[ GRAVEYARD ]

[sheriffexe]

GRAVEYARD

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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Comments

[insincerely]

[The main reason why Shinnosuke even opens his eyes (he's tired, let him rest) is because he registers light.

And, well, what the fuck.

That's the most surprising thing, honestly. He already knew where the dead ended up, so the train doesn't mean anything to him. But afterwards, once he's readjusted to having vision again, his next thought is this: shit. Again, he's reminded that he failed. That's why he has to get up, though—because if there's anything he can do to help the others, he has to do it.

So even though he really just wants to sleep, nope. He's getting up and briskly walking around the train, as if looking for something (anything, really).

HI GUYS.

(Also, another thought in the back of his mind: who the hell killed him??)]

[alcobrawlic]

... Just because I missed you doesn't mean I wanted to see you that soon.

[ And here's Sara, leaning against one of the walls and speaking up as she catches sight of him. ]

[insincerely]

[He stops in his tracks, turning to face Sara (and he's reminded that it's great being able to see again, although he'd really rather be alive).]

I didn't want to see you that soon either, but I guess we can't all get what we want, huh?

[alcobrawlic]

I think that's been pretty much everyone here, anyway.

... But honestly, you're actually where you need to be for once.

[insincerely]

[...]

Explain.

[Because the implications of that don't match up with any of his info on this place—and pleasantries don't matter in the face of info.]

[court_chesster]

[ Smiles and waves. ]

[insincerely]

... Oh, it's you. [...] Sorry about spilling your secret to everyone, but I figured you didn't care anymore. You kind of lose your right to privacy when you die.

[court_chesster]

Can't argue with that. In fact, if you actually did wait until I died, that literally makes you the best friend I've ever had.

So no, no hard feelings here. I'll even stop pestering you if you want.

[ What better way to show appreciation than amicably agreeing not to burden the other person with your friendship, right? ]

[insincerely]

[He shrugs.]

You're far from the most intolerable company around. I don't think my reader appreciated your letter, though.

[ceded]

Shinno...suke?

[ She spots him while looking around herself, and the sight of him freezes her in her tracks.

She'd come to expect she might die. That's why she wrote all those letters.

But she never once would have expected him to die with her.

The thought of it ... rolls over her in stages, as she grows increasingly more horrified and upset. There is no outburst, though, no sudden movement. She stays where she is, rooted to the spot, and her feelings are writ large on her face. ]

Why are you here...? [ a whisper. ]

[insincerely]

[... Ah.

He's not surprised, he supposes. He always thought that anyone could die at any time. This might even be a twisted form of mercy for Xion—or is that arrogant of him? To assume that Xion might break if she lost him.

He doesn't know.

And so, even though a large part of him is too tired to put on airs, he does just that now.]

Geez, pipsqueak... you bit it too, huh?

[ceded]

[ She makes her way over to him, still disbelieving, but--

his eyes. They're not blindfolded anymore, and they look fine. He can see again, just like her leg has been fixed. He died. He absolutely... ]

Mr. Barnham killed me, [ she says without thinking. ] I always thought I might pay for being so reckless, though ... I didn't expect it to come from him. [ with some soft bitterness. but then she shakes her head, looking up at him imploringly ]

But you... Shinnosuke, they need you! What happened?

[insincerely]

[They need you. Not enough for the world to let him live, looks like.

... His sister needed him as well, and he let her down by dying. He knows very well that death can come for anyone, but... after spending so much of his life trying to survive, rejecting happiness and anything that could distract him—it hurts, in a hollow way he can't describe, that he so easily died because someone willed it.

But it's a befittingly unfair end for him, he supposes.]

Seems like that guy might've killed me too. Sorry.

[He's about to tell her what he's learned in this place if she doesn't already know, before he shuts his mouth. Not because she doesn't deserve to know this—and at this point, there's not a lot of risks left—but it's a reminder of how much he hasn't told her.

Before he gets to this... he should come clean, perhaps.]

[feminitis]

[...is that...?

It is.

Sei isn't really expecting to see Shinnosuke in the graveyard so soon after her own death. Honestly, part of her was hoping she wouldn't see him here at all until closer to the very end.]

...

You don't get to call me a moron anymore. Not now that you've died so soon after I did.

[Hello to you, too.]

[insincerely]

[... Ha. Sei, huh?

He smiles tiredly, and unlike some of his past smiles, it's actually a little genuine. Just a little, though.]

Thanks for not killing me when I was in the stocks.

[feminitis]

I wouldn't have...! That wouldn't have been...

[Honorable? Killing Simon the way he was killed wasn't exactly honorable, either, but someone had to die. And Sei is nothing if not biased. Whether he likes it or not, she thinks of Shinnosuke as a friend.]

...was Mister Percy able to read you the letter I sent...? I tried to get some information to you, but I'm not sure how much made it past the censoring.

[cherrypuncher]

[Being dead has mostly just made Yuna antsy as hell, so she's been wandering the train since she woke up; it's Friday, so she'll have people to greet (and what an awful, resigned sort of thought that is). Of course it isn't long before she finds Shinnosuke in the corridors.

And the thing is—she forgets she's dead sometimes, really, when she's whole and conscious and all of herself here, and she's antsy and sometimes lonely but never quite in despair, so her first instinct is that she's excited to see her friend again. Something like misery and something like guilt quickly follow but they're strange and dulled underneath the knowledge of what dying means.

And so the reaction she decides on is...yelling.]

Aaaahhh, Shinnosuke-kun!

[thanks yuna

and now she's running over. she might try to hug him tbh maybe he should just turn around and leave]

[insincerely]

[Shinnosuke's not entirely sure why, especially when he's already dead (and honestly, that means he shouldn't need to be an ass anymore, so he can probably stop), but he feels Fear.

AND LOOKING COOL DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE (Shinnosuke, you never looked cool), so as soon as he hears Yuna's voice

he's

fleeing in the opposite direction]

[cherrypuncher]

[BYE?????

except god you think he would have learned better by now because yuna is giving chase. he has the advantage this time virtue of not being blind anymore but she's doing her best???]

He-hey, wait up—!

[sunnashi]

[ Well if no one is gonna sleep here, someone here might as well have the tag where someone enjoys that part of this train. It's kinda understandable with how Whole Ass doesn't get a break, but come on guys, that isn't healthy. Higekiri's one of the longest to be staying here and an old man, so he gets that excuse.

Shinnosuke will find him curled up on a couch and hugging a cushion pretty tightly in his sleep. On the floor are his sword and jacket, with yuna's bookmark and the letters sent to him slipping out of it.

Whether Shinnosuke wakes him up or leaves him alone will get roughly the same result, so pick your poison, buddy. Got a promise to keep about greeting the jerkass a certain when they meet again and all that. ]

[insincerely]

...

[Well, he supposes he'll have to face Higekiri sometime, so it might as well be now.

After picking up a cushion, he thwaps Higekiri's head with it.]

Get up, idiot.

[sunnashi]

[ Wow what a pleasant way to be woken from a beauty nap! Not really... At least he didn't leept all that heavily, since it's about that time, isn't it. The train is certainly a bit more noisy, even if the new people aren't so. ]

...!

[ So. The endpoint is the same no matter what, and a tackle has to be involved. Sorry Shinnosuke, you're not getting that groggy waking like Natalie did weeks ago. Higekiri's best stat is "Impulse" for a reason, and he just. Kicks off of the couch to shove them both to the ground as a response. ]

[ceded]

[ Come Monday, she finds him. There are letters in her hands, and given that fact alone, he probably knows why she's here.

She has a brave face on. But given who these letters come from, it'll probably be clear to Shinnosuke, one who's spent more time with her than almost anyone else in this town barring maybe Percy, that she really is just trying not to cry.

Xion will hold them up, tilt her head, and try a smile. ]

... it feels sort of familiar, doesn't it?

[ reading letters together. ]

[insincerely]

[... He shouldn't be surprised, but still, he finds it strange to receive letters.

Lightly, he pats Xion's head.]

... Yeah.

[The last time they'll ever do it, most likely.]

[ceded]

[ Oh, no. She remembers him doing that once before - patting her on the head like this - and it's almost too much for her composure. All the things it makes her feel are nothing she can let herself deal with right now.

So instead she reaches up and takes that hand in hers, tangling their fingers together and leading him someplace they can sit. As they go: ]

Two of them are addressed to both of us together. I got one from Milla, too.

[ She's sure Shinnosuke did as well, but didn't take it. It didn't seem like her place to do such a thing, now that he can see again. ]