Azalea's Cursed Pasties Ch. 05

Azalea took Dakota's advice and took the rest of the night off to prepare for their trip, and to recover, as much mentally as physically, from that night's ordeal. Dakota had not only offered to cover for her shift, but handled the employees who had gathered around the locked practice room door and came up with some story to explain what those screams had been. Azalea never caught the full details of the cover story, but while it left the staff with more than a few unanswered questions, it was enough to get them to leave it alone. She tried not to think about how much of a disaster that night would have been without a friend like Dakota to help her out.

That was the last of the mischief she had from her pasties for a while. It was almost as if her plan to return to the temple the next day had satisfied them, or at least stayed their wrath for a moment. That freed her up to pack for the trip, excuse herself from her many obligations for the next few days, and to jot down what bits directions and landmarks she could remember from her first trip over. She wasn't one hundred percent confident she could retrace their steps at all, but they had to at least make the attempt.

Otherwise, things were only liable to get worse, with no foreseeable end in sight. What her fiasco with the stripper pole had happened on the actual stage, in front of all the patrons? She couldn't even bring herself to imagine how that scenario might have played out. It was like her brain shorted out if she even considered playing out that hypothetical.

Just as promised, Dakota showed up in her Jeep at first light, all packed for an excursion away from civilization for several days. Even a hard charger like Azalea was impressed that she had not only managed to cover a double shift on stage last night, but had fully packed her Jeep for a few days in the jungle, and had shown up first thing in the morning. She even seemed full of energy.

Azalea gave her directions to the best of her ability. The highway they had taken out of the city was easy enough to follow, and she even remembered the turn off the highway. However, the map she had drawn the night before turned out to be wrong, and they lost about an hour or two exploring the smaller roads with nothing more to go on than her memory.

But luck was with them, and they were able to find the last town her group had passed through before entering the jungle two weeks ago. She instantly remembered the run-down general store where they had made their final resupply before driving off into the wild. Dakota and Azalea did the same, stocking up on water and food, and ensuring the gas tank and each spare can were filled to capacity.

Fifteen minutes later brought them to a small, dirt lot just off the side of the road. On the far side of it was a wide break in the foliage. By now, Azalea was driving, since Dakota's extraordinarily busy night was finally starting to take its toll.

"This is it. This is where we left all modern human civilization behind. We'll be at the mercy of nature after this. Are you ready?"

"You bet!"

Azalea eased down on the gas pedal, and they were off.

Not five minutes later, Dakota seemed to lose what tiredness she had been showing earlier. This adventure was exciting her!

"You know, if we won't be passing through any more human civilization for the next few days..." she said with a grin.

"Huh?"

Without further word, Dakota pulled her shirt and bra up over her head in one swift, practiced motion, and tossed them both into the back seat. She grabbed her elbows behind her head and stretched, lifting up her breasts in front of her. Dakota's breasts were quite a sight! They were every bit as large and perky as Azaleas, but her nipples were encircled by more tattoos, a radial star pattern that began at the edge of her areolas and extended outward. Her nipples, though not tattooed themselves, were just as eye-catching. They were easily the pointiest nipples Azalea had ever seen! Even on the warmest days, they never seemed to do anything but stick out straight and proud. They had to be her third most striking feature, right after that voluminous mane of red hair and the floral tattoos that covered half her body. Of course, that was from another girl's perspective. Who was she to say if the boys assigned their own priority to those features when they watched her dance?

"Ahh, yeah. That feels good! Come on, Azzy, try it! The breeze feels great on your bare skin!"

"You'd better put on some more sunblock if you're going to go like that. That white-girl skin of yours is going to sizzle in this heat!"

"Haha! Don't I know it! I have to use the vampire-grade SPF down in these latitudes."

"HSSSSSS!" Azalea hissed, baring her fangs in a silly snarl.

Strangely, despite the graveness of their mission and the horrifying situation they had to figure out how to fix, they were both in wonderfully bright spirits. At the moment, they were two best friends on the adventure of their lives.

Making their way off-road through the jungle seemed to be as much like navigating a ship as driving a truck. Azalea kept her eyes on the features of the horizon as best she could, and kept track of the sun's position to make sure they were oriented how they thought. In a couple of hours, she had her first success. She had driven them to the small river that they had followed to their left for most of the first day. For the next few hours, at least, she could know with certainty they were going the right way. Without too much trouble, she was able to locate the spot where the river widened and shallowed enough for them to cross over. Dakota insisted on trying this part, being far more familiar with off-roading in this vehicle.

From here, Azalea directed Dakota to head due west, following the setting sun. That wasn't so easy, seeing as in the backwoods, the path forward was anything but straight. She also kept her eye on a couple of the mountains she believed they had been heading toward the last time.

After another hour, the light was finally fading, so they decided to make camp for the night. Unfortunately, that was also the moment the weather decided to turn on them. Rainfall started coming down without warning, and within minutes, it was hammering them hard, practically a monsoon. They scrambled to get the Jeep's canopy raised before all their precious provisions could get waterlogged.

They managed to avert any critical damage to their supplies, but by the time they were done, the girls were soaked to the bone.

"Oh, God dammit!" Azalea complained. "Don't tell me we're going to have to set up the tent in this mess! Or do we sleep in the Jeep? My clothes are already drenched!"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Dakota answered, reassuringly, nearly needing to shout to be heard over the pounding rain. "It'll pass as quickly as it came. Hey, grab the soap from the toiletries kit next to you. Let's take this opportunity to have a shower. I fucking need it, and I HATE the feeling of climbing into my sleeping bag with sunscreen still on."

With that, Dakota peeled of what few garments she had been wearing: a pair of short khaki shorts and her hiking boots. Azalea passed her the bottle of soap, then got to work peeling off her own saturated clothing.

By the time they had finished scrubbing themselves clean, the rain was still coming down. The rain was surprisingly warm, and neither of them were uncomfortable in it now that they had cast off their clothing.

"Well, no sense getting dressed until we can dry off first," Dakota said.

"We just wait around naked, then? Or we could dry off in your Jeep."

"What's your hurry?"

With that, Dakota started dancing. She performed a few of the moves she would normally do at the strip club, those that didn't require a pole. She swayed her hips and moved her hands along her body sensuously. The fading light of day shone through the rain in a way more majestic than Azalea had ever seen. By now, the rain hitting the hot ground had created a blanket of steam that further added to the surreal visual effects. This graceful creature, only more beautiful with the nature motif tattooed across her body, swayed and twirled about in a display the likes of which Azalea had never seen.

What could she do but join her? So they danced back to back as they had before on stage, but with no audience but the trees and flowers surrounding them, and waited out the rest of the most blissful rain storm either of them had ever experienced.

"I feel like there was some nineties pop song that described something like this," Azalea suggested.

"Don't you fucking even!" Dakota retorted, with a laugh.

***

At about noon on the next day, Azalea took her next turn behind the wheel. They were following a valley she was fairly certain they had passed, but she saw what looked like a traversable path up to the top of the ridge, and decided to take it. This would provide them with an opportunity to scan the area from a bird's eye view, and maybe compare it to the map.

"Wait!" Dakota cautioned. "Before you turn, let's check our position again."

"Right. So, it looks like we've gone another ten kilometers west by southwest." Then she read their current coordinates so Dakota could pencil them in on the map. The map wasn't so much to help them find the temple, as to help them find their way back. This far away from the nearest cell phone coverage, if for whatever reason Dakota's GPS receiver went out and they got lost, it would be a survival situation. In a way, this excited Azalea. There was real danger, but they were keeping control of it.

"Marked. All right, let's head up and see if we can't have a look."

At the top of the ridge, Azalea found herself with at least a 180-degree view of the horizon. It was the first time that day they were able to get a clear look at any part of the horizon, which was useful. But it was almost one of the most beautiful sights she could remember seeing in a long time! The mountains she had been tracking as land marks were much closer now, and that much more majestic as they loomed seemingly just off the horizon. The vibrant jungle stretched in all directions, hiding what plethora of life only God himself knew. She should see all the contours of the land formations: ridges and valleys, rivers and basins.

And suddenly, Azalea lost control. She laughed. Not a little chuckle, but the heartiest, most jovial laugh she had experienced in a good while. And she couldn't stop. This must have continued on for a minute or two.

"What?" Dakota asked, confused, but not judgmental.

"I... I don't even know..." she answered as soon as she was able, wiping a tear from under each eye. "That's a really beautiful sight, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's pretty nice out here..." she agreed, though sounding like she had questions.

"I'm sorry, I just... Oh, I don't even know."

"Hey, whatever," Dakota said, comfortingly, as she wrapped her arm around Azalea's back. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. You do what you need to do, okay?"

Even Azalea wasn't sure why she had gotten so emotional all of a sudden. Maybe she had just needed a break from it all: from her unforgivingly busy schedule, from the constant noise of the city and the university, from her life in general. She worked four jobs: she danced burlesque and stripped, had an internship, and TA'ed for a class. She was taking two graduate classes, had recently earned her black belt in Krav Maga, and had almost reached competitive levels in CrossFit. She had some amazing accomplishments, things she was extremely proud of, yet when was the last time she had actually stopped to enjoy life? Sure, she had a lot of fun in those pursuits. She enjoyed them immensely! But when was the last time she had relaxed next to a good friend and watched the beauty of the world go by? Always moving, always in pursuit of something, she so rarely ever took the time to enjoy the now. Yes, they were on a very important mission, but there wasn't any deadline. She and Dakota could linger here as long as they liked. All of her obligations back home would get along fine without her for a few days.

"Here," Dakota said as soon as Azalea had regained her composure, offering her the binoculars. "See anything you recognize?"

They set off along Azalea's chosen heading, then camped one more night. They were, somewhat expectedly, making worse time than Azalea's first journey, but she was convinced they were incredibly close.

***

"Just a heads up," Dakota said before they started off on the third day of their journey, "once we empty one more gas can, we'll be at half our fuel. As soon as that happens, he HAVE to turn back, no question about it."

And so, they pressed on, not knowing if this trip would end in success or failure. But after barely more than an hour of traveling, Azalea saw something that made her eyes shoot wide open in hope! It was a cliff face she could distinctly remember seeing from the dig site! The three boulders perched on top of it were nearly unmistakable! Dakota hit the gas, and they sped toward it with renewed vigor!

Their path took them toward the deeper jungle that would certainly have been untraversable in Dakota's Jeep, however Azalea promised her that the temple was just before that. Sure enough, as they rounded a large thicket, a massive clearing suddenly opened before them, dotted with ancient stone buildings. At the back of this ruined village, interspersed among several smaller structures, stood a massive ziggurat.

"Oh my God!" Dakota exclaimed, her mouth hanging open wide! "I've never seen anything like it in my life! Maybe pictures in magazines, but not up close like this!"

"That's where their king is believed to have sat and communed with the Sun god. That's not ours, though. We'll see the one we want when we are a little farther in. I'll tell you when I can see it."

If Azalea hadn't spoken up, Dakota might have sat there staring while her engine idled for an hour. She snapped herself out of it, put the Jeep back into first gear, and proceeded forward. Azalea had her park next to the inactive dig site. Driving a vehicle in any further could cause untold damage.

As soon as they hopped out of the vehicle, Dakota rummaged through her bags until she found a clean shirt and slid it on over her bare torso.

"I can promise you there's no one else here."

"I'm sure you're right. It just suddenly started to feel weird."

The thin, white shirt she put on didn't do much to hide her inch-long nipples, though if it made her feel comfortable, then it was doing its job.

Azalea led Dakota to the smaller pyramid where she had found the pasties. It was off from the main cluster, relatively hidden, but not isolated. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the main ziggurat at the center of the ruins, but it definitely looked important. Stairs led up to the top of the pyramid, where there was a ruined altar of some sort. They made their way around back, fighting their way through dense vines.

"I can see why this chamber of yours was left undiscovered. Geez! I don't' suppose you packed a weed whacker?"

"Right, I never leave home without THAT!"

Once they had made it, Azalea pointed out the entrance, which Dakota seemed like she would have walked right past. They paused for a moment to collect their courage, then turned on their flashlights and went in.

"Oh, wow! Look at this place!" Dakota said, overcome with awe as she shined her light! "Oh, man, the women in those murals are stacked! I'm jealous!"

Azalea, however, wasted no time and went straight for the alter she had taken the shields from. She took off her shirt and bra, tucking them into her belt, to expose the shields.

"Okay, here we are. Let's see if this works."

They had been relatively inactive lately, so she had a good feeling this might work. She grabbed them by the chains and pulled gently. They tugged on her nipples, but didn't come off. So far, nothing seemed to have changed. Miraculously enough, her breasts had mostly healed from their ordeal in the practice room, so she tugged harder. After a few good yanks, they were still perfectly stuck.

She walked closer to the altar and leaned her chest over it, even touched the shields to the stand they had been mounted on. Nothing happened. They weren't coming loose.

If there was some supernatural power controlling these things, as she had come to suspect, would talking to it work?

"I'm returning these artifacts I stole from here," she said, speaking to whatever powers might be listening. "I'm sorry I stole them. I never should have done that. I want to make everything right again."

"Are they not coming off?"

"Not yet."

"Shit. What if this doesn't work?"

"There's some writing on the sides of the altar. It looks similar to something I've studied before. I might be able to translate it. I didn't have time before."

She set down her bag and pulled out her notebook. Dakota, realizing they were going to be there for a little bit, converted her flashlight into its lantern configuration and set it down on a stone table. It lit the room surprisingly well. Azalea started reading her notes.

"Okay, it says something about how the 'totems,' I'm assuming that means these shields, will grasp the... nourishing body... of a priestess... only coming from the divine seed. Well 'seed' means bloodline in this context. So, does 'divine seed' mean royal blood line? Royalty was always linked to divinity in these cultures. Probably the closest approximation in our language. What could 'nourishing body' mean, though? Although this word can also refer to the torso or chest. Nourishing chest. Breasts! Duh! The totems will attach themselves to the breasts of a priestess of the royal blood line! That was easy! Interesting, so these things actually are nipple pasties!"

"Why, what did you think they were?"

"I had no idea. I just thought they looked like pasties, and decided to use them for that. Looks like I guessed right."

"Wait, royal blood line? Does that mean you..."

"I don't know any more about that than you do. Yeah, I'm Mestiza, but nothing I know about my native side has anything to do with royalty. But anyway, there's more writing here. Let's see... Will offer extreme pleasure... yep, they did that. Oh! Here we go! Dakota, THIS IS IT! The totems will release when having reached exaltation, thus pleasing... a name. I don't know how to pronounce it. Nobody has any idea how this language was pronounced, but it has to be the fertility goddess of this place."

"'Exaltation?' Does that mean cum your brains out?"

"That's what I'm getting. But I must have reached "exaltation" dozens of times since these things got stuck to my tits! Did I not do it in a way that pleased this goddess?"

"Maybe you have to do it here. I'll turn around if you need a miniute. Does it say anything else?"

"Yeah, there is. Give me a minute."

As Azalea translated, going back and forth from the sides of the pedestal to her notebook, her face changed from hopeful, to curious, to concerned, to absolutely distraught.

"SHIT!" she screamed, throwing her notebook at the nearest stone wall!

"What? What did it say?"

"SHIT! SHIT! FUUUUUUCK!"

"WHAT? Just tell me what it said!"

"God dammit. Oh, god dammit, dammit, dammit!" Azalea took a few deep breaths, then continued in a calmer tone. "It says if anyone not of the royal blood line puts them on, they won't come off, and you'll be the goddess'... I think it means toy or plaything! And the only way to take them off..."

"What? Oh my God, what do we have to do?"

"Is to earn the forgiveness of a priestess of the fucking royal blood line! There IS no royal blood line! These people died out over a millennium ago! I'm going to be her plaything forever!" She covered her face with her hands, about to sob.