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There was another moment of blankness, as the pup regarded Ren's finger wiggling. Which made no sense.

And then it was as though a light bulb clicked on, and Jove's ears perked. Really? Ren thought that was cool? His fluffy tail wagged enthusiastically. He had been doing it for a little while now, once he realized how thoroughly he could control his shape. Once he had even done it without thinking about it, having both hands occupied and yet still needing to pick something up. It was really useful!

He scrambled to his knees under the covers and playfully poked Ren on the nose with the invisible tendril of essence. See, it wasn't hard!

The tail wagged again, and a foxfire floated past their heads. It just smiled and panted, no more distressed than if it was being held securely by hands it could see. It drifted to the ground, and trotted off.

And Jove's tail wagged. Clearly he was basking in the approval from his big brother, like any smart little fluff who attentively showed off their tricks for treats. Two more foxfires floated around, it really was an extension of himself that kept them aloft. And controlling it almost felt as natural as walking around. He just needed to stretch those invisible muscles to understand what he was truly capable of.

Jove rolled his eyes. Pick up himself? Hadn't Ren ever tried to pick himself up before? It didn't work. You can't just grab yourself by the back of the collar and lift yourself into the air, all it gets you is a sore neck and a really dumb feeling.

The ghost might not have been able to carry himself around, but maybe... He hadn't thought about it before, but he might be able to do something after all. Like standing on tiptoes, he could probably lift himself up that way. It could be useful, even if he could grab things out of his normal reach it didn't help if he couldn't see what he was reaching for. And stupidly tall people often put things in stupidly high places unsuitable for little pups to recover.

Jove took a minute to think about this, a couple foxfires tumbling into his lap in the meantime.

Jove's frown clearly said 'that doesn't count'. But he didn't so much as give his brother an exasperated shove. Partly because he was distracted by the new range of possibilities presented by his invisible 'hands', partly because he was not inclined to be violent at the moment. After all, he had been ready for a snuggle before Ren attacked him with that awful facial hair.

The pair of foxfires in his lap were soon joined by more, many of his own following the familiar pattern of hopping onto the bed with their person. Hairless was among them, wagging his bald tail. Jove idly gave him a scratch.

That was when it struck him how much better he felt. The agitation was gone for the moment, and he felt like himself sitting there with his brother and his foxfires. Even Ren was playful like his natural self, not haunted with worry or memories of the event. There was no trauma reflected in his brother's eyes, and that made it easier to slip back into normalcy. Calm normalcy.