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Alexandra Kollontai, Sexually Liberated Bolshevik Woman.
Except, there was one thing she had not yet crossed off her list. Sure, she had taken many lovers. Many a comrade fell for her charming smile that hid a sharp tongue, much preferring that to the plain simplicity of a peasant romance. Alexandra did not stick around for long, but neither did her partners. A revolutionary was always on the move, and sometimes that move was to a foreign country to dodge the Okhrana.
And dodge she did when a creaking train pulled up to its station in Berlin. Alexandra looked at herself in the window. Her dark, curly hair framed her pale face. She wore no disguise, hoping that the name Kollontai wasn't yet imfamous in Germany the way it was back home in Russia. Collecting her bags, she stepped off the train, brown plaid scarf fluttering behind her, the mud of Moscow crumbling off of her high boots. She had already arranged accommodation for herself. In fact, she would be staying with Rosa Luxemburg, one of Germany's most intelligent- and interesting- women.
Alexandra had exchanged a few letters with her years ago, primarily of a political nature. Rosa was quick to criticize the platform of the Mensheviks over their moderating tendencies, but Alexandra was quick to fire back, not understanding Rosa's apparent lack of interest in feminism. The two were at an impasse, and yet, would not stop writing to each other. And despite their political disagreements, they slowly became friends, and now would be housemates, until it was safe for Alexandra to return to Russia.
Holding Rosa's note, Alexandra scanned the street signs until she found the right street. The apartment blocks were a drab grey, not at all what she pictured when she thought of Germany, with its whimsical Bavarian fairytale architecture. "I guess any city is capable of looking as shitty as one in Russia," she thought. The working class neighbourhoods were all the same, grimy and cramped with bedsheets hanging off of clotheslines and stray cats scrapping in the streets. Leave the fairytales for the bourgeoisie.
Alexandra lifted her skirt and ascended several flights of stairs before she got to the right apartment. She knocked.
A kind looking and surprisingly short woman opened the door. Her hair, although also short, was neater, although slightly frizzy.
"Alexandra?" she asked tentatively.
Alexandra held up the note in her hand as proof. Rosa smiled warmly.
"Come in! Sorry, this isn't the nicest place. I'm- kind of hiding here, my last apartment had an infestation of police officers and that wouldn't do at all."
Alexandra stepped in, removing her travel dirtied shoes at the door, and winced at the creakiness of the floor.
"I imagine you'd want to take a bath after all that travelling. I don't have hot water but I can boil you some," suggested Rosa.
The taller woman nodded. Rosa set out to the kitchen to put on a few pots of hot water, and then began filling the bath with cold.
"How were your travels? Any suspicious characters?"
"None at all! Its a miracle actually. I think they're distracted trying to catch Trotsky, that slippery snake got out of exile again and immediately got back to St. Petersburg."
Rosa laughed. "Ah, the life of a revolutionary!"
The two women shared a knowing smile. Knowing, because they had both done time in prison or in exile, and personally knew hundreds of others who had done the same.
Rosa began pouring the hot water into the tub. "I'll make a cup of tea and a sandwich for you, you must be hungry after all that travel. But I'll leave you alone to take your bath for now."
Her brown eyes shimmered as she shut the door to the bathroom, leaving Alexandra alone.
Alexandra stripped out of her dirty clothes, retrieved a bar of soap from her bags, and got to washing. It felt good to scrub away all that grime. Her black hair floated around her head like a halo as she sank into the warm water, and she again thought of the one thing she hadn't crossed off her list. That was having sex with another woman.
Alexandra wasn't entirely sure whether or not she liked women. Certainly, she liked men, but she always had a curiosity about what it would be like to have a woman in her bed. Unfortunately for her, such subjects were rather taboo in Russia, even among revolutionaries. Not to mention the relative paucity of female comrades.
Her mind drifted off as she began to think about small, sweet Rosa, who barely knew her at all and yet had drawn her a warm bath and was making her a meal like a traditional wife might do for a husband after a long day of work. Rosa was certainly not wealthy, she didn't have money to throw away on these things, and yet she was doing them anyways.
What would it be like to kiss Rosa? Would her skin be soft? Would she close her brown doe eyes and allow Alexandra to hold the back of her neck and feel her warmth? The thought made her feel dizzy.
She stood up rapidly, doing her best to dry off her hair, which now hang in kelplike strands around her head, and got into a clean set of clothes- a long, brown skirt and a white peasant style shirt embroidered with blue flowers. She cautiously swung open the door, and was greeted by Rosa.
"Here," she said. "Eat this."
The sandwich on the plate was humble, black bread, sliced ham, and pickles. The tea smelled fragrant, with a hint of an unknown spice. Alexandra happily devoured the meal.
"Thank you, you are too kind to me."
"Anything for a comrade in need." and there was that sweet smile again.
"Uhhh... what are the... sleeping arrangements like?" asked Alexandra.
"Right! How could I have forgotten, you must be exhausted!" Rosa looked sheepish for a second. "Well. This apartment is quite small, like you can see, and that leaves us with a couple of options. Option one. Sleeping on the floor, with a few blankets and pillows. Or option two. Sharing a bed with me. And really, I don't mind, I've been to prison so I'm used to that kind of thing."
"Well... seeing as you don't really mind... I guess I can share the bed with you?" said Alexandra, unable to make eye contact with the shorter woman.
"That settles it." Rosa clapped her hands together. "If you want to go to bed now you can, I might be up a little later to read. I've never been one for going to bed early when there are books to enjoy."
Alexandra nodded. "Good night, Rosa."
She smiled. "Good night Alexandra!"
Alexandra curled up in Rosa's bed. Honestly, it was quite small, but she had spent enough time sleeping on the floor in exile to not want to do that again. They could make it work. Being uncomfortably close to Rosa Luxemburg might be a good thing, actually, for testing her attraction to women.
After what felt like a few minutes but was actually a few hours, the door creaked open and Rosa slipped into bed, trying very carefully to not disturb her sleeping comrade. Alexandra, pretending to be asleep, could feel the warmth of the other woman and hear her gentle breathing. It was oddly soothing. Men tended to snore and sometimes thrash, but Rosa was the portrait of a saintly sleeper, like the image of an angel with her eyes closed on a sentimental portrait in someone's babushka's icon corner.
Then, it happened. Rosa threw an arm over Alexandra and muttered something about someone called Leo. She could feel warm breath on her neck, causing her hair to stand on end. Rosa was essentially cuddling her! And it was extremely warm and comforting, despite this being their first meeting. She didn't feel like a stranger, but a long lost friend, or something even more. While there was tenderness between their writing, it had not felt anything at all like this! Alexandra couldn't stop smiling, and eventually drifted off to sleep with a similar angelic smile on her face.