Room 511: Monday Night

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine had her computer screen set up as a TV - not exactly the world's best tv, but it would do. She also had Griffin Silver: Live on Austin City Limits queued up to play, despite the fact that the title had been a lie for about three years now.

She also had popcorn, because seriously, like there wouldn't be food.

Now all she needed were some ears.

Er, more ears. Besides the ones on either side of her head.

You know, those ears.

[OOC: Expecting the, well, see above, but open before he arrives!]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Next time you introduce me to your 'music'," Merlin agreed. And yes, the quotation marks were so very obvious.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine frowned and got up to make the pc start playing the concert footage. "This is totally music. Griffin Silver's awesome. And he's a nice guy. He didn't even have Katchoo arrested for trying to punch him!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'm certain it... is music. Of a sort." A beat. "Katchoo punched him?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"There's singing and guitar. And it's pretty. What else do you need for music?" Francine returned to the bed to bounce down beside him again. "And Katchoo didn't punch him, she just tried to. We were in Caritas, so she ended up in the duck pond."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin gave her a look to say just how much he thought it was proper music.

"...why would she try to punch him?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"I...still don't entirely get that," Francine admitted. "She said there was a tick."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Well... it was Katchoo...

"Strange," he decided after a moment.

[thatsamilkshake]

"You're telling me." She hadn't exactly pushed it with a soaking wet Katchoo after making a fool of herself already in front of someone famous, but... "What's really weird is before she did that, he almost acted like he'd met her before. He must've mistaken her for somebody else, I guess."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Huh." Merlin leaned back in the bed, snagging a bit of popcorn as the thingy on screen started.

[thatsamilkshake]

This was Griffin without his band, just an acoustic guitar, a microphone, and a glass of something amber at his elbow. He opened with the song Arthur had almost caught Francine at, only, you know. Fully in tune and without a hair-brush.

Which didn't stop Francine from humming it too. Even kind of in tune herself, with the original to sing along with.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just smiled, looking more at her than the screen. It was... different. There was certainly a musical quality to it. He couldn't deny that one.

"Why don't they play this at dances?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine glanced over at him. "I never really thought about it. I guess it's not very dancey music, though. Too slow for fast dances and a little too fast for slow dancing." Of the 'hang on to your partner and shuffle' variety.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I think I'd like this better than what they already play."

Or silence. That would be better too.

[thatsamilkshake]

She couldn't exactly get defensive of modern music when he was giving one of her favorite singers a pass on his pooh-poohing, so Francine just gave him an amused grin. "Okay, smarty, what's 'real' music like, then? Priestly says all your songs are probably about Grendel, but I told him you're not quite that old."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"They're stories," Merlin said loftily. "We listen to them during festivals or during the long winter nights."

What? It's not like they had cable.

[thatsamilkshake]

"That.... actually sounds kind of like Grendel," Francine said. "Are they about monsters invading a feast?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"No, it's..." Merlin frowned. "It's not about monsters. You've really never heard them before?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine shook her head. "People still sing folk music, but I never heard anything from that far back." She wondered if her puppy eyes could compete with Brynmor's. "You could sing one for me..."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

...that was hardly fair.

Merlin made a face, looking around in case anyone else might be there and listening. "I'm not that good a singer, so it's not exactly how it ought to be," He warned her.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine gave him a look. "I was the worst clarinet player in the Puncture High band and the only reason I'm any better at singing is I don't have to blow into anything while I do it. I'm not exactly judgy."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Alright." He made a face and looked around again. Because you never know when someone might burst out of a closet and mock you.

"Stauell Gyndylan ys tywyll heno,
Heb dan, heb wely.
Wylaf wers; tawaf wedy."

There was a pause before he cleared his throat to continue in a less shakey tone.

"Stauell Gyndylan ys tywyll heno,
Heb dan, heb gannwyll.
Namyn Duw, pwy a’m dyry pwyll?"

[thatsamilkshake]

It hadn't really occurred to Francine that it wouldn't be in English. She didn't want to stop Merlin to ask what it meant, though, since she wasn't sure the puppy eyes would work again if she interrupted him.

So she just listened, if with a slightly puzzled expression.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

At least he hadn't forgotten the words yet! So, perhaps he'd listened to this one a bit more closely than any of the others.

"Stauell Gyndylan ys tywyll heno,
Heb dan, heb oleuat.
Etlit a’m daw amdanat.

Stauell Gyndylan ys tywyll y nenn,
Gwedy gwen gyweithyd.
Gwae ny wna da a’e dyuyd.

Stauell Gyndylan, neut athwyt heb wed,
Mae ym bed dy yscwyt.
Hyt tra uu, ny bu dollglwyt."

It was more than a few minutes later when he got to the omglong end of the song. He looked down at his feet as he finished it, peering up once it was all finished.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine might have been looking a little dazed by that point. Not bored at all, just kind of ... lulled. "That was...pretty?" she said, not untruthfully. "I have no idea what it meant, but it was pretty."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Ah, the problem with only knowing songs in their proper languages.

Merlin rubbed the back of his neck. "It's the story of The Hall of Cynddylan." Not. Helping. "Ah, Cynddylan was a king. It's supposed to be sung by his sister."