Ivo's confidence is always seeming to be wavering, they have so much inner conflict about self worth and success, and it seems there's some patterns linked with how they're presenting their gender at the time. Perhaps my speculation could be off but it seems like they show more confidence when they're presenting femme rather than masc, was that intentional? Or does that tread into spoiler territory? :0
That’s a great question! I think there’s definitely a difference in how Ivo presenting male and Ivo presenting female expresses emotions. When she’s female everything is a little more external: from her insecurities to her confidence. When he’s male, everything gets a little more internal, more defensive/protective: insecurities get less open; confidence is more quiet and wry. This wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision so much as what felt natural for the character, that Ivo’s same personality traits are expressed differently depending on how s/he’s presenting, although not exclusively. I think, subconsciously, I write female Ivo as someone who feels more comfortable being open about wanting to be a grand diva; male Ivo, meanwhile, still wants that, but doesn’t emphasize those parts of his personality as much as female Ivo feels licence to. Ultimately there’s bleed over, though, and no rule is exclusive, because Ivo is a person and not a lightswitch–Ivo is still IVO no matter how s/he’s presenting.
–Lin
P.S. This is Alex chiming in - we haven’t actually discussed this properly until now, but this question is super interesting and got us talking, and we ended up having slightly different, yet compatible answers (which I think is pretty neat)! The way I see it, Ivo being afab (assigned female at birth) means that overall, she’s more practiced and a bit more confident when presenting as a woman. I would assume presenting male is more of a recent development, and therefore it might not be as easygoing and comfortable for him, and why he tends to present female for the more important missions/events/auditions in his life right now. Hope that makes sense!
–Alex
