#[ noland ▪︎ headcanons. ]

[insectify-a]

PUBLIC INFORMATION. entirely public knowledge that, if not immediately obvious, can easily be gleaned from a casual conversation with him.

Bug lover! He's the one who insists on scooping spiders up and letting them outside as opposed to crushing them - the one who gets a bit easily distracted mid conversation if he sees a bug climbing on the edge of the table.

He's the one who lives on the edge of town, in that 'little old lab' by the wetlands ; really, it's an old park ranger's station that he's converted into a home and lab for himself.

Temperature sensitive! The slightest chill outside will cause Noland to show up bundled in one or two too many layers. Definitely prefers warmer weather to cool.

Dreamed of being a museum curator growing up.

Has a creative touch - he says if it wasn't for his interest in science, "I'd likely have ended up as some sort of sculptor or something."

Apparent history of many surgical procedures ; there are clean scars on his throat, surgical scars up his arms... even if he hasn't spoken about it explicitly, it's obvious to the observant that he has a lengthy medical history.

Well organized! He's the guy who always has a pen on him, who never forgets his keys anywhere...

His sleep habits aren't the greatest.

Loves cheesy 80's and 90's horror movies and monster flicks - catch him checking out old rentals from the library every Friday night!

SEMI-PUBLIC INFORMATION. For the rare acquaintances he makes.

No contact with his family. He's vague on the reason why - "Not as if they'd be all too excited to hear back from me, anyways."

Trans status ; he's relatively stealth for a reason!

Bug status ; something he hides from public eye to avoid drawing attention to himself, as much as he wishes that he were in a world that was accepting of his so-called perfect form. He doesn't tend to make many acquaintances, so he keeps it quiet unless he thinks this is someone he'll be sticking with long-term. If someone will be hanging out with him for long periods of time in his domicile, well, he doesn't want to have to keep his wings bound the whole time...

A bit of a cynic, anyone who gets into deeper conversations with him will find that he's got quite a bit of a distaste for humanity as a whole.

He did all those surgeries on himself!

No spice tolerance — it disappeared when he got Bugged :(

Former smoker.

PRIVATE INFORMATION. Information held close to his chest.

He believes himself to be the beginning of "the perfect specimen" ; he's obsessed with the idea of nature's perfection, and ever since his college accident, he believes that his very being is as close to the perfect specimen as the world will ever see. Thinks quite highly of himself, clearly!

He doesn't consider himself human ; while he'll refer to himself as such in polite company if the context calls for it, he'd much rather refer to himself simply as a dragonfly.

He's not actually a dragonfly :( he was fused with a species of extinct griffinfly that leans genetically closer to a damselfly than a dragonfly. He won't admit it, though!

[insectify-a]

HAPPY SUNDAY?

93% Switch

87% Exhibitionist

81% Primal (Hunter)

77% Sadist

76% Dominant

69% Rigger

68% Masochist

66% Experimentalist

62% Submissive

62% Brat tamer

60% Pet

57% Owner

54% Rope bunny

48% Brat

48% Voyeur

45% Master/Mistress

45% Vanilla

40% Degrader

15% Slave

15% Ageplayer

13% Degradee

11% Non-monogamist

8% Daddy/Mommy

0% Little

0% Primal (Prey)

[insectify-a]

NOLAND IS... A BIT OF A SKEPTIC!

Yes, yes, he knows -- he's one to talk.

But when he has someone murmur to him that they thought he was a fae the first time they'd stumbled upon him sunning himself, or hears someone lend the idea of vampires or werewolves being real... He views it as, frankly, stupid -- as flattered as he may be at being viewed as a mythical creature renowned for it's beauty, that is!

There is nothing proving the existence of the supernatural. The fact that your mind went to him being a commonly-spoken-of mythical creature that has featured in stories and media for centuries as opposed to a human merged with an extinct species of dragonfly which nobody has ever heard of before... Pssh, completely nonsensical, of course!

Noland himself? Oh, there is plenty of scientific evidence of Noland's existence. For starters, he's right there in front of you, plain as day! He'll happily sit you down and show you the research papers he's done on himself, the slide presentations about different aspects of his insectoid form. Surgical photos of the peculiar organs that have developed inside of his body.

"I can be explained by science," he'll say, completely dismissing any so-called 'quacky' evidence of vampires existing -- he's sure that diagrams of his wing venation prove as more concrete evidence than some old folk tales of some guy from 1805 saying he saw someone who looked a bit scary.

To Noland, anything supernatural is simply someone else misunderstanding something. It's not a werewolf you saw, it was a malnourished bear. It wasn't a ghost that slammed that door in this still room, it was the air currents caused by a subtle draft near the window. That wasn't a vampire hunched over the edge of your bed, that was simply the symptoms of sleep paralysis.

And yes, it wasn't a fae you saw sunning himself at the pond -- it was simply a man who had accidentally fused himself with an insect. Perfectly explainable!

[insectify-a]

ON PERSONAL TERMINOLOGY, GENDERED TERMINOLOGY, & SELF IDENTIFICATION...

YES...

Masculine terms; man, guy, male — yes.

Bug, specimen, insect, dragonfly — these are the terms he strongly prefers to refer to himself with! Make his little buggy heart melt by calling him an insect.

Griffinfly, meganeura monyi — you paid enough attention to his little rambles to know exactly what he is. He loves you now, by the way. Not typically what he refers to himself as socially, given the terms do flow off the tongue a bit clumsily, BUT he'll happily take someone else calling him such.

Age-related comments — boy, gramps, old man, comments referring to his age. Despite being chronologically 27, he experiences no dysmorphia or other disconnect when his physical age doesn't line up. He'll take being called an old man, but expect a playfully snarky response back.

Queen — interestingly enough, if he were to be royalty, he would view himself as a queen over a king ; for it is the queen which rules over a hive of insects, and he associates the term more with leadership and power than femininity. It's not a gendered term in his mind. He can, uh, yes queen slay, as the kids these days say?

MAYBE...

Person, human — he acknowledges he is half-human at his base, but socially he doesn't much identify with the term. In public settings when he's human-moding, sure, he'll call himself a human, but he's bristling the whole time. He's not a person, he's a bug! If you are a trusted friend of his, in private settings, then he expects you to refer to him as an insect over a human.

Damselfly — technically more accurate than dragonfly, yes, but he does get a little bit deflated when he's called such. It doesn't sound quite as cool as dragonfly...

They/them pronouns — he'll accept them, but not what he prefers. They feel a tad othering to him. He supposes that technically his body is comprised of two living beings, so in scientific contexts discussing the interactions between his human and insect half, he wouldn't mind if 'they' is used to explicitly refer to both halves at the same time... But outside of that context, he isn't a fan.

Female — while Noland does view himself as wholly male, in scientific contexts exclusively, when relevant he will indicate that his physical body is that of a genetically female homo sapiens combined with a specimen of a male meganeura monyi. Should someone else refer to him as female, however, he'll correct them with man, not female.

Girl — in joking contexts, he's fine to be a girlboss.

NO...

Woman — never ever.

WHEN HE DISCUSSES HIS PRE-TRANSITION SELF, he does refer to himself in the feminine. That he was once just some little girl who, it turned out, wasn't much of a girl at all. Looking at himself in the past, he doesn't consider himself to have 'always been a man deep inside', and while it gets a bit muddy into his later teenage years, before a certain point he does just view that past self as strictly a girl. Noland doesn't get distressed if other people refer to him in the feminine should they be discussing his past, either.

WHEN HE DISCUSSES HIS OWN ANATOMY, he does prefer using what he deems as anatomically correct language for himself, especially if he's getting to talk about all the little changes he's made to his body...

While his chest is his chest, when he refers to it before he gave himself top surgery, he will speak of his breasts. Doesn't really like using the word tits for himself.

No fancy terms or euphemisms for his uterus ; he refers to it pretty plainly. Once or twice he'll speak of it as that damned thing in the jar on the shelf, but more out of humour than a desire to avoid the term.

When it comes to his ovipositor, he has never really been keen on the terms cock, dick, penis when referring to it. He doesn't mind if others refer to it like that, but to him he feels more confident referring to it simply as his ovipositor! Or bug bits. Bug parts. Anatomy. Genetically modified egg-laying organ, if he wants to speak a mouthful. He doesn't get dysphoric discussing the actual goings-on down there, and if someone shows genuine interest and isn't just asking to gawk, he has no problems discussing how it's a modification of his vaginal anatomy.

Vagina is... fine? Technically correct, he supposes. He's not keen on the words pussy or cunt though when referring to his genital anatomy, less due to dysphoria reasons and more because they just sound a bit immature and unprofessional to him :(