"Beauty is a Weapon at a Woman's Disposal"

[the_scandal_of_italy]

WHO: Lucrezia Borgia
WHERE: Bunglaow 27
WHEN: 6/07
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Open

---

The shock of arrival had worn off as the day was nearing its end. To go from the Roman style celebrations to a vast wilderness had been a shock for her. The smell of Rome was familiar to her, the waste, food and people were almost comforting, even behind the walls of her mother's palazzo. To leave that and surround herself with...nothing, it was as much of a shock as the cold water she emerged from.

Villagers greeted her, others brought in through similar means. They apparently were confronted with new arrivals often, as their explanations seemed well rehearsed. They weren't disingenuous, just...memorized. She wasn't the first and she got the impression she wouldn't be the last.

Without Cesare or her father to guide her, Lucrezia followed the advice of those that found her. Once she was cleaned, she found a house to her liking and waited for the last of her daze to depart. Was this how her precious Djem felt when he arrived in Rome? So out of sorts and confused? The thoughts of her family weren't far from her mind, quickly chased by an overwhelming sorrow that threatened to suffocate her, as though she were drowning again.

Forcing herself to think of other things, Lucrezia collected a number of linens from the house and brought them to the front porch. She didn't know very much about cleaning, but she knew how to soak and treat linens, having sat beside Francesca as she tended to Giovanni Sforza's home. It took a bit of effort to bring a bucket of water to the house, but eventually she was seated on the front porch, singing to herself as she scrubbed the linens in fresh water. There was no soap, but did that really matter?

Comments

[tooktheblack]

Jon had been making his way up to the house that the rest of his family shared in order to see them, spend some time with them. Sansa likely had some mending done for him and Robb was sure to be there wanting to go for a hunt so it was natural enough that he would end up at their house at least once or twice a day.

His own house seemed a little more like home now that Lyanna was there. It had taken some time to get used to thinking of her as his mother but it had taken none at all to accept her as a member of House Stark and part of his family. Even still, she was more Arya than Sansa and not domestic in the traditional sense. She certainly wouldn't be scrubbing linens like his father's new neighbor.

This was a woman that Jon didn't recognize and he drew up a little closer, dipping his head in greeting to her. "Have you just taken over this house, then? I don't remember seeing you before."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

She wasn't doing this right, she was certain of it. For all the time she had spent with Francesca and watched her clean, it didn't seem to have done much good. None of it stayed in her mind and recreating the actions didn't seem to be doing much in removing the dirt stains from the sheets.

Her hands were starting to hurt from the effort, cramping under the unfamiliar strain. As she leaned back to rest, a shadow grew over her. She glanced up in surprise, half expecting to see her brother, but instead seeing a man with with the same sort of dark hair. He was smiling at least.

"I only just arrived. I was told that the houses were free to claim."

[tooktheblack]

"They are, I wasn't accusing you of theft," Jon assured her. "It's just the house next to yours happens to be the one my family lives in," he said, pointing across the way to the house that the Starks had occupied for their own. He spent a good deal of time there and hadn't seen a neighbor alongside them until now so he was glad his suspicion had turned out to be correct.

"Do you need any help? Most of the things in the houses are in a little disrepair when you first take one over. I had to clean mine from top to bottom before it was livable."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

She craned her neck, trying to see if there was anyone inside through the window not far from her peripheral. There was no activity inside, but that meant little. He was obviously going to meet with them. She had never lived in close proximity to others before, the palazzos often had several miles between them. It would be strange to think that there was someone nearby, only a few feet away.

"Fortune favors you if you have your family in this place." What would Cesare make of any of this? He would like view every person with hostility and suspicion. Would he have accepted the help and kindness of others as she had?

She smiled, scooting to the side on the steps. "There was a maid I would watch clean. I thought that would be enough to know what to do. I would be glad for the help. I'm still a bit out of sorts. Your name, good sir?"

[tooktheblack]

"Jon, my lady. Jon Snow," he said, tipping his head to her a little bit. She was obviously someone of high birth if she'd had a maid and didn't know how to clean and he had never been a housekeeper himself but he knew the basic things to keep a house running. The Watch had ensured that all men had some sort of basic domestic skill to make living a little easier.

"I know how to do a few things and there's others in the village who can help with the rest. Can you sew? My sister is amazing with a needle. If you cannot, I'm sure she can teach you."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"Lucrezia." She corrected him. "Lucrezia Borgia." She braced herself for recognition to cross his features, but when none came, her face brightened. Having to listen to more slanderous words on top of the shock of being in this place would have been too much. She never had been anonymous before, but it was a relief to actually be nameless and forgotten. "I'm pleased to meet you, Jon Snow."

"You could look inside and tell me if there's anything important that needs fixing? There's spiderwebs..." she trailed off, flushing. "Could you help me clear those?" It was a small chore, but one that she hadn't been looking forward to. "All proper ladies know how to sew. Some of the sheets have moth holes, I will have to mend them."

[tooktheblack]

"I can see to the cobwebs," Jon assured her. He had dealt with plenty of those between Winterfell and the Wall and it was the least of things that he'd had to slay in his short life. It was unpleasant business, yes, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be done.

"It'll likely be easier for me, I'm taller than you are." He wasn't an overly tall man, no, but he was taller than her.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"A better reason that I could think of." She laughed. She had considered standing on a chair, but this was better. She wouldn't have to face spiders or risk falling. There was a benefit to being so petite. "There is a great deal of dust inside and the smell of mold. I never lived in a home like that before."

It was a great deal different than her family's palazzo.

"Do you know how to cook?"

[tooktheblack]

"No, that's not a skill the gods have blessed me with," Jon said, laughing a little. He was no clever hand with a ladle and while he could cook enough to keep himself alive it was little more than that. Others in the village had a better hand with food than he did.

"Lady Kate at the Inn usually makes large meals that all can share in. I provide her with game that I hunt in the woods to help her - I'm sure she wouldn't turn you away if you offered to help."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"You hunt?" Her husband had enjoyed hunting as well, but for entirely different reasons, she imagined. He seemed to be fond of attacking weaker things while Jon was providing meat for his table. She didn't know this man, but she suspected he was nothing like Giovanni Sforza. There were few that held a similar arrogance and disregard for honor.

While she is grateful to know that someone will provide food for those who couldn't cook, the idea of "helping" somehow worried her. "What sort of help does the lady require?" Pray God that it was nothing out of her ability to give. "Does your wife assist there as well?"

[tooktheblack]

"I'm not wed," Jon said quickly, somewhat awkward on that front. It was something he'd had to explain a few times and it seemed that people from places other than Westeros didn't seem to understand the nature of the Watch or the vows he'd taken. Now, as King in the North, he would likely be pressed to marry and have heirs but that was a world away from this strange place.

"I live in a house with my kinswoman. It's much further down the road from here," Jon said, pointing down that way to where the road curved down to the end of the lane that ran through the village proper. "The rest of our family lives in the house next to yours, so we come to visit often. As to Lady Kate, she seems a little gruff sometimes but she'll teach you how to cook if you need to learn."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

She had asked that out of politeness, as it seemed he was blessed with so much family here. Given his age and bearing, it seemed plausible that he would be married, unless he were a cleric like her brother. "How fortunate, but wouldn't you wish to have home nearer to theirs?" Family was one of the deepest connections a person could have, aside from love.

She stopped in her work, leaning closer to him. "Will you tell me more of this village? It has a wild look about it. One would think they were ancient ruins, but I have never seen anything like this before. Has it always been like this?" Was it safe for a woman of her stature to be without family or friends? While she wondered, she didn't want to voice it aloud and show fear. She was a Borgia and should be brave.

[tooktheblack]

"They were like this when we all arrived nearly a year ago," Jon said, trying to remember how the village had looked all those moons ago. It had been dusty and abandoned, certainly, and now it seemed a bit more lively. Still, there had been no sign of a previous group of people other than the things they'd left behind. Whoever had built these houses, they were long gone.

"We don't know who built the houses or why they left. When we first came, all the houses looked as yours does right now."

[bit_fairytale]

If there's one thing Amy hates about this place, it's the complete lack of machines to do her work for her. At home, she could stuff a load of laundry into the machine. On the TARDIS, she didn't even have to worry about that, because it all just got done and replaced. Here, though, she's got a little basket and she's heading towards the pitiful bit of river, eyeing the woman's water jealously.

"Don't suppose you feel like sharing?" Amy calls over, lifting up the basket. It's her turn and if she's really lucky, she'd had found someone who'll do it for her, but she'll take what she can get, right now.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

It had taken a great deal of strength Lucrezia did not possess to lug water to the wooden tub. While she was proud to have been able to do so without help, her triumph was spoiled by the fact that she didn't know what she was doing. She was unequipped for this sort of work and it seemed that it couldn't be learned simply from observation. Much like Amy, she wished someone could simply take over instead.

Her voice broke Lucrezia's concentration. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she glanced ahead at the young woman. She had a strange accent, but bore the same fiery hair of Giulia Farnese. "You can join me, if you wish?"

[bit_fairytale]

Amy's grateful for it, seeing as she doesn't want to go home and explain to Rory that something awful caused her not to be able to do the laundry. She'd have to come up with a really clever lie this time, after all, since she's done this at least twice before now. "I'd love to," she agrees, hauling the bin of laundry with her.

She settles herself down, staring greedily at the water. "How'd you get all this here?" she asks, starting to drag out some of the laundry that she had to clean.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

There was an ulterior motive to her offer, beyond the simple desire for a companion and a friend. She would watch Amy and try to learn how to wash her linens through her example. Whether she was good or not, it wouldn't be obvious in Lucrezia's eyes. "No one thinks to clean the empty homes and use the linens there? So many are in a state of disrepair."

She smiled, pleased and proud of herself. "I found the wooden tub abandoned and filled it with water from the river. It was a bit difficult. I might ask for help next time."

[bit_fairytale]

Truthfully, Amy's not really keen on using much of what she finds, because it's all like it's been there before. That means that no matter how much she thinks about bleach and cleaning them, there's still that icky and awful feeling that she's sleeping on someone else's human dust.

"Well, there's plenty of willing arms around here," she says, since even though she's able to help, she'd much more helpfully point to someone else to help first. She's not lazy, she's just clever that way. "When'd you turn up?"

[the_scandal_of_italy]

Living frugally wasn't something Lucrezia had much experience with, but she understood waste and it seemed like a waste to never use these linens or furnishings. Given the hygiene in her time, she had less reason to be appalled.

"Are there? The village was so quiet when arrived." It was likely they were either in the woods or the inn, both places she chose not to explore. Amy was one of the first to actually speak to her. "Earlier this morning."

[bit_fairytale]

Amy gives the other woman a look of disbelief. "You've only just gotten here this morning and you're already doing laundry? I'm fairly sure you're allowed to take more than a day to get used to this place before someone puts you to work." Or maybe this is her own choosing and Amy should just roll with it, but she'd waited weeks before actually getting her hands dirty and doing something.

Then again, she'd also spent a lot of those weeks thinking the Doctor was going to come and rescue them. No blue box, no madman with a bowtie, so she suspects that her rescue ship isn't so much on its way.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"If I don't wash these sheets, I will be sleeping on dusty and dirty linens." The work would at least distract her from the shock and fear that would likely hit her that evening. She was a Borgia, Borgias did not cower. She managed her brute of a husband, she could find a way to manage this cleaning.

"When did you arrive?" With these buildings, it was hard to know how long this village was standing. It must have taken a great deal of time to build. "Forgive me, I'm Lucrezia Borgia."

[bit_fairytale]

"I got here a while back, maybe a few months? It was freezing when I did," she admits, which you wouldn't know given the heat right now, but Amy still remembers feeling like her hair was going to snap right off as a result of the temperature. "I got lucky, though, my husband had already been here for a while, so I'm hoping he washed the sheets. He's the nurse, he's definitely more of the one aware of those sorts of things," she confesses.

"Amy Pond," she introduces herself, giving the other woman a curious look. "Borgia? I feel like I've heard that name before. Where did you come from?"

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"That was fortunate." It wasn't a surprise that Amy was married. She was a beautiful woman with a warm temperament and a sense of humor. She was every bit as fiery as her hair under the sunlight. "So many have their families with them here. It must ease the difficulty of going without so many things." She could have relied on Cesare and his protection, but it seemed that she had to protect herself.

She didn't look up from her washing, waiting for disapproval, as she often faced from the nobles. "I was in Rome, though my father's family comes from Spain."

[bit_fairytale]

"Rory's usually the one making sure the practical things are taken care of," Amy agrees with a rueful smile, seeing as she's not entirely the most down-to-earth and detail-oriented of women. She's more of the charge forward and think about what she's done later, so it's why she needs Rory in her life to provide a balance for her.

Italian, that's probably why Amy knows the name. Italy and Rome always were her favourite subjects, after all. "How long have you lived there?" she asks, avoiding asking about hot Italians just yet.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"Your husband?" The idea was more shocking than anything else she had seen in this world. Simply imagining Sforza scrubbing linens or dusting had her snickering behind her hand. "He doesn't mind cleaning?" He didn't view it as an affront to his pride?

"Nearly all of my life." She answered, lifting one sheet up towards the sun to see how well the dust stains were washed away. "My father was Vice Chancellor and then was elected Pope."