Video; UN: Wei Wuxian || Text; UN: jtd

[singlelogbridge]

[Even before the feed flickers into life, anyone literally anywhere in the sunlight room is probably aware that there is something going on thanks to one very shrill scream immediately followed by several minutes of panicked shouting. When the feed does flicker on, the view is oddly…tall? It's at height with the tops of the trees in the sunlight room which is because Wei Wuxian is making this post from the top of one of those trees.

The reason why becomes immediately obvious when he pans down to the familiar form of Jake barking up at him from the base of the tree. Jake's expression is partially obscured through the foliage, though a close study will find more fear in Jake's face than threat. Whatever he thinks he's looking at, it isn't Wei Wuxian.

Finally, the view shifts to Wei Wuxian who is wide eyed and panicked, his face completely bloodless as he holds onto the tree with one arm and gestures at Jake below with the other.]

Why? [He squeaks out in a desperate whisper, eyes darting back to Jake again before he lets out a soft whimper and returns his attention to the feed.]

Why is there a dog?

----

[ Jake's post comes through almost simultaneously, text somehow communicating volume as much as his urgency. ]

I FOUND THE GHOST. I REPEAT, I FOUND THE GHOST. GOT IT UP A TREE IN THE SUNLIGHT ROOM. PLEASE ADVISE ON NEXT STEPS AND/OR EXORCISM.

[ooc: please indicate in the comments which you're responding to!]

Comments

[heyciri]

We're okay, Jake, we're okay.

( She hasn't stopped coming toward him, but she makes small steps, steady, to match his steps back, his focus unerring from the tree. )

You're a good boy, and we're okay, Jake, you and me and Finn and everyone and even Wei Wuxian ( with time ) will be, we're okay.

( When she's close enough, she's gentle in letting him step back into the blanket, and she's down low, where she can see about sliding her arms around him, when he's this size and not some other size. )

You were trying to keep us safe, Jake, I know you were. I won't let a ghost get you, and you won't let a ghost get me. So come with me, Jake, you good boy, you. Come with me so that you can help Wei Wuxian too, you great boy, you good Jake, okay? We're okay, we're safe, and we're scaring him. The ghosts here are in our heads. They're in our hearts, Jake, and you're scared, and that's okay.

( If he lets her hug him, she will, still talking what is largely turning into repetitive nonsense, soothing in voice. Like she's been soothed before. She can't really pet him through a blanket, but she can run her hand over it in small, soothing motions like petting, when he's still staring, staring, staring up that tree. )

Come with me, good boy, good Jake. We'll be careful, we'll go slowly. Because we care, right? Because you're a good boy. Because no one wants to be scared, and it's okay that we are, but we don't have to only be scared. We're okay, Jake. We're good.

[doooooog]

[ Jake takes another step back, glancing over his shoulder at Ciri, and then back at the tree, and then up at the ghost in the tree... ]

Dahhh... you've kinda hit a point of diminishing returns with the 'good boy' schtick, kiddo. [ It's voiced as a gentle criticism, but the sentiment doesn't reach his eyes. He may be kinda embarrassed about how well this was working on him, but it was working.

He's close enough for her to touch now, though any attempts to grab him will result in a reflexive jump away from her.]

But... yeah. Yeah, we're good. It's staying put.

[heyciri]

I'm starting to like the sound of it. And it's true. You are a good boy. A good dog. And a good Jake.

( Is her own return, not quite with a note of amusement in it: the only person she's called good like that was Roach, but Jake doesn't need to know her experience with this is summed up as soothing exactly one horse.

He's close, so she does try for the touch of her fingertips to his ... side shoulder area, and a sort of stroke that follows. Petting? Petting. The blanket at this point is more in her lap than not. )

Jake? Will you hold my hand? I'd really like that right now. Just one good squeeze from my good Jake.

🎀 (for now)

[doooooog]

[ Far be it from him to resist the request of a kid who needed him, though he'd done plenty of that in his Real Life, with his real children. Obtusely and without realizing it, yes, but that didn't make much of a difference to his actual children. Gestures meant something, even if her efforts weren't quite as transparent as they needed to be for this to be a foolproof plan.

That was the danger in trying to help someone. Sometimes it didn't work, and then were what do you do? It's an internal point of tension that kept Jake from ever fully understanding Finn down to his core. And the same was true now, of Ciri. At the last moment, he withdraws his paw with a shake of the head. ]

Sweetheart, I gotta work this out here. I can't-- [ He sighs, frustrated, at himself more than her, before turning back to the cornered "ghost." ] I can't play this game with you right now.

[ It comes out more cutting than he realizes. Something to answer for later. ]