fandomhigh | Sex Ed, Wednesday, Period 2

When students arrived for class, right as they came in the door was a table with bowls filled with tiny packets of lube, male and female condoms, dental dams, and a shoebox with an opening cut in the top and 'QUESTIONS' written all over it.

The usual desks and chairs set-up was missing, leaving only sofas, comfy chairs, and beanbags for people to grab. And, of course, two very mis-matched teachers chilling at the front of the room.

John was still not sure how he'd been talked into this. He was just going to blame the Moose.

Even if John wasn’t at ease, Didi was. She rose from her own comfy chair to offer a cheerful wave of greeting once all the students were gathered.

“Hey, I’m Didi,” she said. “That’s Constantine. You get to hear us talk about sex for the next two months.”

Which was obviously going to be so much fun, right, John? She smirked at him slightly but kept talking.

“I can’t speak for him, but for me, the big thing I want you to get out of this class is that sex is natural and can be a lot of fun -- but there are things you should learn before you fall into bed with anybody, like what it means to consent, and how you can have your fun and not get sick, pregnant or both.

“Also, it’s important to remember that people are different.I know some of you probably have had a lot of sex already, and some of you might not even be sure you want to ever have it at all. And you know what? That’s all totally fine. Don’t be jerks to each other about anything anyone says here.”

It was going to be great. At least he didn't have to pretend this class had any academic value whatsoever. "Pretty much what Dee said," he said easily, leaning against the wall with his hands shoved in the pockets of his trenchcoat. "We even got ourselves an anonymous question box, if you got something you need answered and don't want to ask in front of your classmates, and the stuff on the table's free. Grab a handful every damn week if you want, or never touch it. Our goal is to get you up to speed for what's going on with current concepts of gender, sex, and culture in two months, and what you choose to do with that information is up to you."

“So now that we’re through the basics about what this class even is, it’s time for introductions,” Didi added. “Names, grades, and what you’re hoping to get from class. And if there’s anything else you feel we should know about you so you understand where you’re coming from, you can say it during the introduction or let one of us know after class.”

"And trust me, Dee and I aren't going to freak out at questions, no matter how weird you might think it is, and we're both pretty hard to shock." John added dryly. "She's seen it all, and if it's stupid, I've probably done it."

“Twice,” Didi said dryly. “And if not him, one of my siblings.”

There was... really no way for John to argue with that, so he just shrugged, rather unrepentant. "You heard the lady," he said, randomly jabbing a finger in the random direction of a student. "You. Start talking."

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"The--the long road," Hyacinthe said, groping for words. His thoughts were having trouble marshaling together and Cruithne was his third language and newly acquired. It wasn't up to such sincere shocks. "The road upon which every man, woman, and child walks, from birth to death."

Hyacinthe's belief that he was unflappable had taken a severe beating since coming to the island. And now? Now he was well and truly flapped.

"The dromonde can see from the beginning to the end of one's Lungo Drom, but you--you aren't there. You haven't a path! Even a ghost would have one, stretching out behind them, a story of their life for anyone with the skill to read it! You've nothing!"

"Oh," Didi said, and tried to decide whether she wanted to out herself before half a dozen interested students.

No was the answer.

"That has to do with my family," she said vaguely. "Nothing you need to worry about right now, promise. But it sounds like a pretty cool power you have there. Does that mean you can see when everybody else in the room is going to die?"

And then it was Hya's turn to realize that he might not want to share everything with the class right away.

"My mother could," he said. "But, among the Tsingano, teaching a male the dromonde is vrajna, forbidden."

Didi noticed what sounded like some careful phrasing there -- he'd said it was forbidden, not that he couldn't do it. That, too, went unremarked.

"That's quite a gift," she said instead. "Probably a curse at times, but mostly a gift."

"'Tis meant to be both," he explained, since explaining the history of the dromonde shifted the conversation swiftly away from him. "When Blessed Elua was weary, he sought sanctuary among the Tsingani in Bhodistan, and we turned him out, with jeers and stones. In our pride, we predicted that he and his Companions would ever be cursed to wander the earth, doomed to call no place home. It is not wise to curse the son of Earth's womb; we were punished, the fate we decreed sealed as our own, condemned to walk the long road. But in her cruel mercy, the Mother-of-All granted us the dromonde, to part the veils of time, that next time we might see truer."

Sex Ed, Wednesday, Period 2

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