May the Gods strike me down

plastered in ash

"It's rare to find ancient paper that would have easily burned in ash in a small building in Pompeii." A man dressed in the most cliche archaeologist outfit, said while holding up a small scrap of material that has the appearance of paper. "That's great, but when are you going to stop looking like a bootleg Indiana Jones?" "Dr. Riley, is this the moment to dis my attire?" The man replied looking over to Dr. Riley.

Dr. Riley, one of the female members of the expedition group to look for artifacts in one of the nearby forests. Her black wiry hair kept in a tight bun,nestled under a baseball cap, the Dr's smooth dark complexion dirtied by ash and mud. "Boy, of course it's the time"She said"we have all month to work on this site and the past week you look like this" the Dr gestures to the man's wardrobe choice.

"I, Dr. Matthew Adley, has chosen this occupation, only to be ridiculed for what I wear?" Dr. Adley remarks quizzically, cocking a ginger brow "Alright,you talking orange, dont get snarky with me" Dr.Riley threatened with a mother's tone, Matthew threw his hands up in surrender "oooo scary mama bear" "Boy!-" "Will you two knock it off, we're wasting daylight" a older man with obvious graying and short facial hair, barked out.

"Sorry Anthony -Dr. Boeing" Both Dr. Riley and Matthew said in unison, "its Dr. Boeing, Dr. Adley" the older gentleman spoke. "Yes sir....anyways, do you think there's more of this paper?"Matthew questioned, turning back to his dig and continuing to examine the soil. Dr. Riley made a noise to suggest that she's thinking" who knows, it probably all burned except that piece" she shrugged "I highly doubt it seeing how this piece looks like it was made yesterday" he glances at the parchment again.

"Wait-what, let me look" the female Dr made her way over to the ginger that found the paper. She adjusts her glasses to get a better look "wow it does, you can even see ancient Roman writing on it" "exactly! So there has to be more!" Dr. Adley excitedly puts the paper in a plastic bag before going back to dig gently into the earth.

As the hours pass and daylight slowly sinks into the horizon, the group collected their finds and headed inside the nearby camper. With the items set on the large table in front of the 4 members of the expedition, only a few broken pieces of pottery from two vases, a bone of what appears to be a dog's or wolf's, and three scraps of the parchment. "That's not alot" a woman with native roman features said, her voice fitting with her appearance. "No its not"Dr. Boeing sorrowfully announced quietly "I have a gut feeling that tomorrow we'll find some more!" Matthew said with a bit of compassion.

"Actually, we were going to head into Rome to take a break for the day tomorrow" the woman said"yeah we kind of planned it during lunch today while you were still digging" Dr. Riley added "But if you still feel like working tomorrow, Miss.Anna can come by to check on you". Matthew stood there with a small look of betrayal, knowing that his coworkers are going to go lolly gag instead of helping with the project." Right...I guess I'll stay with the equipment for tomorrow" "Atta boy! Knew we can count on you!"Dr. Boeing lightly smacks Matthew's shoulder "Now, let's all head to bed" the older archaeologist said as he walks off with the other two following suit.

Matthew stood at the table for a moment, studying the collected artifacts that lay before him. " wait a minute" he mumbled, putting on gloves and taking the paper out. "Wha-" one of the pieces was folded, Matthew move the paper gently and places the piece next to the others to see that there was a sentence. A singular one but it was noticed that there is more writing to be discovered.

"I have to find the rest"