graveyard part 2

[gamehead]

hunter's game the graveyard You wake up in an unfamiliar cabin. At first, it almost seems like you're in an entirely different place and that everything had been just a dream. The interior of the cabin looks nothing like the run-down, old-timey shacks that you had been living in before. Everything in here is sleek and modern, from the enormous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall to the fridge and mini-bars stocked with all your favorite foods. There aren't any individual rooms in here, just a common area large enough to house everyone comfortably, no matter how many more people join you...and there will be plenty more people joining you before the week is over. Because if you look outside the window, it quickly becomes clear that not only are you still in Prayer's Pass, but that you are no longer among the realm of the living. Judging from the tombstones directly outside, you're now in what had been the abandoned broken-down cabin in the graveyard. The cabin's not all that changed; the world outside has gone completely grey and everything you see appears to be faded and blurry. The only things that remain sharp and in color are what's inside the cabin, including your fellow ghosts. Occasionally, people who are still alive may enter, but it's clear that what they're seeing is completely different from what you're seeing. The door's unlocked; however, a mysterious force prevents you from stepping beyond the threshold, no matter how hard you may try. After all, this cabin is a cage for the dead - a gilded one, perhaps, but a cage nonetheless. On the flat-screen TV plays everything that is currently happening in the town. It will shut off once night starts...and something else will appear instead.

Comments

[speakveryclearly]

I think I just happen to look a lot like one. This isn't fur, for instance. [Putting her hand in her hair.]

[hintcoinplz]

What a rotten lowlife! I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind if he shows up here!

[terryplz]

Enough.

Critter forbade us from telling any of you. Lets not try its patience on the issue.

[hintcoinplz]

Dunce caps.

[speakveryclearly]

Right, I just--

You understand the intellectual frustration I'm experiencing.

[hintcoinplz]

England isn't that much better, but at least he seems to have somewhat of a brain left.

[grumble grumble.]

[terryplz]

I understand. And I'm sorry, but it can't be done. I won't allow it.

[hintcoinplz]

I think we ought to keep thinking of them as crazy folks calling themselves countries.

[hintcoinplz]

[he is very pleased by this.]

[speakveryclearly]

I know. Otherwise you obviously would have by now.

[hintcoinplz]

By the looks of it, they've at least got one hunter picked out.

[therealrobin]

[ Damian perks up when he sees her with drinks. What better time to try alcohol than when he's dead? He glances at Father, then looks back to Ema and asks for a beer in sign. ]

[axeforasong]

Do we have any of those? Could ask the Rabbit...

[notyetlost]

[Poland has remained quiet for an unusually long period of time, considering what has been playing out on the screen. He's familiar with the behavior, it seems like nothing more than just a nasty world meeting. He'd even thought a lot of the comebacks from Ukraine and Lithuania were both on point and just nasty enough to make his own darker side grin.

But this wasn't a world meeting. This was a trial.

Everyone involved in this came out looking worse in a place where it was crucial that everyone at least tried to look their best.

And it was entirely England's fault, and Poland would never forgive him for it.

Poland's not really sure what he expected from England when his moment came, but it wasn't showing up drunk to the trial to just cause chaos.

England claimed to be able to see Poland. To hear what Poland wanted. Tried to speak for him.

Western european arrogance.

Poland stares blankly at screen, listening to England's pathetic self depreciation go on and on. Poland had never gotten a chance to defend himself in a trial, but he'd tried to get Sayaka to spare him, even though it'd been hopeless.

England had gotten what he'd never had. A chance to tell his side. A chance to survive. At the very least a chance to say goodbye.

And England not only wasted it, he'd used it to ruin everything Poland had managed to accomplish from beyond the grave. He'd finally gotten Lithuania out of his head, getting him to look for clues. Wanting to solve the mystery of the town.

The real game.

And now in one short trial it was apparent Poland had sacrificed his hand, a hand he'd built a nation with, for nothing. Lithuania was a broken mess once again.

He'd only gotten one chance. Some vague stupid painting of Polonia in a church had been his only chance to try to communicate anything he could with those who knew him. And now it seemed wasted.



But it's when England calls him smart--the smartest of them all-- for getting out early. That makes Poland's face blanche, his lips form a thin line.

How dare he. How dare England say something so offensive about someone who could not say anything back. Poland would have rather been the stupidest person in this game, on the planet, in existence-- than to have given up. To be a coward and throw up his hands in defeat and not even try.

Given up like England had given up in this trial and setting the whole world into destructive chaos as he did so.

Coward. Coward. Self pitying, destructive coward.

Poland's voice is thin and barely audible, but it doesn't matter for anyone here. He speaks in Polish.]

I will never forgive you England.

[And unlike times England had let him down in the past, Poland never would.

Not this time. Not for this.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Kanaya has been slowly fretting over Poland as this trial progresses - not joining in on the witch hunt the ghosts are mounting for England and America, which she has to admit is a little senseless is one thing, but overall England's behavior is so strange to her, discordant with the impression the dead hunters have been giving off that there was some very good reason they played along for so long. Selfish and manipulative even for a wolf. And his description of Poland's vote, which of course caught Kanaya's attention due to its connection of her own name... she heard his confession to Sayaka, she knew he did it recklessly but not in a fashion purposefully suicidal. That he wished he had been prey - when other hunters said they would only go back if they could retain their side - it meant for all of England's machinations and lies, he wasn't even a good wolf either. Tony at least had taken his conviction with a shred of dignity. Not like England. This was worse to watch than Bruce.]

...

[Unfortunately, she has no idea what Poland is actually saying except that England might have been involved, so she's just over here nearby looking concerned and setting her drink aside well out of his view.]

[axeforasong]

[the bag gets a curious little sniff - chocolate? - but then Ema's return question comes, and she straightens up proudly]

I'd have something from everywhere, and try every one!

[axeforasong]

[and... then there's Mayu. The politics mean nothing to her; quite literally it is flying over her head to the point it just looks like a bunch of old friends getting angry with each other. She has no real context for any of this, so everything's taken at face value.

And the face value is you have a Hunter who didn't want to be a Hunter.

She can kind of forgive that. She'd seen the 'Traitor Country' as a mastermind figure, dastardly dragging his illiterate friend along with carrots on sticks - possibly whilst twirling a moustache. That's... rather clearly false, by this point. If anything, he's more like a man on a runaway horse. Where the horse can't spell.

But it's affecting Poland, and Poland gets this stuff a lot better than she does. So, for once, you don't get commentary; she just sits and observes. She has no real animosity towards England - to the Illiterate One, definitely - so she finds herself where she usually is. Unable to relate properly to either side, and thus, neutral.

Still, anger and muttering doesn't really fit Poland. Poland is silly. Poland is flailing and cheerfulness and adapting to not having arms. How to even cheer him up?

She whispers to Kanaya]

Is taking it badly, yes?

[speakveryclearly]

[Well, there's her codeathbro. She leans and whispers back.]

I think he's angry at England even more than the rest of us. The hunters, you know, most of them still want to win, they act like there's a very good reason indeed. You remember when Sayaka tried to get him to go back ahead of her, and he said he wouldn't if he had to be prey. England is throwing all that away, presumably for entirely selfish reasons. But I don't actually understand his language or his incentives so I can't be sure. Taking it badly is the only certainty.

[fortissimos]

[ Fortunately, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what Poland's talking about — his tone and the mention of England are a dead giveaway when taken in context with the trial. She leans over to push his shoulder lightly with her hand; even if she's wrong, maybe it'll at least distract him from the trial somewhat. ]

He'll be here soon. I'll help you beat him up.

[fortissimos]

... Not really. [ Japanese teenager here, she's not exactly the most knowledge of people. ] Um, but... I'll try it out if you think I should! Sometimes even weird things can taste really good, right?

[ digging this hole deeper ]

[axeforasong]

Is strange though, yes? What's so good about winning?

[terryplz]

[His Polish isn't very good, compared to the other languages he versed himself with in his younger days to conduct his affairs, but he is able to make out most of what Poland said this time. He can't say he blames the country for feeling this way. He too was on trial like England, only he was at least prideful enough to give what little fight he had. Like Tony Stark, England doesn't bother. Unlike Tony Stark, he doesn't even have the nerve to be dignified about it.

Well, what is dignity in a game where a group of people are forced to murder others for their own survival?]

Easy.

[He speaks in Polish as well, the dialect carefully constructed to make him sound more like a native speaker and less of an American educated leaner.]

[notyetlost]

[Poland sighs.]

He's not-- [He switches out of Polish.] He's not worth it. We need to focus on picking clues.

[fortissimos]

We can only do that at night. And it's not our [ waving at the two of them ] choice anymore.

[ As much as it frustrates her. At least she'll get out of this with one arm still attached. ]

A few punches aren't gonna waste much time.

The punchening.

[notyetlost]

[Poland had resolved to never forgive England but.

England's fist suddenly smashing into Lithuania's face was not something he anticipated happening. And the words that followed that punch! Things he'd been wanting to say --granted Poland would have said them much better-- something to snap Lithuania out of the walking dead state he'd been in since his death...!

Getting Lithuania to look past Critter and the distraction of the game!]

E-england!

[He did it!]