Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.
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I'm not sure if this story is actually going to appeal to many people but the idea wouldn't get out of my head so I did quite a bit of writing on it. Hopefully it's in line with what people liked about my other writings.
I'll probably finish it off even if the ratings tank but it's always nice to get feedback either way.
Note that I flagged this as Sci-fi/Fantasy because of genie element but sister/sister incest is a heavy theme throughout. Also this is not a quick stroke story, in my opinion; buildup, plot, character development etc. etc. before the "real action" takes place.
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Jaya Gazdar tried to both cough and sneeze at once as bits of straw and dust puffed up in her face when she set the wooden box down, trying not to wince at the sound of clay or ceramic objects rattling around inside.
"Ugh, so much garbage," Emelia Loyd's proper British tones sounded from a few rows back in the warehouse. Metal racks, wooden crates, and stacks of "artifacts" of all materials separated them.
"We might find something in here, ma'am," Lincoln called out from the left, his accent still British, but sounding rougher, or less refined. He'd told Jaya his accent was a prime example of North London diction; for one, it made his "ma'am" sound more like "mum".
Jaya straightened to look for him but she could only barely see his brown hair behind another stack of boxes. Her own 5'5" inch frame wasn't short, per se, but didn't help in finding her colleagues.
"So far I'm seeing a lot of stuff that was probably buried in World War bombings. If there's anything in here pre Mahmud I'll be very surprised," Emelia said, "Was that the last box?" she asked.
"Yes, doctor," Jaya replied.
"All right, let's dig into it then. Remember; gloves, masks, and pictures, pictures, pictures!"
Two hours later many of the boxes were empty of everything but straw and piled haphazardly in a corner of the warehouse, and the tables were covered with glassware, pottery, and metalworkings of all types. Unfortunately, while the work progressed, Dr. Loyd's mood had soured.
"What'd I tell you? We've cataloged three-eights of fuck all, in two hours. That's the kind of artifact quality we get nowadays."
"We did find that urn a little while ago," Jaya offered.
Dr. Lloyd dismissed the idea with a wave. "One pre-Seljuk artifact out of the whole group. This was supposed to be a trove of Byzantine artifacts. This is what we get with ignorant donors. They probably have thousand year old metalwork sitting in the entryway of some sheik's cousin's apartment because it 'looks nice' and they're just sending us the stuff that doesn't work as home dΓ©cor."
"Still better than us robbing the country of its heritage," Lincoln griped.
"Don't start that shit with me right now; I'm not in the mood," Lloyd snapped.
God, I wish he had a clue when to pick his battles
Jaya thought.
Dr. Lloyd's more traditional approach to artifacts and Lincoln's very new school idealism never meshed well, and when they started in it was best to keep her head down. Not only would one or the other try to drag her onto their side, but it also got Lincoln "worked up" a lot of the time, and she was tired of brushing off his advances.
Hoping to derail the argument before it became another shouting match, Jaya grabbed one of the brighter items from the box and brought it over.
"Dr. Lloyd, this one looks really out of place," she said.
Lloyd paused before firing back a counterpoint to whatever Lincoln had said and looked. Taking the large, long, blue and yellow glass bottle in her hand, Jaya knew she'd messed up when her boss's eyes almost rolled out of her head.
"Seriously Jaya!? What did that university have as requirements for your major, History 101 and whatever else you felt like? This is
etched
. Nobody etched glass until the bloody 19th century! Congratulations, you pushed me over the edge. I don't have time to waste on this, and neither does Lincoln. Image, catalogue, and tag all of this junk. Date it as best you can, assuming you can still tell the difference between something from 12th century Constantinople and 1850s France."
Jaya sighed as her colleagues left the room. Dr. Lloyd's report to the museum trustees was supposed to be Monday, and it was already late in the day Thursday. She'd be here late tonight, probably Friday night, and maybe even over the weekend cataloguing everything in here. It's possible Lloyd might take pity on her tomorrow after she'd calmed down, but she would have to show progress.
Three hours later Jaya's back was beginning to cramp and she was going nose-blind to the scent of lavender and aloe as she tried to keep her hands from splitting open handling all the dusty artifacts and straw. She wasn't aware of the time until Lincoln came back in with some coffee, which she took gratefully, even though her mind warned her to be cautious.
"Peace offering," Lincoln said, "I feel like you're stuck here because of me."
"I am," she said, "I wish you'd stop doing that. You know how easy it is to work her up when she's frustrated, but you went there anyway."
"Well she was off-base," Lincoln insisted, "Just because these artifacts don't live up to her standards doesn't mean it's because they weren't grabbed by some wankers nicking them from the natives too poor to-"
"Just save it, Lincoln. Your arguments got me into this mess, what makes you think they'd cheer me up?" Jaya said.
"Well, there are other ways I could cheer you up."
Jaya looked over with a raised eyebrow, hoping he was joking but she saw a cocksure smirk and a look in his eyes that said not.
"I've gotta finish this, Lincoln," she said.
"Come on, you know the doc's gonna let up tomorrow. What's a little time off?"
"Go hit up a bar if you're that desperate," Jaya said, "It's Thursday night, I'm sure you can track down some drunk co-eds looking for an excuse to skip their Friday morning class."
"I'm like Lloyd," Lincoln said, as he nearly trapped her between himself and a work table, "I prefer a more refined, aged specimen."
Jaya almost froze as Lincoln leaned forward, putting his arms on either side of her and forcing her to arch backward or press into his body. She saw the gleam in his eyes turn predatory.
"Lincoln, back off!" Jaya said. She twisted out from between his arms. He was leaning on them more than she thought because he nearly pitched forward into the table. At least one artifact fell to the floor, fortunately not one of the clay ones; the concrete would have scattered it and the powder from it to all corners of the room.
"Fine, have fun with your pottery," Lincoln said, sounding a bit snippy, as he would put it, as he made a beeline for the door.
Jaya cursed herself for successfully alienating both her boss and coworker in less than a day. With the way museums were losing funding all over the place, the fact that she had a permanent curator position was a near-miracle. It also meant she was likely stuck with Lincoln as a coworker, so maybe she should have been nicer to him. She still wouldn't sleep with him, but she guessed she didn't have to blow him off as hard as she did.
She kept working, knowing she wasn't going to receive any support from Lincoln now and he might even sabotage her standing with Dr. Lloyd even further, and completely lost track of time. So it nearly shocked her when her phone signaled her for a video call.
Jaya panicked. It was her sister. They video called every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. It was literally the highlight of her week and she had cancelled plans before simply to make it happen. She always made up some excuse because she couldn't admit the real reason she desperately wanted to take these calls, not even to herself.
Panicked and embarrassed because of her disheveled hair, dirty face, and obviously still being at work, she considered abandoning the call.
I can't. I'll just...I couldn't live it down. I'll just...yeah, I won't turn on my video.