Author: Solstice Fields Work Summary: A collection of random moments out of the day-to-day life of a protogenic adaptive DID system. Total Word Count: 2,716 words Chapter Summary: Raven wants to change labels. Pyre and Asmodeus weigh in on the final decision. Chapter Word Count: 896 words
Chapter Four: Changing Labels
Pyre let out a sigh as she walked towards the conference room, going at a human’s leisurely pace rather than her normal accelerated one. She was tired – far too tired to deal with anything, but Raven had said this was important and had called a management meeting, so Pyre had to go.
She wasn’t really sure what Raven would have to discuss that would warrant a management meeting, but Pyre doubted it was something that she’d need to be involved. in.
Pyre stopped in the doorway of the conference room, looking over Asmodeus and Raven. Both seemed fine, if not a little nervous, and Pyre’s eyes narrowed. This wasn’t right…
“What’s going on?” Pyre asked as she strolled into the room, pulling out a chair and collapsing into it.
Raven smiled nervously and cleared her throat, clearly about ready to just call the meeting off.
“I wanted to talk about labels.” She finally said, her voice quiet. Pyre frowned, starting to get annoyed. She didn’t need to be here to discuss measly labels.
“Specifically, our collective gender label.”
Pyre let out a sharp breath of air through her nose, letting Raven know of her annoyance. The Elf fidgeted nervously, not looking at Pyre.
Asmodeus cleared their throat and leaned forward, zyr face sombre.
“Ray was thinking we should go by genderfluid, rather than trans.” Asmodeus explained, zyr voice just as quiet as Raven’s. “It would allow us to stay under cover concerning plurality while also giving outsiders an explantation as to why sometimes we prefer feminine things and other times we prefer masculine things. Right now, we don’t really have a consistent explanation for that, and it’d be useful to have a uniform thing to say, rather than potentially outing ourselves as plural to someone who may not be open to the idea.” Asmodeus leaned back after ze were done speaking, tipping zyr chair back into the back legs.
“It would definitely be beneficial. It’s a lot simpler to explain, plus it’s a half-truth, so the chronic truth tellers won’t feel like they’re lying.” Pyre said, then waved her hand dismissively. “I’m fine with this, but why did I need to be here for this?”
Raven smiled weakly.
“I actually wanted you to be here for this next part. I want to start using a subset of endogenic as our origin label.” Raven said quietly. Pyre stiffened, then shook her head.
“No. Absolutely not.” She snapped. Raven sighed, looking at Pyre with an almost begging look.
“Hear me out, at least?” The Elf asked and Pyre opened her mouth to say no, but instead closed it and nodded once. Raven smiled in thanks before continuing.
“I found a term on Pluralpedia called protogenic. It means you were born with two or more people already in your mind. I’d also like to use trauma-based or adaptive, to pay homage to the fact that most of the system formed out of trauma.”
Pyre nodded, thinking it over. If they used protogenic, it would be more true to who they were as a system, but it could open them up for hatred and fakeclaiming. Then again, using adaptive rather than traumagenic could do the exact same thing.
However, Pyre had to admit to herself, this wasn’t just her decision. Raven and Asmodeus had a right to put their opinions in too.
Pyre turned to Asmodeus, raising an eyebrow.
“What do you think of this?” The vampire asked, and Asmodeus shrugged, not meeting Pyre’s gaze. It seemed the relationship was still strained, though Pyre didn’t really care. Why should she? She was just here to keep everyone in line… just doing what was expected of her.
“It’s a good idea to me. A lot of us don’t like lying, and having clearer language is always a bonus. I really like using at the very least adaptive, even if we could get hate for not using specifically traumagenic.” Asmodeus said, zyr tone light. “But, yeah. I think we should do it.”
Pyre nodded.
“Alright then.” She said quietly. “It’s two to one, so here’s my compromise.” She paused, trying to figure out how to word things so they didn’t come out too forceful. “We can use protogenic and adaptive… but only in specific areas, like the wiki discord server and personal documents. I want to ease into this, especially since it’s such a big change, to go from solely traumagenic to trauma-endo.”
Raven nodded, her eyes sparkling. Pyre almost felt like she should just say fuck it, go all in, but she reminded herself she was here to protect the system, not be friends… not that anyone would want to be friends with her.
“I think that’s a good compromise.” Raven said and Pyre nodded.
“Alright then.” She said simply, standing up and pushing her chair in. “I’m going to go get some blood, if we’re all finished up here.”
Raven nodded.
“Go for it. AJ and Kia were the last to donate, so you’ve got AB+ and O- to choose from.” Raven informed Pyre, and the vampire nodded, before leaving the room. That was a rather interesting conversation, to be honest.
Pyre didn’t really like the idea of changing the system’s labels, but she knew it was time to. They’re were at least partially endogenic, and it was time for everyone to accept it, even if it scared them.