shsl-daredevil - Tumblr blog

[shsl-daredevil]

Before and after I sign good boy to my deaf dog

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy followed Hoshiko in, her light-hearted speech making something in her soften. She looked around at the decor, noting the soft lights and pinned up decorations. It was very… Hoshiko, she thought, and the way she made the room her own put Addy at ease for the first time that night.

She felt her lips quirk up at the unfamiliar titles, and couldn’t help but comment. “More nicknames for me, Hoshiko? This is starting to feel unfair, I’ll have to come up with my own for you…” She thought for a second, and then asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know what the french word for ‘angel’ or ‘sunshine’ is, would you? Because those both seem pretty accurate.” Her face flushed a bit at her own forwardness, but it seemed like second nature to exchange light teasing with her.

"And… I was just checking in on you. It’s… kind of hard on a lotta people right now, I wanted to make sure you weren’t dealing with anything all by yourself if I could help.” She became a bit more somber at the mention of the motive, fond smile fading.

@linguxst

this is gay

Addy found herself watching her feet move, not knowing where they were taking her. Her mind was buzzing and it was all she could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other while she felt so light-headed. The elevator chimed gently at her as she entered and exited, and started eyeing the nameplates on the doors of the second floor. Who was it she was looking for?

The further she got, the more obvious her goal became to her. She didn’t know why she was seeking her out, and part of her wanted to pull back, to keep to herself. But it was drowned out by the steady urge to make sure that she was still there, and see if maybe she had… something. Answers, sympathy, venting, talking, even just shared silence. Anything to keep her mind off of what was happening, and keep her from blanking out more than she already had.

Reaching her destination, she eyed the label reading “Hoshiko Moreau”, and wondered why she had thought of her this whole time as Hoshiko. Wasn’t that a little rude? She shook away the thought, and knocked softly after her motor functions finished going through another moment of static. 

“Moreau? It’s Addy. I’m here to…” She tried to figure that out for a few seconds, and then gave up. “I’m just here… I guess.”

@linguxst

[shsl-daredevil]

this is gay

Addy found herself watching her feet move, not knowing where they were taking her. Her mind was buzzing and it was all she could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other while she felt so light-headed. The elevator chimed gently at her as she entered and exited, and started eyeing the nameplates on the doors of the second floor. Who was it she was looking for?

The further she got, the more obvious her goal became to her. She didn’t know why she was seeking her out, and part of her wanted to pull back, to keep to herself. But it was drowned out by the steady urge to make sure that she was still there, and see if maybe she had… something. Answers, sympathy, venting, talking, even just shared silence. Anything to keep her mind off of what was happening, and keep her from blanking out more than she already had.

Reaching her destination, she eyed the label reading “Hoshiko Moreau”, and wondered why she had thought of her this whole time as Hoshiko. Wasn’t that a little rude? She shook away the thought, and knocked softly after her motor functions finished going through another moment of static. 

“Moreau? It’s Addy. I’m here to…” She tried to figure that out for a few seconds, and then gave up. “I’m just here... I guess.”

@linguxst

[shsl-daredevil]

a lawyer and a stuntperson walk into a bar,

@law-star

Addy stared at the walls in front of her, recognizing it as one of the halls on the second floor, with the lavish but ugly wallpaper, and doors on one side. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing here, but it didn’t really matter. The only timer that mattered was the one slowly counting down the hours until-

Blinking the thought away like a stray piece of lint, she turned and tried to remember where her room was, glancing at the nameplates and taking a little too long to register them when she recalled that they no longer used the rooms. She turned the corner and stopped, spotting a figure nearby.

It was… Mori, wasn’t it? They hadn’t talked much, and she didn’t know her very well. Still, she caught her eyes and lifted a hand in a half-wave, before approaching, ready for any distraction from the current situation, even if that was just letting someone else vent about it.

“Hi… It’s Patel? Mori, right? Sorry, I just- I’m not sure what to do… about everything.” Very well-thought out. Except not at all. Way to go, Aditi. Smooth.

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy let her head turn to the side when she saw Marston shifting, and listened to him, trying to figure out his words in a way that made sense. She didn’t know what to do either. She rarely did. She always knew what she had to do, but never did it right. She couldn’t put this into words though, so she just blinked at him, slowly, the way she knew cats at the animal shelter did.

Part of her twisted in discomfort over the lack of an answer on her part, but it faded away quickly, and Ezra didn’t seem to mind. He looked frustrated, but not in a way that was aimed at her. She knew what someone being upset at her looked like. Empathy settled in her; she could feel the terrified frustration in a small part of her as well.

When he spoke again, it took her several minutes to force herself to take the words and understand them, not distantly register them and let the implications fade away. He hadn’t waited, moving too fast and bumping his head against the table with a yell that made her jump after a second’s delay. A concerned crease formed in her brow, the first facial expression she’d managed so far, but he crawled out from under the table with little delay.

She blinked at his hand for a moment as he offered it, and then brushed away thoughts of cold, frozen skin and accepted it, automatically using her other hand to push herself up so he wouldn’t have to take her full weight. He looked determined, in a squeamish sort of way, and it made the smothered part of Addy, the one that desperately wanted to help, perk up in interest.

She flinched automatically, still a bit delayed, at the anger in his tone, but again it wasn’t the same as when he- someone was really mad at her. He hadn’t broken anything yet either, though it was hard to imagine Marston doing such a thing. His apologetic grimace only confirmed this, and Addy felt her lips genuinely twitch upwards, a surge of appreciation for him helping clear the fuzziness in her mind.

She nodded slowly after hearing his plan, ready to follow his lead. So long as they were doing something, they could keep their thoughts off of it, or at least feel like they were helping, even if just a bit. Still, looking at Marston’s tired face, she felt something fond but bitter in her chest. Her answer to his question, though delayed, still lingered in her mind as she started searching with him for Monokuma’s treacherous ‘surprises’.

'You’ll make it out. You’re strong, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. I believe in you.'

@shslcartographxr

(insert some edgy 21p lyric probably)

In hindsight, staging his own murder was probably a bit of a rash idea, and the second Monokuma had told him it could work (though it’d be “boring,” apparently) he found himself already backing out. No, no one had to die. They could find a way out of this. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully? Please.

Atsuko would kill him if she ever found out what he had been thinking-that is, if either of them made it out of this alive. His fear had slowly ebbed away to a painful anger, mixed with confusion on how in the hell whoever was doing this was doing this. It was already conspicuous enough to kidnap an entire class of students, but now even more people had been taken. How was no one noticing this? Was no one looking for them? Ezra knew his father was wishy-washy, but he’d still go through hell to find Atsuko, and…probably Ezra, too. 

It hurt to think of his dad, and his wife and Miyu. They would have been alarmed to lose Ezra, but Atsuko was a part of their family. If anything happened to her, to them, Ezra couldn’t forgive himself.

But he also didn’t think he could forgive himself for killing anyone here, which landed him right back where he started with his racing thoughts. Which was, nowhere useful at all.

Ezra wanted someone to tell him what to do. But he knew everyone else was going through the same panic as him, and probably thinking the same horrible thought: I want someone to die.

Or maybe they weren’t thinking that. Maybe it was just him, dragging everyone else down to his level again.

It was awful, and sickening, but no matter how much Ezra picked at his hands he couldn’t ignore that fact that somewhere within him, he selfishly wanted someone to kill so that everyone’s loved ones wouldn’t die. So that his sister wouldn’t die. He didn’t want to lose any more of his classmates, he didn’t want to investigate a horrible murder again, but he also didn’t want to look at that laptop screen and see Atsuko’s corpse. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.

So he was going to be even more selfish, and not think at all. Just for a little while, just until he could think about this without wanting to scream at the top of his lungs. He didn’t have the time to do this, but his brain seemed to be separating itself from reality without his consent, and when he found himself lying under one of the tables in the dining hall, he was only mildly surprised to be there. 

It was eerily quiet, and the table blocked out the harsh fluorescent lights, making it seem like Ezra was in his own tiny box. Not unlike Atsuko’s.

He had to think. About where they were, what was happening, why this was happening, how to stop it, what to do-but nothing was coming to his empty mind. 

Why can’t this just be a dream?

@shsl-crocker @un-luckster @shsl-daredevil @cryptographer (open 2 anyone just tagged the first ppl i could think of lmao)

[shsl-daredevil]

Hyun stumbled back from her desk where she had set the laptop. Her hands flailed out at some point, knocking over the glass of sweet tea sitting adjacent to the open computer and soaking her carpet, but she didn’t care. Her mom. She knew it was her mom, everything added up - the skin color, her own but darker, the moles scattering the skin she could see, the dark hair she remembers brushing, decorating with flowers and bows and exclamations of “Ma, your hair is so pretty! I want my hair just like yours!” She stumbled and fell, her knees giving out on her. God… Ma… She must be so scared. Hyun crawled her way over to her bathroom, just barely managing to make it to the toilet before her stomach emptied her lunch, coughing and dry heaving once she had no more to remove, big, warm tears falling down her face when she remembered having the flu in 4th grade, her mom cooing at her as she held back her hair and wiped her face with a cool cloth. Her mom, who was now trapped in a room. Her mom, who only had 36 hours to live. Unless Hyun killed. She pushed the thought out as soon as it entered, she didn’t want to entertain it for long. “I… I h-have to.” She whimpered out. “I have to f-find the others. T-they aren’t okay either I’m n-not gonna be selfish.” She shakily stood up, splashing her face with water and washing out her mouth. She walked out of her room on trembling legs, stumbling and grabbing the wall occasionally. “T-The others… I have to h-help - where are t-they?” 

Addy stared at the figures in front of her face, blinking until her mind registered that they were numbers. She was in the elevator. The doors were closed. It wasn’t moving, though she felt nauseous. She lowered her eyes to the ‘open doors’ button. It took a while, but eventually she reached up and pressed it. The doors slid open, and a small ding sounded. She stared at the open hallway.

The doors closed again. Frustration welled up in her, and then melted away. She leaned against the wall of the elevator. The walls in the back made it feel like she was boxed in. Just like-

Her hand was on the elevator button again, and she watched as the elevator descended to the room floor. She wasn’t sure what she would do in her room, but it seemed like maybe someone would need to use the elevator eventually. She didn’t want to be asked questions.

Though, there hadn’t been anyone on in… the time she’d been on, however long that was. They were probably all dealing with the backlash from the motive-

She watched her feet as she walked, boots muffled against the carpet. It felt like her legs were moving without her permission. She stared idly. Her body approached a corner, and turned it.

Down the hall, she could see Akintola. Hyun. She couldn’t remember exactly which she was allowed to use, but it was always better to stay formal, wasn’t it? She’d known that from a young age, her dad always warned her-

Akintola didn’t look good. It stood out sharply on the normally cheerful and sweet girl. A clarity tried to push away the fog in Addy’s thoughts, but it was like struggling through quicksand, and Addy stood and stared, unable to muster up any words or even movements to comfort her. She couldn’t act like this. Those around her would die, she was cursed, but wouldn’t they die anyways-

Her body moved closer without her willing it, and she opened her mouth to talk with an empty spot where her planned words should’ve been.

“Akintola. I’m sorry.” She apologized, which felt like the right thing to do even though she didn’t know precisely what it was for. She couldn’t do anything. Her mind refused to settle, her senses fuzzing in and out like tv static. She was useless, and people around her were suffering. She knew it she knew it she knew-

Akintola was trembling, and pale. Addy reached out, not knowing what she wanted to do precisely beyond the general urge to comfort, to give Akintola human contact and reassure herself that she was here and warm and still alive. Her gesture hesitated halfway, waiting for a response of any kind.

@shsl-crocker

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy stared at her hands, studying the one scar on the side of her hand that she had gotten during one of her recovery period stunts. The doctor had used butterfly bandages instead of stitches, and something about that had struck Addy as maybe not right, but the aid came cheap and her dad didn’t have to worry. Her dad. Her dad-

She looked up, realizing that she was standing in the kitchen area again. It seemed like she spent a lot of time here, especially when she was-  

She moved to wash her hands, scrubbing furiously at the scar as though the pus from when it had gotten infected for a while was still coating her skin. She stopped abruptly, leaning over the sink and just letting her hands stay under the running spout. The water was hot. Her hands burned. She should move them.

After a too-long period of realizing that, she pulled her hands back out. The paper towels were on the counter, but it didn’t seem worth it to reach out and grab them. The faucet continued to run, the water creating a rushing sound as it drained. Addy reached out and turned it off. Her mind still buzzed, but it was quieter now.

Quiet enough to hear the water dripping from her still-soaked hands. The sound was familiar. It was the same thing he was surely hearing right now-

She blinked dazedly at the dining room floor. She was standing there now. Her head turned, though she didn’t turn it, and noticed a pair of sneakers, just barely poking out from under one of the tables. Something like worry filtered into her mind, and then away again like sand through her fingers. Her body turned and took slow steps closer, without her willing it to. She watched herself crouch, and then lean back to sit on the ground by the table.

Marston was there. He was staring at the underside of the table tiredly. It looked like there were new lines of stress on his face. The strain of the motive must’ve-

Addy felt sort of lightheaded. Before it had felt like her face was numb, lips immovable, but now she started speaking without any idea of what she was going to say.

“Marston. It’s dirty down there.” Distantly, she thought that was a very meaningless thing to say. She watched him for a moment more, and then laid down too, shifting so if her head turned, she’d be able to meet Marston’s eyes. She watched her own chest rise and expand, wondering languidly if her mind would realign with her body any time soon.

@shslcartographxr

(insert some edgy 21p lyric probably)

In hindsight, staging his own murder was probably a bit of a rash idea, and the second Monokuma had told him it could work (though it’d be “boring,” apparently) he found himself already backing out. No, no one had to die. They could find a way out of this. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully? Please.

Atsuko would kill him if she ever found out what he had been thinking-that is, if either of them made it out of this alive. His fear had slowly ebbed away to a painful anger, mixed with confusion on how in the hell whoever was doing this was doing this. It was already conspicuous enough to kidnap an entire class of students, but now even more people had been taken. How was no one noticing this? Was no one looking for them? Ezra knew his father was wishy-washy, but he’d still go through hell to find Atsuko, and…probably Ezra, too. 

It hurt to think of his dad, and his wife and Miyu. They would have been alarmed to lose Ezra, but Atsuko was a part of their family. If anything happened to her, to them, Ezra couldn’t forgive himself.

But he also didn’t think he could forgive himself for killing anyone here, which landed him right back where he started with his racing thoughts. Which was, nowhere useful at all.

Ezra wanted someone to tell him what to do. But he knew everyone else was going through the same panic as him, and probably thinking the same horrible thought: I want someone to die.

Or maybe they weren’t thinking that. Maybe it was just him, dragging everyone else down to his level again.

It was awful, and sickening, but no matter how much Ezra picked at his hands he couldn’t ignore that fact that somewhere within him, he selfishly wanted someone to kill so that everyone’s loved ones wouldn’t die. So that his sister wouldn’t die. He didn’t want to lose any more of his classmates, he didn’t want to investigate a horrible murder again, but he also didn’t want to look at that laptop screen and see Atsuko’s corpse. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.

So he was going to be even more selfish, and not think at all. Just for a little while, just until he could think about this without wanting to scream at the top of his lungs. He didn’t have the time to do this, but his brain seemed to be separating itself from reality without his consent, and when he found himself lying under one of the tables in the dining hall, he was only mildly surprised to be there. 

It was eerily quiet, and the table blocked out the harsh fluorescent lights, making it seem like Ezra was in his own tiny box. Not unlike Atsuko’s.

He had to think. About where they were, what was happening, why this was happening, how to stop it, what to do-but nothing was coming to his empty mind. 

Why can’t this just be a dream?

@shsl-crocker @un-luckster @shsl-daredevil @cryptographer (open 2 anyone just tagged the first ppl i could think of lmao)

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy stepped on the elevator and froze, taking in the scene. Akintola was on her knees in front of Takahashi’s room, forehead pressed against the door and hands clasped against her mouth, attempting to muffle her sobbing even as she pleaded with Takahashi in a thick voice. Her head whipped around at the sound of the elevator doors closing behind Addy, eyes wide like a cornered animal’s. Even as Addy registered what was happening, she swiped at her eyes furiously, a trembling smile pasted onto her wet face.

Addy wasn’t smart, and she knew it, but there were a few things she could recognize. She recognized the look in Takahashi’s eyes at the end of the trial. She recognized the terrified sadness in Akintola’s frame. She recognized the guilt thick in the air. Something unruly in her settled, smoothed over and pushed down by the knowledge of something much more important.

These were her friends, and they were hurting. She knew why, through similar experiences. She couldn’t give them platitudes that wouldn’t help or leave them there. These were the facts that she knew.

So, the only thing to do was take action. She knelt next to Akintola, hands hovering above her. “Akintola, Ak-” She listened to the other girl’s babble for a moment, still apologizing and asking if she was alright despite her red-rimmed eyes. “Hyun.” She said, emphatically, getting her attention. “Is it okay if I hold you?” After a moment, she got a stuttering nod, and didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around her and hug her for a moment. “It’ll be alright,” she promised, determined to make it so, “and I know what to do.”

She rose and brought Hyun with her, holding her securely in both arms. “Is this okay?” She asked, and Hyun nodded into her shirt, where she was still shaking with muffled sobs and broken-off apologies. Addy carried her back down to the kitchen, not even noticing a familiar orange blob in the corner of the dining hall, and sat her down on the counter, making sure she was steady before moving to rummage under the sinks. “Aha!” She said, snatching the large pack of thin cleaning sponges with the rest of the cleaning supplies. She had learned about them a few days ago while she cleaned the entire kitchen in a minor meltdown.

Triumphantly, she grabbed some scissors and handed Hyun a pair, told her “just copy what I do”, and started cutting the sponges into strips. Hyun was slow to respond, and still shaky, but she set to the task with a slow determination.

A small cough broke Addy’s concentration, and she turned to see Ezra worriedly peeking in the kitchen, glancing from Hyun’s shaking frame to Addy and then to the scissors in their hands with no small amount of confusion. She waved him in, hoping he wouldn’t assume the worst from the scissors, and he cautiously slipped next to them, watching Addy and Hyun work with quiet curiosity. “Um…” He started, trailing off, but Addy heard the question in his voice. “You’ll see,” she said encouragingly, “It’s for Takahashi, and…all of us,” She offered him a pair of scissors and some sponges, just in case he wanted to help. He stared at them like they were foreign objects for a second, before taking them and starting to follow in Addy and Hyun’s lead.

Addy watched carefully that they didn’t slip and they soon had a fair amount of sponge strips between the three of them. “Now, we clump ‘em together.” Addy said, using hair bands to tie large stacks of the sponges together in the middle, making the ends splay out in a semi-round shape. “Hold these for me?” She requested of Hyun, still set on giving her tasks to preoccupy her, and then grabbed a small mop bucket and filled it with water.

“Alright, let me know if you’re uncomfortable!” Addy said, gathering Hyun, still holding the sponge-balls, in her arms again and picking up the bucket by its handle to set it on her wrist. Ezra shook his head though, taking the bucket for her, although she could easily carry all of this on her own. Addy supposed he didn’t want to feel useless, though, so she let him. She hurried back to Takahashi’s room, and bypassed it completely, stopping at Hyun’s. She glanced back to make sure Ezra was still keeping up-barely, but he was almost there, holding the bucket as if spilling it would melt the floor-and she turned back to peer down at Hyun in query. “Can we go in, Hyun?”

Hyun looked up from where she had her face burrowed into Addy’s chest. Normally she’d be blushing pretty hard by now - Addy was pretty - but she gave off more of a dear friend vibe. She finally took in that Addy had asked her a question, and cleared her throat. “Yeah, you can go in. It’s a little messy.” By that she meant that there were half dried sculptures on the desk and a muddy cup of water sitting next to an unfinished glass of sweet tea - there was labels on them reading “smoothing water” and “NOT smoothing water”. She gave Addy a sign meaning “down.” Addy set her on her feet in one gentle motion. She turned back to Addy once she was on the ground. “So… what’s the plan?” Ezra, having finally caught up with them, nodded vigorously in agreement with Hyun’s question, and then immediately panicked as this motion almost spilled the water he was holding. “What’s…all this. For, Addy?”

As soon as they had entered the room, Addy took one of the sponge balls from where they were still nestled in Hyun’s arms, and motioned for Ezra to set down the bucket of water. He did, and she dropped the sponge ball into it. “We,” she announced, walking over to the connecting doors, “are going to show Takahashi that we can’t let him pull away now. We were all friends before, and… and we care about each other now too, a whole lot. If he doesn’t realize that when we say it, then we just gotta… show him, y’know?”

She pulled the soaked sponge-ball from her bucket and held it up, water dripping down her arm. “And the best way to do that,” she said with determined cheer, “is to go to prank him!” Ezra blanched, looking petrified, and Addy quickly continued, “Harmlessly, of course! But he’s our friend, and pranks cheer people up, and that’s what friends are supposed to do! I think.” She didn’t have much experience that she remembered, but she was going to try! She owed them that much, at least.

Hyun blinked up at the others words. Prank Haruki? Would that work? She looked down at the sponge balls in her hand, before dropping them into the bucket on the ground. She pulled one out from it, water soaking her floor. She didn’t care. The only thing on her mind right now was helping Haruki. She gave Addy a wide beam, her eyes scrunching closed. “Let’s do it!”

Ezra gradually seemed to calm down from his initial reaction to Addy’s suggestion, and considered the lopsided, dripping sponge-ball in her hands. He nodded, giving her a small, anxious smile.”That’s…a good idea, Addy. Um. Actions. Make more noise than words. Right?” Addy wasn’t quite sure that was the right wording, but actions were what she understood best, and she gave him a double thumbs-up in agreement.

Addy shot a cheesy grin at them, took a deep breath, and knocked on the connecting door twice before opening it swiftly, and leading the way inside.

"Hey, Takahashi!” She called into the room, spotting his pink hair near instantly. “Water you doing hiding from your friends who care about you?” She near-hollered, and then lobbed a soaking wet bundle of sponge at him, being careful to regulate the strength behind her throw.

Hyun caught Ezra’s eyes from behind Addy, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze, grinning at him. She laughed at Addy’s pun, before lobbing the sponge at the surprised Haruki. It bounced harmlessly off his head, soaking his hair. His ahogae popped right back up. “Addy, wasn’t that pun a little watered down?”

Ezra spent too long trying to think of a water pun, as Addy had suggested, that he missed the opening “attack.” He quickly readied his ammo, and then paused, stuck in the doorway. He didn’t want to throw too hard and hurt Haruki…though they were only sponges, but still. “Um…we…wanted to sea you?” He winced at how bad his pun was, even though it was the truth, and gently lobbed his sponge in Haruki’s direction, missing completely despite the room not being that large. “We missed. You,” He added, a little quieter.

@un-luckster @shsl-crocker @shslcartographxr

Throw Away the Lock (to my heart) and Swallow the Key...

Haruki’s head was spinning, he wanted to hide. Hide. Hide. Why were these.. Feelings.. Feelings. Hiding… He gripped his head hard in his hands, a throbbing pulse in his whole body.

Why won’t they all just SHUT UP?

He felt the urge to punch himself hard. Because this was his fault and he was overloaded and he hadn’t done enough and ALL THESE WORDS–THEY WEREN’T JUST AT AMANO, NO–THEY WERE AT HARUKI TOO. HE HADN’T DONE ENOUGH HADN’T DONE ENOUGH HAD–

Haruki tore at his hair, sweat running down his face as he struggled to remain calm–at least on the outside.

Because what am I worth… if I lose face now.

His eyes closed, and he grimaced with panting breath as he faced away from the others, hoping they couldn’t see him. Not like this. Not how he really was.

They already hated people like him enough. People who had nothing more than what they could do. There was no point showing them who he really was–the useless, weak Haruki, who didn’t even have a talent to rely on for self-worth. 

At least Kyoji had that.

Haruki was just his facade… Nothing more. And the hateful spitting words flying through the air… 

God… Just fucking stay away from me. From now on.

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy looked up from her untouched plate at breakfast, the sound of metal against glass snapping her out of her spaced out state. Marston was standing uncertainly at the end of the table, looking kind of sweaty and pale. She could relate.

She adjusted her hearing aids as he spoke, catching enough to understand the basic gist of it all.

“Rules…?” She asked, curious.

“Do you mean like, staying in groups or something?” She struggled to think back on the fuzzy first few days. They seemed really distant.

“Didn’t we try something like that a while ago? Would it work better if we assigned them… in writing, or something?”

It hadn’t worked before, but before… well, before, nobody had been dead or murdered, she thought with a pang.

@shslcartographxr

preventative measures

Four people were dead, and none of them could lie to themselves anymore. Some of them were willing to kill, and more of them were going to die unless they did something about it.

Could they even do anything about it?

Trying to…well, not die had made Ezra forget about escaping for the time being, and he was pretty sure no one else had been thinking about it while they were all literally investigating for their lives. Now, though…there would be a new floor opened up, and another chance for them to try to figure out a way to escape, or who was behind this, or at least find out where they even were in the world. 

They couldn’t let their classmates’…their friends’ deaths be in vain. Katsumi, Akira…even Artemis and Kyoji, though Ezra didn’t think he could forgive the latter two. Not just yet, at least. But they were victims of this sick game, too, and for the sake of all of their dead classmates, they had to find and stop whoever was doing this. 

However noble that thought was, though, Ezra really just wanted to curl up in his room and disappear, never to be seen again. That sounded a lot easier. A lot less painful, too. He hadn’t known them for the longest time…or maybe he had, if what Monokuma said about their memories was true…but Ezra missed Akira and Katsumi. He tried not to look at their doors, but it was kind of difficult when he had to walk past their now-empty rooms every time he entered or left his own. If Akira was here, they’d probably say something weird to diffuse the tension and then reassure everyone it’d all be okay. Katsumi would stand silent but strong, and maybe Ezra and them could even map out the new floor together. They would know what to say, to make Ezra feel like the world wasn’t ending. 

But neither of them were here, or even alive, anymore, but Ezra was still alive and so were the rest of them, so it was up to them to make sure they stayed that way. They never really had established any rules of their own after that first day, but maybe it was time to do so. Well, okay, it was probably definitely time to do so.

Knowing that didn’t make speaking up any easier, though. Ezra couldn’t hold people’s attention, or speak loudly, or clearly, for that matter. They needed some sort of leader to do that, although Ezra wasn’t sure who would want to take over that role. Hoshiko seemed pretty demanding…but Akemi commanded a room like no other. Shujin used to be the actual head of a council, so he might be a good leader…And Haruki was pretty sensible, and smart, and he seemed like he could keep the rest of them under control. Maybe? 

Pretty much everyone but him had some ability to lead, and maybe that was why everyone had been clashing so much. But they needed to stick together if the rest of them were going to make it out of this, hopefully alive. 

So that’s why, the next morning at breakfast, before everyone had left to explore the new floor, Ezra shakily stood up and hit the side of his glass cup with his spoon, like he’d seen people do at weddings once, to get everyone’s attention. 

“Um.” Oh, this was an awful idea. “Should. Should we. Should we,” Why couldn’t he just speak for once?

“Shouldwemaybecomeupwithourownrulessothisdoesn’thappenagain?”

Great. Excellent. Just how he’d wanted to word it. Now it was out there but he was pretty sure no one could understand the garbled mess of words that had come out of him. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he tried again, much slower.

“We need. To stop. This. From happening. Again,” He sat down, suddenly exhausted, and started picking at his hands. “We. Should make. Rules. Maybe?”

Well. He’d said all he could say. Now, hopefully, someone else could take the reins. 

@danganronpadespairmadness (hope this is ok 2 do if not lemme know?)

(also not tagging everyone but this is open!!)

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy walked slowly out of the dining area, having spent an indeterminate amount of time sitting around and staring at nothing, thoughts going in unproductive circles. She was getting exactly nothing done, but she has still tried to stay out of sight whenever anyone else came downstairs. It was a new feeling for her, the avoidance of others, and it made things awfully inconvenient. Still, it didn’t look like anyone was walking the second floor halls at the moment, so she was on her way to the elevator to retreat into her room, figuring she might as well use it for once.

A smidge of white caught her eye as she passed the entrance to the garden, and she paused, turning towards it. After a second, she saw it was a crumpled bit of paper, and there were more pieces nearby. Suddenly chilled, she remembered the scene she’d found in the laundry room. Paper scattered everywhere, illegible but clearly part of the murder plot. Urgent and afraid of what she’d find simultaneously, she made her way down the path, almost pausing at every balled up paper.

When she saw the body laying on the ground, she nearly yelled, only stopped by the sight of his chest rising and falling calmly. Peeking at the hair under the book covering his face, it was… Hotaru most likely. It made sense, looking at the papers, which she could now see were covered in all kinds of numbers and diagrams. A curl of unease made itself known in her gut, and she tried to shake it off. Even if Hotaru… thought those things, and would probably hate her if he knew her secret, she should still at least check on him.

She stepped forwards a bit, letting stray rocks crunch under her feet. “H… Hotaru? Are you alright?”   

@cryptographer

Ryu couldn’t feel his ass anymore. He’d been sitting on the cold cobblestone path for nearly 3 days straight, with a pad of paper lying in front of him. His plan was to crack some sort of code hidden within the hotel, find a secret way out, and leave this place behind forever. He knew that his wishful thinking was just that, wishful, but he wanted nothing more than for that to be true.

Many crumpled up papers lay around him, the white space completely coated with pencil marks of any kind. He was staring at the number on the clock, hoping that the harder he stared, the easier it would be to see some hidden truth within the number. The number was sketched out, drawn, written out and thoroughly investigated.

He had even counted each leaf of poison ivy to see if the grand scheme of the area held within it a secret, more visual, clue, but he found nothing. The slight red itching of poison ivy had kissed his wrist, and although it didn’t look so bad at first, he had scratched the skin raw. The slight bumps, that were scratched until they opened up and bled, were beginning to scab over, unlike the pink gnaw marks on his fingers.

It was nearly dinner, and Ryu decided to give up for the day, and he fell back, lying down on the cobble path with his pad of paper over his face.

(( @un-luckster @shsl-crocker @shslcartographxr @shsl-thespian @ultimateglassblower @headofreservecoursecouncil @shsl-daredevil i forget who else wanted to be tagged, but all are free to respond!! ))

[shsl-daredevil]

take a fucking dissociate, babes

Addy sighed, and shifted to huddle further into a ball, legs tucked in and knees pressed to her chest. From what she could see from her perch on top of the fridge, nobody else was in the room or even area, which meant she was alone with her thoughts. Unfortunately.

The trial’s events replayed in her mind, glossing over at periods where her mind still refused to process. They all said the same thing to Amano, in the end. He was a murderer. They couldn't forget or forgive that. The fact that he'd killed someone before was what condemned him, in his final defense. She should feel the same, right?

She stared at her hands, feeling the sensation of ice ghosting along her back, her arms, her hands. The sight of something so, so still. She shivered, and then held her head in her hands, feeling dull pain in her temples. Trying to think about this on her own was an exercise in futility. She had to talk to someone directly about it if she wanted to get anywhere.

She wondered for a moment, but in the end, the choice was obvious. She hopped down from the industrial fridge, landing lightly on her feet in the dim kitchen and heading for the elevator. He wasn't biased, as he showed every trial, and he was smart. She got off the elevator on the residential floor. She trusted him. He’d be able to tell her the truth, and she’d… she'd do what she had to.

She stopped at his door, and knocked carefully.

“Takahashi? ...Are you in here? S… Sorry to bother you, but I need your help… your thoughts on something.” She paused, considering. “If you don't want to, that's fine too, of course.” It would leave her uncertain and untethered, but it wasn't his job to listen to her burdens. In fact, now that she thought about it, this was a horrible idea that would only inconvenience him. “I'm sorry, nevermind, I’ll just-” She stepped back, preparing to go back to huddling on top of the tallest structure she could find.

@un-luckster

[shsl-daredevil]

-“Is that all you want out of life? To do one thing forever, all because you were good at it when you were 15?” “That’s all I have, in a world like this.”

[shsl-daredevil]

@shsl-daredevil addy the entire investigation + trial

[shsl-daredevil]

smel it by man who is crying

Addy realized that her shirt was kinda damp from all the sweating she’d done. She hadn’t really worked out but finding a dead body and proceeding to sit in one place trying not to hyperventilate had more or less the same effect on her clothes. She got up and checked the pool room first, but there weren’t any towels around. Oh, yeah. Yikes. Instead, she went to the laundry room, figuring worst come to worst she could just use one of her old shirts and dab some detergent on it or something. As long as she wasn’t actively smely it was probably fine. @danganronpadespairmadness

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy nodded slowly, feeling a little guilty about missing Ishikawa’s earlier sickness. “I’m sorry, I was… out of it.” She glanced over at Ishikawa, and then darted her eyes away nervously, looking at the chair again. Something about the act of destroying the furniture in frustration made a small part of her curl away, as though frightened. She was very still.

For a moment, she thought she should just leave, before she misstepped and made Ishikawa hate her, and she almost shifted back to her feet, deeply uneasy. Before she could, she heard the soft, unmistakable sound of stifled crying. An unsteady inhale, and watery exhale. The slight shaking of her shoulders. The way Ishikawa wouldn’t meet her eyes.

It was as though something had snapped into place, softening her. Ishikawa wasn’t angry, she was scared. Scared of Addy, though not in the way people were normally scared of her. Still, she moved slowly, lowering herself to fully sit on the ground. She reached out a hand, upturned in offering, reminiscent of the way she’d offered her arm after the first motive was revealed. Automatic. Comfortable.

"Ishik- …Akemi.” She said, softly, slowly, trying put the full weight of her certainty into these words. “Akemi, I’m right here. It’s alright. You’re alright. We’ll be alright. I’ll… I’ll always be at your side, okay? If you need someone to lean on. I’ll be here. Even when you feel bad. Especially then.” She paused for a moment, struggling to put her thoughts into coherent form. “It’s okay… to feel things. It hurts.” The words felt oddly familiar on her lips. “But you’re stronger than you think. And when you don’t want to be strong… I’ll be right here.”

@ultimateglassblower

Investigation: get meowta here

Akemi had had enough of this, and was much as she wanted to investigate she wouldn’t be much help when she was this stressed. While she usually waited until no one was around to go, she didn’t spend nearly as much time checking to see if anyone saw her go to the private seating area this time.

As she slipped inside, she saw no one, but closed the door loud enough to make a sound. Not a particularly loud or telling sound, but a sound nonetheless. Empty bowls and plates with scraps of food littered the tanles, a deck of cards lay skewed across a table, and her notepad rested on a chair covered in small drawings. She sat on the floor despite the excess seating, staring at something she felt ashamed to see.

A broken chair lay in the middle of the room. Splinters littered the floor. Bits of wood were scattered everywhere. It was a reminder of how she lashed out, how she couldn’t control herself.

A few days prior she visited the room at night, furious at the world and the hotel and her impulsiveness and every living thing on the planet, expecially herself. She broke the chair by swinging it at the floor, and had no chance to clean it- if she brought it out, it could draw attention to her spot and others would come in. So she left it, the wood chips serving the purpose of saying that she had no control.

[shsl-daredevil]

Addy stepped unsteadily from the elevator, searching for the glimpse of black curls that she had caught out of the corner of her eye while in the fitness room. It had taken a moment for her to get her feet back under her after staying next to Akiyama for so long, but she’d recalled how badly Ishikawa had felt after the first murder and managed to focus her buzzing mind.

There was a click as she stood there, and she walked into the kitchen area, glancing around until she could see that the open sections were devoid of anyone. She turned to look at the only real door nearby, and sure enough, the private seating room’s entrance was closed. She walked closer to it, and then reconsidered and walked back into the kitchen, deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry.

She skimmed the shelves briefly before finding what she was looking for, and treaded lightly back to the room. Knocking lightly, she waited a beat before opening the door slowly, and edging inside. She noticed Ishikawa first, staring at- the remains of a shattered chair? Uncertain, and a little tense about invading what she was now seeing as Ishikawa’s space, Addy lowered herself into a crouch.

“Hey,” she said, friendly but also soft, as though speaking too loud would shatter the thick silence, “I brought water and crackers. Just in case you… were feeling nauseous again?” She set the cups of water on the ground, followed by the pack of saltines, and stayed perched on her toes, watching Ishikawa with open concern.  

@ultimateglassblower

Investigation: get meowta here

Akemi had had enough of this, and was much as she wanted to investigate she wouldn’t be much help when she was this stressed. While she usually waited until no one was around to go, she didn’t spend nearly as much time checking to see if anyone saw her go to the private seating area this time.

As she slipped inside, she saw no one, but closed the door loud enough to make a sound. Not a particularly loud or telling sound, but a sound nonetheless. Empty bowls and plates with scraps of food littered the tanles, a deck of cards lay skewed across a table, and her notepad rested on a chair covered in small drawings. She sat on the floor despite the excess seating, staring at something she felt ashamed to see.

A broken chair lay in the middle of the room. Splinters littered the floor. Bits of wood were scattered everywhere. It was a reminder of how she lashed out, how she couldn’t control herself.

A few days prior she visited the room at night, furious at the world and the hotel and her impulsiveness and every living thing on the planet, expecially herself. She broke the chair by swinging it at the floor, and had no chance to clean it- if she brought it out, it could draw attention to her spot and others would come in. So she left it, the wood chips serving the purpose of saying that she had no control.

[shsl-daredevil]

new word: boft

cross between buff and soft