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“Uhh, Ivy? I’m kind of bleeding.”
Ivy jumps up, dropping whatever gadget she was fiddling with onto the coffee table and assuming a sloppy defensive pose. Carmen tuts, walking forward and adjusting Ivy’s elbows with a careful hand.
“Carmen?! You’re bleeding?!”
Carmen rolls her eyes, “I got my period.”
Ivy drops the pose, rolling her eyes. “Why didn’t you just say so. There’s ice cream in the fridge and chocolate in the– uh– secret stash,” she says, offering a wink.
Carmen shakes her head, “I got no pads.”
Ivy frowns, pushing past her into the open door of her room. She steps into her adjoining bathroom, digging around in the cupboard. She finds a box of tampons, offering them to Carmen, but she shakes her head. Ivy digs around a bit more but only manages to find a box of liners and an empty box of pads. She throws the liners at Carmen and offers her a miffed smile.
“Sorry, that’s all I got.”
Carmen frowns, “I’m not going to the store right now.”
Ivy shakes her head, folding up the box and shoving it in the bathroom recycling bin. She stands, dusting off her skirts. “I feel ya, girl. Why don’t you ask Player?”
Carmen would facepalm if she wasn’t a dignified and sophisticated individual. “I’ll ask Player!”
Ivy follows her as Carmen knocks on Player’s door, waiting for his reply before opening it slightly. Player looks away from his computers as they enter. He has his monitors and laptop and other gadgets all set up in his new room now, casting a blue light over his drastically darkened room.
“Hey guys. What’s up?”
Carmen strides past him and pulls open the curtains, letting light flood into Player’s ‘dark little cave’. He winces, cringing away from the sunlight.
“Noo, don’t open the curtains, I’ll disintegrate!”
Carmen shakes her head, “You need to let more light in. You’ll shrivel up and die in here if you just stay on your computers all day and night with no sunlight.”
Player shakes his head, “I’m fineee . What do you guys need?”
“We’ve run out of pads,” Ivy says, slamming her hand on the desk, “We’re raiding your supply.”
Player flops back in his chair, pushing it back and standing up. He ducks into his bathroom, grabbing a box from the cupboard. It’s mostly covered in black marker, Ivy having blacked out anything that said anything remotely feminine to ease Player’s dysphoria. The positive womanly messages were great for Carmen and Ivy, but not so much for their transgender little brother.
Player shakes around the box a bit, frowning. There is a rattling noise. He opens it up and looks inside.
There is one pad in the box. “Shit. One left, ladies. One left,” he shakes his head, “It is a sad day for menstruation-kind. We’re gonna have to fight over it.”
Carmen’s eyes widen, “You need it?”
Player nods sadly.
Ivy folds her arms. “That’s alright. Player, can Carmen have this one if we get more?”
Player nods.
“Right, then we’ll just get more.”
Player grins, “Looks like we won’t have to go full Hunger Games over the pads today. Good old Ivy, ever the mediator.”
Carmen raises an eyebrow and Ivy only laughs, grabbing the box and pushing it into Carmen’s arms, “It’s yours.”
After Carmen sorts herself out she flops onto the sofa. Player takes a seat next to Carmen, handing her a bar of dark chocolate. She takes it. “Well, I’m still not going to the store. One of you will have to go.”
“I’m busyy ,” whines Ivy, flopping back onto the carpet with her little gadget still in her hand, “Shadowsan can go!”
Their heads all turn to Shadowsan.
“I am busy too,” he says, conveniently pulling out a notebook and starting to scribble frantically in it. “Player is a big boy now. He can go.”
“Hey, I’m not going either. I’m on my period too, y’know.”
Zack frowns, “Too much information, Player.”
The two girl’s heads whip around to face him. Zack turns slightly red. “I– I meant– uh–”
Player giggles, “Oh, you’re about to get the lecture, Zack.”
Ivy offers her brother a scowl. “Why exactly is it ‘too much information’, Zack.”
“I don’t know– I mean, I just–”
Ivy shakes her head, putting another piece of chocolate in her mouth. “Talking about periods isn’t ‘too much information’, Zack. It’s a normal bodily function.”
“Yeah,” agrees Carmen, “And every time we talk about periods, it breaks down the stigma that surrounds talking about them in society.”
“Stigma? Isn’t that part of a plant?”
Ivy hits Zack lightly on the back of the head. “No, you doofus. In this case it means that something’s taboo or isn’t talked about.”
Player laughs, “Zack, period blood isn’t gross either. Okay it’s… maybe a little gross, but humans are gross. That doesn’t mean that it’s dirty, or a curse. It’s not a bad thing to have periods. Periods mean that menstruating people’s bodies are healthy.”
Carmen ruffles Player’s hair. “I have taught you well, young student.” Player blushes, batting her hand away.
Zack nods, “I understand. Maybe. Perhaps. I’m getting there.”
Ivy nods, eyes narrowed. “Well, it seems we’ve found our victim either way.”
Zack laughs nervously, “...w-what?”
“Our victim,” Carmen tells him, throwing a tote bag at his head. He fumbles to catch it. “You’re going to the store. Let’s call it penance for your ignorance.”
Zack groans, picking up the bag and turning to the door. He grabs his coat, pulling it hastily on. “I can only blame myself, I suppose.”
Player laughs again, resting his head on Carmen’s shoulder as Zack pulls open the front door. He pats the space on the sofa next to him, gesturing to Shadowsan, “Come sit down!”
Shadowsan tentatively takes a seat next to the boy, relaxing slightly into the sofa. Player peers over his shoulder, trying to catch a look at whatever he was writing. He lets out a laugh when he sees the notebook.
“Shadowsan, you weren’t even writing anything, these are just drawings!”
The man nods solemnly, turning the page slightly so the kid can see. He points at a crudely drawn figure. “This is Zack. Then this is Carmen, Ivy, and you.”
“Why do I have no arms?”
Shadowshan frowns, “I have not drawn it yet!” He turns to Ivy. “The insolence !”
Ivy isn’t listening though, because the room has descended into laughter. Shadowsan shrugs. The laughter isn’t so bad, really.