<hr/><div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/8/89/Onnecamug1.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>Onneca de Goni<br/><strong>Faction:</strong>Unknown<br/><strong>Date:</strong>June 2, 1875<br/><strong>Time of Day:</strong>Morning<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Bodega de Goni<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>Agatha<br/><hr/><br/>Onneca did as Aggy suggested and went to help Mrs. Howell. There were no more touches as she stepped by- no longer were they giggling girls holding one another up as they balanced on the railroad timbers and hopped from one spike to the next. Like Aggy had said, that was thirteen years ago, and things had changed. There might have been that opportunity, if they'd stayed together, for everything to have gone differently. Certainly, it might've been better. But Onneca was a lady now, here in Gomorra, and she had responsibilities.<br/><br/>Agatha had the opportunity to see Onneca under the magnifying glass as the tailor attended to Mrs. Howell. Her patience, as she walked with the little old lady through the aisles to the linens. Her sense of community, as she talked with the slow Mrs. Howell about her sewing projects as though each one were dear to her. Her kindness, as she brought the woman a chair and stood by to help her choose the right color of ribbon. Above all, her place in Gomorra- Onneca was an upstanding woman here, even if she'd never be allowed to stand as tall as the whites nor the men. She had a duty and a life and a place in this world, for better or worse. Somehow, it had grown without Agatha, and now it was Aggy made to wait and watch from the sidelines while Onny made room for her. Things might've been so different.<br/><br/>Old Mrs. Howell wasn't in a rush. Maybe it was that she could intuit the looks going from Agatha to Onneca. When she paid, she regaled the shopkeep with stories of a cat named Bootsie there at the till for another twenty minutes. There were no clocks in the bodega. It was a place to relax. Agatha couldn't have known, and when Mrs. Howell finally did leave, bidding Aggy an afterthought farewell, Onneca was embarrassed. "Lo siento, that was too long to wait," she apologized. A smile, over her shoulder, as she tidied up the linen racks and anticipated Agatha joining her. Those fingers, normally so steady on the surface of linen, able to weave delicate patterns into lace, were now fumbling with simple folds. "I did not mean for you to stand and wait for me. You are my friend, Mrs. Howell would like you." But was that really true? Onneca didn't seem to catch that the old woman had looked at Agatha and seen a bad influence.<br/><br/>"You say you are staying at the Collegium, si? You must do important work now." She regarded those goggled spectacles atop Aggy's head, and strummed her lip as she wondered what sort of work her Aggy might get into. Geology? Locomotive engineering? "I am a humble dressmaker. It does not make newspapers, but it is nice. I meet so many people. Everyone needs clothes." As she folded away the last of them and again declined to throw her arms around Aggy, it was clear that opportunity that might have once been had passed. That door had closed, maybe a long time ago. There was nothing for it, except to try to move on. Try- that was the key word.