I like getting dirty
Who: Lara and Bo What: Getting drinks, sharing stories, flirting on accident When: 12/4 or 12/5 Where: Some place that sells booze status: complete Rating: PG13
Part 1 of 2
There were certain things Lara couldn’t talk about. Bo wouldn’t believe her anyway, unless she was a Dreamer. While there was always a feeling of recognizing a dreamer, it wasn’t one hundred percent cut and dry, so Lara planned to limit her discussion to the more believable aspect of her adventures. Bo didn’t need to know about the shadow people, or the mysterious symbols she believed would lead to Atlantis.
But the rock climbing incident? Getting shot at? The traps in Thailand? Those were all fair game.
And Lara looked forward to it. She’d always had difficulty making friends, she kept herself closed off and it was lonely. So having someone to chat with would be nice, and it might get her mind off her latest dreams and her worries about Sam.
She arrived at the bar, wearing a pair of jeans, fuzzy boots, and a bomber jacket, and slipped in side, shivering.
There were also things that Bo didn’t want to talk about. Like where she was from, her family, things of that nature. And while Bo typically didn’t care about having been a high school drop out, but suddenly where Lara was concerned, she was more than a little self-conscious about it. She didn’t feel like she was stupid, but she did feel like Lara was way out of her league.
But tonight wasn’t for dwelling on who was out of who’s league. No, tonight was for friendly conversation. And if anything should come of it, Bo wasn’t going to resist it. She certainly could use some friends, never really letting people come to know the real her. People only got to know as well as she allowed them to, which wasn’t all that much.
Bo arrived at the bar dressed in black leather pants, black high heeled boots (probably not her wisest choice but she didn’t yet have a pair of winter boots), black and white shirt and a black trenchcoat. She hadn’t completely grown out of the clothing style she’d adopted in her teenage rebellion style, but she wore far fewer chains now. Spotting Lara, she put on a smile, her dimples showing as she approached.
“Hello there,” she greeted.
Appearances could be deceiving. There'd been nothing to tell Lara that Bo might be a drop out, and by all accounts she seemed intelligent and a little fun. She wasn't going to judge. After all she knew several people that you wouldn't have guessed were as intelligent as they were if you just took them at face value.
And she had to give Bo credit for having the balance to walk in those boots in this weather. Lara smiled back, shrugging her jacket off. She had on a t-shirt underneath with a low neckline, and there were some interesting looking scars visible where the sleeves ended on her shoulders. "Hello, you must be Bo." She held out her hand, her palm and fingers rough from a lot of work out doors, and knuckles marked with a few scars from what was either really bad fights or rock climbing incidents. Or both.
Bo was intelligent, though she tended to be more street-smart than book-smart. Science and math had never quite been her strong points in school. She hadn’t even really liked school, which may have added to the fact she’d rebelled against her parents’ strict, and rather numerous, rules. When Lara slipped her coat off, Bo did catch sight of the scars, but she didn’t dwell on them. Those were not things to really discuss when first meeting someone.
So she simply took Lara’s hand and shook it, having a firm handshake. Though unlike Lara’s hands, hers had few callouses on them. Perhaps a little wear and tear from some fights she’d been in, but generally her hands were smooth. “I am, and you must be Lara. It’s nice to meet you in person.” Bo slid her own jacket off. The neckline of her shirt low enough but not too low.
“Is this one of your favorite watering holes?” She couldn’t help the terminology there.
Low enough was acceptable enough. Lara tended to wear a lot of tank tops and t-shirts and not really think about how she filled them out, which had led to numerous awkward situations. Her accent was definitely some variation of "London". "It's nice to meet you. And it's my favorite, yes."
She glanced around. "I like the atmosphere and they know how to actually mix a nice drink."
Sometimes Bo was daring and wore tops with a very low neckline, but that was only once in a great while. She preferred showing enough cleavage but not too much. That was something she’d learned quickly. Showing too much attracted the wrong type of person. The accent only added to Lara’s charm, another point in her favor.
“What drinks do you recommend here?” Of course Bo could ask for any drink she wanted. Being a bartender, she had a wide knowledge of drinks and could give recipes off the top of her head. But she was always wanting to know the best drinks for new places she went in to.
“They do good work with the mixed drinks, especially anything with rum, but I prefer the straight liquors here. They have some of the genuine Scottish whiskeys I grew to really love when I was tending bar in London, so I might be a bit biased.” She smiled lightly. “But if you want a mixed drink you can’t go wrong with their take on a Hurricane.”
“Gotta say I never quite got the taste for whiskey. I prefer tequila or vodka when I drink things straight. Though my tastes may change in time. Whiskey can be an acquired taste.” Especially depending on which type one was talking about. Some were definitely better than others. She smiled a bit. “I have to say, I do like a good Hurricane now and then.” She then gestured for Lara to pick a seat. Bo preferred sitting at the bar, but she wouldn’t begrudge a table or booth if Lara preferred either of those.
"Mm, I had the best Tequila in Mexico City once. I was down there for a conference, and again on the way to a dig in Costa Rica." Lara closed her eyes at the memory. "But I grew up with a man named Roth. Ship captain. Best friend was a Scotsman who could tell the tallest tales. They were pretty much my family after my father passed." She rubbed the back of her neck. "It's probably where I picked up some of my more colourful language."
Lara nodded, and choose a booth. She didn't like having her back exposed if she could help it.
“One day I should get down to Mexico City and try the tequila there. But that is something for the future.” Right now, Bo had something more important to try and accomplish, even though it was hunting for a very, very, very tiny needle the same color as the hay in a haystack. “I’m sorry to hear about your father, but at least you still had people there for you. And don’t worry, I can swear like a sailor myself when times call for it,” Bo said with a charming grin.
She followed Lara and took a seat in the booth. “So you’re an archaeologist? Have you traveled all over the world then?”
“It’s worth the trip,” Lara confirmed. “I’m glad I had people.” She sat across from Bo, resting her hands on the table after waving over someone to take their drink order. “Yes. I’ve been all over. Nearly every continent, actually. Though my University focus was on East Asia. I found, or rather rediscovered, an ancient temple in Thailand.”
Bo put in an order for a Hurricane. Best to start there, and then see if she’d have anything else after it. She’d taken a taxi here, so she didn’t have to worry about driving home. “Now that’s impressive, having gone to so many places. A temple, though? Now that must have been amazing to find. What was the temple like?” Bo was genuinely curious. For as much traveling as she’d done in her life, it had all been contained to Canada and the United States. She liked hearing about other places in the world, and hoped one day she could see some of it.
The Hurricane sounded like a good idea and it would make the bartender’s job easier, at least. Lara tapped her finger on the table, responding. “It was deep in the jungle. Took two days to get to the area and another just to find it. I was working off of old maps and some reconnaissance photos from the fifties. It was remarkably well preserved, though the entrance had been breached a century ago, give or take a decade. Not from any tomb raiders, I think. Possibly a flood.” She picked up a napkin and fished a pen out of her jacket, and started to sketch the temple exterior. “Archaeology typically isn’t like you see in movies. Most of the time you’re kneeling in the dirt painstakingly brushing away debris with a toothbrush. Mind you, I like that part. But sometimes you stumble into something a little exciting. There were actual traps in this one.”
That sounded like something straight out of the movies, so of course Bo’s attention was captured. Folding her arms on the table in front of her, she leaned in and watched as Lara began to sketch the temple exterior. “Holy shit, they were obviously protecting something in the temple if there were traps. Though that could also explain why it had gone undisturbed for so long.” Bo chuckled a bit. “Hey, to find something good sometimes you just have to get dirty, right?” There was probably a double meaning in there. Because Bo couldn’t help herself.
She slid the napkin over so Bo could get a better look. "Well, I like getting dirty, it's my past time." If she got the double meaning she didn't say it, but her cheeks might have flushed ever so slightly. "It was tricky, getting past them. And I didn't want to destroy anything priceless. Luckily any poison on the darts wore off long ago."
She looked at the drawing. “That’s positively beautiful. Just being able to stand in the presence of something so old must have been awe-inspiring.” Bo did catch the slight flush, but she didn’t press the subject. “That’s definitely a good thing the poison had worn off. That would majorly suck to just be getting inside to see what it’s like and then getting poisoned.”
"It really was." Lara's voice was filled with wonder and fond memory. She looked down at the drawing. "I got hit a few times. I'm agile and flexible, but there's only so much contorting you can do in a small space." She looked back up at Bo and smiled. "But there hadn't been anyone inside for a long time. No chance of poison."
Bo's interest seemed genuine, and that made Lara perk up more.
“That’s amazing. Except the getting hit part, but at least you didn’t get poisoned. Or worse. Were there any other ancient booby traps guarding the temple? Anything like in Indiana Jones?” Bo mostly meant the whole giant rolling boulder thing. Like most people, the movies were her main reference point for archaeology. She’d of course watched some documentaries about some archaeological digs in Egypt and other places, but Indiana Jones was the reference point she fell back onto. At least for the ancient booby traps part.
And she definitely wasn’t bored at all by the story. In fact, Bo thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of it.
“No giant boulders.” Lara made a face. “I hated those movies. I mean I’m sure they’re great fun but I can’t watch them without wincing at the inaccuracies.” At least not before her dreams. They were a little more tolerable now. “So when I found that trap I wanted to strangle Harrison Ford. Most of the traps were pitfalls, or piles of rocks. The fun part was getting to the center of the temple. There was this mechanism to move the bridge and it took me some time to figure out how to make it work.”
Bo couldn’t help but to laugh a bit. “I figured that was more show simply because of being a movie, but still had to ask.” She tilted her head a bit. “So it was more puzzle type mechanisms to figure out as opposed to anything else? Sometimes I have to wonder if the people living thousands of years ago were actually a lot smarter than we are today. I mean, just look at all the monuments and remnants of the ancient world still around today that we still have no clue how they built them when they didn’t have our modern mechanical equipment.”
“Mostly puzzles yes. I think they were intended for rituals. But it’s not something that’s uncommon. I’ve encountered similar puzzles in Mesoamerica, and the ancient Greeks had steam technology and knew how to use hydraulics to mimic gods. They even had a form of mechanical puppetry for shows. And that’s not even getting into the Chinese.” Lara shook her head. “They were smart, just in different ways from us. The Greeks had steam technology but to them it was a toy. Could you imagine if someone had made the leap from toy to engine, two thousand years ago?”
“If they’d made that leap two thousand years ago, we’d probably be living on Mars right now or something like that.” Bo smiled a bit. “Though as it is, I kind of prefer Earth to Mars in terms of where I’m living.” She chuckled a bit, definitely preferring Earth’s general climate to Mars’. “Of all the places you have been to, what’s been your favorite? Or top ten if it’s too difficult for you to narrow down to just one.”
“Top twenty might be too difficult!” Their drinks arrived, and Lara nursed her a little bit as she thought about it. “The problem is there’s always a place that I like more than others for one reason, but a different place I’ve enjoyed for other reasons. Costa Rica’s natural beauty and wildlife can’t really be beat, but Japan was beautiful in other ways. And of course Egypt is chock full of history. I grew up in a museum, but we didn’t get to go out much.” At least in her dreams her father took her on expeditions. In the waking world, he hadn’t. “I have fond memories of backpacking through Greece with a friend. And Thailand had the best discoveries. Tibet was nice too, even if I did get lost in the snow.”
Bo grinned a bit, then took her drink and sipped at it as Lara thought about it. “Backpacking through Greece actually sounds like a brilliant way to experience the country. Though I can understand every place has its merits. Just as I’m certain each place also has its drawbacks.” Bo did wish she could see more of the world, but she didn’t have the money for it. It was expensive enough just drifting from place to place as she did. And also trying to utilize resources for finding her birth mother. “Egypt always seems like an immensely fascinating place. I’ve watched I don’t even know how many documentaries on discoveries that have been made and you always get something new there.”
“It can get expensive. The backpacking is actually relatively cheap and it’s a lot easier to travel Europe when you start in the UK than having to cross the pond.” Lara nodded at Bo. “I started with investors, proving to them I’m worth what I say I’m worth. I eventually did have to settle my family’s estate though, for my Egypt trip. That’s a hell of a story in and of itself.” She wrinkled her nose. Lady Croft. She disliked the title. “It takes care of itself, mostly. But I set up a few charities and only dip into the fortune when I really need to. I hope I don’t sound like I’m bragging? I really rather hate the way people look at me when they realize I have money.”
“It doesn’t sound like bragging to me. It actually sounds like you hate having money. Or at least hating the stigma that comes with being wealthy.” Bo had always been good at getting a read on people. One had to when being a bartender, to be able to tell who should be cut off and the like. And she’d come across all sorts of people. Rich, poor, and in between. She’d seen the snotty rich people that believed they were entitled to everything, but there was the odd one out, like Lara, who didn’t flaunt their money, and even seemed to resent having it. And for what it’s worth, the way Bo looked at Lara hadn’t changed.
Of course she’d assumed Lara had been rich just from the description of her ocean-side house, but she was still talking to her like any normal person. Though of course it still tapped into Bo feeling like Lara was way out of her league, but she wasn’t going to focus on that.
"I worked hard to get where I am, and I didn't let anything be handed to me." It was more than could be said for many of Lara's peers among the wealthy. It still made her self conscious, especially in front of a pretty woman. Not that Lara was noticing or anything. She didn't often get made nervous by someone, but Bo seemed to possess some supernatural ability...
"I'll bet most of the bastards who wanted a piece of my estate would last all of two hours on one of my digs, or less mountain climbing."
She flexed playfully.
“And I totally respect that. It’s far more than some rich people do. I swear, some of them live in a fantasy world.” Bo rolled her eyes a bit and gave a shake of her head. Of course as Lara flexed, Bo couldn’t help but oggle the muscle there. She may have stared a second too long before she smirked. “I bet you could outlast most anyone. And those poor sops would just run away crying if you put them to work.”
Bo sipped her drink. “It seems as though you workout. You’ve got quite impressive guns there.” It took everything in her to not want to reach out and give Lara’s bicep a squeeze. Lara had definitely caught her attention in more than one way.
"I do some bow-work as a hobby," Lara added. Okay that was boasting a little and she hid by sipping her drink. "And I do try to keep active. Rock climbing, punching bags, and the like. You'd be surprise at how useful that stamina is. In my line of work, I mean. I don't get to haunt the library as much as I used to."
She set her drink down and smiled. "What about you? What do you do for fun?"
“Keeping active is certainly important.” And oh, Lara just put that comment about stamina out there, and Bo just couldn’t leave it there. Especially not when Lara was a beautiful woman. “Stamina is very good for a great many things, really.” She smirked a bit, a gleam in her eye suggesting that she had some certain activities in mind for that.
“I like to enjoy the nightlife. I like going to clubs. I like meeting people. Though I’m also prone to just being a couch potato and watching movies and tv far too much.” There were other things she did in her down time, but she wasn’t quite wanting to talk about them. Especially not during a first meeting.
Lara blinked once, then cleared her throat and that little blush returned. "Well. Yes, there is that." She wasn't going to admit that her experiences in such matters were negligible to nonexistent. That wouldn't do at all. "I had a friend who'd drag me to clubs. Not usually my scene but I started to find them enjoyable. She was determined to keep me from getting stuck in studies all day."
Bo saw that blush and smirked a bit. “Sometimes you just gotta go and let loose. Clubs aren’t for everyone, but I thrive off of the atmosphere. It makes me feel free.” Though mostly it just allowed her to not focus on herself for a while. Really, Bo’s head was a jumble of questions about who she was and where she came from. Sometimes she just needed to forget the fact that she was lost.
"You might be able to convince me, but I'm not dressed for one." The last time had been months ago, the last time she'd been in London with Sam, actually. Lara studied Bo over her drink, mulling on what she was saying and how she was saying it. "I think I can understand it. There's this rush." She got it in the wilds, or on a mountain, but she felt it in a club too. Or maybe that just depended on the company.
“Perhaps I shall convince you some other time. Right now I’m more interested in you than I am letting loose in a club.” So Bo might be laying it on a little thick there, but she couldn’t really help it. She was intrigued by Lara, and she was damn well going to flirt. So long as Lara didn’t tell her to stop flirting, she wouldn’t. “It is a rush. The music, the people, it’s so easy to just stop thinking and just feel. I don’t even need to drink at a club to let go. Just get me on the dance floor and I’ll let go.” It was also were she felt the most confident. Probably because on a dance floor amidst strangers, she could be anyone she wanted to be. On the dance floor, everyone was lost, not just Bo herself.
She could tell Bo to stop flirting. Under most circumstances it actually made her a little uncomfortable. But she found she liked it from her. Bo wasn't being disrespectful and every time she smiled it disarmed Lara. Lara was a sucker for a good smile. "I'm already convinced."
Bo liked to dance, Lara filed that away, though she couldn't help but geek out a little bit. And Lara tended to light up with passion when talking about anything even related to her field. She spoke with her hands as much as her voice. "Dance is like a universal language. Regardless of culture or heritage, you can find dance everywhere. Some of it is ritual, to commune with nature or get closer to god. And some of it is how you describe it. Feeling, emotion, becoming lost in something greater than the individual."
There was something that just told Bo that Lara had an interest in women, and it went beyond the fact that Lara hadn’t stopped her from flirting. And she did respect boundaries, and she knew how to treat people with respect. God knows she’d dealt with enough drunken idiots in her job to know how not to treat people. Especially ones she was taking a liking to.
“Well then, we’ll simply need to go dancing sometime,” she said and flashed a radiant smile at Lara. Bo couldn’t quite help the fact she had that kind of hypnotic smile that could light up any room instantly.
“That’s what I like about it. You don’t even need to talk when dancing. You can let your body do the talking for you. It is expressive, and it’s a wonderful way to let out things you may be feeling.”
It was the kind of smile that made Lara want to smile back and was deviously distracting. Lara had finished most of her drink while they talked, without really realizing it. "I'm not going to be able to get out of that am I." It didn't sound like she minded that fact in the slightest.
"I only hope my body language actually makes some amount of sense."
Sometimes Bo well knew what her smile did to people, but that was typically only after she got to know people and know their tells. In this instance, Bo didn’t quite know what effect her smile was having on Lara. “Nope, you definitely aren’t. You’re kinda stuck with going dancing with me.” And another grin. There definitely should be some good clubs in Orange County, so once Bo got a job and actually got some more money in her pocket, then she’d hold Lara to that.
“I think it’ll make perfect sense. The trick is learning how to read people.”
"I'm better at reading what people left behind," Lara replied. She frowned, then corrected herself. "That's not entirely true. I can read people if they're a threat. It's kept me alive more than once. It's harder to read people who aren't a threat."
Lara Croft, just casually dropping that her profession was a little deadlier than initially suspected. "At least until I know them a little better." Sam, she could read like a book. Alistair too. Bo, well she'd like to learn to read her. The thought made her suddenly nervous.
That admission of danger earned a lifting of her brows. That was certainly something, though it made sense. Especially after hearing about the temple with booby traps. It stood to reason that there were also locals that didn’t like people poking around these sites. “That is definitely a useful skill to have. Especially when people are making themselves out to be dangerous.”
And now Bo was hoping she could also get the chance to learn how to read Lara better. “Well, I hope that that is a promise that we can get to know each other better.” It wasn’t completely flirting. Bo just wanted to get to know Lara better, and not just in the physical sense. She thought she was very intelligent, and intriguing and she’d definitely not noticed that she’d already finished her drink because she was enjoying talking with Lara. And she was fully focused on Lara. Her attention wasn’t wavering at all.
"You have no idea," Lara muttered. She quickly smiled to cover it up, but something flashed in her eyes. Like there was a wolf that prowled within them, looking out at this civilized world that Lara only really had one foot still in. Too many pains that hung off of her shoulders. Lara was a dangerous woman. She just preferred to keep that part locked away.
"Do you want it to be?" Lara brushed some hair out of her eyes, then glanced around because she needed something a little harder all of a sudden.
It was easy to see that flash in Lara’s eyes. Bo had seen it all too often in others since she ran away from home. She didn’t doubt there was a dangerous side to Lara, especially when she’d made references to her job being dangerous. Still, she didn’t focus on it. Bo would deal with it later if she ever came to see that side of Lara in more than a glimpse.
“I would like it to be. Would you?” Bo wouldn’t pursue it if Lara didn’t want it. She well knew how futile of an experience that would be. While Bo didn’t quite want to be so alone anymore, being alone was what she knew. It was comfortable to her, and she could certainly remain in that comfortable state. Yet she wanted to try and venture out now that Lara had her attention.
"Yes." Lara didn't hesitate, though she did kneed her glass a little as she answered. Being alone had been something that was second nature to her too. Opening herself up to other people was difficult, but she knew isolating herself was unhealthy.
"Something about you is just fascinating." She smiled. "And I'll just wager your dancing might tell a story of it's own."
Oh Bo more than understood the difficulty of opening up to others. There were good reasons she really didn’t keep friends. And as much as opening herself up to Lara was suddenly intimidating and wondering if Lara would think less of her if she found out that she’d run away from home and dropped out of school, Bo was still going to power forward. There would of course be bumps along the way, but she’d deal with those when they got there.
Maybe.
“Well I’m happy to have caught your attention because you certainly have mine.” Bo returned the smile. “My dancing probably will tell a story all its own. I can be an animal sometimes.” She laughed.
Lara had a sudden vivid mental picture of Bo dancing and had to casually cool herself with her new drink. She didn't know Bo's past, or where she'd come from, and even if she'd killed someone she probably wouldn't do more than blink once. As long as Bo didn't think Lara was crazy then things would be okay. Hopefully she didn't have an incident around Bo, at least until she could explain.
She tried to speak, coughed, then tried again. "That sounds... lovely."
Killing someone hadn’t been something Bo had done. Beat a man so bad he had to go to the hospital? Yes, she’d done that. Underage drinking and partying? Definitely. Surprisingly she’d managed to not do drugs. Though there’d been a lot of sex. Probably more than people might initially assume. Bo was notorious for one night stands. Only rarely did she sleep with someone more than once, and most of that had been in her teenage years when she was having fun pissing off her parents.
But she wasn’t exactly going to admit that she’d had so many partners. And she always went for safe sex. She didn’t have a death wish or want to get STDs when she could avoid it.
“It can be, yes.” Bo said with a laugh and sipping her fresh drink. “Though I suppose it depends on if someone likes that sort of animalistic appeal or not.”
Now drugs would be something that bothered Lara. The partying she was used to from Sam, the underage drinking too, though back home the age was eighteen so it had been a short phase. Really, Sam had prepared Lara for just about anything including patiently dealing with a rotating door of boy and girl friends. Bo's predilections wouldn't bother her.
"I can see the appeal. It must feel so freeing."
Staying away from drugs had been one rule Bo had never broken that her parents had laid down. It was probably the only one she hadn’t broken. And she still wouldn’t touch drugs. Alcohol was as far as she’d go if she wanted to alter her state of mind.
“It is, especially if you’ve kept a lot of shit inside and it’s built up over time.” So that may have been a round about way of Bo telling Lara she had issues. Considering that glimpse she’d seen pass through Lara’s eyes, she figured she’d put her own little warning out there. Even if they were just friends, it was best to be aware that Bo came with issues and ghosts. And despite being nearly thirty years old, she still had no clue who she was or where she came from. And she tended to want to forget about her childhood in Canada all because of how that had come to an end.
It was a miracle that the dreams hadn't driven Lara to alcoholism. But she never was one for addictive tendencies. Lara's smile faltered a little. She nodded, almost imperceptively, as though acknowledging the the warning. "I can think of worse ways to let the ghosts out," she replied. "And doubtless less fun ways."
“There are plenty of destructive ways to let them out. And believe me, I’ve tried those, too. At least some of them, anyway.” Mostly with sex or just throwing herself into incredibly dangerous situations where she let her fists do the talking. Of course, Bo hadn’t come out of those situations unscathed, but she now at least tended to look before she leapt more than she used to.
Lara reached over, uncharacteristically patting Bo's hand. She didn't know what to say, exactly. Well, perhaps she did. "I have had some...bad experiences. And I dealt with them by throwing myself into danger at every opportunity. Fast motorcycles, climbing with limited equipment, beating myself against the wilds until I remembered what it was like to feel. So maybe I can understand a little bit, even if our experiences might be different."
As Lara pat her hand, Bo gave her a little smile. “At least someone else knows what that is like.” Perhaps it would help in the opening up department. It at least made Bo a little less afraid of being judged for some of the things she’d done. Really, her own mother had called her a whore, so of course she tended to be skittish when it came to admitting things about herself.
“We’re both still here, and that definitely counts for something.” Bo said with optimism, even if she herself didn’t really know why she was still around. She had yet to find a passion in life, something to do with her life, aside from just drifting in and out of places and people’s lives. Lara had quite clearly already found hers in archaeology.
"It could be the drink and the half," Lara joked. But it was making her feel warm and at ease, so there was that. She was just unsure why she'd touched Bo, but it had seemed appropriate at the time. Or maybe she should admit to herself she found the woman attractive, but refused to assume anything. She'd already experienced being attracted to a friend and that was Not Fun(tm). "You aren't setting off an warning bells."
“Well yes, that could be it,” Bo chuckled. She didn’t quite know why she was entertaining trying to build a friendship with Lara, but something just seemed to pull her to the other woman. And it definitely wasn’t the alcohol talking there. Bo had felt intrigued before during their conversation on that network. “Now that is definitely good to hear,” she responded with a laugh. “You aren’t setting any warning bells off either. On the contrary, I’m quite intrigued by you.” She gazed at Lara with a warm smile. It was honest, and perhaps a little flirtatious, but it was Bo’s honest opinion as well.
Lara laughed as well, that little blush of hers returning. "What intrigues you?" She wasn't modest, but more so curious, and curiosity was her greatest fault. Bo wasn't the only one intrigued. There was that something about Bo that made Lara want to dig until she'd unearthed whatever archaeological treasures might be buried beneath her skin.
Which sounded creepier than she meant.
“For starters, you’re intelligent. And you’re passionate about your work. You’ve been around the world and undoubtedly have a thousand stories you could tell, and I want to hear them all.” Which she really did want to, she wasn’t just saying that she wanted to hear the stories just to stroke Lara’s ego. No, Bo believed the stories would shed more light on who Lara was. “And I just have to say that you are a very beautiful woman as well. But it’s definitely the intelligence and passion that got my attention first.” Because she didn’t want to come off as being shallow or only interested in one thing. But Bo also just wanted to drop that in as a means of testing the waters more overtly.
There were so many. And part of Lara wanted to share her Dreams. Yamatai and everything after. There were so few people who even knew of them and none who'd lived through them with her. But she didn't know Bo well enough yet, and except for her scars (something else she was reluctant to share but kind of wanted to) she had nothing to prove the dreams were real. But maybe Bo would dream. She just hoped they were better than her own.
"Luckily, talking on the internet helps reduce the beauty factor as an influence." She didn't really feel that beautiful, and she brushed her shoulder self-consciously. "Eventually I'll run out of stories, and have to go find new ones." She lifted her gaze back up to Bo's eyes. "And you're ... blindingly hot." They were flirting right? Lara used to be terrible at it, and she didn't think she was much better.
As it stood, Bo had no idea about the Dreams. She had learned that apparently weird shit went on in Orange County, such as the current weather pattern being a yearly occurrence. At least for the last three years, anyway. But Bo had heard a lot of pretty weird stories in her time. Get some alcohol in people, and some of them never stopped talking. Of course, alcohol-induced stories weren’t exactly the coherent type of tale Lara may be able to tell from her Dreams, but Bo had heard of pretty strange things.
“That’s definitely true,” she responded. She noticed Lara brush her shoulder and made note of it. Though Bo was relieved that when she decided to jump in the deep end, she didn’t sink. She’d made that mistake before, with both women and men. “I have to say, blindingly hot is a new one, but thank you.” Bo was confident in her appearance. It was everything beyond that where she became self-conscious. “And I’m so glad I didn’t sink there. I’ve made a few really bad missteps with testing the waters before.” She said with a smile.