Svetlana Sergievskaya causes lyrical chess wars (thegirlisme) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-12 09:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, mary margaret blanchard (snow white), svetlana sergievskaya |
Who: Mary Margaret and Svetlana
What: Meeting
When: Mid/Late August
Where: Sidewalk to the shelter Mary Margaret runs
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
Another day, another conference. Though it was nice to be out of the office and at a training seminar. Not that she was in training, but the conference she had been speaking at was for local women shelters in the area. While most of the seminars she did were for law enforcement or general awareness, she also made sure to do them for high risk professions where there were better chances of coming across trafficking victims. Hotels, hospitals, and shelters for those who tried to get away.
That day had been about knowing the signs and knowing who to call. There were a lot of aspects involved and a lack of security, though there were bills in session and votes on an international level. Those would play an interesting role and Svetlana was making sure to keep an eye on them, all the while not holding her breath. Change was hard to come by and there were always cracks for people to fall into.
Sighing softly, the Russian woman had finally gotten out of the building and had been walking towards the train when her heel broke. Well.. That was great. And she had forgotten to put flats in her bag that morning. Struggling with her things to see if she could salvage her poor shoe, Svetlana ended up dropping a bag and cursed under her breath in Russian as she managed to at least stay mostly balanced on one foot.
It had been a few days now since Emma had texted her, but Mary Margaret was still reeling from the news about Henry. She couldn’t believe that he was real and he would possibly be coming to Orange County. Or course he wouldn’t know her, unless he started dreaming, and she wasn’t his grandmother in this world, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t excited to see him. She still had so many questions for Emma and was looking forward to meeting up with the other woman for drinks soon at which point she would be asking her all the questions she wanted answers to.
She had just left a nearby Community Garden when she saw a woman in front of her drop a bag. As she got closer she realized that the woman had broke a heel, “Do you need help?” She asked as she got even closer.
Svetlana hadn’t really expected anyone to come to her aid. True, people weren’t always oblivious to those who needed it, and while most Americans seemed self involved, especially in California, she knew that wasn’t the case for everyone. It was a generalisation. However, Svetlana was used to handling things on her own. She was used to having to face things on her own. Even with her friendships and letting select people in, at the end of the day, she could only rely on herself. But she could be polite.
Looking up, she smiled some.
“I believe I am all right. Though it seems my shoe has broken.” Which really was embarrassing. Because she tried to be prepared for everything. Just one of those days. At least it wasn’t Stahma who had come upon her. She was already still reeling from the whole fictional thing. She didn’t need something else for the vile woman to throw in her face.
It was almost like when she had first met Emma. Emma hadn’t broken a heel, but she had gotten coffee spilled on her and as much as Mary Margaret had wanted to help, there was nothing she could have done at the time, “I’m afraid I don’t have a spare pair of shoes for you. Are you closeby where you were going?” She hoped so otherwise the other woman was going to have a difficult time of it for the remainder of the day.
“I doubt most people carry them.” She really should have been prepared. But as the station wasn’t so far from where the conference had been, Svetlana hadn’t thought it necessary to bring a pair of flats with her. The one good thing was that she didn’t have to go back to the office and was able to head home. Still, she was not looking forward to needing to walk to the station and then be on the train then walk home. Such was her life. “It will make the train interesting, but I will survive it.”
Though something was pricking at her mind, like she knew this woman. Not in the way that they had met in Moscow or the dreams. Though thinking on dreams…
“Do I know you? You look familiar, from a network.” She had to keep it vague, just in case. But Svetlana did try to keep on top of people from the network even if she wasn’t posting much beyond her notices for things coming up in terms of events.
Mary Margaret hoped that she didn’t have a long commute home from the train, “It’s possible. An on-line community?” Mary Margaret was rarely surprised anymore when she met someone from Valarnet out in the wild. It seemed like almost everyone she met these days was also on Valarnet. The ironic part was that hardly any of them were ever from her own dream world. “My name’s Mary Margaret.”
A slight nod was given. It was strange how she seemed to run into people from the network despite being in the area for a year now. And only Anatoly was from her own dreams. Well, Stahma’s father was also from her dreams, but that was a complicated matter and she wasn’t exactly sure how it worked out. “Yes, an online one.” Then a name. “It is nice to meet you, my name is Svetlana.”
“Then I think we’re talking about the same one.” It only made sense. “And it’s nice to meet you, Svetlana. Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” She glanced around a bit, figuring how long the walk was to the shelter, “I run a shelter nearby. You might be able to find something to borrow there. Unless you’re not too far from your commute.”
“It is a rather popular one it seems.” Go figure. Then again, Svetlana on a network of any sort like that was rather strange yet it was also there. More for observing purposes as of late, but she still did monitor it. “Like wise.” Then the question on if she could make it to the train station. Pride dictated she say yes, she wasn’t exactly one to ask for help when it came to herself. However, she also knew it wasn’t an easy walk with a broken heel. “That might be a good idea. I’ll make sure to return them soon if you don’t mind.”
Mary Margaret couldn’t help but be curious now as to what exactly Svetlana dreamt about, but she wasn’t about to pry. Everyone’s dreams were private and up to them whether or not they shared them. “More popular than it probably should be.” As upsetting as some of Mary Margaret’s dreams had been, she honestly wouldn’t want to not be having them, because it was because of the dreams that she’d met Emma and would hopefully be meeting Henry soon. “It’s only a few blocks this way. Are you going to be alright walking?” Not that Mary Margaret could do much if she couldn’t walk other than call a cab to take them to the shelter, but in the time they’d be waiting they could walk there.
All things considered, Svetlana was just relieved that her dreams were over and done with. She also knew she had gotten off easy in comparison. The nervous tics were there, the paranoia. It wasn’t hard to feel unease after dreaming of an entire life living in the Soviet Union and then seeing not only how Russia seemed to be falling back to that paranoia and nationalistic ideal, but also how the United States fell into similar patterns while proclaiming their exceptionalism. But from what those she considered friends spoke of, her dreams were still seemingly easy. Even if it turned out that a portion of them played out on stage. “Most likely.”
And then the question on if she would be fine walking. “I will be fine. Thank you.” A couple blocks was infinitely better than the few miles it would be to the station. She was used to walking and didn’t find the distance troublesome. Usually. Currently that was something else entirely though. “What sort of shelter is it you operate?” Svetlana made sure to be familiar with local shelters but with how many there were, it was hard to know which was which. Just the work they did as a whole.
“A women and children’s shelter.” Mary Margaret said as they started walking in the direction of the shelter. “My parents started it and I’ve been keeping it going.” The shelter might keep Mary Margaret rather busy, but she wouldn’t change anything about the last couple of years. She liked helping the women and children who came to the shelter.
Svetlana gave a small nod. “So it seems as though we are in similar work.” Well. Sort of. Svetlana didn’t really run a shelter or anything, and her work dealt with more than just those sold into sex trafficking, but that was a large number of those she helped. The ones who tended to be the more dangerous cases she took on. And it was exhausting and time consuming work, but it was also good work.
“Oh really? What do you do?” Mary Margaret asked as they neared the shelter. She’d met a few of the other people in the area who ran different shelters, but she’d never met Svetlana and wondered what exactly it was that she did. Reaching the shelter, she led the way to the door and held it open for the other woman.
“I work with a local NGO. Our focus is on helping and rehabilitating victims of human trafficking. I run a lot of seminars and trainings, as well as speak at galas and organise and advertise awareness events.” So while not completely the same, it was similar. Just different avenues of trying to help those in need. Smiling in thanks as Mary Margaret held the door open, Svetlana stepped in and looked around.
“Oh wow, that’s great. Have you helped a lot of people?” Mary Margaret knew that human trafficking was a huge problem and it was nice to know that there was someone local who was in the business of trying to help those people. Once inside, Mary Margaret led the way to an area where she kept donations that she hadn’t gone through yet, “We had a woman donate a bunch of shoes recently. I just haven’t gotten a chance to go through them yet.” She found the box and opened it, “Feel free to see if anything works.”
“A fair amount. Many do not seem to realise that it is such a problem here.” America was supposed to be free, but no country was free of human trafficking. Just different exploitations and whether they were a destination, a port, a ‘supply’ or some combination of the three. Following Mary Margaret, the blonde woman nodded as she mentioned the donation of shoes. Those were always good and so she started to look through them before finding a pair of flats that would work. “These should do. Thank you again. I will make sure to return them tomorrow.”
“Oh don’t worry about it. You can keep them if you want. As you can see we have plenty of donations and I’m just glad that you won’t have to go home barefoot.” Mary Margaret liked helping people no matter who they were. She supposed that was why she was Snow White in her dreams.
Svetlana smiled some in thanks. “Well, I am sure I will see you around. Thank you.” After all, they not only were in a similar line of work, but they shared the network as well. Even if Svetlana herself only replied to people more often than posting. With that, the blonde turned and left.