So, you're dead. Shame, that.
But on the other hand, it's actually kind of nice.
When you "wake" in some odd version of it, you'll find yourself lying on a rather plush bed. It's cozy and warm and just soft enough to tempt anyone back into sleep. The room is equally nice, if small, and when you turn and open the curtains to look out the window, you will see... wait, is that the town?
It is, actually. The town is laid out quite simply across the window and no matter how many times you may bang or wave through the window, no one seems to notice you. If you're smart enough to give up the venture and leave the small bedroom, you will notice that, of course, you are on the train.
The train that, is actually pretty fancy.
Moving through it, past the sleeping cabins and through to the main carts, you will find a dining car with fine dishware and meals of all kinds made at a push of a button or a request given to the air. They'll appear, freshly made and ready to eat at the table of your choice with any drink you could want. There truly doesn't seem to be any limits when it comes to the luxury of the meal.
There is also a bathhouse car with private bathrooms and saunas to fit up to four. Even one rather large room containing a small pool/hot tub of sorts is available for just about anyone to take a dip. It's kind of outlandish, honestly.
Then the lounge car, with its library and plush armchairs and couches. A pool table, a darts board, even a small area dedicated to painting. There's a bar too, fully stocked and ready for anyone who needs a drink. All it would require is a request from the bartender who... looks surprisingly familiar?
The Sheriff is there, much cleaner cut than his counterpart outside of the train. He looks up mildly at any arrivals, giving them a nod of greeting before going back to organizing bottles or setting cigars out for a smoke. He doesn't seem to be surprised at all by anyone who appears. Just... ready to serve them, whatever they may wish.
It all sort of seems okay for a moment, until you realize you're just here to wait for the game to end. Awkward. |
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sheriffexe) wrote2017-01-13 11:14 am
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Either way, ah-- he was right. It's there.
Russell picks up a diary, and hands it over to Yuna. Feel free to read whatever, but you'll definitely want to look at a few entries dated back to week three specifically. ]
. . . You really shouldn't have done all that... For me.......
[ HE'S A MURDERER. ]
1/2
She doesn't mean to spend quite as many minutes as she does skimming through it, but it happens anyway. She wants to understand. She has to understand.
But she reads, It was just as easy as back then. She reads, Could this blessed angel fly? And she reads Die!! and I don't feel bad and It should just die and They should just die and—
She reads about apologies. And bruises. And being alone.
And Yuna Yuki reads I need to tell someone, but I... I'm afraid.
Her heart sinks to the soles of her feet. It isn't right, she thinks. None of it is right.]
Ru...ssell...
[Her voice wavers, just so. Yuna doesn't know much about death, she thinks; even after everything, after this game, after being a Hero of the Taisha, this place so often catches her off-guard that she can't be certain of herself anymore. Yuna doesn't know much about revenge, she thinks; she remembers the look in Fu's eyes and she thinks of Percy but she thinks of Togo trying to keep her expression steady looking down the other side of the wall. Yuna doesn't know much about despair, she thinks; she never had to be alone, carrying the people she loved in her heart even when they were gone came naturally to her, but there's a new sort of hurt she's endured in this town that won't go away, and she remembers Tiara holding her hands through the bars of the cell and smiling even knowing she was going to die, and she remembers Togo screaming I don't understand why I'm crying! over the sound of gunfire.
Yuna thinks of what Russell's seen and been through and what she's read here, and Yuna thinks, he's so young, it's not fair, and there is the barest flicker of a moment where she remembers that they're the same age, and it means something.
Yuna Yuki reads, If heroes did exist... Wouldn't one have helped me so long ago?
The diary drops gracelessly from her hands.]
no subject
[Yuna grabs him by the shoulders, crouches, meets his eyes. Whatever faltered in her expression has steadied now, sharpened into something hard and intense.]
Every single time you said you were sorry, you meant it. You really, really meant it, didn't you?
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Then he was sentenced to death.
If he has to admit, he's definitely afraid of what she might think of him. Why? She's said so many things in such a genuine way that Russell felt constantly suffocated that he just... Needs to tell the truth. The truth that he shouldn't even be alive -- the truth why he was sentenced to death in the first place.
Would she still think he doesn't deserve to die despite being a murderer? Would she still want someone like him to be her friend?
. . .
At the touch, his immediate reaction is to flinch, ready to back away. He doesn't want to look her in the eyes... He doesn't... He had enough eyes looking at him, blaming him, guilting him, and crushing him-- ]
I...
[ He's still at a lost for words, it seems. Lately, it only seems he can say the same thing over and over again.
But he does nod. ]
I'm... Sorry....... You shouldn't be so kind to me... I'm sorry... I'm really... sorry...
no subject
Hero Club tenet. If you're troubled, talk to someone. [She pulls him close, hugs him tight. Her voice steadies.]
I know you're sorry. I know you want to do better. But you never got the chance, and it's not fair.
[Yuna never gives anything only half her heart; her intensity shows in all she does. Even so, as often as she is fierce and loud, she's almost never angry. Thinking of the sheriff, though, taking advantage of a boy who never had the chance to know better, telling him to kill, makes something deep inside her boil and burn and hurt.]
Hero Club tenet. You're likely to succeed if you try. I know you're trying really hard to do better, and even if you can't undo what you did yesterday, you can always do better tomorrow. You don't have to try all by yourself anymore. Never, never again, understand?
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He really doesn't know what to say if it's not an apology, or 'I don't deserve this', or 'You shouldn't be kind to someone like me'.
He's been hearing those Club tenets ever since week one... At first, he didn't believe they were really true, honestly. Although, you know, maybe they are? Russell just doesn't know, his life has never given him a chance to become a better person.
He still doesn't know if he'll ever get that chance now either. It's already... Pretty late for him to try, he thinks. ]
... I think...... I understand...
[ He chokes on his words for a moment -- he soon relaxes because the hug is warm. It's warm, soft and nice. So, this is what a hug feels like? He never really knew.
Emotions sure are rough. He blinks a few times, feeling his eyes well up and tears stream down his face again, just like how he was in the stocks. He doesn't move his hands to wipe it all away, though. ]
I don't want to go back... I really don't... I'll die, I don't want to die.......
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You won't go back. [It's said with that same fierce conviction, her usual steady certainty.] If there's nowhere for you to go, you'll come to Sanshu, and you'll meet the rest of the Hero Club, and you'll get better.
[Already, she's running through possibilities in her head; the Taisha couldn't refuse a request from a girl who saved the world, could they? Find him a home, take care of him, keep him safe; so long as she stayed with him, too, wouldn't it be okay?]
You won't have to go back to that place and be alone.
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He... Feels the guilt now, and that's what the experiment wanted, so even if his execution is parted like they promised -- he doesn't even know if he could continue to have the will to live like now if he did return. He would have no one. ]
I don't want to go back... I don't, I really don't ... want to go back.
[ He sounds really desperate, and upset considering he's basically bawling his eyes out, but you know... This is what happens when you've grown up without emotion for about fourteen years.
He seems to start calming down juuust a bit though. The hug is definitely working it's magic. ]
. . . Do you really think... I can...? It does.. Sound nice. [ It really does. ]
I want... To learn how to maybe... Be more cheerful too... Like you.
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I think so. I really, really think so. That's really what I believe.
[She won't let him go—won't let him go back, but won't let go of him, either; she has to do something. She has to do something. In this moment, this is all she has.]
I told you, you're likely to succeed if you try. If that's really what you want, you can do it, and I'll be there with you so you aren't doing it alone.
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Okay, I... I . . .
[ It just feels so nice that there's actually someone that believes in him? His parents never did. . . No one ever did. ]
I'll... Try. . . Thank you, Yuna... You really didn't have to do any of this for me, but you did anyway...
[ At least, Russell seems more visibly relaxed now. HE HAS HAD A LONG FIVE WEEKS, OKAY. ]
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I didn't have to, but I wanted to. I want to, because you're my friend.
[She's failed him already, Russell and so many other precious people, but she'll do better next time. She'll do better this time. She'll start here.]
So you don't have to cry anymore, okay?
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[ Really, he spent about the last five weeks being afraid of getting close to anyone because he'd probably become terrified again and, well, murder them. Look at how those tables have turned...
But, no, really! Russell can't help but be really touched about it? Especially since, coming from Yuna, it sounds very genuine. ]
Okay . . . I think... I feel better. I won't try to cry anymore...... I told Mr. Barnham that - I'm stronger now, so... I'll try to stay strong.
[ Gotta make him proud... ]