plot bunny: gender confusion
There's this species of frogs that can change their gender -or, more accurately, their sex, because I don't think frogs have much of a concept of gender-. If there are too few males around, some of the females will turn male.
I have the following plot bunny that works on that premise:
Imagine a world with a mostly humanoid species that is capable of said change -except both ways- and makes use of that for political alliances, as in, if one of our daughters marries into So-and-So's family, we are considered allies... if we want to keep the family line going, we need a son... and most of the time you have sons and daughters both, but if you don't, one or more children are put through the Change.
Except it is a bit tricky, and costly, to raise a child in such a way that it changes gender naturally; for example, you'd have to raise a little girl exclusively around women, so you have to pay for those women's livelihoods, and what if some of them end up having children of their own and the wrong child changes?
Luckily there is a medical treatment, wherein the child in question is given a hormone (although this world is not advanced enough to call it that) which causes it to change. In most children, this is done right away, and by the time they become self-aware, they already have the other body.
This raises a few interesting questions, what if a young bride happens to die? Is one of her teenaged brothers forced through the change? Is the change reversible? Are you the same man or woman every time you change?
In any case: enter our young hero. He is a boydaughter, that is, he was born a boy but assigned to be a girl- but the treatment doesn't come cheap, and his family is poorer than they like to admit, so he is raised as a girl but is still stuck in the body of a boy. Finally, when he's nineteen, his parents find a potential husband who is willing to pay for the Change himself.
This husband is nice enough, polite enough, but curiously indifferent to him, and the Change keeps getting put off- and our poor protagonist, feeling guilty that he came with such a huge bill attached, doesn't dare insist. He hates his body, yet -in the privacy of his mind- keeps using male pronouns for himself. No matter how hard he tries to be his most feminine and agreeable, his marriage is never consummated- and he doesn't know whether to feel relieved or guilty or maybe guilty for feeling so relieved.
Stuck between two identities, and in a friendly but distant marriage, he struggles to determine who he is meant to be.
Snippetglimpse (names are working titles):
"G'night, Colleen," Ryan slurred.
"What do you mean," Colin whispered back. "We can't- we have to-"
"Have to nuthin'," the other declared.
"No, we do. I do. I- I have to bleed." His stomach lurched at the thought. "They will... someone will want to see the sheets, tomorrow."
Ryan grunted and rolled over, away from him, and reached for something -maybe the light, Colin thought, or something that was needed for... for this kind of thing- and then came back with a little knife. Dear gods, a knife- but Colin didn't even have time to get scared, Ryan just rolled on his side and cut his thumb- cussed- and then dragged his hand over the sheets between them, staining them in a random, irregular pattern.
Colin stared.
"'S that kinda what it looks like? Eh. Gotta be good enough for 'em." He rolled back over, tossed the knife back on the nightstand with a little clatter, and curled up.
"Godsdamn it," he grunted after a moment, sucking on his thumb. And after that, all Colin heard was drunken snoring, and it was left to him to turn the lights out.
I have the following plot bunny that works on that premise:
Imagine a world with a mostly humanoid species that is capable of said change -except both ways- and makes use of that for political alliances, as in, if one of our daughters marries into So-and-So's family, we are considered allies... if we want to keep the family line going, we need a son... and most of the time you have sons and daughters both, but if you don't, one or more children are put through the Change.
Except it is a bit tricky, and costly, to raise a child in such a way that it changes gender naturally; for example, you'd have to raise a little girl exclusively around women, so you have to pay for those women's livelihoods, and what if some of them end up having children of their own and the wrong child changes?
Luckily there is a medical treatment, wherein the child in question is given a hormone (although this world is not advanced enough to call it that) which causes it to change. In most children, this is done right away, and by the time they become self-aware, they already have the other body.
This raises a few interesting questions, what if a young bride happens to die? Is one of her teenaged brothers forced through the change? Is the change reversible? Are you the same man or woman every time you change?
In any case: enter our young hero. He is a boydaughter, that is, he was born a boy but assigned to be a girl- but the treatment doesn't come cheap, and his family is poorer than they like to admit, so he is raised as a girl but is still stuck in the body of a boy. Finally, when he's nineteen, his parents find a potential husband who is willing to pay for the Change himself.
This husband is nice enough, polite enough, but curiously indifferent to him, and the Change keeps getting put off- and our poor protagonist, feeling guilty that he came with such a huge bill attached, doesn't dare insist. He hates his body, yet -in the privacy of his mind- keeps using male pronouns for himself. No matter how hard he tries to be his most feminine and agreeable, his marriage is never consummated- and he doesn't know whether to feel relieved or guilty or maybe guilty for feeling so relieved.
Stuck between two identities, and in a friendly but distant marriage, he struggles to determine who he is meant to be.
Snippetglimpse (names are working titles):
"G'night, Colleen," Ryan slurred.
"What do you mean," Colin whispered back. "We can't- we have to-"
"Have to nuthin'," the other declared.
"No, we do. I do. I- I have to bleed." His stomach lurched at the thought. "They will... someone will want to see the sheets, tomorrow."
Ryan grunted and rolled over, away from him, and reached for something -maybe the light, Colin thought, or something that was needed for... for this kind of thing- and then came back with a little knife. Dear gods, a knife- but Colin didn't even have time to get scared, Ryan just rolled on his side and cut his thumb- cussed- and then dragged his hand over the sheets between them, staining them in a random, irregular pattern.
Colin stared.
"'S that kinda what it looks like? Eh. Gotta be good enough for 'em." He rolled back over, tossed the knife back on the nightstand with a little clatter, and curled up.
"Godsdamn it," he grunted after a moment, sucking on his thumb. And after that, all Colin heard was drunken snoring, and it was left to him to turn the lights out.