#alien anthem

[eloarei]

@braincoins had an allergy attack that sounded suspiciously like "draw Bren and Snake" so I did that, as a 'remember how to hold a pen' practice. Made 'before and after' versions to give Bren an excuse to smile. He's such a gloomy walnut.

[eloarei]

So since I don’t feel like actually writing prose, how about I babble about my alien characters and the concept of gender instead?  TL;DR, I saw this sci-fi picture and started thinking, “should Snake be a ‘she’ instead of an ‘it’???” Lots of babbling under the cut, but no decisions made. 

As you may know, I have OCs, some of which are aliens. The main character of that story, Bren, is a human who pretty much defines “mediocre cishet white guy”. When he meets the aliens, he arbitrarily assigns them all names and genders (mostly binary), because it’s incomprehensible to him otherwise. They mostly think it’s super fun and accept what he gives them; sometimes they’re like “nah, I think I’m this one instead”, and occasionally they ignore him. 

But that’s the Greys, and they’re all humanoid nerds.  But then you’ve got Snake, the lone reptilian. Bren has an impossible time deciding on a gender for it, and eventually gives up. Snake’s gender is officially “it”, which it’s perfectly fine with because it never considers gender. But while the Greys genuinely do not have any biological sex, Snake can both ‘have’ and ‘give’ babies, and is adamant about having them.  Snake is the last of its kind; it’s never going to be ‘giving’ babies to anyone. But as it’s parthenogenetic (meaning it can sort of asexually reproduce little clones of itself) and is able to absorb DNA through skin contact with nearly any living creature, its primary identity (and role in the story) revolves around typically female attributes. It can have babies, it wants to have babies, and it will have babies. The fact that it could technically impregnate someone is irrelevant, because it never will, and doesn’t want to.  So, therefore, does it make some sense to refer to it as a female instead? A she? A female using it pronouns? A nonbinary using female pronouns?  The issue is that it doesn’t look female. It looks like a lizard with humanoid mannerisms. ‘Cishet’ Bren (who really is not, but that’s another story) is the POV of the story, and not always a reliable narrator. Everyone in the story is referred to the way he thinks of them, even if it’s not accurate. BUT, as the writer, I can influence his thoughts by changing elements in the story. For example, if I have the Greys refer to Snake as “a female (because it lays eggs, and that’s a female thing, right? I have no idea; we Greys don’t do that)”, then Bren will unquestioningly do the same. He won’t assume that it has other parts as well, and he certainly won’t ask.  I’m quite happy with Snake being an “it”. I like that “it” doesn’t allow the reader to make assumptions or come with preconceived notions about its shape, ability, desires, mannerisms, etc.  But there would be a charm in calling Snake a “she” as well, and I think that charm would be in allowing the reader to develop assumptions, and then skewing those assumptions slightly. “She” has no feminine physical attributes. “She” is not beautiful. “She” has parts not typically associated with females. “She” barely knows the difference between male and female. “She” doesn’t know or care how women are supposed to act. “She” just eats raw fish and picks high-security locks for fun.  The reason I started thinking about this was that sci-fi picture I reblogged the other day, of the guy with the female bug alien on a foreign planet somewhere. I thought it was both funny in its strangeness, and also very nice, with how it allowed the alien to really remain distinctly alien, and not be made overly feminine, even though she was still very pretty and feminine in her way. I thought it was intriguing, and I think it kind of made the viewer think, “oh, women can be this way!” Which is like, yeah, we know that! We do! But still sometimes seeing it... it’s different. And I thought... maybe my own story would have a different feel if I applied that. Better? Worse? I’m not sure.  No decisions being made today. I’m just considering it. I’ve loved Snake since the moment I thought of it; I will love it and its obsession with having human-hybrid babies no matter what gender ultimately falls to it. 

[eloarei]

I thought I'd try something a little different with Snake, and then I regretted it. Then I did a quick 'normal' version just to prove to myself that it wasn't the lineart that was bad. (The head angle is unusual but it's okay.)

Honestly? O_O I'm horrified. I'm sorry, Snake, dear, but you can never be allowed to get that peachy. It's just not your color.

[eloarei]

Wishing you all the luck! But while I've got you: what's Snake's favorite food? What's Bren's? do they like each other's favorites?

Snake’s favorite food has always been fish, because that’s what was available on its planet. Technically it’s an omnivore, but it’s never really liked vegetables. Fruit is... okay sometimes? But mostly it’s always eaten fish, and still does. It eats other small creatures easily as well. Since meeting Bren and going to earth, it tends to like packaged snack foods too. Crunchy is better! Bren will eat basically anything. He likes classic American stuff like hotdogs and hamburgers, and fried foods. He’ll eat fish, sure, but not raw like Snake does. XD; (Snake is still getting used to the concept of cooking.) Snake does like hotdogs and stuff, but he doesn’t do the bread usually. 

[eloarei]

As suggested by @braincoins, my darling OC Snake, ready for Christmas! It (s/he? still not sure haha) is super fun to color, so I added a Christmassy variant. (The grey/peach one is normal. And gosh, look how much peach it’s got! It’s been hugging up on Bren for months, judging by the color. Honestly, though, I’m aware of how absolutely goofy it’s going to look once it’s mostly peach. XD; )  Thanks for the suggestion, Socks! I always die a little bit (happily) when someone remembers my OCs haha. 

[eloarei]

Bren's birthday? Does Snake's culture celebrate birthdays? Does Snake understand birthdays? I don't know, but I wanna find out. Drabble me up some birthday goodness :3 (okay so that's probably not what you were asking for, but I love them.)

Okay look, under 100 is just flat out never gonna happen. XD But I kept it under 200 for you. -----“Birth day?” Snake asked, eyeing Bren’s belly suspiciously. “You not--...” It hummed, squinted, and bent down to wedge it's head against his stomach. Bren choked on a laugh, charmed and exasperated by how much these aliens didn't know. “Birth anniversary,” he explained, shoving Snake away lightly. “It's been 29 years since the day I was born. Give or take, anyway. I don't know for sure what day it is on Earth right now.” His watch pinged with a text from Ant that read ‘birthiversary’, then one from Ling that said ‘annibirthary’. He laughed despite himself. He didn't want to encourage their nasty habit of watching him on the security cameras, but they were pretty good word puns for creatures that didn't natively speak English. “Oh, so you not have babies,” Snake said, sounding a little relieved. “Okay. Good you-birth anni-day.” That was about the best he was gonna get out of Snake for a ‘happy birthday’ he figured, at least until he sat it (and the greys) down for another classic American movie night or something.

[eloarei]

My 2021 pumpkin, btw. It’s my alien OCs! From left to right: Ant, Snake, and Ling. Pretty happy with how it turned out. =] 

[eloarei]

A little thought:

I created my OC Bren and his silly alien mate Snake several years before I knew anything (basically) about Venom, but looking back now, I think it's no wonder that I'm charmed by the story of a scruffy loser who hesitantly partners with a weird lonely genderless alien that kind of creeps him out and obsesses over him, and despite all the scruffy loser's discomfort they become inseparable.

I mean, looking back, it's pretty obvious that this would appeal to me. =]