call me beep me

izanami tsukade 柄で 伊邪那美 shsl pair dancer status: ding dong the witch is dead!

[shslfinalgirl-blog]

{T}he {U}ninvited ☠ Open

Lolita Lovelace wouldn’t give up.

Wasn’t that her strong suit? It wasn’t so much optimism as you could call it determination. Maybe at times even desperation. She’d certainly felt the desperation when they’d voted for her before. How strange, that she thought that fear would leave her after the next trial and yet here it still was, blooming unpleasant feelings inside her heart. With the new murder and new trial in the past, she wondered how much of a thought she should give Nori Katsutame. For her, it was easy to pity her. She’d never talked to Ume outside of the trial proceedings and Nori had seemed to connect with her on some level. On the flip side, Nori had been the one to accuse of her of crocodile tears and manipulation. How ironic was it, in the end, that it was Nori who really manipulated Lolita? Those last words of hers made her doubt she was the killer. In some sense, she really wasn’t the killer. But she hadn’t confessed. She’d been ready to let someone else die for her freedom, anyone else. And then she’d been eager to throw some salt right in the wounds and blame them all for her end. Would Lolita have done the same in her position? Probably. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t dislike her for it in the end. She’d probably always swayed in a hypocritical fashion but what did it matter? What matter was what happened. Not what could.

Either by accident or intent (which Nori had as well), she’d killed. And Lolita hadn’t. And that alone separated them. Whatever, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t start thinking about that sort of ‘that could’ve been me’ thing otherwise she’d just get irked again.

Instead she’d opted to have a look at the new area and boy was it something. She was half-expecting to see crew and lights all around the place. She’d seen places like this time and time again. The trope of the single branch snap… shake-y cam as the heroes fail to realize they’re being watched… ooh and if you’re feeling super risque… cannibals living in a hut. Blegh. All bad overused tropes. Don’t even get her started on that camp goers get killed by masked creepo stuff. How are there so many movies for the Mayday the 14th series? She’ll never get it. Bargain basement gore fests are snore fests.

Her journeying takes her to the boathouse and she finds some tranquility, standing on the jetty. The wind’s here and looking out at the sea like this makes the genre feel a little different. Finally finding some use in that “romance book” if you can call it that, she rips out a few pages and begins moulding them into a ship. How totally Stefan Queen of her. Hopefully no clown opts to show up with big ole teeth. She deftly folds it down into a triangular aerodynamic construction and lets it go out to the sea before setting to work on another. Only, this time it looks like someone’s around. Her eyes glance up before returning to the boat.

“The view’s kinda dull but I, for one, can appreciate a lack of masked murderers in this camp.”

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

“Well, I wouldn’t s-s-say that. You’re a pretty enough picture yourself.”

The voice that reaches Lolita’s ears is unfailingly cheerful, if a little distorted: Nami Tsukade fizzles into view, in her first 3D appearance since her glamorous execution.  Her fingertips and toes are a little charred, and one of her twintails is smouldering at the end... but other than that, after a little flickering, she looks moreorless as she always did.  Almost real.

The image of a dancer plops herself down next to Lolli on the jetty, swinging her long legs over the edge, seemingly unbothered by whether her presence here is desired or not.  “Man!  This feels good - being able to move again, you know? Really move.”   She watches the little paper boat float away downriver, whistling a tune as it goes.  “I mean, the screens in the city were okay, but nothing beats feeling your body.  I can dance again, Lolli-chan!  It’s just the best.”

She turns a beatific grin on Lolita then, peering up at her with guileless eyes.  It’s impossible to tell, sometimes, how much the Sanctus really know.  How much they think, how much they’re hiding.  Other times it’s like they don’t even know they’re dead.

“I don’t think we were ever formally introduced, come to think of it.  You met my brother, though, oui?  He had good things to say about you.”  Nami sticks out a hand; it skips, flickers for a moment... before resolving.  For all that she’s dead, and a little creepy to boot, it doesn’t seem she means any harm.  Not today, anyway. “Izanami Tsukade, super high school level pair dancer.  It’s a pleasure, really - I’m a huge fan!”

[shinonomecorp-blog]

Let Her Go | Chapter 3 [OPEN]

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

shinonomecorp:

“Ah, it’s you.”

So, they had met again, face to screen. She had seen the twins running about across digital space within the school walls, and had paid them no mind for the most part, but now here she was with Nami one on one… It felt strange. She knew this wasn’t the real Nami, but it certainly felt like it. 

“You’re right, it hasn’t been, but let us remember that you are dead and I am still living. As far as I am concerned, you got what you deserved and we are even. Continuing to direct aggression towards you is a waste of energy…”

She turned away from her, only to find her on another screen in front of her. She sighed heavily, running her hand through her hair. Entertaining this program would only irritate her and waste her time. She didn’t have time for this…

“Besides, you’re not even real. Now, do you have any business with me, or not?”

“Entirely fair.” she mused, tapping the corner of her mouth with one finger. With these tall screens covering the buildings, Nami was able to manifest her whole body while outdoors, and honestly it felt kinda good - like she was actually able to converse with people d'homme à homme, so to speak.  And if her edges looked a little singed... well, it wouldn’t hurt anybody to recall the fate of a murderer.  “Still, could it be that you’re maturing, Suzuka-chan?  Lest we forget, it also hasn’t been all that long since you gave my poor dead brother - ”

She skips then, phasing in and out momentarily.  When Nami reappears, she seems to have completely forgotten what she was talking about: a look of confusion graces her features for just a moment, before melting away.

“I’m a little wounded, though!  Just because I’m not flesh and blood doesn’t mean I’m not real.”  Wounded might have been the wrong word: her grinning face certainly didn’t look wounded.  “Haven’t you ever heard of internet friends?  You just looked like you might need a friend, that’s all.  One who doesn’t have the means to murder you,” Any more, is what she doesn’t say.

“So how about it, Shinonome?  I feel like I have a good-ish guess which is yours, but...”  Shrugging, she pretends to watch the screen alongside her erstwhile classmate.  “I’d like to hear it from the horse’s mouth, you know?  Just call me curieuse.”

[luxnagamine-blog]

✧ Red ✧ OPEN

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

luxnagamine:

The corner of his smile twitched as Nami began laughing. Lux watched her with raised brows, internally pondering her words—was he trying to hurt her? Possibly, but as she herself had said, they were merely facts. Instead of making an excuse, he answered with a drawn out hum of dull interest.

“Hmmmmm ~ ♪”  Before he could say a word, virtual Nami was gone, leaving behind an unpleasant sight on the screen she abandoned. Lux’s face darkened and he averted his eyes to peer down the aisles through which the girl was travelling, a blip of green sweeping through. It was the first time Lux had really gotten a good look at the damage he had caused—one of the aisles had so much liquid coating the floor that it could no longer be passed through, at least to his standards. He made a mental note to walk another way when he left—and with what Nami was spouting now, that time might come sooner than he thought.

“You don’t believe me,” he echoed, his voice growing sharper. “Oh, no, but not just that—you think I’m lying! About my own gentle mother. Do I need to swear on her life to appease you, heartless machine?”  Lux stepped forward and slapped a hand flat onto his chest, adopting a booming voice that rang out through the empty store.  “So be it! If I have lied, then strike my mother down!”  After a brief pause, his hand moved up to indicate his own eyes. “You see? You see how free of worry I am? Look closely, dancing doll, and witness the conviction of a truthful man!”  He flung his hands out at his sides, as if sacrificing himself to her judgement. Just as quickly, he let his arms drop.   “Whoever that other person is—and I will find out—they may have a similar story. If you believed it, perhaps there was some little shred of truth, I’m willing to give them that—but that scene up there,” he pointed to a screen, “that scene that I can hardly bear to watch again … that was my memory. My mother. If one of my dear classmates is telling people otherwise, well … that is vile.”

Lux is so interesting compared to many of her boring, placid classmates - Nami would happily watch him parade around swearing on people’s lives and making a grand show of everything all day.  Leaning forward on the register, almost like a real girl, she leans her chin in her hands as he proclaims his innocence to the heavens.  

“It’s a good speech, if a little trite.  Probably says more about you than it does about your mother, to be perfectly honest,” she opines, flicking at a little bit of dust she couldn’t get rid of if she tried.  “I still don’t believe you, of course - although...”

Something seems to to have caught her attention elsewhere, as Nami stands up straight.  Suddenly, her face splits open in a catlike grin.  “That might not matter for very much longer.  I hope, for your sake, you’re ready to defend your position, Nagamine-san!”  She looses a little giggle.  “Because someone’s on their way to give you hell, and she’s almost here.”

With that cryptic remark, the image of Nami Tsukade vanishes - gone in the blink of an eye - just as the store’s doors slide open to admit one Suzuka Shinonome.  The giggling, however, stays echoing just at the edge of hearing - out of sight, but certainly not out of mind.

This is going to be good.

[luxnagamine-blog]

✧ Red ✧ OPEN

[luxnagamine-blog]

It was not a voice Lux had been expecting, but its use of french made it instantly recognizable. When Nami had been convicted, Lux had not been unhappy to see her go—that was no secret—but in this moment at the back of the grocery store, he was not so unhappy that it was her peering back at him. He looked up at her screen. 

“Indeed, dancing doll—ah! Such a thing would pique your interest, wouldn’t it? Ahh, if only you could have seen my mother dance—you may be one of the only ones who could fully appreciate her talent. Shame that she’ll never dance again … but I suppose you have that in common.”  Lux kicked a soda bottle out of his way and side-stepped its mess. Somewhere on the shelves behind him, a packet of candies slipped onto the floor. 

“Oh? What’s this? Are you encouraging me?” He put a hand to his chest in surprise, but he sounded more amused than offended. “Encouraging murder? What a thing to say! … Oh, but look at me—what am I doing?” Lux scolded himself, laying a palm on his cheek. “Assuming a machine has a soul.” 

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

Well, isn’t this one just full of barbs?  Of course, Nami already knows that.  As he hurls veiled insults and sly remarks right in her pixelated face, she only laughs - a high, mirthful laugh of genuine enjoyment.  “Are you really trying to hurt me?  I think you can try harder than that, non?  You’re stating simple facts of life, Nagamine-san!”   The laughter subsides into grinning, half covered by her hand.  “I lived; I died; hell was, apparently, full... so I came back.  It matters very little to me which of you go the same way - I just enjoy presenting possibilities.”

Then, in a sudden flurry of activity, she zips from screen to screen throughout the store, surveying the mess left behind by Lux’s anger with a look of curiosity on her face.  “It’s good to see you’ve still got some spirit in you, though - reacting to threats with destruction.  Man after my own heart, if I may say so.  Oui, something sure is bothering you - ”  Coming to rest behind one of the cash desks, Nami peers down the aisle at Lux, still cutting a striking figure despite the soda foaming round his boots.  “Just a question of what.”  

She taps her mouth with one finger, furrowing her brow in mock-thought.  If machines don’t have souls, it’s safe to assume they don’t really have minds either.  “I’ll come clean: I don’t believe you.  Somebody else told me the exact same story you just did - sans the dancing nonsense - and as much as I might dislike them, I don’t think they’re lying.  You, on the other hand...”  

Nami raises her eyebrows - a clear challenge if he’s ever seen one.  “Well, who knows.”

[luxnagamine-blog]

✧ Red ✧ OPEN

They were private moments, scenes that should only have existed in memory, but they bore down on them all from the towering screens. There was no choice but to stand and watch, eleven pairs of eyes looking on from below. Perhaps they were awaiting their turn. If only the energy building among them all could have taken shape—Lux was sure the rain would have steamed as it hit the ground.  By the time the reel had started its third loop, the sword swallower’s hands were closed into shaking fists. His mouth was pulled tight over gritted teeth, his heart pounding in his ears. At either side of him, he could hear his classmates speaking, but he did not register the words. They were all beginning to fade, blending into the damp city street until it seemed he was the only one there. There was poisonous fury in Lux’s eyes, burning and helpless. He was moving before he realized it, giving no thought to who was in his way—he pushed, hard, to escape the crowd, and he heard someone hit the ground behind him. He didn’t look back. The grocery store was the first thing he came upon, and he stormed through its doors as though he were going to battle. He never stopped walking. As he moved between aisles he outstretched both his arms, raking violently through all of the items on the shelves. Bags and boxes clattered to the floor. A milk jug broke open and its contents flooded out in noisy glugs. By the time he heard the footsteps, he had already littered three aisles with food and cans and broken glass. A puddle of orange soda spread at his feet, creeping steadily closer to him. For a moment he did nothing but stand there with his back to the intruder, an eerily still silhouette. He did not know who it was behind him, but he was acutely aware of their eyes on his back, and he took a quick breath.  “It’s … painful, isn’t it.” He spoke distantly, with a quiet delicacy that seemed at odds with the disarray surrounding him. “To have to look at the face of someone so precious to you and know … that there is nothing you can do to ease their pain.” There was a long pause until finally, slowly, Lux tipped his head back to stare up at the fluorescent lights. “Ahh, my dear, gentle mother … She was so weak, last I saw her. So sick … she could barely speak to me. Couldn’t walk.” He took another breath and tucked his hands behind him. “ She was beautiful, you know. A dancer. If you had been shown a different memory, you would have seen it, but now she’s … there. And I’m here. Not knowing a thing. It’s truly, truly … painful. Isn’t it.”

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

She’d been there, at the presentation, watching through the hundreds of screens even as they displayed the worst memories, darkest secrets, et cetera of her classmates.  Many seemed distressed, she noted... but for most of them, Nami made no move to follow.  Sanctus were some cold comfort, it seemed - no one ever wanted them around.

In one particular case, though, her interest was piqued.

It takes all of a few seconds to collate camera data, and use it to trace him to the grocery store.  She waits a long moment after Lux’s... speech, to be kind, before she responds, the green pallor of her screen casting him in an eerie glow.

“That’s intéressant.”

The look on her face is unreadable, halfway to a smile - giving nothing away.  “A dancer, you say?  There’s people I miss on the outside too, Nagamine-san, so I can sympathise.  Difference is I’ll probably never see them again.”  She shrugs, skipping over a couple screens to hang over his head; as quickly as she vacates it, the monitor behind Lux reverts to playing memories on loop again.  

“You still could.  ‘Graduate’, I mean - as Kuma-chan likes to call it.  Escape.”  Nami examines her nails; stifles a yawn; tries to meet his eyes, with a smile. “I mean, assuming any of it is true.”

[shinonomecorp-blog]

Let Her Go | Chapter 3 [OPEN]

Their secrets on display like a horror film. An endless loop of anguish. She could easily pick her own secret out of all the vague images… She was all too familiar with the setting. She had seen that same scene too many times. At this point, it was practically burned into her memory… She shook her head, leaving the dark thoughts behind. She had some secrets to discover. She wasn’t going to let this precious ammunition the bear had given them go to waste… She needed this information. 

As others left after the show, Suzuka stayed in place studying the screens. She watched the scenes over and over, memorizing them, and attempting to pair them with the students left remaining. She was able to decipher a few easily, but some of the darker ones… They were bit more difficult to place. 

“Interesting… The murderer and saboteurs of our merry little band have played good thus far, hm?I don’t imagine that will last long…”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stayed staring. She couldn’t have possibly noticed her classmate approaching her until they were all too close. She quickly turned around, a vicious glare meeting the gaze of her classmate. She let out a sigh of relief, dropped the dirty look, and looked away from them. 

“…I apologize for my sudden movement. You surprised me. Is there something you need? I’m a bit busy.”

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

Given the events of the last trial - and with the worst of humanity supposedly lurking just out of sight - it was maybe fair that nobody felt much like conversing with the dead these days.  Sure, it was terribly dull for her... but she doubted anybody really cared about that either.  If anyone had asked, Nami would happily have told them: she was bored.  In fact she’d have told them unprompted, if she could nail anybody down for long enough... but no one was interested, and therein lay the problem, honestly.  An ouroboros of ennui.

True to form, the class splits up following the motive, running for cover - they really are awful at banding together in the face of adversity - leaving a solitary figure behind, studying the videos.  In some ways, just the person she’s been dying to see.

With a little effort, Nami displaces the stream of memories repeating on a small screen nearby, asserting her own face in its place.  It isn’t long before Suzuka notices... but the response she receives isn’t of the kind she’s learned to expect.  The ex-dancer raises her eyebrows, surprised.

“Is it water off a duck’s back, then, Suzuka-chan?  All is forgiven?  I must say that’s remarkably noble of you...” The look of bewilderment shifts into her signature, catlike grin.  “It hasn’t been so terribly long since I threw you under the bus, you know.”

[oceanmagician-blog]

✨ Disappearing Act [Exploration]

[shslthreestep]

In unison with the other laptop, the Sanctus in Machina system boots up on the computer on Nagi’s bed. Predictably enough, it selects and boots up ‘izanagitsukade.dat’, although the loading time takes longer than Nami’s – not by much, only about ten seconds, but it’s enough that Nagi only tunes in after Nami is finished talking. The laptop’s field of view doesn’t include the other one, so when Nagi speaks, it’s as if Jacoby is the only person in the room. 

“Oh, Jacoby-kun! Nice of you to drop by.” he says, a grin spreading across his virtual features. He then takes a moment to take in his surroundings, humming lightly as he observes the room he finds himself in. 

“…This place is sort of a dump compared to the last floor, huh?” he observes, looking back at Jacoby and raising his eyebrows. “I’m almost starting to miss the place. Maybe you can conjure up a pocket spa or something for a change of scenery?” 

[oceanmagician-blog]

Oh dear god what. 

It was, well, it was better than a body or two, certainly, but he didn’t understand this at all!!! Funnily enough, the laptops hadn’t actually set off any alarms, really. He himself didn’t own a phone or a laptop (having only used the computers on the ship, or their parents’ electronics), so the lack of one in his own room was to be expected.

He never could have expected this.

“Wh…whu-whu-what????” Jacoby’s words are incredulous, and he blinks several times, looking between both screens. “You–you can’t–you’re–you’re DE–” Despite the fear and sheer confusion in his voice, there’s something else there as he cuts himself off; hope?

He claps his hands over his mouth, shifting to focus at first on Nami. “S-Sanctus in–in Machina…?” he asks, unsure if he’s actually asking it of her or if he’s just trying to sound out the words. They don’t… sound familiar, at least, he thinks? He has time to think about that later, though. “Trick? P-pocket, err, spa?” He’s beginning to sound more like a parrot at this point.

“You, um, you guys… you don’t…?” He seems… perplexed. They’re just talking to him all–all calmly, even though they, they just… “Erm, could you, hold on, just a moment?” he asks, and though they haven’t given him the go ahead, he moves and sort of just… adjusts each laptop, so they can see each other as well as him. 

“What, wh-what do you–Nami, Nagi, do you… know what’s going on?”

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

Nami’s face shifts from delight into bewilderment at Jacoby’s reaction to her greeting.  Looks like he’s not quite so happy to see her.  “What’s wrong?”  Confusion slowly turns into concern.  “De-de-de?  It’s okay, you don’t have to keep it from me!  You can tell me anything!”  There’s something unsettling about her words, or maybe the way she delivers them: they sound almost pre-recorded.  But that can’t be right, surely?  Auto-responders aren’t intelligent, they don’t adapt - not dynamically like this, anyway.

She whistles absently, already forgetting her alarm, as Jacoby reaches to turn her (or her vessel, at least) around.  “What a treat!  I just got to see one side of the room and now I get to see the other s - ”  Pausing mid-sentence, Nami seems to compute for a moment before her face splits in a grin of recognition.  “Oh!  Nagi!  I didn’t see you there.  Lamp-sama and I are just chatting.”  Her field of view now changed, she looks around as if confused.  “Well, we were.  He was just here, where did he go?”

[xlerotl]

commission(156) for @cycle-of-night

(commission info here)

[oceanmagician-blog]

✨ Disappearing Act [Exploration]

Nami had always wanted to be a magician’s assistant, and it seemed she had gotten her wish; just like that, they were gone. Poof! Nagi had gone out not with a bang, but with a whimper, numbed until he simply faded from existance. And, true to form, Nami had disappeared in a puff of smoke. The fire was innovative, but not practical.

Jacoby still saw the flames when they closed their eyes.

It was a few days since the murder, the trial, the execution. Meet the new area, same as the old area. Only not really. The fact that they could not lock their doors set about an entire new wave of anxiety for the magician. Partly from that, partly as a holdover from the nightmares, they did not sleep much in the days since everything had been turned upside down, and despite the weariness that was overcoming them lately, they still found themselves up late at night, or what they assumed was night; everyone else seemed to be asleep, at least.

But with them not being able to lock their doors, something occurs to them: if all the doors are unlocked, then… that would mean Nami and Nagi’s rooms as well, yes? They’re not entirely sure why they find themselves drawn back to the room–well, not really back. This was an entirely different room, technically. Would their beds still be unmade, he wondered?

They’re quiet as they approach the door, and as they reach toward the doorknob they freeze, the sudden images of Nagi’s bloody corpse and Nami’s own charred one jumping into his mind; they’re right inside there. Their hand shakes as they open the door, poking their head in there first to make sure there really aren’t any corpses in there. Pleased (and dramatically relieved) at the lack of them, they quietly enter the room, looking around.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

The first thing Jacoby might note, as they step through the door, is that the beds are still a mess.

In fact, the twins’ entire room is kind of a mess, much like everyone else’s.  It doesn’t seem that Monokuma has forgotten about them though; amongst the dirt and debris are assorted personal effects, scattered around the room seemingly without rhyme or reason.  Things that belonged to the twins, they guess.  Bits of Nami’s makeup lie abandoned on the dresser, a little compact next to them.  A novel sits open and upside-down on Nagi’s bedside table, the spine slowly breaking.

Alongside this detritus of past lives two things seem out of place, though:  on both beds slim, silvery laptops sit open, their blank screens staring out into space.  Staring right at them.

Jacoby might think this odd.  Nobody else had been allowed to keep their electronics, as far as they were aware.  What made the twins a special exception?  Curious, they move closer, noting that the laptops look almost brand new: not a speck of dust on them.

As they step forward, the screens jump to life, lighting up bright green.  Loading bars appear on both, stuttering towards 100% - it’s no OS Jacoby recognises.  Before they can do anything about it, though, the bar fills - then disappears -

Then something really strange happens.

Nami’s face appears, clear as day (albeit washed in green), on the screen nearest.  “Initialising.  Welcome to the Sanctus in Machina system.  Personality file ‘izanamitsukade.dat’ has been selected.  Now loading.”  There’s a long moment of silence as her lips move, but no sound comes out.   Then she blinks a couple of times and starts to move her eyes.

She sees Jacoby, and her face lights up with a beatific smile.  “Lamp-samaaa~!  It’s so good to see you!!  How are you?  Have you come to do a magic trick for us?”  If Nami is aware anything is wrong, she gives precisely zero indication.

[rewireretribution]

EXECUTION: La Danse Macabre

[♩♫♪]

The lights come up on an opulent ballroom, packed to the walls with people dressed in flashy gowns and tuxedos, each of them wearing a mask.  At first, this does not seem so odd.  Perhaps it’s a masquerade ball, you think, and these are all the guests.  Murmured conversations and the clink of glasses fill your ears for several moments: the normal hubbub of a party, recognisable anywhere, even if you’ve never been to one.  It doesn’t feel much like a gallows, you think.

Then an unnatural chill falls over the crowd.  Their chatter dies away into silence, their heads turn as one, and they part like water as if to give you a window on to the dancefloor: sure enough, there stands Nami, looking entirely out of place in her drab school uniform.  Her eyes dart from side to side, trying to take in the scene.  If she can see you, she gives no indication.  Instead her attention is drawn to the right, as a masked man offers something.  With no hesitation, she takes them from him, sliding what you can now clearly identify as shoes on to her conspicuously bare feet.  They are quite beautiful - vivid red, with a low heel, and sparkling in just the right way to paint the room with blood - yet she does not seem pleased with them, if her expression is anything to go on.

She taps her toe on the ground twice, nods, and then begins.

A familiar strain of music rises to meet her; you barely notice.  None of you can recall having seen Nami dance during your stint in Hope’s Peak, but it is plain now why they call her a super high school level dancer.  It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before: she whirls easily around the dancefloor, the guests parting around her, giving her whatever space she needs.  She is captivating, painting a picture as the music moves her, and if there are moments where it is clear she feels uncomfortable without a partner then she covers them well.  She makes it look easy.  The red shoes are practically spitting sparks every time she hits the ground.  Yet the entire time her jaw is set, her face a mask of grim determination.  Like she can’t relax.

You lean in, look closer.  

You spot the floor glistening, out of the corner of your eye.

You look up.  Every guest is wearing Monokuma’s face, reflected back at you ten, twenty, a hundred times.

You look down.  The gasoline catches, going up with a whoosh, and suddenly the entire ballroom is ablaze.

Nami doesn’t stop, doesn’t even look surprised: she just keeps dancing, and the rising flames dance with her.  The crowd begin to recede from the picture as fire eats through the wood beneath them, and acrid smoke spills upward.  Soon, she is alone on the dancefloor.  Still she dances, faster, harder, pushing herself now, dancing as much to escape immolation as anything else.  Sweat pours down her face and legs, catching the light.

She is only delaying the inevitable.

Maybe you start to regret what you’ve done, then.  You think this is going too far, even for a murderer.  Maybe you watch it all biting back a smile, thinking this is no less than she deserves.  Either way, there is nowhere left for her to run.  The unseen music builds to a frenzied crescendo as she finds herself trapped in the very centre.  With little room left to move something changes in the set of her body: she abandons the ballroom, goes up on one toe, and begins to twirl, and twirl, and twirl.

It seems as if it will go on forever - a girl caught in an inferno that grows around her spinning form - but the fire creeps ever closer.  In the moments before her death Nami gets a look in her eyes like she understands, or sees something more.  She looks almost happy, starts to smile… then the flames jump high, blocking out your vision as surely as the black smoke filling her coffin.

Abruptly, the music cuts off; half a second later, there is a graceless slump.

Izanami Tsukade is dead.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

mvt. 1: più curiose [open]

[shslthreestep]

The sight of the bemused looking magician blundering over his words as Nami barrels across the room to him, seat clattering where she left it, drags an unexpected laugh out of Nagi, as much one of relief as of amusement. It’s as if the oppressive atmosphere in the room has, at least for now, evaporated – it couldn’t possibly stay, with Nami so excited.

“Let ‘Lamp-sama’ get a word in edgeways, Nami!” he calls teasingly, standing up and turning his chair around to face the two before sitting himself back down in it, crossing one leg over the other and folding his arms. “He can’t show you any magic if he can’t get through an ‘abracadabra’. I’m Izanagi Tsukade, by the way – also a dancer.” 

He leaned forward in his chair, smiling widely. “You’d better do what she says. When we were kids, she wouldn’t leave me alone for days this one time until I agreed to put on a cape and pretend like I knew anything about magic, so she could help. A real live magician? You’ve got no hope.“ 

“Plus,” he says, his smile relaxing a little, “I want to see what you can do, too. Show us what you’ve got? I’ll be your audience.” The likelihood of Jacoby being prepared for a trick on the spot is astronomically low, but he’s a SHSL Magician; the chance exists. Besides, he seems a little like the bumbling type, and they’re generally really fun to watch when put on the spot. 

[oceanmagician-blog]

Oh! He’d registered the twins, of course, making his inane little comment–and he’s still kicking himself over it. But she’s there in an instant, taking his slightly sweaty hands in her own (oh jeez, he should have wiped them on his pants before, heck–) and staring up at him with sheer excitement on her face.

“Y-yes, erm, that’s me! I–no, no, it’s Lamb, you–you know, like the animal–” 

But her enthusiastic speech is too much for him to keep up with, though eventually he finds himself… relaxing? He’s still scared, definitely, but the fear gets shoved into the back of his mind by a returning feeling… the feeling of being on stage, because even though his audience is two people, it’s still an audience, and like a switch, his demeanor changes from the embodiment of anxiety to that of a seasoned showman. 

He closes his eyes, a smirk on his face, as he replies to the twins. “Nami, Nagi–is it alright if I call you Nagi? You match with Miss Nami, I wonder if that extends to names–? But!” He flips his hair back out of his face. “You wish to see tricks? Of course I will oblige! I am not Super High School Level in my field for nothing, you know! Let me–”

He reaches a hand up his sleeve–and stops, his facade crumbling. “Erm…” His tricks, goodness, he always keeps several on him, in case of such a situation as this, they’re gone. It must be that bear… Quietly cursing (but not actually cursing, goodness no!) Monokuma in his head, he begins racking his head for tricks he could do using things that may or may not actually be in the school. Think, Lamb, think…! His expression is mostly inscrutable other than ‘vaguely upset’, but at last inspiration sparkles in his eyes, and he reprises his smile, looking even more confident than before.

“Miss Nami! If you would like to assist me in this endeavor, I will need you to fetch some much-needed implements, please! For this scintillating trick, I will need as follows: a large napkin, not too big, but a sizable one!; a drinking glass, this one on the smaller side; and, finally a coin!” He pauses. “Or, err, well, whatever you can find to, to approximate it! Maybe, oh, a bottle cap, perhaps?”

He smiles winningly at first Nami, then Nagi, before taking a preemptive bow–or an after the fact one, after his introduction? Regardless, he gently pulls his hands away from Nami, walking over to one of the other tables to prepare.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

The difference is night and day.  She can almost hear it when the cogs in his brain shift into gear and Jacoby enters Performance Mode, so to speak.  This, she loves: watching people in their absolute comfort zone, doing what they were born to do.  Plus, it’s magic!  Nothing is better than magic.  Nami steps back to give him some space, totally enraptured by the show...

Until it falls flat.  Something catches in the gears; the machine grinds to a halt.  Her smile fades, slightly - is this normal?  She’s never seen a magician do this before, but maybe it’s part of the trick? 

Jacoby manages to recover, though; the show is back on the road, and now Nami has been given a job.  Helping!  Oh my god!  Finally, after all these years, she’s done it! She’s a real magician’s assistant!

She claps her hands together with delight.  “Right away, Lamp-sama!” she announces, completing ignoring his corrections, and returns his bow with a sweeping bow of her own.  Nami vibrates with excitement as she disappears into the kitchen looking for the objects she’s been tasked with, and gives Nagi a huge grin as she passes.  Returning less than a minute later, she drops on to the table the glass, the napkin and...

“Sorry, I couldn’t find a bottlecap, so I just popped the button off my jacket!” she explains - surely enough, there’s a ragged end of string where the button used to sit.  “You can keep it, don’t worry about it!”

[shslkaryukai-blog]

🌸Ch. 1 Abnormal Days: The Difference is Night and Day

[shslkaryukai-blog]

She felt as if Izanami’s answer was quite obvious. Now she felt rather foolish for gawking at the plain scenery before her eyes. Oh well, now she could focus on the kind dancer before her.

“Yes, that is unfortunately the case. I believe that we all have much to worry about though, so the amount of composure everyone is keeping is quite impressive.” She dismissively waved her hand, mustering up a smile for Izanami.

“Enough about my silly thoughts, how are you Tsukade-san? I hope you are doing as well as you can granted our situation.” Mameyoshi was eager to make conversation; talking to her fellow classmates was the perfect antidote for a troubled mind. Especially a student that she hadn’t had the pleasure of talking to that much!

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

Nami gives a non-committal mmm in response to Mameyoshi’s assertions.  Impressive?  Maybe.  She’s certainly seen some interesting responses to their predicament; experienced a few worries herself.  Genuinely she’s unsure what exactly an impressive response would entail.

The conversation moves swiftly onwards, though, and the smile she offers the maiko in return for her own is beatific.  “I’m doing great, thank you very much for asking!”  It’s only half a lie, but probably she won’t be believed either way: the heavy bags beneath her eyes are not markers of a person who’s ‘doing great’.  Still... since coming to terms with their situation, Nami has been feeling better, and she has an idea that means Mameyoshi can surely only help that.

“I’m glad I ran into you, actually - I’ve been meaning to ask you something!”  Forget the infirmary, this’ll do the trick way better than any medicine.  “Are you allowed to show people who aren’t maiko the steps for the dances they teach you?  Do you think you’d be able to teach me?”  

She’s almost breathless with excitement.  Since childhood she’s been a huge fan of traditional dance - for as much as she loves her French heritage, she loves the Japanese side too - but never been able to find a teacher.  But now it looks like fate might have dropped one right into her lap!  Nami’s could swear her eyes are sparkling.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

mvt. 2: sotto voce [CLOSED]

[shslthreestep]

Nagi laughs, loudly, as the morning announcement rings out. It’s hardly the funniest joke he’s ever heard, objectively, but it’s a lot easier to laugh this morning than it has been for the past week and a half or so. May as well take full advantage of it. 

It seems Nami has something else on her mind, though, and while his newfound smile doesn’t totally fade… it certainly dims, a little.

“…I’d bet they’re probably either completely oblivious, or making a complete sob story of it to the media, depending on how big all of this is.” he says, after a moment of thought. He clutches his chest with one hand, wiping an imaginary tear from one eye with the other, and does his best to feign their mother’s voice. “Poor Izanami and Izanagi – how could something like this possibly happen to the incredibly talented, profitable children I made? And they were all set to win another international championship, too. ”

He drops his hands, looks back at Nami, and smiles again, weakly – it still stings, even if he’s kidding. There’s too much truth in it. . “…Something like that. If not, at least your Instagram followers’ll be missing you. That’s something, isn’t it?” 

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

As bitter as it makes her, if you can’t joke about your shitty home life what kind of teen star are you?  At Nagi’s shrill impression of their mother peals of laughter burst out of her.  “They probably haven’t even heard yet!  I just feel sorry for Yumi-chan, she’ll be calling and calling - ” She makes a phone shape with her hand, imitating the motion. “ - and it just goes to voicemail ‘cause they’re off on some social not-working cruise or something and she’s losing her mind, and they’re checking their bank balances like hmm, that seems kinda low...”

Speaking of.  Nami puts her hand over her heart and winces as he brings up her followers.  “Man, I hope so.  If we got out of here and I was going back to, like, ten thousand heartfelt mentions, how great would that be?”  

She’s smiling, so why does she want to cry?  It’s not going to happen.  She knows how the internet content machine works.  She’ll be completely out of their thoughts in a month, tops.  Just for a moment she catches herself thinking it’d be fine to be dead as long as I wasn’t forgotten -

Nami shakes her head, hard, and puts it out of her mind: turning back to Nagi, her expression is unreadable.  “If we wanna find out just exactly how popular I am, though - ” Or whether our parents remember we exist, “ - we’ll have to make it out of here alive first.  So I’ll be counting on you, okay?”  Does her voice catch on the last word, or is it just imagined?  Either way.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

mvt. 2: sotto voce [CLOSED]

[shslthreestep]

He’d been half-worried that this was going to end in an argument – a nagging voice in the back of his head, saying what if. The last thing he needed in this awful place was to lose Nami, too.

So when she sighs exaggeratedly, turns to face him and smiles… some of that heavy weight lifts from Nagi’s shoulders, the burden of the horrible situation suddenly, miraculously halved. 

“Who says he does? Maybe our twin telepathy’s finally developed and it just hasn’t kicked in for you, yet.” he suggests, smiling back. It’s a double-layered joke – that Nagi would be the first of the two to do anything would be violating some kind of universal constant, he’s sure. 

“…Still, it’s good to have you back.” he says, the lightness seeping out of his voice, quickly replaced by vulnerable, heavy exhaustion as he sinks back against his pillows with a thump.  “I don’t know how much longer I could’ve taken it, on my own.” 

That was how it was. Even surrounded by people, even with all the charm and wit at his disposal, even with all the information and time in the world… he would never be as good as Nami at navigating that sort of thing solo. When they were on the same page and could make their way through it together, when he could bounce off of her and take her cues, everything just went more smoothly – for both of them, he thought, but himself… 

Well, more so. Leave it at that. 

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

For half a second she eyes him with suspicion, before leaping out of bed with a stupid grin on her face.  “What do you mean kicked in?  We’ve had that from the day we were born, idiot.”  Opening her mouth wide to yawn, Nami stretches up as tall as she can: just then, the morning announcement reverberates around the school.  Good morning, you bastards - not the most pleasant start to the day, but she’s feeling better than she has in over a week, and ready to face her classmates.

As is usual, it seems Nagi will take his extra time in bed while she showers, even if he’s not usually awake during that half hour.  But something in that thought makes Nami hesitate as he falls back on his pillows.  Over a week... it’s been a while they’ve been locked in here now.  Is anybody coming to save us, she wonders?  They would have come by now, surely, if they were coming.  Had they forgotten about her, on the outside, already?

“Do you think mother and father have even noticed we’re gone?” She laughs, grim.  It’s a joke, but a bit of a sad one.  “Or just that the prize money has stopped rolling into their account?”  Their manager surely would have noted their absence by now: their parents, she isn’t so sure.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

mvt. 2: sotto voce [CLOSED]

[shslthreestep]

He wakes with a start, hand flying to his chest as he sits bolt upright, heart hammering against his ribcage. 

There’s no wound – no campfire. Only the light of his bedside lamp, the silhouettes of fifteen children imprinted on the backs of his eyelids, and the sound of his and Nami’s heavy breathing weighing down the room. He leans over, turns the lamp off, and just… waits. 

Nami hasn’t gotten out of bed yet – hasn’t breezed on with her morning, pretending like she’s been up half an hour already like she always is. It keeps him glued to his bed, tense and waiting for something to give.

Until it does. L’amener sur. 

“…Fais attention à ce que tu souhaites, Nami.” he says, but he does turn to face her, and sees she isn’t looking at him. He wrestles, momentarily, with whether or not to go to her side for this – decides against it. Keeping it clinical might actually be for the best.

“When all this wasn’t happening, I thought – maybe it could still be a joke in bad taste. That’s what I wanted it to be, God knows it would be easier.” 

He hesitates.

“…Then these… ‘dreams’ started, and that went out of the window. Hope’s Peak Academy might do something as ridiculous as confine us for a day or two, if they could pull enough strings. Messing directly with our heads, though – the things they’re making us see?”

Saying it out loud is difficult. His voice shakes.

“I think… we’re in this for the long haul. And it’s– it’s getting really easy for me to think that it won’t stop until somebody’s d- been killed.” 

There’s a long pause. When Nagi speaks again, his voice is soft, his grip on his bedsheets tight.

“…Désolé.”

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

Though she lies silent and impassive for most of Nagi’s explanation, when he reaches the end and feels the need to apologise to her Nami can’t help an exasperated pfft escaping her lips.  “Don’t say that.  I asked, didn’t I?” 

She rolls on to her side, smiles at him - a little weakly, but it’s genuine.  “Besides, I’m not stupid.  It’s moreorless what I’d figured too, I just didn’t wanna admit it as long as there was, y’know... reasonable doubt?  It’s scary!  I can deal, though.”  It would be easy for a stranger to think that Nami is not processing correctly, given her chipper attitude.  Nagi will know better, though: even though she’s still frightened, even though this is a horrible situation... she refuses to let anything scare her, whether that means ignoring it or just coming to terms with it as quickly as possible

“I should have been honest with you sooner, anyway.  It’s not fair if that stupid bear gets to hear what I think before you do!”  All is fine, and Nagi will forgive her, and they’ll be back to normal, of course: she’s never had to doubt that.  Still... it feels good to clear the air.  She feels lighter, despite the nightmares.

They’ll look after each other, and everything will be fine!

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

mvt. 2: sotto voce [CLOSED]

She wakes with a gasp, and wishes she could be surprised.

Four nights of bad dreams, now, and Nami’s illusion - her ability to fool herself - is wearing thin.  The one from which she’s just awoken hit her particularly hard: the image of the children gathered round the fire had been chilling enough, but the feeling of her breath being snatched from her lungs as a deep wound opened her torso out of nowhere... she touches her stomach, gingerly, afraid of what she’ll find.

Nothing.  Of course.  She lets out the breath she’s been holding, letting her hand fall back to her side, and lies for several moments in silence.  Just a dream.

But it wasn’t just a dream.  She’s not that stupid.

She doesn’t need to look to know Nagi is awake in the bed next to hers, chewing over what they’ve just seen, even though it feels strange to wake up at the same time after a lifetime of pre-empting him.  Things have been... a little strained between them since their inauguration to Hope’s Peak: Nagi, ever the conspiracy theorist, had leaned into the kidnapping theory with open arms, while she had done her best to pretend nothing was wrong.  They had spoken very little, and when they had she’d felt he was always tiptoeing around her, trying not to upset her, when all he wanted to talk about was what are we going to do.

Reaching up to run her fingers across the node, she decides she can’t stick her head in the sand any more.

“Okay,” Nami says finally, quietly, her eyes fixed to a point on the ceiling.  “I’m ready to hear the worst now.  No detail to be spared, please.  L’amener sur.”

[shslkaryukai-blog]

🌸Ch. 1 Abnormal Days: The Difference is Night and Day

Mameyoshi awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for air as she bolted up from her spot in bed. The covers were gripped so tight she felt as if it were impossible to let go. The only question she could muster was:

”What was that?”

She was sure her hair was a wreck. Keeping it intact without a proper pillow and stylist was hard enough, but with the added stress of tossing and turning she was positive it would be a rat’s nest. Thankfully, being a super high school level had its perks and she could restyle it– it would just take a lot of time. Which she had no problem doing, since it was going to take every inch of her will to keep it together today. A large part of her even beckoned to stay inside to recover, but in the end she decided it was best for her to attempt socializing and take her mind off of it. Mameyoshi felt like a zombie while she tidied up her person, doing things only off of habit and muscle memory as she muddled her way through her morning routine.

Once she was finally acceptable and composed enough, she left her room in favor of… going anywhere but there. She wandered around idly with no purpose really in mind. In fact, most of it was to clear her head. At fist she considered breakfast, but no sooner did she step into the cafeteria did she lose her appetite completely. She turned around with a sigh, continuing down the hall and into the main building. Until finally, she hit a dead end by the means of intimidating iron bars.

“I wonder where these stairs lead…” She wondered aloud as she touched the bars. The cold metal was a slight shock to her warm hands, but she welcomed anything that would wake her up more. Mameyoshi became lost in thought, eagerly opting to use her mental capacity to wonder about the mysterious staircase instead of the night before, the threat of murder, or anything else really. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, that she didn’t even notice that someone else was in the close vicinity.

[shslfeatherstep-blog]

She’s quite a striking figure amongst a class of (mostly) modern-looking teenagers, Nami thinks: probably only the prince would give her a run for her money in a fancy dress competition.  But the dancer doesn’t look down her nose at costume in any sense.  In truth, it’s half the poetic image of a maiko considering her imprisonment that spurs Nami to abandon her path to the infirmary and strike up conversation instead.

“It’s probably just the second floor, pensez-vous pas?” she chirps, wandering over to eye up the bars for herself.  “They look pretty solid, though.  Another alteration our captor has made to the school, I guess.” For someone who, mere days ago, had balked at the idea of kidnapping, Nami seems weirdly okay with it now.  Increasingly it’s becoming the opinion of more and more of her classmates - especially now that they are being plagued with nightmares, and the earpieces are starting to look like the real deal.  So if you can’t beat ‘em... she supposes you have to join them.

It hasn’t been easy, but when you have horrible visions to process every morning you have to get over some things.

She supposes that’s true of all of them, as she watches Mameyoshi out of the corner of her eye.  Does the maiko look a little rumpled, her hair just a (haha) hair out of place?  Or is that just a trick of the light?  Does Nami look the same?  

“Are you worried about something, maiko-chan?” she asks - a redundant question, but conversation for conversation’s sake isn’t a bad coping mechanism, she finds.