nasty person. I have a Godzilla figurine that’s the size he’s shrunk to, so sticking it behind, in, under and between things to see if he would fit there is fun. 
Tiny!Godzilla can really, I mean REALLY disappear if he wants to! He thinks human dwellings are weird caves, that we control the sun (lights) and water (baths/showers/sinks/toilets), and he figures out that we use ‘contraptions’ to make up for our lack of sharp teeth and claws.
He can tell individual human faces apart and remember those faces later. He recognizes there is a social hierarchy. He can grasp that some humans mean him harm and others want to help him. His dinosaur species was social, living in pods like lion prides or wolf packs...
...so when he’s among the good guy humans he sees them as his pod and tries to communicate with them. OF COURSE the ‘lead’ guy is an autistic kaijuologist who always believed Godzilla’s behavior is communication (a correct belief), so he tries to communicate back.
And Godzilla recognizes this effort too! He doesn’t understand much speech, but tone of voice? Gestures? Intentions? Yup. He underwent some operant conditioning in the bad guy’s lab, so he grasps short commands like “come” “safe” or “be quiet.” Commands have a matching gesture.
A traumatic needle experience makes him fear them, but he tolerates having blood taken by the good guys because Reiko makes the “safe” gesture, so he knows they’re not killing him. He squirms because it hurts, but isn’t all pissed off and ready to fight after.
Reiko is the woman in the lab who gets Godzilla away from the nasty bad guy. During operant training, she taught Godzilla the “be quiet” and “safe” commands to make taking care of him easier during/after the escape. He obeys because he trusts her. He only obeys people he trusts.
The “safe” command just means “hey, nobody here wants to hurt or fight you.” But here’s the amazing bit: Godzilla starts mimicking the gesture to *ask* if a situation is safe. He recognizes the humans know more about their strange world than he does.
Godzilla was able to correctly surmise that Reiko feared her boss and was forced into doing things out of that fear. She got him away from that nasty guy, so he has no beef with her at all. In his eyes her act to save him is the same as an apology.
Btw, human body language and Godzilla’s body language vary a bit, but there are similarities in meaning, like speaking Latin vs Spanish. With the help of Miki Saegusa (psychic/telepath), there’s a very strong bridge of communication built.
All I’ll say on that is things happen that allow Miki to understand exactly what Godzilla says. Ken’s (autistic kaijuologist) pattern recognition kicks in and he is able to figure out that some noises/movements have specific meanings that communicate emotions or wants.
Ken likes to talk to Godzilla. He does it a lot, even though he knows his spoken language means almost nothing. Godzilla realizes humans are complex, emotional creatures because of that. He can also tell Ken’s movements and socialization patterns are different from the others.
But being tiny isn’t healthy for Godzilla and there’s conflict between keeping him alive long enough for the shrink ray to wear off, keeping him away from the nasty antagonist and keeping him out of trouble. He’s curious when he’s not in danger, so he gets into things!
Some tiny!Godzilla quirks:
He HATES to be picked up, but put your hand palm up at his feet and he’ll step on & let you lift him up that way.
He attaches to Reiko & kinda goes into baby mode around her because she reminds him of his mother.
He chirps (“mommy!”), but only at her.
He HATES to be picked up, but put your hand palm up at his feet and he’ll step on & let you lift him up that way.
He attaches to Reiko & kinda goes into baby mode around her because she reminds him of his mother.
He chirps (“mommy!”), but only at her.
He gets mesmerized by lava lamps.
He experiences hunger, & in absence of radiation he eats plant matter as easily as meat (omnivore) but he needs radiation to stay alive long-term. He gets fed Iodine-131 to meet that need. It’s candy to him.
He laughs; it’s a snort-cough sound.
He experiences hunger, & in absence of radiation he eats plant matter as easily as meat (omnivore) but he needs radiation to stay alive long-term. He gets fed Iodine-131 to meet that need. It’s candy to him.
He laughs; it’s a snort-cough sound.
He laughs at humans a lot. We’re funny to him.
He plays by throwing rocks out of the aquarium he’s being kept in. He gets a rolled up sock to throw instead. He likes to hurl it as far as he can and watch the humans chase it.
He doesn’t know how ridiculous his tiny roar sounds.
He plays by throwing rocks out of the aquarium he’s being kept in. He gets a rolled up sock to throw instead. He likes to hurl it as far as he can and watch the humans chase it.
He doesn’t know how ridiculous his tiny roar sounds.
He likes head scratches, back scratches, chin scratches and chest rubs.
Eye contact doesn’t threaten him like other animals unless you’re being aggressive; He looks people in the eyes when he’s ‘talking’ to them.
He purrs when he’s relaxed and content.
Eye contact doesn’t threaten him like other animals unless you’re being aggressive; He looks people in the eyes when he’s ‘talking’ to them.
He purrs when he’s relaxed and content.
Give him anything paper and he will rip it up into pieces, pile it up and go to sleep on it.
Don’t give him cotton. He will poop in it. It’s radioactive and stinky. Cat litter is better.
He gets grossed out by the smell of Honey Nut Cheerios cereal. If he smells it, he gags!
Don’t give him cotton. He will poop in it. It’s radioactive and stinky. Cat litter is better.
He gets grossed out by the smell of Honey Nut Cheerios cereal. If he smells it, he gags!
He won’t eat cold meat. It has to be warmed to room temperature. Offering it cold is like you eating an expensive fresh steak and offering him a two day old chicken nugget. He knows you’re cheating him.
We gesture and point to things with our hands. He does the same with his snout. If he looks at you, turns his head and looks at you again, try looking the direction he pointed his nose. Whatever he wants or is drawing your attention to is that way.
For a while he thinks he’s been transported to a world of giants, but realizes he’s the one who is small when he sees Miki because they met before when he wasn’t small. He recognizes her as “the mind singer” because she sings to his thoughts.
Some not so cute stuff:
He can bite through a human finger easily.
He gets dangerously radioactive when he’s mad.
His breath beam can still kill a grown man and destroy property.
He can break a human’s ankle by hitting it with his tail.
His claws can tear into skin easily.
He can bite through a human finger easily.
He gets dangerously radioactive when he’s mad.
His breath beam can still kill a grown man and destroy property.
He can break a human’s ankle by hitting it with his tail.
His claws can tear into skin easily.
He’s strong for his small size— he can roll a 50 pound dumbbell weight around like a toy, bust holes through walls, drag a grown adult’s leg out from under them and he can probably blow up a car with his atomic breath if he hits the gas tank.
He has a heart defect that isn’t a problem when he’s big because his heart beats so slow. The defect causes trouble at 50bpm, after strenuous activity. When tiny, his resting heart rate is 50bpm and rises more with strenuous activity. He’s almost in heart failure.
Not cute.
Not cute.
