the guests are coming through [OPEN]

[shieldofrohan]

Who| Éowyn and OPEN
What| Éowyn attends Wednesday's feast; attempts to train a horse on Friday
Where| The castle; the forest
When| Week 2, Wednesday and Friday.
Warnings/Notes| I should probably register that I don't know jackshit about taming horses. So. Yeah.

i. the feast
She has struggled with the stench the last few days. Even the sterile emptiness of the Capitol is starting to look like a fondly-remembered haven. She's smelled some awful things in her life, and she has a strong stomach, but it still robs her of any hunger.

Even so, she heads towards the feast, drawn not by the thought of food and drink and comfort, but the knowledge that others will go there, too. True, that makes it dangerous, but it also makes it her best chance of finding those she's been seeking - her friends, her allies, those from her own world. She means to find them and fight with them, but even if she can only see them, and be sure they are alive and all right...

So she finds herself on her way across the drawbridge, a lanky, filthy figure nonetheless carrying herself with grace, one gloved hand on the hilt of the sword she took from the smithy that morning. Rohan's white horse is still visible on her tabard and cloak, although she's besmeared Panem's gold eagle beyond all recognition, but that's almost all that makes her recognisable; her pale gold hair is strictly tied back at the nape of her neck, her face spattered with soot and mud and blood from the cow she slaughtered last night. Her grey eyes peer out from that mess, sharp and aware, seeking a familiar face. They must be here, she tells herself. They must.


ii. the forest
When she hears the hoofbeats and the whinnies, her heart stops, and all else is forgotten. Éorl's blood runs hot in her veins, and horses call to her almost as strongly as open skies and wide grasslands do. Éowyn forgets the ever-present stench, forgets her imprisonment, forgets the danger for a moment in the shadow of one thought: I can ride again!

She has never broken a horse from the wild - Rohan's horses are bred true and trained from birth, as they always have been - but she knows how it can be done. With patience, with restraint, treating them like a skittish colt again. Offer them food, give them space. Let them grow to know you, to trust you, train them to the saddle and then train them to the rider.

But that process takes weeks or months, even with a horse already broken. She knows some things cannot be rushed. But she also knows she simply doesn't have that much time - and there is another way to train a horse to its rider, one more brutish and less safe. She's never tried it. But it can be done. Just ride. Ride, and hold on, until it learns it cannot be rid of you.

She tracks the horses through the forest, keeping downwind, not resting until the herd stops at the edge of the woods to graze. There, she begins to ready herself. She strips off her tabard and cloak - their flapping will only make the horses more skittish - leaving her in a thin tunic and britches. From the cloak - looking up every few moments to check on the herd - she fashions a kind of knapsack, knotting it around her tabard and the goods she was sent from the Capitol, and fastening it securely over her shoulders. Her longbow, she leaves where it lies - she has no skill with a bow, and a longbow is hard to carry while riding - but she takes the arrows and quiver, tying them into her knapsack with the rest. Just because she can't use the bow doesn't mean she has to put the weapon in an enemy's hands.

She's just getting to her feet, eyeing the heavyset grey stallion nearest her, when she hears the twig crack behind her, and turns sharply to face whoever is approaching, knife in her hand.

Comments

i

[revocation]

The castle is a calculated risk, all told. But one Cullen decided it was worth it they should take, given the size of their group and the number of people with magical abilities - and thus, shining beacons above their heads.

They need shelter, a good place to hide, and while the castle stands out, it might have some nooks and crannies they can tuck themselves away in. To that end, Cullen is scouting the place, and when he spots the woman, he ducks behind the nearest piece of furniture - until he can watch her for a few moments and realize that vague pang of recognition is real.

"Lady Eowyn?"

[shieldofrohan]

Éowyn turns her head, her hand dropping away from her sword, and there is nothing guarded or false in her smile. "Commander Cullen." The relief in her tone is clear, and she makes no attempt to hide it. "I sought you long, but found you not." Glancing over her shoulder, she starts towards him, keeping her hand away from her sword. A gesture of friendship, in case one is needed. "It gladdens me to see you here, alive and well. Are you well?"

She sees no obvious hurt, but not all injuries are obvious. Regardless, it is good to see him there at all - she knows by now that the dead are listed for them, but that hasn't stopped her worrying for her friends. Seeing him, though, reassures her that he is not struggling. More, that her journey here was not in vain. She has already found one ally, and she's barely into the castle. How many more of her friends may await her here?

[revocation]

"Ah - yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry I didn't look for you sooner, we've just had our hands full, what with the mages' power back."

He glances around carefully. "They're lit up like beacons, so we have to be very careful and stay on the move." There is, of course, no thought of leaving them behind or anything like that. It's simply a problem they must adapt to, as a group. "And you? Have you found allies you can trust, my lady?"

[shieldofrohan]

"Some I have found, some I have not." She smiles a little, spreading her hands as if to say what can you do? "I came hence to seek those I had not, and lo, here one of them is. But for the most part, no. I have travelled alone, or sometimes with a girl from my District. Arya Stark, if you know her?" She doesn't wait for him to confirm or deny, just looks around the hallway. "These friends of yours, these mages, are they safe?"

Whether she means safe for them or safe for him, she elects not to clarify.

[revocation]

"Ah yes, the girl, I've met her," Cullen says with a nod. "It's good she has friends to help her in the arena."

He glances around himself carefully, and shrugs. "For the moment, everyone is as safe as we can make them. Obviously, they make for quite the target, but that seems to be simply the way of this arena."

It disgusts him, but there's nothing anyone can do about it except learn to work with it.

i.

[foundafamily]

Despite being a cityslicker who's never even set foot in the countryside, this life isn't entirely unfamiliar to Firo. The stink, the hardship, and the exposure to the elements are all familiar but not so fondly-remembered relics of his time as an orphan on the streets.

Unfortunately for Firo, there are no careless crowds of citizens for him to pickpocket and all of the food he received went to Phil for their joint efforts to fund some of the younger Tributes. So he makes his way to the feast. His inclination is to fear it for a bloodbath like the Cornucopia, but what other resort does he have? He doesn't know how well his greatly dampened regeneration will stave off starvation and he's finding the scratchings of hunger harder and harder to ignore.

He enters cautiously, his knife out in his hand and his whole body tense. But instead of finding an ambush or a room full of corpses, his eyes land on a friend--though it does take him a moment to notice her under all that grime.

When he spots Éowyn, it seems to infuse him with energy and he bounds forward, smiling despite the dirt that covers him and the weariness that tugs at his bones. "Hey! Éowyn!"

[shieldofrohan]

"Firo!" She smiles ear to ear, relaxing a little out of relief. She was worried for him more than many of her friends, knowing he was unused to these surrounds. She doubted he knew how to hunt as she did, wondered if he even knew how to navigate in such a pastoral surround. Yet here he was, looking hale and hearty and able to smile, at least.

She meets him with an unselfconscious embrace, though mindful of the knife. "I had feared for you," she explained, letting him go after a moment. "I sought for you after the fire, but I could not return until the flames had died and the others fled, and then..." A shrug. She is a good tracker as noble ladies go, but a noble lady nonetheless, and she thinks even a Ranger might have struggled to make out one man's tracks in the well-trodden chaos that remained at the Cornucopia. "Have you allies to fight with? Friends to guard your back?"

[foundafamily]

"Oh--!" Like pretty much all gestures of affection, the hug takes him by complete surprise. On the bright side, that means he doesn't even think to try and escape it and returns the gesture with a quick little squeeze.

He steps back to more easily look up at her when he's released. Where he would usually be offended, he's touched that she worried for him and even looked for him. Her fears, of course, are completely founded, though he'd prefer not to admit it. He blinks a few times and tries to force a cavalier smile. "Huh? There's no need to worry about me. I've been just fine--thought it was better to get gone from that spot than hang around."

But he saw the aftermath when he and Jack passed by a few days later. His heart had immediately clenched with concern for the friends he hadn't found, a tension that gradually eases as he encounters each one.

"Yeah, I've run into Phil and Jack so far--how about you? You got anybody you're with?" The beacon that lights up the sky above him makes him hesitant to stay near anyone too long, but he doesn't want his friends to be alone.

[shieldofrohan]

"On and off." She takes a step back, still smiling. "I have travelled with Arya a little while, but she had others to seek, and so did I. Perhaps it's easier that way, with only one belly to fill and one person to hide." She doesn't believe that for a moment. It's easier by far to have someone to share a watch, to have your back when you fight, to forage while you hunt. But Firo isn't the only one being cavalier about the situation.

She does note, though, the flame over his head. She's spent much of her time well away from people, unwilling to pitch battle against innocents until she has to, but she's still seen that beacon - seeing it is, after all, the point. And over the last week or so, she's begun to piece together what it means.

She nods to it now, gesturing with a little flick of her shield hand. "It seems, though, you don't have that advantage of hiding."

[foundafamily]

Firo nods, his agreement genuine--in part because he doesn't know any better and in part because he doesn't want to give her a hard time when they're both trying to be tough.

His eyes follow her gesture. "Yeah. I don't know who I pissed off to wind up like this, but I guess I'm stuck with it." He hasn't really made the connection between powers and the light yet, so he's caught between thinking it means something or that he's just unlucky.

"I'm not really that good at skulkin' around anyway, so no big loss for me..." Well. Skulking around was honestly part of his plan before he noticed this thing, but no one needs to know that. He tilts his head to the side and shrugs. "But I understand if you want me to hit the bricks."

i

[metalicarus]

He'd been a few places in the castle so far, it seemed like the safest (although most obvious) place to be, the dining hall was one of them. But where the dining hall before had been vast and empty and just as rotting and lifeless as the rest of the damn arena, the dining hall he walked into now was bursting with the delicious smells of fresh food and life and it looked completely out of place. Exactly like a trap.

But a little alert had been stationed at the top corner of his vision for the last day alerting him that what energy stores he had left were going to run out soon and then he'd be in worse trouble. Being a cyborg again certainly made him more durable, but it didn't save him from plain human hunger. Besides that, he was still brushing dirt out of his hair and mud stains had made his shirt uncomfortable and the fact he'd very nearly died from a flipping tree hadn't left his head in the day between then and now. A little comfort food would be nice right about now.

He'd just taken a huge bite out of a roll when a sound from across the room and the table snapped his attention up. He didn't know whoever this was, but she was clearly another tribute. He stood still, sharp blue eyes watching her carefully to see what she would do. He didn't want a fight, but that didn't mean she was of the same opinion.

[shieldofrohan]

Éowyn stood just as still, barely breathing, her hand closing around the hilt of her sword. For a moment, she remained there, locking eyes with him across the table like a deer seeing a hunter - although which was the deer and which the hunter, she wouldn't have hazarded to guess. She didn't know this man. He might simply be a man seeking food and comfort, who would not raise a blade to her or strike the first blow. But then, he might not be.

When he didn't move, and she saw no obvious weapon, she finally relaxed a little. Her hand loosening and slipping back to the sword's pommel - though not entirely away, not while she might still need it at a moment's notice - she nodded curtly to him, her boots clicking on the stone floor as she strode down the hall.

She didn't want to take a seat with its back to any doors. Bad enough that the Avoxes could creep up on her, without letting other Tributes catch her off-guard. She didn't hurry in choosing her place, and at last sat down at the corner of the table.

"You don't think it's poison, then," she said aloud after a moment, her voice clear and sharp, and nodded to the roll in his hand. She hadn't intended to eat here. It seems too easy, too neat, and altogether too suspicious, and she has been eking out meals from the livestock and the fields. But if she sees evidence that it isn't so simple a trap (though still a trap, of course, still designed to draw them here together)... well, the smell of the food is making her mouth water more than she'd care to admit.

[metalicarus]

He didn't budge or speak until she sat at a corner. That was a good start, it meant she wasn't out to just have his head. Of course, if she was smart -and he had to assume she was- she'd be watching him to see if he did anything first. He decided to take a chance and sit where he could face her, but leave enough space between them for comfort. "Well, if it were, I'd be the best taste-tester between us, but I haven't noticed anything off. I think the trap's supposed to be in us killing each other instead of the food doing it."

With his cybernetics, he suspected any kind of poison the Capitol would try to use would have a hard time getting through, but at least he'd be warned about it. So far, nothing. Although, since most people didn't know he was a cyborg normally, he wouldn't blame her if his word meant nothing to her.

"So, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Can we agree not to be a threat to each other while we eat and gather whatever we need to take with us?" Because he should certainly take some back to his friends who might not get a chance to come up here.

[shieldofrohan]

Éowyn watched him sharply, her grey eyes steady on him, but after a moment, she nodded. "I have no wish to be a threat to anyone who is no threat to me," she said, raising her hands onto the table, away from her weapons. "Gladly will I swear to that." If you will.

She continued to scan his face for a moment, then, apparently satisfied, began to look around her at the grey-clad Avoces. She trusted them no more than she trusted the food. It was true that a massacre at a feast would probably be over too quickly for the Capitol's entertainment, but she couldn't shake the fear that she had misjudged it. If there was a trap here, one besides the obvious, she had no intention of being snared into it through complacence.

[metalicarus]

Jet, for his part, relaxed a bit more when she agreed. He wasn't completely at-ease, with none of his friends around to watch his back that'd be stupid, but he wasn't ready to bolt either. That was something else in his favor, if she suddenly changed her mind and made a move to hurt him, he could use his accelerator to escape. His tongue ran across the switch in his back tooth absently.

Of course, the last time he'd had his cybernetics available to him, Black Tom had shoved a knife through his skull because he'd let his guard down, so really he shouldn't take any chances.

He took another bite of bread, chewed and didn't bother to swallow before speaking up again. "I don't think we've met officially." Now he swallowed. "Name's Jet, do I get to have yours?"

i

[allyorfoe]

Tabris wasn't too worried, about entering the feast. The reason should be fairly clear, in her hands was a massive war hammer (thanks, Dorian), though she held it like it weighed very little--An odd thing to see such a small elf do. She carries herself like a warrior, back straight and more than ready to use that hammer if needed. It was hard to recognize the flighty, flirtatious woman in the Capitol with this warrior who strolled in like it were her own castle she was entering.

Though Vigil's Keep was miles better than this shithole.

She's not much for clean, either. Much like the others in her district, she'd taken care of the bright colors of her clothing with a few healthy layers of mud. Her stockings wrecked, and she would have takened them off entirely, had they not been able to provide some kind of heat. After the last arena, she was cautious about letting herself get too cold.

Her eyes dart around, before she cautiously sits down, hammer at her side, and ready to be grabbed. When the elf turns to look at Eowyn, though, that serious nature of a warrior woman ready to kill if necessary melts like snow under the sun. She grins brightly at the other woman, as though they met across from each other in a true banquet, not this parody of one, in a parody of the lands they hailed from.

"Hey, fellow D10! You come from a place like this, too, right? I'm not the only one? Fuckin' eerie, ain't it? Like you told a kid about your home, but the kid's daft as a box of rocks and tries to set up a version of it. Almost got the rats right, at least." She chattered, as she eagerly picked food for her plate. She'll eat what she can, and carry the rest to Alistair and Anders in her poncho. Not the neatest, but...whatever. Better only one of them risk coming down here.

"Is this alcoholic?" She took a goblet, and had a sip. "Oh my god, it is. Not that I'm going to get drunk--Though you should have seen the last arena! Last week of it, and I guess they were doing some vodka promo, because every single one of us got more alcohol than any sane person could drink. Pretty sure half of us died from being drunker than a whore on Sunday. It's a surefire way to get killed, but you know, if you have to die, going out drunk isn't the worst you can do."

She paused, finally, Eowyn's ears being saved from being talked right off by Tabris' need to eat.

[shieldofrohan]

Éowyn narrows her eyes a little at the stranger. She remembers her vaguely from their conversation on the network, not long after her arrival, but she never got a name and so far as she can recall, it's the first time she's spoken to her in person. Éowyn has, for the most part, avoided the District floor except to sleep.

And now? Now she watches Tabris closely, wary of the ease with which the other woman hefts that warhammer, her hand staying near her sword. After a moment, though, she replies "A place not too unlike it, I suppose," and sits down. Unlike Tabris, she doesn't load her plate, but ignores the food almost entirely, although the smell of it is a blessed relief from the smell of the Arena. "Home never smelled so ripe."

[allyorfoe]

"Hah! You never lived in an alienage. Ask any city elf, they'll say it's just like dear old home." It was an over exaggeration, even in the heat of summer it never smelled this bad. Mostly because the elves, already hot and worn from the long day's labors, would make sure to put work into it. Remove the bodies of beggars who hadn't made it, and take care of any other particularly smelly messes.

She shovels food in her mouth, trying not to be gross, but also not wanting to take too much time here. However, you can only eat so fast, so while she's taking a break, she drums her fingers on the table, looking around. "Haven't seen any others around, though, so you'll just have to take my word for it." She took another deep drink of the goblet, letting the alcohol burn its way down her throat. She wished that she had taken something here for carrying liquid--The alcohol would be good for cuts.

"This is my first full arena, you know. I have to say, it's weirdly easier than last time. Maybe because I know more? You got lucky, really. I was dropped in mid-arena. Wandering around with no sponsors, no clue what the fuck was going on. Fucking sucked." She'd been lucky to find the other people from her world--Or something close to it, even if none of them knew her. Really fucked awkward.

[shieldofrohan]

"It sounds as if it would," Éowyn said after a few moments had ticked by. There didn't seem to be much else she could say to that, really. She knew there was sense in what Tabris was saying, but she couldn't see the time she'd had in the Capitol as a reprieve. The Capitol was hell. At least this place had some sense of freedom, however false.

After a moment's thought, she reaches over, picks up an apple, and starts to slice it. Fresh fruit and vegetables are something she's been feeling the lack of, and now she can watch Tabris for signs of poison, at least.

"Or perhaps it's easier because it's that much closer to home," she suggests, at last. "This place... I know not how close it may be to your world, but it is in so many ways close to the lands I passed through during the war. I am prepared for this land, as I might not be for another."

[allyorfoe]

Tabris the taste tester, at your service. She doesn't seem worried about poison whatsoever--Though it's worth noting that she only puts food aside to take to the others, once she's had some of it. But she's pretty relaxed about everything that she's shoving into her own mouth.

"It's not too different from some place that got overrun by war or darkspawn, no." She admits. The place was pretty close to how Lothering would have looked, she imagined. Or Amaranthine--After Tabris let it burn to the ground, of course. Ha ha. Time to move on.

"It's certainly better than the snow and ice," A quick shrug as she peels nuts out of their shells. "Although I could have done without the pyre. It felt a bit too much like religious mockery," Not that Tabris cares about the Andrastian faith or anything. "But I guess it's not uncommon throughout the various worlds. Anyway. At least we didn't get stupid costumes in our district. Did you see the fairies? One of my friends is in D7, and I don't think I stopped laughing at him for like. A year. Maybe more."

ii

[drinkupmehearties]

Jack had spent a night or so in the forest at the start of the Arena, but hadn't liked the vibe that it'd initially given him. However, after wandering about the Arena for around a week, the pirate figured that the trees provided a nice cover from other Tributes. As long as he didn't venture in too deep, whatever danger lurked within it could be safely avoided.

He's snoozing next to a tree near the edge of the forest when the unmistakable sound of some sort of animal wakes him; Jack scrambles to pull a knife into his hand and hauls to his feet, realizing that the shuffling and noise and low whinnies came from a herd of horses that had gathered not too far off from his position. His first thoughts turn to food -- if he was able to catch one, maybe, it'd provide him with a good amount of meat to eat.

He's about ready to try his hand at sneaking close to the herd when Jack spots Eowyn moving stealthily towards them. The pirate recognizes her relatively quickly, and takes a step towards her without thinking. When she turns around, ready to confront him with a knife, Jack throws both hands up and offers her a charming smile.

"Afternoon, luv."

[shieldofrohan]

Éowyn relaxes a little when she sees the pirate, lowering her knife. She doesn't return his smile, though, raising her finger to her lips. "Keep your voice down, Captain. I haven't come so close to see them spooked now." She looks back at the horses, letting out a low sigh of relief when she sees them still contentedly cropping at the grass. When she turns back to Jack, she tucks her knife into her belt and gives him an almost apologetic little nod.

"It's good to see you," she says, her voice still low and hushed. "I had feared for you. Do you seek a mount, as well?" Again, a glance back at the horses. "Don't take the grey. I have my eye on him. A sound piece of horseflesh, and about my size."

[drinkupmehearties]

Jack has tucked his own knife away for safe-keeping, nodding to her request to be quieter after she surveys the herd. "Aye, you as well. I'd hoped you were well." Stumbling across familiar and friendly faces in this place felt, sometimes, like a slice of bright light in the darkness.

His gaze darts out to the horses with hers, eyeing the one that she was speaking about. "A mount? Not as much." His voice is low enough to not spook the animals from their grazing, his attention trained on them. "My experience with riding the beasts has been few and far in between -- and the few times I did try me hand at it, it wasn't pleasant. I was more thinking that one of them could fetch enough meat for a good while."

[shieldofrohan]

Despite herself, Éowyn's eyes widen in shock and no little horror. She looks as if he's suggested eating a child, and not without reason - in her homeland, horses are barely less dear to their riders than children, for they are raised from foals under their care and can mean a man's life or death in battle. "You would eat them?" she hisses, looking at him with a new mistrust. "Such beasts are worth their weight in gold, in battle. Why would you throw that away for your stomach's sake?"

If they were starving, she might understand, although she would still be horrified. But they've been here less than two weeks, and while food is scarce, it's still present. From the look she's still giving him, it's clear she thinks this is barbarism on a par with their hosts.

[drinkupmehearties]

The quick furrow of his brow indicates how strange Jack finds her abrupt shift in attitude. He's never had any particular attachment to horses in the past, and this was a live-or-die situation. Riding around on one of these -- in his humble opinion -- ill-tempered animals had never even crossed his mind.

"... Eh? Why ever not? What else would I do with one?"

In the last few weeks of his first Arena, Jack had been half-starved and desperate for food. It wasn't a situation that he'd like to find himself in a second time, and if the pirate was able to find a way to dry the meat and safely store it, he figured that'd be less for him to worry about later on.