Historical Dis-Orientation (BlisteredBlood x Candira)

"I'd say this constitutes a trip into town, don't you think?" she asked. She smiled and kissed his lips softly, heading to her tent. "I think I have a book in my tent, but we should head to the library in town too." The feline took his hand in hers and started to lead her toward her tent. Sophia slept on a cot, but she actually kept her books underneath her. There was a healthy stack underneath her. "Take your pick," she said, gesturing to the wide range of titles. "I'm going to change."

"ULP!" Nathan sounded when he was pulled along with Sophia, nearly dropping the wand in the process had he not have a steady grip on it.

Minutes later, they were then pulled into Sophia's tent where she went about pulling out a rather healthy stack of book from under her cot. Frantically, Nathan began to search around through each of them until he finally came upon the right book he was looking for then sat down cross-legged then began to flip through the pages carefully before he finally stopped on the correct passage that had a picture of the same wand that he was now holding in the crook of his arm.

"The wand is the instrument of invocation of spirits. In most traditions, the wand represents the element of fire (in other traditions, earth, air, water or spirit) and symbolizes the life-force within the Witch. The wand dates back to prehistoric times. The Greek god Hermes is represented with a caduceus, a wand entwined with snake and winged top, a symbol of power, wisdom and healing." He read to himself aloud as his eyes darted back and forth over the section before glancing up at the name of the item he held.

"Eye of Horus Scarab Wand..." He muttered softly as he read the name.

Looking at the wand again, Nathan began to ponder this over. Symbolizes the life-force within the witch...? He thought as he lifted a hand up to his chin and itched it gently. What does that mean for this...?

Sophia mulled over the words he read off of the page as she took off her clothes. Her tail swished as she fished around in her trunk for a bra that matched her panties. She couldn't find another. With a sigh, she removed those as well, pulling out another pair that matched a black bra. She slipped on the light fabric and pulled out a very short pair of shorts perfect for this kind of heat and a soft tank top. Once she was dressed again, she combed out her hair and sat next to him. She leaned against his shoulder, reading the book and glancing at the staff. "Huh...I wonder what the college would want with something like this...maybe it's made out of a special metal. There's supposed to have been a meteorite that fell here in the past...that could be this metal..."

"It could be, Sophia. As they always say, there's more to this little beauty than meets the eye." Nathan answered with a nod of his head as he glanced over to the female neko, seeing her head on his shoulder while he continued to read the book.

"From what I think that this thing might be made of, it could be made from some kind of metal no one's been able to find yet." He added, now holding the wand in his other hand. "What I wouldn't give just to find out how this thing worked, is what I wanna know the most." He added, looking at it with his eyes narrowed.

"But regardless of which, Soph, we found this before anyone else did." He concluded, glancing back at her with a smile.

She smiled at him and marked the page in her book as she slipped on some tennis shoes. "Hey, let's get to the library and see if there's anything on the staff there. I can use their land lines to get in a solid phone call to the University and we can tell them what we've found." She stood and held her hand out to him, ready to go into town again.

"You got that right. However, we're gonna need to put this bauble in something safe if we're gonna be taking this with us so no one gets any ideas of stealing it." Nathan answered with a nod of his head as he stood back up onto his feet with a smile.

She looked around, her ears drooping when she didn't immediately see something usable. "Hmmm....do you think a blanket would cut it?" she asked, handing him one from her trunk. "I know it's not exactly ideal, but yeah..." The girl shrugged and started to carefully wrap it up. "You can drive if you want," she said.

Nathan's ears drooped slightly when all Sophia found was a blanket to cover this wand up. "Well, it's not much, but it's gonna have to do until we can find something else. In the meantime, gimme the keys to the Jeep and let's get to the library quickly." He added as he stood up, took the blanket and carefully wrapped the wand in it before tucking the bundle under his arm.

Once he got the keys, Nathan began to head out.

She let her ears and tail droop a bit as she followed him, the previous excitement that had come from the discovery all but gone now. She was disappointed that they had not been better prepared to handle the artifact when they found it. Then again, they hadn't been sure of what they might find. Sophia followed Nathan to the jeep and hopped in the passenger seat. "I'll hold it for you if you want," she said. "It might be easier to drive," she said with a little chuckle.

"Yeah, I'll agree with you there. Hang on to this." Nathan answered as he hopped into the driver side of the vehicle then stuck the keys into the ignition before handing off the small bundle to Sophia.

"Hang onto your hungle-bungles, Sophia. We're off!" Nathan said as he started the Jeep up then drove off hurriedly.

"Hungle-bungles?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. What a strange cat he was turning out to be. "What, may I ask, are those?" She chuckled and held onto the bundle that was the staff carefully, making sure to hold it so that nothing should break.

Hoh man... Do I gotta explain these things to you? What are you from, the 9th century?! He thought as a small bead of sweat rolled off the side of his head as he drove.

"Your hungle-bungles. You know. Your balls... or something..." Nathan finally answered, sounding as if he had just made the biggest ass out of himself.

She chuckled and shook her head. "You're a little weird, Nathan. But you have other qualities that make up for what you just said." The feline looked at him and pet his head softly, quickly removing her hand's presence there. She could only hope that they would find out more about the staff in the city when she made the call. She couldn't help but wonder what it was supposed to have done. "I'm really proud of you, by the way," she said, her silvery eyes taking his in. "For finding this."

"Yeah, I gotta admit. Finding that wand is definitely the high-point in my life right about now." Nathan answered with a smile. "But that however, is nothing compared to the fun we had last night." He added, looking at Sophia with that same smile before looking back to the road.

"In any case, once we get it down to the lab and do some compositions, we might be able to find out just what that thing is and what it's made of. I already know that supposedly has something to do with the very elements of fire, earth, water and spirit itself, but I'm beginning to suspect that that item we have just maybe be able to do something more, wouldn't you agree?" Nathan spoke once more.

"I agree. The elements, and the spirit...it's a combination that seems like it would lead to something bigger." She smiled back at him. Flashes of last night entered her head and she found herself blushing just a bit. She must remember to give him brownie points for what he'd just said to her. And giving her the images that just popped into her head.

"Like for example..." Nathan answered, looking at her for a moment to see if she could pick up on his trail of thought. But before she answered, he said it anyway. "The ability to control the very fabric of time, itself." He added, arching an eyebrow as he spoke.

"I think so too. But the only thing I'm wondering about is how would they be able to do such a thing? Would be it some sort of ritual?" she wondered what it might include. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us at that library," she said with a smile. "I can't wait until we get there." She smiled and settled into her seat, letting the wind push at her hair and ears.

"That might be the case. Because the only way most spells worked is if the user of the wand had to sacrifice a part of himself or herself or something else entirely for the spell to work." Nathan answered as wind blew through his hair and ears as he continued driving before adjusting himself in the seat so that he was a little more comfortable.

"I also can't wait before we find out more information about this baby." Nathan added with a grin. "I'm absolutely ITCHING to get my hands on it."

"I wonder if you needed a particular element present," Sophia said, thinking aloud. "This could be one of the greatest discoveries of our time," she said, her face lighting up. "Did I mention I was proud of you?" she asked as they passed the city limits. Moments later, they were nearing the center of the city, getting closer to the library. The feline smoothed out her hair and smiled at Nathan. "We'll have to celebrate," she whispered into his ear softly as they parked. She winked and got out of the car, careful not to hurt the artifact or uncover it as she walked around. Once she was at his side, she handed it back over to him and held the door open so he could get through.

"I hear ya there. It goes back to right what I said, that it might need something to make it work. We'll have to check it out tomorrow night when no one's looking." Nathan answered before looking at Sophia with a smile. "And you have told me how proud of me you are. But it doesn't matter how many times I hear it, it's music to my ears." He added, laughing a little. "And as for the celebration... Well... How about later tonight? You, me and nothing else but the skin on our backs and a glass of wine for each of us." He added, proposing an idea before laughing a little more.

"Maybe," she said with a bit of a giggle. "For now, we have work to do and a university to call." She smiled and ushered him through the door, making sure he had the wand. "Now, you start pulling down books, I'll start calling the professors." Once they were inside the air-conditioned library, she pressed her lips to his and smiled before excitedly skipping off to the circulation desk to ask for help.

Nathan only smirked in response at her giggle, getting another laugh out of him as he walked inside the building with the bundle tucked carefully under his arm and stuck his hands in his pockets casually as he walked inside.

Once inside, he made his way over to one of the computers inside and sat down at one.

Moments later, Sophia was on the phone with the directors of the program. "Hello professors. I'm calling today with exciting news. Our excavation has finally shown some success! Nathan stumbled across a very interesting artifact that we're in the process of researching. You can expect a full report to come to you in the next few weeks."

"But what is the object, Sophia?" a female professor asked.

"It's some sort of wand," she said, not wanting to give too much away. There was a murmur on the other end of the line before the felines came to an agreement.

"We believe you may have found something special. Keep the interns digging, just in case, but continue to research. Good luck to you both."

Nathan was practically flyig through the various windows as he surfed the internet, trying to find everything or anything about the wand he now held in his lap. Numerous pages that contained every bit of data about the Eye of Horus wand zoomed past his eyes, and each little scrimp of information was jotted down in his notebook at almost breakneck speed but with pinpoint accuracy, word for word.

Apparently, what he was beginning to piece together was in no doubt a ritual of some kind. According to ancient legends, it said that this wand had the capability to do just what Nathan had already thought about. This wand was able to bend the force of time to the user's will, but it needed an equivalent exchange in order for such a thing to occur.

The problem, according to what Nathan was thinking, was what was the proper amount of the materials needed to make that perfect equivalent exchange? Secondly, where did the users of this wand go to in time? Forward about 70 years? Backwards about 3,000?

Nathan gave a small frustrated growl before he accidentally broke his pencil. "Dammit!" He seethed in a frustrated manner before slowly back away from the computer he sat at and placed his other hand over his eyes and began to rub them carefully.

Moments later, Sophia hung up with the board of directors. They were very pleased indeed. When she found Nathan, she saw that he wasn't having a particularly wonderful time researching. The feline smiled softly and stealthily walked behind him, her hands going to his shoulders, rubbing them softly. "Any luck, Nathan?" She smiled and leaned over his shoulders to take a look at the screen that was full of windows. Her eyes were drawn immediately to a particular paragraph.

"Hey, look at that," she said, highlighting it with the mouse. "It says that the ritual involved the elements arranged in a ring....but it doesn't say much more than that..." she frowned. "We may need to ask about the wand on the streets, or even take to the archives," she said. She frowned and wondered where to go first. "We might have a long day ahead of us..."