week 8 - monday & tuesday

[productions]

murder manor week eight



monday, tuesday

10 players remaining.

This is a general mingle post. Please put your character's name, the time, and location in the subject heading of their comment. Players may also thread in logs, either posted to murdermanor or in a private locked journal post filtered to include productions.

Please remember the effects of this week's incentive.

Setting & Rules
Private Conversations
Plotting

Comments

music room

[humanic]

[The tune's familiar, though it takes him a while to place it - partly because of the choppy way it's being played and partly because it's been a long time since he's last heard it, and for a moment Stiles can't breathe from the sudden wave of nostalgia and old grief that swamps him.]

That's...the Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, isn't it? [His pronunciation is atrocious, but he tries.] Your national anthem?

[notyetlost]

[Poland smiles, continuing to pluck at the keys amateurishly.] Stiles are you like. Entirely sure you're American?

[humanic]

Well I don't own any star-spangled outfits, but I do have three different DVD sets of the original Star Wars and a whole lot of guns in my house, so yeah I'm pretty sure.

[He takes a seat next to Poland on the piano bench, coughing, though he doesn't look anywhere near in as bad a state.] My mom was the one in our family big on our Polish background. That's where I know the song from.

[notyetlost]

Just checking. I guess it would be impossible to forget a place as cool as me anyways.

[Poland's trembling hands hit a sour note and with a sigh he drops them both into his lap.]Your mom must be where you get all your brains from too. It's totally important to like get in touch with your roots.

[humanic]

Nah, my dad's the detective. Mom was...[His throat closes up abruptly for reasons completely unrelated to the sickness.] Anyway, yeah. I guess you could say I got everything else from her, including my charming personality.

If I'd known you'd be such a cool guy, I would have. Kinda regret never learning Polish now, I'll need to look into that when we get outta here.

1/2

[notyetlost]

[Poland weakly reaches around and rests his hand on Stiles shoulder, pulling him in closer. He doesn't bother saying anything for a while.]

2/2

[notyetlost]

[And then he smiles.] Might be easier to learn it from the source, you know?

[humanic]

[Stiles stiffens in surprise at the contact at first, but doesn't brush him off. It's kind of embarrassing and difficult being this open in front of someone, but to hell with it, they all deserve a hug after eight weeks of murder.]

If you're up for it, I'll take you up on that offer. I'm pretty fast at picking up languages so you don't have to worry too much about dealing with a dumb American.

[notyetlost]

This is like, nothing. [Poland gestures to himself and all his less than fabulousness.] I'll totally bounce back by Wednesday the latest.

[humanic]

[Well it won't matter if they kill someone before then like always, but.]

I gotta say, you do pull off the whole pale wasting away Regency hero look nicely. I think you've been popular enough times that you don't have as much to worry about as some of the other people here anyway. 'Sides, the whole point to that song is that Poland never stops rising back up, yeah?

[notyetlost]

...Is that what it's about?

[Poland couldn't really recall the meaning, what with the memories he's missing.]

[humanic]

[He blinks.]

Wait, you don't know? It's your song, isn't it?

[notyetlost]

[Poland actually looks... both hurt and embarrassed suddenly.]

...

I uh. Forgot...

[humanic]

[Annnnnd now Stiles feels terrible. Awkward.]

Uh wow, that seriously sucks. I only know the English translation of the first verse and not that well, but I can try to give you the basic gist if you want.

[notyetlost]

Please? [Poland looks at Stiles intently, making a cognitive effort to keep focused.]

[humanic]

[He nods and closes his eyes, trying to recite the words to a song he hasn't heard in years from a voice he can sometimes barely remember.]

Poland is not yet lost,
So long as we still live.
What the enemy has taken from us,
We shall retrieve with a sword.

March, march...um, someone,
From the...Italian, I think, land to Poland.
Under your command
We shall rejoin the nation.

[He opens his eyes again, looking a little embarrassed and ashamed.] There's more, but it's all history stuff that I never really understood, sorry. It's all about how the Polish might keep getting shit on, but as long as we keep fighting and never give up, they can't keep us down for long. I always liked it - it's way more inspirational than just singing about how strong and glorious your country is.

[notyetlost]

[Poland tries to think back, but he can't recall anymore to the lyrics than what Stiles provides and explains to him.

Still. Something about what Stiles says just sort of feels right to Poland. Maybe whatever terrible thing that he'd endured in the past was taken from him hoping he'd despair and succumb to the pressures of the house.

If that was the case... obviously whatever it was had to have been worse than this.]

...I like that.

[humanic]

Oh good. It'd be kind of a downer if you hated your own national anthem.

And hey, once you get your memory back, you can teach me the real words to it. I feel pretty bad I don't actually remember that much.

[notyetlost]

It can be your first Polish lesson.