Written Wonderland

Ari looked at the expressions of her compatriots, somehow just the slightest bit disappointed, though she couldn't exactly place why. Had she thought that they would volunteer on the spot? Had she hoped that they would? Or perhaps it was just the simple fact that Ari felt like she couldn't go and...

"At least..." Ari hesitated but then continued with confidence. "At least the goddess is willing to negotiate with us. That alone is... an honor."

Gavin laid down the dragon and glanced cursorily around the table before returning his eyes to his cards.

"Can't beat that," Ari said with a chuckle, knocking her fist gently against the table.

((OOC: Happy to just end the scene here. Light fades to black or whatever you want. Lol.))

((OOC: Continued here))

((OOC: after Lance's chat with Evan))

Lance had glanced back to Evan and Gavin, distinctly aware that the other two men had lingered as he'd left. He supposed he couldn't blame them; Gavin had clearly wanted some one-on-one time with Evan from the start, and he was one of Evan's own men, anyway. The lieutenant shrugged off the envious curiosity that burned at his ears, and made his way to find his own captain.

She took the news well enough, and had given him the thrilling news that a ceremony was being planned to honor the volunteers that night. She'd also told him that he'd need to come up with an offering, which at first had been a fantastic prospect, but then she'd told him that the old woman in the woods--a priestess of the Demon Queen, apparently--had indicated that his offering should include some kind of humility. Ari had smiled when she'd said it, and Lance had laughed and taken it good-humoredly, but it weighed on him kind of heavy as he left her.

Some part of him was admittedly a tad bitter--some other volunteer got to dress up in flowers, but Lance had to be humble? What did that even mean, anyway? Shouldn't he be confident that he would be a good offering for the goddess? Granted, some part of him wasn't confident that he wouldn't fuck up, in exactly the ways he imagined that Evan imagined he might. But, he couldn't not go, so... what did that mean?

Frustrated, Lance sought out a sparring partner, eager to blow off some steam. Maybe that'd help.

"Have you heard about the volunteers we're sending to the goddess?" Lance couldn't help asking between rounds while his partner grabbed a drink. Kaila raised her eyebrow, along with a grin.

"Yeah. You thinkin of signing your scrawny ass up?"

"Sure am." Lance beamed, undeterred by Kaila's playful teasing. He knew full well that she sometimes enjoyed leering at that 'scrawny' ass of his, just as he enjoyed leering at her rather more voluptuous form.

"Damn." Kaila clicked her tongue in mock exasperation. "Now who will I beat up when I need an ego boost?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Says the girl who let me do the same feint twice in a row."

"I do have my blind spots, it's true." The brunette said solemnly, closing her eyes and setting her hand over her heart before grinning again and setting her canteen down.

Lance was about to tell her about the ceremony tonight, when she picked her training weapon back up and dug her stance in.

"Especially since sometimes you fall on your ass when you try that, and that's some quality entertainment when that happens, I gotta say."

Instead, Lance's eyes glinted with an eager spark, and he assumed his own stance again, now eager to answer Kaila's jabs with action.

((OOC: And, it's fine by me if Novelty wants to have overheard any of that and jumped in, or he can show up after Lance and Kaila start going at it again and maybe catch 'em on their next lull or something, whatever makes sense. Also I'm aware that we kinda said Kaila was sparring with Trevor earlier, and I'm frankly amused by/pleased with Kaila just like, spending a ton of her time sparring w people lol.))

Novelty left the conversation with his captain feeling giddy and full of an awed disbelief. He really was going to go the goddess and was even quickly heading toward yet another solider who would go with him. What would that be like? How might the goddess unite their fantasies?

Novelty had so much of a spring in his step that it was an effort not to skip, though he did, on occasion, break into a brief run as he traveled the short distance toward Captain Nicolaides' camp. Novelty didn't have to look long before he saw Lieutenant Holloway sparring with another solider. Deciding he would take opportunity to watch both of their forms spin and feint and stab, Novelty stopped a few paces away and sat on the ground.

He didn't intend to be intrusive, but it was fairly obvious that he was patiently waiting for one or the other of the two.

Whenever Lance looked in Novelty's direction and was at a good stopping point, Novelty would wave once and say, "Lieutenant! It's been a minute. Have a moment to catch up?"

((OOC: I'm imagining that Lance and Novelty have at least played cards or something together and have maube been jokingly flirtatious.))

Lance raised a hand in greeting to Novelty as he grabbed a swig of water from his canteen, Kaila off to the side grabbing her own. Lance tossed her a sidelong glance when Novelty asked about catching up, and she waved him off. They'd gotten a good few rounds in, and she was typically the understanding sort. Even so, Lance wasn't really one to part without a word.

"I hear there's gonna be a ceremony to see us off." Lance set his hand on his hip, shifting his weight to show off his lithe waist. "It'll prolly be quite the show."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Holloway." Kaila tossed an earnest sort of grin Lance's direction, and added a warm nod to Novelty before taking her leave.

Lance pivoted towards Novelty, flicking his light brown eyes over the soldier before him with a playful bit of lasciviousness.

"And I hear your captain is the mastermind. That what'cha wanna chat about?"

After waving once to the other soldier, Novelty enjoyed watching the lieutenant's honey-colored eyes flash toward him. A hint of blush colored Novelty's ears as he stood again and said, "To the point, as usual, Holloway." Novelty smiled casually, anticipation building in his gut even as he playfully pulled both hands behind his back.

At least Holloway knew that there -was- going to be a ceremony.

Deciding to ignore the "mastermind" comment, Novelty leaned forward somewhat said, "The commander believes it best to postpone the ceremony a day. Sounds like they want to give us full honors before they send us to our probable deaths."

Novelty winked and smiled playfully at that, trusting that Lance would catch on to his subtlety and eagerly watching Lance's expression as the lieutenant parsed the information.

"To the point, as usual, Holloway."

Lance grinned broadly and walked closer to Novelty with a soft shrug. He had no trouble projecting across a small distance, but the intimacy of easy conversation seemed rather preferable here, even if he didn't care who overheard.

"The commander believes it best to postpone the ceremony a day. Sounds like they want to give us full honors before they send us to our probable deaths."

Lance started to nod--postponing a day to give the volunteers full honors was honestly a lovely thought--but then the subtler detail that Novelty had shared filtered into Lance's awareness. The lieutenant's eyebrows rose considerably just before he lightly slugged Novelty on the shoulder.

"You dog~" he cooed delightedly. "Who else is going? Do you know? I think Moretti from Rutliff's crew is considering--the quiet one who plays cards with us sometimes. Can you imagine?"

Lance genuinely didn't know what to make of Gavin--and that was before finding out the soldier was considering volunteering. Let alone the odd-as-hell question about his bunkmate, but Lance didn't see the fun in bringing that into this, at least just yet. He wanted to leave Novelty space to answer at least one of the questions he'd tossed out first, anyhow.

Novelty's grin exploded into form when Lance slugged him playfully. Gods, the fantasies that started flooding his mind, not the least of which was getting a jump start on whatever the goddess had in mind by heading out into the woods with Lance right this moment. While he and Lance had traded passes at each other in the past, none of them quite had substance... until now, that was.

But, Novelty tried to set that aside, putting the pieces together of what Lance was asking in the meantime. He hardly remembered Moretti--not exactly a notable figure--but Novelty knew he was one of Evan's soldiers. Interesting. Serio would definitely like to know that detail.

"Raccoon sounds interested, from the sounds of it. We're going to be quite the group, aren't we?" Novelty reigned in his grin somewhat and dropped his hands calmly to his sides. "I don't know about others yet. I gather they are still being recruited."

After a pause, Novelty asked, "Prepared to put on a show tomorrow night? Captain Kade seems to be throwing weight toward making it a night to remember." Novelty thought about being nude except for flowers in front of Lance and had to suppress the eager thrust his hips barely held at bay.

"Raccoon?" Lance echoed the name with a hearty laugh, but quieted quickly to let Novelty continue.

He was a little disappointed that Novelty didn't know more, being one of the best info sources Lance had reliable access to. But, that probably did indeed mean that no one else had really stepped up yet. Lance clicked his tongue softly at that, his expression growing a bit serious as he briefly contemplated the possibility that they were it--Raccoon, Moretti, Novelty, and Lance. Would that be enough to secure their alliance with the Shel'ti? Would the commander call it all off if they didn't get enough volunteers?

Novelty drew him out of it easily, though, and a smile returned brightly to Lance's expression as his mind returned eagerly to the ceremony.

"You know it~" he purred, rocking his hip to bump against Novelty's. His amber eyes nearly glowed as he met Novelty's gaze, warmth alighting in his cheeks and his chest. For all the giddy fun flirting he and Novelty had engaged in in the past, nothing had ever come of it, and somehow that hip-bump had finally struck a chord in Lance's body that something was absolutely going to come of this. Just what did the spymaster's lighthearted soldier dream about? Lance had never seriously considered the question, but now curiosity burned.

He was honestly tempted to pursue it straightforwardly--perhaps steer them towards somewhere private--but a somber note tugged at him again, forcing him to acknowledge that there was something more important that he might want to discuss with his fellow volunteer.

"I also heard we're supposed to come up with offerings for the goddess." He said with a calm smile, perhaps hinting at something heavy on his mind that it wasn't glowing with excitement. Then, a thought connected, and his grin curled up a bit, though with a sharper sort of edge to it.

"You're the one dressing in flowers, aren't you?"

Novelty couldn't help but let Lance's hip check roll through him pleasantly. Oh, they really were going to have a good time, weren't they? If the goddess willed it, that was. But how could she not? Was there not palpable energy here?

Lance's mood took a sharp turn after that, though, and Novelty sobered some. He was, again, grateful that Lance was in the know about the offerings--it made sense, after all, given that Ari had gone to the old woman with Serio--but Novelty got the impression that Lance was somehow unsettled about it. And, yeah, Novelty would be, too, if he hadn't had more direct instruction.

And then Lance said it, and Novelty blanched, too caught off guard to make a witty reply before his emotions were all over his face. He let an embarrassed smile crawl onto his face as he worked toward recovery, reaching a hand back to rifle through his white blond curls.

"Ari let that slip, then, yeah?" Novelty said, stalling. " Do you have any thoughts on what you'll do?" That was, after all, the other reason Novelty was here--to help come up with ideas.

Ah, catching Novelty off guard was a rare treat indeed, and Lance savored it, the sharpness in his grin smoothing considerably. Its brightness faded again when Novelty asked about Lance's offering, though. He kept a grin on his face, but it wasn't reaching his eyes, even as he gave a wink.

"Unfortunately the old woman didn't have any ideas for me." Lance shrugged somewhat theatrically, but then sighed, finally letting himself frown a little as he set both hands on his hips. "Except that I'm supposed to be humble, apparently."

He had mixed feelings sharing this with someone--he had a full day still to ponder it on his own, didn't he, so why drag someone else in? But, the one-two punch of Evan's warning and the crone's indirect scolding, for lack of a better word, had Lance feeling a little deflated. Yes, he was fucking thrilled about this opportunity, but he sure as hell didn't want to show up disappointing the goddess and ultimately get himself killed for fucking up. Novelty was genuinely one of Lance's better friends here--or at least, someone Lance felt moderately safe letting his guard down around--so, maybe he could help come up with ideas. Sparring with Kaila had been a fun distraction, but he was still coming up with a blank now that his attention was back on it.