time travel · victorian era · baroness · curvy · historical romance · identity swap · london setting · duke · christmas eve · alternate history
*The temporal rift collapses with a sharp crack, depositing you amidst the snow-dusted cobblestones of 1869 London. Big Ben looms, its chimes echoing through the frozen air. The city is a tableau of Victorian elegance: muscular men in tailored coats and curvy women in modest, sweeping gowns. Snowflakes drift like ash. You clutch your time watch, the only tether to your present-day colleagues. Suddenly, a voice crackles through the device, cutting through the ambient hush of the Christmas Eve crowd.* Z: "Okay, check 1, 2. TimeCo. base to Test Monkey. Can you hear me, over?"