#you know that spinny mechanism thing

[mengyan]

破晓; daybreak (PROLOGUE — 处暑 | heatstroke)

🌫️ 1.3k~ words 🪶 gong ziyu has waited nearly three months for yun weishan to come home, but what greets him at the gates may not be what he expected. 🌫️ main story begins updating next week! 🪶 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58230550/chapters/153217594

[1moreff-creator]

EP 13 Revision: Trying to Solve the DRDT CH2 Murder

Back in my bullshit I go! So, episode 13, what a chapter! Really made my old murder theory seem unlikely, so let’s see if there are any convincing alternatives, shall we? As a heads up, most of my theory actually remains the same, a lot of this is just me going over some other possible alternatives. Although I’m also going to talk about what happened to Ace as well, and that theory has changed quite a bit.

Spoilers up to CH2 EP13. CW Murder, hanging, strangulation, asphyxiation, Eden!Culprit, Ace!Culprit, Nico!AceAttacker, blood, mention of Xander losing his eye.

You don't exactly need to know what my previous theory was to understand this post past the “Murder Method” title, but it might help, so here's Levi!Accomplice anyways. Speaking of:

How Dead We Talking?

Levi: In that case, we should be suspicious of those who *do* have an alibi in the evening but not in the morning.

Levi: Then, did the killer perhaps use some sort of mechanism to hang Arei?

These lines in particular, especially combined with some other dubious lines in the past, make me very doubtful Levi!Accomplice is the right answer. An obvious presumption of this theory is that Levi would want Eden to win the trial; if he didn’t, he’d just call her out and explain everything. Even if he just gave her the fish, I think he’d have said that by now. But these lines have Levi actively pointing people towards the right culprit (if it’s Eden) or the right method. You could read this as him choosing to betray Eden after Hu’s speech, yet still hesitant to fully reveal his involvement. However, given he willingly admitted to his secret because he considers honesty good and wants to be a good person, it seems weird that he’d keep being disingenuous and hiding evidence from the cast.

There’s also this statement:

Levi: But it is a “good” thing to make sure someone else doesn’t die, even if I personally do not care about the outcome.

Of course, you could read this as him wanting to save the life of the person he considers the “most good,” that being Eden, but the problem is he also admitted to seeing other participants (such as David) as good. I’m not fully opposed to stretching dialogue to fit certain theories (I still believe venus-is-thinking’s explanation of Eden’s breakdown after the Arturo story in the trial works well enough not to disqualify Eden as a potential culprit, for example), but I have my limits. A lot of what Levi said in his speech and beyond reads a bit too strangely for me to really consider Levi!Accomplice as likely as I once did.

Is it 100% dead? No. There is the ticking clock motif in the background, and some of Eden’s reactions to Levi’s speech could be read as pointing towards this, but I feel like that might just be a “foils” thing? Like, the person with quote unquote “bad” thoughts that does good things, contrasted with the person with quote unquote “good” thoughts that does a pretty bad thing (if Eden killed Arei).

(Disclaimer: there’s no such thing as “good” and “bad” thoughts and feelings, it’s your actions that determine whether you’re good or not, Levi’s a good person even if he has low empathy, you know this)

In any case, while there’s a world out there where Levi!Accomplice is still the right answer, just in case, let me throw out a few more theories on how this could work. Unfortunately, I can’t come up with any answer that solves every mystery of the case as well as Levi!Accomplice does, which is why I still consider it possible, but I’ll do my best.

Murder Method - Hey, I Wasn't That Wrong!

The things discussed in this chapter halfway confirmed a lot of what I speculated about the method itself (assuming Teruko isn’t wrong, but I feel the trial would flow a bit weird if she presents one relatively good theory and then backtracks). The killer used the spinny thing as a pulley to pull Arei up to the ceiling, using the rafters and the seesaw (yo the seesaw WAS important, Korekiyo fans winning!) to set up the mechanism. After Arei was high enough, they tied the rope to one of the handlebars so it would tense before Arei hit the ground, and let go. To make sure her neck would break instantly, they also attached water jugs to her in order to increase her effective weight. To avoid the rope sliding off the handlebars, they used tape with a sandpaper-y texture that makes it easier to grip. In other words, the tape from the gym. It is also implied the killer splashed Arei with water, either accidentally or to hide her body temperature.

I got… most of this right. I didn't catch the seesaw thing, nor the splashing with water thing, and I didn't fully realize the purpose of the tape, plus I thought the killer would have used a second piece of rope attached to the swing set as a "stopper" instead of tying one long piece of rope… but the main pieces are there!

The last few details haven't been discussed yet, but I still think they're solid. To get the rope over the rafters, they tied one end to something like the ball of clothes (or any equivalent) and threw it over the said rafters. On the way, they accidentally hit the lights, displacing them and causing it to break and start flickering.

(How many posts can I fit this image into? Watch it be wrong, too)

The rest is simple. Arei's wrists (and possibly feet) were bound by the tape after something happened to scuff the floor. That's actually a sticking point of the old theory: figuring out exactly how those specific scuff marks would form.

I've always just taken them as evidence of some kind of struggle, but how do they form? Well, they look like either tire tracks (which I'm gonna assume are impossible) or, perhaps, clawing at the floor.

Since the old "struggle" no longer applies, I'm going to take a shot in the complete dark and speculate, with practically no evidence, that the struggle is: The killer managed to tackle Arei to the ground from behind, Arei falling stomach first, and either strangled her with the rope or smothered her with the ball of clothes (because evidently I just like to throw this thing at any unsolved mysteries I can, sometimes literally) until she lost consciousness, but no more. Arei clawed at the floor while this was happening, generating the scuff marks.

(I am assuming the rope is long enough to do this even with the mechanism already set up, which it should be)

Now, you might be thinking that there’s a method I’m leaving out, that being the turpentine. Since DRDT’s turpentine can apparently knock people out, isn’t it possible she was knocked out with it?

Well, actually. If the method Teruko describe is accurate (which for the purposes of this post, I’ll assume it is), Arei cannot have been knocked out with turpentine.

Why? Because of the marks on her wrists. The ones that imply they were bound by tape at some point.

Why is this a problem? Simply put, turpentine’s too good to need the tape around Arei’s wrists. In the Ace case, Ace was unconscious for quite a while; however long it took to set up the murder mechanism, and a little after Eden and Teruko entered the room. Translated to Arei, if the killer knocked her out with turpentine in the playground, they would easily be able to put the noose around her neck and do the pulley trick before she woke up, making the tape redundant.

This leaves us with three options if Arei was knocked out with turpentine. Either Arei was knocked out outside the playground, at which point you’d need a different explanation for the scuff marks on the floor; the killer didn’t know how long turpentine induced unconsciousness lasted; or the killer was extra cautious for some reason. Notably, those last two would imply the killer is different from the Ace attacker, since Ace’s wrists were never bound as far as we can tell, and at that point you need to explain how they got the turpentine in the first place.

Compare that to unconsciousness induced by asphyxiation. Although it could take up to two minutes to knock Arei unconscious, consciousness is regained around ten seconds after pressure is relieved in cases of asphyxiation. That’s too quick for comfort, since if Arei regains consciousness before the rope takes her off the floor, she would easily be able to slide the noose out of her neck.

That means the killer would need to tie her hands to make sure they could pull off the pulley trick without issues, which explains the marks on the wrists.

A note on the asphyxiation thing; I think even a weaker person could realistically pull this off if they caught Arei by surprise. From what I understand, it’s difficult to meaningfully resist against strangulation from behind, so even if Arei is stronger than her killer, it’s a plausible method. However, I could be wrong about this. It might shock you to know this, but I'm not very well versed in the logistics of murdering people.

Also, you might say that that's insane. Why do all the mechanism stuff if they had already asphyxiated her unconscious? And while that is a very fair question, there is no way to eliminate it. Keep in mind Arei's wrists were bound at some point, but the mechanism was still used. No matter how the tape got around Arei's wrists, there will always be a time when the killer could have killed her in a very simple manner (eg stabbing her, strangling her, bludgeoning), and still chose to complicate the method.

There are a few reasons that could be, but I currently believe this is related to what Teruko brings up at the end of EP 13. The mechanism is similar to the one used to try to kill Ace. This way, the killer could point to the superficial similarities as a way to pin the blame on Nico. Or the killer straight up is Nico and they're just obsessed with this method for some reason lol.

Oh, also, Arei’s missing a glove. I assume the killer removed it to better apply the tape on the wrists and just… have it in their pocket, I guess. I really don’t know what to make of this thing.

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Side Note: The Ace Case

I said in my first reaction to EP13 that I would review the Ace case method. Since I don’t feel like making a separate post, I’ll tackle it here. We basically got one piece of evidence regarding this: Teruko believes there was either a hanging or a pulley involved.

Now, you might know this case is actually lot harder to figure out than the Arei one. The first time I tried to come up with a method, alongside venus-is-thinking, accirax and thebadjoe, we went kinda insane. There's a lot of really weird evidence in the short investigation we got, which led us to creating gym-wide wire circuits, crucifying Ace, giving Eden the turpentine, hypothesising about wire yo-yos and on-off switches for the fans, and who knows what else. As fun as that was, there was surprisingly little hanging and pulleying in that thread, and now that Teruko's implied the Arei method is somewhat similar to the Ace method, we might be looking at not-great answers.

And because this method is so difficult, I’m not very confident in the answer I’m about to give. I think it’s better than what I had before, but there’s still a few questions. I’m not too bothered by this though, since we’ll get answers in a few days anyways.

First thing to clear up: I firmly believe Nico did everything by themselves. The killer needed the turpentine to knock out Ace; Nico never denied taking the turpentine when accused, and straight up admitted they “made a serious attempt on Ace’s life.”

Rose: They even lied to and stole from me to commit murder. Out of everyone here, they’re the least innocent.

Nico: I—! I didn’t kill Arei! I swear!

Charles: But did you not intentionally try to make a serious attempt on Ace’s life? Answer honestly.

Nico: Y… Yes…

Then, when speaking about what they did, they always speak in first person singular, never giving any indication there was anyone else involved.

Nico: I didn’t… think about [the trial after the Ace thing]… I… I never should have… done that…

Not to mention they were in the gym, alone, with their cloak off, and they had the most motive for killing Ace. They’re the only person we know for sure had the opportunity to grab the turpentine, they said they were going to kill Ace before this happened, etc. You can certainly twist all of this in some way to make Nico not the sole culprit, and I respect those theories, but for me, the most compelling explanation is the one that makes the least amount of assumptions. That the guy that admitted to trying to kill Ace and implied they did it on their own, tried to kill Ace on their own. Occam’s Razor, and all that.

Plus, if there’s anyone else to blame, most people point to Hu. But…

Hu: It is not and never will be your decision as to what happens with our lives.

Note: The next part has been slightly edited, as I feel my original wording was poor

I don’t see Hu as the Ace attacker. There’s too many lines that (in my opinion) you have to really stretch to make it plausible, and while I’m not entirely opposed to doing such things (spoilers, I still believe Eden!Culprit), I’m only fond of doing them when there’s physical evidence to back up the claim. The dialogue can be interpreted in different ways, but I just do not see any real evidence Hu was involved in either crime this chapter.

Edit over

Yes, Hu’s wire is there, but Nico already stole one custom weapon from a friend, why wouldn’t they steal/borrow a second one? Even if they didn’t straight up ask for the wire, Hu claims she and Nico ate breakfast in Nico’s room, so it’s not difficult to assume Nico could have gone into Hu’s room at some point and gotten the wire that way. It’s also true Hu never calls them out on this, but that’s because she never saw the crime scene; even if she knows Nico had the wire, she probably wouldn’t immediately assume it was used in the murder.

Again, theories where Nico isn’t the sole culprit are perfectly valid, but I personally don’t believe them. I may get proven wrong by the end of the week, but oh well.

Aside from that, let’s make a quick recap of the evidence we have. Ace’s body and wounds; bloodstain on the wall; lone wire; fan wire; broken fan; moved benches; stool (brought from storage?); broom (pulled right out of Ace’s ass-); fallen weight rack; isolated weights; non-functioning fan; clean pull-up bar; Rose’s and Teruko’s account (Nico took the turpentine and used it to knock out Ace); banging noise; Nico’s missing cloak.

(Btw; I talk about the lone wire and the fan-wire as two completely separate things, since it makes things easier. Just assume Nico broke the wire before the murder attempt)

The first thing to note is that hanging Ace actually solves a particular point of contention from the first thread; Ace’s wounds. Because of the way Ace always grabs the front of his neck in the sprites after waking, some of us thought there were only injuries on the front. Meanwhile, others posited there were wounds all around Ace’s neck, based on the sprite and the blood on the wall.

But hanging offers an interesting middle ground. The wire tensing around Ace’s neck could cause injuries on both sides, but if Ace was slumped over, the injuries on the front would be deeper because gravity. I think? I’m no expert on hanging, might need Whit to confirm that one for me. But it’s conceivable, so I’ll go with it.

But we can’t just hang him simply. If you check the first thread, you’ll remember that by far the weirdest piece of evidence is the blood pattern on the wires. It stops and starts in weird places, as seen below:

This is difficult because it means the wire wasn’t continuously wrapped around Ace’s neck as you might expect. However, you might also remember one of the only explanations I have for the lone wire’s blood pattern; a noose pattern.

If the lone wire is tied in a way where Ace’s neck bleeds over the know but not the noose, the pattern is explained.

But how do we work a noose into the hanging? Well, a yo-yo. I’m kidding, but only kinda; you can put the noose around the isolated weights to weigh down Ace, making the hanging… more fatal? Look, I don’t know why Nico did half this shit, okay?

The big thing that’s left are the actual logistics of hanging Ace. It’s a lot harder than you might assume, and while I’m probably vastly overcomplicating it, I wanted to put the broom somewhere and this might be the bests place for it. So, taking inspiration from badjoe’s idea of using the broom to stabilize Ace, my own yo-yo theory, and venus-accirax’s general idea of crucifixion, I present to you:

A brand new murder diagram!

(Btw, didn’t mention it, but the fan can’t be spinning for this to work. Either there’s an off switch or Nico just broke it with the broom and then put it back more or less)

As you can see, the main trick is putting the broom across Ace’s jacket, going from one sleeve to the other stick-first, and then using the wires to lift it up (first the one on the pull up bar, then the one on the fan), wrapping them around Ace’s neck in the process. This allows Nico to keep Ace upright and with his neck as close to the ceiling as possible while putting the wires where they need to be. The lone wire is attached to the pull-up bar. Not pictured is the stool, which Nico probably needed to pull this off, btw.

After setting this up, it’s just a matter of pushing the broom out of Ace’s jacket. This would cause Ace to fall, tensing the wires (I’m hoping the pull-up bar is higher on the wall than it looks :v) and toppling the bench he was on. Sort of. The exact location of these things escapes me a bit.

After that… it’s possible Ace falling immediately caused the fan to fall, or the fan held for a moment, and this moment is when Nico got their cloak out of the gym. Maybe?

In any case, the fan collapses, the lone wire rips the tape out of the pull-up bar as it flies off, and Ace falls backwards. I’m hoping he’d be close enough to the wall to fall in a way that makes the back of his neck stain the wall with his blood.

When that happens, Nico starts to panic, grabbing the lone wire, putting the weights off to the side (I don’t know how they got there), and looking at Ace’s body just as Teruko and Eden enter the gym.

That’s more or less it. There’s obviously a few problems with this, and it’s probably significantly more complicated than the real answer, but it’s solid enough that some of it might be right. I just want to explain the blood on the wires, man.

One question is why the left fan isn’t spinning. This depends on how turpentine works in DRDT. If it emits fumes that you have to inhale for a while before passing out, Nico turning off the left fan (be it with an off switch or by breaking it with the broom) could be a way for them to make sure the fumes don’t dissipate. When Ace enters the gym, the turpentine could be open and hidden, in a way that after a while, Ace inhales all the fumes necessary.

However, it’s also possible turpentine works more like how chloroform is usually depicted. In that case, it’s possible Nico used their cloak as a rag to apply the turpentine, then took it out of the gym to avoid inhaling any fumes themselves.

Because i’m case you haven’t noticed, Nico’s cloak is sorta like Arei’s glove, in that I have no idea where they went, and thus can’t really imagine how they fit into everything.

What is with DRDT characters and mysteriously losing their clothes during murders?

It’s also physically dubious; not enough that I really think it’s 100% impossible, but still. And I have no idea what happened to the weight rack beyond “there might have been a struggle” (which only kinda works, those things are heavy), or why Nico put the weights there…

And I don’t know why Nico did any of this. My pal, please, just fucking stab him next time.

Is this right? Probably not, but I think the general idea is plausible. We’ll find out in a few days just how wrong I was about this, anyways.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright, so for the big question.

Whodunnit?

There are a few important things to consider when it comes to a culprit theory. I’ll outline them here so you can judge your own picks for culprit based on my criteria, though obviously it might be different from yours. Personally, I believe any genuine theory on the culprit must account for the following things:

-Time of Body Manipulation: Because of the swinging and the marks on the wrists, which should fade quickly, Arei’s body must have been hung shortly before it was discovered. Since she’s assumed to have died at around 7:30 AM (yes, there are theories to the contrary, but I can’t address every single possibility here, so I’m just going to take the 7:30 AM time of murder as accurate since it’s what I believe), it’s assumed that’s the time the body was hung. The culprit should probably be someone without an alibi at the time, potentially clearing David, Veronika, J, Hu and Nico.

Potential Workarounds:

+Fake Alibi: Applicable mainly to Hu and Nico. But would either of them be willing to die for the other? Also, Nico agreed with Teruko that David was acting suspicious at the end of EP11. If they’re the culprit, casting doubt on David is a bad move. If they’re an accomplice and want the culprit to win, it’s a bad move. If they’re an accomplice and don’t want the culprit to win, they’d just say who the culprit is. There’s probably other examples like this, but that’s just off the top of my head.

I really don’t think Hu or Nico did this, in case you can’t tell :v

+Third Party: A third party could have hung the body after the murder. But given this third party can’t be David or Veronika (again assuming 7:30 AM as the time of death), and I genuinely don’t know who else would do this, I don’t find this likely.

-Time of Fish Disappearance: Nico claimed none of the fish were missing the last time they fed them, after having dinner the afternoon before the murder. At face value, and assuming Nico ate around the same time Hu and Eden did, the fish would have disappeared between 7 and 10 PM, as the relax room was closed between 10PM and 8AM. And judging from how Teruko talked about the situation at the start of the trial, it seems unlikely that the fish were taken after 8AM. This would mean Eden, Hu, Charles and Whit cannot have taken the fish without some workaround. J, Veronika, Teruko and Arturo have alibis starting at least at 7:30 PM, so maybe they could have taken them, maybe not.

Possible Workarounds:

+Early Nico Dinner: We don’t know when Nico ate dinner, and according to a quick Google search, Americans are fucking insane and, on average, eat dinner around 6:00~6:30 PM.

Genuinely what. I eat dinner at 9:00 PM usually and that’s on the low end of the spectrum for my country. When I’m with family, I eat at like 10:00~10:30 PM. Are you US dwellers good? Deeply unserious country, I tell you.

With that aside, you get the idea. If Nico ate dinner at that time, practically every alibi given goes out the window, except Charles and Whit I believe. This would mean Nico didn’t eat with Hu and Eden, but neither mentioned them in the original alibis, so take that as you will.

+Fake Alibis/Nico!Accomplice: A lot of these alibis are just two people. It’s not outright impossible Charles and Whit, Hu and Eden, or Arturo and J are working together for a fake alibi. Well, maybe not the last one :v Alternatively, getting Nico to lie about the amount of fish they fed would work; the fish could have gone missing before Nico claims they did. I don’t find this particularly plausible, but it’s an option.

+Third Party/Arei: Someone other than the killer brought the fish to the playground, be it Arei or a third party. Arei could be plausible if the note is fake in some way, as the killer could have invited Arei in person and asked for the fish that way, but I find that somewhat unlikely because why give the time if the letter’s fake?

+Fake Fish: The fish in the playground (or maybe the pond, but likely the playground) are fake, either artificial or maybe taken from the kitchen… if that even has minnows as food. Don’t know how this one would work frankly.

+Early Catch: The killer planned to use the fish to hide time of death since the moment they heard the relax room would be closed during nighttime, and put the fish in the jugs before Nico got a chance to count them. If Nico didn’t count them as soon as they saw them in EP2, but rather later, when they first fed them, this gives plenty of time for anyone to pull this off. The killer doesn’t need to have everything planned from the start, just the fish trick.

I wonder if the amount of workarounds I found for this reveals some kind of bias… Who knows.

-BDA Rule: Rule 10; “The BDA will play when three or more people who did not witness the murder discover the body.” This could potentially clear Teruko, Whit and Eden.

Possible Workarounds:

+Third (Fourth?) Party: Someone who did not witness the murder, other than the BDA trio, saw the body before Teruko opened the door to the playground. At this point in the trial, and with David and Veronika having alibis for the time between the murder and the discovery, I doubt this is the case. Do you see why I originally landed on accomplice theory btw, it literally offers a workaround for every potential problem.

+”See No Evil”: If the killer turned their backs after letting go of the spinny thing, and didn’t see the moment Arei’s neck snapped, they may not be considered a “witness.” This could have been intentional, with the killer taking advantage of Teruko’s idea to search in a group of three (and her bad luck of picking just the wrong person) to try and clear themselves; or unintentionally. The killer may have decided to look away just because they didn’t want to see the death. This is especially plausible if the killer felt genuinely bad about what they were doing, which is the most common interpretation of Eden!Culprit.

-Handwriting: The handwriting on the letter doesn’t match Charles’ (custom weapon list), Teruko’s (abomination she calls a list of revealed secrets), Whit’s (he dots the ‘i’s with hearts), or Eden’s (sample in the trial).

Possible Workarounds:

+Fake Handwriting: The handwriting on the note could be fake; Whit wouldn’t dot the ‘i’s with hearts, Charles would write differently. And notably, the sample Eden gives in the trial is in print, while the handwriting in the note is in cursive, so it wouldn’t take any effort for her to fake it.

-Purpose of the method: If the killer really emulated Nico’s method to frame them, they have to know what that method was in the first place. Maybe not figure it out 100%, but they at least need to see the gym to get a basic impression of what the method may have looked like. This would implicate Ace, Teruko, Eden, and possibly the Ace attacker if they’re not Nico. Nico themselves might have also repeated method… Because. Alternatively, the method could have been used for the “See No Evil” BDA workaround, possibly implicating Whit or Eden again.

Possible Workarounds:

+Doesn’t Matter: There is no purpose to the method. The killer chose a pulley system because. I doubt anyone genuinely likes this possibility :v

+Something I haven’t Thought About: What it says in the tin.

-The gym tape: The gym’s tape was still on the floor when Nico left the night of Ace’s attack. At this point, only Teruko, Eden and Ace were on the room. MonoTV then locks down the gym, meaning no one can come in. We see MonoTV open the gym the next morning, and Rose and Teruko are the first to enter. The tape was gone. That, combined with the tape’s sprite disappearing from the background around the time Ace gets up, would heavily imply the tape was taken by either Ace, Teruko or Eden. Since the tape later appears to have been used in the murder, this heavily implicates them.

Possible Workarounds:

+Eden the Unwitting Accomplice: The killer asked Eden to get the tape for them. However, this would mean that Eden would immediately know who the killer is the moment the tape gets identified. It doesn’t work to frame Eden, either, because at that point it’s her word (“[killer] asked me to get it for them!”) vs yours (“nuh uh”). And I don’t care who you are, people will trust Eden’s words over yours. It’s much safer to just get the tape yourself, and everyone has access to the gym. This is a pretty outlandish idea, in my opinion, unless you can come up with some other reason the killer would give Eden (or Ace) for picking up the tape.

+Eden or Ace took it for no reason and returned it later: No evidence of this.

+MonoTV Put it in Storage: Doesn’t explain the sprite disappearance, but even if you ignore that, there is no indication it did that.

+Rose Took it With Sleight of Hand: Why would she mention it to Teruko then. Just grab it, pocket it and shut up. I don’t think this works.

+It’s Not the Gym’s Tape on the Spinny Thing: Then, narratively, why would Rose bring attention to it when she goes to the gym with Teruko?

Alright, I believe that’s all the major things.

Probability Ranking

Zero Chance:

-MonoTV, Arei: There are rules against this.

-Xander, Min: Xander’s dead, Min’s in Mexico (/j).

-Teruko: Protag privilege. Also her handwriting sucks too much for her to fake the note.

-Charles: His necrophobia would prevent him from manipulating the body after killing Arei, which is necessary to string her up on the swing set.

First Assumption: The Murder Happened at 7:30 AM the Day of Body Discovery

Although this isn’t technically 100% confirmed yet, I personally find it really hard to believe that the time of death is different from this. This eliminates:

-David, Veronika, J: Alibis. They have no reason to cover for each other, so they’re out.

-Hu, Nico: I believe Hu is currently the most popular pick for blackened, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Yes, she could be lying about the alibi, but if Nico calls her out, it’s curtains. Is Nico really willing to die for Hu? Is Hu willing to kill everyone, including Nico, to escape? Conversely, if Nico’s the blackened, is Hu aware of what she’s doing by faking an alibi? I doubt it given EP12, so she’d be lying because she has faith in Nico. But, at present, I have no reason to believe that. “It’s plausible” isn’t evidence. Sorry, but I cannot for the life of me see Hu or even Nico as culprits anymore.

Second Assumption: MonoTV Didn’t Take the Tape from the Gym

Though technically an assumption, since there is zero evidence it did this, I’ll say it’s an assumption regardless. It leads to:

Third Assumption: The Killer Took The Tape

As stated, if it wasn’t MonoTV, it kinda has to be either Ace or Eden. If the killer didn’t take the tape, that means either they asked Ace/Eden for the tape beforehand (insane, it’s much safer to take the tape yourself) or Eden/Ace took the tape for some undisclosed reason, then someone else asked them for it. But since we don’t know what Eden or Ace would want the tape for other than murder, this also seems unlikely. Thus, assumption number three is assumed, and eliminates…

-Levi, Rose, Arturo, Whit, and all the prior characters (minus Teruko ig). Yes, I believe the tape works as a smoking gun in the same way that the building map worked as a smoking gun against Min.

Notably, all the new characters here also fail to explain why the method was unnecessarily complicated, since none of them know about the Ace murder method. The exception is Whit, where the purpose could be the “See No Evil” technicality, but that comes with a lot of assumptions itself, and there’s other problems with Whit!Culprit (namely, fish).

And Then There Were Two

Ace and Eden are, in my opinion, far and above the likeliest candidates for blackened in this case. Both of them have their issues as theories, but both have things going for them. Let’s compare and contrast!

Point for Eden: Starch on Clothes

One point that’s Eden specific is an idea originated from thebadjoe’s mind. Since starch can be used as fertilizer, it’s possible the starch holding the ball of clothes together came from the enriched formula used in the relax room. If this is the case, the clothes must have been left there in either the first or second night of the second chapter, as putting them there during the third night would make them inaccessible before the murder. And Eden was seen acting suspicious in the dressing room, where clothes are, on the second night.

Eden: W-Who’s there? I know you’ve been following me!

[…]

Eden: Oh, it’s just you, Teruko. What are you doing here?

Like, why’s she so paranoid?

This isn’t disqualifying for Ace, however, as he could have done this the very first night. Alternatively, it’s possible Teruko misidentified the starch. There’s just no evidence for it, as opposed to Eden doing the thing, where there is evidence for it.

Workaround Needed (Eden): “See No Evil”

Eden is part of the BDA crew, meaning there needs to be a workaround for Rule 10. If Levi’s not there to accomplice it up, then “See No Evil” is the only acceptable workaround in my eyes.

Now, I fully believe that, no matter what, Eden probably would turn her back the moment Arei’s neck snapped. She didn’t want to look at Xander’s eye wound, so it’s plausible she would just not want to look when Arei actually died. Which means we just need the “See No Evil” technicality to work from a rules standpoint.

And while it may be a sticking point for some people, I personally think that a combination of MonoTV’s incompetence and Teruko’s bad luck could cause this technicality to exist. Especially given:

Eden [Right before the BDA]: Teruko, wait—

This reaction is best justified by Eden!Culprit imo. If Eden’s the culprit, I don’t think she realized the “See No Evil” technicality. She couldn’t refuse to search with Teruko, obviously, that would make her too suspicious, but she still didn’t want Teruko to open the door because she thought the BDA wouldn’t play, as she would think she’d be counted as a witness. But who knows.

Point Against Eden: Eden’s Strength

By far the biggest sticking point against Eden!Solo under my murder method. She is canonically the weakest in the cast, and yet, she still needs to pull off four important feats of strength; throwing the ball of clothes, subduing Arei, pulleying her up, and hanging her body afterwards.

The thing is, even though Eden is “the weakest,” we… don’t have a good reference of how strong or weak she actually is. Eden’s still an adult woman, she doesn’t have to be hopelessly weak. So, how much do we have to suspend our disbelief on her strength?

Well, pulleys are powerful, and even though we are not dealing with an ideal pulley by any means, I think it’s reasonable Eden would be able to pulley Arei up. Obviously impossible to prove one way or the other, though. I also believe there’s a good argument that she’d be able to subdue Arei because, well…

Apparently, Eden’s a better fighter than any of us could have expected. If she’s able to rip out Xander’s eye with a fork, I think she’d be able to strangle Arei unconscious. Especially given there’s precedent for her making people fall to the ground by taking them by surprise.

(This is a silly point, but it exists)

The big ones are actually the ball of clothes and the hanging of Arei’s corpse on the swing set. Keep in mind she doesn’t just need to throw the ball of clothes (or something like it) over the rafters, but also do it with enough force to displace the lights. That’s kinda difficult. As for the hanging… well, that’s one of the reasons I started believing Levi!Accomplice in the first place, and why I put the broom where I did in the Ace method. It’s pretty difficult to tie a knot on the swing set with Arei as dead weight.

An accomplice does solve this, but with the recent insight we’ve gotten on Levi, I struggle to see anyone actually accomplice-ing it up, frankly.

Ace is stronger than Eden; in fact, he’s one of the stronger in the cast. He would have no issues doing all this, theoretically.

Well, physically, he’d have no issues. Intellectually…

Workaround Needed (Ace): Reason for Murder Method

But, hold on. I said that Ace, if he’s the killer, is probably using the mechanism to frame Nico, right?

Here’s the thing; that would imply he knows what Nico’s mechanism was. Or at least, has a vague idea. However, he was unconscious the entire time he was being attacked.

This would mean that after just waking up and with severe injuries, he managed to get a good enough look at the crime scene that he managed to figure out more or less what Nico did to him. And either he did that instantly, or he grabbed the tape for who knows what reason and later thought back and realized what happened to him.

Look, if Eden’s strength is a point against her, we also have to consider Ace’s intelligence. He is not figuring out what happened to him, and I struggle to think he’d even conceive of the idea of replicating Nico’s method to frame them.

That means he needs a different reason for doing the murder with the pulley method, and I can’t think of any. Not saying it doesn’t exist, just that it really does need a workaround that I am not able to find.

Workaround Needed (Eden): Fish Heist

As stated above, Eden desperately needs some way around the fact she has an alibi for the time the fish presumably disappeared. Here are the possible workarounds, and why they’re iffy.

+Early Nico Dinner: Unsatisfying to me, as I think it makes more sense for Nico to eat dinner with Hu and Eden, but one of the more plausible options. There’s a really tight time frame for Eden to grab the fish if Nico ate earlier, but it’s doable. It’s unfortunate we have no frame of reference for when Nico actually fed the fish.

If it helps, the fact that Eden and Hu’s alibi has such a specific start time (their dinner, 7:00 PM) could be because it’s going to be relevant, suggesting this might be the real answer.

+Fake Fish: No established way for Eden to pull this off. It’s possible, but there’s no evidence for it.

+Early Catch: One of the better answers, though it runs into a bit of an issue. It would mean Eden was planning around a murder the entire chapter. She doesn’t necessarily need to have the whole method in mind, just the trick with the fish, but she’s still gotta have been planning something. The problem is, in CH 2 EP 1, she says this:

Eden: If everyone else is feeling down in the dumps, then it’s my job to get their spirits back up! That’s how we’ll get out of here! By working together!

This is said to no one, she’s talking to herself. Which is very strange if she’s going to be grabbing fish for a potential murder just a few hours later.

There’s a few workarounds for this workaround’s issue, though:

*Eden could have grabbed the fish for non-murdery purposes. No idea what they’d be though, so that’s not great.

*She hadn’t decided to murder yet, but had it as a backup plan if she couldn’t find any other way to get out in the meantime. Uh… maybe? I struggle to see it, but it could work. She does talk about plans to escape a lot.

*The secrets spurred her into murdery action. Now, I really doubt Eden would kill to hide she’s a lesbian (not to dismiss the fact that everyone should be allowed to come out only when they’re ready, David), but there’s a detail learnt in chapter 13 that makes this workaround workaround more plausible: Veronika’s secret is not the worst thing she’s done. As a result, it’s not impossible that Eden has a worse secret than what Charles received, and MonoTV just didn’t pick it for some reason. This feels like a copout, frankly, but it’s technically plausible even if I don’t see any real evidence for it.

As you can see, the workarounds are far from perfect. However, it’s not just Eden who struggles with the fish.

Point Against Ace: Fish Paradox

It’s generally assumed the killer used the fish to make the cast believe the murder happened before nighttime, possibly between 7:30 PM and 10:00 PM specifically if they were banking on people finding the note. The problem is that Ace doesn’t benefit from this, as he has no alibi at that time. Getting the fish water is objectively harder than just getting water from the kitchen sink at nighttime or something, so why would he do it?

This is what we DRDT theorists* call the fish paradox. Any character who benefits from people thinking the murder happened before nighttime, only benefit because they have an alibi around 7:30-10PM. But assuming Nico fed the fish around 7:00 PM, that means they couldn’t have taken the fish. But if they could have taken the fish, that’s only because they don’t have an alibi around that time, which means they don’t benefit from taking the fish.

*Only I call it this. Don’t fall for my lies, there is no “we” :v

Ace falls into the second category: could have taken the fish in the time it’s assumed they were taken, but he doesn’t benefit from it. As a result, you need to give an alternate explanation for why the fish are there, and I can’t find one.

This paradox is what makes many, like me, believe there is some kind of trick around when the fish disappeared, be it an accomplice or some other workaround. Which lines up with Eden, but not Ace.

Workaround Needed (Eden): Handwriting

Straightforward, already explained it. She wrote in print during the trial, meaning the sample is unfit for comparison with the letter, written in cursive. I don’t think this is a problem.

You wanna know a bigger problem?

Point Against Ace: Teruko’s Live Reaction

This entire debate, the entire reason these two are the most likely culprits in my mind, is because they’re the only two who could have reasonably taken the tape from the gym, and the only real purpose of doing so would be murder.

But there’s a glaring issue. Logistically speaking, I find it almost impossible to believe Ace took the tape. Why? Because ever since the moment Ace woke up, logically, Teruko’s attention should have been on him. And since she’s the PoV character in that scene, if Ace grabbed the tape, we should have heard of it. Since we didn’t, Ace most likely didn’t.

It’s this point, more than any other, that makes me believe Eden is the culprit. The only way to make Ace!Culprit work taking this into account is assuming Teruko pulled the same thing she did with Arei’s body swinging; she saw it and didn’t say anything. But that’s different, because we actually saw the swinging ourselves as well; if Ace picked up the tape, and Teruko saw it, we should have gotten clarification.

Argument Bullet Round!

+Eden’s Newfound Plot Relevance: Some have claimed that the fact Eden is seemingly the one to have taken out Xander’s eye means she must remain alive for that plot point to remain relevant. However, uh, there’s another person in the pre-prologue scene where Xander loses an eye.

And that’s Xander.

Who’s dead.

If plot relevance didn’t save him, I doubt it’ll save Eden. If anything, DRDT has a habit of killing off characters the moment the overarching plot catches up to them.

+Heels: Hu mentions walking with heels in the playground can scuff the floor, and Ace wears heels (I think). However, walking on heels wouldn’t generate the scuff marks we saw, so I believe it’s a moot point.

+Not A “Good Person”: In this chapter, which has the hidden title “A Good Person”, Levi, Eden, Teruko, David, and Xander have been called “a good person.” Given the hidden title, it’s speculated this list is about characters who in some way tie into the themes of the chapter, so the blackened should be included. Ace has not ever been referred to as a “good person,” and I can’t see him being called that this late into the trial. Not the strongest argument, but it’s there.

+Motive: Much has been written about Eden’s potential motivations, but at least we know she has always had an interest in escaping the killing game one way or another. Additionally, it’s very possible Eden didn’t believe Arei actually meant what she said during the Arturo situation, as she wasn’t present during the playground breakdown where her secret was revealed; and might be regretting her murder now that there’s evidence she genuinely wanted to change. If you want a more detailed explanation, I suggest you read venus’ fantastic Eden!Culprit Narrative Defense and the “can Eden still be the culprit?” section of accirax’s ep 13 reactions (which also summarizes the relevant parts of the first post), which explain this idea in more detail.

Meanwhile, Ace… probably wants to escape as much as anyone else, but he’s not ultra pressed about it. No particular grudge against Arei, either. I can’t think of a good motive for him, but maybe there will be one revealed later in the trial.

+Thematic Connection: Arei and Eden are recap foils, obviously they have plenty of narrative and thematic connections to make this murder narratively meaningful. Meanwhile, while Ace and Arei are similar in some aspects, I can’t really think of any themes which could be meaningfully explored with him as the killer. That might be the bias talking though lol.

And more but I think I’ve made my point.

So, despite everything, I still believe Eden is the culprit. Maybe our girl is stronger than we expected?

Conclusion

I still think Eden!Culprit is the most likely option we have, just that I now consider Eden!Solo more likely than Levi!Accomplice. That said, even with the things I brought up at the start, I’d say Levi!Accomplice is still more likely than Ace!Culprit, while Ace!Culprit is massively more likely than the third most likely culprit. Who is… I don’t know, Whit?

There’s been a few changes to accommodate the things discussed in the trial: Arei got splashed with water at some point, the rope was tied to a handlebar instead of there being a stopper, and the grippy tape was so the rope wouldn’t slide off.

Aside from that, there’s been a few modifications to my theory to accommodate Eden!Solo. Using the reveal of Eden ripping out Xander’s eye as a basis, I think Eden would realistically be able to strangle Arei unconscious by ambushing her, and potentially strong enough to pull off everything else she needs to, though I get how that may be a point of contention. Eden must have also faked her handwriting in the trial, looked away in the moment of death to cause the “See No Evil” technicality, and something’s fishy with the fish. Either she grabbed them day one, or Nico had an earlier dinner than expected; at this point, I think it’s impossible to tell.

The changes for the Ace-Nico thing were outlined in full earlier, all that’s left in that front is to see how wrong I am about it this Friday! :D

All in all, there haven’t been as many changes as I expected. In fact, the majority of this post is just me repeating stuff I already brought up in other posts, but applied to more people. Hope it doesn’t feel like I talked more than necessary.

Anyways, thanks for reading! If you made it this far, you deserve to treat yourself and buy a cute clock that you like! See ya’!

[tedwardremus]

Oh!!!!

I got one, Mad-Eye babysitting Teddy Lupin and it’s a complete disaster, moodboard

As always, please and thank you 😊

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody had faced dark wizards, curses, and two deadly wars. He had trained countless Aurors and sacrificed more body parts than he cared to count, all in the name of keeping the wizarding world safe.

But nothing—nothing—had prepared him for this.

The toddler with blue hair sat across from him, staring at a plate of spaghetti with all the indignation of an Azkaban prisoner. Teddy Lupin was small but fierce, his chubby little face set in a defiant pout, his Metamorphmagus abilities on full display as his hair cycled through a kaleidoscope of colors.

Moody narrowed his good eye at the child, while his magical one spun furiously, keeping track of every potential threat—though right now, the greatest danger seemed to be the cold spaghetti Teddy refused to touch.

"Eat," Moody growled, pointing at the plate. "It's not going to kill you."

Teddy’s blue hair turned a deep red, the toddler's tiny nose wrinkling in rebellion. “No!”

Moody sighed, leaning back in his chair. Babysitting had never been on his list of duties, but when Tonks—his former protégé and the closest thing he had to family—had asked him to watch her son for an afternoon, he hadn't the heart to say no. And honestly, how hard could it be?

Apparently, very hard.

“Right, if you won’t eat,” Moody grumbled, getting to the heart of the matter, “let’s talk about this watch.”

Teddy’s face was a mask of innocence, but Moody wasn’t fooled. Somewhere in this house was Remus Lupin’s old watch—a family heirloom. Tonks had told him Teddy had a tendency to make things disappear, but Moody didn’t expect a toddler to outwit him so easily.

“I know you took it,” Moody said, folding his arms. “You think you can hide it from me? I’m an Auror. I’ve interrogated Death Eaters.”

Teddy’s red hair now shifted to green, his eyes brightening with delight. He giggled and pointed at Moody’s magical eye.

“Spinny!”

The magical eye rotated slowly, focusing on the toddler. “Yes, yes, very amusing. But where’s the watch?”

Teddy didn’t answer, instead reaching over and grabbing a handful of spaghetti, smearing it across the table. Moody winced, his patience wearing thin. He had dealt with rogue wizards and ambushes, but he had never been this outmatched.

“Alright, Lupin,” Moody growled, standing up and pacing around the room. “You’ve left me no choice. Time to bring out the big wands.”

With a flick of his wand, the lights dimmed. The toddler stared at Moody in awe as he waved his wand, creating tiny, glowing orbs that danced in the air.

“Confession time, Teddy,” Moody said in a mock-serious tone. “Tell me where the watch is, or I’ll… turn all your hair brown.”

Teddy gasped dramatically and clutched his head, eyes wide with mock horror. “Nooo!” he squealed.

Moody cracked a rare smile. At least the kid had a sense of humor.

With another flick of his wand, he sent the glowing figures twirling around Teddy, who laughed and clapped in delight. But the moment was short-lived as Moody’s magical eye caught sight of something gleaming in the corner.

The old grandfather clock was slightly ajar. Moody's eye zoomed in, catching a glint of silver tucked inside the mechanism.

“Ah-ha!” Moody strode over, reached into the clock, and pulled out Remus’s watch.

Teddy burst into giggles again, clapping his spaghetti-covered hands.

Moody returned to the table, watch in hand. He wiped it off with the edge of his robe and slipped it into his pocket. “You’re a crafty one, Lupin.”

Teddy beamed as if being called “crafty” was the highest compliment.

“Alright, lad,” Moody said, sitting back down at the table. “You win this time. But next time—next time—I’ll be ready.”

Teddy stared up at him, his hair now shifting back to blue. He picked up a single strand of spaghetti, dangling it above his mouth with great concentration.

“Eat it,” Moody encouraged. “One bite. That’s all I’m asking.”

With a look of intense determination, Teddy slurped the spaghetti noodle into his mouth. Moody raised an eyebrow, impressed.

“Good lad,” he muttered. “Good lad.”

Send me a character/pairing and an aesthetic/concept and I’ll make a moodboard based on the ask!

[retro-system]

if anyone has any suggestions for what the L and R triggers could be used for please lmk but this is what i've got for now

literally good for ttyd fans. whatever. when can spm fans get their game where you can switch between the heroes with the d-pad and with more expressive sprite animations

[bleachbleachbleach]

Back on my Wheels Bullshit Again

Some thoughts about why Menos are probably not a good replacement candidate for whale oil; and why the Seireitei should have an extremely racist (ghost-ist?) World's Fair

Yesterday I drove 500+ miles to see someone perform, among other things, as a seagull in a James and the Giant Peach musical. EXCELLENT, would recommend, but this also meant I had a good amount of time on the road to think about some absolute bullshit. As a result of the Great Summer Conspiracy (road construction, hours and hours), I'm also feeling dehydrated and mentally addled, so this will be word vomit I may come back to more seriously, or maybe not! Who knows!

But I was thinking about the Soul Society wheels situation. Wheels exist, if not in great numbers (filler wheels in deep Rukongai; Mayuri's Hueco Mundo caravan; the casters on the Zombie Pods, the wheels on Yachiru's sheathe). But if they wanted more wheels (transportation wheels, but any other kind of wheels or spinning thing--like, in a computer or other mechanized object), what would they use for lubricant? Is there oil they can drill for? Is the ocean close and fecund enough to have whale oil (or I guess... some other oily fish, in abundance)? There doesn't seem to be a lot of domestic animal husbandry to be using them for tallow/lard in addition to occasional food. Does the 12th have a lubricants division, and if so, what kinds of things do they develop, and what raw materials are available? I guess they probably do, but the fact remains they have way fewer wheels and spinny things than we do.

I feel like Menos would not be a good substitute for whale oil, because, despite having made a joke about Menos leather jackets once, I don't think they use Hollows like that, due to the stigma (and/or concerns over spiritual contamination). And also because it may not be that....stable? Like, it seems equally likely that a Menos body might stick around to be harvested, or would just poof into reishi motes. Maybe there's some finesse to whichever of these happens, but the whole otherworldly spirit flesh thing introduces some complications here, is what I'm saying.

Which made me think about the fact of most of the population of Soul Society not needing to eat, and the need for food production not acting as a driver for agricultural/industrial change, because the eating population is pretty small. So who needs wheels, or agriculture at scale, or orphan chimney sweeps? As long as you have enough criminals to mine for seki-sekki, you're gucci!

In terms of things shinigami would have spent time on instead, we have kidou/kaidou and killing Hollows (see above). That got interesting to me just because there does seem to be a kind of dichotomy between what we'll call military technologies and "other stuff." Like, there seem to be spiritual/ritual reasons that zanpakutou powers tend to be used only in battle/warfare applications (excepting some omake/omake-like instances). Kidou might be a little looser, but only slightly--in the sense that it seems like it's probably involved in some of their electrical/technological stuff--the worm TV, Rin's Noo-Noo thing (linked because I realize that my ~natural Teletubbies patois might not be shared, LOL). But they haven't gone, like, fully Harry Potter with what they think kidou/magic should be user for. So there's also not necessarily that same driver where military/non-military technologies are a lot more incestuous for us than they seem to be for them.

And that's all without thinking about the timescale at which they're operating, re: aging. Or the fact that thinking about shinigami specifically, they don't really have trading partners or other societies to swap ideas with (that we know of), aside from cribbing off the Living World--which certainly has made its mark on the palimpsestic cultural/technological life of Soul Society, though it's not all just stolen from the Living World, being that Sasakibe's been rocking rapiers since time immemorial, and Shinji's TBTP speaker setup, etc.

I feel like if the Seireitei were interested enough in ethnographic studies of Rukongai, there'd be some extremely interesting stuff out there. Like, sure, from what we've seen it's fairly resource-poor, and the somewhat high turnover rate from people getting eaten by monsters could go either way in terms of whether that's uhhhh helpful in driving cultural change. But there's a lot of souls out there with a lot of fragments of all kinds of weirdo memory, maybe, and a lot of different groups of people thinking about things largely independently of one another--but with some opportunity for cultural cross-pollination still. And we know they've got the hottest wheels AND the snake wine out there. I feel like there's all kinds of cool regional stuff going down out there, and it's just shinigami who are like

"Ah yes, the cultureless, primitive, flatlands of Rukongai"

"Actually, out in East 56 we have a rich history of--"

"woe are the half-lives of the ghostly"

"we have 42 lunar calendar systems and 35 linguistic sub-families--"

"nary a dinglehopper with which to entertain themselves as they await death"

[chaoslaura]

#questionnaires: are you forgetful?#no not when I write it down in my calendar and check that three times a day and write it on my to do list and tell 3 people so it sticks#'no without help'

THANK YOU! I hate those (self) tests/questionnaires because it's always like "do you do x/how often does x happen etc." and the answer is always it depends! What counts as that! Does it still count if I've developed workarounds over the years that no one helped me with it!

"How often do you fail to give close attention to details, or make careless mistakes in things such as schoolwork, at work, or during other activities?" - Idk the first time/when I start, I go over board and find a million sources and think every detail is important, and later, when I've finally wrestled my brain into actually writing an essay and it's time to proofread, I'm so bored by it already I just skim it and miss stuff I "made a mental note" to check again.

"How often do you forget to do something you do all the time, such as missing an appointment or paying a bill?" - I have all the due dates for different bills and making my budget in both my calendars and a reminder on my phone so I can forget it several times and still be reminded again, which box do I check?

"How often do you have difficulty waiting your turn, such as while waiting in line?" - what does that MEAN. I don't love standing in line and get annoyed by it easily, even more so if I'm in a hurry or tired, but I just quietly stay polite and stand in line like everyone else? I'm not gonna throw a fit over it. Is that a difficulty waiting or just normal waiting in line behavior?

"how often do you fidget, tap, squirm in your seat or otherwise move in ways that are not expected of you?" what counts as that?? because I wanted to check the "almost never" box and the woman I talked to gave me a Look and said "really? you haven't stopped lightly twirling in the spinny chair and playing with the pen in your hand since we started talking" - I didn't know that counted?? DOES it count?? how much to I have to twirl or play for it to count instead of being "yeah everyone in an office does that x times an hour"?

How often do you blurt out an answer before a question has been completed, how often do find yourself talking excessively, how often do you interrupt others - IT D E P E N D S. Often with friends, never with not-friends? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME

"how do you deal with x" - I DON'T KNOW, I've found workarounds over the years even if they fail more and more, I guess I'm dealing with it?? because literally WHAT is the alternative?? not dealing with it? "oh so you don't struggle with it too much then?" - I am stopping myself from crying on the floor in your office, please help me.

yeah yeah women tend to underreport on their symptoms and hell yes can we PLEASE start taking that into account (I'm not bitter I "failed" my standardised ADHD test while the woman I talked to said from our conversation she definitely thinks I have it but the tests say it's not clear/I'm just below the cut-off) but can the people making those tests maybe also be more specific? Or maybe we abolish the standarised tests and switch them out for going over those questions with a therapist and they can assess from the answers if it's ADHD or something else?

I know that's not possible - costs and bla bla yada yada we know - and the medical staff ARE (mostly) really trying to help and doing their best with the tools they're given/allowed, but it's just so FRUSTRATING. Like hey, look! I want to tell you I developed ways to deal with my bad memory and procrastination over the school years and that it somehow worked at the start of uni but by now those coping mechanisms are more and more badly failing me; I want to tell you I did well in middle school and well-ish in high school not because I'm smart or organised but because it was objectively still a managable-ish workload (and little other responsibilities) that you could cram for the night before an exam when you never had more than one exam per week; I want to tell you I lied, and still do, about so many things to hide my shortcomings from others ("what did you do today?"-"oh not much, studied a bit and cooked and met a friend :)" - me who spent the day in bed or staring at the wall/scrolling through tumblr for four hours) but it's getting harder and harder to hide and it's actually making my life fall apart, and all these other things that make me want to scream and beg for help and switch out my brain for a healthy one.

but there's no box for that.

it's like screaming "I need help" and the other gives you a high five and a sticker with the writing "you can do it" - you should really use that in a fic someday, it's a great line; you have no idea how often I think about it when I get frustrated about my brain and the mental health system around here.

..... anyway I'm done rambling in your inbox now. sorry for the wall of text; I started typing with just a short little "mental health system do better" rant and then it turned into this. unsurprisingly.

I'm gonna text you back tonight or tomorrow oh my god I'm so sorry, I have currently 13 unanswered chats I hate it here

Jess‘ rant in my askbox unlocked:✅

I can never say how often x happens because most of the time you do it unconsciously, especially when you’ve been doing it for such a long time?

That’s the difficulty in detecting ADHD in adults cause you’ve developed so many coping mechanisms to find workarounds in your life to get things done and not let anybody see how much you’re struggling, that some of these questions don’t apply to you anymore or just not in their basic understanding.

I always have ten additional questions as well to every question. One I regularly have to fill out is: “Are you so restless that you can’t sit still/fidget around?” And I know it’s related to nervousness and anxiety, but girl that’s my basic state, and my honest answer is not giving you the right information you want from me.

But what I’ve gathered is they want to know how you’re dealing with what is asked without your coping mechanisms. So “How often do you forget to do something you do all the time, such as missing an appointment or paying a bill?” would be a lot/almost always for you because you need additional help with it (and even that doesn’t seem to work). Same for me if I’m just being told something, it’s out the window, never reached my short-term memory, I will forget everything if it’s not written down and I can look at it every day, and people make fun of me for being forgetful and being worse than my grandma but it’s actually a real problem for me and makes me feel bad, thanks.

And the test shouldn’t be everything, the talk with someone who knows the signs should always be done in addition. And for me, I still find that most tests are for ADHD and not ADD, which of course I will fail because I’m nothing like hyperactive and impulsive. But my daydreaming has been a problem ever since I was a child. And also give me a twenty lines long explanation for every question otherwise I will be bothering someone with it.

“I want to tell you I lied, and still do, about so many things to hide my shortcomings from others” I feel you so much, I still want to rather hide some things from my therapist even though she needs to know when I’m doing badly, but isn’t it embarrassing when you have to admit that you can’t do life? “Oh yeah sorry wanted to lay in bed all day, no I’m not lazy I swear haha, it’s just my brain, yeah I don’t really believe it either.”

But I also learned that 70% of kids with ADHD develop another mood disorder such as depression, isn’t that nice🙃 You get two fun illnesses for the price of one.

But even if the test didn’t result in a diagnosis for you, it’s evident that something’s not working for you in life and a therapist would see that and would still be able to work with that.

People can always ramble in my inbox, it’s healthy to use an outlet, and it’s totally relatable.

[risu5waffles]

TENsion and Chills

So.... the servers are fucked at the moment, which is... not good. Folx getting folx banned (including the Community Manager), and the online has been shut down "for maintenance," and we can just cross fingers they come back up at all, let alone reasonably soon. i'm lucky i'm backlogged to the 25th, but i'd rather my last Archive episode not be 390 (the level is, to be fair and honest, kinda pants. Spoilers).

At least it gives me a little time for some administrata.

A bright and stickertastic homage to The Gardens, which (generally) manages to maintain a decent pace throughout the race. Like a lot of these kinds of levels, it felt like it would have been a lot more fun wiv friends, but i still managed to have a good time. Except for the spinny-grabby bits. Gods but do i ever suck at the spinny-grabbies.

We talked about this one on LittleBite-sizedPlanet episode 287, but the short version is it sucks? Just a troll level for the lulz? Tho', to its credit, it is a level; like, beginning, end, gameplay in the middle, some work to present an environment. So... i guess i mean a troll level in the sense that the creator is clearly capable of more, and just decided to shitpost? So... not a troll level, a shitpost level.

This is the level that inspired Tin_Boy551's Cardboard Castle a couple videos up, and even tho' it's not my favourite of five-ate-five's work, you can see the jump in quality over The Garden in 1 Hour. This one definitely would have been more fun wiv friends; there's just so much going on, and i can imagine players on different paths and getting into each other's way. i bet it was a hoot. There's also a fair amount of working in the secondary characters. We do run into levels from time to time that give you the chance to play as every character, but generally it's more of a frustrating toss-in.

Now this is some quality stuff. Some real inventive playing around wiv LBP1 mechanics, a fun well-realized theme, good puppet work, enjoyable gameplay. See, i told you five-ate-five could produce quality.

A big, chonky, proto-Adventure here. All the levels are pretty great, tho' the second is the one that initially caught my eye. It's funny, because i'd worked in a similar conceit for an enemy/obstacle in my abortive Archives level, but it's handled so much better here (the benefit of planning an entire level around the concept, instead of throwing it in as a one-off fairly late in planning... also that five-ate-five is just a better creator). Shame how over-bright it is, but that might just be a combination of lighting changes between LBP2 and 3 and my telly's contrast being a touch wonky.

It's interesting, but it feels like there was a period in LBP2 where you ran into a bunch of levels working in the meta of community creations, and directly, openly breaking the fourth wall to address player expectations the way we see in Huge Inspiration Stealing Lazors. It... kinda works? Like, as a bit of community history, seeing it and remembering "oh yeah, players demanding boss fights was totally a thing for a bit." But it also feels a bit like a "you had to be there" kinda deal, and that the creator wasn't confident enough in their ability to craft their own narrative. i feel like a good example is in Over There and Back Here Again by scuzzy1973 that we featured way back in LittleBite-sizedArchive 061. Like, it just sticks out like a sore thumb, and comes off a touch mean-spirited? Here it mostly kinda works, but i think a lot of that is that it manages to stick the landing pretty well. Also that bitchin' falling castle platforming bit after the fight.

i just loved this one. The environmental design just hits all of my good buttons, and you can see how it was a clear inspiration for how i presented the city in A Totally Reasonable Response. Gameplay stays pretty fast moving once you know the level layout, tho' the first time through i can see it being easy to get yourself stuck in a couple of places. Not, like, softlocking the level or anything like that, just not quite realizing where you're supposed to go next. Still, i had a lot of fun going through this one multiple times to get a really good run for the Archives, and that's not something i can say about a lot of levels.

These are both fine levels, tho' i feel like almost anything would have come off as a bit of a step down after a week of some of five-ate-five's best stuff.

corysix6 made these after a hiatus, and it's always nice to see a creator get their inspiration back. i wish i'd had the chance to take a look at some of their older work on stream to get a feel for how these meshed in, and if they were indicative of cory's style, or just a shaking off the rust exercise, 'cause they are a lil scanty. Even so, the gameplay is fun, and the presentation may be sparse, but it is clear, and clearly thought-out.

-----------------------------------------------

Right. That's another TENspot done and in the can. Depending on how Sumo reacts to this latest clownfoolery, we might only have three more of these before we put a bow on the whole endevour, and that has me feeling all sorts of ways.

i know one of my biggest complaints has been time, and the lack of it in my life; and i know one of the biggest timesinks aside from work-work is my video work. It might only be a couple of hours every day or every couple days, but those are still a couple hours out of a very short stock of usable ones. i don't know what i would do if i suddenly had those hours back, but it would be something.

But on the other hand, i do all this because it is, in fact, fulfilling. Seeing and sharing other creators' work, sometimes creators who may not have had any eyes on them aside from a friend or two; the recording and simple editing. The time i spent getting those title cards laid out just right. All the work that goes into the LittleBite-sizedPlanet reviews. Getting a video together and uploaded, and being able to say "i did that." It's never been about getting big on YouTube, or step-stoning into some career. It's just been a little thing i've done for myself that's helped me get through some really, really rough patches just by being a continuous process that has a tangible end... product isn't the word i want, but it colocates wiv end, you know? The fact that i've met a lot of good people through this, some of whom i now consider close and important friends, was an unexpected, but deeply, deeply appreciated cherry on top.

And that, after so many years, i've finally had a spark of wanting to create my own (non-video) stuff; i wasn't thinking that would happen at all. But i look at Craftworld by Rail and A Totally Reasonable Response, and i am a little proud of them. i'm glad, especially wiv Response and it being very much a loveletter to the other queer players in LBP, that they resonated wiv so many people.

So this server shutdown has me feeling some kinds of ways, let me tell you what. i've known for years that LBP (in the company-supported online sense) has been living on borrowed time, 15years is very long in the tooth for something like this. We still can't say that this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, but it's clear that Sumo and Sony don't put a particularly high stock in keeping the ship afloat, and the last time things were pushed sideways (thanks Jon, you fucking fuck) it cost us lbp.me and the PS3 servers. If corpo says "yup, we're done here," i'm not going to be shocked. But it is going to hurt a little. Like watching your meemaw who's being treated for latestage cancer get hit by a bus. You knew the end was in the post, but you weren't really prepared for it to be right now.

[shitslikethis]

i work with kids in an art studio. today we had extra time in class so we did spinner cards. small square of paper goes into a mechanical spinner, i turn it on, the kids use squeeze bottles to drop paint onto the card and make fun psychedelic patterns. they love it.

today a kid asks “how does it make the patterns?”

now the quick explanation for this effect is that ‘spinny force makes it go cool.’ but that doesn’t answer the question. question was not ‘what happens?’ but ‘how does it happen?’ if they are old enough to use ‘how?’ not ‘what?’ then they can probably understand the answer.

the full answer is that due to newtons third law, the centrifugal force of the spinner machine pushes the fluid (in this case paint) out from the center where the card is placed. adding water or more paint to the mixture changes the viscosity of the fluid and will impact how far outward from the center the fluid will move.

now, if that last paragraph hurt your brain, imagine being five.

‘spinny force make it go cool’ is great way to get kids excited about the activity but it underexplains and doesn’t answer the question.

centrifugal force/fluid viscosity/ equal and opposite reaction explanation is too hard, it over explains and weighs the concept, the actual answer, down with terminology by trying to explain cause and effect.

explaining cause and effect is a great part of science, but we don’t need it to communicate on a basic level because we already live the effect.

have you ever been on a merry go round? a roller coaster? held hands with a friend while you spin around each other? yup, centrifugal forces.

ever been in a car that stopped or started really fast and it made you hit the seat behind/in front of you? congratulations, that’s equal and opposite forces.

do you know the difference between honey and water? maple syrup and orange juice? okay, doctor, that’s viscosity.

most of the science i learned as a kid i learned because i experienced it first and then applied my understanding to new concepts. i don’t know the words and i couldn’t do the math (i still can’t) but i could apply practical things because someone took the time to connect to my experiences.

nothing frustrates me more than when adults refuse to even slightly indulge the questions and thoughts of children. i remember one time when one of my younger cousins accidentally stumbled across the concept of purchasing power parity because she realised 10 rupees which bought her 10 candies in India only bought her ~3 candies when we went on holiday to Japan, and when she asked her mother about “why the same things cost different amounts in different places” my aunt had the audacity to call her spoiled for not understanding the “”worth” of money, that’s not what she was ASKING damn it!! your daughter just set up her own big mac index and realised a key metric of macroeconomics!!! how do you not find that utterly fascinating !! why don’t adults talk to children !!

[1moreff-creator]

What do you think about Ace potentially being the Chapter 2 culprit? I originally didn't believe it, but I'm starting to kinda change my mind. What's your opinion?

You know? I actually feel the same way. I think I still lean Eden as the more likely option, but Ace is definitely in the top two biggest suspects for me. Great minds think alike or something.

I'm writing a more complete post talking about updates to my murder theory, so I'll go into more detail there, but a lot of the evidence actually points to him. No alibi for the assumed time of fish disappearance, no alibi for the murder itself, and was in the gym when the tape disappeared. He's also strong enough to easily pull off all the required stunts, notable especially now that an accomplice seems unlikely. The fact the murder method looks like the one Nico tried would fit with Ace pushing Nico as the culprit, giving an explanation to why the mechanism was necessary. He also did some suspicious stuff like hiding that he knew about the Arei-David conversation. Plus, the fact he has a history of eavesdropping makes it possible he overheard the Eden-Arei conversation, necessary to know exactly what Arturo's secret is since all Arei says to David is that Arturo attacked Eden, and the secret is mentioned directly in the note.

Now, I personally think Eden!Culprit could work better from a narrative standpoint from what we've seen, but there's plenty of chapter left. If Ace is the real culprit, I'm sure the dev can fit it nicely as well, so this isn't a detraction.

However, it's not without issues. By all means, Teruko should have seen him if he'd taken the tape. Also, the fish are pointless since he didn't have an alibi for nighttime anyways. If the starch on the clothes came from the relax room, Eden remains more suspicious for that particular point of evidence. Funnily enough, the fact he corrects Teruko on the name of the spinny thing could imply he cares about grammar too much to write that abomination of a letter (this is a silly point, but it's just funny enough that it might be meaningful).

But Eden!Culprit has its issues too, so I'm currently deciding not to rule out Ace!Culprit. I would currently say that Eden!Culprit has more going for it (starch on clothes, Teruko's eyes being on Ace during the gym scene, benefits from the alibi the fish give her), but also has more complications (taking the fish in the first place (this can be worked around), her strength, lots of strange lines in the trial, etc), so I'm not going to be completely blindsided if Ace is the blackened. We'll have to see! Thanks for the ask!

[darlingsuperstition]

53. 5 things that make you happy! :D

Good leitmotif usage

Writing music

Knowing I made someone else happy

Skirt go spinny

Cool mechanical parts in Lego sets

[boopjuice]

My father once gave me the advice where if I was feeling overwhelmed/spinny/driven by a motor/anything of the sort, to just, and I quote, "stop reacting to things." And somehow, at the precise moment he gave me the advice, it worked. I didn't know how, and I haven't been able to replicate it since.

It took me until last night to realize that this man meant "If you're spinny, just intentionally dissociate." Sir, what the fuck kind of coping mechanisms do you have?

[noidretina]

I don't get why schools force you to learn certain terminologies.

Like, if you can correctly use a^2 + b^2 = c^2, then what need is there for you to know it's called the Pythagorean theorem? It could be called the pink lilac enigma registry and its application would be no different.

Now, I do understand that knowing what it's called can help some people actually remember its relevant implications, but for the type of people that can place a towel on their desk and that serves as an adequate reminder that their history essay is due tomorrow, you don't need a hyper-specific word to be able to apply its relevant information.

Yes, I understand that these things need names and that these names should be brought up when learning about them. I will say that when teaching, terminology can be quite resourceful. The thing that I don't get is why you're tested to see if you know the relevant term. Knowing what the thing is called says nothing about your ability to use it. And this doesn't just go for math. Tons of subjects enforce knowing hyper-specific terminology as pressingly as the actually relevant information. Yes, terminology helps when teaching. Yes, terminology helps when collaborating. But what about everyone else? About the only relevant application I can see terminology having there is just... having an easier time googling it. How exactly is that relevant to the curriculum?

Obviously, literature is the exception here. In this case, terminology is the relevant information. There are other exceptions where terminology is the important part, such as the names of constellations in astrology and things of similar nature. Math is the big whoop here, but even in mechanical topics, 'the big spinny thing,' while a terrible term to describe to another person, might be all that oneself needs to perform a relevant task.

Getting back to my point: In circumstances where terminology is not the primary information at hand, terminology should not be quizzed on. People can learn it and should be encouraged to learn it, but shouldn't be punished for not knowing a term behind a task they know how to perform.

This is basically just a really long way to say that people learn in different ways, and shouldn't be punished for it.

And yes, I know there are a lot of relevant applications of terminology in careers and this and that and yadayadayada. However, I don't have much reason to believe that this information needs to be at the top of one's head, but rather stored in a relevant file. Therefore, I still stand by my point that terminology should not be tested for, as testing only shows relevant information currently in the head.

[dollsahoy]

#Huh!#did not know that!!#I just thought it was called both#I guess now I know they go different ways#but this is a very cool fact to know!!!#random reblog

Well...the thing is...it is called both! 😅

Because American English has two terms for the same thing, a lot of people have though that maybe the different terms apply to different things--and the reasons they give for the division (which, again, doesn't actually exist, especially if you look at many of the websites of the companies that manufacture the things) are wildly varied--the directions, or what's on them, or if the things on them move up and down, or if it's mechanical or self-powered, or where they were made, or the materials used to make them, and probably a lot more I can't remember at the moment (and that's without bringing in what they're called in other English-speaking countries)

But the reason American English uses two terms is because of the nature of English to grab words from other languages. "Carousel" wasn't even used that much until the late 1970s.

So, my suspicion, when I made the original post, that this was hinting at some unknown discourse was correct! Any word that people want to use for any form of spinny ride is completely appropriate...just...not because that specific use is correct as much as because all uses are correct 🎠

just saw this on the website of a company that manages carousels in malls

This is a Carousel because it revolves counter clockwise, whereas Merry Go Rounds revolve clockwise.

and that sure feels like the very edge of some Big Unseen Discourse

[viviskull]

@cflight​ : x

“No!” With a frustrated grunt, Ekira drops the wiring back onto the metal table, tears beginning to prick at the corner of their eyes. They hated this, they hated how easily they’d been accustomed to just giving up— but they’d been trying to get this right for what seemed like hours; only for a metal plate to keep snapping, or tangle a wire further.

Trying to bite back the growing lump in their throat, Ekira sniffled, the protective eye gear becoming crooked as they clumsily wiped their eyes. “I give up. I… I don’t want t’do this any more.”

He instinctively retracts his palm the second he hears the snap of the wires and pillars fall to his workbench with a harsh clank.  A tangled mess of wires, looking more like a nest that was struggling to break free from its metal shell of a broken headlight, was often usually an easy fix.  The mechanic furrows his thick brows at that instant.  Arthur’s done it before with his uncle just fine, but why wasn’t it still not clicking for the other?  Was he not extremely thorough with his explanation?  Were the paper instructions he wrote down too chicken scratched for them to understand?  Maybe it was because he kinda jumped straight into lesson five of his old car manual instead of giving Ekira a natural rundown of the basics?

It.. could’ve been the last option, maybe or maybe not.  He got all excited to help teach the other about his one main special interest, that.. Well, he wasn’t used to the fact that they actually showed interest in him or his hobbies at this point.  Perhaps he should’ve remembered that they were working with three fingers, and well.. He had the advantage over four.

He didn’t think he’d actually ruin the one opportunity at being some sort of mentor for the guy.  They rarely ever get the chance to bond like this, usually.  Oh goodness, why was it him that always got cursed with such bad luck?

Mentally drawing back, his shoulders droop down a little in defeat at the cries of his companion.  He leans back, with one metal hand resting upon a leg and the other fleshy one awkwardly scratching at the back of neck.  His old spinny chair painfully squeaks as he tries to reel back his prior excitement.  “Uhh..”  Arthur stammers out.  “.. W-Weeee can take a five minute break if you want, Ekira.  I can have Galaham ring us up for some pizza in a bit.”  In that moment, he generally tries to offer a sympathetic smile; even if it came more forced and stiff, given he wasn’t normally used to comforting folks like this.

“You have been trying to get that old headlight to work for ages, anyways..”  He quietly adds.  “.. Maybe we can try to work on something more easier.  I know I have a ton of other things in this broken garage that could probably need some good updating?”

[rosiesramblings]

A Real Smile

WC: 2.2k

Fandom: Criminal Minds, ler!Spencer, lee!Reader

TW: Talk of depression and anxiety, general mental health problems

A/N: Okay I just want to say I tried to make it OBVIOUS in this fic that tickling does NOT fix or cure mental illness. Like, not even close. However, as someone who has struggled with this stuff for at least 8 years, having a solid support system DOES help. That's really what I wanted to portray in this fic. I love you all! And I hope you enjoy.

“What are you doing?” Reid’s voice jolted me out of my focus, and I forced my face to relax from the aggressively fake smile I had been wearing.

“Um. Paperwork?” I purposely misinterpreted the question, twisting nervously in my spinny office chair.

“I meant with your face,” Spencer said. He strode across the bullpen and hopped up onto my desk, fixing me with a stare that I knew from past experience meant that he wasn’t going to drop this until I told him.

I sighed, looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. To my surprise, there was nobody else in the bullpen. Hotch’s light was still on in his office, but other than that it was completely deserted. I glanced at the clock, and oh my god it was almost half past nine. Shit. I really hadn’t meant to stay this late. At least nobody else was around to notice my weird coping mechanisms.

I looked up at Reid. “You can’t laugh,” I said.

“Why would I laugh?” he asked genuinely.

“Because it’s… silly at best, embarrassing at worst,” I explained.

“Ok. No laughing. Now what was that face? It looked like you were in pain.”

“So, I read online that the action of smiling, even if it’s a fake smile, triggers the release of happy brain chemicals. If I’m being honest, depression has been kicking my ass lately, and when it gets like this I fake smile when I’m doing paperwork for especially hard cases to try and trick my brain into thinking I’m happy,” I said, staring resolutely just past Reid’s shoulder, not making eye contact.

He didn’t say anything. I panicked.

“I know it’s dumb and that the fake smiling thing was geared more towards normal people who are having a bad day and probably doesn’t actually do much to help people with major depression and generalized anxiety disorder but I figure it’s better than nothing or moping alone at my desk all day and -”

Reid puts a hand on my shoulder, stopping my ramble in its tracks. “Woah, Y/N, it’s ok. I don’t think it’s weird at all. I just… why didn’t you say anything?”

“Say anything about my fake smiling? Probably because I don’t think -”

“No, I mean, why didn’t you tell anybody on the team that you’re struggling?” Reid asked, voice impossibly gentle. His hand is still on my shoulder, and it’s kind of all I can concentrate on. It’s been so long since somebody just - touched me? Which sounds so stupid and pathetic and anyway, he asked me a question.

“Um. Well I didn’t tell Hotch or Rossi because I don’t want them to think that I can’t do my job. And I didn’t tell the rest of you because I’m just used to dealing with this on my own, I guess? It honestly didn’t even occur to me to say something.”

I risk a glance at Spencer’s face and he looks devastated. Jesus. It’s like I told him his dog died or something. I scramble, trying to figure out the best thing to say, not having the faintest idea how to fix it.

“It’s really not that big a deal, Reid, I promise. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist soon, I just have to buckle down and get through these next few weeks until she can adjust my meds,” I say. “In the meantime, I just… try and find little ways to make it better. Hence the fake smiling.”

Reid still looks sad. He hops down from my desk and stands next to my chair. “According to the current research, an embrace would offer more of an increase in endorphin production in the brain than smiling, fake or not,” he says, the fingers on his left hand rubbing at his sweater sleeve.

Unbidden, tears sprung to my eyes. I blinked hard and tried for a teasing tone to cover it. “Dr. Reid, are you asking if I want a hug?”

My voice cracked. Goddammit.

He just raised his eyebrows and opened his arms.

I heaved a breath out, hard. “Ok, ok, just… give me a minute. Cause if you hug me right this second I will cry,” I said, tugging my hands through my hair and staring up at the ceiling, trying to get a handle on my emotions.

Spencer just nodded solemnly. “That would be counterproductive.”

I gave a half-laugh. Then I stood up, shaking out my arms, before looking at him and squinting. “Wait, are you sure? I know handshakes aren’t your thing so isn’t a hug worse-ah!”

Without preamble, Reid grabbed my hand and yanked me toward him, wrapping his arms around me.

Oh. Oh.

His sweater was soft and warm, and my head fit perfectly underneath his chin. One of his arms ran up and down my spine softly, and the other one held me tightly to him. I let out a shuddery breath as I relaxed into his embrace.

This was the safest I’d felt in a while.

“You might be onto something with the endorphins thing,” I mumbled into his chest.

Spencer’s laugh rumbled through his ribcage. The best feeling. “I have an IQ of 187. I’m usually ‘onto something’.”

He rocked me gently back and forth, and I let my eyes flutter closed. 

Only to stiffen and stifle a laugh when Reid switched from rubbing my back to running his fingers across my shoulder blades. I pressed my lips into a line, trying to remain as natural as possible. I didn’t want the hug to end, and I really didn’t want Spencer to find out how much that tickled.

Reid’s voice was suspiciously neutral when he next spoke. “You know, it’s not just hugs that release endorphins,” he said. 

I hummed, hoping that he was planning on going on a tangent that would distract him from asking about the sudden tension in my body.

“Things like high fives, pats on the back, cuddling, all these activities cause so-called “happy brain chemicals” to flood your nervous system.”

“Huh,” I said, barely listening as his touch on my shoulder blades seemed to lighten and become even more unbearable. Don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t - 

“Actually, there is one more activity that helps the brain produce endorphins,” Spencer continued.

“It’s been observed in other species, including chimpanzees, rats, and bonobos, and can induce a fight-or-flight response, which actually reduces stress levels.”

“Oh yeheah?” Shit. Hopefully the giggle was muffled by his sweater.

“Mhm. So I guess we should probably see if it helps you, since the benefits are so clearly so immense,” he said, his fingers still dancing across my shoulders.

“Okay,” I said, proud that I kept the laughter out of my voice.

“So tell me, Y/N… are you ticklish?” Fuck.

“WhahahaAHAHAT?” I burst into laughter when he suddenly lowered his hands and dug deep into my sides.

Spencer just laughed with me. “Unfortunately, knismesis, what I was doing to your shoulder blades earlier, hasn’t been studied in this context. However, gargalesis, this squeezing that I’m doing,” he demonstrated enthusiastically, making me shriek. “That has been proven to give those mental health benefits.”

“Reheheheheid,” I giggled.

“Yes? What seems to be the problem, Y/N?” he asked pleasantly.

“Yohohou’re - yohohohou’re - gohohohd, please go somewhere ehehehehelse,” I said, my face burning as I realized I didn’t really want him to stop.

“Your wish is my command,” he teased, picking me up and sitting me on the edge of my desk, where he had been moments earlier. He backed up, put a few inches of space between us, and I frowned, thinking he was done. Instead, he reached between us and vibrated his hand over the skin of my belly.

“Ahahahahahaha! Wahahahait, not thehehehehere,” I begged. My hands tried to grab his, but he was too fast and I was too uncoordinated.

“Actually, you didn’t specify. All you said was, and I quote, ‘Please go somewhere else’,” Spencer explained.

Nononononohohohohoho,” I laughed, squirming and knocking my cup full of pens to the floor.

“I have an eidectic memory, Y/N. If you had asked me not to get your tummy, I would remembered,” Spencer teased.

“Dohohn’t cahahahall it thahahat,” I snickered, pressing my face into his shoulder in embarrassment.

“What? Big, bad, Special Agent Y/N L/N is flustered by the word ‘tummy’?” Reid asked, moving his other hand up to squeeze at my ribs.

“Spencer! We’re ahahat wohohork! Don’t - don’t teASE,” I yelped.

“Hotch is the only other one still here. Nobody’s gonna see you,” Spencer said gently. “Plus, I’m pretty sure that Hotch would agree with me that you haven’t laughed nearly enough this week.”

“Ohohoho my gohohod,” I giggled, giving up on trying to stop him and fisting my hands in the back of his sweater, desperate to hold on to something.

“Ah, thank you! Easy access to your underarms,” Reid smiled, worming his fingers there and lighting my nerves on fire. 

I tensed my shoulders as I laughed, knowing that putting my arms down would undoubtedly make it a thousand times worse.

“Tell you what,” Reid said diplomatically. “Since you’ve been such a good sport about this, and because I am a merciful and benevolent god,” I snorted at him. “If you tell me your worst spot, I’ll only tickle you there for a little bit and then we’ll be done.”

My voice pitched up an octave. “Whahahahaat?”

“Your choice, Y/N. We can stop soon, or I can keep going until you’re literally just a puddle of giggles on the floor.”

Oh, this was so not fair.

“Well? I’m waiting,” Reid said, digging into the tops of my ribs and making me cackle.

“Ugh - fihihihine, fihihihine! It’s my hiIHIHIHIHIPS REHEHEHEID NO!” I screamed crazily, shocked that no night security guards had come running.

“Good choice, Y/N. Would it help if I counted down?” Deftly pressing his thumbs deep into my hip bones, he took me apart as casually as if we were having lunch together.

“IHIHIHIT WOULD NOHOHOT,” I laughed.

“Hm. I’m going to anyway. You can do it, just ten more seconds…”

“REEHEHEHEID.”

“Nine…”

“YOU SUHUHUCK.”

“Eight… seven… six… five…”

“SPENCER PLEHEHEHASE,” I gasped, absolutely losing my mind.

“You’re doing so well! Four… three… “

“THIHIHIHIS IS A WAHAHAR CRIHIHIME.”

“Oh, don’t be a baby. Two… aaaaaaand one!”

With that, he stopped kneading into my hips and rubbed a firm hand up and down my back. I just stayed where I was, arms wrapped around him, face hidden in his sweater, laughing and waiting for the ghost-tickles to go away.

“Ohohoho my god… my sihihides,” I giggled, feeling the wonderful ache in my lungs of having had a good laugh.

“Feeling any better?” Spencer asked cheekily.

“Mahahaybe a little,” I mumbled. I considered my next words. “Definitely not cured, but the world does seem a little less… horrible.”

“Good,” Spencer said simply. 

We sat in silence for a minute, enjoying each other’s company.

“Listen,” Spencer said, pulling back and looking at my face. “You absolutely don’t have to tell anybody else. I certainly won’t. This is your business, and if you want to keep it that way that’s fine. But, telling the team might help. A lot of us struggle with mental health stuff sometimes. You might be surprised by the support.”

I hummed, considering.

“I am, however, absolutely going to tell them that you’re ticklish,” Spencer grinned. “I’m sure they’ll take advantage of the information. Nobody has to know that it helps your depression.”

I whined, mostly just putting on a show, “Seriously?”

“Definitely. These next few weeks before your psych appointment are going to fly by,” Reid said, tweaking my sides and making me squeak.

The (real, tickle-induced) smile slowly faded from my face and I looked at him seriously. “You’re a good friend, Dr. Reid.”

“So are you, Agent L/N.”

I pushed myself off my desk. “Okay. We have both been here for entirely too long. Want to come back to my apartment for a movie or something?”

“Sure! I’ve been on a major Wes Anderson kick lately,” Spencer said, walking over to grab his messenger bag.

Just then, both of our phones buzzed. “Oh, please tell me we don’t have a case,” I begged, tossing my stuff into my bag as Reid looked at his screen.

He grinned. “Nope, no case. Although, you might find a case preferable to this.” He flipped his phone towards me and played the video that was just sent to the BAU group chat. 

The unmistakable sound of my laughter filled the room and my face burned as I watched Spencer-from-five-minutes-ago wreck me in third person on the the screen. The angle of the shot made it pretty obvious that it was filmed from the doorway of Hotch’s office.

“Hotch!” I squealed, covering my face with my hands.

“Well, that’s one thing checked off my to-do list,” Spencer laughed.

“Oh my god… I’m turning off my phone,” I said, even as embarrassing gifs from Emily and Morgan and a bunch of rainbow hearts from Garcia flooded my notifications.

“C’mon,” Spencer said, throwing his arm around me. “I’m sure you’ll live this down… in a few years.”

I stuck my tongue out at him as he walked us toward the elevator. This time, the smile stuck onto my face was a real one.

[driftward]

Title: FFXIV Write 2022 - 23. Pitch Characters: Gage Acquisitions and Allies, Tataru Taru Rating: Teen Summary: Tataru's an enabler. Notes: This cannon is probably not canon. Note that this contains Zoissette-as-WoL, and not Zoissette-as-Gage-Acquisitions-Lawyer

Tataru only glanced up briefly from her books when she heard the door to the Rising Stones open and then close again. Visitors coming back and forth were a common thing, and she often only needed a glance to vet whosoever it was. Seeing that it was Klynt, she paid her no further mind.

"Hey, Zoey!" she heard Klynt call out. "Zoey Zo Zo. Are you around? I have a question."

She heard Zoissette respond. "I'm right here, Klynt. But make it fast, I'm just heading out."

Tataru kept an ear out. The conversations that happened in the main area were often oh-so-interesting, and Klynt could be a good source of salacious gossip.

"Okay. Okay. So, you 'member when we were dealin' with that magitek the other week and you got one of 'em workin' again and you were explaining how you did it and you said the spinny bit made the levin go?"

"...yes," said Zoissette, her tone cautious.

"Okay. Okay. And you said also, that you could make the levin go in instead, and make the engine go spinny the other way?" Klynt sounded excited about something.

"Well, depending on current direction and some... other characteristics, yes. A lot of the technology of Azys Lla depends on those currents and their action, and the Nymian scholars had writings on similar. Did you find a Garlean engine, and want to try to get it working again?"

Tataru looked up, and saw that Zoissette had put her bag down on one of the nearby tables. She was now rather more interested in the conversation, and she set her quill aside.

"No, no! I was thinking, right, you said that the source of levin the Garleans use is often something to do with, uh, the ceruleum, right, and an aetheroconverter, right?" said Klynt, and there was a sound of increased excitement in her voice.

"...yes. I am really curious as to where you're going with this," said Zoissette.

"Just stay with me, just stay with me, I have an idea. Nyx is basically a big ol' aetheroconverter, right?"

Tataru glanced up expectantly, and was rewarded to see Nyx's head swing down from the ceiling as she hung upside down, putting her head level with Klynt's.

"I heard my name," said Nyx, in her usual monotone.

"I don't understand everything about Nyx, you know that. But sure, yes, you're approximately correct, I think," said Zoissette.

"Okay. Okay. So I was thinkin', about how fast that thing could spin... and you know, when I do my dragoon things? Leaping up into the air real high and coming back down? I sometimes use levin magics to power that. So I was thinkin'... maybe if we wired it up right... we could use one of those generator thingies, except instead of making thing go spinny, we use it to pitch something. Like, -real- far, with the way they can go."

Zoissette put her hands on her hips, and then tucked her head down, tapping a finger against her lips.

"...I... am not sure. I know the basics of the electroaetherics involved, and I remember reading something about the interactions, but I think aligning everything so that the motive force is linear rather than rotational would be dependant on a different levin mechanism..."

"You are correct," said Nyx. "Though I also do not know the specifics. I believe the Ironworks engineers could perhaps help in this regard."

Tataru hummed thoughtfully to herself as she walked up to the group.

"Say, Zoissette," she said lightly. "Maybe you can pay the Ironworks a visit after you run your errands. I could go ahead if you like. I think Jessie is currently at Rhalgr's reach."

Zoissette looked down at Tataru, and tapped her lips thoughtfully with a finger. "...that could be a big help, Tataru, thanks."

Tataru flashed a smile up at Zoissette. "Speak nothing of it. Leave it to me!"

She headed back to her desk, and picked up a few things that she thought she would need while she heard the trio continue to consider their plans. She left a note on her desk that she would be out for a bit, and then, with a brief hum of concentration, she teleported out.

-*-

Tataru sat on a crate nearby while the engineers hashed it out. She had gotten there, and managed to convince Jessie to let go of Cid and Nero for a bit, and all of them were now arguing over the specifics of the plan. She wasn't following much of it, but she did overhear enough. Cid thought the idea was interesting enough. Nero thought it would be a waste of time, or at least, he did until Cid made an off-hand comment that it probably wouldn't be of much interest to him anyway, and they'd taken to arguing over the merits of the project. Klynt was negotiating with Jessie, while Zoissette was taking notes, and Nyx was...

Well, Nyx was just standing there, silently, observing. Tataru walked over to her.

"Say, Miss Blackmoon, I'm wondering if you can think of anything they might need."

Nyx turned her stare down to Tataru. "If I understand the line of research they are interested in, then there may be records at Azys Lla they may find useful. I can provide you an index if you are interested."

"Ah," said Tataru, holding a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Not sure what I'd do with that."

"I believe Wedge can help you execute the search query," said Nyx.

"Oh! Well, that would be helpful. Thank you, Miss Blackmoon."

"You are welcome, Taru. Here."

Tataru gave Nyx a curtsy, while Nyx handed her a small black item that looked to be part of a tomestone.

"Miss Blackmoon, please let the others know I went to go take care of some things, but not to wait up for me, okay?" said Tataru.

"Acknowledged, Taru," said Nyx, and Tataru disappeared in another teleport.

-*-

The group had moved on to Azys Lla, to find Biggs and Wedge waiting for them. Tataru found herself once more sitting nearby, kicking her feet over the edge of a platform. The group shifted from having spirited discussions to vanishing elsewhere in Azys Lla for a bit to either find something or another or go look up some more information from one of the many floating devices that, apparently, were laden with data.

Knowing well the dangers of the place, Tataru was reluctant to move too far from the platform. Wedge, however, hovered nearby, and she decided to entertain the both of them with some conversation.

"How do you think it's coming along?" she asked.

"W-well, Nero thinks Klynt's idea is doable," he said. "The problem is, though, that Zoissette's our only scholar, you know, versed in Nymian mathematics, and she's too busy to focus her full attention here. Also, Cid thinks we could use another specialist or two. He said, uhm, someone familiar with Allagan spell work, and, uhm, another arcanist."

"Hmn," said Tataru thoughtfully. "Any other difficulties, you think?"

"Well! A great many, but those are the big ones we'll have a problem with. Everything else, Biggs and I can overcome. The chief'll work us like dogs, and we'll howl!" he said, jumping and flexing.

Tataru giggled at him. "Well. It sounds like you lot are going to be busy for a while, then. I'd better let you get to it."

"U-u-uhm. Sure. Talk to you later, Tataru!" he said.

She smiled and waved at him, and a moment later, she was gone in a flicker of teleportation magics.

-*-

Erick was standing in the lobby of Gage Acquisitions when Tataru stopped in, looking over some paperwork. He glanced over at her.

"Tataru. It's a bit early for Triple Triad night."

"Hello, Erick! Nice to see you too, but I'm not here for that," said Tataru.

Erick lowered his papers, and looked at Tataru over the top of them.

"I was wondering if I could hire away a couple of your contractors," said Tataru. "Let me think. Oh, it was Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn and Apple Silverberg, I believe."

"Dark's in charge of personnel," said Erick.

"I'm willing to offer twenty percent over their usual rates," said Tataru with a smile.

"Yeah, and I only get a percentage cut of that. It's not worth annoying her over."

"Hmn. Well, tell you what, Erick, I'll make you a deal. You remember that contract that Gage Acquisitions was bidding for in Old Sharlayan, to help out the Studium researchers?"

Erick glowered at her. "The one that Zoissette undercut us on? Yeah, I remember. I swear, she has no respect for proper business. Maybe next time she'd like to pay them for the privilege instead."

"Well, you know how she is, if there's work she thinks she'll like or she thinks will help people, but that's neither here nor there. I'm willing to sell you the contract for as long as you're willing to let me hire those two I asked after. Zoissette's been letting me do the books for her, see if there's anything the Scions could do to get a fair shake, and I must say, the residuals have been -very- lucrative..."

Tataru gave him her best smile, her hands behind her back.

"Done deal," said Erick, and the two shook on it.

-*-

Tataru carefully made her way around the tables in the Rising Stones. The first prototype of their device, whatever it was, had been tested, and apparently the results were promising, but they were hoping to scale up further. Cid and Nero were having a merry discussion about where they would test next. Zoissette was looking thoughtful while Ryssthota was giving her ideas for the elemental conversion work they would need to do.

She stopped by to give Apple and Klynt some juice. Klynt, she had gone out of her way to get pineapple juice for, knowing the Roegadyn's proclivities for food and drink that sometimes bit back. Of all the groups in the room, theirs looked the most down.

"Something the matter?" asked Tataru.

Apple sighed, and Klynt just shook her head. "Apple's egis are givin' us power. Something-something Garuda windy static somethin', I don't know the details, but she can't do it fast -enough-. We need somethin' she can charge up and then that we can discharge real fast-like. I know some alchemical jars that can do th' job as fast as Nero likes, but he's complainin' about capacity, and Ryssthota was worried 'bout throughput."

Klynt let her head sink into her hands. "An' I'm good at mixin' 'em and makin' 'em, but I'm no potion-formula-smith."

Tataru tapped a finger thoughtfully against her chin, and nodded. "Well, wait just right here for a bell, would you? I think I need to make a social call."

Apple smiled at her while Klynt just gave a tired thumbs up. "Ain' goin' anywhere," said Klynt.

-*-

Tataru had returned from Thavnair, with Nidhana in tow. The Arkasodara was a bit large for the Rising Stones, and had given the low doorway a bit of a look, but had otherwise taken to the new environment with remarkable grace. She was now listening to Klynt and Apple explain the woes they were having, and growing rather animated as she got more excited about the possibilities.

Satisfied, Tataru almost returned to her desk, when she overheard what had started as a polite enough - for them, anyway - discussion between Cid and Nero grow heated.

"No, we will not be putting this on the Excelsior. The aetheric ram damn near took the top mast clean off when we deployed it, this will almost certainly tear her apart."

"Well you protested when I suggested we simply butt the full sized variant up against one of the nearby hills. Please, Cid, I am already trying to be reasonable, letting you scale it down despite what we should be capable of doing."

"We can't just go around and try to explain to the locals, excuse me, hello, can we risk putting a hole in your backyard, please and thank you."

Nero waved a finger in the air. "It's not like we would be -inconveniencing- the locals, we certainly wouldn't do the testing anywhere near them. It's just a little risk of damage to a rock nobody's going to care about. That's the problem with you, Cid, science often demands sacrifices, and you're too much of a coward to make them."

Cid stepped forward and looked like he was on the verge of taking a swing at Nero when Tataru stepped in.

"Have you two considered testing from a boat?" she asked.

Cid stepped back and looked thoughtful. "Well... a boat might work," he conceded.

"If we could get ahold of a particularly large one," said Nero, "we could consider the full size model once more."

"Yes, yes, fine. If we could get ahold of a large enough ship, we could go with the design you proposed," said Cid. "But wheresoever would we find such a thing? Nobody's going to just hand us a ship."

"Well, we could do as I said, scale it down, and use your already existing airship," said Nero.

The two fell back into arguing, and Tataru walked away, thoughtful.

-*-

"Say, Admiral," said Tataru pleasantly over tea. "I was wondering, whatever happened to the Whorleater?"

Admiral Merlwyb snorted as she looked out over the railing from the Bismarck. "We just finished building another of the wretched things just to be ready in case that terrible monster strikes again, but the original's been taking up space in drydock ever since her last sortie. It's seaworthy enough, but I don't know what to do with it. I dare not let it be taken out again, not when we have a better platform built for the purpose. And taking it apart seems like a waste. We're not getting those hulls back, after all."

Merlwyb sipped her own tea, and looked over at Tataru. "Why do you ask?"

Tataru just smiled.

-*-

Tataru was handling paperwork when she overheard Ryssthota and Zoissette talking about the material science problems the group had run into. Apparently, one of the prototypes had basically vaporized itself. Ryssthota was lamenting the superior metallurgy of the Garleans, and how difficult it was to get ahold of the stuff. Zoissette seemed to be trying to figure out, that even if they had managed to get ahold of some, how to make sure it would be of a sort to survive the stresses it would be placed under.

Tataru decided to allow herself another small trip, this time to Ala Mhigo.

-*-

"Say, Raubahn," said Tataru casually during a lull in the conversation. "Whatever happened with that big old cannon the Garleans left behind during the war?"

Raubahn snorted. "That monstrosity in Castrum Abania? It's been a bit of a sore spot for a while now. It's useless to us. There's been some half hearted attempts to restore it, but It only had enough range to terrorize our countrymen. It's useless to us as a weapon, and it's become a symbol of everything we've hated during the occupation aside. And when you look at all the damage it's sustained, to say nothing of the Garleans trashing anything of value on their way out. Well. It's an oversized pile of expensive scrap metal. We're salvaging what we can, but we can't sell the stuff, not really, and the larger parts are proving difficult to move.

"Why do you ask, lass?"

"Well, I was just wondering, do you think I could arrange to take some of it? I've got a project in mind that I think it would be just about perfect for."

Raubahn snorted. "I'll have to talk to the assembly, but given what you and yours have done for us? I'm certain the answer will be yes. And as far as I'm concerned, you can take whatever you can carry out of here."

"Much obliged, General," said Tataru. "And thank you for the tea."

-*-

"Say, Jessie," said Tataru pleasantly. "Do you think I could borrow that big ol' airship platform that the Ironworks was using over in Werlyt?"

"If I say yes, do I get my engineers back sooner?" asked Jessie somewhat peevishly. "When you said you had a project for them, I didn't expect you to keep them for damn near a season. We've got work that needs doing around here."

"Of course! This will help them get their work done faster, I promise. I just need to borrow the airship to nip off to Gyr Abania and pick up some parts for them that they'll need, and I'll bring it right back, don't you worry!"

"If you say so," said Jessie, with a sigh. "I really hope this will all be worth it, whatever it is you're all working on over there."

Tataru looked thoughtful for a moment as she mulled over Jessie's words.

"You know what, I think they're actually just about at the point where they could use some project management, and maybe you should come with me," she said at last. "They probably could use an adult in the room and some hand holding to finish this out. Oh, and I'd better get Y'shtola too, she's good at reigning in Zoissette, and someone should be keeping an eye on the magic side of the shop while you handle the mechanical side."

Jessie looked archly at Tataru. "...I don't know what it is you're working on over there, but it sounds like I'd better find out for myself."

Tataru smiled up at Jessie. "Great! Meet me at the airship dock, then, and we can get going!"

Tataru headed off, and Jessie just put her hands on her hips and sighed.

-*-

The Rising Stones was fair buzzing, and Tataru was as well, as she rushed back and forth, double checking the numbers and figures as asked, making sure food and drink were available, and otherwise going about the business of taking care of her people.

She had been right, of course, about the project management bit. Jessie was now reigning in some of Cid and Nero's worse tendencies, while making sure Biggs and Wedge were both working hard and getting adequate rest. Y'shtola had agreed to return, and her aetheric expertise was helping Zoissette, Ryssthota, and Apple finish their work, as well as keeping them relatively focused and on task as needed. And Nidhana had proved to be a delight, as she was already used to being in charge of a project. She had brought several other experts from Radz-at-han, and she and Klynt were getting along like a house on fire, and as near as Tataru could tell, were making great progress.

She'd had to hop out and ask for just a few more favors, of course. A trip to Ishgard had gotten some spare parts that had been slated for Dragonkillers, but were now being put to better use here. A visit with Hien, and now some of Doma's best and brightest were lending their expertise to building materials. A brief stop by Ul'dah had secured the work of goldsmiths for some of the more fine-tuned fiddly bits that had been asked for. Even Old Sharlayan had caught wind of the project, and their Gleaners were helping take over sourcing for materials.

And now she had the interest of practically every leader of any standing in Eorzea and abroad. Funding had come in, as all were interested in the project.

Tataru found herself considering, just once, if maybe she should be more careful about who and what she enabled.

Then she pushed the thought out of her mind, at the sheer joy of seeing everyone working together, on things that they loved, with people that they cared about.

She took a deep breath in, and sighed a happy sigh.

"Dare great things, my friends," she said to herself.

-*-

It was night time, and the Whorleater floated, low in the water, heavy with the equipment that had been loaded upon it. It looked faintly ridiculous, thought Tataru as she wandered around its spaces. But she thought it was beautiful at the same time, knowing as she did what had gone into it.

The ship was abuzz with conversation as she walked through it. She walked past pipes and scaffolds, ladders and tanks, and wonders both magical and technological.

Magitek.

And it was magical technology.

She did not understand any of it, but she was in awe of its splendor, and she smiled as she ran her hand over metal surfaces and delighted in seeing her hair stand on end as she stood close to enchanted materials.

Whatever it was they had been working on, it was ready, and she could hear as the ship's oddball crew called out to one another.

"Steady, steady!" said Cid's voice. "We only get the one shot, so make sure it counts."

"Make sure to secure those connections," said Nero to Biggs and Wedge. "If you two make so much as a single mistake, we'll all be seeing the other side of the lifestream."

Tataru quickly ducked below decks. She could see a facsimile of Garuda hovering down low in the ship's belly. There was a faint green sphere around her, her arms and legs all tucked in, her head buried in her chest as her wings were wrapped around her, while Apple stood nearby, monitoring her.

"Aetheric recombination coming up to intermediate at one decade per second," Apple called out. "Garuda's doing okay so far. She's excited, I think. Zoissette, are those wards ready?"

"The wards are holding steady," called back Zoissette, who was sitting at some kind of console that was mounted on a walkway above Garuda. "As soon as you enter the power range, I will align aetheric lines one through four to power them."

"Everything appears to be in order," said Y'shtola, who was standing nearby, hands out as she traced something in the air only she could see. "I can see the flows of aether, and they are holding steady. Ryssthota, is the conversion process ready?"

Ryssthota was not very far away, just a little below and in front of where Garuda sat. Behind her, Nyx was suspended in some kind of harness that had a lot of cables leading to and from it. She turned and gave a thumbs-up from where she was standing.

"Everything's hooked up and ready to go. Once the aetheric recombination begins in earnest and the wards are secure, I can start the elemental conversion over for the levin that we'll need," Ryssthota turned to look at several meters. "For now, the connections to those capacitive jars that Klynt and Nidhana made look good. I think we're ready."

"I am online," said Nyx suddenly, her eyes opening, but for once, she was not staring at anybody, just staring off into nowhere. "Interface secure and systems are ready. I am ready to begin the Whorleater pre operational sequence."

Tataru hummed thoughtfully to herself, and pulled herself back up topside, to see Jessing watching her.

"You should take the airship over to the observation barge," said Jessie. "It's about to get pretty loud over here."

Tataru nodded, and she headed for one of the two small airships that were docked on either side of the Whorleater. As she took off, she could hear more shouting back and forth as the engineers and scientists made ready for their grand experiment.

-*-

The observation barge was abuzz with conversation. Practically everyone who was anyone in the Eorzean Alliance, and others aide, was present, but Tataru found herself milling around and feeling a bit listless for all that. She had done what she could, and she had helped as she was able, but it was all a bit out of her hands, now.

So she sat on the deck, humming thoughtfully to herself, just watching the Whorleater as it sat in the night water. She could see the stars sparkle every so slightly in the waves, and she could see the Whorleater lit up like a festival, with lights of all colors, casting shadows that played along its complicated assemblies. From here she could see the two large, very long and narrow metal pieces that took up much of its midsection, sticking out the front of the ship quite a lot. Rails, she thought she remembered them being called. She could see the large cylinder, off-center on the ship's far side, extending up into the sky. Aetheric recombination complex, that part was, and that's where all the very complicated magical components sat. It connected forward into a boxy shape that was attached to one of the large rails. That was the main conversion engine, turning magical energies into levin power. And then there was the sphere that butted up against the back of the rails, and in fact, was one of the large parts that touched both rails, the cylinder, and even part of the boxy shape. Main engineering, and that was where the crew would be at when it all came together at last.

"I sure do hope this was worth all the fuss," Tataru heard Admiral Merlwyb say from her side. She looked up at the woman, and saw that though she had her arms crossed, she was still leaning forward in interest ever so slightly.

"Even if it doesn't work as a whole," said Maxima from behind her, "What they've accomplished so far is nothing sort of incredible. Have you seen how much power that thing creates? You could power half of the capital with it alone. It could practically replace ceruleum overnight."

Kan-E-Senna nearby shook her head. "Or not. The aetheric corruption that bleeds off that thing is still a matter of concern."

"Well, they've got it under control for their test, at least," said Raubahn, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "I say we give them enough faith for their little demonstration tonight. We owe them at least that much."

Aymeric nearby made an agreeable noise. "I have faith enough, to be sure, and am excited to see if it's even half of what was promised."

Tataru looked out over the water and saw a green flash as the wards around the engineering section came up to full power.

"Hold on, it's starting," she said. She was excited. And, if she were honest, a little scared.

Conversations on the observation barge came to a stop, and everyone gathered near the railing, to see what would happen next.

Silence did not quite come to the water, but it did grow quiet. And after a bit, all Tataru could hear was the breathing of those around her, and the humming of the Whorleater over the water, as the ship sat, seeming to do nothing in the black pitch of night.

The night stretched on, and the passengers began to look at one another, uncertain.

Finally, Admiral Merlwyb was the one to break the silence. "Do you think they-"

She never finished her sentence.

Night became day in the waters off of Vylbrand.

A lance of purest light snapped into existence coming from between the rails of the Whorleater, and the ship was shoved back and away. Tataru watched in amazement, as the water curved under what seemed to be a beam of energy, as as the air above the water erupted into what seemed to be a gout of flame. Its target, another ship that had been moved into position just for this demonstration, seemed to fold in half around its midsection where the beam hit it, and the beam just blew through, its light disappearing over the horizon and heading out into the void.

"My gods!" someone gasped. Tataru wasn't sure who.

And then the sound reached them. The humming that had been present seemed to suddenly increase into intensity until it flipped onto itself in an instant and turned into a roar that echoed through the bay.

The light faded. The remains of the ship that had been hit burned merrily, their light flickering over the water. Tataru blinked, and rubbed her eyes, and looked.

The Whorleater remained. It was not where it had been, but it was still float, and it appeared to be sound. She thought she could see faint smoke coming off of its rails, but she was not certain if what she saw was real, or if it was an afterimage from that broiling light.

The observation barge was silent once more. Some people had fled to go under decks, but many more had stayed, and were now gripping the rails, looking out over the water, watching silently for any sign of life.

The silence stretched somewhat longer than the previous one had, and yet no one dared utter a sound.

And then, the Whorleater launched a single green flare.

All clear, was what that particular color meant. Mission success.

The observation barge erupted into cheers, and Tataru almost collapsed with relief.

-*-

The atmosphere back in the Rising Stones was jubilant.

Tataru sat behind her desk, smiling to herself, as she just scribbled away at her paperwork.

The test had been a success, apparently. Not without its shortcomings, but a success nonetheless. There had been problems. Apparently, the aetheric corruption was a bigger deal than had been anticipated, and if it had not been for the many people present who had Hydaelyn's blessing, the results could have been disastrous. In Apple's words, "We almost created something like tempering, but worse." And Nidhana's levin jars had held out long enough for the firing to happen, but then had promptly cracked and leaked out, spraying their contents all around the ship. "A small problem," she had said with a smile, but which everyone agreed had been less than ideal. And the rails had been half-vaporized by the firing. And Nyx had seemed almost dead for a full several minutes after the test firing, which is what took them so long to send up the green flare. Even once she had 'woken up', she had apparently been in verbal only mode for many bells, and she had to be carried off the ship.

But Zoissette had been pleased that her math had worked out, and Ryssthota had been very excited about how the aetherconverter had worked, and everyone agreed that though it was unlikely they would be making another test project like this one anytime soon, the research data and opportunities that had come out of this one could keep them all busy for moons, if not summers, to come.

All in all, not bad for a season's work, thought Tataru to herself. It was certainly not the unmitigated success the aetheric ram had been back during the Dragonsong war, but neither was it the almost completely existential failure of G'raha's grand work between the First and the Source, so.

Tataru glanced up as a paper was put down in front of her, and saw Zoissette standing there, smiling at her.

"What's this?" said Tataru, picking up the paper and peering at it.

"Just need you to sign at the bottom," said Zoissette.

"Whatever for?" asked Tataru.

Zoissette turned and looked at the many excited conversations happening in the Rising Stones. "I used to be a bookkeep myself, you know," she said, quietly. "I know what it's like to be overlooked, to have your work taken for granted. To have the people around you be appreciative, but not not really understand just how much of what they do relies upon on what you do."

Zoissette turned back to Tataru. "So I think I'd like to put your name on our research papers. Document your contributions, so to speak, and make sure your name is in a journal or two. Or three. This wouldn't have happened without you."

Tataru smiled. "Oh, pish posh," she said. "You lot did all the hard work."

"And none of it would have been possible, without you doing the logistics," said Zoissette.

"Well... I don't know what to say," said Tataru.

"Say 'you're welcome, Zoissette'," said Zoissette.

Tataru looked down at the paper, and she felt tears begin to well up, just a little bit.

"Oh, I suppose," she said.

And then she signed.