1. What's your oc's gender identity? What's their relationship to their gender?
2. What's your oc's orientation? (Romantic/sexual/platonic alterous ect) Do they have opinions about it?
Tumblr continuing its tradition of not telling me if I have notifications. Thank you for the question Ron <3
What's your oc's gender identity? What's their relationship to their gender?
I'm going to talk about two ocs bc I tihnk it's fun how opposite they are.
Rasanon, my DA Inquisitor, is a cis man, and he grew up in an environment that allowed him to actually explore that. He's always felt sure in his orientation with the benefit of knowing there are other options.
Meanwhile Jesse, my Fallout Courier, is the definition of "i'm probably nb but I don't have time for that." She grew up in a stifling environment of a strict vault where the concept of having a gender identity didn't even exist. These ideas were ingrained in her so deeply even on the rare occasions she met trans people out in the wastes she just thought they were kind of weird. Never once did she ever consider something like that could apply to her.
At some point she starts going by more masculine words. She always is Jesse, never Jessica. Yes man calls her sir, at some point she starts exclusively dressing in masculine clothes, in particular ones that hide any figure. She befriends one trans man during the course of New Vegas and ends up ruining it by constantly lashing out at and insulting him. She's the only one who doesn't realize why, she just tells herself he's a freak who can't accept reality. The problem is never her, and there's nothing about herself she could possibly be unhappy with.
I don't think she ever figures it out. She refuses to. I have trouble imagining anything or anyone that could break through that wall.
2. What's your oc's orientation? (Romantic/sexual/platonic alterous ect) Do they have opinions about it?
Rasanon is bi and absolutely has complex feelings about it. It's not that he was raised to think it was wrong-his clan is very accepting-but there is still always an underlying concern about having children. It's an important thing for the Dalish both culturally and practically and his entire upbringing centered around being there for his people. He sees himself more as an extension of the people, a tool for them to use, than as his own person. The result isn't guilt about being with anyone who can't get pregnant so much as any guilt about forming any deeper connections with anyone he couldn't get pregnant. As he became an adult he started to divorce himself from having interest in his fellow dalish in general almost unconsciously from the pressure surrounding it. Much easier to have one night stands with random people outside of the clan with no obligations or expectations.
It's almost ironic that the thing that brings him some relief from this is accidentally getting an elvhen woman pregnant. He's done that duty now, he's given the dalish another dalish child, so maybe he doesn't have to close himself off so much anymore. Nobody can be mad if he gets with a man or a non elf now (though he knows some still will) since he already has a dalish child.
Jesse, on the other hand, while refusing to acknowledge the concept of gender at all, has no hang ups about sexual orientation. From the time she was young she was pretty openly more interested in women and the only person who ever really gave her shit for it was the overseer. Who she hated pretty hard. Her dad was never upset but did teach her to be on the subtle side about it.
She never thought of it as a problem. Mostly just a barrier on a personal level. Sucks when the only people you crush on keep turning out to be straight. It helps though unlike Ras she has very little interest in sex and romance. harder to stress about it when you barely think about it, let alone seek it out. I can think of exactly one person I know she canonically had sex with and it's that lady underground in freeside who gets horny when you kill animals.
