Vienna Valentine
Personal Data
Full Name
Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Relationships
History
Veronika and Vienna were twins but not identical. Indeed, their differences were more numerous than any apparent similarities and, by almost any metric, literal or metaphorical, it was Veronika who played the role of “big cousin” in their relationship.
Veronika, from an early age, was always physically the bigger of the two and the one who excelled at sports and other physical activities, while it was Vienna who, many thought, was the prettier of the two and who was objectively the cleverer. But they never let their differences divide them. They seldom fought or even quarrelled with one another and they never tried to compete with one another. When they played chequerboard or table race it was never with serious intent, more an excuse to be close to one another, a front behind which their private conversations took them deep into their own secret world.
Even before they could have consciously understood the concept, they used their individual traits to complement one another. As their mother, Tamsym, was apt to say, it was Veronika who was always getting them into trouble and Vienna who got them out of it.
As the twins entered early adulthood, their life choices may have separated them physically (Veronika moving to Maryport, Ma to pursue her sporting career, Vienna to Port Victoria, Va for her university education) but emotionally they remained as close as ever, becoming prolific letter writers and frequent travellers between the two cities. Although they met in person less often as time went on, especially after Vienna had returned to Blear Bridge, their correspondence did not.
This continuing closeness, perhaps, may account for how their lives continued to mirror each other, no more so than when, after Vienna and Kiki had given birth to their children (Andrea and Erin), Veronika --- who had hitherto given no indication of wanting children --- had married and was starting a family of her own.
By the end of the cricket cycle of 776, Veronika’s career at the top level of the sport was coming to its end (she would pass her fortieth birthday before the start of the next cricket cycle in the Spring of 777) and thoughts turned, inevitably, to Veronika returning to Blear Bridge to be reunited with her twin. But things got in the way of it happening immediately, not least Veronika’s hopes that she might yet get another season or two playing for the Maryport Mariners even if it was too much to expect that she would play any more Test Match cricket for Mercia. And there were the feelings of her own family to factor into the equation: they were none too enthused by the prospect of a move north, particularly in wintertime.
Veronika and Vienna, nevertheless, regarded their reunion as inevitable, even if it meant Vienna moving to Maryport after the winter; it would certainly have been very poor form indeed to have done so during the winter especially on what was, essentially, a whim. But, that apart, there would be little to keep Vienna in Blear Bridge once winter had passed. Andrea and Erin were growing up fast and it seemed likely they would be flying the nest at Prague Street sooner rather than later. Vienna’s relationship with Kiki remained as frosty as ever and, as good a friend as Radclyffe Collier was, it was the girls he doted upon, not Vienna herself.
But then, before ever they had made firm plans, the accident happened…
Veronika was devastated; she immediately and bitterly regretted not returning to Blear Bridge at the first opportunity. With the benefit of hindsight, she would have willingly forgone the chance of prolonging her career in cricket and perhaps would have even risked losing her family rather than have lost those last precious seasons with Vienna.
On the up-side, however, she did forge a much closer bond with her niece Andrea, each understanding in a way that most others could not, what it was like to lose such a close kindred spirit. Indeed, although Andrea and Erin were not twins (they did not even share the same mother), Veronika recognized, both through meeting them in person and from what Vienna had related to her in their copious correspondence, just how close they were, that their closeness was one that possibly had transcended that which one might typically ascribe to twins.
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