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  [colpse]Tales From the Basement: Gender2025 December 24MondayShe’s wearing the nicest dress she could find: long thin sleeves that don’t flow much. Cinched at the waist. Long pleated skirt.

  It’s… fine. Certainly not bad; Aoife isn’t chomping at the bit to put men’s trousers back on, but it’s not doing much for her either. Same with the makeup she’s expected to wear. She has nothing against a full face, excepting the time it takes to apply it, but it doesn’t excite her. Still, anything is better than being the self-sacrificing perfect-at-all-costs boy she used to be.

  In contrast, Rose and Cire look positively excited to be wearing their Christmas finest. They always look pretty, of course, but right now they’re absolutely gorgeous, and it’s taking all of Aoife’s self control not to propose leaving the party early and spending some quality time together in one of their rooms.

  Cire has always been a girl, Rose chose to become one, and they’ve both embraced their newly shared gender with full enthusiasm.

  So why can’t Aoife?

  “I’m going to spend some time with Lisshabby,” Stephanie says to Beth.

  “See, I knew that name would grow on you!” Beth responds.

  Stephanie rolls her eyes, kisses Beth on the top of her head, and walks off to talk with the other throuple that’s sitting nearby.

  Rose and Cire are talking animatedly with one another. Every once in a while Rose lets out a giggle that makes Aoife’s heart melt.

  Bethany leans toward Aoife and asks, “You remind me of a young man who sat at this table a few years ago. Not a man any more of course, but I think you’ve got a simir expression. Are you doing alright?”

  “I’m fine,” Aoife says. “It’s just looking at those two. They seem so excited in their new skins. Which isn’t surprising for Cire, but somehow Rose, too, is all in on dressing up and looking femme when appropriate. I’m not saying I want to backslide, but I also wish I got more joy out of my gender expression like they do.”

  “Hmm. Well, this young man—OK, I’m taking about myself if you hadn’t figured that out yet—I had the opposite problem. Well, I had a lot of problems, but my presentation that night was one of them. I was two months on hormones—talk to Rose if you’re confused how I was up here—and wearing a woman’s tux thinking I could pass as a guy. Instead, everybody kept acting like I was going for butch girl, and it made me really uncomfortable. Didn’t help either that my own reflection in the mirror felt ambiguous.

  “I think Rose and I are simir in this way. We’re both capable of being a boy or girl—not that either of us would choose the former anymore—but we want to lean hard into the role we’re pying. Steph and Cire have always been and can only be girls. Trevor, that strangely pretty man sitting next to Tabby, is and can only be a guy. Ames seems to vibe with anything. And you, Aoife, are some secret third—no, wait—fifth thing.”

  Beth looks around the room for a moment before giving a nod of recognition.

  She says to Cire and Rose, “Mind if I borrow your girlfriend for a bit? There’s somebody I’d like to introduce to her.”

  “Sure,” says Cire, “but bring her back in time for dessert.”

  “Of course!” says Beth.

  Beth leads Aoife toward a table with some members of one of the earlier intakes. She gets the attention of someone sitting at the table.

  “Am, I’d like to introduce you to Aoife. Aoife, this is Amethyst.”

  “Hey there, kiddo,” they—and yes, there’s a pin on their pel that says they/them—say. “Happy hols.”

  Amethyst is wearing a very sharp tux. Really, they are owning the look, and—huh—is that envy over someone’s appearance Aoife is feeling? That’s a first.

  “You’re not going to introduce me?” says a—Aoife checks the pel—she/her woman sitting next to Amethyst.

  Amethyst rolls their eyes and says, “And this is my other half, Farah. So, what’s up?”

  Beth says, “Aoife and I were just chatting about gender and presentation. I don’t think “she” gets as much euphoria from pying dress up as most of our Sisters do. Of course, as sponsor of record for a current programme member, I don’t have any official suggestions to make regarding this matter.” Beth makes an incredibly exaggerated wink toward Amethyst as she talks.

  Amethyst responds, “I see. Well, Aoife, let me give you the same advice I gave Bethany a few years ago which she so rudely decided to ignore: if you don’t like what they want you to be, it doesn’t have to be forever. And I do mean like. We already know you can tolerate it. If you couldn’t, they wouldn’t have selected you for the programme.”

  “So you’re saying even you don’t really mind this stuff?” Aoife asks while gesturing at her dress.

  “I don’t mind it, but I also don’t really get anything from it. This, though,” Amethyst says while gesturing at themself, “and the recognition as being off the binary actively give me euphoria, and I think that’s worth the cost of having to be the best dressed person at every event.”

  “They say gender is a spectrum,” Farah says. “You need to figure out where you fit on it.”

  “It is something that I, specifically, like to say, isn’t it?” Amethyst adds.

  “Thanks, all of you,” Aoife says. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

  Light starts leaking in from the kitchen as the second years start wheeling out everybody’s requested desserts.

  “Well, we should return to our seats,” Beth says. “You two have a lovely rest of your evening, and thank you.”

  “Of course,” Amethyst says.

  Halfway back to their table, Beth stops Aoife and starts talking in an uncharacteristically somber tone. “But seriously, Aoife, if having to present like this for formal events is causing you to feel dysphoric, just talk to Tabby about it. You’ve been here long enough that you’re not learning anything new from the experience, and I’m sure we can rex the rules a bit to help you.”

  “It’s alright,” Aoife says. “I do have some things to think about for long term, though. Shall we join the others?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Beth says.

  2026 April 9Thursday“Hey, Aoife,” Tabby says. “Congrats once again.”

  Aoife, Cire, and Rose got the notification a few days ago that their New Personal Histories were finalized and they were officially graduates of the programme. It’s exciting news, but now Aoife no longer has an excuse not to discuss something she’s been thinking about.

  Aoife offers Tabby one of the chairs in her room and says, “Hi Tabby. I wanted to talk about something, but I’m a bit nervous about your reaction. Which is silly. I know you’ll be fine with it. Just seems kind of taboo is all.”

  “You’re making me nervous now, too. Maybe you could save us both some stress and get it out?”

  “Right, sorry. Let me preface by saying I have no interest in being a guy again. But there are some times, usually special occasions, where I see everybody else dressed super feminine, and y’all are relishing in it…”

  “Y’all? I told Bea that girl would be a bad influence.”

  “It’s a genuinely useful word! But like I was saying, you all seem to love pying your new roles, and I’m just… accepting of it.”

  “Aoife, I’m sorry I hadn’t noticed.”

  “I didn’t give you much chance to. But Beth did notice something at st year’s Christmas party. We talked a bit, and then she introduced me to a person named Amethyst.”

  “Did she? I’ll have to have a talk with Beth, then.”

  “What? Tabby, Beth didn’t do anything wrong! She was just trying to help.”

  Tabby scrunches up her face. “Sorry, bad joke. The truth is, we intentionally avoid encouraging non-binary identities for active programme participants. We don’t want them to use it as an excuse to only meet us halfway in addressing programme goals. But you’d learned about all you needed to by then, and I’m sure Beth thought correctly that you’d be better off with some new perspectives.”

  She continues, “This is just a small sample, by the way, of the sausage making process. I’m sure your girlfriend will start subjecting you to much more of it as she trains for sponsorship… You know, maybe I should think of better metaphor than sausage making.”

  “Rose is really excited to learn more about sponsorship.”

  “It almost makes me nervous. Last time we had a girl so eager to have a go, she had her second-year acting like she was walking on eggshells. We had to relegate the sponsor to overnight security duty until she learned to control her temper.”

  “I can’t see Rose being that harsh.”

  “You’re probably right, especially if she takes after Beth at all. Besides, I’ve got somebody in mind that will be a great fit for her. A bloke from New Engnd who we’re trying to push toward Saints for the Fall. Maybe he and Rose can speak American to each other.”

  “Anyway,” Tabby says, “we were talking about gender. Were you thinking you don’t really feel like a girl? It’s OK if that’s the case! You’ve given it a fair shot, and we’ll all be happy for you no matter how you identify going forward.”

  “Well, that’s part of the problem,” Aoife says. “I do feel like a girl, for the most part. And I like looking like this”—Aoife gestures to her typical outfit of trousers and a blouse—“but when I saw Amethyst in their tux, I actually felt real envy over someone’s looks for the first time.”

  “You know, you can call yourself a girl and still dress more masculine on occasion. Maybe try out she/they pronouns like Ames does.”

  That’s… a good point, actually. Aoife could be a she/they girl. She’d still be a girl among most of her Sisters and those in the outside world. Able to share in the common experience. Unrecognizable as the foolish boy she used to be.

  But for those who know them, for those who care, they’d be more. Someone for whom the gender binary doesn’t properly expin their wants and needs. Someone who feels comfortable in a feminine top or even a dress, but, when the occasion calls for it, may wish to wear a nice suit, or hell, even a tux.

  Their expression must betray them, because Tabby smirks and says, “By George! I think they’ve got it!”

  “A she/they girl,” Aoife says. “I like it, Tabs. I like it a lot! Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Seriously, whatever Aunt Bea is paying you, it cannot be enough.”

  “Be sure to tell her that next time you talk to her, alright?”

  Aoife gives their sponsor a hug and then says, “I’m going to talk to Rose and Cire.”

  They rush to their room while yelling, “Thank you, again!”

  Aoife knocks on Rose’s door and starts waiting for an answer. Out of the corner of their eye, Aoife sees Tabby close the door to their room and start walking down the hallway while muttering something about today’s kids.