Written Wonderland

Truth told, by the time Evan had recollected enough control of the body to sit up again, he was too busy shutting out his own thoughts to get so much as a glimpse of the goddess'. Part of his mind was practically throwing a temper tantrum about why the fuck he had shut down what was happening. That part of his mind wanted nothing more than to relinquish control again and sink back down into that bliss, and it was loud. The rest of Evan's mind clearly had practice shutting that part out, though. He'd denied himself countless pleasures over the years, often just out of spite or to prove a point. Now was far more crucial: he was a key player in a godsdamned war, and he was sure as fuck going to see this through.

Not that proving a point wasn't also part of his motivation, though. He may not have been able to sense much of what the goddess was feeling anymore, but he absolutely wanted her to see that he was going to keep his promise, even if by now he also acknowledged that framing it as a promise he'd made was a bit of a stretch. Really it was more like a dare he couldn't pass up, and by gods was he determined to show the goddess he could cut it.

He finished tying his boot, and then heard the goddess' instruction to go get his shirt--after retrieving something for her. His cock twitched when she trailed off, his tantrum-throwing mind all too happy to vividly imagine giving control over to the goddess again, and Evan rolled his eyes and groaned as he pushed himself to his feet.

What?

His thought was pointed and sharp, eager to get the fuck on with things and irritated at the amount of energy he was having to spend on steering things away from sexual contexts. He couldn't deny this was going to be fucking exhausting.

The goddess was surprised by the somewhat gritted-teeth sensation of Evan holding himself back and pushing her mentally away in the process, though she supposed she shouldn't have been. He really did have an impressive amount of determination when it came to coming out on top. Mm.

Maybe they were going to make it through this conversation. That is, if she didn't get distracted. Which is, of course, when Evan replayed the experience of what had just happened between them, and the goddess made Evan's body shiver slightly, but she maintained her composure.

Underneath the seat of the throne, there's a small drawer about the width of your stone. Open it and take the portal from inside. Keep it in your pocket in case... in case something goes wrong. It was the portal she never used, an emergency plan for if the tree ever... well... but the other portals she had harvested were... difficult to get to right now with her incorporeal form. She would replace this one later. And, if she did get trapped in the human realm, at least they would have a way to get her back. Hopefully.

Whenever Evan began walking out of the room, the shadow beings followed, staying just behind Evan and watching his every move as though eager and waiting for something in particular.

((OOC: The portal is one of those small red orbs like before.))

In case something goes wrong?

Evan couldn't help echoing the goddess' words a little incredulously, but he began walking out of the room towards the throne nonetheless.

What am I missing? he carried on, trying to keep irritation at bay. What's different about this from the other men you've possessed?

He didn't wait for her to answer, nor pay much attention to the creatures following them as he knelt down by the throne to open the drawer she had described and take the small red orb from within it.

((OOC: and, he's likely to carry on walking outside to go find his shirt while they continue with whatever mental banter))

This isn't a dream, and there isn't the distance of an entire realm between us, Evan, she intoned mentally. This isn't just some mental construct; you have the power of a god physically within you. Human bodies aren't constructed to withstand this. Your minds are another story. They are more flexible and expansive. Especially in dreams. The goddess smirked internally in such a way that it would have been impossible for Evan not to notice. Much easier to play with and let go of with relatively minimal harm.

I don't know if the bindings will let me travel with you, and I don't know what will happen if I can't keep enough of a connection to your body even if we do make it across.

Not to mention his burns, some part of the goddess thought to herself out of Evan's reach. Her body quaked inwardly at both the memory and the anticipation of... and the river within them startled trickling down the back of their shared spine, making all the places they ached ignite all over again--at least momentarily--the goddess firmly pushed the feeling away despite the effort it took. She needed Evan to understand the significance of this without her interfering here.

Evan walked through the open air room of the goddess' palace with a brisk pace, silently paying attention to the goddess' explanation and trying to take it all in before he responded, despite her tone and fucking insufferable smirk.

So, wait.

As something clicked in his mind, he couldn't help coming to a stop, and even turning to look over his shoulder as though the goddess had been following behind him while talking this whole time. Of course she wasn't back there--though those creepy smoke creatures were--and Evan rolled his eyes at himself before shuddering under the sudden sensation of that tantalizing flow pouring down through his spine. It dissipated quickly enough, which Evan was equal parts thankful for and devastated about. Ughhh.

Are you telling me this would've been easier if I'd gone back and then you possessed me?

Not that he wasn't on some level glad to have experienced everything he had in the past few minutes, but fuck. The captain started walking again in a bit of a huff, almost as though he were stomping away from her, but mostly just because he really wanted to go find his godsdamned shirt already.

None of it is easy, the goddess spat back at Evan as the clouds darkened above them, And unless you want to pass out and cum all over your commander's feet in the middle of the conversation like Seth did to you...

Some kind of wild tingling and static sensation started pulling at both of their attention as the goddess lifted Evan's hand just as a lightning bolt struck the ground in front of them. The sensation of calling down--or perhaps releasing--such a bolt of electricity left the body, at least, stunned, though it did have the effect of calming the river somewhat. As a result, the goddess had a better grip after having let off some steam, but the body itself was shaking, trembling with the power it had released. Dehaljadrun mentally raised an eyebrow.

And sorry if I'm hedging my bets that I'll need more than changing your eye color to convince your commander that she shouldn't cross me, the goddess added while Evan recovered from the lightning experience.

The lightning, however, had more of an effect than just scorching the ground in front of them. It seemed to pull the shadow beings toward Evan as though he had confirmed what they had been waiting for. Yes, the goddess was definitely within this man. Outside of the open-air palace, the shadow beings had full autonomy from the goddess, and they reached for Evan's naked torso, eight shadowy hands hungry for some of the power the goddess had released. For the goddess, the sensation of their smoking, shadowy hands moving across Evan's torso was momentarily surprising, but as empty as she was since the lightning strike--and still somewhat in control of the body--she felt all their hands acutely and sunk deeply into the sensation, especially as they passed over Evan's burns, and the trickle that was the river dripping down their spine opened to a full flow again.

The memory of wrestling with Seth and the smell of cum blooming as the soldier cried out burned at Evan's cheeks and made him mentally squirm. He still felt terribly awkward about that memory, and hadn't intended to ever pull it up again, though in trying to shove the memory back down he also had to shove down a couple different parts of him that had in fact enjoyed it.

Trying to do that left control of the body wide open for the goddess, and Evan barely had time to notice his arm raising or try to parse what that tingling sensation was before his attention was snapped back to what was in front of him at the sound and the sight and the sensation of that lightning strike.

Holy fuck that was potent.

Evan tried to pry his attention back into what the goddess was saying, but things felt jumbled. He felt very stuck in the body, awash with the spike of adrenalin it had released and trembling from surprise and excitement and some kind of slight, incomprehensible relief. He'd managed to collect himself enough to catch she shouldn't cross me, and he couldn't help the wave of second-guessing that followed. He was about to bring a dangerous, powerful god who was kind of on a fucking hair trigger into his camp, face to face with his commander, who still wasn't sure gods even existed in the first place. Maybe this was too reckless. Maybe--

That train of thought was interrupted by hands on Evan's skin, eliciting a gasp from the still-trembling body and pulling Evan right back into the myriad physical experiences that tugged at his attention. In places, his skin loved the touch of these creatures. Their strangeness was thrilling, and his keyed-up nerves were ravenous for attention. But then those fucking burns were downright overwhelming, drawing groans as the body tried to twitch away or bend just-so to protect itself. Evan felt very out of control of things again, and turned his attention inward to the goddess. Initially he was going to address her--ask if she'd like to call these things off or something--but what he caught of her mental state was simultaneously irritating and disarming. She was enjoying the hands on the body just as much as he was, and good fucking gods the pull to really sink into sensations with her and feel their desires dance together again was strong.

"FUCK!"

The captain managed to yell with his own mouth, determination once again fuelling his slow but steady push against the current. He clawed his way back into control of the body again, and decided to just start by shoving the creature right in front of him to the side, or at least attempting to. If that worked his plan was just to walk forward, hoping the creatures would just leave him be once he was on the move again.

Some part of the goddess was utterly thrilled at how bitter Evan needed to be to maintain control. All this stimulation was grating on his nerves, to be sure, and every time he turned his attention to look at the possibility of falling deeply under her spell of flow and desire, she couldn't help but feel smug at the way this was all affecting him. She looked on silently as Evan pushed one of the shadowed figures away and moved out of their reach, regathering herself more easily this time.

As the shadow beings dispersed and went back to wherever it was they had come from, clearly sated in some way, the goddess took a mental breath and pushed the sensation of the river a little further away from both of them. No more messing around; if they were going to make it to the human realm and through an entire conversation--with irritating questions from the sound of it--they needed to be serious and focused about this.

Tell me you know how to use the talisman now, she said with an inward sigh. She knew, of course, but didn't want to have to take over Evan's body again to use it.

No, I just faffed about all day and didn't think to ask a single fucking question. Evan bit back angrily to the goddess as he looked around for his discarded shirt. He finally laid eyes on it and stomped over to pick it up and put it on, and then reached into his pocket for the talisman--

His breath escaped him when his fingers brushed against the scale the goddess had given him earlier. A lump started growing in this throat, and tears welled in his eyes. He hadn't been feeling anything from the scale, so he figured it wasn't still active, but he could swear that he felt those subtle, cool, gentle blades of grass parting over his back.

The captain stubbornly blinked the tears away and swallowed the lump in his throat as he pushed past the scale and dug out the talisman instead. He'd enjoyed being reminded of the scale, but he still needed to focus. He couldn't get back to camp while he was losing himself in memories and sensations with the goddess. He held the talisman in his hands, intending to start manipulating it like the old woman had shown him, but he hesitated, remembering the pause he'd felt before the creatures had started to touch him.

Don't fucking hurt anyone. He told the goddess cautiously, his irritation still present but forcibly pushed aside. Can you promise me that, please?

The goddess scoffed at Evan's initial reply, though she was still amused that it was coming from such a place of irritation. So, he's not as unaffected as he seemed at first. Good, Dehaljadrun thought outside of Evan's reach. But when Evan's hand touched his stone, a wealth of emotions poured over the both of them, igniting all the sore places they had each wounded on each other. The comment Evan had so recklessly thrown at the goddess, the consequences he had suffered from that thoughtless action, the slaps across both of their faces. But there was also the delicacy with which they navigated the problems, the way Dehaljadrun's dragon had offered Evan back his agency, the way Evan had thrown her off the table.

Her ass and hip still definitely hurt from that, and it was undeniable that she actively wanted them to since she was, obviously, incorporeal at the moment.

Miraculously, she kept the river at bay through all the memories and focused on the thoughts Evan was relaying to her. Though some bratty part of her wanted to say, "define 'hurt,'" she decided she could play nice just this once. Dehaljadrun did really want to see if she could escape Uranel's bindings this way, and she swore she could already taste freedom--and revenge--on her tongue.

I will not harm anyone in your camp who is aligned to your purpose, the goddess said carefully.