Drury on questions 1, 4, 5 for Pride Ask game!
Tbh I wasn’t expecting to get anything for that ask game since I reblogged it to keep for ref for when I finally post more about my OCs, but I cant resist talking about Drury and gender. 😌
1. What's your character's gender identity? What's their relationship to their gender?
Drury is a nonbinary trans man! He loves men and he loves being a man that’s also a moth. 💖 And the moth part is ABSOLUTELY an important part of his gender identity to him.
Manhood, to him, is like being a moth. He does see himself as having been a little girl as a kid… she was only the caterpillar.
I do always think of it like… Drury, growing up and becoming Drury Walker, he sees it as protecting Cameron Van Cleer. That little girl went through so much… and she did it all to protect him, keeping him inside. He’s repaying the favor now by letting her finally live out life as him.
Though he was very happy as a man, something was still missing. So he turned himself into a moth man and now he’s happier than ever. 🥰
To me, the moth transformation really is a symbol of visible queerness. Him showing ALL of himself to the world and not being afraid to hold back anymore.
… but I will leave further details on that for the crowmoth fic. ;3
4. Is your character’s environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?
When he was growing up, no… 💔
He didn’t fully accept or realize the truth until he was like 18 or so. The only person who he had to confide in was Mortimer Drake, future Cavalier, who helped him explore his identity a bit in secret. And then he came out and got cut off and thrown out to fend for himself.
But now, things are SO much different.
He was essentially taken in by the Penguin, first of all, a fellow no-op trans man as he would find out. His support was a HUGE step in Drury getting to finally present in a way he was happy with and getting on testosterone.
And he’s just totally surrounded by gay and trans people of all different walks of life with all the other Gotham rogues! It’s a huge confidence booster for him, for sure. He has a community now!
It doesn’t fully fix his self-image issues… those are rooted in so much more than just struggling with gender. But it does help!
So does turning himself into a moth.
5. How did you figure out your oc's identity?
It’s really funny, actually. When I got into DC, I initially had Drury as a cis gay man, but that didn’t last long. Part of it was me trying to justify how he had Kitten…
Of course there was the obvious glaring “he can be trans and give birth to Kitten himself”, but I think part of me was scared of people treating his pregnancy like a joke… and tbh I still am a little scared, but I’ve grown, and I’m very firm on the idea that he carried and gave birth to Kitten himself.
But it’s not only that! I think, when I got into DC, I was still hesitant to fully own the label of trans man and gay man… I felt like I wasn’t allowed to call myself those things for a lot of reasons. Exploring gay transmasculinity through Drury as I became more attached to him was a huge help to me… 😭
And it just felt obvious to make him a trans man. The moth motif + themes of change + the fact that he literally had a whole pregnancy body horror story in which his despised offspring even misgender him. EXTREMELY heavy handed stuff LOL
