leftinbasketforfbi | 3rd Study Done Β Video/Action for Mio Ψ

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3rd Study Done Β Video/Action for Mio Ψ

[He doesn't like going on the network. Like, he really doesn't like going on the network. Unfortunately, he has to move past it right now because SCIENCE and also his munna is sick.

So when the feed starts, Reid (who is wearing HUGE glasses today) is sitting with his back against a tree, taking a break from all the traveling with Mio. Yang the Absol is curled up next to Reid's leg, staring at the communicator. In Reid's arms is the most sad-looking munna ever, and its face looked a little green. It's a sick, sad munna.]

Um, hi?

[Reid cradles Flora the munna carefully, readjusting the glasses on his nose.] Right. Uh, for those of you who don't know, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid. Not that--you don't have to call me that. Spencer or Reid will work fine.

[As you can probably tell, Reid is not good at talking to lots of strangers.]

It's come to my attention that no one's ever formally gathered data about arrivals and departures from this place, and in hopes of finding a pattern that could lead us to being able to better predict who might come and go, I put together a survey. The more people who contribute, the more useful the results will be, so any spare moment you could use to fill it out would be appreciated.

[He switches to text briefly to provide a link to the survey.]

This, um... isn't exactly my realm of expertise? That is, my specialty is largely theoretical and practical applications of knowledge, not setting up studies, and without any kind of possible beta testing, this study isn't exactly what I would call formal. So really, any suggestions on how to improve it or any help from people experienced with correlational studies would be helpful.

On a more personal note...

[He glances down, his glasses hiding his eyes, and he shifts so the munna is more visible on the screen. The poor thing looks utterly pathetic--she's not even hovering.]

Flora has been very sick since she hatched. Does anyone know what might be wrong with her?

[She'll tell you what's wrong with her. She's living off a steady diet of nothing but sleep terrors and nightmares. Reid, you really should see someone about that.]

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[LINEFACING SO HARD]

So... this place is trying to imitate a modern children's story, then?

[Reid shakes his head, subconsciously rubbing his knee again.] That's not... it's a nice idea. A nice concept. But there's no such thing as a perfect world, and taking death out of the equation won't make everything better. [He works his jaw, staring at the ground for a moment.]

There will always be people who are compelled to hurt others. How do those people cover up their crimes if they can't kill their victims? [He is actually terrified of the idea. Violent people will always have violent impulses they can't control but want to dodge the consequences of. Those people would find a way to make sure their victims would never tell.

If you can't die, there's no escape.]

[KEEP THAT UP AND YOUR FACE WILL STICK THAT WAY.]

I get the feeling that whoever came up with this place wasn't exactly building it with serial killers in mind. But even the safeguards they've got in place are the simplistic ones. No weapons. Be "bad" and you get arrested. But you can beat somebody's head in with a rock and you don't see this place eliminating every one of those. They'll hand kids a dog that can spit fire for twenty feet and nobody stops to think they might use it to burn down a house or burn up the next guy they meet. It's a set of rules made for a kid with loopholes that an adult could drive a truck through.

You think about it too much and it's going to drive you crazy. If it hasn't already.

[HE WILL ETERNALLY LINEFACE AT YOU

Also do you really have to say it like that? The corners of his mouth tighten and his posture gets a little stiff at 'it's going to drive you crazy if it hasn't already'. He knows he's bad at disguising his expression, so he's going to try to make you think the change in mood is about something else.]

This place may not be designed for serial killers, but that doesn't change the fact that there are going to be people like that who'll come here. I've already--I've already seen some people who show warning signs. What do we do if we end up with a person with the compulsions of a serial killer and access to animals that can do anything from paralyze a person to freeze them?

[YES. HE DOES. Because he is not here to coddle anybody's deep-seated fears ~~except Coop's~~ and you know what, it's a figure of speech anyway.]

I don't know. Outsmart them? Beat them at their own game? If I had the answer key for how to stamp out all the evil in the world, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

And maybe you're thinking that the world needs death because of people like that, not for the guys who get off on it but for the victims for whom it's the last resort. Maybe we do. But none of us has ever tried to play hardball in a world where death was off the table before, and maybe the rules are different. There's a lot we don't know. The best any of us can do is look at the situation in front of us and make the best call we can with what we've got. They should've drummed into your head during training that you're not going to save everyone, no matter how convinced you are that you can be the exception. We do our best. We go to sleep at night. And the next day we go back again because every damn one of us believes that what we do is going to make a tiny bit of difference that'll add up to something big in the long run.

Now, look. You've got a brain in that walnut sitting between your shoulders. You want to stop them? Don't sit around waiting for them to make the first move. Like it or not, the rules are different here, and nothing says we're stuck using the same playbook we had at home. They've got a dog that spits fire? Maybe we've got a cat with a water gun. You're the one telling me to mind-meld with an arthropod as a valid medical procedure, remember? Figure it out. Write a new playbook. It's sure as hell better than stressing yourself into an anxiety attack over an equation that's never going to come out in your favor anyway.

[/ALBERT RANT™]

[At least give him another week of being here and constantly being reminded that he might very well be having a psychotic break. He'll be better at dealing with it after that, he swears. :<

His brow furrows, mostly because he's not used to people telling him to try outright rewriting the rule book. He's used to rules and procedure. He's not bound by them, but he's used to them, and he's used to being directed and told what to do by Hotch.

But wait.

Waaaaaiiiiit.

He raises up his hands a little, an unfinished gesture, and his eyes fix somewhere past Albert. Hear that? That's the sound of his giant brain making a breakthrough.] These aren't the same rules...

[Of course. Of course. Why didn't he see it before? Here he was, stuck with the notion that he had to do the same thing that he did at home, that he had to fight using guns and profiling and procedure, when they all have animals that can do the impossible, not just the bad guys. Who said that they have to stick to 'Pokemon battles'? Or to practical uses in medicine? Who said that they couldn't just get a Pokemon with vines and apprehend an unsub using those? Or freeze them in a block of ice and push them into a police station? Who said that Yang can only protect from wild an--of course. Of course of course it was so obvious]

Thank you.

[When the rules of cards change, you don't keep trying to play by the old ones. You play by the new ones, and then you learn how to game the system. He needs to stop dwelling on what's impossible where he comes from, and start dwelling on what he can use here.]

That was exactly what I needed to hear. Could you give me a second? [And without waiting for an answer, he pulls a notebook and a pencil from his backpack, and his hand starts flying across the pages, scribbling furiously. Possibilities, impossibilities, they're all different, but he's listing them all and he's going to go through one by one and see how they can twist them in their favor should they need to.]

[...Okay, you know, when he said write a new playbook he didn't actually mean RIGHT NOW and LITERALLY, but you know what, it's always a little uplifting to deploy a righteous rant of motivational wisdom and see it actually take root in the people who needed to hear it.

(And damn if this kid doesn't remind him of Cooper in a lot of ways, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and brilliant in ways that most people can't even comprehend.)

Albert of all people knows what it's like to be a by-the-rules kind of guy; quite frankly, that's part of the reason he's been pushing back so hard against Johto, himself. It's not a world that easily aligns with the way he wants things to be, and voicing his displeasure follows naturally from coping with it. Getting the job done isn't synonymous with liking the circumstances he has to contend with to do it.

But he's also the person who once told Dale Cooper to embark on whatever vision quest he needed for the sake of catching a killer, in utter defiance of all conventional logic and rationality, because when the chips are down what matters is that the job does get done, regardless of the crazy, inane, illogical, impossible methods you have to use to do it.

And so maybe, you know, that rant was kind of what Albert needed to hear, too.]

Eureka, I think he's got it.

[Look at the kid go, man.]

[Well, this one definitely took root. Because of his age and the fact he looks like Bambi, people usually either treat him gently or completely dismiss him--few people actually sit down and make him hear what he needs to.

Albert's blunt abrasiveness is not just refreshing: it's effective.

(Admit it, Albert. You like him.)]

Y-yeah. Yeah, I think I do.

[Reid looks up at him, chewing his lip, his mind whirring at the speed of light, thoughts of schizophrenia and fear and helplessness forgotten.] I think I need to cut this conversation short. Do you--do you mind if I call if I need an opinion? [Because you and Coop have proven that you are smart and can think critically about hypotheticals. Reid's smart enough to know that a genius can make mistakes, so someone around who's willing to point them out and help him when he can't think of anything is invaluable.]

[(Sure does, but you know what, shut up.)

Fortunately for everyone concerned, one of Albert's specialties happens to be the laser-guided verbal kick in the head. Coop's the people person of the team, and Gordon's the ringleader of the circus. Albert, he makes sure things get done. Even when that involves motivating other people into getting them where they all need to go.]

Yeah. Take a while and get your pig checked out. Your thing ought to have my number saved in it already — like an automatic address book. Stay in touch.

[A beat.]

And when you get up here, I better see you bringing some ideas with you.

[Translation: WE'RE DOIN' IT, MAN, WE'RE MAKIN' IT HAPPEN.]

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3rd Study Done Β Video/Action for Mio Ψ

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