Written Wonderland

The goddess recovered confidence in her stance at the sight of Novelty's open mouth, adjusting her feet further apart and folding her arms, her mouth tempted toward a smirk but staying soft. She had been justly chastised--she would do well not to forget that. One good act did not absolve her from what she had done afterward.

Novelty sank to the ground on one knee, softening the anger in the goddess' belly, and she uncrossed her arms, tempted to go to Novelty, to touch his shoulders, to feel more of his thoughts, but she stayed where she was.

"Forgive me, goddess," he said, and this time, the title felt genuine, "I couldn't fully enjoy this place until I understood. For whatever it means to you, I for one am grateful you stepped in the way, though I feel your sorrow for whatever that cost you." As Novelty looked up at her from where he kneeled, some understanding passed between them. Novelty and the rest of the volunteers would not even be alive if not for what she had done. And even if it had only been one decent act--it had counted for something. In a cosmic sense, though, she wasn't sure the upper gods would agree.

"I hope you do find ways to make amends," Novelty continued as the goddess closed and opened her fists at her sides, working her emotion through, "I imagine your help for our cause will go a long way toward that end, and..." Novelty sat back on his feet, his hands on his thighs, looking up at her more steadily. The urge to come around to him, to straddle him and hold him to her chest grew stronger. He looked so pliant. How had this fiery man changed so much in such a short moment of time? The goddess' brow furrowed with suspicion.

"...whatever I--and perhaps we--can do to help you work through the reasons why the hurt has been passed onto others, that's... why I'm here." The goddess' first impulse was to be angry. Did he really think she needed a human to play mediator here? Did he really think she couldn't deal with the past on her own? But then she thought about the time she had spent with Evan and how much being with him had already changed her.

Humanity has made a monster of me.

Then change again. Maybe the trick is to never stop changing.

Maybe she did need a mirror, someone to show her what she was and what had happened. If she had felt strongly enough to stand in the way for humanity before now, she clearly had found them to be worth something.

And, certainly, Evan was a shining example of what they were capable of.

Let them live up to their potential, she thought.

"If you'll pardon me one more question, goddess... how long ago did you protect our realm?" Novelty asked.

The goddess tilted her head in surprise. She didn't expect the timeline to matter, especially not in the tension of this moment. But, from his perspective, she could imagine the fear. Would the upper gods try to unmake them again? Dehaljadrun found that to be unlikely, but Novelty didn't know that.

"Several human lifetimes ago," the goddess said. "The upper gods left, the dragons left, and I was left here to pick up the fragmented pieces of myself, one by one by one." If Novelty resented the stories about her, if Evan had wanted her to change from what she was now, she shuddered to think what their opinion of her would be like if they had known her then.

"Now," the goddess said, addressing the lot of them, "any more burning questions, or will you let me bathe in peace?"

((OOC: Trevor's story continues here: viewtopic.php?t=91))

Chris landed on his knees over Lance, reaching for the goddess, and for a horrible, aching moment, she began to pull away. He didn’t have time to feel angry about her toying with him, though; the instant she relented and her lips met his he melted with relief.

He felt himself giving in to a flow again, especially as her fingers reached back into his hair. It was confounding in some ways, as her fingers tugged him away from her again, but the sensation of it held him fast, simply pulling his attention from lips to scalp as though along a current in a refreshing forest stream.

In any case, her lips returned to his soon enough, and he moaned softly into her, awkwardly allowing the sound to reverberate in his awareness alongside the groans of Evan and Lance also. Every twinge of grudge that started to surface toward the presence of the others, the lament that he did not have the goddess all to himself, the goddess seemed to answer with another twist of his hair--not angrily, not chiding, but just giving him exactly what he needed to let go, loosen, open, accept.

The others were giving something to the goddess, and so was Chris, and these things were complementary, not competitive. Slowly, Chris relaxed into believing this, into not needing to understand how or why it was true. And eventually some beautiful, brilliant threshold was crossed there, where Chris himself felt the value of the others present, the collective energy of the group spilling out into the landscape and offering life into the soil beneath them, the root systems that intertwined there, the plants that surrounded them.

The goddess sighed against Chris’ lips, and a small stream of tears wet his cheeks as awe and gratitude welled within him, and he dove back into the kiss with a new sense of excitement and belonging, finally feeling that he was a part of something larger than himself here, and eager to play his role. He could tell they were impacting more of the land than just what was around them, although it was difficult to get a sense of the details; he was simply awed by a vastness of scale. His tears grew as he noticed the goddess’ emotional landscape becoming more complex, too--something in the landscape not just growing in response but healing, bringing its wounds into awareness so that it could. The goddess had been so lonely, but she didn’t have to be alone anymore. None of them did.

“De…” It was Holloway’s voice that began the chant, but it felt as though it might as well have been any of them, or all of them. Perhaps there still remained some small stubborn twinge of jealousy in Chris even now, but it was not enough to pull him from the goddess’ kiss or the beauty of the moment.

“Dehal…” Chris could feel the excitement welling within the goddess as though it flowed through his own body, and even when she threw her head back away from their kiss, it was hard to complain. Her fingers still clutched at his hair, holding his awareness close to her, and in some ways his body appreciated the break to catch its breath and to moan freely with each twist and tug at his scalp and pulse of sensation that he felt even beyond his own.

“Dehaljadrun!”

Chris shivered and gasped as he felt the rush of water pass over him along with a bright light, and for a moment, he could perceive nothing at all except for some elated feeling of success and satisfaction: something had been accomplished, something wholly divine. Distantly, Chris heard light and gleeful laughter, though a separate wave hurt and longing caught his attention.

Seek pleasure, came the goddess’ voice, and the vision swept through Chris’ awareness of the goddess holding his head to her chest, something in both of them soothed mutually by the gesture. He was not aware of much else, except that still there was water--a running stream or a waterfall, a refreshing current and a gentle roar. There was history here, and mystery. Chris tried to focus his attention outward to get more understanding of where he even was, but was met with a harsh red throb, and he retreated back into himself, overcome briefly with a feeling like he might have overstepped--or been unjustly denied something that was rightfully his; how to tell the difference?

His attention refocused on the goddess’ fingers in his hair, soothing him again, and helping him open again toward acceptance. Although he still felt sorrow about that red throb, he also felt at peace with it; it was something he could hold. He would hold it, for her.

De... Dehal... Dehaljadrun! The chant entered Chris’ mind, and he joined in with it, finding his way back to the serenity of not needing to understand everything that was happening. The goddess was looking for something, he thought, and this was the best way he could help her to find it. He was rewarded with a feeling of love and pleasure washing over him in the water, and he reveled in it.

Slowly, the sensation of water faded, making room in Chris’ awareness for the feeling of the goddess’ lips kissing his chest, again and again, her being nearly flickering before him with awe and wonder. Tears now drenched Chris’ cheeks, but he was happy. They really had done something wonderful, hadn’t they?

“Come,” she whispered, “Come warm yourselves with me.” But she was too weak to move, and Chris himself still felt dazed, unsure if he could even remember how to move his body. Slowly, though, he found his way to a sensation in his knees and his thighs, and he almost relaxed back onto his ankles--except, he was startled back to attention by a groan beneath him, and embarrassment found its way to warm Chris’ cheeks, a rush of self-consciousness wrenching Chris’ attention back into his body as he realized that Lance had been staring up at his junk this whole time.

The goddess opened her eyes and looked at Chris with a slight smirk, which began to pull some of his bitter jealousy back into his chest, as Lance moaned beneath Chris and the goddess laughed a little darkly. Heat settled heavy in Chris’ groin, awareness blooming now of the suckling cloth that lay over his hips, stoking envy for what Lance’s length must feel in the embrace of the goddess’ hips.

Chris might have found the resolve to get up and extricate himself from this tangle, but the goddess’ fingers in his hair presented one final obstacle he was not quite ready to overcome, and the renewed awareness of its send tingles down his scalp and spine, pulling a subtle shudder from his lips. Then, the goddess’ fingers relaxed, nails lightly petting his scalp and stoking fresh cascades of those tingles, and for a brief moment, Chris simply could not keep his eyes open, pulled back into the awe and the pleasure he had felt in the rushing water.

He opened his eyes again to the goddess looking right at him, quite earnestly now, and she said, “Thank you. You’ve all deeply made an impact in healing me and this realm.” More tears blurred Chris’ vision and fell down his cheeks. He was grateful to her those words on her lips, to feel the truth of it in his body, but he felt the sadness that he held for her, too. There was still a long way to go.

The goddess stroked his cheeks and kissed him again, before gently touching her forehead to his. There would be bumps and knots and discomfort and confusion, but in this moment, he hoped that the goddess could see that he did want to offer himself to her. He wanted to experience this again, and to continue to help her. Even if he tensed back up and cocooned himself again a million times.

The goddess then placed her hands on Chris’ shoulders and kissed him again--many times, the exchange deep and needy, so that he was breathless by the time that she pulled away, using her grip on his shoulders to stand.

Briefly, Chris was confronted with the sight of Lance’s length, wet and lolling in the goddess’ wake, and his own groin flared with hot envy again, but the goddess drew his attention up to her, offering him a hand to his feet, which he eagerly accepted.

The goddess turned to regard the other volunteers still on the ground, and Chris followed her attention, taking in the sight of Rutliff and Nathan tangled up in each other, and Trevor now collapsed over Holloway in the grass.

“Stay out here in the cold if you like,” the goddess said to the men groaning on the ground, “but Chris and I are going inside.”

Briefly, Chris felt almost confused about why or how he was up on his feet--was he somehow kidding himself that he wasn’t also a mess on the grass in the wake of what he had done with the goddess?--but he felt the goddess leaning on his shoulder, herself a bit unsteady, and he felt his feet against the ground, and he felt how nourished the ground beneath him was, and he felt unbelievably steady. Maybe steadier than he’d ever felt before in his life. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t need to, and he allowed himself to feel at peace. The goddess began walking toward the palace, and he walked alongside her, proud and serene.

His serenity was as short-lived as ever, though, as he sensed an ache in the goddess--a palpable tug between herself and Rutliff across the distance of the meadow, and it was enough to shake his confidence that he was really who the goddess wanted to be beside.

As they approached the palace, Chris began to grow self-conscious under the gazes of Chloe and Nick who watched from inside. They looked moved, he thought hopefully, but it was difficult to tell exactly what was in their expressions, and the urge to shrink away was growing strong. Then, another volunteer entered the meadow from around side the palace, and the goddess released her hand from Chris’ shoulder. He stepped back from her, removing himself from the field of attention around the goddess and hugging his hands around his arms, suddenly cold.

He drifted toward the food laid out in front of the palace, shyly eyeing the large bird-like creatures who nested nearby. He picked at fruits and vegetables, grateful for a sense of familiar nourishment, as he tried to figure out what he wanted or needed now. Memories flickered through his mind from his arrival and everything that had happened since, but they were too quick and faint for him to make sense of. He was fatigued, and his eyelids fluttered, heavy. Did he want to sleep? Was that crazy?

Well, but then something grabbed at his attention that woke him right up--fear from the goddess; Chris hadn’t drifted so far from her not to notice something like that. His gaze shot to her inside the palace, and followed her attention toward the back of the palace, but he couldn’t see what she looked at from where he was outside.

“Dearest goddess,” a voice cut through the air like a slap and Chris flinched, fear gripping at his own chest, but he moved into the palace to see what was happening. Novelty stood leaning in a doorway, his posture lazy but Chris could tell that the soldier was angry.

“Forgive my curiosity, but I can't help but wonder..." Novelty continued, pushing from the doorway where he stood to slowly approach the goddess. Chris looked to Nick and Chloe nearby with a questioning gaze; Nick noticed and offered Chris a bewildered expression, indicating he had no idea what was going on. Chloe’s attention remained fixed on Novelty, her expression thoughtful and intrigued. Chris looked back toward Novelty, but noticed in Novelty’s wake that Lieutenant Pemberley lingered in the doorway whence Novelty had come.

"Why?” Novelty pressed on. “Why send so many of our fellow soldiers into delirious stupors, their mouths spewing terrifying nonsense and muttering your epithets? Why all the stories of you taking what you want without a care for the lives of the people at stake? Why do you want us in the first place, and what gives you the right?"

Now, this was getting Chris’ attention. The spike of fear that had gripped at his chest shifted into something righteous, excited even. Chris certainly did want to know the goddess’ answer to these questions.

The goddess was defensive and angry, at first, but she calmed enough to look around the room at all of the people who had gathered to offer themselves to her, deserving her answer to this. She looked at Rutliff first, her expression angry and pleading, and Chris wondered bitterly whether there was something else that Rutliff was supposed to have told them.

But then the goddess’ eyes met Chris’, and as much as some self-righteous flame burned in his chest, he also remembered the water, the light, her fingers in his hair, their foreheads against one another’s, the ground nourished beneath them… the sorrow that he held for her, and he softened, perhaps in some ways already knowing a part of the answer.

The goddess looked at each of the others, and Chris was patient, although his body was subtly trembling with the emotion of it all. He watched as the goddess balanced the sparks that wanted to fly from her, and contemplated what was actually her truth. He felt hopeful, albeit terribly tired.

"No one is keeping you here," the goddess finally spoke, flicking her eyes to Novelty. "I will honor my agreement even if you leave." She looked around at the rest of them, "That goes for any of you newly arrived."

Chris swallowed, accepting the gravity of that into his body with both appreciation and poignancy. He did not want to leave, but he had not expected that he even could, having crossed the threshold to come here.

"As for the past," the goddess looked down at the floor again and returned her gaze to Novelty, "I intend to take full responsibility for my actions where I can. I want you because this realm--and my own being--will fade and falter to nothing without offerings, and you," she said, looking at Holloway for a moment, "help me bring the light."

Envy and bitterness curled in Chris’ chest, annoyed at Lance receiving tacit credit for all that had just transpired.

"As for who gives me the right, they won't speak to me anymore and haven't for a long, long time. I got in the way of a blow meant for the human realm, and I don't remember much before that."

Just like that, the envy uncoiled, yielding to the sorrow. He was right; he did already have a piece of it all, even if he didn’t really understand it.

"And if I've felt resentful or doubted that action..." the goddess’ tone grew sharper. "...then I pray that you'll forgive me for that. Now, are you going to continue to insult my hospitality, or are you prepared to stay and continue to indulge your 'opportunity to experience this realm'."

Chris looked to Novelty, anxious in that he didn’t know whether he hoped that Novelty would relent or somehow push further. In the end, Novelty dropped down to one knee.

“Forgive me, goddess… I couldn't fully enjoy this place until I understood. For whatever it means to you, I for one am grateful you stepped in the way, though I feel your sorrow for whatever that cost you.”

Chris’ chest coiled tight yet again, sharp with a defensiveness around the sorrow that he felt, that he had accepted from that red throb in that place of roaring water, snarling that Novelty couldn’t possibly feel that. Chris touched his own chest, some small attempt to soothe himself, and try to quell a growing feeling of overwhelm and fatigue.

“I hope you do find ways to make amends. I imagine your help for our cause will go a long way toward that end, and......whatever I--and perhaps we--can do to help you work through the reasons why the hurt has been passed onto others, that's... why I'm here.”

Chris chest softened slowly, cautiously, opening to the possibility that Novelty was in fact an ally and not a competitor or intruder. This would be a constant tug-of-war in him, he acknowledged silently, his eyes fluttering with heaviness again.

"If you'll pardon me one more question, goddess... how long ago did you protect our realm?"

Chris let his eyes fall shut, contemplating whether he cared so much about this question. Maybe not, certainly not with how tired he was. Still, he did not feel in any great rush to go anywhere; perhaps he’d just rest right here, letting the words flow through his attention without taking them in so sharply.

"Several human lifetimes ago," the goddess said. "The upper gods left, the dragons left, and I was left here to pick up the fragmented pieces of myself, one by one by one."

Upper gods. Dragons. Chris let them remain stories for now, myth and fantasy. He didn’t have space for them in his body, not with everything else that he’d felt today.

"Now," the goddess went on, "any more burning questions, or will you let me bathe in peace?"

Bathe. A bath sounded nice--warm, relaxing. Chris was almost called to go to her, to follow her toward that end, but he opened his eyes first, and he saw Rutliff and understood the gravity between the captain and the goddess, and Chris shivered with a weary bitterness. He did not want to bathe with Rutliff. He didn’t want to bathe with anyone but the goddess. He was too tired to continue navigating her presence alongside everyone else’s. He needed to rest.

Chris wearily found the goddess’ eyes as she regarded them each, and he hoped that she could see what she needed to see in his face: that he understood her sorrow, that he wanted to help her, and that right now, he was tired, and he needed to sleep.

((OOC: lol I feel bad that actually in the end this is not terribly actionable, but it was helpful to figure out where Chris was actually at. He’ll go crash in one of the beds shortly I think, probably mostly just waiting for people to start disbursing one way or another so that he doesn’t attract a bunch of attention by being the first to move.))

Dehaljadrun waited patiently, her anger receding as she considered each of the people in and near her palace. Each of them had given her a great gift in coming here, even Novelty with his questions and accusations. And several of them, Trevor, Lance, Nathan, Chris, and of course, Evan, had stayed with her when she had needed them, when the burning desire to satiate herself and the land had been almost too great in light of the ceremony they had undergone on her behalf. Chris had sung, Lance had cried, Philip had offered reconciliation. Novelty was now, here, offering healing in whatever way they could find it together. Chloe had offered craftsmanship, Nathan had offered poems, Trevor had offered his unending loyalty onto death, for better or worse. Gavin had offered his vulnerability, Nick had offered sensations in objects of power, and Raccoon had offered dreams and adventure.

Her fingers were restless at her sides, and as she looked at them, she remembered how tangled they had been in Chris' hair, how desperately she had kissed his lips all throughout the journey toward the river and the waterfall. He looked exhausted now, maybe even a little angry, and her heart sank at the sight. Could she really keep all these humans content here with her? Already, she felt pulled in multiple directions. The goddess closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

There were hundreds of stories to weave and untangle with each of them, and she intended to see all of them through.

But, there was one story that could very well end tonight.

When the goddess opened her eyes, they settled potently on Evan, a tug of compulsion connecting one to the other. Gods be damned, she wanted to sink into his arms.

With a blink, she broke eye contact and looked around, acknowledging the silence, and said softly, "Seek rest for yourselves where you can find it. There will be other opportunities for questions and answers."

She turned to start up the stairs again from where she had initially been thwarted, looking over her shoulder at Evan and gesturing with her head toward the highest pool on this side of the palace.

Don't make me beg, she thought.

She didn't wait for him. Seeking warmth and, at minimum, comforting liquid around her, she took the stairs with grace. Ignoring any of the eyes on her, she dipped her foot into the steaming water before plunging the rest of her leg in and climbing down onto the thick branch seat that wrapped around the pool halfway down. Slipping into this reliable release, the goddess sighed quietly, closing her eyes and beginning to revisit the moment when light had pulsated through her, through Lance and Chris and Trevor and Nathan and Evan down into the land. She slid deeper in until she was up to her shoulders, her head draped over the outside of the pool, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face.


((OOC: Novelty's story continues here: viewtopic.php?p=3811#p3811))

Evan all but fell into his approach toward the goddess, her gaze magnetic and demanding in a way that no part of him wanted to fight.

But then, she looked away, and he very nearly stumbled as his footsteps came to a stop, surprise and frustration tightening his body in unpredictable ways. Sharing the goddess was such a fucking marathon.

“Dearest goddess…”

Evan’s attention snapped toward Novelty with a glare. It was petty, at first--how dare you distract her from me--but it sweltered with greater depth as Novelty’s tone sank in, and the man continued speaking. He wasn’t just distracting the goddess; he was questioning her, challenging. Anger burned through Evan’s veins, but he kept himself still, yielding to the goddess’ own response, even as his eyes clocked Pemberly joining Novelty in the doorway where he stood. The sight flooded Evan with a fresh blaze of rage and horror, but Novelty did not mention what had happened with himself and Pemberley; only spoke of the darker myths that hung in the goddess’ shadows, and the disturbing memories they all shared of the muttering madness she had inflicted on the soldiers she’d first taken from them.

The goddess was visibly struck by Novelty’s words, and his heart felt wrenched open when she looked to Evan. Should he have protected her from this somehow? Could he have? But she recovered herself, addressing Novelty’s questions with direct honesty, and Evan began to calm, his fury giving way to understanding and even respect for Novelty. Objectively, he was asking fair questions, and really, on some level, good on him for having the balls to do it.

There were even things that Evan himself hadn’t exactly known--I got in the way of a blow meant for the human realm.... The upper gods left, the dragons left, and I was left here to pick up the fragmented pieces. There was a sheepish awe in hearing all that, in trying to fathom it and what it might mean. Should he have tried to understand these things sooner? He tended to leave the big picture up to others, favoring razor focus on what interested him. But there hadn’t been anyone else, these past days… not until now.

Evan awkwardly inclined his head toward Novelty, tension still plain in his expression but a somber respect coming through. It figured, maybe, that it was Kade’s soldier asking these questions, and for a brief moment Evan wondered bitterly whether Novelty had intended to come here as a spy. But, no, the soldier had seemed so earnest in the ceremony, and Evan had warned the volunteers that he didn’t know when or if they would be able to return. Novelty was assuredly in this for himself, these questions his own.

Novelty seemed content with the goddess’ answers, and slowly the tension in the air was easing, making space for desire to begin to grip at Evan again, pulling his attention back to the goddess. She met his eyes, and the remaining anger in his body melted away, every nerve in his reoriented toward simply longing to finally touch her again. She turned and began to walk up the stairs, and Evan followed, elated that they might finally get some time alone.

As the goddess slid into one of the pools, Evan found a place to lay his jacket, making quick work of removing the rest of his clothing to leave with it. Lance ambled up the stairs shortly after, either bold enough to invite himself to this little liaison or just genuinely unable to imagine being anywhere else. Evan smirked to him, equal parts chagrined and thrilled. He was tired of sharing the goddess, but also, this was, perhaps, the last time he might see this ridiculous friend of his. Lance returned the smile amiably, his expression a heavy-lidded peace offering; plainly, he was still riding his bliss from the meadow, and at least had no present intentions to raise Evan’s hackles.

In the end, the men both slid into the pool about the same time, one on each side of the goddess, each eagerly attentive to her and what proximity it seemed she would welcome. Lance was eager to settle in and bliss out, leaning against the goddess if she was amiable but content enough just to bask in her presence if not. Evan, meanwhile, came in with a burning hunger, the hot water stinging at the lines the goddess had drawn on his back, his gaze smouldering as he watched her respond to his arrival. He would not be content to simply bask, and he was sure that the goddess knew it; the only question was what game she was keen to play about it.

((OOC: I guess, we’re wanting to state that Evan is aware that his cock is uh, in a compromised hygienic state. If there were water it would make sense to rinse off in before he got in, I think he would have, but we weren’t sure if anything/what would have made sense.))

Thank all the gods that Evan did not dally behind with the others, quickly removing the clothes she had made him, though the goddess hadn't expected Delight to follow. She looked at the two of them with a deep weariness despite her attempts to call up the pulses of light that had shone beyond them all in the meadow, but Evan's smirk toward Delight sparked something deep in her belly. The goddess might have thought the two of them had something mischievous planned for her except Delight's expression betrayed nothing except his drunken bliss. At least the two of them did not seem to think less of her on account of what Novelty had said.

Dehaljadrun sighed heavily, not having expected things to get so political. Humans were almost as bad as the dark fae, it seemed. But, no, it had been something else, too. There was deep emotion behind Novelty's words, and she thought his offer to help her repair the harms she had caused was genuine. Well, she didn't need to make amends right this moment. They all needed rest to settle in to this new arrangement.

Evan finished undressing at the same time Delight made it to the pool--still wearing the cloth over his groin--both of them steeling themselves as they entered the scalding water. The goddess raised a lazy eyebrow as Evan's back hit the water, his intake of breath reminding her how she had raked her nails down his spine in the meadow. Both men approached, and for a brief moment, the goddess had no idea what she wanted with either of them--Evan approaching a hungry haze of encircling red and purple, Delight approaching in a fluffy cloud of soft pink. But, one look into Evan's burning gaze, and she closed the distance between herself and Evan, standing to embrace him as she pulled him to her chest. Tears readily streamed down her cheeks as she pulled him closer, their bodies somehow profoundly in the way of the closeness she wanted.

She thought about asking Evan to tell her this hadn't been a terrible mistake, but she knew better. She had bargained for this, all these humans, in exchange for releasing the ones she held here without agency. And whatever hardship they were bringing, they had brought gifts as well, gifts that still had yet to be fully revealed. No, she could not start doubting herself just because of one confrontation. Evan was here, and that's what mattered now. He was here and he loved her, and she couldn't imagine anything that could presently convince her otherwise.

"Why does it always feel like a thousand eternities every time you leave me?" the goddess said rhetorically, pressing his head closer against her, fully aware that she had left him in the meadow.

((OOC: She'd let Lance touch her, but she's not interacting with him directly right now.))

To Evan's elated surprise, the goddess stood to pull him into an embrace. He'd been steeled for... he wasn't even sure what, exactly, and it took him a moment to relax into what was actually happening: the goddess holding him close, emotion plain to him in the ways their bodies touched, somehow laid bare in ways he'd made his peace with being toward her, but somehow hadn't expected to see her in return. It was an honor, and he gratefully accepted, closing his arms around her as well and holding her tight.

"Why does it always feel like a thousand eternities every time you leave me?"

Evan let out a huff of a laugh, surprised by and instinctively covering for the tears that stung at his eyes in response. He didn't know what to say, and so simply poured his attention into the ways that his fingers pressed into the skin and musculature of her back, her stomach against his, his erection hot and pulsing between them. He kissed her chest, undulating his body against hers, though a small bloom of hesitation rising in the motion's wake. He ached for her, but a ripple of fear fluttered through him that he was being selfish with his impulses, and he was pointedly attentive to her responses, braced for any sign that he'd misstepped.

Evan didn't bristle or hesitate with her--he melted into her embrace, pulling her closer and pressing his fingers into the tightly bound muscles in her lower back. Her eyes stung. She had not even realized how braced she had been for another bout of fighting. Perhaps she had kept herself away from him long enough in the meadow that the fight had already left him.

She was chagrined at that thought, but she wanted to relish in the pleasure where she could find it. The goddess felt... fragile, tender, raw. There were so many consciousnesses here each pulling her in a different direction, but Evan pulled her back toward herself, toward this new version of herself.

I love who I am with you, she said within Evan's mind as he undulated against her, a moan vibrating just below vocalization in her throat. His cock pushed against hers, igniting her arousal once again as a burning ache found its way into her core. Her fingers wound into Evan's hair as he kissed her chest, beckoning him closer and closer. Her long cock was shortening and hardening again--it hadn't gotten much play in the meadow. The goddess' hand strayed slowly down from Evan's back toward his ass, pressing her fingernails into the plump flesh just before they caused pain. She did moan then, bringing her teeth down to Evan's neck.

He hadn't answered her, but it had been a rhetorical question, hadn't it? It hardly seemed to matter when their bodies were so clearly hungry for each other, hungry enough that it didn't seem to matter that Lance was watching or that the others would hear them--she wanted Evan in any way he would have her.

And then... an infuriating thought. They were losing time. There was only so long before she needed to send him to the Underworld, and the less prepared he was, the less likely it would be that he came back. Surely she could fuck him first and then prepare him, though? But, a small part of her tugged with worry before she put that into action. He is not going to be very motivated in a state of utter bliss.

With a deep growl, the goddess pushed Evan to the side of the pool where she had been sitting and pulled one of his legs up over the side, positioning her cock against the opening of his ass as she stroked the warmth of his back where it dripped with water. Her hands pressed into his hips before her cock shifted under Evan instead, pulsing a steady, eager rhythm beneath his own length. Leaning over him, she whispered, "Unlike me, the Underworld would never let you have what you want."

((OOC: I'm imagining there is a bit of a ridge in the form of a branch above the pool on the side closest the entrance, so I don't think anyone is seeing this except Lance.))

I love who I am with you, the goddess' words soothed Evan's mind, her fingers curling into his hair, and he exhaled any lingering concern from his body with a deep, shaky sigh between kisses against her skin. He shuddered with excitement as her touch caressed down his tender back, cupping his ass with fingernails that held his attention, quickening his breath.

An absolute thrill puled through him when the goddess growled and pushed him over to the side of the pool, foisting one of his legs up and positioning her cock against his backside. He growled in turn, stumbling and just nominally tensing against her gestures; impulses against compliance drew his muscles taut, but gods damn it did he want her, even if it meant Lance watching him getting fucked. The goddess caressed his back again, eliciting an even stronger shudder now, the touch and temperature making rippling waves across his skin in the open air while still dripping with the hot water.

Her hands settled on his hips and excitement pulsed deep in his gut, but instead of entering him, her cock slid beneath him, pulling a horrible ache down his length and up his spine. He growled with frustration, anger and embarassment now clawing their way to the forefront, beginning to ignite an itch to fight against her in some way, which stalled out mostly for lack of vision on what exactly to fight for.

"Unlike me," she whispered, "the Underworld would never let you have what you want."

Evan huffed a few angry breaths, tensing yet further under the weight of his looming mission. Of course, tonight wasn't just about reveling. Evan groaned, a devastating sense of responsibility and dread dragging through him. His body shifted toward moving out from under the goddess, but a shudder halted the motion as the shift freshly highlighted her skin against his back; her cock beneath his own twitching length; the deep, desperate ache pulsing inside of him.

"Fuuuuuck," he growled. There was an urge to be contrarian--make arguments for why she was just being a bitch to deny him now, then--but he didn't want to be juvenile about this. He huffed again, trying to compose himself and get a handle on what to actually do with the full context he and the goddess interacted in here.

"So how do I find what I'm looking for, then?" he finally asked, snippy in his compromised position with all his ache, but genuinely trying to find a level head about this, now that the goddess had brought it in.

Beneath the goddess, Evan's breaths grew ragged and full of frustration, his body tensing again. She closed her eyes slowly, willing herself to stay strong in this, though she wanted to give in to the call of all his desires. Evan groaned and tried to move away, but instead his body convulsed underneath her, sliding as he had over the areas of skin where they were touching, where the temptation of more contact nearly glowed with potential.

"Fuuuuuck," he ground out, huffing again, his thoughts and emotions a faster swirl than even the goddess could accurately read.

"So how do I find what I'm looking for, then?" he asked, his tone clipped and determined. Pleased, the goddess leaned in closer to him for a moment, returning her cock back to putting pressure on his anus as her hands stroked his sides and slid slowly up and down his spine.

"You'll need to coax and distract," the goddess said, her hands pulsing gentle shocks through Evan's spine, extending out toward all his extremities, "carefully feign and dance..." The goddess oscillated her fingers in delicate patterns of shockwaves over his spine as she shifted her hips from one side to the other, easing her way in. "...and above all else, don't look what you want directly in the eye." Intuitively, the goddess' gaze flicked over to Delight, but she didn't meet his eyes. Her attention trailed over his exposed collarbone and shoulders, the place where his skin met the water and reddened with warmth. Her cock pulsed where it rested inside Evan.

"And when you approach what you fear the most..." the goddess continued, a soft, closed fist landing in slow, resounding drumbeats on Evan's back in diagonal patterns, "...remember how I approached the demon. Show compassion, see beyond the entanglement, and claim the power you know to be yours." At this, the goddess reached around to hold the place where Evan had marked himself alongside her with the sword he had conjured, where she had tore out his stitches, where she had healed him with warmth and welcome. Her other hand mirrored that placement, and thus positioned, the goddess plunged the rest of the way into Evan, her body shaking as she lost her train of thought, fingers gripped at Evan's sides as she rode him slowly toward both of their blissful undoing.

In a different mood, Lance might have eaten up the conversation that Novelty and the goddess hashed out with one another. Lore and gossip, drama and high tempers. He liked to think that some part of his mind had eaten it up, tucked all the details away to marvel at when he'd actually have the coherence to make heads or tails of it all. But today, in this moment, after being so thoroughly stripped down and carried into such bliss, he was in no state for such marveling. Particularly since--even or perhaps especially in his blissful haze--he yearned for more contact with the goddess, to bask and to marvel not at stories long past but at what they had just done, at what their bodies still enjoyed the lingering wake of together. In that way, he was actually mildly annoyed at Novelty, but even annoyance was a difficult thing to muster in full right now, and Lance was hardly inclined to put effort into it, so instead he just drifted and swayed, replaying moments from the meadow and that other place with the river in his mind and enjoying the sensations of the cloth around his hips, though distantly the chill in the air still pricked at his attention.

Soon enough, the conversation had completed, the goddess' intention to go bathe crystal clear. She looked pointedly at Evan, but Lance--from boldness or delerium or both, he could not say--strode confidently after them, relishing the idea of a bath with the goddess and the friend who had brought Lance to her. Evan did look a bit on edge when he met eyes with Lance at the top of the stairs, albeit with a smirk. There were at least two paths to take, then: approach with a challenge of his own and make this a game, or offer a truce; Lance swiftly chose the latter, smiling peaceably and simply continuing his approach. Evan relaxed and finished getting undressed, the goddess already settled in the water. Lance moved with eager lethargy over to her side to slip into the pool next to her, Evan now undressed and doing the same on the goddess' other side. The water was hot, at first touch almost too hot, but still within a range that Lance knew his bdy would appreciate once he acclimated. Granted, there were nicks and scratches from the goddess' nails that made themselves quite sharply known as they hit the water, and Lance drew in sharp breaths as the cascade of sensations rolled through him.

By the time he had settled fully, his attention ready to expand beyond the surface area of his skin and his gaze seeking out the goddess, she had stood to embrace Evan, sinking a strangely blissful stab of jealousy into his stomach. It reminded Lance of pretending to be slain in games as a child, or perhaps the moment when it was clear one had lost a friendly skirmish. Evan was so plainly someone of unique importance to the goddess, even if not especially here after the pomp and ceremony was complete, and in the end, Lance could not begrudge him this, even if it meant he himself did not get the attention from her that he yearned for in this moment. It was a lazy, serene sort of yearning, anyhow, content to pine quietly as Lance basked in the comfort of the hot pool, eyeing the goddess and Evan for a vicarious sort of pleasure, both in some ways imagining himself in Evan's place, and in others simply feeling compersion for his friend, and relishing the opportunity to see the gruff army captain tender as his arms wrapped around the goddess, fingers pressing into her back.

Then all at once the goddess growled, and a thrill shuddered through Lance's body as he watched her push Evan over the side of the pool, positioning herself as though to fuck him from behind. This was both alarming and exciting in so many different ways, and Lance was now utterly enrapt, reeling from the sudden escalation halted in a moment of suspense.

"Fuuuuuck," Evan growled, frustration plain in every taut muscle in his body. This Lance did not envy, but he recalled the way that Evan had smirked with that tendril around his neck, and imagined that, in at least some ways, Evan was right where he wanted to be, frustration and all.

"So how do I find what I'm looking for, then?" Evan asked the goddess, snippy but composed despite his compromised position. Had Lance missed something? Well, plainly, yes. His brain was really only just emerging from a hazy, drifting fog, and for all he knew there had been a great many words exchanged that had simply escaped his notice. But he felt more alert and curious now, perhaps thanks to a fresh dose of adrenalin his body had released following the goddess' growl, and he listened.

"You'll need to coax and distract," the goddess said, her hands caressing Evan's spine and sending visible shudders through his muscles from where she touched. "carefully feign and dance..." she continued, her touches becoming a dance of their own, her hips finally beginning to push past the threshold they'd halted at before as Evan groaned beneath her. Lance was entranced by the way that the man still tensed and shuddered, yet also melted into the rhythms of it all; a dance surely going on within Evan's own body--to fight, or to surrender? Lance was well and truly familiar with Evan's penchant for fighting, resisting, insisting that he would always do what he damn well pleased; it was absolutely breathtaking to see him perched on a threshold of giving in to something, even while still trying to fight it.

"...and above all else, don't look what you want directly in the eye."

Suddenly, the goddess' gaze shifted to Lance, her focus on his collar bone, and he shuddered as a phantom caress seemed to trail over his skin where her gaze wandered. Did she... want him, right now? He very nearly shifted to move closer to her, drawn in by that gaze, but he stopped himself when she kept speaking, her fist landing in drumbeats across Evan's back and drawing out groans from his throat.

"And when you approach what you fear the most... remember how I approached the demon. Show compassion, see beyond the entanglement, and claim the power you know to be yours."

Lance still had no idea what frame to the conversation he must have missed, but he was fascinated by all of it. He gathered he was getting just a tiny glimpse of what Evan and the goddess had been up to these past days, and he teemed with curiosity about what grand and delectable tales Evan held close to his chest.

The goddess moved her hands to grip at Evan's hips, and Lance delighted in the way the man's back sagged, subtle but poignant, angling his ass just that much more toward the goddess in a gesture that Lance was sure silently amounted to, Please. And, the goddess obliged, plunging the rest of her length into Evan and pulling a glorious cry from his throat, rich with relief and excitement as their bodies began moving together in mounting passion.

Lance let out a long, shaky sigh and settled back against the side of the pool, his hands trailing down his own hips as a growing throb beckoned his attention, his own arousal now well and fully recovered from his previous bliss.

((OOC: We rolled Lance, and he wanted to post lol. Probably will post for Evan also, unless I guess this gives Dehaljadrun enough to get impatient to post again if Evan takes too long or something lol))