Differences in Culture
Mal shifts uncomfortably in her seat, trying her best to focus on the homework in front of her. Since she decided she wanted to be good, she's been making a token effort in her classes and in pleasing her teachers. She's not used to trying to appease people (unless it's her mom) if she's not planning to manipulate them for something.
In a way, she might be manipulating them with her good behavior. Despite her recent 'come to the light' moment in front of all of Auradon, she still half expects to be dragged kicking and screaming back to the Isle (they can't go back after they turned their back on evil on live television).
She winces at the fresh wave of more discomfort, squeezing her legs together. She needs to try harder to hide it. Look normal. The Isle taught her the importance of hiding weaknesses.
She can't help the worry, though, about how her body is acting. She's never dealt with anything like this. She's dealt with sickness before. Infections, stab wounds, broken bones and internal bleeding. She wasn't hit recently, though, and she just doesn't know where the blood is coming from or what is causing it.
She shifts again. She might need to change the gauze. This would be the third time today. She had hoped that it would stop if she applied pressure, the way it does with open wounds, or if she just gave it some time to stop on its own, but it's been three days now and the bleeding has only gotten heavier.
It has to be some kind of sickness that originates in Auradon. She's never heard of anyone on the Isle having her symptoms.
Mal darts a glance at the bathroom, wishing Evie would hurry up.
She feels gross and sticky (and not the pleasant kind) and wants to take another shower. Maybe then she could focus on her stupid homework.
As if Mal's urging thoughts reached her, the door swings open. Mal is on her feet instantly when she sees the pale face and shaking hands of her crewmate. "Mal…?" Evie says, wringing some cloth between her fingers. "S-something's wrong. I think I'm sick."
Mal is across the room instantly, forgetting about her own discomfort as she feels Evie's head, looking for the typical signs of illness. Sickness isn't uncommon on the Isle. It's also very dangerous.
You see the bodies in the alleyways all the time from the people who didn't have crews to hide them away while they're at their most vulnerable. If the sickness didn't kill them, getting jumped for everything they have (including the clothes on their backs that they don't have the energy to defend) usually does.
It's why Mal's first instinct is to hide her own mysterious illness, even from her own crew- though she hides it from them for reasons more along the lines of she's the leader and supposed to protect them- she's not supposed to be weak. They'd always find out anyway, on the Isle, and be furious with her the entire time they closed ranks and forced her to stay in bed while they took over all the responsibilities Mal normally upheld.
Evie is maybe a little warm, but not overly so that indicates the high fever that comes with delirium and death. Her eyes are clear, except for the worry in them (and that worry pings something painful in Mal's chest, demanding that she fix it now ).
"What are your symptoms?" Mal demands, looking over the princess with a searching, clinical, eye. She hates when her people are ill. It's the only time outside of dealing with her mother that makes her feel helpless.
"It just started with a headache. Some stomach pain. I didn't really think much of it but-" Her shaking hands lift the cloth, a lost look on her face. More alarms ping in Mal's brain. There are wrinkles on the princess's face, and she's not even concerned about smoothing them out. "I thought maybe the bleeding would stop, but it- it's just gotten worse. I'm scared, Mal."
Mal's eyes zero in on the cloth, Evie's underwear , and her nose flares and eyes sting in the way that indicates the magic concentrating in them. There is blood on her undergarments. She can smell it now. She had been trying hard to tune out the scent of her own blood, but it hits her in the back of the throat now that she spots the red staining the crotch of the delicate, Auradon bought, panties.
Mal's heart thunders.
Mal's strange illness. It's contagious . She got Evie sick. What about the boys? Did she get them sick, too?
Mal snatches up Evie's wrist and drags her toward the door. She follows willingly, because why would she not? Mal is the leader. Mal protects them (Mal got her sick).
Mal sends off a text to the boys. They are at tourney practice right now, but she knows they will drop everything to find them. They might be in Auradon now, but they are still crew.
"Where are we going?" Evie asks, matching Mal's quick pace.
"Fairy Godmother," Mal grits out. It goes against every one of her instincts. Everything inside her wants to gather her crew and hide Evie away as they wait it out, like they've always done. But she doesn't know what this is . Bleeding is bad. Very bad. Bleeding from any orifice, without any cause, is probably worse. What if this Auradon illness is deadly?
But they have medicine here, and they don't target people who are weak (at least not physically- Aradon is all about using words).
Evie's steps falter, and she sends Mal an uneasy, fearful look, but she doesn't resist.
A fraction of Mal's tension eases when she sees the boys, sweaty and still in athletic gear, waiting for them outside Fairy Godmother's door. If anything goes wrong, if trusting the older fae turns out to be a mistake, at least she has her crew here for backup.
Mal pushes in without knocking (playing 'nice' is the farthest thing from her mind at the moment).
"Fairy Godmother," Mal says instantly, ignoring the woman's startled look, "we need help. Evie's sick."
The boy's instantly close ranks around their vulnerable member, as they should, and begin sending paranoid looks around the room like there might be a spy lurking in the shadows, ready to whisper into unsavory ears about the pretty girl from Mal's Gang that is weak right now.
"Oh deary me," she croons, face scrunching in sympathy as she circles around her desk to draw closer. Mal instinctively steps in front of her to block her path in getting any closer to their princess. Fair Godmother halts, and seems to understand that getting closer would not be welcome as her eyes skim over all four of them. She talks directly to Mal, as she should. "Is it the flu? What symptoms is she exhibiting?"
"Headache, stomach pain, and bleeding. She does not appear to have a fever," Mal immediately lists off, not letting herself second guess the wisdom of her decision. This isn't the Isle. This is what they are supposed to do in Auradon. She's seen others complain openly about being sick, and no one ever gives them a second glance except in sympathy. "Is it deadly? We don't have this kind of illness on the Isle."
Fairy Godmother's eyes widen, making Mal's stomach drop. " Bleeding ? Where is she bleeding?"
Mal thrusts the bloody underwear, that she had taken from Evie, out in front of her. "Her vagina. There have been no blows or penetrating wounds in months that could possibly have caused the bleeding. Not since we've been in Auradon."
Fairy Godmother chokes.
It makes Mal's nerves even more frayed. It's deadly. Evie is dying (she is too, but that hardly matters).
Fairy Godmother leans back against her desk, folding her hands in front of her. She clears her throat, looking very uncomfortable all of a sudden (probably at the prospect of telling them such bad news- they are weird about that here).
"Perhaps the boys should step out," she ventures hesitantly.
"We're not going anywhere," Jay says, face serious and far from the carefree, friendly expression he normally wears- especially since being here in Auradon. It's strange seeing it on his face, paired with him being in his tourney gear and Auradon colors. Looking at him, she almost expects him to be in the protective leather of the Isle, fingering a knife, and ready to jump into action at Mal's smallest signal.
"We stay together," Mal confirms. Her crew. Her people.
Fairy Godmother sighs, looking as if she had expected that response, but had been hoping that they, for once, would just follow her suggestion without argument. She twists her fingers, still looking uncomfortable, like she always does when one of them mentions something pertaining to the Isle that is vastly different than it is on Auradon.
"Evie is not sick, dear." The wave of relief that washes over Mal makes her dizzy and sick at the same time. It makes her eyes burn, but it's a different burn from her magic. Fairy Godmother continues, while Mal blinks madly against the sensation of stupid tears . "What exactly do you know of, ah, the birds and the bees?"
Mal immediately looks toward Carlos, who is their normal go-to for anything brainy.
He folds his arms, Mal's own confusion written on his face. "Um. Bees make honey? And pollinate flowers? And, uh, birds lay eggs?"
"No, no, ah," their teacher stammers. "I meant, well… Of how babies are made? Intimacy?"
Mal bites her lip, feeling wrong footed, and she wants to go back to Evie and what's wrong with her if she isn't sick.
Jay snaps his fingers, seeming the first to understand, for once, as he points at Fairy Godmother with a triumphant grin. "She means fucking."
The look of horror on the fae's face would be amusing if Mal wasn't so baffled.
"What's fucking got to do with Evie's bleeding vagina?" she cuts in, feeling as if they've gotten off track of their main concern. Evie. "We haven't even done it this week, and we've never made her bleed before. And what about her headache and stomach pain?"
Fairy Godmother puts her hand against her chest and looks like she's about to princess-faint right then and there. "Goodness," she gasps. Then she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath that Mal thinks is rather exaggerating. "You all are…intimate?"
"That's what you call fucking here?" Mal snorts, amusement leaking through her voice, despite her annoyance. "Yeah we're 'intimate' (god that sounds so Auradon)- we're Gang. Why?"
Fairy Godmother rubs furiously at her temples. It's not the first time Mal has reduced her to this type of stress response- but it is the first time since the coronation. It almost makes her feel guilty, but she doesn't even know what she's done this time.
"That's… an entirely different conversation we will need to have. A long conversation." She looks like she'd rather do anything else than have that conversation. Mal kind of can't wait to have it now. "But at least you are aware of the… machinations… of making a baby. Usually, once a woman's body starts maturing, they start having a monthly cycle. Bleeding. Am I correct in understanding that this is the first time this has happened to either of you?" Her eyebrows are furrowed again in that same concern she had in first hearing that Evie was sick. It makes Mal aware that this is probably strange- probably another Isle difference.
"Yes," Evie says, speaking up for the first time since Mal led them here. She twists her fingers nervously and shifts from foot to foot. "Is that… bad?"
Fairy Godmother's expression softens as she looks at their princess. "It's unusual. Normally you start having your cycle much sooner, but those kinds of things can be affected by outside forces. An imbalance of hormones. Late development. That both of you haven't had one until now makes me think it might have to do with the high levels of stress from growing up on the Isle."
That makes a barge load of sense. Every day on the Isle was made up of finding food, watching your back, and trying not to die- or let any of your crew die (some days were more successful than others). But Mal still doesn't like the pity shining in the fairy's eyes.
"So this 'cycle,'" she says, drawing the attention away from the blue-haired princess, "It happens every month?"
"It usually lasts about a week," Fairy Godmother nods.
"What about the guys? Do they, like, bleed from their dicks?" Mal asks. Their teacher flinches, similar to every time they have said 'fucking,' but Mal doesn't know the nice Auradon way of asking.
"Oh dear. I believe that I'll be spending my weekend setting up a Sex Education class for you all. No, they do not. Only women have cycles."
"Well that's bullshit," Mal scowls.
Carlos raises his hand. "What is sex?"
Jay bounces in place, back to looking like an over-excited child now that they know one of their own is not in danger. "Oh, I know! That means fucking, too, right?"
" Intimacy ," Evie corrects, brushing her hair over her shoulder and giving one of her 'see-I-was-listening' smiles meant to endear her to others.
It works on Mal, because Mal feels a swell of affection for the princess.
Fairy Godmother answers with a strained smile of her own. "That's right," she confirms. "Sex is the technical term, but there are a few other words that are more polite for conversation."
"Like what?" Mal asks, staring at her in fascination. There is an old, evil, glee that makes her want to start grinning madly at the woman's clear discomfort. Despite her resolve to be good, she misses this feeling.
Mal kind of can't wait for 'Sex Education' if Fairy Godmother is going to teach it. Besides, if she's going to be bleeding every month (without even being stabbed), she wants to find out how the Auradon people deal with it. There has to be a better way than stuffing gauze in their underwear.
A/N: I'm thinking about maybe doing a second part, of Mal talking to Ben. Because she didn't really realize that dating Ben and being part of a Gang is cheating by Auradon standards. What do you guys think? And maybe some Outtakes of Sex Ed?
~Silver~