kingdomcomes | [OPEN] - a strange new land

Who: Éowyn and anyone else who happens to be around
What: A princess from Catholic Fantasy Land deals with arriving in a sex world, is confused.
When: May 8-10
Where: The castle (both the barracks and around the place generally), the village, and the forest.
Warnings: TBD

i. the barracks
There's no question that this is where she'd end up. There's plenty that discomfits her about the situation, from the idea of being tattooed to the thought of pledging her service to anyone but her King, but she's too proud to leave and too hot-blooded for the position not to appeal to her. For a long time, she's wanted nothing more than to fight. However much she knows she needs to go home (and she does, her uncle needs her there), the idea of being a soldier is too tempting to turn down.

But it's still a lot to take in, which is why for the first couple of nights in the castle, she can be found sitting cross-legged on her pallet in the clothes she was wearing when she got here, turning over the breastplate she was given in her hands and considering it. Occasionally, she says things under her breath that sound an awful lot like "but why?"

ii. around the castle
Éowyn has always prided herself on her sense of direction. But this place is unlike anywhere she's been before, with its complicated winding passageways and floors upon floors - very different to the open layout of Edoras. It takes some getting used to, is the point. And, as she's far too embarrassed to ask for another tour, she can be seen when off-shift, checking her map against the corridors with a frown.

And it isn't just the size of the place. It seems like every time she rounds a corner, there's something else to wonder at - and by wonder at, she mostly means wonder why. She's sheltered but not naive, and it isn't that she doesn't know what a dick is or even what some of the sex stuff is probably used for. She just doesn't know why you would put it everywhere. Don't they have anything better to use that space for? (Also, shut up, she's not blushing. That's, uh, the shadow of the helmet. Sure.)

She finds herself standing and staring a lot. At the paintings, for example. Her frown's obscured a little by her helmet, but it's still obvious.

"Is this common? In other lands, or only this?"

iii. the village and surroundings
Yes, it's confusing. Yes, it's more than a little disconcerting. But after all this time all but trapped in her uncle's hall, with duty always bearing down on her, it's also incredibly freeing to be here, where there's time off.

Frankly, that's not a concept she's ever really had. She's the Lady of Edoras, responsible for the household and her uncle's care and the reputation of the House of Éorl. Free time doesn't factor heavily into all that. It's actually pretty intoxicating to be able to just walk, breathe the free air, and to know that she could do just about anything and nobody would need to know. So she spends a lot of time wandering, taking in the sights. You can find her in the forest, humming under her breath as she walks without direction, or sitting on hilltops, or meandering through the village.

Or you can find her on the second day after her arrival, walking around the village with little scrapes and cuts on her bare thighs, accosting passers-by to ask where, in all of this, she can find a pair of leggings.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Depends on how much of a crap-hole your original home is, I guess." Maybe she's from some post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland and she's just relishing the zombie-free surroundings she's just found.

"Are you gonna hang around the castle or come live in the village? Because living in the village takes the shine out of the peaceful, fantasy-land life real fast, I'm telling you. They don't even have showers."

She opens her mouth to respond, then closes it again, her brow furrowing. "...What do you mean? Showers?" Because the only thing she can think of is rain, and she hasn't seen any evidence that the weather's all that different here.

Clearing her throat, she rolls her shoulders back and answers the original question. "I have lodgings at the castle. As a guard, though peaceful as it is, I imagine I shall see little combat."

"Oh, geez. You're from old timey places, too? No wonder you love it here so much." He steps a little closer, a little less wary that she's going to try something weird on him (he wishes).

"A shower is a cubicle that sprays nice, warm water on you so you can get clean. Kind of like portable, temperament rain. I miss it." And she probably doesn't care, but he's telling her anyway.

"Guess I should stop shitting on your happiness then. Welcome to the fold, grasshopper. My name is Dave, I am a peasant." He flourishes his hand, as if half-heartedly bowing, then gestures to the crap he's carrying around so she really knows he's a peasant.

She does care, actually. It's an interesting thought - like washing in a waterfall, but warm. And enclosed? She's never heard of such a thing, nor would have thought it necessary, but it's an oddly charming thought.

"Éowyn, Éomund's daughter." She dips into something that's half-curtsey, half-bow, and much more graceful than his sarcastic-looking salute. It feels awkward, mind you, because she isn't wearing her usual long skirts. Hell, she isn't even wearing trousers. "If not pleasure, what brings you so far from the village, Dave?" Her pronunciation of his name is very careful, and just a little accented, sounding more like daef, but she's trying.

"No idea who that is." But from the looks of it, he's important. She talks pretty fancy, and she curtseys and stuff. Most of the peasants here wouldn't curtsey for him if he saved their whole family from a fire, so he figures it's for people of a higher standing or something.

"I'm picking plants so I can afford to live." He says it plainly, he's not whining, really. "Only there's a lot of plants out here and I've never consumed a vegetable, so I don't really know what I'm looking for."

"Perhaps I could help," she suggests, frowning a little. She's no herbalist, but she's been overseeing a kitchen for some years now, and she's done her share of exploring the countryside with her brother and her cousin - enough to know some plants, if not all. "I have no other task upon me, I may as well aid in yours. What plants? For food, for medicine...?"

"Oh, I mean, you don't have to." He says it, and he means it, but a little part of him wants some help and some company. He's bored out of his mind walking around in circles looking at plants.

"Yeah, sure, for medicine and for boners and such." He says it so flippantly. "They really like aphrodisiacs, here. You need to watch what you eat. Or drink. Or sniff." He shrugs, looking down at his chart of plants again and back to her. "I'm kind of getting paid for this, so I can give you half if you wanna hang around and help?"

It takes her a moment to puzzle out what a boner is, and then she goes a little pink, clearing her throat. "I, ah..." Focus. She shakes her head briskly, clearing her throat again, and tries to make the blush fade by force of will alone. It's not working, unsurprisingly. "I have no need of money. I am fed and housed, and paid my own wage, I understand. Keep it. You have more need of it than I, and 'tis not as though you arrest me from any real chore."

He feels a little bad for flustering her, but he considers it not tough love, but tough comradery. These are the sorts of things new people will have to become accustomed to, just as he and others have done before.

"Well, only if you're sure you want to be wandering around listening to my never ending fountain of knowledge for god knows how long for absolutely nothing in return." He thinks she'd be too polite to say so anyway. "I'm looking for something like this." He circles a finger around a plant that looks suspiciously like lavender, with different leaves.

He's wrong. Many things Éowyn may lack, but forthrightness has never been one of them - if she minded, she would say so, without hesitation. Of course, he has no way to know that.

She leans towards him a little, looking at the plant he's indicating. Looking for a very long time, in fact, as she memorises every line of it, makes sure she has the image of it in her head. Then she pulls away, nodding in apparent satisfaction.

"I have seen something like this," she says. "Back the way I came, and off the path. I noted it only in passing, I fear, and I may be mistaken, but the flowers were similar. I took it for lavender."

Above all things, Dave is surprised by how seriously she's taking the task presented to her. This place has been a clown fiesta so far, filled with extremely unhelpful people (himself included).

"Really?" Dave perks up almost instantly, and he can't believe he's actually goddamn excited about flowers. "I dunno, they all just look like flowers to me. And toilet brushes." He gestures at the picture of the plant before he tucks the scroll of paper back under his arm. "Lead the way, boss-lady."

A boss, to her, is part of a shield. Accordingly, boss-lady sounds pretty nonsensical to her. Still, she can't stop and question every little thing she fails to understand, and so although her nose wrinkles a little, she doesn't actually ask what he means. Or about the toilet brushes, although she can at least hazard a guess there.

Instead, she simply nods, taking a moment to remember where the flowers had been before she sets off in that direction, shortening her strides so he can keep up easily. "I may be mistaken," she repeats, not wanting to raise his hopes unnecessarily. "This land is yet strange to me - its plants, as well as its people. But if it is not there, we may seek it out elsewhere. Have you never foraged herbs before?"

[OPEN] - a strange new land

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