The Tomb Raider (lara) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-24 16:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, isabela, lara croft |
I know that’s history, but it’s people, not wide sweeping Movements that you can’t relate to.
Who: Lara Croft and Isabela
What: Museum Geekery of the Spartan Sort.
When: 8/24
Where: the museum
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13 because it’s Isabela
Isabela was getting a bit of culture, for once. She was visiting the art museum to draw some inspiration for her next movie - a Greek picture. She was enjoying the quiet, honestly; not many people were in the museum, which was somewhat depressing, but still.
"I can't believe they have this," a woman murmured, bent over one case and peering closely at it. She sounded British, and had brunette hair pulled back in a no nonsense ponytail. She wore cargo pants and a red tank top. Lara liked to dress practical - Sam had always been the one making her dress up.
Isabela hadn’t noticed anyone in the room with her, and as such, let out a yelp when she jumped. It echoed awkwardly in amongst all the marble, and she had to laugh. “Bollocks. I’m sorry. Didn’t see you there.” She’d step to one side if need be.
The yelp startled Lara, who had been engrossed in a jade tiger. She put a hand to her chest. “It’s all right. I was a little distracted, that’s all. I love this piece, I’ve never seen one in person before, we didn’t have this exact one back home.”
“Where’s home?” Isabela was curious. “Sounds like rather close to mine.”
“London! Well, I was born in Surrey, but I spent most of my childhood in London proper as my father worked in the museum.” Lara replied, rubbing one arm with her hand as she answered.
“St. Albans. So not far at all.” Isabela chuckled. “Your dad worked in the museum? The British Museum, or another?” The British Museum was the be-all, end-all for history and archaeology nerds; she’d been rather bored by it as a kid.
“The British Museum, yes. He was curator. I got to see so many things that only get put out rarely,” Lara replied, seeming to light up at the topic of conversation.
“Wow, that’s rather brilliant.” Isabela blinked. “He must’ve had some good connections. I’m afraid I didn’t pay the museum much mind as a kid, though.” She smiled a little shamefacedly. “I wasn’t the bookish sort, though I’m enjoying learning about it now for work.”
“Where do you work?” She leaned against the display, then caught herself and leapt away from it like she had just been bit.
“I’m a stunt coordinator for a studio.” Isabela smiled. “But our next picture takes place in ancient Greece, and I wanted to see examples of dress - I can’t coordinate, say, something that involves a lot of fast stepping, if the bloke’s wearing a full length toga.”
“You’re in the wrong section.” Lara took Isabela’s hand and started to pull her towards another area. “This is Asian histories, you won’t learn anything here. Well you’ll learn plenty, just ask a friend of mine, but if you want to see genuine Grecian wear, it’s this way.”
Isabela flat out blushed. “I thought - “ She looked up at a figure of a man in flowing robes. “I suppose the sleeves wouldn’t be there in a Greek work, would they. I feel like a twat.” She had to laugh, even though she felt quite embarrassed.
“It’s all right. We’ll get you set up proper,” Lara promised her. They passed through Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa before finally arriving in Greece. “What’s the basic plot? I mean do you know where it’s set? Sparta and Athens have completely different attire.”
“It’s set in Sparta, I know that. But 300 was rubbish in a lot of ways, so I can’t just go watch that.” Though she might, just for the eye candy.
“Three Hundred was a lot of things. Accurate wasn’t one of them. It’s a really fascinating story to begin with, it didn’t really need all that embellishment! Did you know there was a mirroring naval battle?” Right, she was probably boring the woman. “Sparta then, we’ll want to start here.”
“I didn’t, actually, and I probably should. Lord knows they might give a damn about accuracy for once.” Isabela sighed. “I’m Isabela, by the way. Sorry, I ought to have said.”
“Most of my studies were in Asia, but I’ve got a large, inner library of just about everywhere, thanks to my father and a voracious appetite for old books. I’m Lara.” She held out her hand.
Isabela shook it. "Lovely to meet you." It was. She couldn't entirely stop herself from flirting. "Maybe I ought to have paid more attention in history class." If all the girls looked like her.
“Well it’s all really fascinating. I know it can be really dry for some people, and for me I just need to touch things. The artifact, or the pages of an old book.. I just like tactile sensation.” Lara was oblivious to any flirting from Isabela, or even the way her own words could be taken.
Isabela wasn’t. She smirked, but she got the message, and after all, she was engaged anyway. “I do think history would’ve been more interesting that way. In my school we just had the usual readings. Never experienced it any other way.” They were heading for the ancient Greece section, she could tell; there were a lot more headless statues and nude women.
“I wish there was a more active way to get people interested in history. If I could convince Sam to come out here, maybe we could do youtube expeditions. Take people along with us, as it were. She’s a huge film buff.” Lara smiled fondly, yet another subject to light up about. “I just have to find a way to explain things without boring people.”
“Film helps, I’m convinced.” Isabela nodded. “But since a lot of directors can’t be arsed to just tell the story, it only makes people dumber. We watched a few films like Troy to get an idea of what people wanted, and it’s sad how many people think that everything in that film is true. We are dumbing down society.”
“If you get me started I’ll gnaw your ear off,” Lara promised. “And I enjoy some of those films, but the last time I saw one, I was threatened with a gag if I didn’t stop complaining.”
God, this was hard to ignore. “Oh, I’ve experienced that before,” Isabela blurted before mentally kicking herself.
“I think she might have been serious,” Lara mused, rubbing her chin in thought. She finally stopped them in front of a display of ancient armor. “Oh, you have a subject you just keep wagging your tongue about?”
That probably wasn’t helping.
“Definitely.” Isabela was damn near close to cracking up. “A few. Poker. Famous pirates - I know that’s history, but it’s people, not wide sweeping Movements that you can’t relate to.”
“That’s it! You’re brilliant!” Lara clapped her hands together. “That’s how you get people into this! You find something that makes it easier to relate to the subject! A movement doesn’t make any sense unless you give it the context of the people. The story of the artist, instead of the story of the art movement. The person who made and wore this armor, and not just the wars he fought.”
“That’s what I’d like to do in this film.” Isabela was a bit surprised, but oddly charmed by Lara’s enthusiasm. “Not many people give a toss about the evolution of agriculture in ancient Troy or whatever. But they might care about a Greek farmer who might lose his entire olive crop because of the whim of the gods or some such.”
“Yes! I mean, it obviously wasn’t some god or something, but simply a convergence of bad events, but people then, as they do now, search for answers anywhere they can.” Lara turned back towards the armor, looking at it with curiosity. “I’d just be happy if people realize that our ancestors weren’t primitive or stupid. In many ways they were smarter than us.”
“You think?” Isabela raised an eyebrow. “I mean, obviously, they figured out how to do a lot of things, but I don’t entirely think you can compare.”
“They fought over the same stupid things, but a lot of societies were pretty progressive. Many were regressive of course, and horribly misogynistic.” Lara wasn’t going to discount that. “But...they had a computer, steam power, indoor plumbing!” She gestured with her hand towards the Grecian displays. “Hero of Alexandria made a steam engine, an automated puppet show, and a thousand other marvels. Could you imagine if he’d taken that just one step farther? An industrial revolution two thousand years ahead of time.”
Isabela’s eyebrows rose higher. “If they had all that, why is it not widely known?” She would have liked to have known about things like that a long time before now.
“He used to set up some mechanical temples.” She demonstrated with her hands. “You’d go into the temple, and put your coin and make your prayer, and the weight of the coin would move mechanisms, or cause something to spin in the water - Hero loved water power - which then made a bird sing, or caused a door to open. To show that your prayer had been heard. He was a bit of a charlatan if you really think about it. Here.” She pulled a notebook out of a pocket and started to sketch.
It was a globe with two nozzles in opposite directions on a setting. "See, you'd heat up the metal here, it would boil the water, the steam would rise through these tubes, which would then escape this nozzles and make the sphere spin. Steam power. He just never made the next logical leap, or chose to ignore it. We'll never know."
Isabela wasn’t stupid, despite popular belief, and after puzzling it out for a little while, she nodded. “I see. So really, they did figure it out, they just didn’t quite realise it?” The implications of that were rather mind-boggling. “Amazing.”
“Every culture has things like this..well not this, but you know what I mean. Something extraordinary that they knew or discovered and then we lost for thousands of years.”
“It boggles the mind.” Isabela shook her head. “I mean. I didn’t even know much about Leonardo da Vinci until one really boring night I got into a documentary.”
“Was it any good?” It was a bit more recent than her own focuses, but still fascinating.
“I did get rather hooked.” Isabela chuckled. “Hearing about his inventing things like a primitive helicopter, and a predecessor of the modern revolver, and all that. They also said he might have been gay, which did rather make me laugh. They say he never did have any lady friends, but one can’t just go by that, of course.”
“I have the world’s most terrible gaydar, so I wouldn’t really know, myself.” She smiled sheepishly. “I’m afraid in my circle at University I was the one that had to be dragged out to parties for all the cute boys, and I took their words at it, mostly.”
Isabela laughed. “Everyone’s different. I was rather shy at secondary school and then just blossomed afterward. Married young. He died, and afterward I got a bit more spine.”
“I’d rather just bury myself in old, dusty tomes and ancient pottery,” Lara replied, with a laugh. “Only one person could drag me out, but she was persistent.”
“Oh?” She’d mentioned both girls and boys. Interesting. “I don’t know, I appreciate alone time, but I need people.” Isabela chuckled. “My fiance sometimes says he can’t get me alone.”
“Her name is Sam. We met in University and she’s pretty much my best friend,” Lara replied, nodding her head. “She’s still in London trying to convince people we have a great idea. I don’t mind people, though. I just haven’t spent much time with them.”
“The all consuming purpose of your work gets in the way.” Isabela chuckled, but she wasn’t making light; she did rather admire people who could be that single-minded. She had a touch of flightiness in her, and she knew it.
“Exactly!” Lara put away her notebook and sighed a little. “You know, I’ve met some interesting people, thanks to it. Even a woman who did a fascinating thesis on ancient creation myths. Just walked into a coffee shop and saw me reading it. How’s that for coincidence?”
"That is odd. Good luck, I suppose." Isabela smiled. Oh, if this woman dreamed, she would have a field day with the gods and monsters of Thedas.
“She was from England too.” Lara laughed. “Oh, we should look at weapons. I’ve seen movies set in Greece using Roman swords before.”
“Ooh, yes please.” Isabela fairly grinned. “I do know my way around swords and daggers, but not at such an early date, if that makes sense?”
“Awesome,” Lara responded. She took Isabela’s hand again and dragged her over to a weapons display. “The one on the left is wrong era and location. You’d see these a little earlier than you would most Spartan weapons, and I think it’s from Athens. You can tell by the type of blade and the quality of the blade.”
Isabela listened, trying to quickly take notes. “Quality? Like, did the Spartans just polish theirs better, or did they use different things and such?” If this Lara didn’t know, she’d simply look it up. Still, it was rather nice to have her own private guide, so to speak.
“Different kinds of metals, basically.” She pointed out another sword, explaining the properties behind the metal and what made it better or worse than the next one. “Or differing qualities, really. Different parts of the world have different qualities of minerals. Iron from one place might be more pure than another, or the blacksmiths more skilled at removing impurities.”
“Logical.” Isabela took more notes. “Was there a shape more favoured by Sparta? I’m so sorry, I’ve latched onto you like a leech. I should do my own research.” She laughed, briefly touching a hand to Lara’s shoulder.
The history buff smiled. “It’s quite all right. I need to practice my explaining anyway, and frankly I enjoy it. Otherwise I really would live in the library.” She gestured Isabela over to another set of weapons. She liked the touch to her shoulder, though just why she’d have to think about never later.
“Well, I’m glad for that; I didn’t mean to bloody cling onto you.” Isabela laughed. “I really am grateful for the help. I just don’t want what I do to be a shlock horror fest.” She actually did give a toss about having a good product. Hopefully it came through.
“You said you were coordinating stunts, right? What sort of things, if I might ask? I’m not an expert or anything but I have hiked some rough trails and the like?” She was attempting a joke. It sounded flat.
“Everything under the sun! I’ve done everything from jumps off high places, to fire suits, to drownings, to bike and car work.” Isabela loved her job. “I used to actually do the stunts myself, but now I just organize it all. In this film there’ll be battle scenes and also drowning, and of course, sword work.”
“I’m sure you miss doing the stunts. I don’t think I have the, uh, balls, to do all that. But it sounds like a lot of fun!”
“It was brilliant, to be quite honest.” Isabela grinned. “But I make more money now, and my fiance worries less.” Atton twitched when she talked about doing some of the stunts she’d done before.
Lara nodded her head. “If you’re doing what you love, the money shouldn’t matter.” She was ashamed to admit she was rolling in it - or she should have been. She’d locked as much of it up as she could, leaving only enough for unforeseen emergencies. “I worked three jobs to get through University, but it was worth it. I don’t think I’d be me if I hadn’t. You know?”
She just didn’t want to be known as the prim and proper rich lady.
“I can understand that.” Isabela nodded. “Not to put too fine a face on it, I married a complete twat, and while I didn’t enjoy it, it did shape me.”
“Oh, I don’t date. I don’t have time for it. I barely had time for Sam to drag me out to clubs.” Lara smiled, wryly. “She thought I was in the books too much.”
“Sister?” Isabela asked. If she didn’t have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, it was the next best guess.
“What do the Yanks call it? Bestie?” Lara smiled. “We met in boarding school and when it came time to pick out a university, I decided to follow her. She wanted a good film experience and I could get what I needed just about anywhere.”
“Bestie, I suppose.” Isabela laughed. “Best mate. That’s good, though, to have one. I never actually went to university. Did that marriage thing.”
“She’s a lot more cheerful than I am. Real party girl.” Lara’s smile was bright. “You seem to have survived it just fine, and done quite well for yourself.”
“Luckily. And I’ve got a brilliant bloke now.” Isabela’s tone turned fond. “He’s a professional poker player, so he understands that risk element of my job. And just ... he’s perfect.” She didn’t want to gush much.
Lara could tell the woman was on the verge of gushing. It was kind of cute, but she thought it might get boring. What was one bloke from another, unless you were in love with them, right? “Hey, maybe I’ll discover something famous and you’ll get to do a movie of it, right?”
“Maybe.” Isabela was smiling. “I should probably stop taking up your time, though.”
“I thought I was taking up all your time,” Lara replied, heat rising to her face.
“You’ve been of great help.” Isabela said, curious as to why she looked embarrassed. “Don’t worry, luv. I’ll get you a consulting credit.” She winked.
“It’s a start,” Lara joked. “I do want to make a name for myself.”