anonymous asked over on Tumblr

Monmartre and Tchaark seem to be close (going off of Tchaark's TH profile), what draws them together?
And what genders are Tchaark, Ikinih, Tua, and Uyonah?

24-10-2025

Tchaark basically worked as a sentinel, he'd detect gas in advance with his smelling nerves, "tahofahs". Because mierthri's tahofahs are more sensitive, evolved to protect themselves because they have the most fragile lungs of the 3 species, they can detect hazardous gases in advance before it's too late. Miethri in the mining industry are employed as sentinels, not miners, because their build isn't good for it. One mierthri is attributed to a miner group per route. When Monmartre was sent, Tchaark was grouped with her, he stuck closely because she was the youngest of the group, and this was her first time down there. This is how they first crossed paths.
Monmartre was in a constant cycle of wanting him away from it because of how Tchaark could predict its behavior, something it hated more than anything. Yet she occasionally sought the non-hostility he'd offer, when she felt tired of being on alert so much, she knew Tchaark was reliable to be with, knowing it could settle for a moment. But the similarity they had would still cause aggression in Monmartre.
Tchaark could read what Monmartre was trying to achieve when it engaged in violent behavior with people of the colony, with strangers to even friends, because this was a behavior he used to do too in his youth. And Tchaark had the idea of being able to manage her and prevent what he believed was going to happen to Monmartre eventually.
The feeling of someone trying to lead her on a leash, even if the promised destination was not hostile, would drive Monmartre up the wall. She was so obsessed with having control over everything that even guidance, no matter the source of it, was rejected by her.
People in sulfur, Chèka, are all from different places and ethnic backgrounds, so their genders are not always easily categorisable, especially if they're from places with large influences from other species' standards (coughs, kyhuines). Maanuls have no sexual dimorphism, so their concept of genders is often role-based within community. However, we can group them by what their pronouns translate to.
For Tua, Meri'kn, On'maa, they all use she/her. Tchaark He/they, Ikinih They/them. For Uyonah and Omati, it's He/him.

For example of culture influencing pronouns: Monmartre is she/it because of how, by default, in Ayêsh, people are referred to as it until they age and work their way to basically obtain pronouns socially through being a member of the community. It ends up being seen as a pronoun that refers to youth, since children and teens are not eligible yet. Monmartre left home before it ever obtained those socially, so for most of its life, even during young adulthood, it is still referred to as it. Though you'll see me use it/she interchangeably, as it does obtain a title later in Mosaic that gets it referred to as she by others.

Thank you for reading