Characterization of Leandra

Homework for workshop 1, part 1.  

          Jimena knows Leandra, of course she does. Leandra’s an introvert and kind of a loner, so not many people know her, but Jimena knows that Leandra’s clever in a practical kind of way, and motivated, and she’s got kind of a smart mouth on her if she feels comfortable. She’s kind of masculine, for a girl, she wears way loose clothes, T-shirts, hoodies, and shorts or pants, but she’s still Jimena’s best friend. She loves Spanish, loves it almost like it’s her native language and not Jimena’s, gets down to the linguistics and stuff that most native speakers never even know, it’s kept them together. She even pronounces her name lay-an-dra like it’d be according to Spanish pronunciation rules. Feminist? Nah, for all that she dresses like one, Leandra’s no crazy feminist. Secretive? You could say that, but it’s really just that she’s a private person.

         Nadie doesn’t know Leandra. The person you’re talking about goes by Casey now. Isn’t he Leo? No, you’ve got dated information, that was a few months ago, after they stopped using she pronouns and ‘Leandra’, and tried out he pronouns. Casey uses they pronouns now. Yes, Nadie’s sure. Nadie knows Casey. Casey’s agender. That means just what it sounds like, no gender. Casey’s pansexual, can be attracted to anyone. Why? What’s Casey like? They’re shy, desperately shy about their body and other peoples’, and with feelings. Stick to feminism, or robotics, or somewhere else that’s strong territory for them, they’ll sass you so subtly a lot of the time most people can’t even tell they’re being sassed. They’re even capable of flirting, as long as that’s as far as it goes, then they clam right up. No, where’d you get that idea? Casey’s a feminist. Well, Casey would be a feminist if they understood what feminism really is. Casey’s good at that stuff. Feelings, though? They’re a cutter, you know, have been for a long time. Can you blame them? All that pain, maybe because it took Casey so long to figure out they’re transgender, but a lot of it has to do with how Casey’s best friend and their very language don’t deal with more than two genders well.