InsaneJournal

"I hope that call was not for me?"
Who: Eowyn, Eothain

What: another discussion in the Houses of Healing, since someone decided to sneak in.

When: Present. Sometime around the time Eowyn and Amrothos had their talk.

Where: Houses of Healing, Minas Tirith.

Rating: adult language, naturally.

Notes: Incomplete, but I changed the ending line a little bit so maybe it can stand as-is. :)



Eothain decided he'd spent all of his earned coins on enough whores and ale to last him...until tomorrow morning. If visitor hours were over in the Houses of Healing, he didn't give a squirt, because he was going to go see Eowyn. It was the reason he was climbing over a high garden wall, like the drunken hairy mad man that most Gondorians thought Rohirric people were. For some odd reason or other.

He climbed up and over and landed on both feet, with the sort of grace that only a raging bull in a pottery making district could muster up. He began to look around for Eowyn, calling out with a whistle that was a little more "yoo hoo" and a little less bird call...because calling for birds while trying to get someone's attention was stupid.

Eowyn was sitting in the gardens as was her wont to do with the book that Amrothos had brought for her in her lap. It was covered again with the cloth and she had made no attempt to read it, but somehow she didn't feel comfortable leaving it behind in her room for someone else to read. She would have a messenger return it in the morning.

A very strange noise arroused Eowyn's suspicion and her brow furrowed in the direction of it. What could possibly be making.... Eothain. "I hope that call was not for me?"

"No, I lost a whore in here," he said without any mirth at all, plopping down next to her feet. He sprawled out, on the ground, and tucked both hands behind his head, staring up at her. "I'm surprised you haven't burned this place down yet. It looks boring. What's that you're holding."

"I wouldn't put it past you," Eowyn retorted as she shifted her weight to sit more comfortably with Eothain at her feet. 'I would if they did not watch me like a hawk. It is terribly boring. This? Nothing."

"Heh. You're hiding something," he accused, yawning so that every tooth in his head could be seen and some of them were in some pretty dire conditions, indeed. "But whatever. See if I care. If you DO want to burn down this place, I'll help. Then we'll ride off and wed and settle down with our eighteen kids who can milk cows for us."

Why not? That's the way his mom was. Of course, his mom was also a WHORE, but that goes without saying.

What? She was a very popular lady. Not as popular as Elfhelm's wife but...still pretty popular with the Riders for her time.

Eowyn gave Eothain a very dirty look and she shook her head letting only a small mirthless laugh out. "I thought we already had this conversation?" she asked. "We're not getting married and I'm not having 18 of your dirty brats."

"If you'd BATHE me and the kids, then we wouldn't be DIRTY," so says Eothain like he is king know-it-all. "You know, you can't sit around in here with this stick up your butt about everything, Eowyn. Do something about it."

"What would you have me do?" Eowyn asked? It was her finally doing something that had landed her in this place to begin with. Sometimes she didn't think Eothain really understood her. It was like he was put on earth only to pester her, but she still found that she loved him.

Pestering her was his way of getting a rise out of her, showing he liked her, and also putting a big boot to everyone's ass around him so they got moving instead of sitting around. Blame Eomer. He's the one always telling him to get people ready to move out.

"Stop sitting in here. Get out. Tell them you're going for a walk. I don't know. Something. Whatever. Just something." He propped himself up on his elbows, still staring up at her. Oh he loved her too, no doubt about that, but she was that hot sister of Eomer's who was kinda unobtainable and on the just-friends list, which...wow, that's pissing him off just thinking about it. Now he's scowling furiously.

"Do you truly think I have not tried?" Eowyn asked, kind of shocked. "Aragorn would have my head if I left before the healers gave me leave to do so." She heaved a deep sigh at the mention of Aragorn even though it was she who had brought him up.

"Ask me if I give a crap what Aragorn thinks." So says someone with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Staying inside didn't make you happy before and its not making you happy now. You're pissed off because you didn't die like you wanted to, you show off. Now you're going to sit here and sulk. You should be celebrating, instead of getting stuck in this sty."

"Celebrating?" Eowyn asked, her eyes dark and distant and her voice sharp. "Celebrating the death of my Uncle, perhaps? Or the slaughtering of our people? No, the darkness has not lifted for me yet. I would let Bema take me if he would, but my life is not so lucky."

Well at least this was getting a rise out of her. It was better than watching her sit like a little lady with her package on her lap, and look like the sky was going to open up overhead and rain buckets down on everything.

"Celebrating. Party. Feast. A drink for those who did die, because they FOUGHT bravely at the very least. Sure. You cheated death, Bema's proud of you. You think you're not lucky but you are. Don't be a pain in my ass," so says mister therapy session, therapeutically. "You can't die first anyway. I'm going ahead of you."

"Me a pain in your ass?" Eowyn scoffed to think of it. "You have forever been a pain in mine. It may be time to celebrate for those who fought valiantly, but it is not my time." She took in a deep breath to steady herself and shook her head. "How do you know that?"

"Because Bema LOVES me, that's how I know. And when I die, it will be soon and it will impress the SHIT out of everyone." So there. Stick that in your craw and chew on it. He looked stubborn and pissed off himself. He hadn't moved though, or budged in his opinion. "I'll buy you a ale. Get a cloak, lets go."

"No," Eowyn shook her head and placed the book aside so that she could position herself to be laying next to Eothain and look up at the evening sky. She mimicked Eothain and put her hands behind her head and made herself comfortable. "Can you not be sensible for once in your life?" she sighed. "I do not want ale, nor whores or any such thing that you could provide except perhaps your company."

"I like ale and whores," Eothain grumbled, but he liked her more. He just wasn't going to go parading it around. He glared up at the stars like he hated each and every one of them. "And being sensible is a pain in my ass too. If I was meant to be sensible, I wouldn't be a rider in the first place."

"I know you do," Eowyn retorted. "At least you have the choice to not be sensible. I have never had that, nor the opportunity to be a rider." She heaved another sigh and shook her head. She was being extremely whiney and she knew it.

He didn't care if she was whiney, as long as she wasn't MOPING. This was a big improvement, and he grudgingly accepted it. As much as he ever accepted much of...anything.

"Then lets go be not sensible. Its not a big deal. You can do that now, because you kicked the Witch-King's ass, Eowyn. You can do anything you want to, now. I don't think that's sunk into your head yet."

"I don't want to do anything," Eowyn responded as she closed her eyes. "My family is gone, my homeland will not have me. What do I have that I would want to do, Eothain? Perhaps I will travel with Merry to his Shire and stay there awhile."

"Rohan would have you. Don't be dumb." He rolled his head over to one side and gave her a look like she had wargs lit on fire crawling out of her ears, with goblins in feathered hats riding atop them. "You know, has anyone asked you WHAT you want to do?"

Because he was pretty sure they hadn't, and was even more sure she wouldn't have known even way back WHEN what she wanted to do, either.

Eowyn wasn't so sure about Rohan having her. Even though it would be under Eomer's rule, he was bound to the same laws that the Kings before him were and those were very clear about what they did with those who did not follow orders. She had left the house to rot and that would not be forgotten so easily.

"No," Eowyn responded, surprised by the question. "I've never thought about it before, but now that I do.. No, no one has ever cared to ask."

"I'm asking." He grunted at her and rolled his eyes, like girls were hard to figure out, and maybe someone should've. He also thought that Eomer wasn't about to let anyone put a finger on Eowyn without him busting some teeth, and he himself HELPING with that, but...that was his opinion. Or his plan.

"You might not think it, but some people do care about you even if they made you sit on your butt at home. Was it fair? Crap, no, it wasn't fair. But you busted out of that anyway. And I bet a whole lot of frustrated pissed off shieldmaidens would be smacking their husbands over the heads if they talked badly about you...or not put out...and they'd be happy to welcome you back because maybe you could change some stuff. You know. For them."

And there, Eothain had said his piece. One curt nod and he was staring back up at the stars again, like he was angry with them.

Eowyn turned her head so that she could look at Eothain after his speech. She was extremely touched by it and the smile on her face said so, even if she did not believe that that was the way things were going to go down. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Eowyn said, her voice full of the surprise she felt.

"Don't make a big deal out of it," he grumbled like nice was a word he hated, and it wasn't very manly and crap either. He was supposed to be a real shithead, not someone who was NICE to anyone. Though she wasn't just anyone. She was important to him, and so was Eomer, for entirely different reasons. He belched in protest, so loudly that it echoed off the stone masonry around them, and then casually told her, "Don't make me find something to make fun of."

Eowyn laughed and continued to watch Eothain's protest to her compliment. This was better than getting drink and watching whore crawl all over Eothain anyday. "No, please, try because I'm not sure there is anything to make fun of."

"You've got a big fat freckle on your nose, you smell like a healer bathed you in herbs and none of them smell good, and you laugh funny," Eothain said with a note of absolute GRUMPY ASSness in his voice because she was mocking him now and laughing at him. He didn't want to be some NICE person, off picking flowers for girls, when he'd rather be ripping a foe a new one. Yeah, that's his story and he's sticking to it.

Eowyn continued to smile and she shook her head. "I do not have a funny laugh," she said. "The smell will go away, though be careful or I'll have them after you for a bath in the herbs." She fell silent then and turned her attention again to the sky. "I'm not sure I even know what I want to do," Eowyn admitted finally.

"You did what you did already, I don't think anyone can TELL you what to do, now. Its up to you. I mean, if I kicked that thing's ass out there like that...well, help or no...finishing blow? I'd pretty much be doing anything I wanted to," he said, his voice was a low gravelly grumble still. "I'd go off and raise horses. Somewhere."

Eothain YAWNED and scratched at his tummy, then rolled onto his side and was quiet like he'd passed out.