[sidereal - the dreaming]

[laughitoff]

[for MDZS AU plot-related shenanigans]

Comments

[laughitoff]

[hat gets Wei Wuxian to turn his head and stare down at him incredulously, the branches he's hanging onto creaking dangerously with his shift in weight]

[strikingchords]

[looks up at him calmly, frowning a little; he doesn't like the look of those branches]

[laughitoff]

[they're way too thin to reasonably hold him for long.]

[strikingchords]

Wei Ying.

It is not safe.

[laughitoff]

S-safer than down there!

[a soft crack immediately belies that]

[strikingchords]

Wei Ying.

[his voice has gone sharper with worry.]

[laughitoff]

[he scrambles to hang onto a different unbroken branch]

What?!

[strikingchords]

[smooths his voice out again]

...

At least come closer.

[laughitoff]

In case you haven't noticed, this is a little difficult!

[strikingchords]

The lower branches are stronger.

[laughitoff]

They're also closer to the dogs!

[strikingchords]

I will protect you.

[he doesn't remember saying that drunk, but it feels very natural here]

[laughitoff]

[it earns him another startled glance]

[strikingchords]

[stares back up at him, sincere and concerned]

[laughitoff]

[in a small voice]

Why?

[strikingchords]

You are afraid.

[laughitoff]

I--

[snap, goes another branch; he's running out of them]

[strikingchords]

[his fingers curl in towards his palms; can't decide if it'd be more dangerous to climb up there and maybe startle Wei Wuxian more, or stay put and keep trying to talk him down with inadequate tools for the job...]

[laughitoff]

[it may be moot in a few more moments anyway, even though Wei Wuxian is doing his best to scramble . . .

snap. snap. snap]

[strikingchords]

Wei Ying!

[it's nearly an actual yell, though Wei Wuxian might not hear it in his panic]

[laughitoff]

[he is BUSY]

[strikingchords]

[MOVES UNDER HIM, INCREASINGLY ALARMED]

[laughitoff]

[the last branch finally gives way just as Lan Wangji moves under him; Wei Wuxian is too scared to make a sound as he falls]

[strikingchords]

[ALARMED TOO; he leaps to catch him in his outstretched arms, rocking back hard and bracing himself to stick the landing]

[laughitoff]

[Wei Wuxian falls --

through him? into him? not solidly into his arms, certainly

the dream cracks like glass around them, falling away in shards--]