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

[doooooog]

[ Her evasion is answer in and of itself, bereft of details but no less damning. Coupled with the comingled wariness and weariness in her follow up question, and Jake is left with one very grim picture. It may have been painted in broad strokes, but there was enough there for the dog to suddenly feel distinctly sad. ]

Well, because... and don't take this the wrong way, but it's how you carry yourself. There just seems to be a lot weighing you down. Not, like, literally. Your posture's fine. It's more like... eesh, how do I say this.

[ Jake scratches behind his ear, unseen expression pulled taut. His altercation with Wei Wuxian may have put him in an introspective place with his fellow crew, but it didn't make the asking any easier. ]

I wanted to give you the chance to unburden yourself a little, if you're feeling it.

[peasant]

[ unburden herself. alina thinks, ruefully — we would be here for hours, if i did. the amount of weight on her shoulders would bury anyone else, if she chose to share it. it won't matter, another portion of her is tempted to say. when this is all over. as if a regret undone is a stitch in the tapestry of her life — one pull, and perhaps the rest will unravel with it. allow her to fix the stupid mistakes that had led here here, to begin with.

in the end, she settles for a reply befitting a diplomat. calm, despite how hollow it may or may not ring. ]

I must've given you the wrong impression.

[ i'm fine, really. she swallows it down, acutely aware of the lie it would be to force it out of her throat. ]

It's not anything the rest of our crew isn't already dealing with. We're all here because we've been burdened.

[doooooog]

[ Alina isn't the only one acutely aware of the lie. He's normally one to let such things pass; feelings hurt, it was a foundational stitch in the tapestry of this crazy wooly thing Jake called living. No way around it, had to go through it.

Still, there was no part of the dog that thought you had to go through it alone. ]

Is it that you gave me the wrong impression, or that I got the right one, but it doesn't matter 'cuz everyone else hurts too?

[ A single sentiment stands unspoken, but clear, between each word: you can clarify your lie, or admit that it is a lie. Whichever version of reality you want to live with right now, I'll roll with. ]

slips in here eons late to slap a bow on this 🎀

[peasant]

[ either. both. she doesn't know. jake's question spins her head in circles, unable to keep track of her own lie well enough to follow it with another. ]

Neither. [ she swallows, unseen, working around the tightening cinch of her throat. ] It's that it doesn't matter.

[ not because everyone else hurts. because — it just doesn't. sorry, jake. there's a telling silence in the aftermath of static from a disconnected line, leaving behind only the echo of alina's own defensive caginess. ]