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un: eudaimonikos; video

[Well, this is Michael's username, for sure. He seems to be looking rather different, though. Still dressed the same despite it!]

Hey, this is Michael. Just curious - is this a thing that's happening now? Are we all doing this?

Don't get me wrong, it's not a huge deal. I honestly never liked all the weird dangly bits. Not sure about the hair... [He runs a hand through it, holding it briefly up against his head; does he want it short again, or is this good?] ...but I can cut that. Guess now I have to get used to everyone calling me "she", too...

[That one, he sounds mildly irritated by. It's not the word itself, necessarily, it just took him long enough to get used to answering to the first one. Why do humans have to change their language rules every two seconds? But, he's using their language and that's how it works. His usual body was the only reason he ended up being "he", so...well, he'll just have to manage.]

Except the locals, maybe. Why do they call everyone "they", anyway? What is that? [Seems rhetorical, though; he flaps his hands dismissively.] Well, anyway. If anyone else is suddenly changing size or shape, and your wardrobe isn't working anymore, let me know and I'll just run off some new clothes for you for free. Might as well make these things a little bit easier, right?

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[A familiar robot pops up; it's Scorponok. At least he has the same shape, but some details feel off. Colors are different, his arms have changed shape, and he has an entirely different voice.]

It's common among organic species, particularly those with a degree of sexual dimorphism. They have a set of intrinsic assumptions on what type of gendered language to use in reference to a person, mostly based on appearance.

From my experience, you fit a many criteria that would have Earthlings label you as "female", but the locals must know better than to assume which set of pronouns apply to you.

[A shrug.]

I'm just saying, some groups default to neutral pronouns. I've been confused by alien gender systems before, and I'm not the only one.

Oh...oh, no, I just started looking like this today. I was a man this morning.

[Though really, humans are the only species with sexual dimorphism he's had extensive experience with. And....yeah, all correct points? He guesses? This post was primarily about offering to make people clothes, in his mind, why are you telling him this]

My species didn't use pronouns, before humans. Our language wasn't really...a language, I guess. Just kinda thought at people.

We can keep calling you 'he,' if you want! [ Orpheus chimes in, brightly. ] I had a friend back home who grew up with people thinking he was a girl all the time, because of the way his body was, but for him that mattered a lot less than how he felt about it? Eventually he won a boon from Lord Poseidon and asked to be changed so his body was a man's too, but he said that even if that hadn't happened he'd still be one. He said your head and heart matter a lot more than your - um.

[ Orpheus trails off a bit, looking flustered over having less of a sailor's mouth than the other Argonauts ever did. ]

But! It's up to you. There was also an oracle who the gods changed from a man into a woman who decided that meant she was a woman and lived as one until they changed him back. I think in the end it's up to you? I don't know why the locals do that, but I think it's because it's more polite than assuming, sometimes?

[Organic species and their conventions are so interesting, though.]

So something based on impression rather than words. [But he's not a linguist so he cares less about this line of discussion.] My kind does have variation in pronouns, but it's not a clean division. Most of us, when auto-translated into an Earth language, use the "he" pronoun, but there's intricacies with social standing and frame type and the like.

And then there's the Cybertronians who start picking up organic-based gender systems after living among them for long periods of time.

It sounds like you preferred being perceived as a man when among humans.

Do you find the change disagreeable? I would not think one's personality would change much with their physical form, but one can never be too certain.

Edited (dljkflsdldf premature enter key) 2022-01-08 03:44 (UTC)

[Michael's brow furrows progressively over the course of this: at first because he doesn't really understand why everyone is focusing on that, and second because...]

...okay, I'm confused. I thought the pronouns were about the way your body was. I mean - that other part makes sense, being polite. You can't always tell. But I thought that...

[Ah. Well. Hm. Michael doesn't want to say anything rude about Orpheus's friend. And really, that first story makes...a sort of sense to him? After all, he's in a new body, and he doesn't feel any different. But the second one makes plenty of sense, too. If he'd been assigned this body originally, thousands of years ago, he'd have just been a woman this whole time.]

...what does "feeling like a man" mean? If it's not a physical thing. I mean, I've met plenty of men, but they're all fairly different people.

Nah, it's fine. I didn't lose any height.

[Which was his main concern!]

Might've been a bit of a problem in the old days. Demons used to enjoy wielding human prejudices against each other for fun. Probably still do, if I'm honest. But! I'm here, so it's just another shape. They don't really do anything to your personality, I've had a ton.

[Michael hums thoughtfully. Did he prefer it?]

I'm used to it. If I'd had this form from the start, I'd be used to that. But our starter physical bodies are assigned randomly, so it's not like I chose either way.

There's a bit of rank involved in that for us, too - once you get important enough, you can commission a custom skinsuit. Sometimes people'll use that to swap genders or whatever. But once you're at that level, it's really more of a cosmetic thing.

That's what I thought too, until Caeneus explained it to me? He said that while most people agree with what their bodies are like that's - it's kind of a coincidence? That people whose bodies are one way tend to like being men and people whose bodies are another tend to like being women. Sometimes people who don't agree are born, and that's normal.

And I did think about it a little? About what it means to feel like a man, after Caeneus told me not to take it for granted. I thought maybe I might not be one? But I decided that I am, because I'm happiest dressing the way I do now, and looking like I do, and having people think of me as one.

[ He pauses, thoughtfully. ]

Though I guess some men dress like women, and some men it's hard to tell by looking at them, but they're all still men if they say they are. So they probably like different things about being male than I do? I don't really know. I think it might be one of those things that means different things to different people. I'm sorry if that's not helpful.

Always a relief.

Are you a demon then? That is curious; I have never met one before.

[Michael listens intently, fingers steepled. His entire concept of gender came from humanity in the first place, so yeah - if a human says they're one or the other, he doesn't know that it's any of his business to gainsay them. It's their thing. Mostly, he didn't realize that it had definitions beyond the physical.]

Okay. Well...I like dressing the way I do. The looks...I mean, give it a couple hundred years, I'd get used to it. I don't think I've ever had a form I immediately loved.

[A long, long time ago, he was perfectly comfortable with his original shape. Before he learned that he ought not to be. Now, he can't bring himself to feel positive about that anymore, and yet everything else has been wrong, too. Lava monsters are bulky, bat things are clumsy, all the bug shapes he's ever had came with exoskeletons. He's the happiest he's ever been with his trusty old human body; he's grown fond of it by now. But he hated that at first, too.]

I had my male body long enough that I found things I did like about it. And it's the face all my friends know me by. It's sentimental, I guess. [.....] But I mean, really, I'm a demon. Gender's a thing humans made up, we never had that before. But since we use human shapes, you know, it just came with the territory.

[Or he...thought it did???]

Yeah, I am. We differ pretty widely between worlds, though - I've met a lot of other kinds of demon, around here, so I'm not really that representative.

[ Orpheus nods, giving a quick mhmm! of understanding. ]

There are women who like to wear suits too, though! [ he says, definitely helping. ] I guess it would be different, for you, since you're not human and you look like one now because it's a form you've taken on. I mean, maybe you're still not either, even if you're shaped like one or the other? A man or a woman, I mean, if you don't feel strongly either way.

Oh - well, without the skinsuit, of course not.

[That's never really been in question for him! He'd never really questioned that being in the skinsuit meant something else, too, although now...]

But that's just...you know, I'm sort of just a formless blob of...spirit stuff. Without it. [okay this shiftiness is actually about a whole different thing]

Oh, yes, of course. But I mean, why do any of the parts of being a man or a woman that you don't like, if that's true? If our bodies aren't what makes us what we are, at least in terms of being a 'he' or a 'she,' then why would having a human body alone do that for you?

Oh, um, I don't want to make assumptions? But maybe think about what parts you do because you like them, and what parts you do because you feel like you're supposed to. I found that really helpful, when I was thinking about things.

Edited (clarity, flow, etc) 2022-01-08 10:11 (UTC)

cursed with milf?

What happened to you?

[ It's Dean, you know -- your Rocky Horror co-star? But, um. Yeah, Dean's definitely Deanna right now, and frankly doesn't ever remember being a dude. ]

Edited 2022-01-08 14:29 (UTC)

[Manabu is still Manabu, which means when he comes back to the house while Michael's chatting up the network, and it means after he's gotten his boots off and is making his way toward the stairs--]

Hey, I'm only-- uh--

[he stops and doubletakes, startled by the sight of a stranger.]

Oh-! Uh--huh? Hello. Are you...visiting someone here?

[dog omen Magnet already knows what's up, doesn't care, and has trotted off to the kitchen for water.]

Nope, still me.

[He calls, utterly unhelpfully. It's hardly like his voice is the same either.]

I live here.

...same thing that happened to you, apparently?

[like, is this a trick question, or]

.....sorry, "milf"?

[sounds like something he's probably heard Eleanor say and just didn't ask about]

[Her hair was currently... blue? Yes. It was blue. She was fingering it with an annoyed look on her face. She wasn't really that upset. It wasn't like this was the first time she'd gotten strange hair colors, even if the process had been.

Look, it was disgusting, alright? Seeing her shed 'other self' just for a change of hair color. Everything in this town was so bleeding visceral at times. Whatever, she was coping. this was temporary... hopefully.]

It seems that we are doing this again. Wasn't the last time during Cynthia's party? [She sighed.] The Trenchies seem to think it is a good thing. I'm not quite sold on that. It seems just ... a little silly?

[That might have been because she'd been led to believe this was profound and she could have done this with bleach and dye.]

mmm, humans do like to change ways from time to time in how they refer to themselves, Michael. But tell me. What would you like me to call you?

There's some philosophical discussion to be had about what form we were provided and how that impacts our preferences...

But I can say that there are similarities between my species and...whatever you are. [Some kind of long-living creature he doesn't bother much about.] Those with the resources can have our frames reformatted to something different, usually to get a a cosmetic upgrade or to add an additional alt-mode. Before the war, you had to be important enough. Now, it's about if you have the right contacts.

Oh - oh, yes! I turned my hair a few different colors back then, that was fun!

[Granted, he wouldn't have done so if "shed your entire body" was part of it last time. Magic lollipops were a much lower bar to entry.]

Uh...I mean. Just "Michael" is fine? I'm not changing my name. [He knows it's usually a masculine name, but look, he's only willing to bend so far. (Also no he has no idea what she's actually trying to ask him.)]

Demon.

[Off-handed, like - well, easier to have the word.]

I guess I could have done that. Just didn't see the point. Is it something you'd want to do?

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un: eudaimonikos; video

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video | un: lyreplayer | cw: outdated terminology/modes of thought re: gender

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Text | UN : Medicinal

cw: outdated terminology/modes of thought re: gender all the way down tbh

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cw: yeah that's just gonna keep going. they're trying.

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text UN: mcsmugger

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im actioning fight me

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