Written Wonderland

Evan grit his teeth and tossed his gaze to the side, biting back the urge to get defensive and assure Mizu that he could fight. 'Could fight' wasn't battle-ready condition, and he damn well knew it. The captain's face reddened with embarrassment. Hadn't he said in the initial negotiation with the goddess that his sword would be no small loss to their cause? And here he was just two nights later, having let--practically begged--the goddess to injure him beyond fighting condition. What the fuck was he doing?

Mentally beating himself up about it wouldn't help anything now, though, and his commander had asked him a question. Although, admittedly, he wasn't totally sure of the answer. Of all the injuries he'd sustained over the years, he'd never dealt with burns before, certainly not of this magnitude. Not that the burns were the only thing going on, but they seemed like the limiting factor.

"A week, I think."

Mizu considered Evan's answer for a moment, her face unchanging. Finally, she nodded. Evan's wounds were certainly an acceptable amount to lose for what they stood to gain--at least for the moment. Although, Mizu's mind couldn't help wondering how much worse things were going to get from here. Would the goddess do more than that to Evan the following night? Was Evan going to make it out of this alive?

But then, Yukiko's comments about Evan suddenly flooded back into her mind. Yes, if anyone could handle this, it was probably Evan, and this was a risk he had already decided to take.

Mizu stood up from the map table, momentarily clasped her hands behind her back, and walked around closer to Evan. "I plan to defend you in front of the captains this afternoon. Although I can't always agree with your methods," Mizu said with half a sigh, "I'm frequently impressed with your outcomes. Get some rest, and be ready to deliver concrete details early this afternoon." It's nearly time we told the whole camp what we're dealing with, Mizu thought.

((OOC: I don't think that anyone would intercept Evan if he's looking grumpy, but there are going to be more than a few of the soldiers standing around talking about him and/or staring at him, some a little awestruck, some incredulous, some with Trevor's type of smile. Lol.))

Evan drew his eyes back to Mizu as she spoke up again, relief relaxing his posture. Rather than scold him for his condition, she was going to defend him.

"Thank you, commander." Evan replied with a bow, genuinely grateful for Mizu's response.

With that he turned and left, eager to go get that rest. He put back on his grumpy expression to ensure that he looked unapproachable, though it didn't escape his notice that soldiers he passed seemed to be regarding him differently from normal. It felt similar to times Evan had done something dramatic out of left field and the soldiers couldn't help talking about it afterwards, though there was still something a little different about the atmosphere this time. It made Evan wonder if word about the goddess had maybe started getting out, what with some of the expressions he'd caught out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't give too much thought to it.

He sloughed himself down on his cot in his tent--a little more roughly than he should have. He groaned in frustration and adjusted himself carefully to be easier on his burns. His eyes blinked up at that oh-so-familiar sight of his tent, a million different memories and emotions playing out on its surface. Fuck, it had been quite the night. His brain started to go back towards the start to replay everything, but shit had gone south fast, and he didn't really want to relive that. He shoved aside thoughts of Philip and how the fuck that was going to go, and focused on the goddess' dragon. He closed his eyes, and let the moment the goddess had rolled the scale gently towards him replay over and over again in his mind. Occasionally his brain would wander away from it to other moments from the night, or other questions he'd need to worry about later in the day, but he always drew himself back to that moment of grass gently parting, and finally drifted off to sleep.

((OOC: And if left to his own devices, he'll show up at Mizu's tent again in a few hours. I suppose somewhere in there he'll need to eat but he is so very happy to do that off screen lol. Point being, I think, if nobody on your end has specific plans to wake or intercept Evan, feel free to skip ahead to meeting time.))

Though Xavier was tempted toward spending the whole day just waiting for Evan to get back--at much fun as that was yesterday--he was full of energy and ready to make things happen. I mean, everything was all very exciting, wasn't it? Collaborating with a goddess, being the right hand man of the captain working directly with her, having not only seen her but also having her inside his body? Yes, it had been quite a couple of days. Not mention all of everything with...

For the umpteenth time that day, Xavier zipped closed that door. Thinking about Evan would only make... Well, he would start thinking about...

Captain Rutliffe, I need you...to take off my pants.

Fuck. Yeah, that. And everything else, and what if there were people looking? Xavier couldn't begin to imagine the expression that might come over his face if someone caught Xavier thinking about it all.

So, to keep his mind off things, he decided to gather intel. If the rest of the camp didn't know about the goddess, what did they think was happening? How much did they know by now about Evan's involvement? He made a game of it, dodging playfully between tents in a way that could have passed for a strange method of exercise. Xavier was rather eccentric, after all. Completely in character. Yes. Now, spill your secrets.

And spill they did. In just over an hour, Xavier heard 14 different versions of what was happening, and only six of them contained anything that even remotely resembled the truth. Of those six, half of them mentioned the goddess, most of them mentioned Evan, and two were talking about the recovered soldier. Wait, soldiers! Fantastic! Evan had done at least that much last night. There was no mention of Xavier or Seth anywhere, and Xavier was grateful. He could continue to slide under perception.

Occasionally, Xavier would confirm one vague detail or another, and several of the soldiers looked quizzically at Xavier afterward, but Xavier grinned and did not elaborate.

Word began to spread that a captains' meeting would be held in just under an hour, and Xavier wondered if he should tell Evan directly. He was probably still sleeping. Xavier had held off temptation to peek into Evan's tent this long--Xavier remembered how that had gone last time--but if there was a legitimate business to tell him...

Xavier marched over to Evan's tent with an inflated sense of purpose. Surely, no one would doubt he was doing anything but official business, going into Evan's tent. He was, after all, Evan's lieutenant.

"Hey, Evan," Xavier whispered, peeking his head into Evan's tent. He was both relieved disappointed that Evan did not have his hand on... this time, though he had the most serene, peaceful expression Xavier had ever seen on the captain's face. Almost too peaceful to interrupt. Almost. "Evan," Xavier said, walking further into the tent now. His mind decided then, while he was staring at Evan's sleeping form, to remember the sensations of touching Evan's legs, of the goddess unbuttoning Evan's pants from Xavier's body, of wanting to stop and go all the way at the same time. Ah! His eyes had momentarily rolled back in this head, but he shook off the sensations his body was sending up as quickly as he could.

Finally, Xavier strode over, touched Evan lightly on the chest, and very gently jostled Evan. "Evan, it's time to wake up." Was he going to be able to keep the lust off his own face? It was anyone's guess.

Evan had been utterly unresponsive to Xavier's first couple whispers of his name. Somewhere in his dreamscape he'd heard them, but he hadn't wanted to pay any mind. He was entirely too content laying on cool grass, watching a dragon fly above him in the clouds.

When he felt the lieutenant's hand on his chest, though, it felt like Xavier was there with him, and he couldn't help smiling wide.

"Look," he said aloud, his arm raising to gesture towards the ceiling of his tent as his eyes fluttered open. At first seeing his tent was confusing, and then of course the situation became clear. Evan let out an awkward, airy chuckle as he sat up--and then quickly groaned as he very suddenly remembered how much pain his body was in.

"Fuuuck," he grumbled softly and let himself lay back down, his arm flopping a bit melodramatically over his eyes. "Do I have to get up?" He shifted his arm and re-opened one eye to look at Xavier, and let a slight playful grin curl into his expression to make sure the lieutenant knew he was being lighthearted.

Xavier did not expect Evan to raise his hand but dodged out of the way, losing his touch contact with Evan in the process. For a moment, Xavier thought Evan might be possessed, but then Xavier heard Evan chuckle and was convinced otherwise. Although, Evan then flopped backward, his arm over his head. Oh, damn, why did he have to be that cute! The grin and sleepy eyes did nothing to help Xavier calm down as a spike of excitement whizzed all the way through him.

"I mean, you do have a little under an hour..." Xavier drew the last word out into two syllables, clearly insinuating something as his body swayed a little. He opened his mouth and nearly offered to crawl in bed next to Evan before he closed it again. This wasn't like Captain Evan, right? Could Xavier do that?

Xavier really should just leave. He had done the thing he came to do; anything else was just stalling. Just him standing over Evan while he lay in bed. No big. But he couldn't bring his feet to move as he waited for Evan's reaction.

Evan's eyebrow raised and his grin curled a bit more mischievous as he watched Xavier's body sway. Gods that was a good sight. It was so fucking tempting to pounce the boy, run his hands all over that playful body. But the pain in his own body and the uncertainty that still lingered after their interactions the other day stopped him.

The captain sighed lightly sat up again--more carefully this time--and pivoted slightly to face Xavier.

"In that case..." he started out playfully, but gathered an air of earnestness as he continued, "How are you doing?"

Then nervousness started to eek out before Evan could stop it, and he rubbed a bit awkwardly at his hair. Part of him felt kinda bad about the vague, awkward inquiry, but he wasn't immediately sure how else to check in about the things he wanted to check in about.

Xavier inhaled sharply when Evan said "in that case..." and paused, and he couldn't help but be a little disappointed at the words that followed. Also, Evan wanted to know how Xavier was doing? Even after spending another night with the goddess?

Taking the liberty since now they were having a conversation, Xavier sat down against one of Evan's shins on the bed, ignoring the way the lower half of his body squealed with delight at the idea of being so close to Evan's legs, and honestly thought for a moment.

"Thrilled. Excited. Anxious. Nervous," Xavier started, unable to do much more than list feelings. "But mostly what I want is to hear about you. Er...you know, your time with the goddess." Xavier had a million questions, if Evan was up to answering them. Did the goddess used Xavier's body again? Did Evan get the Shel'ti back? What was it all like? For a moment, Xavier a little jealous that Evan was the one on the front lines of the situation, but then he thought back to the negotiation and how that stirred up all kinds of confusion for Xavier and decided that Evan was really the better choice. He could handle anything.

Something stirred and danced in Evan's gut as the lieutenant sat down by him, very clearly purposefully making contact. Evan was relieved and excited all at once, glad that it didn't seem like Xavier had any lingering awkwardness about yesterday--or at least, not enough of it for it to affect him presently.

The emotions Xavier listed off all certainly resonated with Evan, and solidified feeling more like he and Xavier were on the same page, though awkwardness stirred again when the lieutenant asked about Evan's time with the goddess.

Gods, how to even start? Well, at the beginning...

"She won't possess you again."

Evan watched Xavier's expression carefully as he said it, unsure how the lieutenant would react. He didn't linger, though, not wanting to put pressure on Xavier to react.

"The start of the evening was kind of a shit-show, admittedly. I really pissed her off, and she-- responded in kind."

Evan's eyes drifted away at that, though again he didn't linger. Like hell he wanted to spend much time on that memory.

"But then, I don't know, she felt bad, and actually opened up about some stuff. It was actually..." gods, how the fuck could he possibly describe that part of the evening? Was it appropriate to describe that part of the evening? As much as he wanted to tell Xavier, it felt private. Though, he supposed he was going to have to talk about at least some of it with the captains shortly. Yeahhh, that conversation was going to be interesting.

But what did he want to say in this conversation, now?

Evan brought his eyes back to Xavier, and then put on an adventurous smirk, deciding he wanted to lighten things up.

"I got to ride on a dragon."

And there he did pause, quite certain that Xavier would want to react, and that Evan would enjoy the reaction.

She won't possess you again.

Initially, Xavier tilted his head, confused and amused that that would be the first thing Evan wanted to say. Must have been important to him. Really important. Or maybe he just thought Xavier would like to know? But then Xavier's body remembered the experience and let out a brief shudder before nodding his head. Okay, that wasn't going to happen again. Was that worth sacrificing what else Evan could have gotten from the goddess?

But Xavier didn't have much time to dwell on that before Evan moved on. He wasn't sure about exactly what "responded in kind" meant, but he didn't want to pry. And then, Evan said something about the goddess feeling bad, and Xavier had to think about that. For some reason, that kind of remorse didn't strike Xavier as behavior typical of the gods. But, he didn't have time to think on that either because the word dragon came out of Evan's mouth.

"You what? Okay, now I'm officially jealous," Xavier said before realizing that he hadn't meant to say that last part out loud. Dragons were real? Even Xavier's grandparents had been skeptical of their existence. "Where on earth did you find a dragon? What was it like? How did you do it? Did it look like the pictures in books? Did it talk to you in your mind?" Xavier clamped his mouth shut even though he had more questions to ask, and his cheeks puffed out a bit for a moment before he calmed down enough to let Evan answer. Still, some part of his mind was wondering who he could tell about dragons!