AWS outage

Oct. 20th, 2025 10:11 am
alierak: (Default)
[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.

Battle of Wills

Oct. 19th, 2025 11:23 pm
volleygenius: (032)
[personal profile] volleygenius posting in [community profile] synergetic
The days are long and the months are short. Before Bunta knows it, Keita is in kindergarten and getting regular tennis lessons from their resident professional. Yukiko meanwhile is developing an interest in French culture and bonding with him about the country's history in art and architecture. Himawari... Well. Himawari has discovered all of the empowerment that comes from being able to walk, run, and use stairs. She can hold basic conversations now, and with this power of communicating ideas is also learning about what rules are and what happens when they're broken. She's found lots of big feelings. And she's hit that stage of testing the extent of her own independence.

Having already done this twice with his own, Bunta is a seasoned veteran of this phase. Yukimura, though...

Yukimura missed the adventure of navigating all of Yukiko's and most of Keita's early childhood tantrums. Moreover, Himawari was a ridiculously sweet-tempered infant. Bunta can imagine it left her father unprepared for her to ever be anything else as she started growing up.

The kids are (presumably) all tucked in, and Bunta is working on making a couple of drinks in the kitchen when his ears pick up on something happening upstairs.

"....Hey, Seiichi. Do you hear something?"
volleygenius: (incredulity)
[personal profile] volleygenius posting in [community profile] synergetic
Marui finishes tying his shoes in the changing area and grabs his racket to join Jackal at the door. Most of the night before is a fuzzy memory by now; he remembers playing the new freshman who brought his own racket, going out for food after practice, and studying with Niou for their math test today over a phone call before bed. He's looking forward to picking up some doughnuts after practice to replenish his energy and maybe swinging by to see Yukimura after school.

He and Jackal have barely made it outside before Akaya practically runs into them squawking that they need to go see Yanagi right away. Marui casts him a dubious look (why would Yanagi need to see them first thing? Did Niou play another trick on Akaya?) but they follow him over to the court on the far end.

He sees Yanagi first, and a few moments later someone lying down on the bench. That gets his attention, and he quickens his pace to a jog. Was someone injured?

...It's Echizen. And he's not moving.

"Yanagi! What happened...?"

Midnight Reflections

Oct. 11th, 2025 09:04 pm
senseskill: (Solitude)
[personal profile] senseskill posting in [community profile] synergetic
Moonlight filters in through his bedroom window. From where he lay in a sprawl across his bed, he can feel the faintest breeze across his cheeks. He ought to be sleeping, but instead finds his mind swimming.

It's funny, in a miserable sort of way. No blind spots was his motto, and he practiced it to great effect in tennis. Somehow, though, he had missed a gaping one right in front of his face. To think that all this time, Sanada...

He turns over on his back and rests his wrist on his forehead, staring up and straight through the ceiling. The curse of words never spoken until it was too late... It wasn't even that this changed anything, not between him and Sanada and not between him and Flayn. All it did was open his eyes to a road not taken, and leave him wondering where he missed the fork.

Should he have paid more attention? How many years had he spent with Sanada always right beside him, through even the darkest days of his life, and always too wrapped up in himself to see the effects on him? First with the tennis club, now with this. It was his responsibility as Sanada's friend to see, and Sanada rightfully was drifting to someone who could do a better job of that. Something about that thought makes his chest feel tight.

Could it have been? Probably not. Sanada placed heavy expectations on himself, that would doubtless apply to his dating life, too. Even if he wanted it, even if his family gave their blessing, Sanada himself would consider the only correct choice marriage to a woman and children. That must have been why he never said anything, too. This afternoon truly was just a clearing of conscience for him.

That thought, too, bothers Yukimura deep down. Sanada was entitled to his selfishness this time burdening him with this information, and he was entitled to his decision against ever pursuing it, but where had his chance to weigh in been? What if this had been something he wanted, too? What if-- and this is the most troubling thought of all-- it actually had been something he wanted too at some point, and he was as blind to his own feelings as he had been to Sanada's? Today had proven more than enough that even now he couldn't stand the thought of life without Sanada at his side.

Water under the bridge, but it doesn't make the current any quieter.

He's given himself a stomachache. With a sigh, Yukimura gets up and fetches a glass of water for himself. As he passes the mirror on the return trip, he pauses and gets lost in the reflection staring back. He's not really looking at himself, more that vacancy by his shoulder. It's disturbing how easily his eyes can fill it with Sanada's shape.

But there's another one he sees, too, and her petite frame isn't out to the side but reclined serenely against his front, her eyes and smile radiant enough to brighten the whole room. Rather than tightness, it's a light and fluttery feeling she inspires. He longs to hold her now.

It puts his mind at ease. That image was how it should be. He and Sanada each had to learn to make room for the one that made their hearts light and full, but it didn't mean they'd have no room left for each other. They would always be best friends.

He crawls back in bed, and within a few minutes has drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Rikkai's counselor

Oct. 10th, 2025 11:53 pm
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[personal profile] youweresaying posting in [community profile] synergetic
"Oh, Yanagi-kun. Did you forget something?"

He'd been just about to ring the Kiriharas' doorbell, but there was Akaya's sister, standing behind him. Yanagi quickly bowed.

"I beg your pardon? I just came to pick up Akaya for morning practice. I was thinking I could quiz him on English verbs on the way."

"Just now?" She looked confused. "He was out the door almost thirty minutes ago. I was sure it would only be because you woke him up. I don't know that he ate anything, then."

Odd. He would have said the same thing.

"There aren't too many places he could go at this hour," Yanagi reasoned, hoping to reassure her. "I'll find him."

"Find him and make--

"--And make sure it won't happen again, yes?" Yanagi smiled pleasantly. "You have my word, I'll deal with him."

He wouldn't be able to reach the bus stop before Akaya boarded, but he'd be shortly behind on the next one. He spent the bus ride deep in thought. Was Akaya careless enough to worry his sister by sneaking out? Absolutely. But why go to this kind of effort, and so early in the morning? It was either something important, or something foolish Akaya considered important. And if it was the former, then why didn't Yanagi know about it? Jackal and Marui left with Akaya after practice yesterday, and Akaya wasn't exactly known for his poker face. If there was something important to him going on, he would have told them, and if it was genuinely important, they would have told Yanagi.

Split second decision. He called Jackal. A text would perhaps be more courteous, but an actual call would strike the fear of God (or at least Genichiro) into him.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way, Yanagi asked, "Was there something strange about Akaya yesterday?"

Yanagi heard Jackal's breathing catch while he considered his answer.

"Nothing I'm aware of," he said, after giving it some honest thought. Yanagi couldn't detect a lie.

He said good-bye and wondered if Jackal wanted to be aware of it or not.

When he jogged onto the courts, the net was already hanging between the poles and he could hear Akaya asking young Echizen, "Smooth or rough?"

It was definitely going to be rough. Yanagi cleared his throat.

"Aren't you going to string up the rest of the nets before practice?" he prompted. He would give Akaya one chance to squirm out of this like nothing had ever happened. Echizen, he couldn't be too angry with; he didn't know any better.

"Wha?" Akaya spun around. "Ya-Yanagi-senpai! Why would I do that? It's Tamagawa's turn to put up the nets!"


"I knew you'd say that," Yanagi sighed. He didn't know why he bothered giving Akaya the chance to do something smart. He almost never took it.

"Echizen, I will let you off with a warning because you don't know how we do things just yet. Losing is not permitted at Rikkaidai, so you need to choose your opponents carefully. You seem more prepared than the average first year, so Marui and I thought it would be interesting to indulge you and see what you're capable of. You have promise, but Akaya should not be your goal post."

Yanagi turned to face the second year.

"Akaya."

"I know what you're going to say, senpai, but--"

He doubted it. "Akaya, how will this serve Rikkai's third national title? That needs to be the question you ask yourself at all times. How will this help us keep our promise to Seiichi?"