#how odd that I was just writing about spyballs the other day

[bookwyrminspiration]

i was rereading neverseen, and it made me realize how i completely forgot about the spyball sophie used to use to watch her human family. i know it was relevant in nightfall, but i honestly think shannon probs forgot about it too because now i’m thinking about sophie has a full-proof way of knowing where keefe ran off to if she decides to use it (which i doubt she will, i don’t think keefe will come back into the plot until grady hails him)

oo the spyball is certainly a technological detail that I'd love to see more of. Though there are logistics of it that make it a little confusing about how it functions. The person has to have a file in the registry files in order for it to work, right? So reasonably, Sophie could watch Keefe as he has a file. But if something happened to it, then she couldn't (the same way she couldn't see her human family or Mr. Forkle without their names).

I have a possible explanation for how the spyball can exist and Sophie still can't find Keefe with it. We saw in Unlocked that Keefe knows how to access the registry files and was able to change information--redacting things, changing details, adding comments, etc. This was also something that the council/the people in charge of the files were unable to fix or do anything about yet. So perhaps before he left he redacted the necessary information about himself to make the Spyball null and unable to find him.

Though I do wonder if Shannon considered the full implication of spyballs when she created them and how often they could be used. I don't think the kotlcrew's personal information was redacted or deleted in Neverseen when they ran away to join the Black Swan, so conceivably the council could see where they'd run away to and who was with them at any given time. Having a single image of where a person is doesn't mean they'd be able to figure out where they are, though! But I think if they watched it for long enough they might be able to pick out an identifying location and be able to track them down.

The spyball doesn't give you any more than an image as far as we're aware, so that does leave a lot up to the person viewing to determine. Have you ever head of that map game, geoguesser? I think that's the name at least. The one where you get dropped in a random location on google maps and have to try and guess your exact location in the world. That's what it'd be like trying to discern a location from a spyball, except more difficult because you lack freedom of movement and have to follow the person you're viewing and wherever they decide to go.

also I don't know when Keefe will come back into the plot. I think the imparter connected to Grady will definitely have something to do with it, but I'm very much in the dark about this all! I frequently mention how I am constantly filled with thoughts, which makes it very hard to guess what will happen next because my brain will come up with like 12 different possibilities in a minute and it just keeps going.

I could see the appeal of Keefe staying true to his word and going no contact until Grady reaches out, but I'd also be interested in seeing him break down and realize he can't do this alone and reaching out to Grady instead. It'd be cool to see Sophie track him down, but also cool to let her go "fuck it and fuck him for doing this again." and not bothering herself with it and letting him work it out on his own. It's be fun to see him learn to control his power but fascinating to see how dangerous he could become when out of control and untrained. SO many possibilities!! But I do doubt she'll use her spyball to look for Keefe anytime soon.

adding fun details like spyballs is fun until you have to actually think them all the way through! definitely easier to judge smudge the lines a little bit and ignore some of the ways they could be used, so if it did come up and Sophie tried to use it I doubt she'd be able to see keefe; it'd be dramatic and great for emotion purposes in the plot, which outweighs logistic consistency!!