#and Helly’s so good at taking what she’s found out and putting it into actionable plan

[roots-symphony]

honestly Lumon is extremely lucky that Devon and Helly have no way to meet (so far) and Devon would never get severed because they would not survive a Devon/Helly team-up, like they’d be decimated so fast

[menstruatingfanfiction]

A Disturbing Discovery

“Here we go again” thought Helly finding herself in the elevator again, as every morning. Every morning, she thought, while realizing that she didn’t know what “morning” actually looked like. Neither the knew what “night” looked like. It felt like something you would remember from watching it in a movie, like something someone told you once, but not really something you experienced. She tried not to think about how innies didn’t really know about the real world.

She wasn’t feeling as good as other days, but it was probably the nightmarish workplace. Plus, she was still sore from her attempted suicide. Most days, if you could call them that, she barely felt it but it was still there. Against herself, she was starting to enjoy her colleague’s company while avoiding work as much as possible. Still, what did her outtie ate? Her stomach wasn’t feeling that good.

First thing she did after greeting everyone was to go to the toilet. She was really uncomfortable. As she sat down, she found blood in her underwear and it scared her. What the fuck had happened to her outtie and why did she decide to come to work? Was she taking revenge on her actions? She noticed her underwear was actually covered by something. Her outtie had sticked something to the underwear to hold the blood. In the fear, she began feeling confusion. Again, it was like something she was supposed to know, like someone would have told her, like she would have experienced it and yet it wasn’t really there.

She decided to touch the wound. What a weird wound that kept on bleeding, no wonder it had to be covered. She noted her outtie shaved that part, she hadn’t really consider that all the other times she went to the toilet. Very carefully, still very scared and a bit ashamed, she kept looking for the wound without looking, just with the tips of her fingers. There was a hole. Quite a big hole and the blood apparently came from it. She didn’t dare to look and took her fingers out quickly. She was breathing agitatedly and couldn’t control it. Her fingers were covered in bright red blood. What the fuck did her outtie do?

She heard the door opening and heard a voice. “Everything okay?” It was Mark. “Eehmm… Give me a minute”. She didn’t know why but she was ashamed, what was she going to tell them? How could she explain it? And yet, she had to. Her outtie was taking revenge, there was no doubt. She left, washed her hands and tried to not look so scared. She didn’t succeed.

As she left, she told them: “I don’t know what she did, but she made me come to work bleeding”. The three of them were shocked! What? Where? “You look alright, where is the wound? What have you seen?” “She does look paler than usual”. “Here” she replied pointing at her vulva. “It doesn’t look like you are bleeding, it looks alright” Irv said. “But I am! She put some gauze or something there, that’s why it doesn’t come out”. “Let us see, maybe we can help you”.

She felt really embarrassed, and again she didn’t know why. Again the feeling like there was something she was supposed to know but she didn’t. But maybe they knew, maybe they also had had similar wounds, they had been here for longer. And if it was something they weren’t supposed to know, all the more important it was to share it! “Let’s go to the toilet”

“Yeah, alright I don’t look like that there” “Me neither” “Nor me”. And they showed her and now she was pissed off. Did her outtie cut that part and that was the reason it was bleeding? Was that even possible? Shouldn’t she be in the hospital? “Well, we don’t know the whole story, maybe Milchick can tell you something, it seems unlikely, but at the same time, you don’t look like we do. And it’s shaven too… Why would she do that if it weren’t for medical reasons?”

Helly was extremely angry by now but she couldn’t really do anything. Her energy fell low and she was tired and hungry. She was craving chips and there weren’t that many in the break room. There weren’t pills of any sort either, not that she actually knew what she needed for this. What if it got infected? It would eventually get full of blood and then what? Who was going to change it? The more she thought about, the angrier she was. She was going to find Milchick.

As she was about to storm the working station to go find him, he entered the room. Always cheerful, with that smile of his, to check on them. She hated him. Before he could say whatever it is he came to say, she stopped him and pushed him. “What did she do? Why didn’t you tell me?” He was confused and surprised and looked at the rest of the team for reference but they were of no help. “What? Who did what?” “She cut her member and now I’m bleeding” “What member?”

It took a while for Milchick to be able to calm Helly down enough so that he could actually explain. They usually had a video programmed, in accordance with their outties, to show when this event happened. She didn’t cut any body part at all, it was all a natural thing that happened to women. The confusion in the room was general and Milchick understood that, this time, he would have to play the video for the four of them, contrary to Lumon regulations.

The video, very colourful and child-like, looked a bit like a pixel videogame and explained what “menstruation” was and how did it affect team-members and their productivity. Apparently, they could be hungrier, more tired or more sensitive than usual for some time every month. As such, it was Lumon policy to allow them to take more breaks. Also, they would receive extra coins to get food from the machine. When the video was over, some things were clearer but many others weren’t, such as why did “menstruation” happen to some people only, or why did her team-members didn’t have a vulva.

Milchick didn’t reply to these questions but distracted them to show where in the bathroom were stocked the “menstrual pads”. Helly could take up to three every day for as long as she bleeded. “How long does this last?” “That, I cannot tell. Your outtie didn’t mention it and so we don’t have reference for it. It’s usually some days.” “Some days? A week is some days. A month is some days too. What did she tell you?” “Not much. She wasn’t comfortable discussing this. I’m sorry, but you have got to go back to work” He said with his cheerful smile, always kind.

The boys decided to let Helly R not work if she didn’t want to for as long as it lasted. None of them knew what questions to ask or how to deal with this. It was the first time either of them worked with a woman and so, they didn’t have reference from previous experiences. Helly was confused, sad and disappointed but she also didn’t feel like fighting.

The next day, she found herself carrying a bag. In the bag, there were some of those “menstrual pads”, some pills and some chocolate. Her outtie had compassion for her apparently, maybe Milchick had spoken to her after all. At her desk, there was a small piece of paper with the instruction “Take 1 pill per day while it lasts”.

Before she realized, she was back to normal, not bleeding anymore, not feeling tired or in pain. She almost forgot the whole thing, except that she kept checking her vulva to see how the wound evolved. The hole was still there, sometimes her outtie was clean shaven, sometimes it was itchy. Helly wondered what it would look like if not shaven, the boys had way more hair, maybe hers would be like that too. There were other things too, around the hole itself but, again, she felt like she should know what it was but was terribly embarrassed whenever she thought about it, terribly ashamed whenever she touched it. Little by little, she stopped investigating, and only wondered when would the next time be occasionally.