The Rains Weep O'er Their Halls

[kingnamedstark]

Who: Robb Stark and YOU
Where: Outside of a bar
What: Arrival
When: 5/8
Warnings: Mentions of death and violence, ptsd. Drunken sex, NSFW.

[He isn't in the best mind frame as he's told where he is and that he is here for a reason. In his mind, he can still hear the "Rains of Castamere" and hear the screaming of his men. He can hear his mother begging for his life and see his wife on the floor. His death wrapped around him like a cloak, leaving him in a deep fog as he wanders, searching for something and nothing at the same time.

Eventually he finds somewhere that looks close enough to a tavern, but the act of opening the door is too much for his body, still sore and aching from his wounds. They may have healed, but he could still feel them. Some things couldn't be erased. With his hand on the door, he stands for a moment, staring at it, as though expecting it to warp and change.

There was someone next to him, but his thoughts are so jumbled, it's hard to make them out from the corner of his eye. He has to shake himself to remember he's blocking the entrance.]

I'm sorry. Am I in your way?

Comments

[jondrette]

[Eponine follows his lead, and slams the glass back on the bar.]

No? Then where shall you go? We are under the ocean, m'sieur.

[She looks at him out of the side of her eyes.] Does it matter?

[kingnamedstark]

[She's right, sadly.]

I must accept their housing, but I do not need to accept their coin.

[He smiled, shaking his head.]

I suppose not. It might have once.

[jondrette]

You will find, m'sieur, that those that beg cannot choose what they get. You take what is given.

And I am giving you another shot, m'sieur. [She handed him another small glass, daring him to drink it with her.]

[kingnamedstark]

[She was right. He was too used to being a lord and being given what he had. He didn't understand what it was to beg or work.

This would be a rude awakening.

He accepted the drink and swallowed it quickly, coughing at the burn.]

How many of these do you usually have?

[jondrette]

[Don't worry, Eponine is excellent at all of it and will happily show you.]

In truth, m'sieur, I do not know. I often lose count. How many would you like to do? Do you feel it yet?

[The young alcoholic goes for a third]

[kingnamedstark]

Enough that I more than feel it.

[He wanted oblivion, even if he didn't say the words.

He takes a third, feeling a little light headed and fuzzy, but still coherent. The pain was still there.]

Where are you from?

[jondrette]

Then I shall have them keep coming until we cannot walk save to stumble!

[She orders another large round for them, leaning back in her stool to better look at her drinking companion.]

I am from a city called Paris in a country called France. Do you know it?

[kingnamedstark]

I'm afraid I don't, which means you won't know where I was from either.

[Was. It hurt to say.]

How long have you been here?

[jondrette]

No, nor do I know your name, m'sieur. You may call me Éponine.

[She catches that, and frowns.] Was? Are you not still from there, when you return?

Not long, only a few days. And yourself?

[kingnamedstark]

My name is Robb Stark.

[He tries not to look at her too long, afraid that as the drinks settle in, he'll see more of Talisa in her than he already does.

Her dark hair, her sass, it was all too familiar.]

I only just arrived from my death.

[Was. Understand?]

[jondrette]

Pleasure to meet you, m'sieur Robb Stark.

[She takes another shot, bringing her up to four. She can feel herself warming, tingling as the alcohol takes hold.]

You, as well? We are ghosts, you and I.

[kingnamedstark]

[He's starting to lose himself in the drink. His thoughts are slowing and the ache in his heart has started to ease.]

You died as well?

I was told there were others who died, but it didn't seem real. None of this does.

[jondrette]

Yes.

[She looks over at him, taking him in slowly.] I can still feel the bullet ripping through my arm and chest. The rain on my skin... [Marius' arms around her...]

No, it is a strange sort of heaven, and I cannot trust it will not be ripped away from me, as all good things have been.

[kingnamedstark]

You were killed by someone?

[There's a stronger link between them and he can feel himself gravitating more towards her. First for help in drowning himself with a bottle and second for comfort.]

There was an arrow in my shoulder, but I was stabbed in the heart by one of my men.

[He nodded, hearing his own thoughts in her words.]

As it has for me.

[jondrette]

I was- though I could not give you his name.

An arrow is like a bullet. But slower and sharper, I've found. It's painful, but- [She gasps when he reveals he was shot in the heart.] Oh! M'sieur Robb! You, as well? The bullet- it went through my hand, through my chest. See, look!

[She lowers her blouse off of her bony shoulders, showing him the tender pink flesh where the bullet had gone through her chest, near indeed to her heart.]

We will not let anyone take things from us here, then. We must promise each other.

[kingnamedstark]

[It's good she clarified that, though he still couldn't picture a bullet. Seeing the scar though, he sees how small it is. He has his own scars, deep and ugly, but he wasn't ready to look at them yet, let alone show others. It made it all more real than it already was.

He takes another shot, feeling much more loose and empty. Empty was better than full of grief.]

You think it is possible to keep what little we have here?

I haven't had much luck in my life.

[jondrette]

[She follows with another shot, leaning closer to Robb now.]

We will not know until we try, hmn?

Neither have I. No luck, and no kindness. Until I came here.

[kingnamedstark]

[He doesn't pull away, needing the proximity and feeling of warmth.]

You were... [How to put this? It didn't help he's getting drunk.] You were born among the smallfolk?

[His world was not much kinder.]

I had a family and a good life for a time. My father served the king, he was his friend. When the king died, his son imprisoned and cut off my father's head. [He didn't think he could say these things, but strong drinks and pressure in his chest pushed it all out.

He was breaking down and it all needed to be released. All the memories, all the pain.]

I raised an army to rescue him and my sister, but I was too late. I sent my friend, my brother to his home to get more men, but he betrayed me and seized my family's castle. He killed my brothers, our friends and staff. Then he burned it.

I married a woman I loved. [He was shuddering, ready to bury his face in his hands, but unable to get the tears to come.] I broke a vow to marry her. That was my doing and it was wrong. I had sworn to marry someone else for an alliance, but I dishonored that. I did my best to make amends, but they turned against me.

They killed my men when we were in their keep for a wedding. My wife was pregnant and they killed her. Only then did they finally finish me off.

[jondrette]

[As he speaks, Eponine moves closer to him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. She doesn't know what else to say, so he lets him speak, lets him get it all out.]

That is... [She places another shot in front of him.] You need this. Drink. It will make all the hurt lessen for a time.

She must have been a beautiful woman, your wife. I am sorry you lost your lady love- nothing compares to that hurt. Not even a bullet or a knife.

I was... We do not say small-folk, but I was born to an innkeeper and his wife. After a time we lost our inn, and with it our money and standing, and we came to Paris to look for something better. But there was nothing there. Only crime and dirt and hunger. Our king did not help, as we starved.

Both or lives, though different, are littered with such pain and suffering. You were in love. A father soon enough. Those that killed you and your family are monsters, demons worse than even those I know. You have been kind to me, Robb. I will not let that pain follow you here if I can help it. Here, we will drown our pains and pray they will not learn to swim. Drink with me, to that end.

[kingnamedstark]

[He takes it without question, ready to drown himself in more shots. She was right though, the sting was lessened with a bottle in front of him. It wasn't what his father would do, but his father had died and everything had fallen to Robb. He had failed his father before, why not now as well?]

She was. She had dark hair like yours and was honest. [Another shot. He turns more towards Eponine.] I shouldn't have taken her with me. If I hadn't, she might have lived, but I wanted her there. Gods, every decision I made cost those I loved their lives.

[His mother, his wife, his child...it could have ended with Sansa killed. He was gambling her life as well, she at least managed to slip free of the Lannisters.]

Drink, aye. [They were beautiful words to his already hazy mind. Pain seemed inevitable, but it was nice to imagine someone taking it away for a short time.] I don't know how much my word means to anyone, but I will do the same for you as well, Eponine.

[jondrette]

Robb, m'sieur, if she loved you as you love her, she wanted to be with you, no matter the dangers. And all of us- we are all dying. The question is when and how. But it cannot be avoided.

[She keeps up with him, her vision becoming fuzzy, the room swimming around her, though she paid no attention to it.]

Good! And we shall become dear friends for it.

[kingnamedstark]

[He doesn't want to think about Jeyne anymore or the absence of her that he was facing. It was a yawning chasm of loneliness that he was not ready to face. Not yet. So it was another shot he turned to, feeling a hum in his mind instead.

He smiled at her insistence that they would be friends, more than happy to agree with that.]

Are you here every night?

[jondrette]

I can be, if you would like, m'sieur.

[Pay her attention and she'll do anything for more of it.]

[kingnamedstark]

I would.

[He'll be glad to give her attention, so long as it means he doesn't have to focus on his pain.]

[jondrette]

Then I will be here, with more found coin, for more drinks to drown our sorrows.

But that is for tomorrow, tonight, we are here!