#also if anyone actually does have sleight of hand experience I'd be interested in knowing how well this holds up lol

[whatsagirltoblogabout]

Hello! In chapter 6 of Crocodile Tears you mentioned that you came up with a way for Neal to have pulled off the switch. I would love to know the specifics if you remember them :D

Hello!!! This is so cool :D It blows my mind that anyone actually cares, so thank you so much for asking!

Okay, first of all, disclaimer: I have no practical experience with sleight of hand, this is all my imagination. That being said, I did read a handful of magic books as a kid, so this isn't coming completely out of nowhere.

The main idea is that the lens of the jeweler's loupe reflects light in a similar way to the crystal. The switch would go like this: he examines the lotus by holding it in his left hand and the jeweler’s loupe in his right hand. When he’s done with the jeweler’s loupe, he fakes switching the items between his hands, actually just palming the lotus in his left and covering most of the jeweler's loupe with his right, so that all you see is a bit of light reflecting off the glass to make it look like the lotus is now in his right hand. Then, he pulls the swap in his left pocket while pretending to put the loupe away, keeping the lotuses hidden the whole time. Finally, he holds up the fake lotus with both hands, hiding the transfer of the loupe from right to left and also hiding the fact that the lotus was in his left hand to begin with. He then moves the fake lotus away with his right hand to “catch the light” and uses that as a distraction to cover the action of his left hand putting away the loupe for real. He says the cue line to signal the team to activate the car alarm, and the rest is history.

Hope that made sense lol. I haven't revisited Crocodile Tears in a while, this was a nice nostalgia trip. Oh, and here's a link to the chapter in question if anyone wants context XD