#y’all remember those autistic sokeefitz kid headcanons I did a while back?

[bookwyrminspiration]

tinker has always given me trans vibes too, but you are SO right about the nd vibes.

nonsie I would absolutely love to talk about this more thank you for giving me the opportunity

I can’t speak to other’s interpretations, but she gives me agender/literally couldn’t care less gender vibes, which is technically under the umbrella of trans. There may be binary trans vibes, but as I am not that I couldn’t tell you what to look for. To me Tinker seems like she’d ignore her gender and just view her body as a machine/think about it in terms of how it works. Don’t need a gender if your body is just completing a task.

As for the neurodivergent vibes, I just think she’s super autistic-coded. Like I look at her and go oh you’re autistic except from an outsiders perspective.

Most obvious trait: speaking in questions. Tell me, what part of “she just communicates a little different” (paraphrased) doesn’t scream autistic? /rh. The clock tower that looks like a clock tower but functions differently and you won’t understand without asking what the symbols mean/effort? Symbolic representation of autistic Tinker. You have to teach other people how to understand you when your brain works different, and then they can make the effort to interpret your signals based on the information you’ve given them. Like the clock tower!

Another one: her outburst/trembling at the mention of explosives. Something that seems minor but she starts yelling/being more assertive. Hello? Can’t regulate emotions and it comes out physically? She was reminded of something traumatic and started experiencing negative emotions, so she lost control of her volume and her body language was “dramatic” and she seemed angry. Autistic! She wasn’t throwing a temper tantrum or anything, she was expressing herself which can often be mixed up, especially from an outside perspective like Sophie.

Another one: a fondness for things others don’t appreciate. Like Sprocket, her gremlin. Dex asks why she keeps something so destructive around, and she appears to care for it—although she’s not affectionate with him the same way Sophie is with Iggy, it’s more of something you just recognize and can pick up on if you know how a brain like that works. Empathy and sympathy for real people can be difficult, but it can come more easily with animals and inanimate objects, perhaps like her assortment of mechanical creatures! (I would love some mechanical creatures to care for, sympathizing with real people is so much conscious effort :/)

Another one: she doesn’t socialize with people. Wraith is the only one who knows her identity, and I highly doubt she engages with literally anyone in the elven world. It’s so much easier and less stressful to have very few meaningful relationships, and neurotypicals seem to have a much broader idea of friendship than neurodivergents, which can make them hard to maintain. I bet if I hadn’t formed a meaningful friendship before I started unmasking I wouldn’t have any; interaction with others is just not worth it. And that seems to be Tinker’s mindset too. She has her method, her ways, she doesn’t need anyone or anything to add to it.

I could literally keep going I still have talking points but—

TL;DR: Tinker is autistic. Every way she’s written is like how nts view autistic people as quirky or out of place, but if you know what to look for you can understand her so clearly.

disclaimer: not every autistic person is the same. These traits are not what make someone autistic, but they can be common/relatable experiences. If you think you’re autistic, great! I bet it might explain a lot of things from your childhood/life that always felt out of place. There are plenty of resources online to use for research! This just isn’t one of them <3 ( this is all positive and non judgmental, don’t worry)