#menstrual cup where to buy

[nerdykeppie]

Holiday Shopping that fights period poverty for college students? Yep! Read on. :)

After the success of our June/Pride 2024 sales goal, where we managed to eliminate a lot of the debt we accumulated while I was unable to work earlier this year & stock up cash so we didn't have to borrow for payroll during the fall lull and also donate to @queerliblib, we were considering where to focus on this year when a conversation I had with my mom pointed me in the direction of our charity for Holidays 2024: the East Stroudsburg University Warrior Food Pantry, and specifically, stocking menstrual products at the pantry.

Without getting too much into the weeds about the details - which I'll talk about under the cut for those of you who are interested - here's the pitch: we need to hit a gross sales goal of $45K in December in order to pay our bills and payroll basically until Pride starts up. Businesses like ours are very much feast or famine, and we've got to eat and we've got people whose paychecks depend on us having the cash to pay them.

If we hit that goal, we'll donate the equivalent of 1% of our net profit from the month of December in period products -- tampons and pads, specifically, by request of the food pantry, and possibly reusable pads and menstrual cups, if the pantry wants that from us. (At the end of the day, this is about taking care of people the way they need, and we'll listen to the pantry staff about what people are requesting.)

We've currently got our Bottoms & Tops sale going, too, so you can buy 2 tops or bottoms from the linked collection & get 69% off the 3rd item from that collection.

Okay, so for the long version whys and wherefores:

My mom taught math at ESU for 35 years, and she and Dad now volunteer running the food pantry along with a couple of other people. ESU is a state school, and as such is one of the few remaining vaguely affordable schools in Pennsylvania. A lot of its students are self-supporting for one reason or another -- many are "non-traditional"/adult students, have kids, or don't have families that can support them while they go to school. Mom & Dad have pushed to expand what the food pantry offers to personal care items, which has been difficult due to a bunch of boring stuff about money and state entities and also people thinking 'that's not food,' but Mom is stubborn about it, because -- to paraphrase her -- how can you focus on class when you feel gross? This struggle has been especially difficult for menstrual products, and way more so for tampons, because it's a rather conservative area and... yeah. People get weird about it.

I've been really broke, with a young kid, and reliant on food pantries, which rarely, if ever, have any menstrual products, let alone tampons. Period poverty is very real, and it sucks.

Plus, I gotta tell you, if we can send a bunch of boxes of tampons and pads to the food pantry, well... Rumor has it this will help my mom win an argument over whether those items should be carried at all, because what are they gonna do, throw them out? They're here! They've been donated! Wasting them would be terrible. :)

So that's the pitch, guys. Help me make a direct, measurable difference in the lives of people at the school where I went to winter swim team, the school that fed me growing up... and help my mom win an argument about making people's lives better... and get your holiday shopping done while you do. ;) We start counting sales from the minute I hit post. :P

[anonimusunnoaniswriting]

Shark Week with Sebastian | MDNI 18+ only | Period sex, blood ofc, gentle Sebastian, ambiguous era, smut, obviously, could be gross use your fucking discretion | I'm PMSing. Cramps are fucking awful stope.

Of course Sebastian knows. He keeps track of it better than even you. Sometimes even reminding you of its approach.

(Victorian era!)Sebastian has knowledge from all parts of the world so while other ladies bleed freely, feeling uncomfortable and having to repeatedly change clothing, you are offered a makeshift pad, with special cloths torn and arranged by the demon himself. (Modern!) Sebastian knows what pads, tampons, and menstrual cups are too he buys and stocks them for you. Making sure you have plenty for when you need.

Sebastian also makes sure you have hot honeyed tea to help soothe your cramps and sweet treats to go with it as well. Cakes, biscuits, chocolates.

And when all else fails, Sebastian knows a little massage will help you better than anything else anyway.

He starts at your feet. Carefully pulling and prodding at each toe and your skin. The ache that settled in your muscles immediately scream relief as his supple fingers glide across atop the expanse of your body. You can feel him- edging dangerously closer- closer- closer to your core.

You can't help wiggle. Despite having had this happen before it feels awkward for you to having him touch you while you're bleeding.

Sebastian moves further up, loosening the tight knots in your waist and back. His long fingers expertly knowing just where to rest, where to press down, where to be hard and where to be gentle. You're mere putty in his hands, shaped into a creature of desire.

You can feel your core grow warm. Heat blossoming in your abdomen as Sebastian bends down to lay a chaste kiss to your shoulder. "My lady, it seems you are in more pain than I initially thought... Perhaps a more personal massage will help better."

You giggle. A personalised massage...was that what it was called?

You see him out of the corner of your eye pull his glove off with his teeth – a sight you aren't still accustomed to. His blackened nails glint in the dim light, cold and unforgiving; desperate to taste the warmth you have to offer.

He flips you onto your back with as much ease as if he were lifting a kitten and while keeping his eyes on you, pushes his fingers into your bloody cunt. There's next to no barriers, and the feeling instantly shoots up right to your navel, sending signals to your brain that are too many and too quick for you to comprehend.

His thumb finds your nub, and he circles it, round and round, barely touching the button while pumping two long fingers in and out your hole. The blood drips down your ass and onto the bed where Sebastian had strategically placed a thick towel for you.

"Seb-" you breathe a sigh of relief feeling the fingers prod at your gummy walls. "Sebastian, don't stop. It f-feels so good.

"I wouldn't dream of it, my Lady."

His lips press against your skin, sinking into the plush fat of your tender breasts. Your senses are heightened making it difficult for you to reign in the cries that escape between your teeth, but it only seems to spur him on as he picks up pace.

When his lips latch around the hard pebble of your nipple, you gush warm wetness below. A dribble that amplifies the obscene squelches. But the demon remains unfazed.

His mouth suckes on your breast in a slow deliberate repetition, breathing life into your orgasm. A rhapsody of pleasure that builds in you, spiralling upward as his fingers curl inside and his thumb teases your clit over, and over till you feel yourself peaking. White hot and shuddering, you come, spilling blood and your release over the hand at your entrance.

Sebastian releases your nipple with a pop and looks down at you with flashing red eyes; your chest rising and falling with each deep breath. A part of you suddenly disappointed with how short it was.

"Is my Lady satisfied?"

"Y-yes."

"Liar."

Your cheeks reddened. Of course he would find you out. Yet the tall figure swooped in and captured your lips in his. You heard the soft sound of fabric moving and felt him push into you gently. His lips dropped from your mouth, to your jaw, your neck, fingers finding purchase in the formerly neglected nipple.

"Let's fix that shall we?"

I think I'll write for Agni next. Man had BDE and I need him. Why are the white haired men always so pretty to me ughhhh

[woozingie]

17:17

pairing: woozi x afab!reader genre: domestic fluff! word count: girl idk i wrote the whole thing on tumblr like a madwoman (again) content warning: mentions of sex, mentions of menstrual cycle, mentions of plans for BABIES, mentions of money management (shudders) lil note: i am currently coming down with yeonjunitis so i am fighting it off with little woozing stories in my head + i made raspberry choco cookies and vegan chocolate cake this afternoon and they're a banger so let's fight off yeonjunitis

"i made cookies," you announce with a single serving plate in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. it's not like woozi didn't hear or smell the cookies coming to life, but the sentence rolls off your tongue as you proudly present your boyfriend with his afternoon tea. he does not look up from the screen but his enthusiasm is sincere when he answers: "nice", he lets out, eyebrows still furrowed in concentration.

you go back to the kitchen to bring your own cup and plate and finally settle down at the dining table next to the busy man. it's nice to have him home, even if he is off doing his own thing. his presence, the little sounds he makes, talking to each other from one room to the other, giving him control of the sound system in the living room and suffering bruno mars on loop; in a relationship doomed to follow his strict rockstar schedule, the little pleasures are priceless. even sunday afternoons spent pouring over your household finances.

"how much was the stand mixer again?" woozi sighs. the look he gives you is half mental fatigue, half accusatory, so when his hand moves in the direction of his homemade cookie, you playfully give it a slap. "who cares, it's already profitable! if you eat from the stand mixer, you must respect the stand mixer." an eye roll and a smirk are the end of that could-have-been argument. "plus," you add, "aren't you like... proper rich? remind me why we're balancing the books when we could be playing video games? watching a movie? working out? having sex? ...napping?"

now you are casting doubt on the whole operation in jihoon's mind. he tentatively half-closes his laptop, stares at the steam coming out of his cup of tea before closing his eyes with a sigh. "everyone should keep up with their spending. if we want to buy a house, we need to be aware of how much we can afford to spend-"

"we could be napping? and/or having sex? remember?" you barely hold your laughter when jihoon closes his eyes and sighs again at your insistence. you know you are weakening his resolve. but this isn't your first time having this exact conversation, and he comes prepared. hot drink in hand, he argues: "what if we buy a house irresponsibly and there's no money left to have a baby? what if i need to keep working a lot to make enough money to pay for all the baby stuff? what's the point of having kids if i'm never there to see them and take care of them? where's the love in forcing you to be a stay at home mother?"

that usually is the point where you fold and take the receipts out of your purse. after seven years of perseverance, patience and devotion, your maternal instincts are getting out of hand and surprisingly, jihoon's apathy towards children has turned into the shy confession of a growing desire to turn your loving dynamic into a little nest for a brand new person. your fingers softly caress his empty hand, heart bursting at the thought of baby yous and baby jihoons running around. but your lover is unaware of your cycle overriding your rational brain this time around. "where's the love in counting money when we could be practicing baby making? my darling? my love? my genius composer? angel voice? and then have a cheeky nap after?" woozi's serious face falls as he laughs, his eyes forming perfect little crescents, the high-pitched sound of his laughter somehow only making your desire more urgent. it's funny the mundane things that turn you on once you know someone so well you've helped them get boogers out of their nostrils.

"yeah okay, i see where you're coming from," still amused, he feigns deep thought, eyebrows reaching for his hairline, pouting as if to say, 'impressive work'. he quickly bites the last of his cookie and gulps down his cup of tea as he stands up, holding the hand that was caressing his to invite you on your merry way to the bedroom.

"wait!" you stop him dead in his tracks. confused, he turns around and looks on as you reach for your phone on the table. "we need to set a timer, i've got a cake in the oven as well." he spits what's left of tea in his mouth and folds in the middle, holding his stomach with one arm: he is in stitches. it's your turn to feign emotion, and you choose outrage at his lack of trust in your financial decisions. "i told you we were making profits from this bloody stand mixer!"

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Can we get smth w cyprus and period secks 👁

Tw afab reader, Cyprus is a fuckin nasty man, with period blood and stuff, dub con,

Cyprus doesn't mind getting messy. The laundry services downstairs are free, after all. He only needs to buy his own washing detergent, which doesn't cost too much as the cheap ones does the job.

You would think that your period would put him off, but he's more of a dog than ever before. He would get excited, your blood would be a natural lube to prepare you with, the air would reek even more of sex and menstrual fluids. Cyprus would go down on you the same, having blood dribble down his chin and all over his chest. He would still fuck you with the same intensity despite having crimson painting all over his body, his bed, your body and even the fucking walls.

He will make you forget about your period migraines and cramps, making you cum over and over again; your body and brain will be molded to the shape of his cock and any pain will be either translated to the pleasure of orgasming or become strongly associated with it. Your uterus would contract tremendously during climaxes and empty its contents quicker. Instead of the usual 5-day shedding, your period will now last on an average of two days. Sometimes even one, because Cyprus literally fucks the uterine lining out of you.

He has an animalistic appetite for your blood clots sliding out of your pussy, you try not to gag when you realized that he would swallow them whole. It's not like you were given a chance to think anyways, he will have you cumming almost every few seconds while slurping up whatever you give him down there.

When he's finally done with you for the day, the room would look like a brutal murder scene. The slaps between his hips and yours were so vigorous that there were splatters of blood that reached the blades of his ceiling fan. Scarlet would paint your body and his as if someone poured a gallon of viscera on the two of you. The sheet that was once dry and off-white is now completely soaked and gored. Blood would crust his fingers and hair.

A triumphant grin would make its way to his handsome face, his teeth were heavily stained red, and his jawline tightened with dried and fresh blood. It's almost like you're looking at a cannibal who has just finished his dinner, he doesn't come close to looking this sanguinary after his most brutal fights.

You would push him away in the end, because his aftercare involves him kissing you on the lips and cuddling. It's gross and nauseating to be covered in rouge like this, but Cyprus doesn't mind. He loves it.

You and he would need to spend the next few hours cleaning up, though. You would be grumpily grumbling as you scrubbed the walls with a wet cloth, trying to get rid of your viscera. Whereas your boyfriend would be whistling to himself, enjoying his day while he balances himself on a step ladder; trying to clean the soiled blades of his ceiling fan.

You're grateful that he would be the one who brings down the bloodied sheets and fabrics because your nervousness and anxiety would make it look like you're trying to cover up a reckless homicide poorly. You couldn't believe that your body expelled that much redness without you dying from blood loss. But then again, it is to be expected. You're squeezing out around 5 days' worth of menstrual blood in a few hours.

It usually takes a few cycles to even get most of it out, his neighbors know that if he's hogging the machines for an unusually long time, that means he managed to fuck his girl during her period. Hence, they would cheer loudly, sometimes the noise even reaching upstairs. Where you would be mortified while mopping up the messy floor.

Cyprus would prepare dishes that mostly consist of lean meat, as he knows you need iron and protein to replace the blood that you lost. He would be happy, praising you as you were such a good girl to him. Cyprus would run you a hot shower, prepare cups of chamomile tea, and massage your back after the sex. Which may or may not lead to him eating you out again, ruining all his hard work to clean the sheets.

Well. At least you get to save money on painkillers and sanitary products.

You sighed, good thing he already told Jane that you're not coming in tomorrow. You don't know if you have the energy to work after that... blood fest. Especially when you're still sitting on your depraved boyfriend's face, his tongue still drilling into your exhausted cunt.

You shuddered every time he licked those sensitive bundles of nerves, frowning at how blood started pooling around his ears and soaking the blanket. You couldn't hop off him, his fingers are digging into the flesh of your thighs, forcing you to use him as a chair.

You hope that no one needs to use the washing machines later tonight.

[skelswritingcorner]

POV: You got kidnapped by Decepticons, and you're also on your period

(If you're wondering if you saw this before, you probably did! Tumblr's just being wonky and didn't show it, so I'm reuploading it)

Cast (of the TF characters): Skywarp, Thundercracker, Shockwave, Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Jazz, Prowl, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Blaster, and a bit of Lazerbeak at the end

Synopsis: You’re on your period, and took a pretty strong painkiller before you went to class so you could focus without curling into fetal position from the pain. However, you didn’t think that you’d be kidnapped by alien robots. Luckily, you were using a cup. However, the painkiller is starting to wear off while you’re captive, and you’re hoping that you can be saved fast. Ideally, without these alien robots seeing you cough up endometrium.

A/N: I made the heights based more on G1 Transformers. I like the big bois, and g/t (mostly because I’m barely 5'2 but that’s irrelevant), but Rumble does not deserve to be 21 feet tall. He and Frenzy should be tiny menaces. Also, I think the size difference between the reader character and Blaster is more than enough. Also, this isn’t really for any specific Transformers continuity or series, more of my own headcanons if anything. Also, if you want to ask about the reader character, use the name Lorelei. Also, my endometriosis is not in my lungs, I just thought "Hey, do you know what would really fuckin suck?" and gave poor Lorelei endometrium in the lungs.

Word Count: 4.8K

Warnings: Menstruation, Endometriosis, Anatomical words for reproductive organs, Kidnapping, Vulgar Language, mentions of medical neglect.

You woke up dreading the day. According to the tracker, your period starts today, which is bad because the cramps get severe enough that you’d be bedridden if you didn’t have your painkillers, and also because you had class today. College life and all. At least today was Saturday, so it was only one three-hour class.

Going to the bathroom first, you checked your underwear for any signs of blood. There was only a bit of blood, but if you didn’t act quickly the bloodfall would begin. You grabbed one of your menstrual cups, folding it then pushing it in through your vulva. When it was in place, you used some toilet paper to wipe some of the discharge and blood off your fingers, flushed, then washed your hands.

You felt a cough coming up. Grabbing a tissue, you coughed into it. There was a bit of what looked like blood from where you coughed. If this was your first time, you would’ve panicked. However, you knew it was the stupid endometrium in your lungs because of your stupid endometriosis. Better pack some extra tissues, maybe buy some from the convenience store on your way to class.

Going into the shared space, you noticed a bag with a note. Must’ve been one of your roommates. The note had your name on it, so you decided to read it.

Y/N, I got you a snack. You mentioned in the group chat that your period starts today. I don’t know if you’re supposed to eat something with your painkillers, so I got you one of your favorite snacks just in case. Toodles! - Emily

It was chocolate covered pretzels. You took the bag, grabbed a beverage from the fridge and went back to your room to grab your medication before eating. It’s best to take it now, so your cramps don’t get so severe that you end up curled up in fetal position sobbing from pain once it fully starts.

After eating in the common room, you went back to change into your clothes. Fortunately, you didn’t share a room with anyone, so you could change in your room. You picked out an oversized black band tee and blood red sweatpants after putting on a tank top. If you weren’t on your period you would’ve picked something that looked a little cuter or fashionable, you don’t want to ruin those clothes if you need to cough up blood. You don’t know if hydrogen peroxide works that well with the materials.

Besides, most people that know you can easily predict whether or not you woke up feeling good based on how styled you look. If you’re wearing something more styled, with multiple layers and accessories, you’re likely in a more positive mood. If you’re not, either you’re on your period or doing something that requires some dirty work.

You packed your messenger bag with the things you needed: stationary, wallet, charger with power bank, tissues, a plastic zipper bag in case you can’t throw any bloodied tissues at the current moment, a small hammer, the tools that tech people carry, extra menstrual cup in a 3D-printed cube container that requires the opening to be twisted to get to it, a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide, the usual things.

Luckily for you, all you had was a single class that only lasted two hours today. No rehearsals for the color guard, since the field is still wet from yesterday’s downpour. Maybe you’ll do some sketches after class.

Putting your shoes on, you left your dorm room and walked to your class. You made sure that your dormitory was close to the main campus, given your medical problems. Unlike yesterday, it was a gentle sprinkle of water, so you didn’t rush yourself. Class was in half an hour anyway.

Walking into the lecture hall, there was only one other person. You sat at a seat closest to the door, and turned to the other student. Like clockwork, you both got out your phones, pointed a finger at each other, and took a picture. Neither of you know each other's names, yet the bond is indescribable. Bonding through mutual goofiness without a single word exchanged. After that, a few more classmates came in, and once the clock hit noon the lecture began.

♢♢♢

After class ended, you packed up your things. Before you could get up, someone tapped on your shoulder.

Turning around, you saw one of your classmates with a furrowed brow. “Do you know about the recent sightings of alien robots?”

You shook your head, “I haven’t checked the news.”

“You haven’t heard anything?! They were spotted really close to campus two days ago. It looked like a bird, but obviously no birds nearby are that large! Be careful out there, hopefully nobody gets abducted.” She waved goodbye and sped out the room.

The alien robots are something you’ve heard about only in passing. Your roommates have mentioned them before, one of them took a picture that was so bad in quality you thought it was fake. Why are they going near a college, out of all places? There’s no local government facilities or anything that you think would interest them. Except for the telescope the astronomy majors use. They might be curious about that. It’s not related to your major though, so hopefully they won’t try taking you.

Walking out of the building, you decided to walk around a bit. It was nice, the sun wasn’t too harsh, the drizzle stopped, and there were basically no people around. Your painkiller should last a few more hours, so you have time to chill and walk slowly.

You couldn’t enjoy the scenery for long. You should’ve realized why you didn’t see anyone, not with that giant robot who almost crushed you, and is now looking down at you.

The creature was massive, quadruple your size at the very least. Black, purple, and annoyed.

“Who… are you?” you took a step back, ready to zoom away at any moment. They didn’t answer you, though, only grabbing you. Before you could react, you saw a bright purple light consume your vision, and you closed your eyes so your retinas wouldn’t burn.

♢♢♢

When the light was no longer visible, you were somewhere you didn’t recognize. The walls were metal, and there were more… people? Whatever they were, but they were looking at you. One looked identical to the one holding you, but almost entirely blue. An all-purple robot with a single yellow eye stared down at you, emotionless.

“I found one. I barely saw anyone at the location.” the one holding you said.

“Strange,” the blue one pondered, “shouldn’t there have been more of these squishies at that place?”

You wanted to retort so bad, but you also knew that the moment you start speaking you might cough. And honestly? What goes on in your body is none of their business. It’s Saturday, you thought to yourself, no shit there’s barely anyone there.

“Hey, tiny squishy!” the blue one put his face close to yours, “Tell us how we can access that telescope!”

You sighed in defeat. “I don’t know, I’ve never been to the building it’s in.” Well, that was a half-lie. You have been to the science building, just not the room the telescope was inside of.

“You WHAT?!” Oh, they’re annoyed.

At this point, you were pissed. You wanted to get away before the pain gets you, and you started getting snippy, “I dunno, maybe you should’ve asked before kidnapping me BECAUSE MY MAJOR DOES NOT INVOLVE THE FUCKING TELESCOPE! My major is in tech AND NOT ASTRONOMY!”

There is a cough coming up. Wriggling an arm out from the giant hand grasping you, you coughed into the crook of your elbow. Blood, as per usual during shark week. For you, that is.

“What is that red thing that came out of her intake?!” The blue one’s blood red eyes widened.

“Do we have anyone who knows how to fix organics?” the one holding you asked.

You yelled, “I’M FINE! This is normal for me, at least my painkillers are in effect!”

“Coughing internal liquids is abnormal for any being.” The purple one with the yellow eye spoke. “Thundercracker, inform Lord Megatron at once.”

The blue one ran out of the room. That one was Thundercracker, from what you could tell.

“Put them on the table, Skywarp. I’ll check their systems.” the one with the yellow eye ordered. The hand gripping you plopped you unceremoniously onto the table, leading you to cough yet again.

When you got up, you noticed the blood you coughed up on the table. Guess you gotta clean that. Opening your bag, you got out the hydrogen peroxide spray and a few tissues. It was a familiar procedure; spray the bloodied surface, and then clean it.

“What even is that?” Skywarp asked.

“Hydrogen peroxide. It’s used to clean blood off things, including clothing. I’d use a paper towel, but all I have are tissues.” you replied.

A hand held your face, opening your mouth and pressing your tongue down with their thumb. The one-eyed robot tilted your head up, and observed.

“No anomaly in the intake pipe. Finding the anomaly might require an invasive approach or scans.” they removed their hand from you.

Oh hell no. If this was an OBGYN, you’d be fine with it. However, you are not, and giant robots probing your lungs and uterus and just anywhere inside you is the last thing you want happening.

“Absolutely NOT!” you yelled, “I’m not letting you do that to me! Just bring me back to campus before my painkillers wear off!”

“I don’t think I’ll allow that.” Wait, who the fuck said that?

“Lord Megatron!” Skywarp turned around, bowing down at a gray figure. You could see the red glow of their eyes from where you stood.

“So, this is the one you found. She’s smaller than Soundwave’s cassettes.” Great. Just great. They’re calling you small. “She will do just fine, even if she’s not the one we hoped for.”

“How in Cybertron can this squishy help us if she’s never been to the building that the telescope is in?” Thundercracker asked.

“You. You’re a student of the university, correct?” Megatron asked, looking at you.

“Yes?” you replied, unsure of what the gray robot was going to ask you to do.

“Good, good. Then you should be able to get to it for us.”

Pardon?! “I’m one of the tech majors, if I just walk into the building and go to where the telescope is, the staff will find it suspicious!” you protested, “The only time I’ve even been in the science building is when I was being shown around campus, and we never went into the room that the telescope is inside of! If I’m to go in that room, I’m going to need to explain to the department head as to why I need to go in there.”

“Along with that,” you glared at Megatron, “I want to know exactly why you want access to the telescope.”

Skywarp huffed, “Why would we tell you about that?”

“Because y’all kidnapped me! If you want me to cooperate, you need a damn good explanation.”

“It’s rather simple. If you humans have access to such technology, wouldn’t we be curious about how it works? Such technology would be useful to our cause.” Megatron explained, and you hated the condescending tone he was using. It reminded you of the times you’ve been to the hospital, begging for an answer to all the pain and too-heavy bleeding only to be spoken down to like a toddler. Claiming that what you experienced was normal when it very much was not.

You sighed, “Fine. If you want my assistance, I will only help you if you follow a few basic rules. Do not damage any part of the school campus, try to abduct anyone else, or even think of trying to destroy the telescope. If you violate these rules, I will not help you any further. I will lecture all of you about your behavior without hesitation if you do that.”

“But what if the Autobots start the fight?”

“I’ll lecture them too. Don’t fucking try me.” You countered. It’s been a long time already, you can feel the pain creeping up to a painful level. After grabbing another tissue from your bag, you coughed up more blood.

You need to get back to your dorm soon, if the painkillers fully wear off you don’t know how you can escape.

“Now, I’d like to return to campus before my painkillers wear off. Can you please bring me back?” you tried your best to be polite, but right now you’re starting to get desperate. It must have been an hour at the very least, and you need to get back before you’re paralyzed by pain.

“Not so fast, young lady. We never got your name, and based on what Thundercracker said, I’d rather have you be under supervision.” Megatron turned to the purple robot, “Shockwave, bring her to your lab and prepare the scanners. I’ll leave her in your hands.”

Oh no. Oh no no no no NO. That’s the last thing you want happening.

♢♢♢

A group of Autobots were on the campus, talking to various humans.

“I was looking outside the window during lab. This purple and black robot picked someone up, turned into a purple light and just… disappeared with them!” a tall brunet said, gesturing to the spot the abduction happened.

Prowl frowned. He knew it was Skywarp, no other Decepticon had that ability. He’ll have to inform Optimus Prime once he finished speaking to who he was speaking to.

“Do you know the student who was kidnapped?” Optimus Prime asked the young blonde-haired woman standing in front of him.

“Yes. Y/N L/N is my roommate. I know that today she’s starting her cycle, which for her is incredibly painful. She needs to take pretty intense painkillers so she can function during this. I didn’t see her before I left for work, but I made sure to get her a snack so that she could eat something when she got up before I left.”

“What is that cycle? Is this something that organic life experiences?” He asked.

She tapped on her phone for a bit before looking back up at the Autobot leader, “All animals with a uterus and ovaries have an ovarian cycle, in order to prepare for a potential pregnancy,” she showed the diagram on her phone’s screen, “the uterus creates a lining, which sheds if a pregnancy doesn’t happen in a period called menstruation, or just a period, for humans. This lining is called endometrium. This lining, however, can end up outside the uterus, and in rare cases can go all the way up to the brain. This is called endometriosis, and is what Y/N has and what causes her the intense pain.”

“For her, there is endometrium in her lungs. She coughs it out during her period sometimes.”

Ratchet approached the two. “You mention that, and earlier the painkiller she takes. How long ago was that?”

The woman checked the time, “About five hours ago, based on the time she usually wakes up on this day of the week.”

“And when does it wear off?”

She paused. “After six hours, she’s back to regular unmedicated pain.”

Optimus got up. “Thank you, Miss Emily. We will find her as soon as we can.”

“Can I come with you? I don’t know how willing Y/N is going to be while she’s in pain around strangers.” Emily asked, “I’ll do my best to stay out of danger, and keep close.”

Ratchet grimaced, “It’s going to be dangerous. I doubt we have any weapons that you can use, if you can even hold them.”

“I understand your sentiment, old friend. However, she has a point. I doubt that Y/N will be pleased to have more Cybertronians trying to take her. Especially if she’s in terrible pain.”

Sighing in defeat, Ratchet turned to Emily, “Fine. We’ll bring her along.”

♢♢♢

Before you could protest, Shockwave grabbed you and started walking away. You thrashed in his hand, trying to wriggle out to run away and hide. Your efforts, however, bore no fruit, and only made Shockwave hold you tighter.

He put you in some kind of container, too tall for you to climb out.

“Soundwave, can you come to my lab with Rumble and Frenzy? Lord Megatron requested me to do scans of the human Skywarp found. She’s being difficult, I need those two to restrain her so I can do the scans without her attempting an escape.”

“Understood.” a voice was heard, likely coming from Shockwave.

After some time, a cobalt blue figure walked into the lab. They were the same size as Shockwave. Two significantly smaller figures followed them in tow; one purple, one black.

“So,” the blue one looked at you, “this is the human?”

“Yes.” Shockwave replied, grabbing you and putting you on some kind of table. They removed your bag, so you couldn’t grab a hammer and thwack anyone even if you tried.

“Rumble, Frenzy, restrain the human so we can do the scans.” The blue one ordered. The small figures jumped onto the table, grabbing your limbs and pushing them into the table. Honestly? That’s pretty painful. You tried to fight, kick, anything, but their grip was unrelenting.

“Stop wiggling, fleshy!” one of them tightened their grip.

Some kind of scanner descended to your chest, stopping a few centimeters above you. It whirred to life, and a red light shone onto your chest. It shifted around, scanning from your chest to your pelvis. After a few minutes, the light turned off.

“Peculiar.” Shockwave stated.

“Is this what human internals look like? How strange.” The cobalt one tilted their head, then looked at you.

“Rumble, Frenzy, release.” They ordered, and the two robots holding you by the limbs released you. However, you couldn’t run, as Shockwave grabbed you. The change from laying down to being vertical made you feel the menstrual blood leak out of your cervix, sending shivers down your spine.

“Do you even know what you’re trying to look for? There’s nothing that you can base it on!” you yelled.

“Intuition.” Shockwave rebutted, putting you back in the container. Jarred once again.

The pain creeps up once more. The whole restraining debacle distracted you for some time, but now you realized that the medication is almost out. In a few minutes, you’ll be in fetal position from the pain. Even breathing is a struggle.

Alarms.

“Autobots infiltrated the base, I repeat, Autobots have infiltrated the base.” the announcement rang.

Shockwave and the others left, leaving you alone. This was your chance. Opening up your bag, you grabbed a hammer. Can you even break the glass? Might as well find out.

Walking to one of the corners, you slammed the hammer. A crack formed, and you continued to slam and slam and slam until a large enough opening was made. You walked out of it after putting your hammer away. After going to the side opposite the hole, you dropped and rolled onto the floor. It was time to run and find a small enough place to hide.

You ran out of the lab, zooming through the halls to find somewhere small. Somewhere you could fit and they could not. After a few minutes of running, you found a small slit in the wall that you could just barely squeeze into, so you went in it. It took some time, and your chest especially was squashed, but the slit went to a tiny area, where the slit was the only exit. Curling up into a corner, you waited. The slit is too short for the two who restrained you to fit anyway.

You heard fighting and yelling approaching you. From where you were, they couldn’t see you. After a bit of time, it quieted down.

Voices.

“We haven’t seen the missing person at all. Where could she be, Prowl?” one asked.

“Who knows? Y/N might be trapped somewhere.”

They know your name. Why do they know your name? You didn’t tell any of them your name.

Unless… they’re a rescue party? Moving was a struggle for you, the pain was getting too much. You doubt you could speak right now either.

“Wait. That tear in the wall. Could she be in there?” the voice pondered, getting closer to where you were.

“I’m checkin’ it. Emily’s with Blaster ‘n’ Wheeljack, right? If Y/N’s here, contact them.”

They know Emily? Your roommate? Well, that complicates things.

A large black finger entered the slit, widening it just a tiny bit. “Hey! Are you in there?” they asked. All you could do is whimper in reply.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here!” they promised.

“Jazz, I contacted them. They should arrive in a moment.”

More footsteps.

“We’re here!” a familiar voice trilled. They are indeed talking about that Emily, the one who is your roommate. Both of you are enrolled in the university’s STEM program, so you have a few classes together. You’re both part of the color guard as well, which is pretty well known for the futuristic masks that the marching band wears as well.

“Do you think you can fit through that? I mean, Jazz, he made it bigger, but it still looks small.” An unfamiliar voice asked.

“If Y/N can fit it, I can.” Emily said, and you heard her step in through the slit.

“That bad?” Emily asked. You turned to her and gave her the stink eye.

“Hey! STEM girlies gotta stick together, y’know? Stop giving me that look.” Emily retorted.

She took out your painkillers from her bag. “I hope yain’t mad about me yoinking your painkillers, I knew that by the time you were found the meds would’ve fully worn off and you’d need to take them again. Here,” she gave you the bottle. You did your best to remove the lid, took one, and swallowed it dry. Ideally, you would’ve had something to drink since it tastes absolutely horrible, but eh.

You put your painkiller bottle in your bag. Emily grabbed you by the waist, hoisting you up to your feet, “C’mon, up at it. Let’s get back.” Both of you walked toward the slit, and left the hiding spot.

There were four of the alien robots. They all had blue eyes, unlike the ones who abducted you.

“Prime, we got ‘er!” The one with a blue visor and black hands said. “We’re gonna get ‘em back now.”

“I’ll hold them.” A red robot said.

Emily introduced them, “The red one’s Blaster, the one with the two trapezoids where his ears should be is Wheeljack, the cop car lookin’ guy with the red eyebrows is Prowl, and the one with the visor is Jazz. They’re all good dudes, even if Prowl’s grumpier than my pawpaw.”

“Don’t call me old.” Prowl growled.

“How old are you again? You’re a peepaw in my eyes.” you could hear Emily’s smirk, it made you chuckle.

“At least she sounds better!” Jazz jokes, “At Prowl’s expense, that is.”

“Shockwave’s lab is nearby. I’ll catch up to all of you later, I think there’s something there that might be useful.” Wheeljack stated.

“Alright. Don’t get killed, Wheeljack.” Prowl ordered, and Wheeljack ran to the lab you escaped from.

Blaster brought a hand to you and Emily, “Well? Hop on, I won’t bite.” Emily brought you to his hand, and he brought you to one of his shoulders and put Emily on the one opposite you.

“Let’s go.” And so, the five of you left. You gripped onto one of Blaster’s neck cables, mostly for reassurance on your part. The bouncing of Blaster zooming made you bounce a little bit, but you knew he was trying not to make you two bounce too much.

♢♢♢

After you got on the small ship, you were met with a few other of the Autobots. The tallest of them was red and blue, with windows on his chest. Next to him was a mostly white with orangish red accents.

“Good, you found her.” The blue one said, smiling.

“Optimus, should I look at her? They might’ve injured her.” The red and white one asked. You coughed into your elbow again, and let go of Blaster’s neck cable.

“Y/N’s not injured from what I can tell, Ratchet. I was able to give her the painkiller.” Emily told the Autobot.

“Which tastes AWFUL.” you added.

“Right. I forgor, sowwy.” and now Emily is UwUing. Great. That’s usually reserved for when color guard practice happens, or when she pops into the band room to bring you and the other brass members some cursed snack that the store she works at sells. Usually with some kind of beverage for you. Emily may be cursed, but she’s an awesome friend and roommate. You remember the time she recorded you and several other brass members doing a reenactment of I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys. She’s a champ when she wants to be.

“Well, since you coughed up some endometrium, I’m going to take a little sample.” Ratchet grabbed some kind of scalpel, grasping your arm and using it to scrape some of that sweet sweet lung endometrium.

“I’ll ask Perceptor to look at it.” Ratchet walked away.

“Where’s Wheeljack?” Optimus asked.

“Went to look in Shockwave’s lab, I think he should be here around…”

The doors opened, and footsteps ran inside and the door closed.

“Now.” Prowl finished.

“Wheeljack, what did you find?” Optimus asked, with everyone turning to the Autobot.

“Well, there was a clear container that was broken in the corner. Guess that’s where Y/N was put. Along with that,” he showed a hologram, likely the result of the scans, “I noticed this on the screen.”

Optimus approached, looking at it. “Show this to Ratchet once he gets back.”

“We should bring these two back. I’ll inform the authorities that Y/N was found, and has sustained no injuries.” Optimus ordered.

“Jazz, navigate the ship to the university.” Optimus ordered, letting Jazz leave to the cockpit.

After a few more orders, and Blaster placing you and Emily down on the floor, the both of you were left with Prowl.

“Miss L/N, I have a question for you.”

“What’s the question?” you asked.

“Is there any way to reduce the pain, or how long it lasts without your medication?” Prowl asked.

You’d answer, but that involves telling Prowl about sex. And, to be perfectly honest, fucking anyone you barely know is a turn-off to you, especially a giant alien robot that is literally thrice your size. You do not feel fuckable right now, try again later when you’re not bleeding from the cervix and lungs my dude. Do they even have penises? Well, they could use their fingers… No, don’t be horny, Y/N. Are you still ovulating? That likely explains the fact that you actually considered explaining sex and possibly… let’s stop that thought.

“Well, heat can help a little bit.” Good save, Emily. Good save. “It all depends on the person, though.”

“Also, Jazz and Blaster wanted me to ask you this, but what is this… trombone suicide thing Emily mentioned?” Ah. Emily snitched to Prowl.

“It’s a very complex move involving multiple brass instruments, usually trumpets or trombones. If you turn the wrong way, you’ll either bonk trombones or smack your fellow brassist in the face. There’s also the trumpet suicide, sousaphone suicide, and I’m trying to figure out how to do it for the color guard. Also, you’re playing the instrument while doing this.” you explained.

Prowl sighed, most likely in relief, “It isn’t literal, at the very least. That’s a relief.”

After a few more questions, and fortunately sex did not come up during that time, Optimus came back.

“We’ve arrived, let’s get these two back.” Optimus announced.

Walking with him and Prowl, you got tackled by one of your band mates. A good chunk of the brass section and color guard were there.

“Glad you’re back, Y/N!” the one who tackled you said, helping you get up.

After some time, and a little bit of discussion, you and Emily left to go back to the dorm with the others. The sun was setting, and the events of today left you tired and having menstrual munchies. Hopefully you won’t have to deal with the alien robots again.

A mechanical bird observed from a lamppost, watching the two figures enter the building. Even though the Decepticons failed to keep the student from the Autobots, there was still an opportunity to use her. Once they were fully gone, the black and red robot flew away.

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

Hey I just got my first period and I'm so fucking dysphoric about it what do I do I'm so confused I feel like shit and my dysphoria is through the roof

Lee says:

I would start off by exploring your menstrual product options which can make it easier to cope with having your period.

Period underwear is probably the easiest product to use because you already know how to wear underwear so you don't have to worry about putting it on wrong. Period underwear has built-in absorbent layers and is reusable and discreet to wear, but some people might feel self-conscious about washing them at the end of the day if they aren't used to washing their own underwear and don't have a private bathroom, or they might have dysphoria about washing them. You will likely need more than one pair (at least 2 pairs) even if you wash them daily because they need to dry, so there's a bit of an up-front cost but then since they're reusable it can be cheaper than pads and tampons in the long run.

The step below period underwear in terms of usability is probably pads. They tend to be pretty easy to use and also don't require insertion into the body, but if you don't place them right sometimes blood can leak around the edges where the pad isn't. Another placement issue might come up if you wear some styles of men's underwear, like boxers, it can be hard to use pads unless you wear a different type of underwear underneath which can feel bulky. Similarly to period underwear, blood on pads might feel more noticeable than internal options, which might increase dysphoria for some. You will need to buy pads over and over, so even they aren't that expensive to buy, the cost of buying them can add up. If your family buys the pads for you or you can get them at school for free then that isn't a big of a deal, but it does matter for some people.

Some trans people swear by menstrual cups because they're reusable and cost-effective. Once inserted correctly, they can be worn for up to 12 hours depending on flow, and the feeling of the blood can be less noticeable than pads or period underwear since it's not coming out. It can also be useful if you like swimming or have swimming classes, and/or if you're in a situation where you're stealth and have access to a private bathroom to wash the menstrual cup but don't feel like you can hide a whole package of pads in your stuff. But it can be hard to find the right size/model sometimes, so it can require multiple different brands and sizes to get the one that works best for you. Some people find the feeling of wearing one uncomfortable, have a hard time with the insertion, worry it'll affect their IUD, etc.

Tampons and menstrual discs have similar pros and cons as menstrual cups, although tampons are not reusable and some menstrual discs are. In all three cases, the process of insertion can be dysphoria-inducing for some trans individuals, but you also have the benefits of not having to feel the blood. You will also have more security to avoid leaks since you could choose to wear a tampon/menstrual cup/menstrual disc and then also wear a pad or menstrual underwear as backup.

After you've figured out what products work for you, I'd switch gears to the long game which is trying to stop your period in a healthy way. If you're out as trans, talk to your guardians and doctors about trying puberty blockers or using birth control to stop your period.

If you're not out as trans, you can still try convincing your parents to take you to the doctor to discuss the use of birth control in stopping your period without mentioning gender dysphoria:

You could say you have a heavy flow and starting birth control will make it lighter

It can help with anemia because you aren’t losing any iron through your period blood if you don’t get your period

You could say your friend/s have done it and it helped them

To stop period related cramping and pain

You could say you have gross period side-effects (like diarrhea and more farting) for the week of your period

It can make your periods more regular (or make it so you can control when it happens so you’re not caught off guard)

Helps with PMSing so you don’t have to deal with any of that

It’s more convenient and you don’t have to remember to change your pad/tampon

If you’re disabled, it can help save spoons and effort and make your week easier

You may not be able to change your pads regularly if you’re disabled and that’s kinda unsanitary and the pads can break so stopping your period can help with that type of stress

Save money on pads/tampons

Save time having to use pads/tampons and keep visiting the bathroom during class

It can help with migraines if you get headaches or migraines near your period

It can help with PCOS, PMDD, and endometriosis if you have any of those conditions

It might lower your risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer (but increase your risk of breast cancer) so that's something to discuss with a doctor based on your family history and personal risk factor

If you swim, it’s better to not have your period (And it’s inconvenient for athletes in general)

It can help regulate your mood (especially if you’re mentally ill and find mood fluctuations around your period hard to handle)

Why have a period when you can not have one? Some people feel there are no positive things about having a period because they feel it is inconvenient/[insert personal adjectives]

It’s pretty safe and many people do it, and if your doctor prescribes it and monitors you then there’s not a big risk in it

How do I talk about birth control with my dad?

Here’s a NY Times article called “For the Teen Who No Longer Wants a Period”, I’d start the conversation by sending them that link then if they ask more, give them the excuses above!

Finally, there are coping strategies that you can explore to manage the feelings of dysphoria that you may experience when you have your period-- this post has more info on that.

Followers, any advice for anon?

[vibratingskull]

Would I be able to request Thrawn x pregnant reader? Where Thrawn realizes she’s pregnant before the reader does and gets very protective, but the reader does not understand why, and they end up in an argument but Thrawn wants her to discover the pregnancy herself. I’m not sure how you’d go about that but I know you’re a really good writer so I’d love to see you write that imagine if that makes sense.

Future dad Thrawn, protective Thrawn, jealous Thrawn protecting his pregnant wife... A dream come true really.

Thrawn x F!reader

It just started like any other month, but both of your fates transcended that day.  

“Maker fricking... Gosh!” He hears you curse through the bathroom wall. 

“Is there a problem, Ch’acah? Do you need assistance?” He rises from the sofa to knock at the door. 

You open the door visibly tired.  

“It’s just... My period stopped again but the cramps are here once again!” You sigh visibly at the end of your life. 

Nothing out of the ordinary. Your periods have always been unpredictable since he knew you thanks to PCOS. You could not have them for several months straight and then bleed for almost an entire month. Or they could just come back normal for a period to completely derail once again, just to taunt you. But no matter what, the cramps always come back with a vengeance. 

He could only stand as a witness of your distress and help in the little ways he can. 

“I am terribly sorry, ch’eo Ch’acah. What can I do to help?” 

You sighed again, lowering your shoulders, terribly irritated. 

“I want to nap for an entire month.” 

He smiles, empathetic. He remembers back in the Ascendancy, he was the go-to guy to ask to buy period products in his social circle when no girls around could do it. He never saw it as weird or even humiliating to go to the counter with a tampon box in hand, his friends needed his help and who was he to refuse to extend his hand? He got a lot of weird looks when he entered the pharmacy in his neat Naporar uniform only to go straight to the women’s health section. Ziara forgot her period was supposed to start and he never saw her so... distraught, so on edge and on the verge of tears. He offered her his jacket to wrap around her hips to hide any stains and headed to the store immediately. 

Since that day he always carried a pad in his bag in case of emergency for his friends and female classmates. 

And it came in use more than one time! 

His behavior didn’t change when he started dating you, if anything it came in handy a lot. Always checking if you had a box of menstrual protection in advance without you even asking him, remembering you to sterilize your cup regularly when you wanted to try it, changing numerous sheets you bleed on during the night, hand washing the blood stains on your pajamas that the washer didn’t get. 

He also makes sure you have painkillers at arm’s reach at any time, he will prepare as many hot water bottles as you need while you lay in bed, in pain and uncomfortable, and he will massage your back or rub your lower belly delicately each time you ask, applying gentle pressures strategically. 

He knows an orgasm can greatly reduce periods cramps and will gladly give you one to help relieve you by gently massaging your clit until you are a shaking mess in his hands or a cunnilingus, his favorite method, whether you are bleeding or not. He is not afraid of a bit of blood on his tongue and will eat you out longly until you come hard in his mouth and finally relax as your orgasm eases your painful muscles. 

But if you only want a cuddle he will join you in bed and hold you tight, as the big spoon, caressing your tummy softly. 

That’s no big deal, that’s just what being a good husband is. 

“I understand your distress, Ch’acah. But maybe a month’s nap is unrealistic.”  

You purse your lips, going to sit on the bed. 

“Not only that but I’m super smelly and I hate that.” You grouse. 

He tilts his head. 

“What do you mean? You always smell lovely.” 

“You wish. I already took a shower this morning and I need to take one again, I think my hormones are fucking me up today. I feel so dirty.”  

“Your hygiene is impeccable.” 

“Judge for yourself if you don’t believe me!” You start losing patience, too in pain to be rational. 

He gently approaches to take your hand and smells your wrist. 

He takes a sniff. 

And froze. 

“See?” You respond “I’m dirty, I’m sweaty and miserable!” 

He doesn’t listen, his brain is too focused on trying to rationalize what he is smelling at this very second. He remains still, one knee to the ground, your hand in his, his nose above your delicate wrist and his eyes slowly blinking in the realization of what he is smelling. 

Is it possible? After so many tries, after so many failed attempts and heartbreaking clinical news, could you truly be...? 

He switfly turns his head to you, a breath caught in his throat. You round your eyes in surprise. 

“Wow okay... No need to look so shocked, I know I smell, I’ll take a shower.” 

You do not understand, not yet. 

You hate that odor but to him this is the most delectable one he ever got to smell. 

He slightly rises to push your hair out of the way to bury is face in your neck. 

He has to be sure... 

He deeply inhales with his red eyes closed. 

Oh that delicious smell... 

His heart contracts painfully as he feels waves of dark energy in his veins, propelling him forward, and forcing you to lay on the mattress under his weight. You yelp in surprise as he grabs a fistful of your hair and hugs you painfully tight. 

“Thrawn? What the-” 

He brushes his nose against the skin of your neck, reveling in this new scent, full of wonders and promises. 

After all those years, are you finally pregnant? Full with his baby, your little one to the both of you? Are you going to make him a father? 

His reason urges him to the be rationnal and level headed but his Chiss instincts are waking up with a vengeance of being asleep for so long! 

A baby! 

A miracle! 

He cannot fight the urge to lick your neck from shoulder to jaw, he wants to taste that smell, to taste this victory against destiny itself. 

So many doctors and medics warned your couple. You had fertility problems and you are from two different species, and while you never said it out loud you kind of stopped hoping for a baby after several years of unfruitful tries. You simply resigned yourself. 

He couldn’t hold it against you. You knew your body and you knew the odds. 

He never stopped hoping, he simply kept it low to not upset you, the subject getting sensitive for you. 

But today, 

Today you are pregnant! Today you cheated fate! 

He feels the thrills flowing in his veins, pushing him to claim you as his, leaving his odor on you to deter any rivals. He almost digs his nails in your flesh to keep you close to him. 

He mentally slaps himself, getting back control over that brutal urge, he recover is usual sterness and gently kisses your cheek. 

You look at him suspicsiously, what got over him? 

“As I said, you smell lovely.” He smiled lightly. 

 “What kind of reaction was that?” You ask gauging him up and down. 

“My apologies, Chiss are more sensible to odors and scents than humans.” 

“... And you like mine when I’m sweaty and dirty?” You ask more and more incredulous. 

“You are not dirty, my love.” He brushes his nose with yours, holding your face between his two hands, “And for the record, I love your smell no matter what, I can learn so many things about you with it, like where you are in your cycle, or if you’re off of it...” He tries to hint at it. 

“Hugh, don’t tell me about it.” 

You do not understand. 

It is all right. You are really early in the pregnancy, you have all the time to discover it. 

In fact he wont say a thing, leaving you the surprise. He will even lie and pretend he didn’t knew when you will reveal to him the news, triumphant, that you succeeded against all odds. 

That will be your victory and he will celebrate you for it. 

He can even celebrate you tonight without you knowing! 

“In fact I love it so much I want to devour you right now.” He purrs lowly, waving his hips against yours, brushing his loins between your open legs. 

“Oh Thrawn...” You wince, “I can’t do it with you tonight, I’m too uncomfortable, I’m sorry I-” 

“Oh no, no, no, no, Ch’acah.” He reassures you, “You lay back and relax, let me do the work. I will take great care of you.” 

He knows you can’t do penetrative sex in this state, he will eat you out all night long instead. He is drooling just thinking about it. 

Oh, he’s gonna take such good care of you sweetheart, let him work his magic on you and enjoy yourself! You deserve so many orgasms for your marvelous present to him, he feels motivated to break his personal record. 

He will stop only when you will be crying from overstimulation...  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

“Did you take weight?” Xoxtin asks out of the blue while loudly munching on her dish. 

You raise a warning glance at her. From the corner of your eyes, you see Karin tensing up and Lark’s bite almost takes a wrong turn. 

“I am saying that for you, you should hit the gym more often.” she continues, inconsiderate. 

You roll your eyes with a sigh, who accepted her at the table again?  

“How do you expect to find a man if you let yourself go like that?” She insists. 

“Did he ever crossed your mind that I was not searching for a man maybe?” You falsely smile at her. 

You indeed gained some weight recently, but it always fluctuates with your condition. What’s more bothering you lately is the sickness you have at different time of the day for two weeks now.  

Thrawn is also weirdly... on edge recently? Hard to describe but he is a lot more tactile, hugging just a bit too tight to be comfortable, like he was trying to melt your bodies into one, he seems to try to hold you back when you release his hand, and he seems constantly looming behind your back. You could swear you heard him growl at a colleague talking to you yesterday! 

And as romantic as it might sound you both agreed to keep your marriage a secret and he really isn’t making any effort to be subtle lately. 

Xoxtin purses her lips in disaproval. 

“It’s going to come bite you in the neck if you’re not careful” 

“I have PCOS. I gain and lose weight at the goodwill of my uterus. That’s kinda outside of my control.” 

“I’m saying that for you.” She speaks with her mouth full. 

“Oh come on,” Lark slides into the conversation uninvited, “With or without those new pounds she would still have that pretty face to make heads spin.”  

He suddenly wraps his arm around your shoulder to press you against his body. You’re so taken aback you don’t stop him, do not even tell him to release you. He grabs your chin with his other hand . 

“Look at her! She is adorable.” And he just kisses your cheek. 

You are just about to flick him off when he’s literally ripped out of you violently, making you jump away in fear and surprise.  

“What the...?!” 

You discover Thrawn, looming over Lark, on the ground. His hands are clasped behind his back as usual but he looks at him with daggers, his eyes shine brighter proof of an inner turmoil or intense emotion. He is visibly tense, more than you ever saw him. Lark looks up at him, confused like he doesn’t understand it is Thrawn who just threw him across the floor like trash. 

“Gr-Grand Admiral Thrawn?��� He bablbutiates. 

“You will not lay your hands on her again. Am I clear?” Thrawn enunciates slowly, is tone deadly cold. 

You can hear him spit the words between his gritted teeth. 

“It.. It was nothing, just a little peck, I-” 

“Never.Again.Am.I.Clear?” Thrawn repeats deadly. 

“Grand Admiral Thrawn!” You interject, “It’s all right, it was nothing, he was joking.” 

He spins to you and his gaze shocks you to your core. 

He is beyond pissed off. 

He is properly enraged. 

“This was not all right. This was not nothing.” He counters in a calm tone that sends shivers down your spine, “I cannot let such behaviors fly. This is unjustifiable.”  

Okay, Lars trespassed your boundaries but in the end, it was just a kiss on the cheek, Karyn kisses your cheek all the time and Thrawns looks ready to demolish him to blood. He never reacted like that before. 

The fuck was that? 

“I will take him to have a word in my office, Grand Admiral. Do not worry.” Karyn intervenes, standing up she helps Lark to stand up and walk away with him. 

Thrawn keeps looking at you, still and mute while the rest of the mess hall still wonders how to react to that act, silently observing their Grand Admiral they seem ready to flee and scatter at any sound. 

They finally look back at their plates in submission but you remain standing, looking at Thrawn with incomprehension. He grabs your hand and pulls you in the corridor of the Chimaera. 

“Thrawn, what the fuck?!” You complain. 

“I do not want you to eat at the mess hall anymore. You will take your meals in my suite from now on.” He doesn't even look at you saying that, he just keeps walking straight ahead, pulling you behind him. 

“Why would I do that?” You protest at his audacity. 

“Because I order it.” 

You rip your hand of his grip harshly, prompting him to stop and turn towards you with eyes telling you are in trouble. 

But you can be both enraged. 

“Thrawn. With all the respect I owe you, who the fuck do you think you are to order me around like that?” 

He straightens his back, rising with all his height. 

“Your Grand Admiral, and more importantly, your husband.” 

You just cannot believe what you are hearing right now. This is so unlike him! He never got so angry that he resorted to violence, that he physically removed you from a place and now is ordering you around like that! 

Thrawn is not like that. This is not the man you chose for the rest of your life. 

“You think it gives you any power over me?!” 

He advert his gaze to look around and open a door. 

“Please enter. Let us discuss inside privately.” 

You breathe through your nose and enter, not without stabbing him with your eyes. Once inside the conference room, you spin to look at him, crossing your arms on your chest and frowning. 

“What is wrong with you lately? What is going on?!” 

“You are obviously the victim of sexual harassment by your male colleagues. I took the action to intervene for your integrity.” 

You blink, taking a second to process his words. 

“Lark is a dumbass and a clown, but he is not dangerous. If you didn’t ‘take action’ as you said I would have been able to get rid of him myself and with way less drama and publicity.” You correct him. 

He readjusts his position on his feet, grounding himself. He seems calmer but his eyes remain dark and agitated. 

“So you expected me to not act when he put his hands on your body and kissed you without consent?” He asks. 

“No. And I am glad you reacted to protect me. But throwing him to the ground like that? Publically? Like I thought our marriage was supposed to remain a secret and today you seemed ready to beat him to a pulp!” 

“I acted to protect you.” 

“Did you? Or did you protect your ego?”  

His nostril flares but he remains silent. 

Why can’t you see ? 

How you make heads turn and spin all around. 

Before he didn’t mind it. He knows you will never cheat on him, as he would never cheat on you. He never felt the need to resort to violence to deter any rivals, you stopped them very effectively yourself as he gazed lovingly at you from afar. 

But since he knows, all looks caressing your skin is insufferable to him, revolting, a stab in his own flesh, cutting so deep he feels like bleeding to death. 

So when Lark laid his hands on you and kissed your cheek, his brain just... Blacked out. 

His conscience took a backseat as his instincts took the reins and he grabbed the poor fool to throw him on the ground. He didn’t punched him, but he didn't lack the will. 

It was terribly tempting to make him an example.  

To assert his dominance over the foolish suitor who though he could steal the pregnant wife of a Chiss. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t know. Who kisses a colleague so brazenly like that in the first place? 

He knew that it would be challenging. He heard tales of males Chiss going off the rails for their pregnant partner in his youth and witnessed some crazy acts in his adulthood. So he knew he would have to prepare himself mentally to protect your common secret, to not loose his cool. He even thought that he would rise above that, that he had full control of his anger and possessivity. 

But when he saw Lark all over you... 

It was simply so sickening and maddening, and his protective and possessive instinct just screamed at him so loudly that he simply lost control. He forgot about your relationship being a secret, he forgot about being the Grand Admiral, he forgot about his usual restrain. 

His only goal was your and the baby’s safety. Who does this man thought he was to touch a Chiss’ mate? A Chiss’ wife? The future mother of a Chiss? He needed to be put in his place urgently.  

Now that he has calmed down, he realizes how unbecoming of him and reckless it was.  

But if you think he is going to say sorry, you are terribly wrong. 

He will not apologize for protecting his pregnant wife. In fact he will do it again, as many times as he has to. 

The thing that you are not understanding and that he is slowly realizing right now, is that he could kill fo you. 

One of his own officers, no second thought.  

If they push the right buttons, he will not take responsibility for his actions.  

Because Chiss are protective of their families to an extent you still have absolutely no idea. When Chiss see their partner and children in danger, things get really dangerous, really quickly.  

The syndicure had to put special laws in place and create a special category of crime for those very situations. The murder of a rival to protect a wife and an unborn baby was a classic of Chiss culture since millennials, it was a popular trope for books and movies, plays and operas, something deeply ingrained in their psyche. 

Barbaric for other species, perfectly justified in their eyes. 

So you can sit your pretty butt on any apology because you’re not going to get one. 

“Won’t you say something at least?!” You press him. 

“I understand where you are coming from. But I do not expect you to understand.” 

“Oh really? And why is that if you please? What, I am too stupid to understand the Grand Admiral Thrawn’s glorious mind?” You scoff. 

He deeply inhales. He really doesn’t want to tell you, it would spoil it for you. You deserve to discover it for yourself and have the joy to tell him. He so longs for your sparking eyes when you will approach him with a pregnancy test hidden behind your back. Who is he to rob you of that special moment? 

“You know I never thought that about you.” He counters . 

“Well you sure sound like you do right now.” 

You are very clearly pissed at him but right now he wants nothing more but to take you in his arms and carry you tight to the suite to lay in bed with you. He wants to hide you from the rest of the universe, to hug you so tight that you fusion in one single being, like that you will be safe and sound. He wants to smell his scent on you, mixing with yours in a perfect new fragrance. He wants you safe under his body, caged by his weight so nothing could ever reach and hurt you, protecting you with his large stature. 

But you would claw his face. So he keeps his urge on a leash. 

“I never had and never will have such opinions about you, I respect you too much.” 

“But clearly not enough to have the nerves to order me around like that!”  

You’re really not going to spare him, do you? 

Would he usually have the nerve to grab you to drag you to another place or give you orders like a child? No. 

But he felt justified. When it comes to protecting his Ch’acah and unborn baby he has all the rights in the universe! 

Protecting you and your baby is his sole focus and worry every day, his mission to the Empire became secondary to him. 

“Listen. I don’t know what came over you but I have been sick for months now, I don’t sleep, I puke every day, my back is destroyed and my PCOS is acting up, so I do not have the patience to deal with men petty ego battles right now!” You almost shout, at the end of your patience. 

He remains silent, listening to you breathing heavily. He patiently waits, looking at you silently. He is fully calmed down now and only looks at you with adoration in his shiny red eyes. 

How could he be mad at you when you are carrying his child? This is simply impossible. This is beyond him. 

“Do you feel better?” He softly ask. 

You wince. 

“I.... Yes. Sorry I screamed. But it needed to be said.” You respond, with a nicer tone. 

“I understand and do not hold it against you. In your state mood swings are very common.” 

You sniff, slowly relaxing. 

“My state, my state... PCOS don’t give me mood swing you know it.” You caress a strand of hair behind your ear. 

“I am not talking about your PCOS, Ch’acah. “ 

You raise an eyebrow with a silent question. 

He ponders, should he tell you? Keep the secret? 

Sure seeing you come to him with your largest smile to tell you the news sounds terribly alluring, but keeping the news away from will prevent you from getting the appropriate care. 

You could hurt yourself and the baby at the gym or while training with colleagues. 

He got rid of all the alcohol bottles in the suite behind your back but he knows Faro has a nice whisky collection and loves to invite you over. 

The risks are too high, every new day brings its new set of dangers. He needs to put a stop to it. 

“You may want to sit, my love.”  

You look at him, incredulous, but cave in. 

He sits in another chair and leans forward to take your hand in his. He gently caresses the back of it with his thumb, reveling in the softness of your thin human skin. He looks at you and cannot refrain from a smile stretching his lips right now, his second hand comes to caress your cheek. 

Your shared life flashes in his mind, all those moments at each other side. So precious.  

“I love you so much, Ch’acah.” He softly says, devouring your gorgeous face with his eyes. 

“Thrawn, you look like you’re about to tell me something shocking.” You reply a bit freaked out. 

He chuckles lightly. 

“You will be shocked, I am sure. But in a good way, I promise you.” 

“Okay.” You readjust yourself in your chair, bracing yourself for what he is about to throw at you. “I am listening.” 

“(Y/n), Ch’acah, my love, light of my days, star of my nights,” He says incredibly softly, squeezing your hand tenderly, caressing your cheekbone, his read eyes spilling love, “You are pregnant.” 

@Bluechiss @Thrawnalani @justanothersadperson93 @al-astakbar @thrawnspetgoose @readinglistfics @elise2174 @debonaire-princess @twilekchiss @pencil_urchin @ineedazeezee @mssbridgerton @dance-like-russia-isnt-watching @Cortisolcosplay @obbicrystaleo @germie2037 @exoplorationn @leo4242564 @jennfir @davesrightshoe 

[layla4567]

MONSTER TRIO BUYING YOU SANITARY NAPKINS

Warnings: Mention of period symptoms, English isn't my first language so there may be grammatical mistakes, swear words

LUFFY

Please be patience with him, he doesn't even know what's happening. Sanitary napkins? Is that something you can eat? Is a towel? He don't know and he can go desperate

Poor innocent boy, he really wants to help but doesn't know where to start. He doesn't understand your mood swings, he gets scared when he sees you writhing in pain, and he doesn't know what a sanitary pad is.

In your hammock curled up, you asked Luffy to please buy you a pair of sanitary pads with wings. Oh boy. The captain froze, totally confused, in fact he had to ask Nami to explain to him what you were asking for.

With wings? Like a plane? Could you fly with that? He definitely didn't understand anything but he still went to fulfill his mission.

Great was his disappointment when the store assistant gave him a small pink rectangular package where he could see a strange drawing of a white object with flaps on the sides, it looked like a shoe insole. Were those the wings? He thought they were going to have feathers like a duck's :(

ZORO

God damn, Can't he have a peaceful day or take a good nap without you interrupting him? When you called him from your room he rolled his eyes and walked to your door, clenching his jaw. He was going to protest but when he came in he saw you so messed up that he got genuinely worried.

He will be very grumpy but when it comes to helping or caring for those he cares about he does it without question. The problem was when you asked for the sanitary napkins. He even had to ask you to repeat it to see if he heard correctly.

Sanitary napkins, sanitary napkins and how the hell am I supposed to know what that is? He was muttering under his breath. The logical thing would have been to ask Nami. But Zoro's pride was too great to humiliate himself in front of a girl, he couldn't bear the shame of Nami laughing at his ignorance.

Anyway, he went to the store and started looking for those damn sanitary napkins. But there were so many, of all sizes, shapes and colors. And what was that about wings? Couldn't it be without wings? What was the fucking difference?

Zoro felt lost and his frustration was growing but he insisted that he could do it alone. Well, he couldn't. In the end he had to ask a saleswoman and the woman with a funny smile handed him a light purple package, it was soft like a pillow. He hoped this would be enough, or else he would have to put up with your mood swings.

SANJI

Totally a sweetheart. He perfectly understands what you have and what he has to do without having to ask Nami.

He will come visit you in your room from time to time to see if you need anything. A hot water compress for your belly? You will have it in less than a minute. Are you craving something sweet? Sanji will cook for you at any time and whatever you want.

It hurts Sanji's soul to see you so sore so he will stay by your side massaging your lower belly or telling you about All Blue to distract you.

Of course he knows what a sanitary pad or a tampon or a menstrual cup is, and he will buy you as many as you need without feeling embarrassed.

He will be the one who has the most patience with you and your mood swings. Nothing surprises him about you anymore and he knows how to comfort you anyway.

dividers: @saradika-graphics, @rookthornesartistry

[icannot3]

Menstrual Dilemma

(Frat) Kyle Spencer x reader

Word count: 1k

Warnings: talks of periods? Kyle buys you pads lmao. That's the plot.

Taglist: @taintandviolent (comment if you'd like to be added!)

....................

Excruciating pain was all you could feel. It left you doubled over, rolled in a tight ball and rocking around in agony. Your arms squeezed your abdomen tightly, short-lived waves of relief feeling like the holy grail before your ovaries once again continued their monthly, almost murderous routine. It was as if a knife had been stabbing you aggressively from the inside. The pain- along with other symptoms of inconvenience, such as headaches and nausea, had made you an uncrossable force not to be reckoned with. Being in far too much anguish to move, you'd sent Kyle to assist you.

Kyle deeply considered himself a gentleman. He'd do just about anything for his little lady. But when given the task of fetching you menstrual products, the job was perplexing - to say the least. Not only did he not have any deep knowledge about the use of these products, but he also had no idea where to find them. You'd told him to grab pads. After a painful amount of time scanning through the aisles of the nearest grocery store, refusing to ask for any help, he'd finally found the brightly lit women's care section. Before he entered, he did a quick loop around, making sure no one was close enough to see him enter. He felt a bit flustered being near the products in plain sight.

Finally, he'd made it in. His eyes scanned over the very large selection organized across the shelves. From what he'd gathered by looking at them, there were seemingly infinite options. The variety amazed him, really. The pads alone had so many sizes, but then there were just as many tampons up for selection. His hand trailed across the shelves, noticing a small box with bright purple packaging. The label read "menstrual cup", he'd flipped around the small cardboard box with curiosity. His eyebrow cocked up quizzically after seeing the product. Kyle's mind raced with endless questions. How did that even stay in there? Why would someone leave that inside of them? Did it hurt? Fairly astonished, he set the box back in its rightful place and made a mental note to ask you about that later. Regaining his original focus, he went back to the task at hand. He needed pads, right. He looked back at the intimidating selection, attempting to choose the best option.

He tried his hardest. He really did. But he truly had no clue what he was getting into when he accepted your request. He picked up one smaller package that seemed to lay in the middle flow-wise, gathering that it was the safest option. Kyle looked at the price tag from where it sat. Almost ten fucking dollars? For a medical necessity? His eyes widened like saucers, disturbed by the ridiculous cost of just a fancy cotton ball. He'd finally felt a small ounce of feminine rage and frustration over these matters. It was outrageous. Even the ones that weren't name brands were ridiculous. And the large packages for people with heavy flows? Screw that. Kyle gathered that if he had a period, at this rate, he'd shove a washcloth down there and call it a day.

His head snapped over, alarmed at the sound of a shopping cart. A mother had walked into the aisle with him. She had a small child in her cart as she browsed the selection. She looked at the prices, comparing them with her pointer finger whilst letting out a defeated sigh. Kyle understood, watching her try and look through the cheaper generic brands at the bottom. He still felt unsure about his choice. Putting all embarrassment aside, he got her attention.

"Is this stuff good? I'm here for my girlfriend." He showed her the pads he selected, desperate for help of some kind. She smiled kindly at him, nodding her head. "Yes, they don't have wings, though. You may want to ask her if that's what she prefers?" His brows furrow, he continues to grow confused over yet another technicality.

"What are wings?" He politely asks her. She giggles, pointing at another products photo. She gives a brief explanation, telling him about the benefits. Gratefully, he nods, grabbing that one as well. Just in case.

When he greeted you at his return to your shared apartment, just seeing you bundled up filled him with an immense amount of guilt. Not only did you have to deal with these ridiculous prices, but you were suffering. He set the bag next to you, pulling your exhausted form into his arms. You greeted him happily, pulling him into a tight embrace.

"How do you feel?" He inquires, rubbing small circles into the small of your back. You took a deep breath, soaking in his warmth. "Better, the cramps are starting to fade since I took my medicine. Were you able to find the pads?" He gives you a small smile, nodding his head in response. "A really nice woman helped me pick some out." You laughed, shaking your head at the thought of him getting advice on periods from a complete stranger. He found you precious, looking absolutely beautiful, snuggled into his chest. His fingers twirled through your hair and brushed your soft locs. Kyle, in that moment, vowed to always be as understanding and sympathetic towards you and any woman who complained about their monthly. He felt disgusted from his lack of knowledge alone.

He tapped your shoulder, silently asking you to face him. You hummed, eyes catching his own. "I have a question." He placed a kiss to your brow. You tilted your head, ready to answer whatever it was.

"Do you use menstrual cups?"

[tiredwitchplant]

Everything You Need to Know About Herbs: Yarrow

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

*Poisonous *Medical *Feminine

Folk Names: Achillea, Bad Man’s Plaything, Carpenter’s Weed, Death Flower, Devil’s Nettle, Eerie, Field Hops, Gearwe, Hundred Leaved Grass, Knight’s Milfoil, Knyghten, Lady’s Mantle, Milfoil, Militaris, Military Herb, Millefolium, Noble Yarrow, Nosebleed, Old Man’s Mustard, Old Man’s Pepper, Sanguinary, Seven Year’s Love, Snake’s Grass, Soldier’s Woundwort, Yarroway, Yerw

Planet: Venus, Sun

Element: Water, Air

Deities: Cernunnos, Hernes, Pan

Abilities: Courage, Love, Psychic Powers, Exorcism, Clarity, and Healing

Why Poisonous?: Contain thujone (just like Wormwood) Thujone is a chemical compound in yarrow that excites the nervous system. Causes seizures, hallucinations and other adverse reactions.

Characteristics: Has white flowers that bloom atop straight stalks with grayish-green serrated leaves that have a feather like appearance. Is a perennial plant that can grow to 3 feet.

History: Is native to Northern and Western Europe. Is famed as the wonder healer. Was used by Achilles to heal wounds, hence it’s botanical name. It is also known as nosebleed because the leaves were used to staunch blood. It was used in tea by the Native Americans for the treatment of menorrhea, the blood flow of menstruation. In the traditional Yi Jing age, the dried stalks were thrown into water to predict the future.

Growing Yarrow:

Easy to Grow? Yes

Rating: Beginner Friendly

Are the seed accessible? No

How to Grow Yarrow

Video Reference

Where to Buy Seeds

Magical Usage:

Placing the herb on top of graves help the dead peacefully crossover

Weaved into braids creates an energy web that taps into your inner wisdom

Helps develop psychic gifts

A cup of yarrow tea with a cinnamon stick can warm your bones and release hidden truths about oneself

Can be used for divination of the future and relationships

If worn on person, can stop fear and grant courage

Can be hung as a wedding decoration to guarantee seven years of a loveable marriage

Washing hair with water infused with yarrow can prevent baldness

Carrying it around can attract love, friendships, and distant connections

Exorcises evil and negativity from a person, place or thing

Medical Usage:

Clean and heal wounds

Can reduce fever

Stop internal bleeding

Lower blood pressure

Helps with menstrual issues such as: heavy bleeding, period pain, and heavy flow

In tonic form, can help with colds, flu, hay fever, weak digestion, and improve blood circulation

Sources

[ssophialoren66]

Rituals, Myths, and Menstruation: Unraveling Cultural Narratives in Indian Festivals

Today, menstruation is considered a topic of shame. Conversations surrounding periods are shrouded in whispers because mothers tell their daughters it’s not okay to talk about menstruation in front of the opposite gender. However, do you know, the conditions for women weren’t always the same? In fact, in ancient mythologies of India, divine feminine energy was revered. Read more to please visit here - https://www.pr5-articles.com/Articles-of-2020/rituals-myths-and-menstruation-unraveling-cultural-narratives-indian-festivals

[nikethestatue]

Elain's Potatoes

Elriel Month: Happy Solstice

Summary: It's Solstice and Elain Archeron is suffering from her cycle. Azriel sneaks out to see her, and cooks her Solstice dinner, and some potatoes, with a twist. He is also on the forefront of the advances of menstrual pad design. Romantic fluff ensues.

(what book was Elain reading?)

Nobody dies in this one, but it's a biggie--8K words

“Elain cancelled on me.”

Nesta’s lower lip jutted forward, and even though she attempted not to show that she was upset, Cassian could see that she was in fact, upset.

“Elain cancelled?” he peered at his wife in confusion, “Elain never cancels,” he argued and Nesta sighed and sipped her coffee from her huge cup, which Azriel brought her from the continent–along with this new drink, called coffee. Cassian’s had it before, because Azriel was a fan, but coffee was bitter and strange tasting. Personally, he preferred tea. Nesta found a kindred spirit in Azriel, and they liked their coffee as black as their souls. 

“Did she say why?” he asked, taking a bite of his eggs.

This was a busy week–Solstice week. It was possible that Elain was running around, preparing, buying gifts and all that, but still, it was unusual for Elain to cancel on anyone, let alone Nesta. The two of them have been looking forward to a day together–shopping, buying mantle ornaments and tinsel, and then they were expecting to meet Feyre for afternoon tea at one of the Tea Houses. Cassian had no say in the matter, but he frowned upon these afternoon teas, because it was just an excuse to eat unhealthy things such as scones and pastries, but it’s not like anyone would listen to him if he told them to indulge in a nice salad. So he kept his mouth shut. At least the three sisters were happy(ier)--nicely filled out, all three with a purpose, one a mother, two mated, the third…well, she was a head-scratcher that’s for sure, and Cassian didn’t exactly know what was happening with her. Elain, so very beautiful, soft, likeable, kind, good natured, and sweet, had way too many men problems. 

“She has her cycle,” Nesta grunted.

Cassian cleared his throat and buried his face in his tea cup. He wasn’t in the mood to discuss his sister-in-law’s bleeding. But he did ask, “so she’ll be indisposed for the whole thing?”

“I don’t know,” Nesta admitted, “but we won’t make her come to dinner if she doesn’t want to come.”

Cassian took a sip of his tea and turned the page of the newspaper that he was reading. He loved these quiet mornings with his wife, his beautiful mate. It’s been less than a year since they had their gorgeous mating ceremony, followed by a much quicker and quieter wedding, where it was only their families present. Nesta wanted a human ceremony and Cassian didn’t mind it. Since then, they’ve been falling in love. The time’s been quiet, and wholly theirs. They went on their honeymoon to Day Court, where Helion offered to give them a seaside villa, which was absolutely enchanting. Nesta wouldn’t leave the azure waters of the sea, swimming from morning ‘till night, only leaving to eat, nap and make love. 

“Azriel will be disappointed,” Cassian muttered absently, turning the page again. 

Nesta threw him a sharp look and raised a brow at his comment. 

“Why would he be disappointed?”

Cassian shrugged and explained, sounding very casual, “Well, you know how he likes the odd little gifts that she gives him for Solstice. I think he will miss that.”

Nesta hummed to herself but didn’t say anything further. 

Did Cassian finally begin suspecting something?

-

Azriel arrived at the River Estate on time, as usual, but without any enthusiasm or any pep in her step.

The shadows that swarmed him already informed him that Elain was not at the house, and he wondered if she was just running late. That was unlike her though. She was punctual, just like he was. Additionally, he assumed that she would be busy preparing dinner, maybe baking Feyre’s birthday cake. But the shadows confirmed that she was definitely absent.

The moment he opened the doors, he was swallowed up in the glitz of the estate, the abundant and glamorous decorations and the scent of roasting chicken.

Try as he might, Azriel couldn't get used to the River Estate. It didn’t feel like anything to him. A shell. In the past, they’d all cram into the townhouse, and it was tight, but heaps of fun all the same. Sometimes, they celebrated Solstice at the House of Wind, and that was a free-for-all of wild shenanigans. One time he woke up dressed as a cow. Another time Mor and Cassian were betting that they could swing from a chandelier–not surprisingly, both fell on their asses and the chandelier fell on the floor, which resulted in the five of them sweeping a million crystals the following day. Cassian swore that he wouldn’t go barefoot into that room even now. Mother’s tits, those were some fun times!

The River Estate made him tense. Like he was in the presence of his High Lord, and not his brother and friend. The baby and Elain were the only two things that he liked about being here–they softened the edges, and made the vast place feel more homey. There have been a few times when Rhys and Feyre were out, and Elain stayed with the baby. Azriel made sure to ‘accidentally’ drop by on those days, under the pretence of delivering something for Rhys. Or ‘forgetting’ that his High Lord wasn’t around to see him. Whether Elain realised that he was chancing an evening with her, he was not entirely sure, but Elain always managed to see right through him. It doesn’t matter. Those evenings were special. They cared for the baby together–fed him, played with him, bathed him, changed him and put him to sleep. Elain had a terrible singing voice, though she played the fortepiano, as he found out. He, on the other hand, had a very good voice, but he never sang…not in front of anyone. When it was just the three of them though, he felt pretty comfortable, and he sang some Illyrian lullabies to his nephew. Elain sat, with her cheek propped on her knee and listened quietly.

“Where is my beautiful mate?”

It was the first thing that reached Azriel’s ears the moment he stepped into the house. Lucien’s voice. Attempting to school his scowl into something presentable and not frightening, Azriel removed his jacket and then stepped into the large parlour where the family and guests were gathered. His eyes immediately went to the window seat, where Elain liked to sit when there were larger gatherings–observing, being part of the party, and yet, always separate. Much like he did himself. Tonight, the seat was empty, and something broke inside his chest at the sight of it, at the absence of her. That’s all he was looking forward to tonight–just stealing a few moments together, exchanging a few sentences, brushing his hands over hers, maybe the opportunity to wrap his finger around her braid. Between Rhysand and Lucien hovering on the periphery, he knew that any chances of something more meaningful would be impossible, but he was used to living on crumbs of opportunities and affection that were thrown his way.

“She won't be attending tonight,” he heard Feyre answer.

“Oh, what happened?” Lucien sounded concerned.

There was a pause, and then Feyre offered, “she is indisposed’.

“Doesn't she live here?” Lucien pressed.

“No,” Cassian boomed, “Ellie moved out and now lives at the townhouse.”

“So, I won’t see her at all this week?” Lucien inquired meekly.

“I am sorry, Lucien. I don’t think so. I should’ve let you know…”

The shadows immediately peeled away from Azriel’s body and slithered off and away, rushing to investigate further. 

-

Mor was getting a platter of cookies and another bottle of wine from the kitchen, when an iron grip clasped her upper arm.

“Aw, Az, what the Hel?” she hissed, not having heard him materialise behind her.

“I need you to do something for me,” he said quietly.

“Now?” she cried and he squeezed her arm tighter, warning her to keep quiet.

“Get off me,” she growled, ready to go to battle with him. “What do you want?”

“Yes now,” he said simply, and gently, but urgently dragged her into the hallway.

“What in the world is so urgent on Solstice?!?” she slapped his chest. 

It was cute, but not as cute as when Elain did it. 

Sometimes, he did something incorrectly on purpose, so Elain could get all adorably frustrated and huffy with him, and push him or slap his chest. He really loved it. 

“I need you to winnow me,”

Her brows knitted together and she gave him a look of pure incomprehension and disgust.

“Are you drunk?” she demanded.

He wasn’t, but he wasn't so sure about her. 

“I am not winnowing you, Azriel,” she grunted at him angrily, rolling her eyes at him. “You can winnow yourself! Why are you wasting my time when I just want to go and get more ham and drink more wine,”

Hissing through his teeth, he muttered, “you don’t need any more wine, trust me.”

“Fuck you,” she snapped rudely.

She could feel the response on his own lips, but he held back. 

“Mor, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” he said seriously. 

She finally set the bottle down on the counter and he let go of her arm, which she then crossed on her ample chest.

Sometimes, it surprised him that he’d been so attracted to her once in his life. He supposed that when he was a seventeen year old virgin, who barely even spoke to women, let alone saw them in Widnhaven, she seemed amazing. Indeed, she was–brashly beautiful, with her golden hair and big lips and large brown eyes. He even saw something of Elain in her–same intense beauty, though Elain’s was always softer and more delicate. But personalities–-why did he think that this could ever work? They had nothing in common. Their temperaments were polar opposites–she pushed and pressured, she needed things to be done her way, she wanted and if she didn't get it, she demanded it. Azriel did not mind, generally. However, it did grate on his nerves at times, and also, emotionally tired him out. He wasn’t one for endless conflict, acquiescence, and arguments. 

Thinking about all of this, only made him want to get out of here sooner and go where he really wanted to be.

“Why can’t you winnow?” she insisted. 

“I can winnow, but you need to come with me. It will only take 2 minutes of your time. You don’t even need to put on a coat,” he assured her. She frowned, disbelieving, but at least she was listening.

He continued quickly, “I just need you to let me into the townhouse.”

The request clearly confounded her. Her expression was befuddled to say the least, and she just stared at him dumbly.

“Rhys’s townhouse?” she asked at last.

He nodded.

“Why in the world……….oh,” her brown eyes blew up and turned into orbs, as comprehension dawned on her. “Ohhhh…ohh,”

“By the Cauldron, stop it!” he snapped at her.

Thinking, she cried out, “what are you going to do?!? Stalk her creepily?! She has her cycle, and I don’t see why and what you can do for her,”

“Exactly!” he nodded. “It’s Solstice, and she is completely alone. Suffering and in pain,”

“She might be just sleeping,” Mor argued reasonably.

“Or not,” he cut, “and even if she is sleeping, someone still should be with her. Caring for her,”

“And you are the one to care for her?”

“And why not?” he asked defensively, suddenly wondering if this was actually a bad idea. What was his plan, exactly? Barge into Elain’s bedroom, while she was bleeding and in pain? They were…what were they? Friends? Unresolved lovers? Definitely not lovers. He could only wish and hope, but that was in the past. Now, he was to be content with just being her acquaintance. Who desperately wanted to care for her during her cycle. Something that only mates and husbands did for their females. Lucien, certainly wasn't breaking down doors to get to her right now. He was happy to drink Rhysand’s expensive wine and eat the delicious roast. 

Mor looked him over and said, “you aren’t exactly the caring type, Az.”

“I care when I want to,” he said, getting tired and annoyed with this conversation. “Can we go now?”

She hummed and pursed her lips, saying, “I am not sure we should. It’s her personal space, I don’t want to intrude.”

“You don’t need to come in,” his patience was running out. “And if she gets upset, I will take all the blame,”

“Hmm, I don't think so,”

“Morrigan!” she snarled.

“No, I don’t think I will do it,” she concluded. 

“Fine,” he said calmly, but a clear threat was thundering through his deep midnight voice.

“I am glad we agree,”

“I will tell everyone that you are seeing Gwyneth,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

She gasped and clamped her hand over his mouth.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me,” he challenged.  

Azriel was the only one who knew about the two of them. Furthermore, he was the only one who knew about Mor’s ‘secret’, though why the hell she kept it so, he had no idea. 

It was scandalous though–Mor and Gwyneth. Mor was the teacher, regardless of Gwyn’s Carynthian status, and Mor was 500 years older, vastly experienced, and one of the founders of the Library, in charge of the priestesses’ well-being, and identities. A relationship with one of her students would be considered unethical at best, especially since Gwyn still lived in the Library and still served as a priestess there. 

“You asshole,” she moaned. “You are such an asshole!”

He smirked and offered her his arm.

“Ready?”

“I hope she fucking throws you out!”

“She won’t,” he said confidently.

“And I’ll tell Lucien,” she threatened.

Breezily, he waved his hand and muttered, “Oh, I am terrified!”

-

A minute later, they stood in front of the white marble townhouse, which was decorated with pine wreaths and had a crooked snowman standing in front of it from the snowfall that they experienced in the fortnight. The snowman had a carrot for a nose and seven blue dots scattered around its body. Mor blew on her hands and chuckled at the snowman.

“Maybe she won’t throw you out after all,” 

They entered the front garden and she poked at the two giant wilted leaves from some plant, which were stuck in the snowman’s back.

“Wings,” she noted.

He noticed everything as well and was quite pleased with the snowman.

She turned to face him and prodded his chest with her finger.

“You promise you won’t say anything to anyone!”

“I promise,” he agreed. “Though I don’t know if it’s me you should be worrying about.”

“Who else knows?” she exclaimed worriedly.

“No one. But I am curious how you’ll explain getting that pegasus from Helion and gifting it to Gwyn, after Gwyn will inevitably blabber about it to Nesta, who’ll blabber about it to Cassian, who will definitely blabber about it to Rhys. Because there is no fucking way that Gwyn isn’t going to be talking about her new flying horse.”

Mor let out a muffled, pathetic sigh and grabbed Azriel’s arm, turning him to face her. 

“By the gods,” she lamented breathlessly, the seriousness of the situation dawning on her. “Az!”

“What?”

Pleading, she asked, “What do I do?”

He shrugged, still feeling petty over how she almost refused to take him here.

“Azriel!”

“What do you want me to say, Morrigan?” He opened his hands widely. “I can do many things, but keeping Gwyneth Berdara silent isn’t one of them.”

“But if Rhys finds out…” her voice died in a heavy exhale. 

“Yeah, there would be hell to pay,” he agreed callously.

“But I love her,” she murmured.

“Not sure it matters to him.” 

It definitely didn’t matter to Rhysand when Azriel was in a similar situation only recently.

Azriel regarded Mor for a long time, considering whether he should give her advice. 

Azriel held grudges. It wasn’t his finest trait, but he couldn't help it. He was an Illyrian, and a Fae, and his grudges lasted for thousands of years. Could and did he forgive Mor for all the years of incomprehensible rejection? No, not even a little bit. At the same time, he also moved on. There was someone that he was interested in and who reciprocated his feelings and who concerned him much more than Mor ever would again. 

“It might not be the perfect solution,” he said at last, “but use magic. There is a secret keeping spell that you can use, or a Confounding spell,”

“Oh yes, yes…” she was nodding eagerly.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s something. It will tide you over until you figure out what to do. She is young and impulsive–I wouldn’t trust her to keep a flying horse a secret.”

“You are right. Maybe a Confounding Spell, where she’d just forget to talk about it and it won’t be on her mind…”

“We done talking about Gwyn? I want to go inside,” he stomped his feet. “It’s colder than Apollion’s asshole!”

She cocked her brow at him and muttered, “I wasn’t aware that you were so familiar with his asshole.”

-

Elain was in her bed, on top of the covers, curled around her stomach.

Fae periods were atrocious. They were uncomfortable and painful, though not as frequent as when she was human. But her new body still confused her. Why go through so much pain and discomfort only to have to wait years, sometimes decades to get pregnant. It seemed pointless. Why suffer this much, only to wait and wait in vain to have a child?

She couldn’t complain really–her cycle was pretty bad, but not as debilitating as Feyre’s, or even Mor’s. Somehow, she and Nesta avoided being subjected to the horrors that so many other Fae females experienced during their cycles. It wasn’t pleasant by any means, but she wasn’t crying and sweating, or shaking and moaning like her younger sister. However they were Made, she and Nesta were given a little bit of a reprieve from the fate of all other Fae females. 

The pain was manageable, but she was bleeding profusely. It was so abundant, it didn’t allow her the opportunity to leave the house for at least 3-4 days. 

Did she want to go to the Solstice celebration at her sister’s? Frankly, she was glad that she was missing it this year. Because he would be there. And the other he. The one she wanted, and the one who laid claim on her. And she didn’t want to deal with either one of them. She was lonely, but by now, this was something to be expected–she didn't have many friends beside the wraith twins, and she didn’t have a male either. She was almost 27 years old and she definitely thought that her life would’ve been very different right now–she might have had a loving husband in Graysen, and perhaps, even a baby by now. She would’ve been Lady Nolan, wife to a Lord’s son, mistress of the domain, wealthy and respected, and maybe even happy. Instead, now, men ran away from her, knowing that she had the blasted mate bond, which rendered her invisible in their eyes. Even Azriel seemed to have lost interest–why wouldn’t he? He was prohibited from seeing her and to him, she was unavailable anyway. 

She was feeling sour. Unhappy with herself, unsatisfied, unaccomplished. How did Nesta of all people get married before her? Nesta, who never had a relationship in her life, was happily, joyfully mated to a great male, and Elain…well, Elain needed to find it in herself to go downstairs and warm up some soup or something. Nuala promised to bring her leftovers from today’s celebration, but for now, she had vegetable soup to look forward to.

She turned onto her side with a grunt, feeling the blood sloshing between her legs, and wrinkled her nose. Gods. It was so gross. Tucking her nose into the book she was reading, she got lost in the world. She wondered if there was really an academy for the Fae, where they studied and honed their skills and powers? That would be amazing to attend. Not just stumble about in the darkness, not understanding her own capabilities, but actually learn how to harness it and how to do spells and other incredible things. If she had a handsome vampire Professor, she wouldn’t have minded either. He reminded her of Azriel–brutal, brash and solitary. She also liked the other character, the big dragon shifter, who was dripping with raw masculinity. Biting her lip, she turned the page eagerly reading about the angry dragon chasing his love interest across the bubbling hot springs, until they finally finally kissed. Elain’s been waiting for this moment for four books and it was here, at last!

She didn’t know what it was, but she suddenly shifted on the bed, feeling someone’s eyes on her. The townhouse was well-protected, with ironclad wards, fit for Rhysand. No one could get inside. Ever. And yet the feeling of unease spread over her and she lifted her eyes from the pages of the hefty tome. She looked around her bedroom, but there was nothing amiss, except for the unusual clump of darkness in the corner. The shadows typically didn’t gather like that in that spot. And then, to her horror, a figure stepped out of the darkness–a figure of murky gloom–a huge male body, swathed in shadows…

“Aaaahhhhh!!!!!!!” Elain bellowed at the top of her lungs, deafening her own ears with her scream, as she hurled the thick book at the male. 

“Auuuu!” she heard the man’s voice. “By the gods, Elain! What the fuck,” 

Shockingly, it was Azriel who was now standing in her bedroom, the book in one hand, while he was rubbing his forehead with his fingers, where she smacked him with full force. “You could’ve taken my eye out!” he complained.

She scattered back, pulling her robe, her eyes wide with both fear and relief, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

“What are you doing here?” she cried out. “How did you get inside?!?”

He was still grunting and wincing, rubbing his face, “Mor let me in,” he growled.

She began to calm down a bit, but then crossed her arms on her chest and repeated,

“It doesn’t explain what you are doing here? Shouldn’t you be celebrating Solstice with the others?”

“Yeah, come to think of it now, I should be,” he growled. 

“Then why aren’t you?”

His left eye winked a couple of times and she couldn’t help, but giggle. He looked so...defeated. Like she sprung on him and completely took him by surprise.

“I think it’s obvious that I came here to check on you,” he said dryly.

“Oh,” she sat back on her heels and looked guiltily at him. 

His shadows were gone, and he wasn’t wearing a jacket, which told her that he probably winnowed straight from the party.

He walked to the white stone fireplace and poked the burning logs with a poker, adding another log into the fire. 

This was enough excitement for Elain, and she was now feeling exhausted, so she slipped back onto the bed, wincing from pain and discomfort. He caught her expression and turned to her, asking, “how are you feeling?”

“Like crap,” she admitted and he chuckled. 

She wore a comfortable pair of cotton leggings and a hoodie. Her feet were bare and he looked at them, taking in her painted toes and a thin gold anklet, which surprised him for some reason. He looked at her for a while, in complete silence, the crackling of the fire the only sound in the room. She watched him too, silent and serious, and then extended her hand to him, and held it there, waiting. He took two steps to the bed and grasped her small hand in his, while sitting down on the edge of the bed. She smelled heady and the scent of blood, arousal, her womb, her skin, her natural scent of jasmine and honey almost made his eyes roll back in his head. It was the most delicious aroma he’d ever scented. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her wrist, feeling her pulse beneath his lips, before opening her hand and kissing inside it. Her breathing became uneven and he watched a lovely pink blush spread over her cheeks and her exposed neck. He loved kissing her hands, small and calloused, and covered in a thin net of various scars. She explained that most were from gardening, some were from burns, knife cuts, splinters, scalding water, from doing laundry in the winter and chopping wood, from weeding, and mending clothes. Gentle, pretty, but working hands. 

“Thank you for coming to check on me,” she murmured, reaching up and tucking a strand of his thick, black hair away from his eyes. “You should get a haircut,” she then decided.

He nodded, “I should.”

His rough, scarred knuckles brushed against her cheek and he admitted, “I wouldn’t have wanted to spend Solstice with anyone but you.”

He looked at her bed, and then smiled, “now, who is this?”

She glanced over her shoulder and then took a stuffed pig that rested by her pillow and handed it to him. Azriel chuckled, stroking the soft toy.

“It’s Darius,” she explained.

“Darius the pig?”

“Yes. I used to have a stuffed pig when I was young and then it…” she stopped talking and swallowed heavily. 

He rubbed the pig’s fluffy head with his thumb and pressed, “What happened to him?”

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and she murmured, “When the creditors came…they ransacked our house, taking everything and anything that was of any value. They even took our hair ribbons and pins. And I was holding him and crying, because I barely understood what was going on and then one of the men snatched him from my hands. He tore his head off…and then stomped on it, so it wouldn't be possible to reattach it later.”

Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks and Azriel just…moved. He couldn’t stop himself even if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to love and comfort her. He wanted to protect her and cherish her. So when he pressed his lips to her face, gently kissing off the tears, it was not lustful or domineering, but a promise. A promise that he would always comfort her and hold dear what was important to her.

“I found this one here, because he reminded me of my Darius.”

“I’ll always take care of Darius,” he vowed, kissing her soft, beautiful face. “Of you. Of everything that is yours and ours.”

Her arm fell across his shoulders and she looked at him, her eyes wet, her lips parted, the pig squished between their bodies.

“You are just,” she whispered breathlessly, “you are…extraordinary.”

“No,” he shook his head, as his nose slid down her cheekbone, “just a male, who’d worship and adore you if you allowed me to.”

She cupped his face between her hands and pressed her lips to his forehead.

“You may…you know. You will always have my permission.”

He kissed her hand again and then pulled away. Truthfully, he didn't trust himself. Even now. Even knowing that she was bleeding and aching, tired and weak, but also ripe and ready for him, he didn’t trust himself and certainly didn’t want to take advantage of her. Because he knew that he could. And she’d be willing. And it’s not like he cared about blood either…But he knew that this wasn’t the time and she wasn’t ready. Besides, as much as he desired her, he also wanted to court her and taking advantage of her willingness and proximity didn’t seem fair. So, he pulled away, even though he was gritting his teeth. 

“May I take the pain away?” he offered.

Elain leaned on her elbows and looked at him with a perplexed expression on her face. Her hair was a mess, slipping from the knot on top of her head and it endeared him even further.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t heal, but I am able to take away pain,” he explained.

“How?” she was shocked, for this was an ability that only some of the more powerful High Fae possessed. Rhysand, she’d seen Helion assist his soldiers on the battlefield, and perhaps Morrigan was also capable. Elain wasn’t even sure that Feyre could, or Lucien. Feyre was powerful in her own right, but she couldn’t take pain away. 

He shrugged and didn’t answer. Maybe he didn’t know.

But…there was always something odd about Azriel. His power was vast. It was like a churning ocean of dark, mysterious raw energy that spoke to her own. It responded to her, drawing her own like a magnet, pulling it to her skin, so it vibrated and sought to escape so it could dance and play with Azriel’s power. They’d never discussed it, but the most acute sharing of power that they experienced was during the final battle of the war. She could sense it: his power of Death, deeper than the swirling eddies of the Cauldron, and her power, bright and calm, benevolent and immense–the power of Life. 

“You can do that?” she murmured, looking at him in awe.

He smiled softly at her and said,

“You know me better than anyone. You always have.”

She supposed that she did. The mysterious shadowsinger was never much of a mystery to her. He allowed her in.

Azriel lifted her hoodie a bit over her stomach. It allowed him the view of a sliver of her flat belly. She lay back, a little tense, and he whispered,

“Think of me as a healer.”

She raised her brow at him, giving him a look. He smirked and then placed his large palm on her stomach. She concentrated, and then her eyes lit up and she grinned, after he pressed and held his hand to her skin.

“It’s working!”

“I would hope so,” he nodded, holding his hand to her belly longer than was necessary. His index finger moved lightly near her belly button, writing something that only he understood. Mine.

“It feels so good,” she almost moaned and Azriel sighed. He wished that she would whisper the same words, only under different circumstances. When it was from the pleasure that he gave her, when her beautiful body opened up to him, and welcomed him inside. Gods, she would love it. He would make it incredible for her, her body bowed beneath his, writhing, begging him for more, needing him, yielding to him, falling for him, submitting to him. 

He smiled softly, mostly to himself. He was going to have a fun time filling his Elli’s belly with his babies. This little tidbit might not have been something that he shared with anyone, but Elli was his. And the desire to create a family with her, make them children, ran almost rabid in his blood. He was a patient male, and he was willing to wait. But the fact that she was going to become his wife, his lady and the mother of his children was all but a guarantee. He was even more careful on his missions now–not because of any sort of fear, but because he wanted to ensure that Elain got what she wanted–and that was him. He needed to be hers just as much as she was going to be his. 

Elain’s slender finger wrapped around his wrist and she whispered, ‘thank you’.

“You are welcome, beautiful,” he whispered and then dropped the hem of her hoodie down. “Now, have you eaten?”

Unenthusiastically, she muttered, “I have soup.”

“That is thrilling. Soup.” He tsked sarcastically, but then added, “it didn’t answer my question though. Have you eaten?”

“Nuala made me porridge in the morning.”

“Alright then,” he got up and then fluffed her pillows, announcing, “I shall tend to you and make us a fine Solstice meal indeed.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked. “I don’t need to eat…I am not hungry…”

He hummed and said, “Keep reading your thick smutty book that you’ve used as a weapon,”

“I am sorry!”

“Good aim, by the way.”

She laughed softly. 

“Did I hurt you?”

“Only my pride.”

“You know,” he jerked his head towards the book, “I’ve read it,”

“You have?” she exclaimed excitedly.

“Yeah, where are you at?”

“The dragon shifter and the phoenix are in the hot springs,”

Azriel’s long whistle interrupted her. 

“They are about to do it.”

“Do what?”

“It. Elli. It.”

He winked and then disappeared, but not before smirking at her blush.

-

In the kitchen, Azriel took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and headed for the basket of potatoes.

In Illyria, produce was often scarce, but potatoes were always available, and dozens, if not hundreds of recipes, included or were dedicated to the humble spud. Females had all sorts of secret recipes for their cycle times, and while Azriel never bothered to find out much about them, he could cook up amazing mashed potatoes, roast them with garlic and rosemary, fry them, smash them with cheese and butter. 

He filled a large pot with water, grabbed the basket and sat down. Considering his options for a moment, he decided on using Truth Teller to peel them. His dagger wasn’t only for killing and maiming–he used it casually as well, but only for himself. Shrugging, he figured that Elain might actually benefit from a mash made with a Made utensil. 

Once peeled and cleaned, he dumped the potatoes into the pot, put it on the fire, and began setting the table–he pulled out the nice china from the cabinet, crystal glasses, and the real silver silverware. Then he lit candles in a large beautiful candelabra and grabbed one of Elain’s flower-filled vases, and placed it on the table as well. 

When Elli was going to be his and they’d be living here together, he was going to make some design changes. The place was a bit stuffy for his taste, and could benefit from fewer walls. He liked wide open spaces, air, lots of light, windows, unfussy furniture. 

“Az!” he heard her yell from upstairs. 

Smiling, he yelled back, “What’s going on, beautiful?”

“I am bored!” she complained.

“I’ll come and get you in a few minutes, gorgeous. I am just finishing up here.”

“Whatchya doing?”

“Preparing Solstice dinner, because we are not savages and we’ll have a proper celebration.”

Azriel found some cold ham in the ice box, pate, smoked chicken, a few varieties of cheese, and then headed to the cellar for the wine. 

-

Elain was feeling hot and heavy. Not because of her menstrual pains–not at all, because Azriel successfully took all of that away–and not even because of her blood, but because of the highly erotic chapter that she just read. And quickly re-read. She couldn’t believe that Azriel read the same thing! It made her tingle in places where she shouldn’t be tingling right now, and brought a wave of heat to her cheeks, and between her legs. Her breasts were aching and her nipples grew hard. It didn’t help that the object of her affection was downstairs, preparing dinner. Gorgeous and red-bloodied Illyrian warrior whose touch drove her wild with lust and desire. And he read this very book–its erotically charged chapters, with the handsome dragon shifter doing things to his phoenix lady that Elain could only dream of. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn’t even notice Azriel, who stood in the doorway, his tattooed forearms crossed on his chest, an amused smirk on his lips.

She blinked at him, pulled back into reality. 

“So?” he asked, “did they do it?”

Elain snapped the book closed and exclaimed, “I can’t talk to you about that!”

He laughed and teased, “but why not? I’d like to know what your thoughts are,”

“Well, you can’t!” she argued primly.

“Well…” he sighed. “Maybe later. When you are mine.”

She looked up at him from the bed and he enjoyed watching her squirm under his penetrating gaze, watching her little bare toes scrunching, as she pressed her thighs together. 

“Azriel,” she breathed, almost frightened by the intensity of his gaze.

“It’s not negotiable, Elli,” he told her firmly. 

“But,”

“It’s all superfluous, you know. All the barriers, real or perceived. You’ve made me the happiest I’ve ever been, and I won’t let go of the feeling. You’ll be mine.”

Then he tossed her some kind of white lump and said, “for now, go change–I’ve made some adjustments to your pads.”

Elain grabbed the cloth that he gave her and got up from her bed, scurrying to the bathing room. She was still not used to the ease with which Fae males approached menstruation, seemingly unconcerned about it at all, and willing to assist in any manner, treating these messy, violent female cycles as part of their lives just as much as they were part of the females’. Still, at least he didn’t offer to go inside the bathing room with her. 

What she was holding in her hand was her usual cloth, but it was folded and stuffed with cotton balls, as well as a strip of bandage inside, which made the whole thing water resistant. She glanced at it, awed. It was genius!

She washed and changed and instead of stuffing her underwear with six cloths, she only needed the one pad. It was actually perfect–comfortable, provided ample coverage, and Elain was thinking how to replicate the design for further usage. When she opened the door into the bedroom, she found Azriel sprawled on her bed, long muscular legs crossed at the ankles, reading her book. 

“This is quite the scene!” he decided, looking at her. “Ready to go?”

“Thank you,” she said softly, her cheeks rosy. She had rebraided her hair, put some blush and lip tint on, and changed into a different, prettier shirt. “For the pad…it’s very cleverly made,”

He sat up and said, “glad you liked it. I’ve made you a set. It’s downstairs.”

He got up, took two strides towards her and then swiftly picked her up off the floor.

She absolutely didn’t mind it, though she attempted to protest rather feebly and he basically ignored her with a chuckle.

“No, take the bag!” she pointed to a bag by the door and he grabbed that as well, groaning,

“What the hel is in it, beautiful?”

Azriel carried Elain downstairs and into the dining room, and she gasped, as she took in the beautifully set table, resplendent with lit candles and flowers. The fireplace was lit now, and it made all her Solstice decorations glow and sparkle to her great delight. Azriel gingerly placed her down in the chair and filled her glass with wine, knowing that she liked white. He filled his own, and then stood with his glass raised, saying,

To the blessed darkness from which we are born, and to which we return.

“Happy Solstice, Az,” she smiled at him and he lowered his head and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

“Happy Solstice, Elli.”

“Thank you for spending it with me.”

“Of course, beautiful. I’d rather be here, with you, than anywhere else. Now, let’s eat.”

Elain felt like a queen, being cared for and served hand and foot by a mighty Illyrian warrior no less. It was surreal, but it felt nice, and what’s more, it was obvious that Azriel wanted to do this with her, and for her. 

He brought platters to the table and then a big bowl of some of the creamiest looking mashed potatoes she’d ever seen. Just the sight of them made her salivate.

“You made these?” she gushed, once he sat down at the table.

“Potatoes for my Elain,” he grinned and placed a heaping serving on her plate.

Elain attacked them ravenously, and Azriel had a satisfied look on his face watching her eat.

“Remember our first Solstice?” she asked him, as she helped herself to more mash. It was truly amazing. Not only delicious, thick and rich, creamy and satisfying, but there was something special to them as well, which she couldn’t quite figure out. It’s like every spoonful gave her strength, made her feel better, eased the heaviness of her cycle. 

“How could I forget?” he leaned back in his chair, twirling the glass stem between his fingers. “It was the first time you served me food.”

She swallowed another forkful of potatoes and argued, “it so wasn’t’.

The glass paused mid-air and he looked at her surprised.

“Wasn’t it?”

“Nope,” she popped her lips. 

“So when was it then?”

“The potatoes–which I did serve you directly–were just the first time I fed you in public. So everyone could see,” she explained patiently. “But you’ve been eating my food for a long time. All the blackberry tarts and lemon cakes–I make those for you. They are your favourites.”

“You made them for me?” he repeated, his voice quiet.

“Sure did. So, if you believe in all that mating nonsense, then we’ve been mated a long time ago.”

He raised his brow and asked, “Mating nonsense?”

Elain shrugged and sipped her wine. She was feeling pretty good actually. Normal. Like she felt when she had her period when she was human.

“I mean, you can’t possibly believe that a big pot is somehow able to find your perfect counterpart?” she challenged him. “Someone who fits you perfectly, and will love you forever?”

Azriel was so taken aback by her argument, he didn’t know what to say. His belief in the existence and the power of the mate bonds was so ingrained in him, and so unquestionable, he always took it as fact. But…what if…

“Look at Rhys and Feyre,” he threw back at her. “Or Nesta and Cassian,”

“Yeah, bad example,”

“Why is that?”

“Nesta fell in love with Cassian at first glance,” Elain said simply. “A lightning strike. He was everything she ever wanted, ever dreamed of, ever needed–he was perfection in her eyes. It was cute,” she smiled, remembering, “watching her back then. How besotted she was, how she wanted to talk about him all the time, how she’d look up at the skies to see if he might be visiting. All I am saying is that she fell in love with Cassian long before she knew anything about any mate bonds. Even the fact that we were different species didn’t stop her.”

“They do exist though,” he insisted.

She cocked her head and waved her fork around, looking like she was humouring him and his silly beliefs.

“Sure, I guess explain then why I am eating your delicious mashed potatoes on Solstice with you and not with my mate? Why you came here to care for me and cook and why you wanted to spend Solstice with me, and not him?”

To that, Azriel had no answer.

“I don’t believe in mate bonds,” Elain admitted truthfully. “But if it makes it easier for you, then I will feed you all the food you want.”

Lightning struck me too, Azriel wanted to tell her. I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you as well.

“What did you add to them?” she wondered, changing the topic and pointing to her plate.

“A little magic,” was all he said.

So she could feel the presence of Truth Teller’s magic. It was good to know.

“I want to give you your presents!” she almost bounced in her chair, rejuvenated by the potatoes and Azriel’s healing magic. 

He smiled, “what about dessert?”

“We’ll eat it later. I want to give you your presents.”

“Fine, I want my presents too.”

Impatiently, Elain reached into the bag that she insisted Azriel bring with them.

He wondered what it would be this year. It was always something odd and hilarious.

“The bag is for you,” she said, and sat back, watching him, while he rummaged inside.

Firstly, he took out one book, and then, another.

How to Use Your Words and 10,000 New Words for Your Vocabulary

“Excuse me?” he glared at her, though a smirk threatened to break out on his lips.

She was laughing silently.

“You like?”

“Hmmm…I know there is a message somewhere in there,” he told her, “not sure what it is though.”

“There is one more,” she nodded to the bag.

He took out something soft and then unfolded it.

It was a scarf. It wasn’t a beautiful scarf. It was black, knitted somewhat inexpertly, with a cobalt blue thread running through it.

Azriel’s heart jerked in his chest.

“Did you…” he glanced at her, “did you knit this?”

She nodded, suddenly feeling shy.

“I am not good at knitting,” she confessed quickly. “I know it’s very ugly,”

“It’s not ugly!” he cut her off immediately, feeling the texture of the scarf in his hands, loving it already. “It’s perfect.”

She licked her lips and finally said,

“I think it’s Made.”

“What?”

“I wanted to Make it, so it’s magical,” she wrung her fingers, “it’s supposed to keep you warm at all times. I wanted you to be comfortable when you are out there, on your missions.”

“Elli,”

“Try it tomorrow, when you go to your snowball fight. When the other two are freezing, you should be warm,”

“You are giving me an unfair advantage?” he laughed.

“Umm yes! All is fair in love and war,” she winked. “But then you are expected to win, you know.”

“With this thing warming me up?” he puffed his cheeks, “I will destroy them. They won’t know what came at them.”

She clapped with a nasty little giggle and Azriel couldn’t stop laughing. 

Then he got up and went to retrieve something from his jacket. He  handed her a flat box and said,

“I know you don't believe in mates, but it’s the prerogative of a mate or a husband to give his woman jewellery for Solstice.”

When she opened the box, she found an opulent hair pin inside. It was stunning–large, so it could actually hold the mop of her thick hair, but also…

“I wanted something that spoke to you and of you,” he began explaining softly. “So I made it look like a flowering branch.”

The delicate branch was gold, and leaves were made of various gemstones–mother of pearl, diamonds, pale sapphires, and tiny specks of stones that she did not recognise.

“Azriel,” he gasped. “I can’t…it’s too much…”

Wordlessly, he picked up the pin from the box and then gently, but firmly thrust it in her hair.

“Beautiful,” he marvelled.

A rush of…power suddenly engulfed Elain. It was different from her own, but also familiar–she recognised it immediately. It was Azriel’s.

Her fingers flew to the pin and she whispered,

“What is it?”

“Tiny bits of my siphon,” he said softly. “For luck, and for you to always have someone of mine. And protection. And when you need a little more power, I hope they give it to you.”

“Az…” she looked up at him, her eyes filled with happiness and tears.

He cupped her cheek and his thumb stroked her face, before drawing slowly over her lips.

“I am tired of hiding, Elli,” he said gravely. “You and I–we are written in the stars. I know it’s more than you expected, but I want the world to know that you are mine. I am your man. No one else. You wear my gifts, my jewels. And you will be claimed as mine. The pin took a year to create, for every stone I found myself, in different parts of the world. When you are mine, I will explain the meaning behind all of them.”

His thumb lightly wrote Mine on her lips.

“I might be Death, but you will forever be my gentle fawn.”

[kittyweed666]

Cups are the Best Way to deal with ur period: for anyone who has one (but I'm focusing on trans men because I am a trans man) (TW for anatomical terms and mild sex talk)

Let me explain. First of all, you may be wondering what a menstrual cup is. They're also called diva cups and they're essentially a tiny silicone cup that you fold up, put inside your vagina with your hands (although there is one version I've heard of that uses an applicator) and it pops open to catch the blood. When you need to remove it, you pull it out, dump it out into the toilet and put it back in. You can sterilize it between periods by boiling it for a few minutes in water.

First and foremost, cost and environmental concerns. You can buy one of these for $20-30 or less and reuse it for 10+ years. One site that sells cups (YUUKI if you're interested) gives a 2 YEAR warranty on their products and says that as long as you don't break the cup somehow you could theoretically use it for the rest of your life. By far the most cost effective method, AND you never have to go to a store aisle and buy tampons or pads as a dude ever again if you don't want to. But you may be wondering, "random dude on the internet, what about overnight? It goes inside you so obviously you'd need to buy pads anyway for overnight."

WRONG.

You can keep it in for 12+ hours safely. It's safe to wear overnight. "But I bleed a lot, it wouldn't work for overnight?" WRONG again these things have the capacity of like 4 tampons. AND they come in sizes, there are bigger ones and smaller ones depending on what you need.

They also reduce the intensity of cramps for some people due to the way they seal near the cervix.

If you like having sex, the cup is entirely internal: there's no string, just a little nub thing at the bottom of the cup, so you can easily get head with no blood in the equation. Some people even say you can have PIV sex with the cup in with minimal issues. I've never tested that but it seems like there's a separate thing called a menstrual disc (I have no experience with those) that do totally allow no-blood PIV sex.

Due to the fact that it's entirely internal, there is no annoying ass little string bullshit in the way when you pee. You can basically put it in and forget entirely about it for 12 hours.

Don't like feminine packaging? There's companies that do very neutral packaging. Don't like overly feminine colors and designs? A lot of cups are clear. Hate how fucking bad it hurts to have to pull out a dry tampon? That problem does not exist with cups. You can also buy a cup at CVS or other drugstores, some grocery stores even stock them.

You don't have to wear any specific type of underwear to make this comfortable; You can wear it to swim, wear it with no underwear or with boxers, it's not going to affect the usability at all.

Literally the only downside is that there's a learning curve for using one of these things and you have to be somewhat comfortable with touching the anatomy you have at least twice in a 24 hour period, and you need to be OK with looking at blood. I recommend the youtube channel Precious Stars Vlogs if you need help with learning how to use one.

Here's some links to places that sell fairly gender neutral cups:

[bitchesgetriches]

I’m sure you get a lot of asks, and it’s understandable considering how great you ladies are! I recently read your sustainability swap post (I loved it!) and I wanted to recommend something I didn’t see on there that’s incredibly important to me.

Swap out tampons and disposable pads for menstrual cups and cloth pads!! It’s an adjustment for sure (esp the menstrual cups) but it’s so good for the environment, your health, and frankly your wallet. I made the swap to a menstrual cup abt 5 years ago and haven’t had to buy tampons (minus a few early cycles until I started carrying cloth pads w me) since — and I’ve had the same cup and it’s still working great!

When it comes to the cups ItsJustKelli on YouTube has a great playlist where she reviews multiple diff products to make choosing easier (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVehiHoQpDmAQwa9UrHXF9IBzHp3cUenE). It might take some trial and error, but it is well worth the switch, considering your average cup costs abt $35 and (if taken care of) can last at least 5 years. And as far as cleaning it you really only need Castile soap, a repurposed toothbrush, hot water and a decent stainless steel pot to sterilize it in (any company you buy from has a How-To page on the cleaning aspect. They will try to sell their Special Soaps DONT LISTEN ITS A SCAM! Just buy Castile soap and toothbrush same end result!)

As for the cloth pads, there are so many websites for them, and most offer starting kits. They cost more than your average box of disposables, but rather than lasting you a few cycles they’ll last you YEARS. This website https://menstrualcupreviews.net/reusable-menstrual-cloth-pads/ has a list of them. The only brand I can recommend I got off Amazon (guilty as charged) and are great for getting started. (wegreeco Bamboo Charcoal - Reusable Sanitary Pads | Panty Liners | Soft Cloth Menstrual Pads - 6 Pack with 1 Cloth Mini Wet Bag (Medium, Luxury ) https://a.co/d/cTf4mfF)

Ultimately, when I was considering switching I weighed the pros: 1. Save money long term, 2. No longer contribute to the growing pile of blood-soaked, chemical-ridden used tampons and pads clogging landfills, 3. No longer run the risk of introducing toxic chemicals to my body via products made by companies that don’t care abt consumer health; and the cons: 1. More money upfront (which can be circumvented by shopping around and setting aside some money as is feasible), 2. Having to get more comfortable w my body (which ultimately was a positive), 3. The gross factor (downside: yeah you’ll likely see the blood, neutral: it’s your blood tho and you know where it’s coming from; neutral: w the disposable vs. cloth pads the end result isn’t that diff beyond instead of chucking it in the trash you chuck it in the washing machine), and 4. The adjustment of carrying a few cloth pads around (instead of the disposables — not that big of a change).

End note: I did not mean to turn this ask into a novel, but I am just so passionate abt this topic. So many ppl will go into the minutiae of cloth rags and cloth napkins instead of paper towels and paper napkins, the evils of plastic straws, and reusable bags instead of plastic — but not a peep abt the amount of disposable products used for 3-5 days (longer if you’re unlucky like me), every month (or every few depending on birth control, irregular cycles, etc.), every year for decades (think between 3-4 decades depending on start time and menopause) for millions of women worldwide. That’s SO MUCH. And here are two, slightly difficult but worthwhile, choices that can decrease the amount of disposable products clogging up landfills by the thousands long term. As one of the websites I linked says: “The average American woman uses nearly 17,000 tampons in her lifetime — or as many as 24,000 if she undergoes estrogen replacement therapy. And that’s just tampons.”

HELL. FUCKING. YES! Thanks so much for chiming in, baby. We love it when bitchlings share advice with the whole class, so never be afraid to write a long ask with good information.

Here's that sustainable swaps article, as well as what we've written about menstruating while poor:

21 Ideas for Sustainable Swaps That Aren’t Shitty, Expensive, Greenwashed Garbage 

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

If you found this helpful, consider joining our Patreon.

[musicalfanfiction99]

Fruits Basket Characters Helping Readers Period

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, Natsuki Takaya does.

This is my first fanfic and story I have ever made so please review this but be kind.

**The reader is a female character**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hatori Sohma

You wake up one day and feel an aching pain in your abdomen, but you think it is just from something you ate the previous day before. You get out of bed and go to the kitchen to get some water and pain killers and see that hatori woke up. "Good morning, y/n how are you today?" Hatori says in his normal formal tone. "I'm fine but where are the pain killers?" You ask in a strained voice. "Pain killers? Are you not feeling well?" Hatori questions in a worries tone. "No, my stomach hurts really bad right now. Do we have any left?" "No, not here but I have some in my medical cabinet that I can give you," Hatori states. "Ok, can you please get them quickly?" You say painfully. "Sure I can get them right now." Hatori starts walking to his office and you go to sit on the couch. He comes back from his office with a bottle of painkillers. "What is the pain from? I need to figure out how many to give you." "I don't know what the pain is from but it feels severe and it's in my lower abdomen," You state. "Ok, can you stand up for me please?" "O-okay." "Is the pain concentrated here?" He lightly presses on your lower abdomen on the exact spot that your pain is. "Yes!" You say while you quickly tense up and curl up in pain. "Can you turn around for me please?" Hatori asks. " Um, ok." He sees that the back of your pajamas has blood on it. "Oh, you just have your period right now. I thought it was something bad." "Period? What's that?" "You don't know what your period is?" "It's something that's gonna happen once a month and you bleed for about a week at a time. And they're called cramps, that's the name for your pain. Here's some pain killers, wait here I need to go to the store." "Okay, should I change my clothes?" "You could shower but you might just want to wait in the bathroom then." "Okay, then I'll just shower and wait in the bathroom then." You go to the bathroom after the pain killers start working and take a shower.

While Hatori's walking to the store

"Oh, I'm gonna need to buy more pain killers if she started her period today," He says while making a mental list of what to buy. "Oh! I forgot to ask if she wants to try pads, tampons, or both. I'll just get pads and tampons so she can try them both." He says to himself.

When Hatori arrives to the store

"Okay I need to find the feminine products aisle first to get pads and tampons." He gets to the aisle he is looking for and then looks at every shelf looking for a good type of pad to buy when he spots a menstrual cup. "Oh, I should get one of those for her too." He picks out multiple kinds of pads, tampons, and a menstrual cup. Once he left the aisle and went to the medicine aisles to find some painkillers. "Okay, which kind of painkillers should I get? There's regular, small, extra strength, and dual. Which kind should I get?" He got the extra strength in hope that it will help her cramps. "Oh, I should get some chocolate just as an extra treat for her." On the way to the food, a thought popped into his head. Oh, I should get her some period underwear Incase she doesn't want to use any of the other products. He went back to the feminine products aisle scolding himself for forgetting about period underwear as an option for her. Once he got period underwear and a pack of regular underwear, he went to get the chocolate. Once he picked up chocolate he got a phone call. "Hello, y/n do you need something else while I'm at the store?" "No, I just wanted to know when you are coming back." "Oh, I'm leaving the store soon so don't worry." "Ok, thank you that's all I needed to know." "If that's all I'll be home soon, bye y/n." "Bye!" He knew that he needed to get home as soon as possible since she called him to ask where he is. When he was checking out he was scared that he forgot something or bought too much. "Ok sir, your total is $40.36." Once he paid he left the store. On his way home he was wondering if he should take the day off to care for y/n.

At home

"y/n! I'm home!" "I'm in the bathroom!" He walked to the back of the house where the bathroom is. "Ok here are some pads, tampons, a menstrual cup, period underwear, plain underwear, painkillers, and finally, chocolate. Did the painkillers work?" "Yes! Thank you so much! But how do I use a pad?" "Open the package and then... you know what, let me just show you how to put one on." Once he put one onto a pair of underwear he gave it to you. "Thank you...Hatori." Hatori then began to blush and started muttering, "N-no problem, y/n. If you ever run out of something I can get it for you or if you need stronger painkillers-" "Ok, thank you again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hatsuharu Sohma

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey y/n! Where are you?" You felt like someone was punching your stomach and you felt awful. "Hatsuharu! Come here I'm in the bedroom!" He started running into the bedroom scared that something bad happened to you and saw you curled up in a tight ball on the floor breathing heavily. "Are you ok? Do you feel unwell?" "Yes, actually I got my period today. Can you get me some medicine from the cabinet please?" "Yeah, sure, whatever you need." When he started walking away you stopped him. "Hey, Haru can you get me some pads from the store?" He started blushing but agreed to go to the store. "Do you also want tme to buy some extra painkillers too?" "Yes, please." "Ok." Then after he got you some painkillers he set for the store.

At the store

"Okay, we need to get pads and painkillers." He went to the feminine products aisle and got pads but then while he was trying to fient he medicine aisle he got a call. "Hey, Haru, are you lost in the store?" "Um, I think I might be I'm trying to find the medicine aisles." "Oh, right, I was calling you to tell you that I found an extra bottle of painkillers so you don't need to get another bottle right now." "Oh, ok, thanks. Bye bye see you at home. Okay, we are done." "Your change is $6.94." "Ok, thank you."

At home

"Your stuff is here!" "Aww thank you for getting these for me! Your the best!" Hatsuharu started blushing profusely but you just laughed at him. Then, he pulls you into a hug even though he knows he will turn into an animal, he's so sweet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The End! Thank You for reading! I hope you enjoyed and tell me if I should make more fanfiction!