Question Tennyo: Shy or Asexual?

As a person that has friends that are asexual, I wonder if the intention is that she be an unrealized asexual. According to the definition, an asexual is:
asexual
adjective
1 without sexual feelings or associations: she rested her hand on the back of his head, in a maternal, wholly asexual, gesture.
2 Biology (of reproduction) not involving the fusion of gametes.
• without sex or sexual organs: asexual parasites.
noun
a person who has no sexual feelings or desires.

I'm not suggesting the " lacking sexual organs" definition, obviously... however I think there is a case for her lacking the feelings or desires.
She has male friends, but is not interested in romantic relationships. This could be that she is shy about such things, or that she has no interest.

If you look at her relationship with Harry, it was more of a platonic friendship, and when a romantic rival appeared, she stepped aside. Similarly, her date with Jericho, she had fun, but realized she wasn't interested in romance, and she politely friend-zoned him.

I thought that we had received an "official answer" but it doesn't seem so.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/forum/review-session-concepts/1332-asexuality?limitstart=0

On the other hand, regarding jericho it's the other way around.

Somehow I just knew nothing was going to come of all this and I couldn’t help feeling a bit sad but I was determined to get something more out of it while it was still going. Pulling myself tight to him I put a much slower and softer kiss on his lips. I was a lot stronger than him so it wasn’t like he could get away and he had enough sense not to make a scene. When I was done I pulled away reluctantly. I never would’ve believed how thrilling something like that could be. I was starting to see what the others were so worked up about but even as I thought about it I couldn’t ignore that feeling of sadness either.

Standing a few feet from him with my head down I gave a short bow. “Maybe we can do this again sometime?”

He seemed embarrassed by the question. He even scratched his head a bit. “Uh… Well… I’m pretty busy most of the time.”

Keeping my head down and my hands together in front of me I bowed again. “Oh. Okay. I… I won’t bother you then. Thank you again.”

With that I turned around and walked slowly back to the door. I ignored his “But…” and the snort and sub-vocal “Idiot” that came from behind him. I didn’t chance looking back to see what he and the others were doing.

Yay someone else brought up asexuality. ( We have an entire thread dedicated to the topic of asexual characters and how they would be handled by the school if you want to check it out )

As for Tennyo, I think we can actually make a case for the lack of reproductive capabilities. The destroyer is a construct designed to kill and feed off of GOOs that was around for millenia before Tennyo took her on.

Who says whoever designed her gave her the ability to reproduce? Sure they were human-like and perverted enough to make her look like a supermodel but that doesn't mean she has the ability to bear children.

We quite frankly just don't know enough about her biology to say whether or she would have those organs.

That being said I lean towards her not having sexual desires as the real answer. (Not just for hopeful representation). Her relationship with Techwolf is a great example, she clearly feels some form of attraction towards him but never expresses sexual desire (this could just be her getting used to her new body) and gives up quite easily when confronted with someone else wanting to date him. She says something along the lines of "you would make a better girlfriend than me anyway."

That sentiment could mean a lot of things but you could choose to interpret it as: "I'm not going to have sex with him, we are teenagers, boys want that, I'm no good to him as a girlfriend."

…addmiteddly that is convoluted but you get the jist of what I am saying you could interpret her as saying.

Jarjaross wrote: Yay someone else brought up asexuality. ( We have an entire thread dedicated to the topic of asexual characters and how they would be handled by the school if you want to check it out )

As for Tennyo, I think we can actually make a case for the lack of reproductive capabilities. The destroyer is a construct designed to kill and feed off of GOOs that was around for millenia before Tennyo took her on.

Who says whoever designed her gave her the ability to reproduce? Sure they were human-like and perverted enough to make her look like a supermodel but that doesn't mean she has the ability to bear children.

We quite frankly just don't know enough about her biology to say whether or she would have those organs.

That being said I lean towards her not having sexual desires as the real answer. (Not just for hopeful representation). Her relationship with Techwolf is a great example, she clearly feels some form of attraction towards him but never expresses sexual desire (this could just be her getting used to her new body) and gives up quite easily when confronted with someone else wanting to date him. She says something along the lines of "you would make a better girlfriend than me anyway."

That sentiment could mean a lot of things but you could choose to interpret it as: "I'm not going to have sex with him, we are teenagers, boys want that, I'm no good to him as a girlfriend."

…addmiteddly that is convoluted but you get the jist of what I am saying you could interpret her as saying.

There is also the question "what can she reproduce with?" her fluids tend to at least evaporate in seconds, but typically are more violent than that, and well saying either case would be "uncomfortable" is a major understatement.

I'd love to see some of that discssed/addressed by you/Jericho.

Jarjaross wrote:
As for Tennyo, I think we can actually make a case for the lack of reproductive capabilities. The destroyer is a construct designed to kill and feed off of GOOs that was around for millenia before Tennyo took her on.

Who says whoever designed her gave her the ability to reproduce? Sure they were human-like and perverted enough to make her look like a supermodel but that doesn't mean she has the ability to bear children.

We quite frankly just don't know enough about her biology to say whether or she would have those organs.

As a fan fic author, who touches one of their characters in this light of a being much like tennyo

the reason I remember that tennyo looks like she does , was her bother imprinted that on her when she grasped the 'the destroyer'
But soon enough I am sure, she will learn to look anyway she wants too or any sex or shape of being?

as for sex?
a high order being can just "will" it into being and mold it with a little "dash" of their mate and call it their kid---ohhh joy!
Much like Sara already did with her first mate Donna Bell

Tennyo is... odd. Complicated. She seemingly adapted to seeing herself as female pretty quickly. She enjoyed the flirty game of "making Hank's head spin" she and Fey made on the train, so she doesn't seem to have any hangups regarding that.
And she seemed pretty attached to Techwolf, and got pretty disappointed when he sorta-dumped her for Hexette. Also, she enjoyed her date with Jericho.
But. How much of this was craving for social "normalcy", how much was it non-sexual affection, and how much was it sexual attraction? Hard to tell.

Regarding her reaction to being dumped by Techwolfe... well, despite her really scary powers, Billie is a nice kid at heart. She wasn't really dating Harry, so she had no real claim on him. And Hexette is her friend too. She did her best to fake being happy for them.

As for the "she would be a better girlfriend" thing, remember that this was pretty early in the school year; Billie had been a girl for just a few months. So, despite her already having a female self-image, she still had insecurities regarding being a "fake" girl, unworthy to compete with "real" girls like Hexette. It doesn't matter that she had had periods already; that's how she felt.

I've often felt that some of Billie's reactions to things seem a bit... off. There's a scene when she removes a large chunk of antimatter from it's containment and plays with it for a bit before putting it back, and doesn't seem to understand why the scientists with her spend the time freaking out. And she never really seems to care one way or another about her sex change. Both of which (especially the second) are within the normal range of human interaction of course, but it makes me wonder.

Christmas Elves wrote: Regenerative cells are different from human cells, and as the ranking increases, the differences increase. On a cellular level, a “regen 7” is as different from a human as something like Fubar, the monster in the basement of Hawthorne cottage, appears different from a baseline human. Fubar appears different on the surface, no matter how human his emotions and soul may be. Conversely a regen-7 might appear to be human on the outside, but you could chop one up, grind them into bits, and they would still regrow and heal with no evident harm (aside from, perhaps, some short-term memory loss). Their cells are very much not human.

I think that Tennyo's mutation has affected her mentally to a much higher degree than anybody has realized. Just like her regenerator body, her mental processes seem to be the same as before but beneath the surface they have actually changed a great deal. I don't know what this would mean for her sexuality, but leaves me inclined towards her being ace.

She had a period in Tennyo1, but has she had any others? Having them seems to make her biology more human than expected.

Malady wrote: She had a period in Tennyo1, but has she had any others? Having them seems to make her biology more human than expected.

I remember that?

But is it 'real' or like Sara, when she fakes breathing to blend in better with others?

Not that this actually answers any of the questions, but I think in a lot of ways Tennyo is the hardest character for the Cabal (TINCC) to figure out how to work with now that Starwolf is gone. We still have Bek and Maggie giving some feedback even if they're not writing the characters, and Ayla and Jade have been developed enough that it's possible to show their public personas even if nobody wants to use them as POV characters. It's much harder to figure out what to do with Tennyo, given that she was always meant to be a bit of a mystery.

Note: I haven't actually discussed this with TINCC, it's just my impression. If I'm off-base I'm sure the writers will correct me.

I think the answer is Tennyo's sexuality is what ever she wants it to be. Cause who is strong enough to tell her otherwise?

lighttech wrote:

Malady wrote: She had a period in Tennyo1, but has she had any others? Having them seems to make her biology more human than expected.

I remember that?

But is it 'real' or like Sara, when she fakes breathing to blend in better with others?

Back in Tennyo 1 and even later she was still mostly human.

NJM1564 wrote: I think the answer is Tennyo's sexuality is what ever she wants it to be. Cause who is strong enough to tell her otherwise?

First of all everyone's sexuality is what it is, no one has a choice in the matter.

Secondly no one should be allowed to ascribe sexuality to anyone anyone else.

Though I do agree that disputing anything she says on the matter would be rather dfficult.

Jarjaross wrote:

NJM1564 wrote: I think the answer is Tennyo's sexuality is what ever she wants it to be. Cause who is strong enough to tell her otherwise?

First of all everyone's sexuality is what it is, no one has a choice in the matter.

But what you make of your sexuality is almost as important (or possibly more so) than what your sexuality is.

That caveat aside, I agree with you completely.


As a side note, I really wanted to use the Phantom Tollbooth quote "It is more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be", but it doesn't quite fit. It never quite fits, which is quite irritating because it's a great quote.

I wonder how she would react to someone who looks just like Tenchi Muyo...
I know we can give her danny. She would chase all the others off for him. Nah I still want him to hook up with the pink haired girl.

lighttech wrote:

Malady wrote: She had a period in Tennyo1, but has she had any others? Having them seems to make her biology more human than expected.

I remember that?

But is it 'real' or like Sara, when she fakes breathing to blend in better with others?

Definitely more like Sara, now, Initially, her metabolism was pretty close to human, but in her conversation with Chou in "Parent's Day" she stated that she no longer needs to breathe, eliminate wastes, sleep, or eat (despite her appetite, which is more a drive to consume demons than a need for food - hence the inability to feel satisfied from eating). She is shown being able to traverse hard vacuum in several stories, and in "Tennyo's Easter" works in a hard-radiation area in an unsealed asteroid mine for at least a few hours.

However, she does seem to have a desire, and probably a psychological need, for human companionship, though her emotional reactions are not quite human-normative. Similar, but not quite - there's something 'off' with them, which may be a reflection of the differences between humans and Isokist (presumably, the one who created The Destroyer gave it at least some behavioral qualities similar to their own, even if it wasn't intentional). While the Scourge was designed to have no emotions, it does seem to at least imitate them in places, and may have had some, simply because sentient beings still need biological urges to continue working towards their own survival (the classic "Buridan's dog" argument applies here).

Jarjaross wrote: Who says whoever designed her gave her the ability to reproduce? Sure they were human-like and perverted enough to make her look like a supermodel but that doesn't mean she has the ability to bear children.

Actually, I am guessing that, given the parallels already seen, the Destroyer's creator was mostly likely the Isokist equivalent of a female - in other words, an analog to Washu Now IIRC, Washu chose that form in part as a sort of wish-fulfillment - while she was a goddess of sorts (equal to Tsunami) she didn't have a lot of the physical power her 'sisters' had - but mainly because she was using herself as the gene donor, which is why there are some resemblances (not many, but some) between her a Ryoko. Mind you, I used this idea in one of my very first micros, so I am biased on this, but still.

However, the reproduction issue still stands. She's reportedly no more human inside than Eldritch is - they were both described as having internal GSD (from a human POV) comparable to Fubar's external GSD (again, using the term loosely and human-relative).

IRT Foob, I am not actually convinced that the resemblance to a Star Spawn is just superficial. The fact that he developed gills rather than losing the need to respire entirely may indicate that the process hasn't run its course, and may take decades or even centuries to complete.

I think confused describes Tennyo more than asexual. After that I read her as shy. But confused is probably the emotion that she is dealing with the most. She is accepting of the idea that she is female, but she's not sure if she should like boys or girls. She seems at least somewhat attracted to boys, and not so much so to girls, at least we don't see her mentioning showering with the other hot exemplar girls the way we do Ayla, Then again, Ayla is a boy, with typical 14YO boy issues. And at that age a boy seeing any girl in the all in all is going to have one reaction. His rocket is going to prepare for launch... Girls? Maybe they have the same reaction to boys, and societally we simply teach them to sublimate it? I don't know. I just know that you can't miss the reaction a boy has to the object of his sexual desire.

As inhuman as Tennyo is, she's the one that felt the most relatable to me during my first time reading. I think part of it has to do with the fact that her powers drastically overshadowed her gender change. She largely seems to have ignored her gender change.

According to the Original Concepts page on the wiki, one backstory had the Destroyer essentially genderless before adopting a femine form in silent rebellion.There are other possible backstories on that age and who knows at this point whether they're still accurate?