#thankfully Roshaun isn't lactose intolerant

[ssilverstreak]

Cultural Differences:  Periods

Only the fact that he instinctively equated the Callahan household with safety kept Roshaun from taking Kit’s head off when he was ambushed as soon as he appeared in the stand of trees at the edge of the property.

“You don’t want to go in there.  Trust me,” Kit said as he grabbed Roshaun’s arm before the spell circle had even faded.

Roshaun raised an elegant brow in a mixture of confusion and annoyance.  It had been a long day of meetings, meetings, and more meetings, and he had been looking forward to submerging himself in his pack-mate’s scent and having a willing ear to rant to while he unwound. “And why not?”

“Check your bond,” Kit said with a wry grin, as if the shorter male was amused at some joke that Roshaun wasn’t even aware had been told.

Annoyance was outweighing confusion at the moment, but Kit rarely did things without a reason, Roshaun knew that much.  With a sigh, he probed along his connection to Dairine.

He jerked slightly, eyes opening wide at the pain-anger-upset-tense that flooded back along their bond.  It was the mental and emotional equivalent of a wounded animal just waiting to lash out at anyone that disturbed it.

“She’s not injured, before you panic,” Kit said, halting Roshaun just as he began to stride forward, determination on his face to take revenge on whoever had dared to harm his partner.  “She’s just on her period.  Neets is on hers too, and I know she and her sister are on the same cycle because she told me, and I didn’t think you’d want to walk into that without some warning.  And a peace offering.”

Roshaun stared at Kit for a long moment, trying to get his thoughts in order and finally settling on “What’s a period?”

“… Ho boy,” Kit muttered under his breath.  “Time of the month?  Visit from Aunt Flo?  Cycle? Dairine hasn’t explained anything related to any of that?”

“No, no she hasn’t. Is it something dangerous?”

“Only to the people around her.  Look, I was going to make a store run for Neets anyways, you can come along and get some stuff for Dairine, and I’ll try to explain things as we go.”

Roshaun hesitated, but a flash of irritation along his bond with Dairine decided him.  He had no desire to incur her wrath at the moment, and perhaps Kit could shed some light on what was going on.  “Very well.  You spoke of peace offerings, I’m assuming to improve her mood.  What did you have in mind?”

“Well, chocolate is usually a good start.”

Kit went several steps before realizing that he was suddenly short one planetary king.  He paused and looked behind him, only to find that Roshaun was standing stock still and blushing, of all things.

After a moment to think over what could have caused such a reaction, he gave an amused grin.  “I’m assuming chocolate does something very different to Wellakhit than it does to humans.”

“I would certainly hope so,” Roshaun squeaked before clearing his throat and attempting to regain his dignity.

“Just to clarify, humans just think it’s delicious.  It’s something that, especially if you get the good stuff, makes a good peace offering in situations like this.  I know Neets craves it when she’s on her period or about to be, I’m not sure about Dairine.” Kit tilted his head slightly.  “What does it do to you guys?”

“I would rather not talk about it,” Roshaun said stiffly, knowing very well that Kit would probably look it up in his manual later.  At least the knowledge that he would most likely not be dealing with a very amorous Dairine as a result of a gift served as a sharp relief.

He ignored the small stab of disappointment that came with it.

“Fair enough.” Kit would definitely be looking it up later, Roshaun knew it.  “Anyways, while we walk I can fill you in on what’s going on with Neets and Dairine.”

“That would be… appreciated,” Roshaun answered, silently grateful for the walk as a chance to compose himself.  It took a mere trigger word in the Speech, and the slight disguise spell that he had become well-practiced in settled over him.

“Okay, so a period is-“

***************

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Kit looked entirely too pleased with himself at the expression on Roshaun’s face.

“And this doesn’t hurt them?!”

“Oh, it hurts.  How much it does varies from person to person. I know Neets gets some pretty rough cramps, and she’s said that Dairine’s are even worse.”

Roshaun couldn’t find words for a long moment, mind numb over the revelation.  Finally, he blurted out the only thing that broke through. “How has your species survived?!”

Kit burst out laughing even as he tossed a few chocolate bars into the basket.  Roshaun tried not to flinch away from them, and Kit pretended not to notice.

“Anyways, it’s painful and messy and leaves them pretty cranky, which is completely understandable. And that is also why we’re doing this store run for them.” A couple aisles over, Kit tossed a box of something that Roshaun didn’t catch the name of into the basket.  “You want some ice cream?”

“What’s ice cream?”

“It’s a frozen treat. Don’t worry, we can get you one without chocolate.”

“I suppose it cannot hurt to try it, then.”

“Awesome.” A couple aisles further down, Kit opened up the door to what was clearly a refrigerated food storage unit and began pulling out small cartons of what Roshaun guessed was ice cream.  “Do you like strawberries?”

“Yes.” During his first visit, Roshaun had become acquainted with the small fruits one evening as an accompaniment to that night’s meal.

“Strawberry it is.” A fourth carton joined the other three in the basket.  “And that should do it.  Let me just pay for this and we can take a transport spell back, before the ice cream melts.”

“Why not just use a spell to keep it cold?”

“Because I don’t want to walk back,” Kit replied with a shrug and a grin.

Honestly, Roshaun wasn’t going to argue that point.  After a long day of meeting after meeting and training with his father, and then the walk to the store, his own legs were hinting strongly that it was past time for him to get some rest.  Kit, annoyingly, looked no worse for wear.

Stupid humans and their stupid crazy stamina.

It took more time to find a quiet, secluded spot for the transport spell than it did to cast the spell itself, but it still wasn’t long before Roshaun once again found himself standing in the patch of trees at the back of the Callahan property.

Before they went inside, Kit took both bags and quickly sorted items between them before handing one back to Roshaun.  “Here. Offer this before you do anything else and she probably won’t kill you.”

Really, Roshaun would have assumed that the shorter male was joking, but they both knew Dairine too well.

At this point Roshaun was more than a little worried about what he was getting himself into, but there was no way he was about to show it, or back down.

At least she didn’t have the power levels to toss him into the sun on a whim anymore.

Okay, he knew she wouldn’t actually do that, she was too fond of him, but the waves of irritation rolling down their bond even as he headed up the stairs to her bedroom had him on edge.

He paused at the first door as Kit continued past him to Nita’s room, and sent a quiet ‘May I come in?’ along their connection.  ‘I brought things that Kit assured me would help.’

A pause, then a tentative ‘Is ice cream and-or chocolate one of those things?’

‘Both, actually.’

Another pause, this one clearly mulling it over, then a sense of resignation, like a full-body sigh, washed over him.  ‘Alright, you can come in.’

Roshaun tamped down his own relief as he opened the door, though he did make sure to hold up the shopping bag in front of him like a shield.

Look, he was brave, not stupid.

Dairine gave him half a baleful look from where she was sprawled on her front, face half-buried in one of her pillows.  His partner looked more disheveled than normal, fiery hair mussed and clothes wrinkled, as if she had been tossing and turning.  A cord ran from the edge of something square-looking that was trapped under her lower abdomen, and the control partway down the cord was lit up, indicating that it was in use.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing slightly to the spot on the small bed beside Dairine.  She grumbled a little, but he could tell it was mostly for show as she sat up, dragging the small rectangle on the end of the cord with her as she rearranged herself so that she was sitting back against the pillows on her bed.

One trait that humans and Wellakhit happily seemed to share was a need for physical contact.  As soon as Roshaun had managed to get onto a bed that really was far too small for someone of his size, plus another person, Dairine tucked herself up under his arm and made grabby motions for the bag. He handed it over, and while she began digging through it he retrieved the brush from her bedside table and began doing what he could to put her hair to rights.

By the time the brush was running freely through the human’s thick red hair, Dairine had already retrieved the carton labeled ‘rocky road’ and a spoon and was making a concerted effort to demolish the dark brown contents.  From the empty box and the pill bottle that had been returned to the bag, she had already taken the painkillers, so Roshaun freed his own carton of ice cream and a spoon.

After a bite, Roshaun silently concluded that ice cream was similar to, but not exactly like, a frozen treat his own people made from the juice of a fruit that grew in the temperate regions of the non-slag side of Wellakh.  The earth version was quite enjoyable, he decided, being rather smoother and richer than the version he was used to.

Halfway through his ice cream, a soft increase of the weight against his side and a gentle fuzziness along the bond with his partner indicated that Dairine had fallen asleep. Carefully, he took the partially-eaten ice cream away from her, and with a small spell sent both it and his own to the frozen food storage downstairs.

Roshaun set the bag aside, then worked to rearrange the pillows into something more comfortable to lean back against.  He knew that Dairine was a heavy sleeper from past experience, and indeed she didn’t wake up as he settled in for what would probably be a few hours of being in the same spot.  Indeed, it wasn’t long before the human was curled into his side, using him as an impromptu pillow.

Honestly, most days Roshaun would rather have ‘makes a comfortable pillow’ over ‘king’ on his list of qualifications.

With a sigh, he pulled out his connection to the Aethers and began to retrieve some of the paperwork he had stored there.  May as well get a head start on things that were due soon.

As he relaxed and got into the rhythm of filling things out, a low rumble in his chest began.  The shock of it startled the purr right out of him, and he glanced down at Dairine, who still hadn’t woken.

Huh.  So it was like that, then.

Roshaun closed his eyes and sighed, then went back to his paperwork.  This time, when the soft rumble of a purr kicked up, he didn’t bother to fight it.

Really, the only shame was that Dairine wasn’t awake to return it.