Advantage (discworld, Madam/Nobby)
Title: Advantage Author: roruna Fandom: discworld Pairing/characters: Madam/Nobby Rating: PG Warnings: Night Watch spoilers. Prompt/challenge you're answering: Madam is bound and blinded -- does Nobby try to help, or take advantage of the situation?
Madam wiggled a little but could not free herself from her bonds and as much as she wrinkled her nose or moved her eyebrows up and down there was no moving that blindfold. Damn that Snapcase. This is the thanks she gets for getting him the Patricianship? True, she was already working out how to overthrow him since the man was stupid enough to promote Carcer to Captain of the Palace Guard and then order him to kill Keel. Was the man a total back birth? He must be. Otherwise, he would have killed her and not just bound and blindfolded her while he decided her fate. That was an amateur move if she ever saw it. Didn’t he realize that in these kinds of circumstances, time was her ally? The more time she had, the worse it was for him.
She moved her hands but the rope still felt as tight and as coarse as ever. She sighed and leaned back against the wall. She heard the door to her boudoir open and tensed until she noticed the unique smell. She was not a connoisseur of smells but she recognized this one. It was unforgettable. Not bad but extremely odd and not entirely human. She smiled. That idiot Snapcase hadn’t even thought to gag her. “Ah, Mister Nobbs.” She said with a hauteur that could not be possible from a woman tied up and blindfolded. She heard the little street urchin jump and drop something, probably of a shiny nature.
Nobby looked around the boudoir and found Madam behind her bed, bound and blindfolded. For a brief instant, he wondered why he was still uneasy in Madam’s presence. In these circumstances, he could… well, nick anything of value for a start. But even totally vulnerable, Lady Roberta Meserole radiated an aura of control and poise. Her very posture indicated that everything was still going exactly as she planned and it was only the other person’s lack of understanding of the Big Picture that didn’t make that as clear to them as it was to her. “Would you be so good as to untie me, Mister Nobbs?” She said coolly.
Nobby Nobbs only hesitated for a moment. He scurried behind Madam and untied her hands first, followed by her legs while she removed her blindfold. She stood up and dusted herself off and to Nobby’s astonishment; she fixed her hair and make up in front of the mirror. Then she grabbed the fire poker and gave Nobby a brilliant smile. “Now, my little bird, I want you to tell me exactly what you saw as you reached my house and entered.” Nobby looked at the poker she was gripping with terrifying expertise and knew exactly what she was asking. How many people are in the house and do they have back up? He told her. She leaned forward and to Nobby’s further shock, she gave him a little peck on the lips. “Thank you, Mister Nobbs. I’ll have Cook prepare something for you after I’ve dealt with matters.”