sam runs around (inatowel) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-02 20:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, lara croft, samantha harris |
Who: Samantha Harris inatowel & Lara Croft lara
What: Jaffa Cake Testing!
When: Sunday, September 20, 3PM [Backdated]
Where: Sam's place
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Making the Jaffa Cakes hadn't been that hard. Sam had read the instructions carefully, and had measured everything twice to make sure she got it right. In the end she believed that they turned out pretty well, and she was rather proud of them. Sam wasn't sure what Lara would think about them, but they'd see.
Just as a precaution, Sam had purchased some of the original ones so if she didn't find them appealing she could eat those. Sam hadn't for anyone to feel put out just because of her own preferences. The electric kettle was on heating up the water for their pot of tea, and Sam waited until she heard a knock on the door.
With a smile, she moved from the kitchen to the apartment front door and pulled it open. "Hello!" She moved back so Lara could enter, "Come in, make yourself at home. It's just us here. My roommates are out and about for a couple of hours."
Lara, meeting a Sam, for Jaffa Cakes and tea. It was almost like old times. She pulled up in a Land Rover that looked as though it had recently spent some time in a place with a lot of mud and dirt, and climbed out. She had her hair pulled back into a braid, and wanting to make a good first impression she'd worn nice jeans and a pull over green top. The sleeves were long enough to cover the scars on her shoulders and upper arms. They made her self-conscious and she didn't want to get into a conversation about exactly what an Orange County Dream could do to a person.
She gave Sam a friendly smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She gave the flat a quick once over, noting where the windows and doors were.
"Same to you as well." Sam replied with a nod of her head, shutting the door behind Lara as she entered. "The living room is here, but we do have a small dining room if you'd prefer to sit in there. Either way is fine with me." Samantha wasn't sure where Lara would feel more comfortable at, so she figured she give her both options. "I think the cakes turned out okay. Of course, I don't have a point of reference, and just in case I did buy some that aren't vegan friendly."
She laughed softly, "And it's totally okay if you do hate them. It won't hurt my feelings any." And it wouldn't, Sam knew that vegan variations on certain foods weren't the best according to others, and there were some that she downright hated herself.
"The living room is fine. Dining rooms can be so stuffy." Sayeth the woman with a noble title and a net worth to rival Tony Stark. "That was kind of you, but I'm sure I'll like the vegan ones. They can't be all that unusual and they have to be better than the rations my guardian Roth used to make us eat on hiking trips."
"Living room it is, then." Sam could understand all about dining rooms being stuffy. The family dining at her parents home could get like that during the holidays. "Rations? Like MREs?" She glanced over her shoulder at Lara with a raised brow as she led the way to the living room. "Sit wherever you like, I'll go grab the cakes and the kettle should be about ready too." Sam turned around to head back into the kitchen to grab everything and loaded it onto a serving tray.
Bringing it back into the living room, she sat it down on the coffee table. There was everything that one would need for tea. Sugar, honey, and cream (which she'd purchased as well yesterday).
Lara had memories of the gigantic dining room from when she was a child. She pushed them out of her mind and settled on the couch. "Yes, exactly like MREs. I didn't know where he got them, not for years. Though there were a few trips where an MRE would have been a luxury, let alone good tea."
She smiled at Sam. "That smells delightful."
Chuckling, Sam moved to sit down on the couch a cushion down from Lara. "I've had a few MREs before, on long camping trips and whatnot." Sam loved being outdoors, she loved camping and just enjoying nature. That wasn't saying that she really 'roughed' it, but she knew a thing or two when it came to camping.
"I'm glad you think so." She stated as she leaned forward to pour them both a cup of tea, "If you don't mind me asking, what sort of trips did you take?"
“I suppose they’re not terrible, but I enjoyed it more when we were able to fish or hunt something more substantial.” Though she’d never taken down anything larger than a squirrel before Yamatai. After the first deer it had gotten a lot easier. Though the same could be said about humans. Lara tried to steer her thoughts away from that. “We went hiking up in the moors, mountain climbing in the Alps, camping in the American Northwest. Places like that. And while I was in university I’d take my best friend on trips. We went to the red desert, backpacked across Europe, visited Athens and Cairo…She’s a film-maker so she got a lot of footage she could use in her classes.”
Giving a nod, Sam placed the cup of tea she'd poured for Lara in front of her before adding a bit of sugar to her own. MREs weren't like real meals. Well, they were hot, and decent enough but you just knew you weren't eating something that was hot and homecooked. She smiled softly as Lara talked about the places she'd been, "Oh, that sounds amazing." Those were things that Sam could only dream of at this time since she had college to worry about, although she could plan on taking some trips during summer break if she didn't try for summer courses.
Curiously, Sam canted her head to the side. "Well that's great that she was able to get footage that she could use. I bet it was breathtaking." Sam took a ginger sip of her tea, "I've only been camping around the US. It's something I'm looking to change though, but with my class load it's not been easy to find the time to do it."
"I haven't been camping since I got back from my last expedition, but I did go rock climbing with a friend recently. She needed something to keep her mind off of things and I missed being outdoors."
Lara picked the tea up, and took a sip. She closed her eyes and hmmmmm'd in appreciation. "This is good tea."
She set the cup back down. "I was terrible at class life balance. I worked in a pub as a bartender and studied the rest of the time. My friend - coincidentally also a Samantha - made it her life mission to drag me out and have fun."
"I love going rock climbing. If you ever want to go again? Let me know, I'm always up for it." Sam had been climbing for years at this point in her life, and it was definitely a thrill and a half. Sam nodded, "It is really good." She was glad that Lara liked the tea, it was a favorite custom blend that she bought on the regular.
Sam took another sip of her tea, chuckling softly after she swallowed. "All work and no play is a bad way to live. Besides, us Samantha's are known for dragging out friends to make them have some fun. Except when we're not listening to our own advice and staying home ourselves." Sam laughed with a roll of her eyes at herself, "Much like I've been doing, so I can understand the class life balance not working out." She was trying hard to break that, she'd always been social and loved going out with friends, either new or old, and she felt as if she was missing out on some things.
“I usually lean on the all work side. To me, that’s play.” But she could enjoy time at the club. Mostly because of the company, but letting loose and a little drinking had probably kept her sane during Uni. “Okay, lets give these Jaffa Cakes of yours a try. The smell has been driving me nutters!”
Laughing, Sam moved the plate of Jaffa Cakes toward Lara. "By all means, go right ahead." They did smell quite nice, and Sam had been tempted to eat one before Lara had arrived. She hadn't, since she'd wanted to try them in her presence, but it'd been hard. Sam picked one up for herself, and took a bite. Not half bad, or at least, that's what she thought. "What do you think?" She asked, curiously glancing over at Lara with a raised brow.
Lara looked thoughtful as she chewed. She swallowed, then washed it down with tea. “It’s … not quite the same. It’s not bad, mind you, but it’s not quite the same. Better than some generic attempts I’ve had, though.” She picked up another one. To get a second opinion, of course. “do you like them?”
She sipped on her tea as well, and then as she swallowed, Sam nodded. "I do like them. I'm glad you don't hate them." She laughed softly, "Of course, I'm used to things like this. Not that I'm saying all vegan food is awesome, but I think it makes it easier when you're used to something." Sam lifted her shoulders, and took another bite of her cake before washing it down with some more tea.
“I suppose it would.” Lara couldn’t say that she had all that much experience with vegan food, though trailmix probably came close. In her line of work one sometimes had to make do with whatever was available. And also try to not risk offending the locals. Some of the things she’d eaten would horrify a vegan. “I’ve certainly gotten used to eating things most westerners would find unusual, to say the least. I’ll spare you the details.”
Chuckling, Sam gave a small tip of her head in Lara's direction. "Thanks, I appreciate that." She really didn't want, or need any details right at the moment. Well, it was mostly because she was eating. She finished off her one cake, and then reached for another. "So, you were a bartender in university, but what do you do now?"
“Archaeology,” Lara replied, trying another cake. “Which isn’t very informative, but it sounds nicer than digging around in the dirt to study an ancient civilization.” Or tomb raiding. She hated that phrase. It was not only inaccurate, it was insulting. And there was that part of her that still refused to accept that her ordeal had been the subject of a video game. “Nothing like Indiana Jones.”
Lara hated those movies.
As Sam listened to Lara's explanation as to what she did, she sipped on her tea while eating her cake. "Ah, okay. I have actually never seen those movies. My dad is really into Westerns, and my mom doesn't watch a lot of movies." Sam liked bad horror movies, romcoms and most westerns that she'd watched with her father. "That sounds like fun, though. Discovering new and different clues into how they lived." Plus there was the whole being outside, and working with your hands.
Sam sometimes wondered if she'd gone into the right field, but all-in-all she did want to work to change the world even if it was just by taking down evil corporations that didn't process their waste by-products right. Well, there were other things, but Sam always liked to think of it as being bigger than that. "You know," she started, "I wonder sometimes if I'm going into the right field. Then I think that I can make a difference, and I want to make a difference. If I pass the LSAT test I'll hopefully enter law school to focus on environmental law. That, however, is still a few years down the road."
“It’s a common question for everyone I think. If we’re doing what we should be doing. If we want to do it or if it’s the right thing to do.” The vegan Jaffa Cakes were growing on Lara. Still not as good as the real thing, but they were Jaffa Cakes. Her greatest weakness. “I love knowledge, for knowledge’s sake. But if I can shed light on how people lived in the past, it can help us as a society in the future. Ancient cultures weren’t stupid, after all. I think you can make a difference.”
She waved her hand. “In some ways our fields can overlap. I had to file a great deal of paperwork about potential environmental damage for my Costa Rica expedition. It’s something I have to be mindful of.”
Sam honestly couldn't argue with that, she supposed that it was human nature to worry about what they were going to do when they grew up and even after they decided on a career path. Finishing off her cake, Sam sipped on her teas some more, and then nodded in agreement. "I agree. Help in not repeating the mistakes of the past, and have just general better understanding." She could see why the work Lara did was appealing.
"That's good. I figured you would have to fill out some paperworks in regards to preserving the environment." She sat her now empty tea cup down on the coffee table, and shifted to lean back against the back of the couch, "Where's the most exciting place that you've been while on expedition?"
Yamatai Lara wanted to answer, but she wasn't entirely sure Sam was a Dreamer, and that would be an awkward conversation. "That would be Costa Rica, though getting lost in the Himalayas and rediscovering an ancient temple in Thailand were pretty exciting."
Lara finished off her tea. "Perhaps it's less boring than I let on."
While Sam had seem some discussion about the dreams, she'd brushed them off as being nothing more than what they were; dreams. She wasn't ready to jump on that bandwagon ever. Laughing, Sam gently nudged Lara with her elbow, "I think you're onto something. It doesn't sound boring to me at all." It sounded spectacular, if she was being completely honest here.
"Have you planned out your next expedition?" She asked curiously, turning slightly on the couch now in order to look over at her better.
It was a subject that Lara had no plans discussing, and it wasn't likely that she'd have to answer questions about her scars. "I have a few thoughts. There's an area in Malaysia I've always wanted to go, and a lost island near Japan." Of course her interest in the latter was more than academic. "And there's always that mad desire to find something like Atlantis."
Sam smiled, she could only imagine what sort of sights Lara would see during her expeditions. The lost island near Japan sounded fascinating, and she was sure that a discovery like Atlantis would be mind boggling. It would be the discovery of a lifetime, heck, for all time. "That all sounds -- fantastic. Hopefully you'll be able to find that island. As for Atlantis, I wish you all the best on that one." She gave a small tip of her head in Lara's direction, a smile still on her face. Sam truly did wish the best for Lara, and her expeditions. "So, would you like more tea?" She offered as she leaned forward to pour herself another cup.
Atlantis had been one of her father’s dreams. Which father, Lara couldn’t quite remember, dream and reality having mixed a long time ago. She picked up her teacup and nodded. “I’m always game for tea.”
She had collected some evidence for something spectacular. Possible links between the ruins in Costa Rica (and the strange, shadowy figures she’d found there) and the temple in Thailand. She had a wall filled with clippings and print outs. But it all made her look like a conspiracy nut so she generally kept mum on it. The Island has some personal meaning to her, with Sam supposedly descended from Himiko. And then there was the whole dream mess. Lara needed to know that it was a normal island with normal ruins. “Thank you. I suppose we’ll just have to find out.”