Zero, Nonbinary
(Talk about gender, gender binary, pronouns, gender fluidity, etc)
Spoilers for Endwalker below the cut ↓↓↓
At this point in time (4:24 pm, March 13th 2023) I haven't gotten this far in MSQ yet, so I hope Zero comes across in character. I wrote this for me & for my nonbinary friends. Especially for my friend, Luke~ @lukeslikefire ❤️ I adore them & their nonbinary OC, Kaoru 💕
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It was not often that Ramora and Zero spent time together alone, but this was one such time that they had been paired together as a duo.
Though Zero was quiet, aloof, and stood a fair distance away from the duskwight, ever so often the elezen could feel the gaze of those gray eyes upon her.
"If you have something to say, you can say it," Ramora says, not bothered in the least by the curiosity of the memoriate.
"Your voidsent," Zero begins.
Ramora's head tilts, mismatched eyes falling upon the smaller form of her companion. "Daemryss?"
Zero tilts that fantastic hat down.
Ramora wondered if she made Zero a little unsettled. Or was it her relationship with Daemryss that did?
"Yes."
Ramora smiles. "What is it you want to know about Daemryss?"
Zero pauses, seeming to think a moment. Mull over the words to be said. "...What made them decide?"
Ramora hums. "On what? Her name? How she likes to be addressed?"
Another pause. "Yes, all of it."
The duskwight turns to look at Zero, hand raising up thoughtful towards her face and painted fingernail tapping at her chin, tracing the scar that curves over her jaw.
"Daemryss was already the name she had chosen by our first meeting. The name she had given to me to address her by. As for her pronouns, her gender... I believe Daemryss was not unlike you. You can decide for yourself, just like Daemryss did, how you like to be called."
Zero seems to be ruminating on the duskwight's words.
"Zero is fine as far as names go," the memoriate murmurs. "I am... uncertain if being addressed the same as your voidsent—as she—is... entirely correct."
Ramora considers that. "There are endless possibilities. If you try it on a while and decide it doesn't suit, you can change your mind. What matters is what feels right to you." Ramora tugs her bejeweled, pointed ear and gestures broadly to her body, all seven-fulm-one of her, curvaceous and muscular, "Hydaelyn knows I've played around with how I present myself plenty, especially since Daemryss came into my life and shared with me certain abilities that can change my form. For a cost, of course. Thankfully I happen to be uniquely qualified for collecting the aether needed to do such a thing."
Zero stares at Ramora in a way that was different from how everyone else looked at her. The duskwight was already forming the opinion that Zero's company was rather pleasant.
"I have friends," Ramora says, "who are fluid, like me. Their gender identity can change depending on how they're feeling day to day. Or, there are those who are genderless. Not conforming to either female or male, but nonbinary."
That seems to pique Zero's interest. "Nonbinary?"
Ramora nods. "Right. They/them, she/they, he/they, they/she, they/he. Pronouns can be anything, really. Or not attached to gender at all. If you say you're nonbinary, you're nonbinary."
Zero looks a little overwhelmed then, that hat tugging down again as the memoriate drops that gray eyed gaze to bore into the floor.
"It's a lot of information, I know," Ramora remarks with sympathy. "Like I said, you don't have to decide right away."
Zero glances to the duskwight. "No. Nonbinary... I like that."
Ramora smiles, dark eyebrows arching up in a pleased manner. She did like helping people, despite how much she grumbled about hero work. "Yeah?"
Zero nods. "Yes."
Ramora laughs. "Well alright!" The duskwight extends her arm out, to shake, "Nonbinary it is."
Zero stares at her hand, then accepts it. "Yes," the memoriate mumbles, looking like the hand in Ramora's grasp would much rather be tugging down that fashionable hat.
Adorable.
"Perhaps," Zero says, when Ramora lets go, "they/she, for now?"
Ramora gazes at Zero as they do indeed tug their hat down. Gloved hands curling and uncurling at her sides.
"Whatever you want, Zero," Ramora replies.
Zero tips their hat back up, looking at the elezen with gray eyes a little wide. Mayhap a little vulnerable.
"...Thank you, Ramora," Zero says.
It may be the most sincere expression of gratitude that had ever graced Ramora's large, keen ears.
Ramora can only smile, tugging at an earring with the impulse to hug her companion, but keeping her distance because they weren't quite there yet.
More than anything, Ramora wanted to respect Zero's body autonomy. To remind Zero of their agency, that the decision was up to her to engage in touch or not.
For all that Ramora's relationship with Zenos had been—was— complicated, the thought that he had used Zero in such a way, to get to Ramora, made the duskwight uncomfortable in a way she disliked.
The elezen could not help but feel she had to make up for it somehow.
"Anytime," Ramora says. Then adds, "Anywhere. Anything."
Zero looks to her. "...Is that so?"
Ramora gazes back, holding that steely stare unflinchingly. "Whatever you need, Zero. You can call on me."
Zero's lips quirk. "...You are strange."
Ramora gives a sharp grin, all teeth.
"I get that a lot."
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A/N: I am by no means an expert in gender identity/expression, pronouns, etc, but I have accepted Zero as nonbinary in my mind. I HC as Zero they/she, but leave it open to interpretation. Luke sees Zero as they/them, and they are valid 💕
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed~