Historical Dis-Orientation (BlisteredBlood x Candira)

Those who do not learn from their history are doomed to repeat it.
-Unknown

It had been several months since Nathan Leone had arrived in this college for nekos like him, and of the things he has come to know is that there was a field trip that was scheduled at the end of the month to an archeological dig site where they were looking for some sort of artifact that few have ever heard of. Supposedly, this device had the capability to grant the user the power to move either forward or backwards in time, allowing them to shape the past however they wished to change the future. Many have chastised this, claiming that only a fool would dare to open this Pandora's Box and not be able to close it again.

Heedless of their disapproval, the dig commenced anyway.

Cairo, Egypt
June 18th, 2008

"Man... This is too damn hot for me to be out here..." Nathan groaned as he stood up on his sneakered feet and brushed some sweat off of brow then began to drink from a canteen that was hanging off of his left shoulder. He was a very able bodied and intelligent neko, but there were times when he just didn't fit the usual profile of a student as characterized by his usually laid-back and somewhat lazy demeanor. His black tail swished about a times before he finally turned away from the sun and walked over to a tent and sat under the shade, really needing to take a few minutes from all of this hectic digging.

Sophia stopped digging for a moment, the harsh sun hitting her hard. She had no shade and her canteen had no more water. Perhaps it was time to take a break. She adjusted her ponytail, her black ears twitching as she did so, her raven hair shining in the light as she headed over to the tent, encouraged by the fact that she was not the only one who was growing a bit too uncomfortable. The blue-eyed neko recognized him from before; his name was Nathan, she was sure. The girl refilled her canteen, purring as she thought of the relief it would bring. Her own tail swished just a bit before she plopped down in the shade next to him. She would have been getting a pretty healthy tan if not for the light, flowy clothes she war. A pair of pants that completely covered her, and a shirt and hat that looked the same. Still, in the shade it was too warm for her. She got rid of the hat and rolled up her sleeves and pant legs. A breeze passed, cooling her skin as took a sip of her water and she closed her eyes, purring at the relief. When she was satisfied, she put her canteen down and smiled at the boy who sat next to her.

"Hi there. Enjoying the dig?"

Nathan lifted a hand up to gently itch the back of his short, black haired head before shaking it out and sighed afterwards as he laid his head back on the ground. This moment of peace soon came to a halt as he heard a female neko's voice grace his cat ears. Looking up, he spotted the female walking over to refill her canteen. In truth, he had seen this female ever since he arrived in Cairo.

"Yeah, it's going OK so far. Not much for the outrageous heat." Nathan said, aiming his dark brown irises at her with a shrug and a smirk. "How about yourself? Enjoying yourself out here?" He then asked.

"You know, they say it's not the heat, it's the humidity," she said with a chuckle. "But I don't think there's enough humidity for that." Sophia smiled at him and took another sip of water. "But I'm really glad I came," she said with a smile.

((Gah! No time for much else before I leave. I'll be back Friday.))

"Yeah, but it's still too hot out here." Nathan answered. "You would've thought they would've sent us out to somewhere a little more comfortable." He added with another shrug. "But hey, if it means having to put up with our chattering nannies for the rest of this month, then so be it." He concluded, chuckling a little as he spoke.

(See ya Friday, hun!)

"Of course not. The cushy places are for professionals, dear. We're the peons. they send us where no one else wants to go." She smiled and leaned against him. "Wow, you really are warm. Would you like some water?" She asked, pulling away from him.

Nathan had to admit it when Sophia leaned against him like that. Just the feel of her body next to his own after a hard day of digging around like he was earlier accidentally caused him to purr rather loudly at the slightest touch. Maybe he was working himself a little too hard out here, and for what, he wondered? Just for college credit and character as they have put it?

Once he finally caught himself, Nathan snapped out of it and came back to his senses progressively before he finally spoke. "Yeah... I think I need about a whole four gallon jug to myself after something like that." Nathan finally spoke, watching Sophia pull away from him.

She smiled at him as she heard him purr, but she still worried that he was dehydrated. She pushed her canteen into his hands. "Have some of mine. I'll go fill it up again soon. Do you think you'll be okay? Or would you like me to stay with you until you're feeling better?" She ran a hand through his black hair and scratched gently behind his ears. "I can stay as long as you want," she said with a tiny wink.

"Oh, you didn't have to do this... I can just get up and get it myself." Nathan answered, soon finding himself relaxing a little when he felt Sophia pass a hand through his hair and itch directly behind his ear. If he was an inu at that point, there would've been a damn good chance that his leg would be jumping wildly with the way she was touching him just now.

"Um..." He spoke after taking her canteen in his hands. "You know, I think I'd like to have a little bit of company around me after all. Besides, it's not exactly all that thrilling to be out here by yourself." Nathan added, half attempting to make a joke.

Oh, smooth. Nice job making yourself looking like an ass out there. He castigated himself in thought.

Sophia smiled and rubbed his shoulder gently. "Sure, I'll stay with you," she said, her tail swishing just slightly. "I'll just get someone to finish my digging for me." That said, the neko stood, letting the soft, light material that covered her body fall to it's original length before stepping back into the sun. She spoke briefly to another student who nodded and smiled. once the arrangements were made, she came back to him with a smile.

"You do that, then. There's someone replacing me for my dig until I'm feeling a little better." Nathan answered with a nod of his head. "In the meantime, I'm gonna lay back here for a little and wait for you to come on back." He added as he laid back on the ground, sighing comfortably as he did so.

The momentary silence would be there for only a few minutes before Nathan once more sensed Sophia's presence close by. He popped open one eye and spotted Sophia coming back over to him and smiled at her softly. "Welcome back, Soph." He said comfortably.

"Hey, do you think you can make it back to your tent?" she asked, leaning over him, her black hair shining like obsidian. "I think you should lie down there for awhile. Just until you're okay again. Do you have enough water?" She let her tail swing just a bit, her ears twitching. She frowned and looked down at him worriedly. Despite the instinct that he was just putting on a little act to get out of the sun, she was still concerned--few people could handle this kind of heat for so long.

"Yeah, I'll be alright." Nathan answered with a smile as he began to stand up slowly as his own tail swished about slightly. Once he was up, however, was a little bit of a different story. Nathan staggered once before he finally corrected his balance and was standing normally.

"There we go..." He sighed once he was on his feet. "Alright, I'm gonna head over to my tent and if you wanna drop by and say hello, you'll know where I am. Besides, I can't really be all that hard to find out here." Nathan said as he took careful steps from under the shading he was under and back out into the miserable heat. Once more, Nathan groaned annoyingly as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the brightness of the day, progressively becoming nauseated by the feeling.

Ugh... God, I hate this so much... Nathan thought as he narrowed his eyes while heading back to his tent.

Sophia frowned as she watched him walk away. She pulled her canteen out and filled it up with water before taking another jug of water to go and see Nathan. He was beginning to frighten her. If they didn't find the artifact soon, she was afraid that he might have to go home. The heat was clearly too much for him to handle for so long. The feline headed toward his tent, blasted by the desert heat. The instant she saw his tent, she was happy that she wouldn't have to walk further. Once she entered she smiled and held up the water she'd brought for him.

"We're going to hydrate the hell out of you," she said, sitting down next to him. "Drink. You'll feel much better."

Where had she heard that line before? Ah yes, every movie that had ever had an old man with a "spiritual healing" power. Ah, cliches: the world would be quite a dull place without them.

The instant Nathan found his tent, the sooner that he soon found relief in the form of a sleeping bag that was down on the floor inside and carefully flopped down on it, sighing comfortably. Not for nothing, but dammit, he had been working hard all afternoon with this kinda slave labor.

Unlike Sophia, he was fairly convinced that one day soon, they would soon find that damned artifact that the school board had charged these two with finding. What actually kinda got his goat was the fact that he had only a short duration of time with finding the thing. Furthermore, they had no clue with what the thing looked like, nor did anyone know how to find it.

However, he was fairly convinced that by the end of this week, Nathan and his team would soon find the artifact and get that cool bonus they had been so craving to get. Those thoughts, however, would soon be pushed out of his head when he heard Sophia enter his tent with the canteen in hand. Smiling as he sat up, Nathan greeting the other neko with a smile and a wave of his hand.

"Hydrate the hell out of me?" He asked, chuckling a little as he spoke. "Where have I heard that line before?" Nathan asked again, this time laughing a little more jovially as he was handed the canteen.

Once he had it, the male feline began to take a slow and steady swing from it, purring contentedly as he drank before finally pulling it away from his lips, hissing slightly in relief.

She smiled and watched him drink. "You have to be more careful, Nathan," she said, her tail swishing. "You need to take more breaks, even if they're not very long." The raven-haired feline scratched behind his ears softly and let her eyes lock onto his. "I worry about you, you know? If you're not careful, really bad things could happen to you. And then, it'll just be me and a few lousy volunteers looking for this thing. And that's not very fun. Besides," she said a little smile pulling on the corners of her lips, "I'd miss you." Sophia place a soft kiss on his cheek and let him continue drinking.

Nathan smiled a little as Sophia once again began to itch behind his ear and sounding much like an overly worried mother. It all sounded cute and all, but maybe she did have a point with taking a few more breaks than he should be in recent days.

"I appreciate your concern, Sophia," Nathan answered with a smile as he looked over to her with the same smile on his face. "But I guess I've been pretty busy ever since I came out this way about several weeks ago." He added, shrugging a little as he spoke.

"And it would suck if I had to leave before we find that thing. Besides, I wouldn't have you to keep me comapny, ya know?" Nathan added as he recieved the kiss from her. At that moment, Nathan decided to return the favor, reaching a hand up to gently itch behind the female's ears then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "If I gotta admit it, then I might as well come out with it. I'm getting a little attached to you ever since I saw you." He said, quirking an eyebrow at her as he spoke.

She purred as he scratched at her ear and as he kissed her forehead. It was nice to see that he wanted to be nice to her too, and then she heard him say he liked her. She blushed a little and smiled at him, her head tilting to the side. "I've gotten to know you a little, and I'm glad you came here. I like your company. Besides, who else would I get to use my cheesy lines on?" Sophia chuckled and watched him. "Really, I like you a lot. I'd be really sad if you had to leave me all by myself," she said, kissing his nose. She really did like Nathan. In the short amount of time she'd known him, he'd proven to be funny, smart, and incredibly dedicated. She only wished that she could be more hopeful.

Nathan gave a small laugh when Sophia kissed his nose then mentioned that she wouldn't have anyone to se her cheesy little lines on. "Well, that's par for the course, y'know." Nathan answered simply, laughing a little again. "But, at least now, we got our confessions out of the way. Any other sins you wanna admit to before I excorsize your wicked soul?" He then asked, laughing some more before smiling at her.

She watched him, that soft smile still on his face. Sophia blinked as he mentioned exorcism. Curiosity got the better of her as she asked, "What do you mean by that?" Her face was just inches from his now, her body leaning toward him. Despite the thin fabric of her digging clothes, she felt very warm in his presence, and her questions and the proximity of their forms was making the rest of the world seem like a wisp, more than anything else. "How would you exorcise me, Nathan?" she asked, one perfectly arched eyebrow raising as her tail swished about.

Nathan chuckled at Sophia's response to this before watching her move a little closer to him so that their bodies were nearly touching each other had they not been clothed in their respective archelogical clothes.

"What did you think I meant by that, Soph?" Nathan asked, winking at her with a smirk on his face. "Besides, you're so beautiful that I could've easily mistaken you for a witch or something like that." He added, shrugging a little as he own tail began to sway from side to side in a slow movement.

"If I knew," she said softly, "I wouldn't have asked." Sophia smiled at his little comment about her being a witch. "Silly boy. I would be a witch's familiar, not a witch." Still, even as she told him, she wondered what it might be like to close the distance between the two of them. What would it feel like to press her lips against his? Still, she stayed where she was, just watching him, wondering what he might say or do. "So how would you go about exorcising me in a place like this? I'm curious."

"Well," Nathan began, closing his eyes in thought before reopening them then looking back at her. "If you really wanna know so bad, I might as well show you instead of telling you." He added, smiling at her softly.

As Nathan continued to gaze up at this lovely looking female, Nathan closed the distance between them a little further, gently placing his lips against hers in the form of a kiss. This however, produced a soft round of purring from his body, channeling the vibrations into her lips as he did so.

As Nathan began to exorcise her, she closed her eyes and kissed him back. As the vibration from his purring reached her soft lips, she felt herself start up as well. Slowly, she deepened the kiss, pulling him a bit closer to her, gently holding his neck, rubbing it softly. If this was what he would do to exorcise her, she would gladly give up her wicked ways. Soon, she found herself purring as well, the vibration staying in her throat. Maybe she should have talked to him sooner.

Not long after Nathan felt Sophia deepen the kiss, Nathan did likewise to return the gesture and his hands slowly swept up to reach her neck and rubbed both sides gently then slid them downwards to stop at about her clothed chest. From there, his hands began to gently massage her chest with the kind of touch that lovers often shared. Come to think of this, Nathan really should've thought about this sooner.