mere fabrication @triplequery - Tumblr Blog

shslseitokaichou-blog

if i could upload the full size versions i would

but they’re too big for any image sharing websites

#aod artwork

Chapter 2: After the Trial

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

#setsuna chatzies #senjou-no-kiyo #shslwordnerd #in question #...in a loose sense

My hand is unused to this art.

Setsuna's fake Arashi fanpoem fragment in high-res glory. Two stanzas of a sestina, formerly evidence for the trial for the death of Otoko Kakemono.

#the question at hand #aod chapter 2 #out of the question #shslwordnerd

shsltoofortunate

kakemono doesn’t really answer questions people ask him well

#aod artwork #shsltoofortunate #out of the question

mirificmodel-deactivated2014082

The Final Letter

It is sitting on a table at the bottom of the stairs where a vase once stood. It is written in pink ink on paper torn out of a book that will no doubt never be read. It has a different tone to it, however…

archiveofdespair-blog

MONOBEAR FILE NO.2

Your Student IDs flash. Information on the body fills the screen.

Victim: Kakemono Otoko

Place of Body: Mural Room

Time of Death: 10:13 PM

Cause of Death: Broken Neck

State of Body: Dressed up nicely, with a rather large head wound. His neck is broken.

#aod chapter 2 #aod monobear file #the question at hand #out of the question #shsltoofortunate #head trauma ///#neck trauma ///

archiveofdespair-blog

Top Secret (Second Motive)

It’s not long before you’re called down to the usual meeting place for the next secret. The bear is there and the lights are dim.

"The first of today’s secrets goes to….!"

The spotlight falls on Setsuna.

"…Setsuna Mikata, the Super High School Level Men In Black Cosplayer!"

"But hey, who wants to know their secret!? I know I do…!"

The word on the screen behind Monobear is The Man.

"Such big talk about being an ‘Anarcho-Communist’ or whatever! But did you know—"

"—that their parents actually work for the government!? Upupupu! So much for your beliefs there, kiddo!"

triplequery

…!!

#aod motive reveal #aod chapter 2 #in question

shslwordnerd

all paths lead where (open)

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.”

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 #aod chapter 2 #in question

shslwordnerd

all paths lead where (open)

shslwordnerd

Lulled into complacency might have been overkill. After all, just how long before had two people been violently—well, all but erased from existence, it wasn’t as if they still had bodies to manage any decent funeral ceremony with. Not keeping one’s thoughts constantly lingering on that wasn’t a gesture of weakness. Maintaining one’s sanity in the face of adversity most certainly was not worthy of criticism. Almost as if Arashi was fully privy to Setsuna’s internal monologue, he frowned as well, the main difference being that his looked pretty much immutable.

"Entertainment, I say. Yes, the one providing the amenities is less than ideal. No, it doesn’t change the nature of the amenities themselves. Whatever has been offered here is going to exist whether we look into it or not." He quirked a slightly disdainful brow. Yes, the brow itself was disdainful, it had grown angry eyebrows of its own and was screaming at the dust mites to get off its lawn. "And perhaps the tools have been provided to us in this new place, if only we bother to look for them. The bear is obviously furnishing the place with an intent to make a point."

Another reason why he liked very few communist revolutionaries. At a certain point they just got…irritating. “We definitely passed the simplistic ‘silencing the masses’ phase when someone died.”

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 #in question #aod chapter 2

shslwordnerd

all paths lead where (open)

shslwordnerd

The scroll itself was not particularly informative. Just a list of calligraphied dates so small they might have been etched on by laser. Arashi had to squint to read the close-set numbers but only the last set seemed to have any importance—as anyone with a functioning brain stem could attest, the date when six survivors left Hope’s Peak and marked the beginning of the end of the first despair incident. Not odd for it to be in a historical room. Odd for it to be so prominent. He almost felt like the bear was worried its purpose hadn’t been clear enough. It would be funny if it weren’t ridiculous.

He dusted off the nearest corner, trying to discern whether there was something else on it that he was missing, or perhaps just being self-indulgent about feeling up all the written works, but either way it wasn’t like there was anyone around to—

Wait, no, he was wrong. Spinning around in as dignified a manner as possible, he identified this mysteriously quiet, voyeuristic interloper—could you tell he didn’t like being caught by surprise—as his favorite communist revolutionary. Maybe just because he didn’t know too many communist revolutionaries. Maybe for other reasons.

"You say that like not indulging is possible. This is kind of a self-contained dominion, we can’t exactly get all our entertainment from our imaginations and nutrients from photosynthesis. …Either way, no point in staying uninformed. I’ll trade interesting material for pride all I want.”

triplequery

"Entertainment, you say," Setsuna offered the very slightest of frowns, their brow flickering back into neutrality before risking anything that could safely be called an expression. Hands clasped behind their back, they weighed up Arashi's words on the subject.

They'd been trapped for quite some time now, the rare passages they'd been granted only leading further down the rabbit hole (if superficially upwards). The urge to be entertained in the long-term was a distinctly survivalist one, but that hardly exempted it from holding its own dangers. The bear had provided them with facilities that were, at the least, convenient given their collection of specialities, to the point where some of the new rooms might have even entertained the dead among them. It was difficult to stand in a literary room this luscious and not think of the specialist stood at its centre — and more difficult yet to consider some of the other amenities without the suspicion that they were being lulled into complacency with a precise charm.

"I'll speak to the necessity of entertainment," Setsuna added after a suitable pause, "when it gives us the tools to exhume ourselves from this grave. These books didn't appear from thin air. They're his supply. People who print books have always found ways to keep the masses from scrawling their own stories. This is no different."

#shslwordnerd #in question #aod chapter 2

shslwordnerd

all paths lead where (open)

After the trial, when—even in his mind, the sentence fragment felt undeniably callous and cruel—all the threads were tied up and everything had fallen back into an easy understandable meter of quiet, Arashi had entertained the thought that the bear might shower them in praise for their efforts before scuttling off again to who knows where. As it happened, something like that came to pass, but only subtly.

The stairs to the second floor had opened up.

By the time he’d gotten up and poked around the films section absentmindedly, the main area was quiet and deserted, and whether that meant he was early or late he wasn’t entirely sure, but the opened stairs caught his eye nonetheless and he was ascending to the second floor before the thought of informing someone else of this crossed his mind. According to his (newly returned) ID and (newly updated) map there were far more informative reading materials in store, now actually things worthy of a library label. So much so that he actually didn’t know where to begin.

Well, he had time. The Literary History room seemed like it held more investigative promise than the rest, and when he entered it was peaceful and empty. Arashi allowed himself a second to pause and just stand there, taking in the quiet gravity of the place and the pleasant smell of old books. There really was no better place than a good library. However, his attention was soon captured by the giant scroll and he moved closer to get a better look. So intent was he in poring over his new discovery, it would take some kind of localized explosion to get him to notice a new arrival.

triplequery

Setsuna's abstention had been fruitless but dignified. It seemed wrong, now, to climb the steps and avail of more amenities from the gallows — or apian boxing ring, as it were.

Still, Setsuna had decided, the revolution would find few assets in the children's section of the library. Efforts to deconstruct the master's house with the master's tools had always been ill-advised, but the matter was different enough to permit lenience when the master's house was a barricaded murder library filled with violent teenagers, little hope of escape, and too many dark corners.

it wasn't surprising, then, that the muted echo of footfall was audible all around through the corridors of the second floor. They, as a class, had earned this, after all. After the trial would be upstairs, and perhaps another if they were lucky enough to be swayed into cruelty twice. As for themselves — until they found their tools, there was little point in feeling hypocritical about living captive in the master's house.

As they passed the literary history room, their gaze alighted on a figure in mild shadow — tall, in the throes of concentration, back turned to the doorway in what was either an immense show of trust in the circumstances or some temporary state of unreality pertaining to whatever they now studied. Arashi, Setsuna recalled, which made the latter significantly more likely.

With swift silence, Setsuna approached. If they were being honest, they wanted to fill the lacuna between the trial and whatever came next with some form of human interaction, though that urge was easily sublimated as a revolutionary aim. Know your fellow captive.

"Indulging in the trappings of its dominion so soon?" Setsuna spoke when they stood few paces behind Arashi, the identity of the mentioned it specified by implication. Hopefully one mention of the bear's name wouldn't send it careening down from the ceiling, urging more murder before they could avail themselves of the fruits at hand.

#shslwordnerd #in question #aod chapter 2

Recap: Chapter 1

"Authority, when first detecting chaos at its heels, will entertain the vilest schemes to save its orderly façade."

—Alan Moore

#setsuna recaps #aod chapter 1 #in question #setsuna chatzies

breaknecklegs-deactivated201407

welcome to gay murder library hell

check out this fanmix. woo. woo!!! yeah

#out of the question #sounds from the archive

archiveofdespair-blog

MONOBEAR FILE NO.1

Your Student IDs flash. Information on the body fills the screen.

Victim: Yasu Chieko

Place of Death: Kitchen

Time of Death: 12:32 AM

Cause of Death: Blood Loss

State of Body: Very cold, having been in the fridge. Various cuts and clothes are semi-torn. Throat is slit. Is sloppily shoved in the fridge, curled in a little ball. Head injury.

#aod chapter 1 #aod monobear file #the question at hand #out of the question #shslsbtreasurer #blood ////#head trauma //////

triplequery

Questionable Movements [Sonya]

shsl-youtuber

”You’re right. I may be projecting my feelings onto you, huh? Nevertheless, I may or may not be right. It’s a gamble to attempt to guess other people’s feelings. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re not. Nevertheless, I’m pretty certain you can’t do it without projecting feelings you’re having in the present or have had in the past onto others, though. You can only take a guess at what you know for yourself. Unless you’re a psychiatrist or have extensive knowledge about feelings… Haha!”

That next statement they made was pretty morbid, not going to lie.

”I’m almost certain someone is going to kill. That’s what always happens in games and the like. People think they’re safe and right when they do somebody dies… Sorry. Uh. That wasn’t very reassuring, either.”

She’d finally arrived at the cafeteria and took a seat on one of the chairs surrounding the table.

”So, Setsuna. How are you holding up? Is there anything on your mind?”

triplequery

Setsuna turned Sonya's words over in their mind as they came to the doors of the cafeteria. Match their own in morbidity they did, and yet… that seemed the only realistic way to approach the situation, now that they were here. What Sonya had said about feelings also applied to judging the behaviours of anyone here, which needed to happen if safety was to be preserved — and it seemed that as far as predictions went, treating anyone as a potential suspect was a judgement corroborated at least by the two of them.

Despite her realism, it was difficult to treat Sonya as a potential suspect, however. Since they'd arrived, Setsuna noticed she'd done little but keep others calm — a pursuit too admirable to garner suspicion.

"On the contrary, Channing-san. The only things that can reassure me here are preparation and the truth. These are dire straits. I'm interested in your real opinions on the matter, just as I'm offering my own."

As they came up to the table, Setsuna pulled out a seat opposite to Sonya, placing their forearms on the table and lacing their fingers.

"I could think on murder and self-defense and little else, but I'm trying not to humour the hegemon. What's on my mind… is who we can trust to rise above. Now that it's come to this. Have you met anyone who hasn't thrown a punch yet?"

#shsl-youtuber #in question #aod chapter 1

triplequery

Questionable Movements

shslmotorcycleracer-deactivated

Bibi’s tired eyes sought the face of their roommate, looking for traces of emotion. The seemed to move their face very little, and Bibi wasn’t exactly a master of reading facial cues, but they weren’t encouraged by the basically blank expression on their companion’s face.

They’d come to the conclusion sometime earlier that they must know all of these people, somehow. This was a recreation, and they distinctly remembered that Junko had wiped the memories of the students involved, and that they had all been friends, once.

Yet, the individual in front of them held no meaning in Bibi’s recollections. Bibi had no way of telling if they’d once been friends, enemies, even lovers. There was nothing there.

At the mention of the bear, Bibi’s face changed from blank despair to a hard resolve.

"Of course I’m not going to bow to the fucking bear. Why would I go along blindly with the asshole that stole my grandfather?" they demanded, as if Setsuna’s comment had somehow been an insult.

They groaned loudly and rubbed vigorously at their eyes, trying to wipe the tears that were bound to come away before they appeared once more.

"Maybe getting along is a good idea, though." They sighed heavily. "There isn’t a rule about killing roommates, after all."

"Do you know how we’re going to get out of here yet?"

triplequery

Setsuna weighed up Bibi's first answer silently, their face still. The sudden surge of passion in Bibi's voice at the mention of the bear's rules seemed to bode well, though it was difficult to judge whether or not that passion could be turned against them eventually. They did seem attached to their grandfather, and given that the bear had already proven its clout great enough to kidnap members of their families, there was no telling how many attachments it would exploit before they could escape.

Still, it was much easier to negotiate with an aggressor when one felt like a legitimate party to the negotiations, and Setsuna reckoned their roommate was indignant enough at the situation to recognise the imbalance of power before the bear brought them to the negotiation table.

A potential ally? Perhaps. They seemed just as keen on bowing as Setsuna was — which was to say, never.

"There may not be a rule," Setsuna admitted, and that was a good point on Bibi's part, "yet I count myself among those who do not need a rule to behave with virtue. I'd like to say the same of the others, but time might tell better than my predictions."

Anarchism, it seemed, was a slightly less solid philosophy when it came to the whims of teenagers. In a matter of days they had already witnessed acts of violence that couldn't be called virtuous, nor reasoned. And yet — perhaps they'd all behave with virtue if it weren't for the bear's mandates. They'd see, Setsuna supposed, when they succeeded. Which brought them neatly to Bibi's next query.

"Not by obeying," Setsuna returned grimly, thinking over the bear's latest stipulations. "I was hoping for a campaign of patient and peaceful resistance. Now that the bear's placed a time limit, that's out of the question. Direct confrontation seems futile, given what happened to—" They paused, realising they hadn't quite caught the name of the one who'd rebelled first. "—the bee. And escape… that would depend on where we are."

#shslmotorcycleracer #in question #aod chapter 1

triplequery

Questionable Movements

shslmotorcycleracer-deactivated

Bibi sat on their bed, staring into space. Well, specifically, staring at the far wall. They’d tried to school themself into putting their grandfather out of their mind, but the image of him in his stupid colourful Hawaiian shirt and his face—usually so happy—pulled into that mournful frown kept flashing before their eyes.

Tears poured out of their eyes indiscriminately. Their glasses fogged, and they continued to stare. They’d tried to be brave, be bold, to deal with their problems like an adult. Still, the numbness in their chest had spread to their limbs.

Even the stint of violence in the library had only served to make them feel formal for a moment.

How could something like this happen? They wondered. Their grandfather wasn’t connected to any of this.

They turned their head slowly, their face set in a grim stasis when the door opened. The slick looking person in sunglasses they’d met briefly prior to the first announcement of the bear had appeared. It slowly clicked in their brain that they were probably roommates.

"Oh," they said, more in response to their own thoughts than as a greeting.

They were too numb to really deal with personal interactions, so the utterance was as far as they could get at that point.

triplequery

By the time Setsuna reached the dormitories, their storminess had abated to a gentle shower. It wasn't quite anger they felt — they only wished it could be sublimated with such righteous ease. Instead, it had condensed as some kind of conceptual affront, sweeping through the ages to encompass all dominion and misplaced compulsion that now culminated in this bear.

Cooperation with the regime was out of the question; what naturally proceeded if they were to prevail was what Paolo Virno had called 'engaged withdrawal'. Resistance that did not lunge at the bear, but gathered in thin coteries behind it — critiquing, strategising, then slipping away as shadows from the machine.

Their room, all things considered, was a good place to start.

Beyond the eyes of the crowd, their solemnness had lost its tensile quality, sinking back into a quiet naturalism once more. Setsuna was hence composed by the time they opened the door, though the same could only be said ambiguously of the person they'd intruded on. In their haste, they'd assumed that they were the first to leave. A miscalculation.

When Setsuna had taken the envelope, the name had read Abe Bibi. It hadn't quite struck them that they should have identified the person before they walked in on them in some kind of teary contemplation, but that moment had passed. They could only assume that nobody was foolish — or antagonistic — enough to pose as their roommate.

Lost for words, Setsuna shut the door quietly behind them and tried to make amends by staring resolutely at the wall.

"Oh," Setsuna mirrored, less out of derision than a genuine lack of anything appropriate to say. "You're Abe-san. I think we met earlier."

It didn't seem apropos to leave it at that, but it was either small talk (which Setsuna was both unable and unwilling to offer given how little the other looked like they wanted to be bothered) or some kind of bizarre stab at discussing the situation at hand.

"I don't plan on bowing to the bear," they added in what was decidedly an unfiltered endeavour towards the latter, turning their gaze, and their head, to face Bibi. "And on the basis that you aren't either, let's get along."

#shslmotorcycleracer #in question #aod chapter 1

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

mere fabrication