Culture Shock (LGBT)

Same Love

This is for Ruth, who finally had a birthday party worth talking about it. Next time you see a snake, warn your sister!

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"When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless

Rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen

I might not be the same, but that's not important

No freedom till we're equal, damn right I support it"

Snow White's POV

With only her words, Catherine Black had just changed my fate. Neither of us knew it yet, but that was the turning point in both our lives. Sure she was a party girl from the future and I was just a sheltered boy from the Middle Ages, but it was on that day that each of us set out on a journey for the truth. Back then I didn't know all that much about how the world worked but it was time I learned. And learn I did under the careful eye of Black Cat.

She taught me that the life of a time traveler could be a hard one. Crazy things tended to happen to people like us and there was only one way to deal with it, head on. Slowly I managed to stop thinking that Lady Catherine needed to be committed and started leaning more towards this Einstein she was going on about.

We spent the next year almost inseparable. There were even rumors that the strange lady from the west and I had gotten betrothed at some point but we managed to squash it before it reached my father. Speaking of Cynric, he had been at the battlefield since early Spring and we barely saw him in passing. I missed him something awful but there was nothing to be done.

Shortly after my seventeenth birthday, Alistar Isaiah Henry-George White was brought into this world. Cecilia and I doted apon him from that very moment, not caring who had bore him. And indeed his mother, the new queen, could not even be bothered to see him.

Alistar had been born sickly and weak. Even the apothecary had given up all hope of his survival. But with the help of my first ever best friend and little sister, we managed to keep him from dieing in the first month of his life.

And it was then that I realized that my definition of family was changing too. I was beginning to see that family had nothing to do with blood. Black Cat was the closest thing to family I had, besides Cecilia and Alistar of course. She dad dug her way into my heart and now I couldn't imagine life without her.

But with my new meaning of family, love also came under scrutiny. I had never truly forgotten about the day in the conservatory when I walked in on Black Cat and one of the chambermaids together. So with our ever-deepening friendship, I decided to ask her.

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It was raining like it never rained before. All of the shutters were closed tight and bolted but the howling wind still managed to find its way inside. There was a roaring fire going in the hearth but it barely did anything to ward off the chill. The sun had set ages ago, not that you could tell, and the three of us had retired to Black Cat's sitting room right across the hall from the nursery.

She and I sat staring at the crackling flames, Alistar sound asleep on my lap. Our chairs were apparently quite fashionable but at the same time incredibly uncomfortable. My back was beginning to ache and I was planning on turning in for the night. It was the perfect time to inquire and I had slowly been gathering my courage all week, so why not? "Black Cat, I've been meaning to as you something..."

"Oh?" she looked up and our eyes met. I had never seen anyone with such beautiful eyes; they swirled somewhere between dark blue and brown. It was like watching a...lava lamp, I believe she called them. It was still hard to believe this woman, who was the wisest person I had ever known, was only five years my senior.

Now how was I going to word this? "For some time now I have been wondering...about the day that you and the chambermaid were...you know. What was that?"

"Snow what exactly are you asking?" Black Cat looked at me with her classic evil smirk. I knew that look and it ment trouble. I think she knew precisely what I was referring to but wanted to make this even more uncomfortable.

For someone who had been biding my time over the last year, I now felt as if time was running out. It was silly I know, but somehow I knew that the answer was vitally important. "How is it that both of you were being intimate with another of the faire sex? Are such things commonplace where you come from and how did you manage to seduce her?"

"Ah, I was beginning to wonder when you'd bring it up. But first let's put Alistar to bed. We have a long few days ahead of us."

And indeed the hour was quite late, soon the bells would ring out the stoke of midnight. I looked down into the tiny face of my half-brother who was starting to feel more like a son and couldn't help but smile. HIs soft blond eyelashes flutter against his ruddy cheeks as he drifted in and out of his dreams. Alistar was so pale it appeared there was no life in his body but I knew better. This little fighter had to survive, he just had to.

He looked exactly like Cecilia when she was born but I was too young to remember much from then. I was only nine years of age and too overcome by grief for the death of our mother who sacrificed her life for that of her daughter. It was the worst time in my life, mostly because the best part of me died with her.

Anyway, back to the present and the preciouses bundle in my arms. Alistar had been growing so fast of late other courters were beginning to believe in our assurances the tiny prince would live. He, Black Cat, and Cecilia had become my reason for getting up in the morning with a smile on my face. I hadn't felt this alive in years. But somehow I just knew that the little bubble of happiness that we'd built was about to pop.

The three of us had all but moved into the nursery after Alistar was born. At least one of us was always there in case he needed something. My little newborn brother had become the center of our new family and each of us would do absolutely anything for him. He was the substance that held us all together in these turbulent times.

And so, after Black Cat and I had him settled in his sleeping bassinette and made sure Cecelia was indeed neatly tucked away in her bed, we took up our discussion once more. "Ah, that's better. So where were we?" She sighed in relief. A servant had been in recently per my request to stoke up the fire. The heat was much more intense on this side of Ravenwood Estate. As far as this old house went, the nursery was pleasantly warm. "oh yes, now I remember. You were curious as to what happened between the chambermaid and I, is that correct?"

Once I nodded my assent she continued, "Well, you caught us in the middle of something..." And for the first time ever, Black Cat actually blushed scarlet!

"Umm, forget I asked."

"No, no wait. This is actually really important. It's the reason I'm here. Remember that I'm here to make sure history goes like it's supposed to?"

Now I was beginning to get quite perplexed, "And what dose history have anything to do with who you sleep with?" If you've been able to tell, I'm rather open-minded about such things. I find it makes my job as a diplomat at least a little bit easier to understand the things around me. Most would consider those people that enjoy the company of those of the same gender abominations but I find all that silly. If it was any other way then I would consider myself a hypocrite.

"It doesn't."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because who you sleep with dose!"

"And what is that supposed to mean?!" I could feel myself starting to panic. Could she have guessed the truth? The real reason I'm not married yet and never want to be. Why the rest of my father's court talk and spread rumors behind my back. Why the other men of status avoid me like a plague apon the soul?

"You must know by now...?" Black Cat's voice had dropped, obviously remembering there were children asleep in the room next-door.

I took pity on her and for the first time I admitted the truth out loud. It was strange because it somehow made it all real. I had kept it secretly locked away deep in my heart and now I was bearing my all to her and I only hoped she will protect it as I have. "I was honestly beginning to think I was the only one in Ravenwood."

Her smile was the one that could light up the whole world, "Oh no, my friend, you just don't know where to look..."