but just ourselves and immortality

The domain of the SHSL Poet, Arashi Tsuji. Affiliated with Archive of Despair. Status: Survived.

[shslseitokaichou-blog]

if i could upload the full size versions i would

but they’re too big for any image sharing websites

[archiveofdespair-blog]

One's Own Personal Honnoji

It’s some obscenely early time when every screen flickers to life, including the ones inside your rooms. 

You’re confused. What’s going on? 

You can only watch.

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[eisukehanae]

awwh

[eisukehanae]

i cant handle this they’re so cute god dammit precious damaged children

[eisukehanae]

more hot yaois

[greelin]

cockiness is so attractive to me in a way and it’s so irritating. like it’s annoying. and it annoys me. but the kind of expression and body language that comes with it. the self-satisfied attitude. the smug comments. the eye rolling. the smirking. “come and get me” hand gestures during a fight. eyebrow raising with an air of superiority. it’s just like. fuck you. i’m annoyed right now. i am so annoyed right now. but oh my fuck i am also so very, very attracted right now

[eisukehanae]

the kiss of the century. followed by a headbutt.

[triplequery]

Chapter 2: After the Trial

In which Kiyo’s warrior spirit and Setsuna’s forehead are both deeply questioned. Apologies to one Tsuji Arashi.

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[shslwordnerd]

on the death of kakemono otoko

though we all know the dangers of bears and occasional night time affairs, the worst cause of alarm doing you the most harm concerns models and vases and stairs.

[mirificmodel-deactivated2014082]

life is beautiful

[themostpopulargaysofglee]

[shslseitokaichou-blog]

He who lights fuse of love, gets big bang.

Wisdom of Confucius (via shslseitokaichou)

[archiveofdespair-blog]

Sonnet 428 (Second Motive)

You’re called by the bear the next day for the next secret to be revealed. Everyone is standing cautiously, wondering, watching. The bear pops up and immediately the lights dim.

"Aaaaaaaand today’s secret will be froooom~!"

The spotlight falls upon Arashi Tsuji. The poet.

"Arashi Tsuji, Super High School Level Poet! Or should I say…Super High School Level Homosexual!?"

"Well…most of you probably already knew what a gay baby he was but…"

The screen rolls down with a word in white behind it. Crush.

"Yup, that’s riiiiight~~!  Arashi Tsuji writes gay poetry! About who? Weeeeell~~let’s find out!"

The spotlight shines down on Eisuke. 

"I would read some but, hey! Let’s just skip to the good part!

“‘It can’t be unheard of or overdone to want to both kiss and injure someone.’”

Monobear laughs maniacally.

"Yuuuuup! The word nerd writes gay poetry about Bara-kun!"

The spotlight fades and the screen rolls up.

"That’s all for today folks!"

[shslwordnerd]

...

Alright. He's just going to take a few seconds to think about this, and then respond to it coolly and dismissively, because he is the best at that sort of thing.

...

Right. He's got nothing. 

Perhaps if he concentrates hard enough he can make himself spontaneously combust.

[shslwordnerd]

all paths lead where (open)

[shslcriticism]

Minoru gave a genuine smile at the metaphor. Worth of applause almost, except that clapping at a metaphor would be dumb. Come on Minoru. Don’t entertain dumb thoughts. Like entertaining a dumb audience, it was easy, but unlike entertaining a dumb audience, entertaining dumb thoughts very rarely led to making large amounts of money. 

He’d decided that, although as everyone did, Tsuji had his faults, being aggravating, rude, and slightly pretentious, he definitely enjoyed the poet’s company. “Well, in the incredibly unthinkable scenario that a poet likes to read, I doubt you’ll be disappointed too badly. Perhaps more of a valley than a chasm, more of a light tumble than a plunge. Spoiler alert, it’s mostly books. Also maps. And the cheapest fucking ‘nature’ set I’ve ever seen in any production, live or otherwise. But mostly, books.” 

He pushed his glasses up his nose with a playful smirk on his face. “It’s almost as if this were a library or something. Who would have thought?” 

[shslwordnerd]

Arashi didn't need a similar evaluation of Minoru's character; that ship had sailed, a bottle had been traditionally broken on its bow and it took off into the sunset presumably to get swallowed by a whirlpool the size of Texas. No, he was not trying too hard, he always metaphored this aggressively, what are you talking about.

"Unthinkable indeed. You severely underestimate the power of my disdain, Mikami-san. My expectations will dig a chasm by hand just for the express purpose of having a longer fall, and in the event of even a light fall they will complain about head trauma and call their lawyers." ...Cheap nature set? Surrounded by all the books? Odd. He'd have to investigate that later. Perhaps with some decent material rather than actually curling up in some dusty stacks.

"Considering the previous floor, though, it wouldn't be too hard to think of it all as some elaborate farce. Anything so inadequately stocked doesn't deserve the title. Perhaps the next floor up will be even more reassuring. Government secrets. Case files. The bear's diary."

[shslwordnerd]

"ah, young rancor": sonnet 428

though violence is beyond a last resort it brings with it some tempting imagery a drawling phrase that's peacefully cut short by not murder, but assault, of first degree

perhaps beyond my mind, my weapon, speech is all i can depend on for a strike in reddened thoughts i do more than impeach but damage, tooth and nail, in my--dislike

now beyond expected motivations his existence itself begets caprice subverting my own clear expectations my impulses demand a breach of peace.

(it can't be unheard of or overdone to want to both kiss and injure someone.)

[shslwordnerd]

all paths lead where (open)

[triplequery]

We lay down our arms as conscientious objectors, consume no media, don’t even open our eyes for fear of taking pleasure in what the evil mastermind has provided us, and the bear is so moved by our act of rebellion that we’re released on the spot?

Not a bad manifesto, if delivered with overmuch sarcasm. Setsuna pushed the rhetorical question out of mind; arguing the underlying ideological point there too finely didn’t seem as though it’d be a particularly constructive exercise. Still, silence was a concession Setsuna was unwilling to make, especially as Arashi seemed averse enough to politics that he might actually be convinced of a point or two if he lent his ear momentarily.

“‘The apparatus, not the personnel, is the real enemy. But it is by and through the apparatchiks and everyone else participating in the system that domination and deception are made manifest,’” Setsuna reeled off solemnly, making an expansive gesture towards the room that surrounded them. “My views on the rest of the book are mixed, but that’s besides the point. I can’t see a better way to reject this society than to reject its apparatus— its tools, rules, and provisions.”

Letting their hands fall back to their sides, they considered Arashi’s statement, trying to distinguish potential deception from potential ignorance. Neither were particularly unforgivable given their circumstances, but divining which might resolve his hazy edges into something more predictable. Was that a haiku? Perhaps that was somehow related to the notebook he’d rapidly stowed, if it didn’t indeed house more tax forms.

"Far be it from me also," Setsuna admitted, offering something like a shrug. "But we’re all detectives now, aren’t we. I’ve decided — from experience — that abstaining from trials isn’t tenable. Anything this structured… makes me think that this can’t be art, though it definitely isn’t political in a meaningful way.”

[shslwordnerd]

"The apparatus can't be rejected, since, once again, this is a self-contained environment with no alternative options, and attempting to reject the rules and provisions will simply get you killed," Arashi responded flatly, already scanning the rest of the room for more things to look into. Evidently this was one pearl of wisdom he was never going to take to heart. Mostly because if an area of conversation was entirely alien to him, such as anything with the word 'apparatchiks' in it, he'd just prefer to act like it had never been mentioned. Setsuna had to be SHSL Political Dissident Of Some Kind, this was just ridiculous. "And has rejecting tools based on something so frivolous as origin ever been remotely pragmatic?"

His first frown hadn't wavered. This wasn't what you would call an uplifting conversation. If anything his body language had crunched more closed, since this entire conversation couldn't help but feel like a personal attack on his transient cheer. He simply wanted to enjoy his books without thinking about the larger political implications, was that too much to ask. Just this interval had been one of the longest times in living memory he'd gone without something decent to read.

"Another unnecessary blanket statement. If we are all detectives then some are far more functional than others." Minami-san being one of the more actively useless members, he recalled with something like a grimace. And this conscientious objector he was now tied up with.

"What would you define as political in a meaningful way, then. Because from this point of view this mastermind's actions are decidedly meaningful even if a poor duplicate of previous ideals. Meaningful in the sense that our lives are on the line in a very real way."

[shslwordnerd]

all paths lead where (open)

[triplequery]

"The tools to murder each other, perhaps,” Setsuna returned, adjusting their sunglasses on the bridge of their nose so as to accentuate the statement. “And even that’s an optimistic view of things,”

If Arashi was so keen on the idea that these consciously placed resources would somehow help them achieve the kind of unity necessary to overthrow the bear, it was a noble sentiment, they supposed, but futile. Knowledge was power under the right circumstances — but from the titles that now flashed meretriciously from the shelves, it was clear they were mere diversionary tactics.

On the way, Setsuna had passed a room of murals. The purpose and effect of these furnishings, they could not help but think, were no different. United, they would tell their own histories — paint their own pictures.

"Yes, we’ve passed that point," Setsuna nodded in response to Arashi’s last remark. "Now we read books until the cycle repeats itself anew." Though it would be difficult not to read a supercilious aspect in their words, they spoke mildly and without the air of a challenge; their final question, even, with some curiosity. "Still, I have to wonder — what point do you think it’s out to prove?"

[shslwordnerd]

...Well, that first part probably wasn't entirely wrong. That girl's party and the initial motivator of a room full of helpless family members (Ayame's neutral expression, tempered by a trembling lip, flashed into his mind again--where was she now? What was the guarantee that she was any safer?) had been one thing, but unless Setsuna was suggesting the next one was somewhere among these shelves waiting for someone to stumble upon it, it had nothing to do with the current conversation. Although that little adjustment of the sunglasses made them seem that much more worth listening to. Curse the relative attractiveness of everyone in this godforsaken gathering.

"Presumably, yes. What is the alternate possibility. We lay down our arms as conscientious objectors, consume no media, don't even open our eyes for fear of taking pleasure in what the evil mastermind has provided us, and the bear is so moved by our act of rebellion that we're released on the spot? Or we learn as much about this place as we can. To me it does not seem like a hard decision."

Arashi hadn't been looking down at his notebook this entire time, but when he went to flip it closed again he noticed he'd been absently recording parts of the conversation in a scraggly, cramped script. What point do you think it's out to prove? He hurriedly stashed it again; this was perhaps an even more egregious offense than spreading around the contents of his tax forms. "Far from me to make such blanket judgments so soon, Mikata-san," he responded in a tone that hopefully didn't say 'I have no idea.' "Opinions in verse / have a tendency to stray / from detective work."