backpacks of relief

[Nadia Evelyn Solis]

Nadia wasn’t quite sure how the household usually worked but it seemed to be some serious chaos. Serious because a lot of the things that were going on involved family members and work they were ‘taking’ back into their original possession. And then the chaos was between the succubus and Payton and it seemed the females attention for Luce was in high demand not to mention she went to sleep still attempting to get used to Dev’s innocent yet creepy research. That didn’t even include Cami and Edmond’s target practice, Jean-Michel’s screeching and ledger book flying at Luce’s head followed by Valentina’s singing from upstairs and Azi’s mixers. Nadia was frequently getting headaches almost missing the cold cooperate business life for a few moments. Azi picked up on it and the next thing Nadia knew she was packing her backpack and they were going on a vacation. ”But Nadia, I’ll be lonely with you both gone. Luce hardly pays me any attention besides the occasional quickie,” Nadia knew that was probably because Payton talked a bit too much and very little out of her mouth was worth actually listening too. Nadia still wondered if Luce ever figured out the mermaid sex and that’s when she realized she was becoming one of them. WHO in their right mind would wonder something like that? And was generally curious? Still she wondered if they figured it out.

”I’ll just come with you!” Nadia dropped her sleeping bag whipping around her black hair trailing over her shoulders as her eyes narrowed on the Barbie siren sitting on the bed. ”No, I’m sorry. Azi said it was just us,” Nadia didn’t even hesitate. Every time Nadia got the chance for one on one time with Azi Payton somehow managed to find her way not only to completely vaj jag her but end up in the middle. Nadia was done with that nonsense. She never thought herself to be a jealous person but Azi was hers. Payton could go stand in her line waiting for her sugar daddy. The moment she started attempting to get closer to Azi was the same moment Nadia realized she was really not okay with watching someone else take Azi’s attention away. She had spent how many years celibate without a care? Now Azi walked into her life and she was constantly annoyed that Payton was just around. Payton flopped over the side of the bed. ”You should ask him,” She complained once more. ”No Payton, this is our trip, you don’t get to crash it, the end,” Payton groaned flipping over onto her stomach looking to Nadia then looking down to her nails. ”Are you finally rip his pants off? I saw him one time with his shirt off—I bet the rest of it looks great as well,” Nadia flushed bright red picking her backpack up slipping the straps over her shoulder before bumping it against Payton’s head. Nadia then heard a thud on the ground as she walked out of the room.

Nadia didn’t waste any time getting everything in the jeep and away they went. She drove them down to Capeche where the new Maya temple was discovered. Part of her got bold and decided to trust Azi with her keys so they could take turns. He still drove like a maniac but she supposed if she stayed forever it would be something she would just have to get used too. Nadia attempted not to bore Azi with all of her old life babble. The latest vegetation had been removed and the large faces had been discovered. One day she would realize that keeping her mouth shut was a safer. The second they hit the main town they parked the jeep and started the backpacking through Mexico’s remote jungle. She felt so at home. And no Payton was in sight. They would only just make it to the ruins before dark. The tour was a good couple hours ahead which Nadia may or may not have planned. She knew more than probably any tour guide and besides if she was going to jump over the caution labels and take Azi exploring the last thing she wanted to happen was to get escorted away. She knew if she placed the magnet at the base of the ruin the alarms wouldn’t be triggered.

Nadia didn’t truly care where they went after the maya temple but this was the first on her list. The second Nadia could see the peak she started picking up speed not exactly paying attention to her partner. No tour guide was in site. She rubber her hands together absorbing the natural habitat she had left so many years ago. ”LOOK! It’s beautiful, it’s just waiting for us Azi,” She smirked quickly digging in her pack for a flashlight, a trowel, and a tiny magnet. She then let the pack roll over before quickly flashing on the light running up to the base of the ruins. She pointed the light in the direction of the side quarters where the various tools were placed over night. She grinned before leaning over the side column her midriff on the ancient brick wall and her brown boots in the air as she placed the magnet on the sensor as a small whizzing sound faded. She grinned before tucking her head and sliding one boot to the side slipping over the wall. She turned back around looking for Azi giving the nod to come inside. She quickly ran to the opening before ‘awing’ at the grand masks they had been working on uncovering. She pulled her trowel forward and began excavating the vegetation from around the base. ”Madre Maria this so beats wearing ear plugs during valentines days at the house,” Nadia sighed inhaling the damp mexico air.

[Araziel Léon Vasilica]

Yes, Araziel was well aware that Valentine's Day was just around the corner. Which ... may or may not have contributed to why he was so eager to go on a conveniently timed trip away from the house.

Naturally, he was more or less oblivious to Peyton's badgering, as he was busy trying to figure out if he had remembered to pack everything. He was terrible at this sort of thing, being quite used to traveling with barely anything. But this was a trip for leisure, not because he was on the run again, and so he sat there staring at the back of Nadia's jeep, his brow crinkled.

"Italian roast, check. Sumatra, check. Costa Rica, check. Assam, check. Chai, check. Collapsible dog bath ... check. Pommy food, check. Doggie bowls ... yes. Hm ... is that everything?" he asked himself, stroking his chin and squinting at the bags he'd all just kind of thrown into the back without much thought.

Oh well, apparently it was, because Nadia soon came running out telling him that it was time to go RIGHT THAT SECOND, and he completely misinterpreted the urgency in her tone, figuring that there was some kind of imaginary schedule to keep. So, he loaded Pan-Pan and Chocolat into the backseat (their doggy beds were already laid out on seats) and then clambered into the passenger side. And they were off.

Some hours and stops later, they reached the southern border of the states, and kept going. Eventually Nadia had to sleep, and reluctantly relinquished the steering wheel. Well, just 'cause Azi drove like a maniac didn't mean he didn't know how to stay between the lines! Actually there really weren't any lines on this road - oh well, all the better! It did mean, however, that they covered a lot more ground when Azi was behiind the wheel.

By the time they reached the first stop, Araziel was already trying to take in everything all at once, which was an impossible task but ... everything was so ... green, like somebody had turned the saturation slider way up on Takashi's pirated version of Photoshop. Araziel had read about Central and South America a lot in recent years, due to his interest in buying some land out here to plant his own coffee, but thoughts of coffee were momentarily forgotten as an old but familiar wanderlust took over instead.

"What is this? A temple?" Azi queried as he slipped out of the jeep, noting how well Nadia seemed to know her way around.

"Did ... you used to work here or something?" He paused to adjust the laces on his boots before trudging after Nadia; Pan-Pan and Chocolat followed close behind, their fur all but standing on end so that the two looked more like brown and cream pom-poms than anything else ... which was kind of appropriate, actually.

The air smelled ... rich, much different from anything Araziel could really remember despite all of his travels. It reminded him of his main reason for wanting to come here - the coffee. He could almost smell the dirt, which was a good thing; he would need to assess it later to determine where to plant.

"Do you miss this kinda' work? The excavating and stuff? This is old ... older than most of the stuff the fam even works with," he went on, curiously trying to see some of the writing or pictures on the wall.

A slight 'mmf' distracted him, as Chocolat crashed into his ankle. "Urgh ... c'mere you two," he grumbled as he paused to bend down and scoop them both up, one in each arm, so he could plop the pommies in his backpack, where they settled down, their heads poking out and eyes blinking curiously.

[Nadia Evelyn Solis]

Nadia nodded the moment Azi asked if it was a temple. It wasn’t just any temple. This was the mother load. Nadia almost felt giddy at the idea of everything they were surrounded by. ”Si—Yes! It’s a temple this specific location is where the Maya people held most of the religious and political ceremonies,” The excitement was clear in her voice and she didn’t have time to lug the backpack with her. ”I did! I was one of the first teams. My papi and hermano y yo. Back when they paid a whole five pesos,” Nadia chuckled at the thought of only getting paid five pesos to uncover one of the largest tourist spots in Mexico now. Of course it was just Campeche to some people but to her this temple meant a lot of things. Not to mention after she returned some years later to join the excavation team to restore certain areas when they discovered a third piece. Now they had just found a fourth all of these years later. She just wanted to dig in and roll around in the dirt. Nadia thought about Azi’s question did she miss the work?

”It sure beats paperwork. I do miss being able to discover things that no one else has discovered. But I suppose right after that I discovered vampires really existed sooo that is something no one really knows about as well,” Nadia pulled a dirt clump from around the base of the nose. She chucked it to the side before blowing on the leftover dirt matter that was softened from the clud removed as well. ” It is old, we dated it back to 550 B.C. right as the Olmec was falling,” Nadia sighed almost sad that she didn’t get to use that kind of knowledge anymore. ”Most of the lime stone wall is 11 ft tall if I remember correctly, and the moat is 2 kilos long. Most of it just needed discovering but the real work was after the certain structures were located and finding the various other nineteen, Nadia wasn’t quite sure if the others exactly knew what she had done before but she did remember stumbling across them trying to steal a product she was attempting to protect from the museum so some of the tastes were similar.

Nadia turned to see Azi approaching with the Azi’s in tow. She grinned at the fluffy balls of fur as she pushed aside a vine that was accustomed to growing near Becan. She grinned nodding Azi over. ”Look, you can see where the Mayans attempted to sharpen the weapons. It was claimed that if they sharpened weapons on the temple that their Gods were blessing the weapons to fight stronger. Different areas of the temples did different things. It looks like this area is knowledge. Those who were decent hunters but say were impulsive or lacked tact they could sharpen the weapon here and it was supposedly blessed to aid them there. Like their own personal blessing,” Nadia beamed staring at the small slit in the rock before gazing back to Azi. ”I’m so glad we came, I mean it holds some weird memories because it was where I was turned and such but that’s why we are here—we can make better ones,” Nadia replied before handing standing up and flashing the light further down the temple. ”We are like a bad movie—going into ancient ruins that God’s watched over… with children,”Nadia replied eyeing the two pommies before shaking her head as she realized that they had broken a piece from the left wing of the temple. ”WHO—I---they…Maria ayuda me, they removed a whole piece of this temple! It’s probably rotting in some terrible museum,” Nadia groaned slapping her forehead.