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voidblue[For timeline clarification this takes place during early M.E. 753]
Rinka couldn't recall exactly when, after her first ever cycle as a, as her mother put it, 'blossoming woman' the pain had started. Maybe it had always been there, that uncomfortable, low body ache that in time worked into her hips, her thighs, even down to her knees. Nausea, headaches, fatigue. Her body could run the whole gamut in a week's time, to say nothing of all the other symptoms that were happening with the actual bleeding part of it, and it only got worse as she got older.
Which, fine, whatever. She could deal with it. Gritted teeth and pain killers and heating pads. Maybe lighter meals when the stomach issues were a little too much to handle. If she really needed to miss class to stay curled up in bed, it wasn't like her grades were anything to crow about anyway.
What really got to her, though - and got to her family, too - was the utter dismissal she received from multiple doctors. Some women just have difficult periods, they insisted, refusing tests and medication. She'll grow out of it in time, her body just needs to settle, they continued. Even when Rox stepped in and demanded more attention it was brushed aside.
A common problem with civil health care, she'd heard from one of her clubmates once. Worse, if you weren't Lucian, which of course made Rox even more furious. Just because she wasn't didn't mean her daughters weren't, at least in her mind. Rinka had to remind her that she was adopted and by all rights brought in from outside the walls of Insomnia.
Which just meant Rox hugging her tightly and softly saying that didn't mean she was any less her daughter.
She knows, Mom. That wasn't the point, but whatever.
(She loves you, too.)
So she suffered through, stiff upper lip and all that, but that had all been before meeting Noctis and his little entourage. It was easier to smile things away when the people who dealt with day to day didn't actually consider you a friend so much as an acquaintance you did Kendo with, but when actual friends came into the picture it became.
Complicated.
Actual follow up questions were asked when she said she was fine, a little under the weather, it'll pass, don't worry about it. That worked for a time, but when she was over at the prince's fancy flat hanging out with the boys and Aurene and she couldn't hold her dinner down despite her best efforts to, because Gods, wouldn't that just be so insulting to Ignis? But her stomach disagreed and it wasn't like she could hide the sounds of her puking. They were all reasonably worried and Ignis even insisted on taking her to the 24 hour urgent care, fearful that the girl had come down with something.
Saying she had probably would have been less embarrassing than the conversation she had with four boys between the ages of sixteen and twenty about the fact that her monthly "just did this sometimes". At least they were sympathetic to her plight, and Ignis was kind enough to swing by a convenience store while taking her home that night to load her up on ginger ale and chocolate.
That had been two months ago, and it was getting worse.
She was supposed to meet up with Prompto, Noctis and Aurene at the usual tree for lunch. She had said she would be there despite clearly starting the morning looking like absolute garbage, uniform barely put on, short hair even messier than usual, bags under her eyes from a horrid night of tossing and turning. Aurene had commented that she wasn't sure if Rinka should even be at school but as usual her sister insisted that no, it was fine. She'd get through it like she always did.
Except fifteen minutes before lunch she could no longer fight the roiling in her stomach and the sweat breaking out on her brow, asking to be excused to stumble out of the classroom on shaking legs that felt like they'd give out any second. She made it to the nearest bathroom and all but dropped onto the floor on her knees to let go of what little she'd been able to choke down that morning, head spinning in a waves of dizziness and pounding ache. Everything from her abdomen down throbbed and she was beset by cold and heat in alternating cycles.
At some point she dropped back against the stall wall and put her head on her arms, unaware of the passage of time. Even the sounds of the other students moving about out beyond the door to the bathroom for lunch just sounded like a distant buzzing in her ears.
She had no idea how long it had been when she finally jerked back into awareness, letting out a shuddering breath, realizing she'd left her phone back in her bag in the classroom. She groaned and went to get up so she could at least hobble her way to the courtyard, but her legs refused to work. Even pushing herself up on the toilet seat just made her drop back down hard when her knees gave and she couldn't find the strength in them to stand.
"... shit."
She sucked in a pained breath, trying to hear if anything was happening outside the door in the hall, but it had gone quiet. Everyone was either eating in the classroom or had gone elsewhere for the lunch period.
"Fuck."
This was going to be...
Mortifying was probably the right word.
But she also couldn't just wait for someone to come in and hope they actually had enough compassion to help her. Or for the teacher to notice her absence.
She sighed, shook her head, cursed under her breath a few more times and then called out.
"C... can someone help me... ? Please? I can't... I can't get up..."
Rinka couldn't recall exactly when, after her first ever cycle as a, as her mother put it, 'blossoming woman' the pain had started. Maybe it had always been there, that uncomfortable, low body ache that in time worked into her hips, her thighs, even down to her knees. Nausea, headaches, fatigue. Her body could run the whole gamut in a week's time, to say nothing of all the other symptoms that were happening with the actual bleeding part of it, and it only got worse as she got older.
Which, fine, whatever. She could deal with it. Gritted teeth and pain killers and heating pads. Maybe lighter meals when the stomach issues were a little too much to handle. If she really needed to miss class to stay curled up in bed, it wasn't like her grades were anything to crow about anyway.
What really got to her, though - and got to her family, too - was the utter dismissal she received from multiple doctors. Some women just have difficult periods, they insisted, refusing tests and medication. She'll grow out of it in time, her body just needs to settle, they continued. Even when Rox stepped in and demanded more attention it was brushed aside.
A common problem with civil health care, she'd heard from one of her clubmates once. Worse, if you weren't Lucian, which of course made Rox even more furious. Just because she wasn't didn't mean her daughters weren't, at least in her mind. Rinka had to remind her that she was adopted and by all rights brought in from outside the walls of Insomnia.
Which just meant Rox hugging her tightly and softly saying that didn't mean she was any less her daughter.
She knows, Mom. That wasn't the point, but whatever.
(She loves you, too.)
So she suffered through, stiff upper lip and all that, but that had all been before meeting Noctis and his little entourage. It was easier to smile things away when the people who dealt with day to day didn't actually consider you a friend so much as an acquaintance you did Kendo with, but when actual friends came into the picture it became.
Complicated.
Actual follow up questions were asked when she said she was fine, a little under the weather, it'll pass, don't worry about it. That worked for a time, but when she was over at the prince's fancy flat hanging out with the boys and Aurene and she couldn't hold her dinner down despite her best efforts to, because Gods, wouldn't that just be so insulting to Ignis? But her stomach disagreed and it wasn't like she could hide the sounds of her puking. They were all reasonably worried and Ignis even insisted on taking her to the 24 hour urgent care, fearful that the girl had come down with something.
Saying she had probably would have been less embarrassing than the conversation she had with four boys between the ages of sixteen and twenty about the fact that her monthly "just did this sometimes". At least they were sympathetic to her plight, and Ignis was kind enough to swing by a convenience store while taking her home that night to load her up on ginger ale and chocolate.
That had been two months ago, and it was getting worse.
She was supposed to meet up with Prompto, Noctis and Aurene at the usual tree for lunch. She had said she would be there despite clearly starting the morning looking like absolute garbage, uniform barely put on, short hair even messier than usual, bags under her eyes from a horrid night of tossing and turning. Aurene had commented that she wasn't sure if Rinka should even be at school but as usual her sister insisted that no, it was fine. She'd get through it like she always did.
Except fifteen minutes before lunch she could no longer fight the roiling in her stomach and the sweat breaking out on her brow, asking to be excused to stumble out of the classroom on shaking legs that felt like they'd give out any second. She made it to the nearest bathroom and all but dropped onto the floor on her knees to let go of what little she'd been able to choke down that morning, head spinning in a waves of dizziness and pounding ache. Everything from her abdomen down throbbed and she was beset by cold and heat in alternating cycles.
At some point she dropped back against the stall wall and put her head on her arms, unaware of the passage of time. Even the sounds of the other students moving about out beyond the door to the bathroom for lunch just sounded like a distant buzzing in her ears.
She had no idea how long it had been when she finally jerked back into awareness, letting out a shuddering breath, realizing she'd left her phone back in her bag in the classroom. She groaned and went to get up so she could at least hobble her way to the courtyard, but her legs refused to work. Even pushing herself up on the toilet seat just made her drop back down hard when her knees gave and she couldn't find the strength in them to stand.
"... shit."
She sucked in a pained breath, trying to hear if anything was happening outside the door in the hall, but it had gone quiet. Everyone was either eating in the classroom or had gone elsewhere for the lunch period.
"Fuck."
This was going to be...
Mortifying was probably the right word.
But she also couldn't just wait for someone to come in and hope they actually had enough compassion to help her. Or for the teacher to notice her absence.
She sighed, shook her head, cursed under her breath a few more times and then called out.
"C... can someone help me... ? Please? I can't... I can't get up..."