#606: sleight of hand

[sixosix]

I know it's been a while since Sleight of Hand was posted but I wanna ramble about something I noticed during a recent reread now that I have knowledge of 4.1 quests.

The raw panic he has when he catches up to the reader makes me think that it falls in line with how he acted in the fortress in regard to Freminet and Lynette: his family. Which is insane considering the short amount of time they know each other as compared to his family. This guy falls in love so fast and hard that he is the world record holder for those categories by a vast margin.

In both situations is the fact he is losing someone close, someone important; granted he is losing them in different ways. His family and the person he loves. Both times he is not composed/ hiding behind his act (or just barely) and is (or at least appears) to be almost single-minded driven to get them back. With his family, he was absolutely willing to go up against the Duke to fight for them back (granted he could have just accepted the deal to contact the Knave but that's a whole different thing about Lyney shhhh) and with reader he ran frantically across the city just for the slim chance he may be able to make it before they leave. That uncertainty/unclear target to focus on (unlike the duke who he could focus on fighting/stopping/convincing, not to mention he may be in a mission mindset as well) may even be a reason why he is so panicked and frantic as compared to what happens in the Fortress. Not to mention the whole falling in love thing prob isn't something he does often, so that's a whole new variable thrown into the equation.

Not only does this new connection make me giggle because wow look at this man speed run falling in love but also makes me wonder what his thoughts could have been when he found the empty room and even as he was trying to catch reader before it was too late. He is smart, so he absolutely figured out the truth but was his first thought wildly off course? Did he assume the worst(hurt in some way) due to what he had seen as part of the Fatui and his past? Did he have an instant rush of relief knowing he made it in time? Was he even calm enough to try to string together a few ideas of what to do if he made it as he was running? Or did he come tunnel-focused with the singular goal of just 'find them'? It's interesting to think about.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

i havent played the latest archon quest myself and only learned the lore secondhand so i havent rlly thought about it? honestly i wrote that long fic barely knowing ANYTHING about lyney and how he handles situations—it felt like i was just guessing everything and my only clues were a dialogue or two LMFAO

but this is so interesting to think about!!! my intention with ‘ lyney visiting an empty room ‘ was that he walks in there like a kicked puppy and comes out frantic and wild. he is very smart and hes definitely remembered you insisting that you never planned on staying so he pieced it together immediately

and yes youre ABSOLUTELY right. the reason why hes so frantic and all over the place when he caught up to you was because he didnt even know if you were still there, if he didnt make it in time. the entire time he was thinking ‘no no no please’ he was not at all calm while running lol. his mind would have most likely blanked when he saw you still there and he couldve just dropped on the floor in relief

“the whole falling in love thing prob isnt something he does often” YEAH EXACTLY!!! i see lyney as a romantic but in that fic i like to think hes never been infatuated in that way ever before and it snowballed into something wayyy more when u started getting close

ITS SO JNTERESTING to think abouut the connections youve made WOW thank you so so much for sharing im always down to hear your thoughts!!!!