Who: Lara and Bo What: Bo has some questions about Lara's current project. When: This past weekend Where: Their home Warnings: Family friendly
The whole Nyx issue may have passed, but something had been bothering Bo. Lauren had chi-sucked her and that had not been natural. It was almost like Lauren was fae. Bo didn’t know how that was possible, and her dreams hadn’t progressed to give her answers. But suddenly things that Lara had said and done lately were clicking into place. Bo hadn’t paid them much attention because of being distracted by other things at the time, but now? Now she had questions.
Bo headed to Lara’s office, standing a little ways down the hall from it for a few moments. She felt a pit forming in her stomach, like something bad was going to happen. She knew part of it was stemming from her dreams, but the rest seemed to be coming from this life.
After taking a slow breath, she moved to the door and knocked, waiting for Lara’s response before entering. She didn’t want to just walk in if Lara was on a business call or something.
"Just...need a little more information," Lara murmured. She turned the dagger over in her hands, inspecting the blade and inspecting the inscriptions. One of the skulls was out of the safe too, and every time she brought the knife near she could feel the buzzing, and hear the voice.
Lara just needed to know what it was saying, and if what it was saying was at all useful in her quest. She glanced up at the door, then pulled out a drawer and shoved the knife inside it. The skull, she picked up and moved towards the safe with it as she called out, "Come in!"
After getting permission, Bo opened the door and stepped in. “Am I interrupting?” Considering how Lara worked, she probably was interrupting. But at least Lara wasn’t on an international phone call or something.
“Not really. Just a few dead ends.” she wrapped the skull in fabric and put it inside the safe. Closing it, she spun the dial, then turned back to Bo. “Is everything all right?”
Bo noted the skull that Lara put back in the safe. Was she hiding something? Only one way to find out. “I don’t know, which is why I wanted to talk to you. You know how I told you that Lauren and I got back together?” Bo had made a point of telling Lara that once the dust had settled after the whole black arm thing. “I don’t know how Lauren did it, but she chi-sucked me at the end of the last dream I had when I got rid of Nyx. She chi-sucked me because she got hit by a car. I haven’t dreamt any further to know what exactly she did and how, but it’s made me think. And thinking about that made things click with things you’ve said lately. So can I ask what you’re working on?”
Lara’s nose wrinkled. She’d come to despise that woman and she didn’t often have that level of anger at people. Some from her dreams notwithstanding.
And this only made her hate Lauren more. The last thing Lara wanted was Bo questioning what she was doing. In part because she didn’t want to lie to her and in part because she wasn’t sure that Bo would understand. So she started simple. “Atlantis.”
Bo could understand what her dream self saw in Lauren, considering Lara was similar to Lauren in some ways, but in her waking life she hated the relationship between her dream self and Lauren. “Atlantis? What about it draws you to it?”
“Besides the great find in the past one hundred years? If not ever?” Lara tilted her head, grinning at Bo. “I know it exists in my dreams, and there’s evidence enough of it here. My last trip, I found an ancient temple. Too old to be Greek, with ancient runes and symbols similar to other places around the world.”
She rubbed her neck, “I uh. I might have bought the island and surrounding waters it was under. So I can study it at my leisure. It was in international waters, anyway.”
Bo’s eyebrows lifted at that. “Wait, you bought an island?” She wasn’t mad, and Lara didn’t need to consult her about what she did with her money, but an island was kind of a huge purchase. “But is it just the greatest find that’s driving you on this quest?”
“Yes. I got a great deal on it.” Lara chose not to tell Bo exactly how much. While it wasn’t all that much in the scheme of things, it was still more than several houses in Beverly Hills. “I wanted to take artifacts from it without basically stealing them. I intend to donate everything back to the Greeks eventually anyway, including the island, but only after I’ve finished my research.”
She eyed Bo, leaning her hands on her desk. “What are you driving at, Bo?”
It was just better that Bo didn’t know how much it cost. While she’d gotten over the money issues, she still couldn’t quite stomach how much buying an island actually cost. Just the fact that Lara had bought an island was blowing her mind enough. But she shook that off at hearing the question.
“When we were fighting demons, after I chi-sucked everything in sight to not die, you said something that didn’t actually click until recently. You said you were searching for an antidote to my wiping you out when I feed on your chi. Is that what you’re hoping to find on Atlantis?”
“Yes.” Lara too a deep breath, straightening up, and then coming around the desk to take Bo’s hand. “Anything that might boost my stamina, or extend my life span. Even a few more years with you…”
She looked momentarily unsure of herself. “At least, anything that’s not unsafe.”
Mostly.
As much as Bo would love more time with Lara, what she said about extending her life concerned her. Stuff like that never came without prices, and usually they were terrible ones. “Are you sure about that? I mean, those sorts of things tend to come with really horrible prices attached to them.” Bo looked at Lara, concern etched in her features, and she held onto Lara’s hand, a million things running through her head.
“That’s why I’m shopping around,” Lara replied. “Looking for the best deal.”
Sensing that her joke might fall a little flat, Lara’s face fell, and she added, “I’m not selling my soul, or anyone else’s. But if there’s any way to be with you longer, I want to take it. Besides, could you imagine the discoveries I’ll miss if I die young?”
Yeah, that joke fell flat. Bo didn’t really react to it, instead focusing on the more serious issue at hand. “I just don’t want you to do anything too drastic or dangerous. I’m concerned. And also wondering how it took me so long to put it together.” Though it wasn’t any wonder on why it had taken her so long to put it together. Bo had had a lot of dream crap to sort through and deal with lately.
“I didn’t want to say something until I knew there was a possibility. I didn’t want to get your hopes up.” Lara lifted Bo’s hands to her lips and kissed them. “I still don’t know if anything is possible. Short of meeting a vampire, at any rate. But I’m not going to do anything drastic. I promise.”
Bo looked at Lara, taking a slow breath. “I hope not because I don’t want to lose you in any respect. And I’m afraid if you change yourself in anyway. A vampire I could handle. But if you have to sacrifice your soul or something, that’s different.”
Lara looked back. She couldn’t say she wouldn’t sacrifice her soul. She would, for Bo. For Sam maybe. Sometimes she felt like she already have, her soul left behind on that island in her dreams. “That assumes I’ve got a soul left to sacrifice.”
“Of course you have a soul left. If you didn’t, I doubt that you’d care enough to even do this research.” Bo believed in souls, and she’d encountered people that she’d consider soulless both in this life and in her dreams. Lara was definitely not one of them.
Chuckling, Lara shook her head. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel like I do, but you’re probably right. Either way, it’s not something I’d give up unless it was to save you.”
Bo wanted to say that she wasn’t worth a soul, but she also knew she’d be a hypocrite to say as much. After all, Bo would give up her soul to save Lara. “I just...please be careful, okay? And I’d really like it if you didn’t chi-suck me the way Lauren did.” It just felt...wrong to her. Especially when Lauren wasn’t supposed to do that in the first place because she was human.
“I don’t want to become you,” Lara promised. “I don’t think I could really handle that kind of energy. We’d both never leave the bedroom.”
But if there were other ways. Ways that didn’t involve possession or stealing Bo’s powers or what-not, Lara would find them. But there were many kinds of immortals.
Bo had to laugh a bit. “I don’t think our bed could handle that.” She lifted a hand and pressed it against Lara’s cheek. “I just want you to be safe in researching this. And try not to get completely fixated on it either.” Considering how fixated Lara had been in Rise of the Tomb Raider, Bo was not wanting that to happen here.
“Then I’ll need you to pull me back from the edge, if I get too close.” It wasn’t a promise per-se, but Lara knew how she could get, and she knew she’d need help, even if she might not accept that help.
“Of course. I won’t let you go over that edge. At least without taking me with you.” Or possibly even Bo falling off the edge to save Lara. But either way, Bo wasn’t going to let Lara fall. She’d keep an eye on her, ready to pull her back if need be.
“Don’t worry about me. Or us.”
No matter what else happened, Lara was certain there’d always be an us. Even if she had to move heaven and earth for it to be so.
“I can’t really promise that I won’t worry about you because I care about you. Worry comes with the territory. But I won’t worry about us.” Bo had faith in their love for each other, that no matter what storm may come, they could weather it.