InsaneJournal

Usually if Lara wanted to do something exciting, she hit the Holodeck. Climbing everest, or rushing down rapids. But it was late, and she wanted to do some exercise. The swimming pool was empty, which was a relief for her. She didn’t want to bother explaining anything about the state of her body to anyone.

It was actually a miracle she didn’t have a fear of water or heights after her ordeal, but she was looking forward to a swim, and maybe some diving. She stripped out of her robe, wearing a simple one-piece. Her back was exposed more than her liking, even the scar from the rebar visible. And the others, from tumbles or being shot and attacked, along her shoulders and down her arms. But no one was around, and it was okay.

She climbed up onto the diving board, then ran down it and sprung off into a perfect swan dive.

Isabela was restless yet again, though that seemed to be a constant state of being for her these days. She really didn’t like being in her bedroom, it was too small for her liking. So today she was walking around trying to find something to do. She spent a little time on the observation deck, but after learning about the pool, she sought that out. Perhaps the humidity may help give her a sense of being on the ocean again.

However, when she arrived at the pool, she spotted Lara in there. It was quite the glorious sight as she watched her climbing the ladder. Lara definitely had the muscle tone, and she noticed the scars, wondering how she’d gotten so many, but she didn’t question it. She watched the swan dive, a little smile on her face.

“I’m not intruding, am I?” She asked, once Lara had surfaced.

Lara had taken longer than necessary to surface, enjoying the feel of the water on her body. Her hair was blocking her vision when she heard Isabela’s voice. It was so sudden she was startled, “Oh jesus!”

Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she looked up at the woman that had inexplicably kind of become her friend. And who was a constant source of embarrassment. “No, but I wonder if you some kind of homing ability to find me.”

Isabela chuckled. “Sorry, kitten, didn’t mean to startle you.” Isabela moved further in, walking closer to the pool, gazing down at Lara with a smirk. “And what if I do?” Because of course she’d use the opportunity to flirt.

For once, Lara let the nickname slide. “We’ll have to test that some time, scientifically.”

Which didn’t count as flirting because Lara said so.

“I’m always up for it,” she commented with an easy smile. “How’s the water, by the way?” Isabela longed for the smell of the ocean, but this would do for the time being.

“Warm. Just warm enough.” Not cold enough. But at least Isabela was dressed. As dressed as she got considering the angle Lara was at. “Thinking of joining me? The water would ruin your boots.”

“That’s why I’d take my boots off. Might ruin my clothes, though, so I’d have to come in naked. Unless that makes you uncomfortable.” Isabela never wore pants, so Lara was undoubtedly getting quite the eyeful depending upon where her gaze exactly went.

“I can already see everything,” Lara deadpanned.

“I’ll take that as you don’t mind, then.” Isabela smirked as she pulled her boots off and set them aside. Next came the blue scarf thing that was tied around her hips and she dropped it on her boots. Basically if Lara wanted her to stop undressing, now would be the time to stop her.

Lara’s mouth dropped open and what she’d wanted to say was to stop but a kind of embarrassing squeak came out of her mouth. She did manage to add, “I don’t think you’re allowed to!”

Of course telling Isabela she couldn’t do something was probably not effective.

“And why not? I don’t see anyone here to stop me, aside from you.” Isabela looked down at Lara. “It seems that you’re a bit flustered there. Anything I can do to help?”

“There are rules about this sort of thing.” Lara sounded defeated, though she wasn’t going to give Isabela the benefit of an easy victory. She dove under the water, and climbed out near the diving board so she could dive in again. “But do whatever you want.”

“Pfft, rules are for sissies,” Isabela commented. Seriously, rules didn’t apply to her. Except when she was on a ship. Then everything went according to her rules. “Those are five very dangerous words, I hope you know.” Isabela pulled the bandana out of her hair, letting it hang down loosely before she stripped out of her clothing. She slipped into the pool, the gold neckpiece and earrings still being worn. She didn’t plan on going underwater right now, otherwise she’d have taken the neckpiece off.

“This water feels wonderful.”

Lara picked the absolute wrong moment to look at Isabela. Her foot slipped on the diving board and instead of gracefully diving into the water, she flailed like a falling penguin and belly flopped. It wasn't the worse landing ever, nothing could beat any number of watery tumbles in the island, but it was embarrassing.

She stayed submerged for a moment, then very, very slowly surfaced. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it should have been that."

Isabela saw the flailing belly flop and had to chuckle a bit. She waited patiently for Lara to finally surface. And, of course, standing in the shallow end, Isabela’s naked breasts were on full display. Along with the nipple piercings.

“Well I do enjoy the element of surprise,” she chuckled. “Though are you alright? That was not the most graceful of falls.”

“I’m fine.” Lara rolled her eyes, treading water before swimming over. She hung off of the side of the pool, pointedly not staring at Isabela’s breasts. Lara could count on one hand the number of people she’d found herself interested in and she wasn’t about to add Isabela to that list.

Of course she was too curious for her own good so she looked at her after only a moment. “You’re a very active person, aren’t you?”

“I am, yes. Kind of hard not to be when you’re a pirate. And when you make friends with someone who finds trouble of the dangerous sort quite often.” She meant Hawke, of course. Even if she wondered where she stood with her currently, but she wasn’t going to worry about that now.

“Believe or not, I understand that.” Lara rolled her shoulder, water dribbling down it, and getting caught on one of the scars. “Both making friends who find trouble, and being the one who finds trouble.”

“We’re not so different, then. There’s just something about being in the middle of an adventure that’s intensely thrilling. Almost as good as an orgasm sometimes.” Isabela let out a fond sigh about that.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Lara could think of a bunch of things that were better than an orgasm. “Is there anything that you don’t have a sex comment about?”

“Nope! I can turn anything into a sex comment. It’s a talent of mine.” Isabela said with a grin. She moved over to the side of the pool near Lara and leaned back against it, lifting her arms and resting them on the ground that surrounded the pool.

“Captain Isabela, Queen of many talents, including embarrassing me,” Lara intoned, giving her a soft smile. She could imagine a life like that. Adventuring and daring and in a lot of ways it was what she’d always dreamed of. Reality had proven to be much darker, and her expression matched the shift in her thoughts. She turned so her back was to the pool’s wall, then planted her hands on the edge and pushed herself out of the water.

It was quite a sight, done with surprising ease, her biceps flexing as she did so. She plopped her butt down, keeping her legs in the water.

“You’re welcome,” she responded with a smile. Isabela watched the way Lara’s biceps flex. It was hot. She turned around, pressing herself against the pool wall and crossing her arms on the pool ledge. She looked up at Lara. “You certainly workout, don’t you?”

“Yes. I lead a very active lifestyle. It’s probably the biggest reason I was able to survive.” While she’d had proper motivation, the body could only do so much before it gave out. Lara had managed to make it as far as the boat ride back before hers had given in.

She glanced at Isabela surreptitiously.

“You certainly are the survivor.” Isabela well knew someone didn’t get as many scars as she could see Lara had without going through hell. Isabela had some scars of her own, but not as many as Lara had. “Not everyone is cut out for an active lifestyle. So what’s your favorite activity?” She asked, resting her chin on her arm and looking up at Lara through her lashes. At least at this angle, Lara no longer had to ‘avert’ her gaze from Isabela’s breasts.

Oh thank god, Lara thought. She could look at Isabela directly and felt less like she was drowning. "Rock climbing and hiking. Just to see how far or high I can go. And archery, I've always loved archery."

“Never could get the hang of archery. Though I’m sure Varric must have already talked your ear off about Bianca.” Isabela noted. “I take it you prefer long bows or short bows as opposed to crossbows when you talk about archery.”

“Bows, yes. Short bows are best when there’s heavy movement, and luckily I was able to find one while I was on that island. The longbow I found at first was cumbersome and shoddy.” She lifted up her arms in a bow shooting form.

Isabela looked over Lara’s form as she took the bow shooting form. She liked the showing off and she smiled. “At least you found a better one. Sometimes it can be amazing what you stumble across on accident.” And she wasn’t talking just weapons or just treasure either.

“Such as?” Lara asked, not sure what Isabela might bring up but unable to think of anything dirty that could come from that sentence. If she was talking about Lara it went right over her head. Not really waiting for Isabela to answer, Lara pulled the leg on Isabela’s side up and wrapped her arm around it. “Though you’re right. When I was five, I was with my father and a family friend at a dig sight. I discovered a pendant, jade with a design common to a people called the Maori. You’ve seen me wear it.” She pointed to where her robe was, with the necklace resting on it.

"It has dual meaning. A common one is a symbol of creation. A symbol of perpetual movement. With the inner and outer coils, it's a metaphor for the way which life both changes, and remains the same. The other meaning is harmony, or equilibrium. Balance."

“That’s kind of beautiful. A nice symbol to carry around.” Isabela liked to pretend that she didn’t care about those sorts of things, but as it was, she did care. After all, her piercings were one of the symbols of Rivaini social standing. She may have hated her upbringing, but she did love her home country. She just didn’t spend much time in it.

“Can’t say I’ve found anything like that. I go for more shiny, valuable things. I also enjoy taking weapons from people. One can never have too many daggers.”

"You do seem drawn to the shiny people," Lara agreed, before she laughed. She'd collected weapons too, and as morbid as it had been, she'd kind of liked it. At least tinkering with them, anyway. Just don't let her at a toaster.

She scooted closer. "Is there any meaning behind your piercings?"

It was an entirely innocent question, born out of her profession and personal interest.

She chuckled. “I am, aren’t I?” Something she was proud of, of course. At the question, Isabela straightened a bit, smiling. “There is. Body piercings and tattoos are a sign of social standing in my home country of Rivain. The more elaborate the decoration, the higher one’s standing. I have quite a few, but there are others in my country with a lot more.”

"That's fascinating! The Kayans wear coils around their necks, for the women. They add more and more as they get older. It looks like their necks become elongated, but it's really just the clavicle deforming." Lara lifted her hands to her neck, then craned her head trying to see any other piercings.

"There are numerous theories as to why they do this, but they acknowledge the ideas only to say the purpose is cultural identity. Another culture half a world away wear the rings for similar purposes as your piercings, and they wear rings around their arms and legs as well."

“That sounds a little painful, but I understand the custom.” Rivainis didn’t do that, no matter what Isabela’s neck piece said to that end. When she saw Lara’s eyes roam a bit, Isabela stepped away from the pool wall enough for the nipple and belly button piercings to be visible. She also flicked her tongue at Lara, showing off her tongue piercing better.

“My culture is one of only a few in Thedas who do not subscribe to the Andrastian religion. The dwarves have their own, the Dalish elves have their own, the Qunari are their own people and us Rivainis are pantheists. Andrastianism hasn’t taken hold in Rivain.” Unlike the Qun, but that was a rant unto itself.
“I…” Lara coughed, and tried to keep her expression one of professional interest. “I can’t imagine a world where everyone shares the same religion. There are… hundreds on Earth. Three rather large ones, and many regional ones.” It was a gross oversimplification, but it worked. “Some are more evangelical than others.”

“There’s probably not as many thanks to the Tevinter Imperium which used to rule over most of Thedas. They had their gods, then about one thousand years before I was born, a woman rebelled against them, she was betrayed by her husband and they burned her at the stake for waxing poetic about the Maker and not about their gods. The woman’s name was Andraste, and her beliefs spread across Thedas. Even modern day Tevinter believes in her and the Maker, though their version of the religion is about the opposite of the so-called traditional Andrastianism. The Chantry is made up of women. There’s a Divine who is the head of the Chantry, then there’s Grand Clerics and priests, all of whom are women. In Tevinter, all of those positions are held by men.” Isabela shrugged a bit. “I never put much stock in the religion, but I tend to not be that religious. Though my country is a bit divided. The capital is the only place that holds a Chantry there. In the north, most of them follow the Qun.”

The word Qun had a little venom behind it, like it left a bad taste in Isabela’s mouth. Which it did.

“Sounds a little like Christianity, mixed up with a few other religions of note. Can’t say I object to the idea of religion run by women. Most of ours are run by men and it goes about as badly as you’d expect.” Lara slipped back into the water and waded to Isabela. “What’s the Qun?”

“Christianity?” Isabela asked. She’d have to learn about this. But at the question about the Qun, Isabela took a breath. “The Qun is a highly unbearable way to live, if you ask me. Those who follow it are called Qunari, and it originated with this race of horned giants. They look like people except they’re much taller, have horns and kind of grey-ish skin. They’re notable for being highly militaristic. I’d think they could conquer the whole of Thedas if they truly wished to.” But that was getting into a little more detail than necessary.

“Under the Qun, you don’t have names, you just have…titles, I guess you’d call them. The titles go with whatever role you’re put into under it. You cannot depart from whatever your role is, but you can do whatever you want within that role or something. Hawke summarized as ‘choose to obey.’ Most view them as conquerors. They’ve been at war with Tevinter for decades. My mother converted to the Qun and tried to get me to convert. I refused. The resulting argument did not end well.” Isabela’s face drew taut with anger, her eyes simmering with the anger as she crossed her arms.

“One of the big three religions,”Lara clarified. She’d explain it more if Isabela asked, but she was honestly really in what the woman was saying. While she could pick out some things that the Qun resembled, it was too much its own thing to make any comparisons. “In my world, the issue of conversion invokes similar feelings. Entire wars have been fought over who’s god is the one true god.”

She hesitated, then put her hand on Bela’s shoulder. “That’s one reason you seem to value freedom so highly?”

“Of all the belief systems, the Qun is the one that is fought over the most. The Dalish and the dwarves are left alone, and Tevinter and the rest of Andrastian Thedas have mutual hate towards each other, but they at least don’t go to war over it. Though the Chantry has sent Exalted Marches against so-called heathens before, most notably against the Dalish in one area of Thedas.” When Lara set her hand on her shoulder, Isabela looked at her.

“Yes. The Qunari like to say that the Qun gives certainty and guidance, but there is no personal freedom under it. It’s like living in a tiny cell. My mother had been a thief and charlatan. I always felt like when she had me, I was just a tool in her schemes. Of course, look at me now. I am exactly what she was, minus the impersonating people I’m not. But she grew disillusioned with her life and converted to the Qun. After I refused, she gave me away to the first man who came along. Fucking bitch,” she practically spat. “That man was Luis, who became my husband three weeks later.”

Lara’s hand tightened on Isabela’s shoulder, a flash of anger in her eyes. While she had her issues with her parents, and her father had often been neglectful, it had never been like that.

“I’m sorry.That’s fucking shit. No one should have to go through that.” She didn’t know if Isabela would appreciate a hug, or if she wanted to give one at all. If it was Sam, or Roth, or even Alex, she would in a heartbeat. But she didn’t know where her fondness for Isabela stood.

“She’s a fucking bitch. She didn’t have to just give me away. I was eighteen, more than capable of taking care of myself by then.” Isabela sighed heavily. She wasn’t quite a hugging kind of person, so she appreciated the hand on her shoulder. Sure she could be touchy-feely when she wanted to be, but when she was upset, she preferred to be left alone.

“But I got a better life after that, once my husband died. I got his ship and got to live my life the way I wanted.” But even by then, the damage had been done. What Isabela’s mother had done to her had taught her that love didn’t matter and she’d ever since sworn off love. It never ended well for her.

It was probably a good thing, considering Isabela’s lack of clothing. But at least the conversation gave Lara something else to focus on. She didn’t want to assume the worse, but from Isabela’s tone she could probably assume the worse. And if it still made her this angry, maybe she wasn’t entirely free of it all. But then, when did someone get free of the trauma that shaped them? Lara still jumped at the wrong kind of noise.

“How long have you been free?”

“From my mother? About fifteen years. From my husband, a little less than that.” Isabela didn’t like admitting her age, especially considering in her world thirty-three tended to be on the old side depending on one’s lifestyle. And for a pirate who found danger quite often? She was old.

As if sensing Isabela’s age issues, Lara commented, “I would have pegged you at no older than twenty-five, though logically being a ship’s captain older makes sense.”

She wasn’t sure why, but Isabela was suddenly a little more attractive. Maybe she liked older women. Even Sam was a year older than her. Did that count?

“Thank you,” she responded with a bit of a smile. “At least I still got my looks, yes?” She drew in a breath, finally uncrossing her arms. “Sorry about that, I don’t typically like getting into such heavy topics. What’s past is past, and we can’t change it.”

“I think you’re much more than your looks.” Lara could list Isabela’s positives out, just from observation and talking to her. “No, we can’t change the past. I’d like to try sometimes, but its better to try looking forward.” When Isabela uncrossed her arms, Lara crossed hers. Just thinking of trying to move forward was difficult. The Enterprise actually helped a times, but she really did need to actually talk to someone professional.

“You’re giving me far too much credit there. I’m just my looks.” She tried very hard to downplay herself and sell herself short. Isabela didn’t have a high opinion of herself, and was more than happy to play the part of the lusty pirate queen that was only interested in sex, booze and treasure.

“Do I have to start?” Lara moved closer to Isabela. “You’re intelligent. You seem kind where it counts, at least from my observations of you. You have a way of looking at the world that frankly more people need to subscribe to. You have a commanding presence, and you’d have to in order to captain a boat successfully, especially if it’s crewed by cutthroats.”

Isabela looked at Lara as she spoke. “You are right, more people could stand to see the world the way I do. People would be far happier if they did. But I wouldn’t say I was kind. That’s not really something I really embody.” Which was a lie considering she’d set a bunch of would-be slaves free, which was why she’d stolen from the Qunari in the first place so she wouldn’t get gutted by Castillon.

“You’ve never done anything selflessly, purely to benefit others?” Lara asked.

She sighed a bit. “Once, but it came back and bit me in the ass. So definitely not doing that again.” Isabela didn’t like being known as kind. It tended to go against her image.

Lara thought about it for half a second, then ran her hands down Isabela’s arms. “So are you going to tell me, or do I need to torture it out of you?”

At the touch to her arms, Isabela was caught a bit off-guard. She hadn’t expected that. “If the torture involves touches like this, I may opt for the torture.” Isabela was attracted to Lara, and it didn’t take all that much to turn her on.

So maybe she should have expected that, and Lara wasn’t sure what to do next. She didn’t want to lead Isabela on, make her think that things could happen that won’t actually happen. Probably. A dream the other night had left her horribly confused.

“What happened, Isabela?”

Isabela drew in a deep breath, and sighed it out heavily. “I was doing some smuggling and had been hired by a man named Castillon to supervise a shipment of his. Part way through I got a bad feeling about the job. I discovered that the ‘cargo’ I was transporting consisted of about 200 people fleeing the Blight in Ferelden. Humans, elves, men, women, even children. Castillon was selling them as slaves. I set them free. As a result of his lost money, Castillon punished me by tasking me with stealing a valuable relic from the Qunari. Long story short, I stole the relic, didn’t quite escape the Qunari, lost my ship and the relic, and spent three years hunting the relic down in Kirkwall. The Qunari eventually started killing everyone in Kirkwall, and when I finally found the relic, instead of giving it back to the Qunari, which would have stopped their rampage, I just took it and ran away.”

Again, Isabela crossed her arms, backing away from Lara a bit. “So yes, the one selfless thing I did, and I followed it up by allowing a city of innocent people get torn apart by rampaging Qunari that wanted to kill me for taking their precious relic.”

Lara could have asked why Isabela hadn't checked to begin with, but she could guess that wasn't typically done. Don't ask questions, smuggle the cargo, collect your paycheck. But it was really hard to hide people. They made noise, they made messes. "You did the right thing, with the people."

She let Isabela back away, and kicked off of the bottom of the pool to propel herself to deeper water. "And you were taken here, after you took the relic? So you don't know, exactly, what you're going to do next?"

“I know I did. I don’t support slavery. But even so, I still caused hundreds of people to lose their lives because I was selfish and took the relic for myself.” Isabela sighed, brushing some dark hair behind her ear. “No, I wasn’t taken until after that. So I know what happened.”

“People make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes get people killed. I know that better than most. So I get beating yourself up about it, but I’m going to tell you what I tell myself.” Lara swam closer again. “If we’re bothered by it, maybe we’re not so terrible.”

“I am that terrible. I don’t do things out of the kindness of my heart. Being kind or good doesn’t get anyone anywhere in life.” It was something that Isabela had learned from experience. She’d also learned to not let anyone get under her skin. And Lara was sounding a lot like Hawke, and Hawke had come dangerously close to getting under her skin.

“You can be good and kind and still be hard.” Lara sounded like she was half trying to convince herself. She desperately needed to believe that her own hardness wasn’t all that was left. That the woman who’d carried Sam down the mountain was still at her core, Lara Croft.

She chewed on her lip, then reached out and took Isabela’s hand. She placed it on her back, over a large puncture scar. “I was hung up in a room of corpses. When I tried to free myself, I fell on a piece of metal. It went all the way through me and I carried that wound the entire time I was on that island.”

She didn't mean to keep going, but once she started, she couldn’t stop. “I killed hundreds of people to save Sam and my friends, with this wound and all the others I now wear. Four hundred and twenty three. I counted. I turned from prey, to the predator, I hunted them. Near, and far. And I started to enjoy it. And yet… I still want to be kind. I still think people can be good. And I think, somewhere deep down below that beautiful skin of yours, there’s a good heart.”

This was not how she pictured touching Lara’s back for the first time. She felt that puncture scar, and as Lara described how she’d gotten it, a look of empathy crossed over her face. It tugged at the heartstrings, and it was something that Isabela didn’t always like feeling. It tended to remind her that she wasn’t as unfeeling as she liked to pretend to be.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through something so terrible. But it was for a good cause, to save your friends.” Though when Lara made the comment about her having a good heart, Isabela lowered her gaze as if in shame or fear. “You think too highly of me. If I really had a good heart, I wouldn’t have run and let that city burn. I wouldn’t have left people who called me friend in the middle of it.” When it came down to it, she was afraid of being anything other than she was. She didn’t know how to be anything other than a lying, thieving snake. She was afraid that maybe she wasn’t as terrible as she believed herself to be.

She’d thought she’d react badly to the touch on her back, even though she’d initiated it. But it actually felt nice. Almost too nice, and Lara didn’t have the words as to why. “You were scared.”

Maybe if she’d been there, she’d judge a little more harshly. But whether Isabela admitted it or not, she was remorseful. Lara could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice.

“I wasn’t scared, I did what I always do when push comes to shove. I saved my own hide and left everyone else out to hang.” Isabela really didn’t understand how Varric could be friendly to her after that, even with her having gone back. She deserved to judged and Hawke and the others should never forgive her for her role in what had happened to Kirkwall. “I’m not a hero, I’m a thief, it’s what I do.” She didn’t quite pull her hand away from Lara’s scar, she did trace it a couple times before she realized that doing so might earn her a punch to the face, so she finally pulled her hand away from Lara.

Lara’s breath caught, and she tried to resist the little shiver that ran through her. She filed that reaction away to think about later, as well as the realization of how much she missed having someone closer to her.

Isabela’s words triggered a memory. There are no heroes here.

A wry, somewhat sad smile appeared on her face. “You’re a survivor.”

“Survivor. Yeah, I can agree with that.” Isabela mirrored Lara’s smile. She hadn’t had the easiest life, and she’d been through some things she probably shouldn’t have survived. Yet here she was, in a pool with Lara and actually talking.

Throat bobbing, Lara opened her mouth to say something. Or do something. She wasn’t sure what, only that it seemed somehow really important.

Isabela noticed that it seemed Lara wanted to say or do something, but seemed to have trouble computing it into action. So, instead of attempting to say anything that could derail whatever it was Lara wanted to do, Isabela set her hand on Lara’s shoulder, going for touching a neutral part of her, but also attaining skin-to-skin contact. She squeezed her shoulder gently.

"I..." Wish she knew why that felt so good. Underwater, the fingers of one of her hands brushed along Isabela's upper hip. "Shouldn't I be the one comforting you right now?"

The water suddenly wasn't cold enough.

The brush of fingers to her hip made her shiver a little. It had also been an unexpected touch. Was she starting to bring Lara out of her shell in that manner? Perhaps she was! “I’m not really good at emotional stuff, but I think we both could use a little support, yes?” Considering what Lara had told her about what she’d been through, even without intense detail, it was still not easy to talk about.

“You’re right.” It took all of Lara’s strength to actually admit that. But she needed support. Maybe not the kind of support Isabela probably thought she needed, but support none-the-less. “I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.”

“Believe me, I’m not going to tell anyone.” Besides, Varric was the only one here who even knew of any of Isabela’s blunders first-hand. So she was more than happy to keep the emotional stuff under wraps, as it were. “I may not be the best at this stuff, but I can listen if you ever need an ear.”

“Oh jeez.” A voice interrupted Lara before she could do or say anything further. In fact, it sent her shooting away from Isabela, cutting through the water like a bullet.

Kitty raise her eyebrows. “You know, it was bad enough interrupting Thor in the rec room, but this is kind of getting ridiculous.”

Lara’s head popped out of the water. “It’s not what it looks like.”

When Lara shot away from her, Isabela turned and looked up at Kitty. “What she said.” The interruption was enough to let her pull her walls back up and slip back into being the playgirl she liked to be. “Though I suppose I should get out of the water before I get all wrinkly.” Isabela moved back to the side of the pool and pulled herself out of it, giving anyone and everyone the full view of her naked body as she went back over to her clothes.

Kitty was a lot less shy than Lara, though she did eventually avert her eyes, to be polite. And so her girlfriend didn’t find out and you know, kill her. “Whatever you want to get up to is none of my business, but someone else might be a lot less charitable about the swimming pool.”

Lara wished someone would drown her right this moment.

“So I’ve heard. But it was either I get in the pool naked or jump in with my clothes on.” Isabela lacked a towel, so she just pulled her clothes back on while still wet. “I chose the more comfortable route of jumping in naked against a protest.” Isabela, now back to being as clothed as she ever got, turned back to face the other two while she put her bandana back on and fixed her hair.

“Remind me to recommend you a swimsuit,” Kitty said, her eyes darting to Lara. She couldn’t help but add, “A nice and racy one, so your friend’s ears turn red again.”

She leaned in and whispered. “I don’t think her eyes can choose between your butt or your boobs.”

“What’s a swimsuit?” Isabela figured it was whatever Lara was wearing, but she didn’t get the point of it. She chuckled. “It doesn’t take much for Lara’s ears to turn red. Pity really. My best lines would probably result in her death.”

“I need to hear these. I could use them on Jaylah. And it’s what she’s wearing. But we can probably get you something skimpier.” Kitty figured Isabela would appreciate that and it would still mean she wouldn’t get thrown into the brig for public indecency.

“I’m right here you know.”

“The skimpier the better.” Isabela smirked. She then looked over at Lara with a smile. “I’m glad that you are still here. I might have taken offense if you just ran off.” She was teasing, of course. It took a lot more than that to offend Isabela.

“I’ll send you the pattern for the replicator,” Kitty promised. Picking up planet or station side was always more fun and better quality, in her opinion, but the replicator was excellent for most things. “Tell me if it kills her.”

Lara climbed out of the water, shooting Kitty a dirty look as she wrapped a towel around herself. “I hope you don’t take offence. I’m going to run off right now.”

And probably try to avoid Isabela for a few days.

“I won’t take offense now. If you’d run off without saying anything, then it’d be a different story.” Isabela commented. If Lara avoided her, she’d take that as a sign that she was interested and trying to keep her distance as much as possible. All the more reason to pursue her then!

Lara squinted at her, then quickly exited, the door swishing shut behind her. Kitty laughed. “She reminds me of me at that age.” Not that she was that much older.

“All virginy, you mean?” She asked as she watched Lara make her exit. Isabela shook her head a little bit. “It’s always amusing to see who turns red and who gives it right back.”

“I’m not going to say anything, otherwise you get ammunition and my girlfriend kills one or both of us,” Kitty joked. “But good luck with that one.”

“Fair enough. I’d rather not get a knife in my vitals, thank you.” Isabela stretched a bit. “Thanks. At the very least, maybe it’ll get her more used to such talk.” She was more than aware if she wanted into Lara’s pants, it was going to take quite a bit of work to do so. It would eventually bring her to decide whether she should continue pursuing someone who wouldn’t give it up, or if she should just go to those who were far more open to it.