He grins up at her good-naturedly when she comes around to sit beside him, assuming this is going to be a fresh round of questioning over their dinner, so he starts by volunteering information. "I used to be in the army, back home. We moved around a lot, so you had to learn to get comfortable wherever you found yourself. It made things easier. Plus, everyone's been nice so far, which helps."
There's a brief pause before he nods subtly towards Gríma, his expression still pleasant enough. "Except that guy." Steve has to bite his tongue to keep from saying more, but there's no mistaking that the skulking man has been unwelcoming and suspicious. He's the one pulling the strings in the court, but exposing him as a collaborator with Saruman and traitor to the throne would change the way other things played out. Seeing Théodred sitting there, eating and talking with his family and very much alive, Steve knows he'll have to decide soon.
For the moment he just smiles at Éomer. She seems to have forgiven him for his earlier blunders, and he hopes that sticks. In the low, warm lighting of the hall, in that dress, with her hair long and loose, he can't deny she's a beautiful woman. He wonders what her life has been like--how different it has been from the version where she's a man. His thought is interrupted by a serving girl filling his cup with mead, and he doesn't move to stop her. Nothing they have could get him drunk, so he isn't worried about it.
Taking a drink from his cup, he points to the tattoos on her arms, hoping this isn't another social faux pas. "What do those mean?"
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Date: 2019-05-14 01:39 am (UTC)There's a brief pause before he nods subtly towards Gríma, his expression still pleasant enough. "Except that guy." Steve has to bite his tongue to keep from saying more, but there's no mistaking that the skulking man has been unwelcoming and suspicious. He's the one pulling the strings in the court, but exposing him as a collaborator with Saruman and traitor to the throne would change the way other things played out. Seeing Théodred sitting there, eating and talking with his family and very much alive, Steve knows he'll have to decide soon.
For the moment he just smiles at Éomer. She seems to have forgiven him for his earlier blunders, and he hopes that sticks. In the low, warm lighting of the hall, in that dress, with her hair long and loose, he can't deny she's a beautiful woman. He wonders what her life has been like--how different it has been from the version where she's a man. His thought is interrupted by a serving girl filling his cup with mead, and he doesn't move to stop her. Nothing they have could get him drunk, so he isn't worried about it.
Taking a drink from his cup, he points to the tattoos on her arms, hoping this isn't another social faux pas. "What do those mean?"