Her head hurt worse than it had in a long long time. It wasn’t surprising, she knew what she had gotten up to last night on a basic level. At the very least, she didn’t collapse at random this time, Harper cutting her off before she could even attempt to ask for seconds. Didn’t make the headache from the drinks better, but she was thankful that she had someone to monetize her now. Her mother never really did.
Slowly, Sofie came to the realization that she was still grasping something, though what she didn’t know. Her eyes were still too heavy to open, so she did her best with eyes closed to figure out who or what it was. All it took was the feeling of a shirt to clue her into the fact that it was one of her companions. Feeling a bit more, she soon found herself touching a lump that was rather big and… squishy.
She woke up a lot faster after figuring that part out. Eyes opened, right hand recoiled, and sitting as upright as she could with her left arm stuck, she saw the sleeping form of Elenise. Behind her was Harper, hands wrapped lovingly around his wife’s waist, also sound asleep. She wanted to feel afraid, but her hangover didn’t allow it as she collapsed to the ground with a horrible headache. She knew that she had been drinking with Elenise the night before, but based on where she had woken up…
“What did I do last night?” She asked herself, clutching her head with her right hand.
She looked back at the couple, a blush on her face as she recalled how forward she had been with the elf the previous night. Harper had come over to interfere, which was respectable, but by the looks of it he hadn’t pulled her away. That was most of what she remembered, though by the looks of it Harper hadn’t been able to pry her away completely. She only hoped that he summed up her affectionate nature towards his wife as being drunk and nothing else. Despite Elenise being admittedly quite hot, she wasn’t about to try and steal someone else's girl.
After she unstuck her left hand from the sleeping elf’s neck, Sofie got up and looked to find the water pouch in the back of the wagon. She looked to see Raazin sound asleep with his snout extremely messy from his meal, and Cameron and Maria curled up happily. No one was awake, something she was exceptionally grateful for as she cradled her aching head, walking slowly so as to not hurt her head too much.
It wasn’t too hard to find the water pouch, but it did take longer than she would have liked with the pain that rushed to her head every time she turned. Once she did, she immediately started taking large gulps. She made sure not to have all of it, of course, but by the time she had gotten the headache to a more reasonable level it was half empty. She sat it down next to her and put on a face of concern; concern for herself that was.
There was never a point that Sofie had questioned who she liked, but it was never something she had been allowed to show on the outside. After all, her mother had been the same as her, the love she held toward the man that became her husband was just surface level. It was all to appear “normal” to her family, something that saved her life when Stalin recriminated same-sex relationships. Though save was a rather shallow word in this instance, given the verbal abuse that both her mother and herself were put through.
Despite it being five years ago, she still remembered the day when she told her mom how she felt. The crying still was clear in her ears, the constant “I’m sorry” even more so. Her mother had assured her that nothing was wrong with her, that it was okay to love the same sex, but that she had to hide it. She wasn’t born at the right time, and the last thing her mother wanted was her daughter to be jailed and killed for no real reason. The pain of learning it all still stung deep in her heart.
“Sofie, I know one day you will be able to show that love to whoever you wish,” Her mother had said. That was on one of her better days, when she was weak but not bedridden. “Just hold out until then, and don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t throw away your chance to love for the sole purpose of hiding who you are.”
She never forgot those words, and she lived by what her mother had told her. She knew a few guys that liked her but she had shut them down by claiming they weren’t her type. As far as she was aware, all she had to do was wait for the day she would be free to love who she wanted. Yet now it was likely out of reach, having found herself in a world more backwards than her own, and too scared of what would happen if she broached the subject.
“I guess true love is out of reach for me now,” Sofie said, eyes pinned on the floorboards. “Curse you Stalin. Curse you and all your line to misery and hatred.”
“Didn’t know we were giving out fucks back here.”
Sofie looked up, Cameron holding onto the edge of the wagon with his paws. After he hoisted himself up, he walked up next to the Ukrainian and layed down. They were both silent for a moment, Sofie not sure how to respond and Cameron having not thought far enough ahead. Maria was still sound asleep, and he wasn’t sure how to wake up someone that he shared his own body with. Not that he wanted to deal with a cranky wyrmret who had way too much to say about his handling of many situations.
“Hey, uh, wanna just say it was nice seeing you break out of that more stoic shell of yours yesterday,” Cameron said. Sofie’s face turned red at those words. “Granted you weren’t sober, but the only time I’ve seen you laugh like that was when I told you about video games. It was nice seeing you let loose, be more yourself,” He smirked. “And my sister found you snuggling with Elenise quite adorable.”
“I… I see. I’m glad she thought so,” Sofie said, face filled with an equal mix of embarrassment and fear. “Listen, uh, whatever you saw last night was me being drunk and–”
“You don’t have to deny who you are to me.”
Cameron’s words broke any and all line of thought that was going through Sofie’s mind. She turned to the American, face still bright red from the sheer amount of embarrassment that had put her through. Cameron took a deep breath, going back over what he had just decided he was gonna say before speaking.
“My sis and I are also LGBTQIA+,” Cameron told her. “I’m aro ace, Maria is bi, we know the same fear. Though, considering where and when you grew up, I’m guessing you had it far worse than us,” Sofie nodded to that, but didn’t speak. “The point is, you don’t have to keep up appearances in front of the two of us. Don’t keep yourself hidden. It would be better to know the girl that I’m helping change the world.”
Sofie wanted to tell them that they were mistaken, that fear of rejection as present as it ever was. Yet they already saw right past that all and had confided with her in turn. To lie at that point would be wrong, and he did have a point. Up until then she had kept most of who she was hidden. As the only other individual from Earth, from the far future or not, he deserved to know what she lived through.
“Fine,” Sofie said, her voice coming off more hateful than she intended. “Though, my story isn’t exactly a happy one. I’m sure you could probably guess that though, considering you know what happened in my time.”
“That is fine, wouldn’t have asked for you to confide in me if I wasn’t prepared for such,” Cameron said. “I won’t lie that my knowledge on the world outside the USA is rather lacking. So it would be nice to hear about it from someone who lived through those events,” Cameron gave her a comforting smile. “It takes more than one perspective to change the world. Let this be the start of us learning of those perspectives.”
“Well, I don’t know if I’ll help out much in that department,” Sofie said, looking out at the forest. “My father hated me, and my brother was basically a younger version of him. According to him, my birth is the reason my mother was always so ill,” She winced as she thought back on all she remembered of him. “That was always his excuse for how he treated me. If I did anything he didn’t like or tried to talk back, I would get smacked to the ground and yelled for how terrible of a daughter I was.
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“Didn’t get any better after he disappeared,” Her eyes slowly drifted downwards, though she didn’t notice. “With father gone, my brother should have been the one to help bring in money. That was even more the case when he joined the army, but instead of sending the money back home he kept it all for himself. We barely saw him after that, and with no other choice I started working much sooner than I should have needed to,” She lifted her right hand, Cameron easily realizing that was where both her pinky and ring finger had been lost. “Just like that, what years I had left of my childhood faded away. I was miserable, paid horribly, and having to hide my sexuality just made it even worse.”
There was a stinging pain in Cameron's heart. While he didn’t know what Sofie had gone through in her work environment and was lucky that his sister wasn’t the jerk Sofie’s brother seemed to be, he knew a lot of that pain first hand. The yelling and hitting, being blamed for something they had no control over, he knew it too well. It was a miracle that Sofie was as sane or well put together as she was, though Cameron was starting to bet that was all just a facade.
“That isn’t even getting into the famine or the Nazi invasion,” Sofie told him. “I remember it clearly still, the german voice that filled the city that week before I died. Constantly he told us that it was no use fighting, that our forces had already fallen in the city, and that any who surrendered would be treated with care,” She chuckled to herself. “Like hell I would believe such a thing. Stalin may have been a tyrant but at least I had a chance of living under him. I doubt that the those fucks would have been so kind.”
“Trust me, you made the right decision,” Cameron told her. “I’ve heard about the stuff that the Nazi’s did to those they captured or invaded. They gassed them, made them march until they dropped dead, and considering you like the same sex I’m sure that the treatment would have somehow been even worse,” He grimaced as he thought through what he just said, the thought that saying Stalin was a better option than anything making him sick to his stomach. “Where the hell did humanity start fucking up to reach the point you have to make that decision?”
That was the question, and neither of them had a decent answer to it. Something in the past set Earth on the course it was in, but what exactly was the start of it all proved hard to pinpoint. Neither of them knew anywhere near enough about history to know the answer, and likely never would. Earth was lightyears away, perhaps not even in the same galaxy as Evra, and they would never see it again in their lifetime.
Yet, where pain and sadness should have been, both felt relief at that thought.
“We got a chance to make sure that Evra doesn’t become another Earth,” Sofie said. “We have a chance to unite the world. Not under one flag or ideal but under growth and pushing forward,” She curled her hands into fists, a fire in her eyes. “I won’t be the one to create paradise, but I’ll get these people on the path to it. I’m gonna make sure whatever revolution I create doesn’t end like it did for my people.”
Cameron looked to the Ukrainian, recognizing the fire that was under her eyes. He knew more than a few friends, former co-workers, and others who had held that same blaze. It was the fire of someone no longer willing to stand on the sideline, who tossed their fear to the side for the better of the world. They would be threatened, called slurs and demeaned, and in almost every case seen as a threat by those in power, but it was those kind of people that a world like this needed. People who would do whatever it took not just to change a government, but to change the world.
He chuckled, a smirk present on his face as he looked forward, allowing that same fire into his eyes. “Then let's make Evra’s revolution the greatest the universe has ever seen.”
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“So the queen seeks out the Lord of Terror not to dispose of them, but in hopes of aiding her?”
The soldier’s entire body was tense as could be as he heard the words of one Lady Eleanor Scotsburg. The lady sat on the edge of her bed, with the arms of another woman wrapped around the noble’s neck. Compared to Eleanor, she had an ever present scowl, one that the soldier would dare not ask about. It seemed unfit for the position the commoner had, but if the lady didn’t mind he wasn’t about to question it.
“Yes, Lady Scotsburg,” The soldier said, his eyes not on the pair of women but on the bag of coins that Eleanor had at her side. “I can’t speak to the reason why, but I do have a theory as to why. May I?” Eleanor looked back to the women to her side. They nodded, and with a smile that was anything but real she motioned for the soldier to continue. “I believe that Queen Radatsi has received the Sign of Fog, and the same could possibly be said by her personal aide.”
“The sign of fog?” Eleanor asked, doing her best to pretend to be surprised by this news. Of course, if anyone was to be on the Lord of Terror’s side, it was their queen. “That is quite the accusation to make. Might I ask why a lowly soldier would dare question their betters?”
“I’m not questioning her at all! It’s just…” The soldier said, realizing he was letting his emotions get the better of him. After calming down for a moment, he continued. “You’ve seen the wrappings on both her and her aide’s arm, yes? They both started wearing it about a week ago, claiming an injury that they refuse to disclose to anyone. I also heard that they both simultaneously passed out from pain a day after they started wearing it.”
“I see. You do bring up a valid reason for it, so I shall let you have your theory,” Eleanor replied, she brought the coin pouch up to the soldier's face. “Now, with this new knowledge, I have something else I would like to ask of you. Seek to it that the Lord of Terror is killed before they enter the city. Fulfill and I will make sure your family will never have to worry about food again, understand.”
The soldier should have rejected the offer, his morals telling him that he had already undermined the queen enough. That moral portion of him disintegrated as he realized what Eleanor had said, and his eyes once again landed on the pouch of coins. That was so much money, not just for him but for his wife and children. If he got even more, they would indeed be set for a very long time. Who cared about what the queen thought of him for such things, she didn’t pay him anywhere near as well.
“I shall alert those at the city gate to not let the lord or the soldier escort them into the city,” He told Eleanor, giving her a salute as he did. “I shall take my leave to do that now, Lady Scotsburg. I wish you well.”
With that he left, leaving the two ladies alone in their room. Eleanor could feel the tightened grasp of her concubine, and she knew all too well what the reason was. She gave the women a sinister smile, one that brought the concubine comfort instead of fear. Eleanor patted the hands held around her neck to further reassure them before getting up, the woman letting go as she did so. She made for her closet, trying to pick out what would be a decent outfit for the day.
“I’m sorry the soldier interrupted us, but I’m sure you don’t mind in the end,” Eleanor said, not bothering to hide the more sinister undertone in her voice. “I hold no surprise that your daughter would be giving the sign, especially with her love being granted it too.”
She heard what could be equated as a growl escaping from the concubine, who herself had gotten up and was starting to get dressed. The light blue of Eleanor’s elegant dress contrasted heavily with the lower quality of the concubine’s brown one. A clear show of the difference between stations, one that Eleanor refused to let slide no matter the women’s position among her staff. They couldn’t have been more different, and yet they both held common ground in their hatred for the queen even if the reasons were different.
“I have heard our most recent attempt at assassinating the queen has also failed, though the lack of panic such a thing would have caused made that obvious enough,” Eleanor continued, walking back to the edge of the bed and sitting on it. The other woman took to sitting on the other side, her scowl growing deeper. “I had thought that, with her sending away Captain Bartley, she would be an easy target. Though I hear that your daughter personally dispatched them herself.”
That turned the woman’s scowl into a full blown grimace. “Cursed child. How dare she find strength after everything she–”
“Now now, my little Georgia,” Eleanor said, her growing smile at her concubine's pain only making that undertone more and more obvious. “We haven’t lost yet. The Lord of Terror certainly makes things challenging… if we let them meet the queen that is,” She chuckled to herself. “Imagine the blow it would deal to the queen if the Lord of Terror were to die. Surely it would suck that rebellious soul of hers out, and with it another chance to see her brought low.”
Georgia gripped her dress tightly. At the end of it all, she didn’t care who else died as long as she got her daughter back. A daughter that had ruined her and the position she had before now. She still remembered the face of the girl’s father, of the lord she had once served, when the two were together. He treated her like family despite her common blood, and knowing that the same girl was in a secret relationship with the queen made her blood boil.
Clearly, she had not beaten the hope out of them. She wouldn’t make that mistake the second time.