"Alright, this stuff's all Cleo's," Dollface said, piling the folded clothing next to her. On the other side was Markus's shirts and uniform pants, as well as his work out clothes, "I'll have t'get 'em back to 'er later."
"And lose your head? Hell no, give 'em to Clawdeen and hide for a week!"
Messily piled on the bottom bunk under Dollface's bunk, was her clothing. She'd fold it later. Right now, Markus and not getting beheaded by the crown Queen of Mean was more important.
"Just underwear left to fold," Markus said, hair continuing to grow even as the eyes and mouths dissolved into skin, "I feel gross for stealing them, or even looking at them, even if Cleo is a be-atch."
Dollface gulped, "I really don't wanna look at'er underwear. Or touch it."
"Yeah, she's so toxic, she burns holes!" Markus giggled, "Don't tell anyone I said that, please, oh my God!"
"Alright," Dollface said, trying to sort through without studying anything, "Here it is!"
Markus gasped, "Oh! I'm so glad!"
"Markus, I'm really sorry for askin', but, why do'ya need th'binder? You can, um…."
Markus took it, not even waiting to take his shirt off before putting his binder on, "I get nervous."
Dollface looked away the second she saw flesh and opened the door slightly,, "Get your uniform on, we're gonna be late!"
"So, uh, what exactly happened?"
"Dysphoria."
"Do a lot'o transexuals do that?" Dollface asked tentatively, "I mean, I haven't heard 'bout anythin' like that."
"I personally prefer the newer term, transgender, and if you weren't aware, I'm not from 'round here," Markus sniffled, voice returning to its usual androgynous pitch, "So sometimes my thoughts and feelings get the best of me."
"Mm-hmm," Dollface prodded. She pulled her favorite pair of sewing scissors and winced, "I'm not sure how good I am at cuttin' hair. Last time, it was mine, an'I used Grampa's shavin' razor."
"It's fine, I can grow it out if it ends up botched," Markus said, "I am a Shoggath, afterall."
"Shoggath? Like the HP Lovecraft creature?"
"Yeah, but HP is a racist dick!" Markus rolled his eyes in the mirror above the bathroom sink as Dollface began hacking away, "Most of us crashed in Russia as he said, but we mostly scattered liken stars. I'm fourth generation American, so I don't really count anyway."
Dollface nodded, aware that Markus was watching her in the mirror for her reactions.
"But we weren't servants or anything like that, just bio-creatures, I dunno where he came up with that one!"
"Can't help here," Dollface said, snipping another knot out, "I honestly have no idea what's going on!"
"-Actually, some of my extended family landed in South America." Markus mused. He had a habit of bouncing around in conversations, "It's lovely this time of year on the Brazilian coast. Hey, we should go some time!"
"Hey," Dollface laughed, "I coulda cut ya!"
Markus laughed, "My ear'll grow back!"
"It's not yer ear! What if I cut off all yer hair in one go?"
"It's hair, it'll grow!" Markus said, "And if I like it, I'll say it's avant garde! A 'Dollface Original'!"
"Aww," Dollface began to cut pretty short, with a bit more confidence now.
Markus's hair had grown even as they'd walked to the bath house, dragging in dead leaves and sticks even as Dollface continued to bundle it up like a dress's train. Even if Markus had decided to try a longer hairstyle, most of it was knotted or full of forest debris and completely unsalvageable.
"We don't have genders or sexualities, we reproduce like mushrooms. When a pair decide to have kids, they just break pieces off and water it, like a plant," Markus explained, "Problem is, humans don't do any of that stuff, so in order to survive on Earth, we started developing rigid standards for ourselves. We have genders, and hetero pairings, and we assign genders at spawning."
"I'm guessin'... you were assigned female?"
Markus nodded, "Wrote it on my terra cotta pot in Sharpie and everything!"
"Hmmm, terra cotta…" Dollface snapped a large section off, then began separating it for layering. She'd seen Mrs. Dehyet do stuff like this millions of times, thanks to after school study sessions with Izzy.
"My family grouping is especially strict. You must perform as heteronormative and 'Cisgendered' as possible. We don't even HAVE genders!"
"I'm really sorry for askin', but why a boy? I recently heard that there's something in-between."
"Mmmm, don't really know why exactly, it just feels right. When I present as female, I get anxious and, well, dysphoric. There's no way to describe how destructive presenting as a female can feel for me.I tried non-binary, but it didn't click with me like it did for Frankie."
A moment of silence as Dollface finished her handiwork and studied it.
A few more snips and she was satisfied, moving to the other side of the head.
She lifted up the hair to find a large, watery blue eye staring at her.
"Um…"
"Sorry, I must've missed that one!" Markus laughed, becoming himself again, "I spend so much time hiding how I feel and how I look because what's inside can project outside. When I love myself or the people I'm with, I feel a second heart forming. When I do something challenging and succeed, my jaw gets sharper, and when I feel sad or dysphoric, well…."
"Yeah, I get it," Dollface said, not meaning to be so blunt and rush Markus through his thoughts.
"So what are you?" Markus asked, abruptly changing conversation topics.
"What?"
"What are you? I don't have a sense of smell, but Gaz and some other kids on the team say you're one of us."
"'One of us'?" Dollface was confused. She kept snipping away, she had a promise to fulfill.
"Yeah, what are ya? I keep finding feathers, so you're definitely not a werewolf."
"Were-wolf?" Dollface asked, voice shaking, "Ya mean I really did see that thing outside?"
"Hey, don't call them a thing," Markus teased, then said seriously, "There's lots of us. You have to be one of them, right?"
Dollface stared at a lock of hair in her hands.
Human.
Was Dollface human?
Humans, as far as she knew, had hair, eyes, teeth, hands and other limbs that were a mostly appropriate amount and arrangement, with exceptions. They had blood, sweat, tears and other bodily fluids almost without. There were so many things in this world that could make someone human, but Markus shared them, both biologically and superficially.
"I need t'sit down."
THUMP!
"Dollface?"
Markus turned in the stool to see Dollface collapse to the floor, "Oh dear, I knew she was a little too okay with this!"
