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theeyeofra (theeyeofra) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-05-20 23:49:00

Who: Bast & Lara
What: Bast has a couple blasters to deliver
When: recent
Where: Croft Manor
Rating/Warnings: Nothing really
Status: Completed.


After being targeted by Star Wars characters, Bast found that she found less interest in the movies. Not that she was particularly interested in them before, but this was something else. Still, she’d told Lara that she’d try to get her some weapons. She’d gotten a couple of blasters and so she’d messaged her to ask if she really wanted them. Which led to her Lara’s home. She had the blasters in a bag that she’d focused her energy on disguising until she got there. Once she was there, all the disguise went out. She’d already dressed the part and so she didn’t need to make Lara see a different version of her. She’d even decided against disguising the cat eyes.

There were a few people that she still felt she couldn’t really be around with her eyes the way the usually looked. That was the good thing about being a goddess. You could make people see what you wanted them to see for the most part. Lara, being someone who took an interest in goddesses and Egypt in general, seemed like a safe person to be herself around. Entirely herself. Cat eyes and all. Gamora was another one of those people. It was strange the people that you ran across.

She knocked on the door, leaning against the doorframe as she waited for Lara to answer...or someone anyway.

During her honeymoon Lara had gotten used to living in the wilderness, without the sound of people or civilization around her. Being back in a city was an experience she was still adjusting to, so she hadn’t slept well. Her mind was too busy, too. She’d managed to sneak an unusual artifact out of India, which she felt somewhat guilty about but it was too dangerous to just leave where they found it.

It was another clue in the big mystery she was trying to solve. She glanced at the map in her office, and a pin in Egypt, before sliding the artifact back into the safe with its brethren, and going to answer the the door. She looked every bit like someone who was more comfortable digging in a tomb than just about anything else. “Bast! Welcome. Come in!”

Bast was absolutely gorgeous and fascinating and Lara had a million questions. But she was also polite. “Would you like some tea?”

Bast smiled a little at the greeting, more with her eyes than her lips. She stepped inside, scanning the entrance as she did. The house was lovely from the outside and even more so inside. It was strange that Lara fit into it. She was different from most of the people that Bast had seen with expensive houses. But then, she was usually only working in those houses, not on a social visit. But everyone needed security at some point or another when enough money was involved and fans were part of the package. She’d seen more than her fair share of overzealous fans.

“Thank you for inviting me.” As a goddess, there were some homes that might have been unavailable to her should a magician live in them, but she had yet to run into anyone from her dreams. “Tea sounds lovely,” she replied, her smile spreading to her lips this time. “I brought gifts. I hope they will be pleasing. Consider them a very unusual wedding present.”

“Thank you. You really shouldn’t have, but honestly I think I’ve developed a thing for unusual weapons.” Her dreams had supplied her with a variety of them from various eras. Most of those remained locked in a gun safe, but she’d put one of the Japanese WW2 rifles on display in her study. She also had Thor’s hammer in one room, in a glass case, among other dream artifacts. Surprisingly little from Egypt. Really, the only parts of this home that seemed to suit her were the artifacts, and the study of course. But she wasn’t planning on showing Bast the study just yet.

Lara led Bast in, as though she hadn’t just invited a goddess into her home. “I don’t actually host many visitors. I’m not too comfortable with the… “ She waved her hand, “Ostentatiousness.”

Bast grinned at that. “Well, I am often the deliverer of unusual gifts.” Though, her gifts usually weren’t blasters. It was just that this time they were.

Following Lara, she looked around her home. “It did seem a little unusual, but I do not mind. You should have seen Egypt.” A pause. “But then I guess you have.” It should have been something she remembered...and she did. It was just that sometimes she forgot that some people had seen her home. Though, perhaps they had not seen it as she had. Not from the beginning. “But you saw it after. It is too bad you could not have seen it before. Hollywood is not exactly very accurate.” But that was true for most things and people. And the truth differed depending on what you dreamt. But whatever was true, Hollywood did have trouble with authenticity as a rule.

“Only a few times here, and once or twice in some of my dreams. I’d like to really dig in one day. So to speak.” She winked at Bast, and threw some mugs in the microwave to heat water for the tea. She wasn’t a snob when it came to heating water. “And never like it was in it’s glory, no. But you remember it?”

“Of course I remember. I was there at the very beginning. Well, not the very beginning. But close enough.” She and her siblings had been born - if you wanted to call it being born - and thus began her life. Sekhmet had been the Eye of Ra first. She’d been the natural choice due to her war-like nature and her father’s anger with man. But she’d been overzealous in the end, so she had been demoted.

“I think you would have liked to see it. Many of the gods inhabited people, were hosted by them. We worked with the Magicians.” A pause. “Though, I guess that is not part of the usual mythology.” Not that it mattered. “I remember the ruins before they were ruins. We were not really any less ostentatious, I believe. I had a whole city named for me and temples. It is nice to have people that worship you. There are a few that believe here, but not as many as I felt there were in the dreams.”

“That’s… interesting.” Lara was versed in gods hosting people. But her experience had been rather horrible and had led to losing her best friend. Maybe Sam was still alive, but their relationship had been forever altered. “Tell me it was voluntary and didn’t erase the host’s personality?”

She suddenly had another question. “Do you gain strength, if people believe in you?”

“No. It would not. I was hosted by Muffin, the cat. She retained her personality. But the Kanes were also hosts for the gods. Isis and Horus may have pushed a little for more control, but if you know how, you can set boundaries. Being stubborn helps, but people...I cannot speak for always voluntary, because the Kanes became hosts by accident.” She frowned at that. Mostly because she disliked Isis still.

“I don’t know if I gain strength so much as I keep from going...senile.”

That was right, Lara remembered now. She nodded, bringing Bast a mug of tea. “That actually makes some sense. In a lot of myth, Gods are powered by belief as you’ve said. Most people assume they’d fade away, but for many people, it’s our intelligence that is most important.”

It would be the same as with gods. “I was just curious. The weather goddess I fought wanted my friend’s body.”

“Fading, we do. But I have seen the place where gods who have been forgotten go. I would not wish that on any of us. I would not wish that on myself.” She frowned more. She had given herself to a task she hadn’t known would kill her eventually. At least not at first. As time passed and she kept fighting Apophis, she began to realize that her father had intended for them to destroy each other. It made for complicated familial feelings.

“Ah. And she did not wish for her to be...herself. I do not think that we overtake so much as live with. But I prefer cats to people in most cases. And Muffin was a good host.” Bast did not like the idea of someone trying to take over a person’s body. Living in harmony could be done. “Our hosts...or at least Osiris, Isis, and Horus tend to be Pharaohs. They have been locked up for a while, though. Since the Magicians decided we were too dangerous.” But could she blame them?

“Cats are certainly less of a problem I imagine.” Lara could also imagine the problems inherent in locking away gods. What happened when they came back angry? “I’m glad you haven’t faded yet, though I don’t think I have any solutions right now for how to prevent that in the future.”

Bast offered her a small smile. “If I can at least make most of the people on the network believe in me, I should be...at least somewhat okay.” She hoped that she would be okay, anyway. It was hard to be certain these days. Sanity was so easily taken and it was more fragile than she cared to think about. “I have no intention of letting people not believe in me. At least not when I can convince them. Nothing bad, of course.”

“With all that the Network talks about, believing you exist is probably one of the lesser leaps for most people to make. All it takes is a little demonstration. Or your gorgeous eyes.”

They really were kind of enrapturing, though Lara’s curiosity was mostly scientific.

That drew a slow smile. “My eyes are very convincing I’m told. It’s exhausting to have to keep them disguised all the time. Not because I am expending a lot of energy, but because I don’t really feel like hiding them. I like them as they are. Not everyone feels the same.”

It was nice to have other people who enjoyed them as well. “But I’m glad you like them. I’ve been considering surrounding myself with people that don’t find them so terribly unusual. Or at least displeasing.”

“Why bother hiding them?” Lara took a sip of her tea. “Worse case, you’re one of those people who likes having fancy contacts. It’s not like you have ears or a tail… Do you?”

The question gave her pause and she studied Lara for a moment. “I do not have ears or a tail. Not as I am now. If I were being hosted by a cat, perhaps, but that is another matter entirely.” Bast hummed thoughtfully before nodding, all without saying anything. In her head, there’d been an entire conversation, which involved weighing the pros and cons. “I may have to for work, I think. But otherwise, I don’t think I should need to worry. You are quite right.”

“That makes things a little easier then. If you just have to worry about your eyes, and only at work.” Lara couldn’t tell how tiring that might be, but the less effort expended, the better. She’d pretty much forgotten about the blasters - Bast was far more interesting both as a person and a mythological being.

It would be easier only to have to worry at work. She could probably get away with letting them show if it was a party with costumes and she was meant to participate, but that wasn’t often. “How was your honeymoon?” That was where she’d recently gotten back from, right? It was polite to ask about others...even if you were a very important cat goddess. Plus, she wasn’t sure what more to say on the topic of her eyes. Should she talk about them too much more, she would likely end up looking at them in the nearest reflective surface.

Lara’s face lit up. “It was lovely. We spent two days in Tokyo before flying out to Dubai and spent the rest of the trip usually knee deep in the wilderness or old ruins. We rediscovered a few places and I think I’ve developed a taste for Samosa.”

The highlight of the trip had been that tomb and the battle there, but also the meals they’d shared at several of the villages.

Bast smiled at her. “That sounds lovely. I have yet to be to either place.” It sounded like a nice experience all the same. Especially going with someone you cared for. “You will have to tell me more about the whole experience sometime. I would love to hear about it.” She took a sip of her tea, smiling around the cup.

“It was worth it. I’d never been to India before and I wanted us to go some place new.” That it had involved discovering old ruins was about to be expected. “I hadn’t expected exactly some of what we found or that artifact, but I’d looked forward to that trip since we planned it.”

Really, if Bast got Lara started she’d never stop.

Bast wouldn’t have minded, really. She’d already mentally accepted them as the sort of people that were bound to get along. If only because of a shared interest in things that happened very long ago. She could hope to count her as a friend. “What sort of artifact did you find?” She was genuinely curious about it. There weren't nearly as many stories about ruins or artifacts in her line of work.

“And I'd be surprised if you weren't looking forward to the trip.”

“A very curious one. One that I’ve found siblings of all over the world. I believe they all share a history.” Lara wasn’t keen on describing it just yet, if only because it was just a little on the creepy side. But maybe Bast had heard of such things. “Have you ever heard of crystal skulls?”

Bast couldn’t say she lacked curiosity. It seemed very mysterious. But had she ever heard of crystal skulls? No. Not as of yet. “I don’t believe that I’ve heard about them, no. Are they dangerous?” Because well...she wasn’t sure how ornamental crystal skulls of all things could be.

“I don’t know yet. It’s something I’m still working on.” Lara got up to pour some more tea. “In the 1800s there was a hoax going about. They talked about bringing a specific number of these skulls together and obtaining great knowledge or power. Most of the skulls were fakes, or simple curiousities. But the ones I’ve discovered have a glow to them. It’s almost like a presence. In my dreams Himiko would transfer her souls into other people. I’ve wondered if that was possible with something inanimate.”

Bast listened as she spoke. It was interesting. She had never heard of such things, but then she truly doubted that anything with a presence was innocent. But it was probably a good idea to learn more about it. “Just...promise you will be careful. Power like that...if it is truly something with the power to do those things...can be dangerous. I know that I am the goddesss of cats and other things, but I like to believe I know a thing or two about magic and power.” She was surrounded by magicians and she could use magic as well. But too much could hurt. And she wasn’t sure if these crystal skulls were dangerous or not.

“I’ll be careful,” Lara promised. She had her own goals with it. It wasn’t precisely just discovery or her theory that this was all somehow related to Atlantis. Lara was also hoping to find a way to extend her life. Her new wife would live for hundreds of years. She’d like to give Bo more time with her, if she could. “But you’re probably one of the experts at this point.”

“Good.” Lara’s statement gave her pause. She wondered for a moment if she was considered one of the experts or not. She perhaps had a lot of experience in the dreams with the Magicians and magic, but she was still working out her own magic. She was getting it under control. “I at least understand it quite a bit.” She studied Lara for a moment. It was interesting how much she could tell, just knowing Lara, that Thoth would have liked her. Not that she was getting along with her brother in the dreams right now. She had a feeling it had something to do with her abandoning her post. She was not proud of it, but she’d made a promise and Carter and Sadie’s mother had some idea of what needed to be done. “If Thoth ever showed up, he would probably be the expert. Naturally. Alas, you all have to rely on me instead.”

“I don’t mind relying on you. You’re probably easier on the eyes,” Lara joked. She spent too much time around Bo not to make that kind of joke. “Now, I think there was another reason for your visit? I suppose we should get to that at some point, but I’m not in a rush.”

Bast chuckled at that. “Such flattery. Not that I can complain. No one can have too many compliments.” Unless they were unwanted, but there was no reason to mention it at the moment as there were no unwanted compliments floating around. “Ah, yes.” She grinned then, holding the bag out to her. “As requested. I tried to get a few other things, but...here is what I managed.” She hadn’t felt bad for taking their weapons and using them against them either. If they were going to try to kill her, she would return the favor. She just tended to shoot them in the knees instead.

Carefully, Lara took the bag and pulled one of the blasters out. “It’s heavier than I imagined. Very … solid.” A lot of the guns she’d handled were lighter than they looked, but this one reminded her very much of the heavy machine gun she’d used more than once on Yamatai. “I wonder how accurate it is.”

“Accurate enough in the right hands. I am given to believe theirs are the wrong hands.” Her nose wrinkled, the distaste obvious on her face. “They certainly thought they were trying to shoot me multiple times, but I’m quick on my feet and they are terrible shots.” She also had daggers and a lot of anger.

Lara thought that most people were the wrong hands. But she didn’t have a very high opinion of soldier types. Not after her dreams. “I’m really glad I was out of town. Getting involved in a war zone would have put me in a mental place I like to avoid.”

Bast gave her a smile. “Yes. It was probably best to avoid it. I’m sure that you didn’t miss anything.” She was glad that it was over herself. She didn’t want to fight if she didn’t have to. She much preferred naps. There was also the fact that she did enough fighting and protecting on the job. “I hope your wife enjoys the blasters all the same.”

“Bo prefers melee weapons but I think she’ll enjoy playing with these new toys too,” Lara assured her. She liked the weight of it, and the fact it didn’t use bullets was actually a plus in its favour. Gunfire and Lara didn’t always get along. She could shut down her reaction, but later, when it was safe, it always came back to haunt her.” Thank you.”