Sugarcane

The discomfort is hideous. <<if $bathroom eq false>>Something is definitely going on down there.<<endif>> You waddle <<if $bathroom>>back<<endif>> to the bathroom and check your <<if $nappy>>tissue; it's drenched through with blood and falling to bits. You pull it out and replace it with two layers.<<else>>underwear; it's drenched through with blood and the stains are starting to work their way through to your trousers. You have no choice but to pad yourself with wodges of tissue, building up a few layers around the apparent source of the leak.<<endif>> Then - self-conscious in case anyone notices your padding - you [[hurry home.|Home]]

You need for this to stop.\n\nAnd it will stop. Within three to five days, [[probably.|Low points]]

Looking forward to [[next month?|Menu]]

You spend almost an hour doing nothing but trying to summon the resolve to move, and it makes you feel so pathetic and ashamed that you spend another half hour crying. Eventually you get up and scrape out your blood, and with your last ounce of strength you pack in some tissues for [[the night.|Sleep]]

!Explain menstrual periods to me like IAMA [cis] man\n[[Start|Just another day]] | [[About]] | [[Credits]]\n\n!!!//Trigger warning: this game contains graphic descriptions of periods and period blood.//<<set $phone = false>><<set $nofood = false>><<set $noclean = false>><<set $nochange = false>><<set $bathroom = false>><<set $nappy = false>>

You shut yourself in a cubicle and quickly pull down your trousers and underwear to get a good look at the blood. It's thick and gelatinous, dark red with strings of black, and there's a mild smell to it. It's not a pleasant smell, but it feels like your own, a part of yourself, so you don't mind it all that much.\n\n[[Grab some toilet paper to wipe the blood away.|The bathroom 2]]<<set $bathroom = true>>

<<display "Menu">>

You watch TV in bed for the rest of the day, until at last you decide it's time to [[get some sleep.|Bedtime]]

The caller ID is a mate of yours, but you can't bring yourself to talk to him. It's probably [[bad news.|Bad news]]

You stagger out of bed, heedless of the stickiness between your legs. In the kitchen, you take some painkillers and make yourself <<cyclinglink "two" "three" "four" "five" "six" "seven" "eight" "nine" "ten" "eleven" "twelve" "thirteen" "fourteen" "fifteen" "sixteen" "seventeen" "eighteen" "nineteen" "twenty" end>> nutella sandwiches.\n\n[[Delicious.|Self-evaluation]]

You can feel a dehydration headache coming on, so you drink a pint of water with your painkillers and start making yourself some hot chocolate.\n\nAll you can think about is [[curling up in bed alone.|To bed]]

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There seems to be no end to the stuff. You sponge it off and quickly hop into a new pair of underpants, with as much padding as you can cram in. Your old pair are badly stained, so you rinse them in the sink and leave them out to dry before putting them in with the rest of your washing. [[It doesn't end there.|Cramps 1]]

You stay in your seat for another hour and a half before it's time to go home, at which point you realise with a sinking feeling that your nether regions feel warm, damp, and very sticky. You [[slowly tip yourself onto your feet.|Standing]]

As you step out of the shower, a great fresh string of blood drops out and lands on the bath mat. By the time you've cleaned it up, you have [[more blood|More blood]] streaking your thighs.

The caller ID is a mate of yours, but you can't bring yourself to talk to him. It's probably bad news. Either that or he's just calling you out of [[a sense of obligation.|Obligation]]

Through all this, the pain in your lower back and gut has got worse.\n\n[[Much worse.|Cramps 3]]

Through all this, the pain in your lower back and gut has got worse.\n\nMuch worse.\n\n[[Now your chest and genitals are starting to ache, too.|Headache]]

[[Through all this, the pain in your lower back and gut has got worse.|Cramps 2]]

!!!Cycling link macro by the talented [[L|http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/blog/584]]\n\n!!!Written and put together by Kevin McGowan\n\n[[Back|Menu]]

The caller ID is a mate of yours, but you can't bring yourself to talk to him. It's probably bad news. Either that or he's only calling you out of a sense of obligation. He really thinks [[you're annoying and boring.|Feeling like crap 1]]

- Something wet, thick, hot and slippery trickles out of your crotch. You can feel it just sitting there in your underwear.\n\n[[Excuse yourself and hurry to the bathroom.|Walking]]\n[[Try to ignore it and stay where you are.|Sitting]]

Explain menstrual periods to me like IAMA [cis] man

<<if $phone>>You dissect your memory of the entire one-minute phone call and cringe at everything you said, ashamed of your own social ineptitude.<<else>>All your past idiocies and social cock-ups start to pile up in your mind. You wish the ground would open and swallow you along with your shame.<<endif>> You cry again for a bit, then decide [[you need something sweet to eat.|Oestrogen, progesterone and Nutella]]

Some of the night's blood has dried on the seam of your underwear, turning it into a stiff, jagged blade. You pull the offending garment off but that leaves you potentially trailing blood on the floor, so you hold one almost-dry scrap of the toilet paper in place to [[stem the flow.|Stemming the flow]]

<<set $noclean = true>>If you move you'll feel that clammy, sticky unpleasantness down below. Where's all your motivation gone?\n\n<<if $nofood and $noclean and $nochange>>[[Give up.]]<<else>>[[Try again.|Bedtime]]<<endif>>

You wrestle the pain back under control. After a while you manage to wipe away the worst of the blood, though your crotch is still stained dark red, and every now and then another string appears.\n\n[[Go back to the bar and hope it stops.|Sitting]]\n[[Improvise some padding.|The bathroom 4]]

You go for some paper, but as you lean over the pain in your gut explodes, crunching down hard on something stuck in there. You have to freeze and clench your jaw in pain.\n\n[[Take a moment.|The bathroom 3]]

Some time in early 2013, I wrote a response to [[a post|http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeIAmA/comments/17t75g/explain_menstrual_periods_to_me_like_iama_man/]] in the subreddit r/explainlikeIAmA, which asked for an explanation of periods that [cis] men could understand. As a man who has experienced heavy periods himself, I thought that my contribution might prove interesting. And so it did, earning my sockpuppet account (/slaps forehead) lots of comment karma and briefly making the front page.\n\nBut I never talk about it.\n\nAnyway, as a fairly recent arrival to the world of interactive fiction, I somehow got to thinking about that post again. It occured to me that, written as it is in the second person, it should be easy to adapt as a short hypertext game. This is the end result of that thought process.\n\n!!!Things to bear in mind\nAs so many redditors failed to grasp, the protagonist of this story (the "you" character) is a cis man, but I hope it will also prove informative to other non-uterus owners - plus all you uterus-owners who are lucky enough to have light periods. It is //not//, and I cannot stress this enough, remotely representative of all periods. Many are much easier and many, as you will see from a quick scroll through the original thread, are much worse. Furthermore, please don't scoff at the incompetence of the protagonist; the point is that he is unprepared and has very limited knowledge of period hygiene.\n\n[[Back|Menu]]

To prevent a bigger mess, you line your underwear with wodges of tissue, layering it up against what seems to be the source of the leak. Then you wash your hands before [[returning to your seat.|Sitting]]<<set $nappy = true>>

As you stand there, staring at your washed-out reflection in the kitchen window, you feel very glad that nobody can see you like this.\n\n[[Stumble back to bed.|Fucking ouch]]

Then, in your silent bedroom, you're overcome with a wave of loneliness. <<if $phone>>Were you right to say no? [[Why was he was so quick to accept your excuse?|Feeling like crap 3]]<<else>>Were you right to ignore the call? [[Why didn't he try calling again?|Feeling like crap 3]]<<endif>>

That just about does the trick while you waddle to the bedroom for new pants, then to the bathroom for new padding. The smell is getting strong now, and you need <<cyclinglink "another shower already." "a lie down." "a hug." "some pain relief.">>\n\n[[You need...]]

<<set $nochange = true>>If you move you'll feel that clammy, sticky unpleasantness down below. Where's all your motivation gone?\n\n<<if $nofood and $noclean and $nochange>>[[Give up.]]<<else>>[[Try again.|Bedtime]]<<endif>>

At home you take a shower. It feels great to clean all the smears off your crotch and inner thighs. [[You needed that.|Out of the shower]]

You're sat on a barstool, trying to find a posture that alleviates either the grinding pain at the base of your spine or the dull ache in your stomach. <<cyclinglink "Sit up straight?" "Slouch?" "Lean to the side?" "Lean back?" "Lean on the bar?">>\n\nNothing's working. The pain's been coming and going since yesterday. You're beginning to get a little worried. Then, [[without warning -|WTF]]

It's your mate, who says he's thinking of going into town and invites you to meet him. The two of you have always had fun, been able to relax together, but suddenly today you don't trust him.\n\nYou decide that he's only calling you out of a sense of obligation, and that he really thinks you're very annoying.\n\nYou decide that if you did go and meet him it would be awkward and dull. You [[tell him you're sick,|Feeling like crap 1]] so he wishes you well before hanging up.

<<set $phone = true>>It's your mate, who says he's thinking of going into town and invites you to meet him. The two of you have always had fun, been able to relax together, but suddenly today [[you don't trust him.|The phone call 2]]

Then, in your silent bedroom, you're overcome with a wave of loneliness. <<if $phone>>[[Were you right to say no?|Feeling like crap 2]]<<else>>[[Were you right to ignore the call?|Feeling like crap 2]]<<endif>>

You hop up from the stool, but even as you get to your feet you can feel another trickle coming. You try to walk, but every time any part of you touches the blood in your underwear it feels sticky and gross, so you adopt an uncomfortable hobble with your legs slightly splayed until you [[make it to the bathroom.|The bathroom 1]]

Then, in your silent bedroom, you're overcome with a wave of loneliness. <<if $phone>>Were right to say no? Why was he so quick to accept your excuse?<<else>>Were you right to ignore it? Why didn't he try calling again?<<endif>> [[Why are you wasting your time indoors?|Feeling like crap 4]]

Then, in your silent bedroom, you're overcome with a wave of loneliness. Were right to say no? Why was he so quick to accept your excuse? Why are you wasting your time indoors? [[Do any of your friends really like you?|More crying]]

After a while, the phone rings. Your head throbs as if you're hungover from all the bleeding.\n\n[[Answer it.|The phone call 1]]\n[[Ignore it.]]

You might have aches and drips and random bouts of crying for a week. At the lowest points, you can barely summon the will to go outside.\nThe ripping pains in your stomach won't help with that.\n\n[[Oh well...|It keeps going, motherfucker]]

<<set $nofood = true>>If you move you'll feel that clammy, sticky unpleasantness down below. Where's all your motivation gone?\n\n<<if $nofood and $noclean and $nochange>>[[Give up.]]<<else>>[[Try again.|Bedtime]]<<endif>>

On the way back upstairs, a sharp scratching pain flares up in your crotch - quite unlike the other dull, persistent aches. You pause to inspect for [[new horrors.|This is genuinely a thing that happens]]

When you wake up, the pain hasn't faded. Your body is stiff and your crotch is slick with blood. On the sheet there's a big dried patch of it, but you're too exhausted and irate to clean it up.\n\nYou think perhaps you'll [[stay in bed again.|Staying in]]

Sleep comes and goes in feverish spells. Even in your dreams, you turn and fret through to [[morning.|Next morning]]

First, you want to -\n\n[[- go and get something to eat.|Moving is hard]]\n[[- brush your teeth.|Moving is haard]]\n[[- get changed.|Moving is haaard]]

So you get your hot chocolate, you get your laptop and headphones, and you make a big nest in your bed with blankets and duvets and pillows to [[try and dampen the pain.|Apparently in this world you can afford to do this]]

by Kevin McGowan