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Title: Lost Time
Author: Kat
MADRONA
World: Licentia
Main Characters: Boris, Agatha
Borrow: No
Word Count: 953
Summary: Agatha is looking for a missing bottle and finds other amusements.
A/N: Originally, started for Back to School in 2013, but I didn't finish it until now. Thanks for pinking, Kira. Originally posted at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
madrona_project
Agatha walked up to Sophia’s study. She was sure she had an extra bottle in there. What she had forgotten was, that despite the fact that he had been living at the Look Inn for over a year now, Boris was still living in Sophia’s study. It was Sophia’s fault, really. She refused to give him a room as, in her words, “only those working on their backs need a real bed,” but that left few places to put him. So it shouldn’t have been nearly as shocking as it was to walk into the room and find him reading a very thick musty book in his night shirt. Agatha found the owlish face he made priceless.
“Calm down, princess. Your virtue is safe with me… for now.” Her cragged face contorted into something resembling a grin.
Boris regained his composure quickly and glared indignantly her direction. The whole idea that this meek little brat was trying to glare her into submission was so absurd to Agatha, she could do nothing, but plop herself down into Sophia’s desk chair and laugh heartily. Agatha’s laugh was not what one would call pleasant. Years of smoking cheap tobacco and drinking that lamp fuel she tried to pass off as tea mixed with age, had not been kind and left her with a coarse, choking wheeze of a laugh.
“What?” Boris asked, petulantly seeming to forget for the moment that he was no longer the son of a noble family that would be given respect on his name alone and that Agatha possessed all the tact and social grace of an irritated badger.
Luckily, Agatha’s amusement held out. “Save your pouting. You’re just a twiggy bookworm here. The only reason you’re even here is because Nikolai has found the only soft and squishy spot Sophia has and took up residence in it and the only reason you’ve been kept this long is because you’re useful. It’s been what, nine months now…?”
“Fourteen months and seventeen days,” Boris corrected.
“Whatever, you’ve been around long enough that you need to develop a personality, before someone uses you as a knife block.”
Boris sighed and went back to his book, burrowing himself as deep into his makeshift bed as possible.
Agatha remembered why she came in, in the first place and started digging through Sophia’s desk drawers. Not finding her stashed bottle, she started hunting around the room for where Sophia might have hidden it. Agatha knew that it was always entirely possible that she had already drunk it and not remembered, but it was equally likely Sophia was keeping it from her. Her search was getting more frustrating by the second. Needing to take out her irritation on something, she zoned in on the only other living thing in the room. “Dear god, I am not sure what is more disturbing, that people still read that book or that you are reading it voluntarily.”
Boris was highly skeptical that Agatha could even read, let alone knew anything about the book he was reading. “And why is that?”
Agatha scoffed and leaned against the wall. “While his depictions and analysis of the dating rituals practiced in the north islands before the fall is vaguely interesting, overall his writing style is dry and preachy, not to mention that everything he ever wrote is obvious propaganda for the marital celibacy movement.”
“The what?” Boris had to admit, he was shocked. She had read the book.
“A little before your time, perhaps. Basically, a bunch of religious bebutterfuckens took a bunch of unrelated moments in history, misrepresented them as an example of an ancient lifestyle and turned it into a revival movement.”
“Oh,” was all Boris could add. “How do you know all this stuff anyway?” The old woman had this way of knowing something about everything all the time. It was starting to eat at him.
It was all Agatha could do to not fall over laughing. “To start with, I’m quite a bit older than you. You don’t take as many turns around the sun as I have without learning a fair bit. I’ve also traveled quite a bit and I’ve most often found myself in the company of the more interesting people in life. All of which is good for an education. And despite all that, I did go to school, you know. Well, not school exactly. Aristocracy tends to have private tutors in the capital, but it was still schooling.”
“Wait, are you honestly expecting me to believe that you are from some Madronan royal family in the Capital?” Boris was highly skeptical.
“Not royalty, just rich, boring, and supposedly important. I wasn’t hatched out of an egg fully formed into the grizzled bitch before you. This took time and effort. I used to be cute. Okay, I wasn’t cute, but I was well groomed and I actually scored high in manners.”
“Now, I know you’re lying.” Boris settled back into his bed to try to get some rest. “I bet you’ve never even seen the capital.”
“Believe what you want, but you of all people should know that fortunes can change in a moment. Not many little Russe lordlings find themselves as bookkeepers at a whore house in Licentia. Best thing that ever happened to me was running out on my wedding.” Agatha had given up on the bottle and was preparing to go harass Sophia instead.
“I am willing to entertain the notion that you have possibly been to the capital sometime in your life other than assisting Sophia at Vine Fest, but there is no way someone tried to marry you.”
“Forty years ago, I was a catch.”
“Then what the hell happened?”
“Forty years.”
Comments I received atmadrona_project:
"This:
“Forty years ago, I was a catch.”
“Then what the hell happened?”
“Forty years.”
Is pure GOLD, Kat!! :D I LOVE Agatha!She's quite a character! :D"
"“Not royalty, just rich, boring, and supposedly important. I wasn’t hatched out of an egg fully formed into the grizzled bitch before you. This took time and effort. I used to be cute. Okay, I wasn’t cute, but I was well groomed and I actually scored high in manners.”
Oh Kat, that was just wonderful! Ok, so that's me, in a nutshell *urg*... but wonderful, nonetheless! (It hasn't been forty years, not yet, dammit!) This was a fantastic vignette; there's so much to recommend it! Agatha's character is so well-wrought and perfectly displayed - deeper and deeper; one can't help but want to know so much more about her - and her foil, the obnoxious Boris, poor lad. He's all you expect up against a women like Agatha and more. Man, I love your work - someday, I want all your Licentian tales in a volume, handsomely bound and published, up on my shelves - talk about fantastic! A great read; please keep it up!"
Author: Kat
MADRONA
World: Licentia
Main Characters: Boris, Agatha
Borrow: No
Word Count: 953
Summary: Agatha is looking for a missing bottle and finds other amusements.
A/N: Originally, started for Back to School in 2013, but I didn't finish it until now. Thanks for pinking, Kira. Originally posted at
madrona_projectAgatha walked up to Sophia’s study. She was sure she had an extra bottle in there. What she had forgotten was, that despite the fact that he had been living at the Look Inn for over a year now, Boris was still living in Sophia’s study. It was Sophia’s fault, really. She refused to give him a room as, in her words, “only those working on their backs need a real bed,” but that left few places to put him. So it shouldn’t have been nearly as shocking as it was to walk into the room and find him reading a very thick musty book in his night shirt. Agatha found the owlish face he made priceless.
“Calm down, princess. Your virtue is safe with me… for now.” Her cragged face contorted into something resembling a grin.
Boris regained his composure quickly and glared indignantly her direction. The whole idea that this meek little brat was trying to glare her into submission was so absurd to Agatha, she could do nothing, but plop herself down into Sophia’s desk chair and laugh heartily. Agatha’s laugh was not what one would call pleasant. Years of smoking cheap tobacco and drinking that lamp fuel she tried to pass off as tea mixed with age, had not been kind and left her with a coarse, choking wheeze of a laugh.
“What?” Boris asked, petulantly seeming to forget for the moment that he was no longer the son of a noble family that would be given respect on his name alone and that Agatha possessed all the tact and social grace of an irritated badger.
Luckily, Agatha’s amusement held out. “Save your pouting. You’re just a twiggy bookworm here. The only reason you’re even here is because Nikolai has found the only soft and squishy spot Sophia has and took up residence in it and the only reason you’ve been kept this long is because you’re useful. It’s been what, nine months now…?”
“Fourteen months and seventeen days,” Boris corrected.
“Whatever, you’ve been around long enough that you need to develop a personality, before someone uses you as a knife block.”
Boris sighed and went back to his book, burrowing himself as deep into his makeshift bed as possible.
Agatha remembered why she came in, in the first place and started digging through Sophia’s desk drawers. Not finding her stashed bottle, she started hunting around the room for where Sophia might have hidden it. Agatha knew that it was always entirely possible that she had already drunk it and not remembered, but it was equally likely Sophia was keeping it from her. Her search was getting more frustrating by the second. Needing to take out her irritation on something, she zoned in on the only other living thing in the room. “Dear god, I am not sure what is more disturbing, that people still read that book or that you are reading it voluntarily.”
Boris was highly skeptical that Agatha could even read, let alone knew anything about the book he was reading. “And why is that?”
Agatha scoffed and leaned against the wall. “While his depictions and analysis of the dating rituals practiced in the north islands before the fall is vaguely interesting, overall his writing style is dry and preachy, not to mention that everything he ever wrote is obvious propaganda for the marital celibacy movement.”
“The what?” Boris had to admit, he was shocked. She had read the book.
“A little before your time, perhaps. Basically, a bunch of religious bebutterfuckens took a bunch of unrelated moments in history, misrepresented them as an example of an ancient lifestyle and turned it into a revival movement.”
“Oh,” was all Boris could add. “How do you know all this stuff anyway?” The old woman had this way of knowing something about everything all the time. It was starting to eat at him.
It was all Agatha could do to not fall over laughing. “To start with, I’m quite a bit older than you. You don’t take as many turns around the sun as I have without learning a fair bit. I’ve also traveled quite a bit and I’ve most often found myself in the company of the more interesting people in life. All of which is good for an education. And despite all that, I did go to school, you know. Well, not school exactly. Aristocracy tends to have private tutors in the capital, but it was still schooling.”
“Wait, are you honestly expecting me to believe that you are from some Madronan royal family in the Capital?” Boris was highly skeptical.
“Not royalty, just rich, boring, and supposedly important. I wasn’t hatched out of an egg fully formed into the grizzled bitch before you. This took time and effort. I used to be cute. Okay, I wasn’t cute, but I was well groomed and I actually scored high in manners.”
“Now, I know you’re lying.” Boris settled back into his bed to try to get some rest. “I bet you’ve never even seen the capital.”
“Believe what you want, but you of all people should know that fortunes can change in a moment. Not many little Russe lordlings find themselves as bookkeepers at a whore house in Licentia. Best thing that ever happened to me was running out on my wedding.” Agatha had given up on the bottle and was preparing to go harass Sophia instead.
“I am willing to entertain the notion that you have possibly been to the capital sometime in your life other than assisting Sophia at Vine Fest, but there is no way someone tried to marry you.”
“Forty years ago, I was a catch.”
“Then what the hell happened?”
“Forty years.”
Comments I received at
madrona_project:"This:
“Forty years ago, I was a catch.”
“Then what the hell happened?”
“Forty years.”
Is pure GOLD, Kat!! :D I LOVE Agatha!She's quite a character! :D"
"“Not royalty, just rich, boring, and supposedly important. I wasn’t hatched out of an egg fully formed into the grizzled bitch before you. This took time and effort. I used to be cute. Okay, I wasn’t cute, but I was well groomed and I actually scored high in manners.”
Oh Kat, that was just wonderful! Ok, so that's me, in a nutshell *urg*... but wonderful, nonetheless! (It hasn't been forty years, not yet, dammit!) This was a fantastic vignette; there's so much to recommend it! Agatha's character is so well-wrought and perfectly displayed - deeper and deeper; one can't help but want to know so much more about her - and her foil, the obnoxious Boris, poor lad. He's all you expect up against a women like Agatha and more. Man, I love your work - someday, I want all your Licentian tales in a volume, handsomely bound and published, up on my shelves - talk about fantastic! A great read; please keep it up!"
