Sweetheart, did you not eat again?
Who: Lara and Bo What: Lara comes back from a trip When: Late November Where: Croft Manor Rating: PG
Even though Bo knew that Lara preferred her alive, she still refused to chi-suck anyone else. She really couldn’t bring herself to chi-suck someone else just for the sake of needing to feed. She also still had trouble at the whole if she was dying and needed healing but Lara wasn’t there, it was okay to use someone else. It went completely against her succubus nature, but Bo didn’t care. She’d fight against it because she loved Lara and didn’t want to hurt her. Bo really was loyal to a fault in that way.
So while Lara was gone, Bo didn’t make any attempts to chi-suck anyone. For the most part, Bo was fine. Rundown and sluggish, but she wasn’t as bad as she had been that one time that she’d rather not remember. But if Lara would’ve been gone a couple more days, it might’ve gotten to that point. As it was, it was just difficult to get up and do things, so she’d taken the day off, citing succubus reasons.
Bo was currently picking up the kitchen, getting rid of a few chocolate bar wrappers she’d left out. Fae was following her around.
“Don’t worry, Fae, Lara should be home soon,” she said with a smile at the dog. After tossing the wrappers in the garbage, Bo leaned against the counter, taking a few breaths. She was getting tired, and she was definitely hungry. But she wasn’t going to jump her wife the instant she walked in the door. After all, Lara might tired from traveling, so she could wait.
It had been an adventurous week and a half, and Lara had a new scar or two for Bo to fuss over. A bandage made her back itch, and her depth perception was shot as a patch was over her left eye. Temporary, but annoying.
As she strode up the drive way, she could hear Fae starting to go berserk from excitement, and was nearly bowled over when the dog greeted her. She hugged her, stroking her fur and letting her greet her properly, before standing. "Bo, I'm home! Don't panic, it's only minor."
Best to warn her ahead of time, anyway. She followed Fae into the kitchen and smiled at Bo. "Afternoon, love."
Of course upon hearing the words ‘don’t panic’ made Bo worry. When those were the lead words, it tended to be panic-worthy whatever was being referenced. When Lara entered the kitchen, Bo stood upright, then gasped.
“Oh my god, what happened? Are you alright?” Minor or not, Lara had a patch over her eye. That didn’t exactly set her at ease for the injury being minor.
“Bad encounter with a trap,” Lara said, holding up her hands in an attempt to keep Bo calm. “Its temporary, the doctor said my vision will return in a week or two.”
“A week or two? Are you sure? Were you hurt anywhere else?” Bo was definitely concerned and she walked closer to Lara. She walked a little carefully, mostly to not give away that she was weakening and needing to feed. She was more focused on her wife and her injuries than herself.
“Just scrapes and bruises,” Lara said, saving the bandage on her back for later. And to her, it really was just a scrape. It hadn’t even required stitches, after all.
Her eye narrowed as she took in her wife’s demeanor. She didn’t need depth perception to see something was wrong. “Sweetheart, did you not eat again?”
Bo wasn’t certain whether to take Lara at her word or not. After all, given both her line of work and her dreams, Lara tended to get frequent injuries. Not unlike Bo’s own dreams when she tended to wake up injured rather often.
At Lara’s question, Bo stopped moving towards her. She briefly contemplated saying she was fine, but she also knew that wouldn’t deter Lara. “No, I didn’t,” she admitted as she leaned against the counter.
Lara did get some frequent injuries, to the point where she was a little lassie faire about the whole thing. Her eye was the worst she’d had in a very long time.
She approached her wife, touching her shoulder and then her cheek. “Bo, you can’t keep doing this. What if I’m delayed? Or worse?”
Bo could certainly understand being less than concerned about injuries. That tended to be the attitude Bo had about any injuries she tended to get. Even near-death experiences didn’t phase her. But Bo could actually heal near instantaneously, unless she purposely didn’t want to heal.
Or cursed knives stabbed her and left wounds that refused to heal completely.
“I don’t know, I just can’t get past that it feels like cheating. And I’m scared that I’ll lose the fight with my succubus nature and do something incredibly stupid that I shouldn’t.” Bo didn’t actually know if Lara was aware of how much of a constant fight it was to keep her succubus nature from running rampant, but it was one. And it was exhausting, but it was a fight she’d never stop fighting because she refused to hurt Lara like that.
“It’s not cheating,” Lara insisted, though the only way she actually accepted it was accepting that it was Bo’s nature to need chi. “If our situation were reversed, would you rather I die, or take the sustenance I need? The more you starve yourself, the worse it will be if you do lose control.”
“I’d rather you take the sustenance you need. I just...I can’t get past the whole ‘someone else’ part. I’m too loyal, apparently.” She brushed some hair behind her ear and moved to sit down on a chair at the counter. “Maybe it’d be easier if I knew who you’d approve of. Or, you know, set boundaries or something. As much as I hate using Lauren as an example, when it was obvious I needed more than her as far as chi went, we had a talk and she set rules for me. First one being no Dyson because of obvious ex-boyfriend reasons. So, maybe if you did the same for me it’d help?”
At the very least, if she knew Lara approved of someone, or didn’t approve of someone, that would help Bo in maintaining her strength while Lara was gone so she wouldn’t get weak and potentially die before she got home.
“We don’t have any exes around,” Lara said, sitting on the counter and pulling Bo up with her. Ground rules, something they should have done a long time ago. “Logan.. I suppose. You can’t kill him, for one thing, and I don’t think he’d assume things of you because of it.”
But there should be a backup.
She almost mentioned that her exes tended to be more one night stands or friends-with-benefits as opposed to actual exes, but Bo didn’t want to get into that. When Lara pulled her up onto the counter, she leaned her shoulder against Lara’s.
“I don’t think he would. He’s a gentleman like that. Perhaps I should talk to him, see if he’d be okay with that before it becomes a necessity.” As for a back-up, Bo didn’t exactly have anyone specific in mind. At least no one she was close enough to and comfortable enough to ask.
“Do that.” It wasn’t an order or a request, but a suggestion. Lara rarely gave orders at all; she was a loner and didn’t always work so well with others, but she could when she needed to. “And we’ll … I suppose there should be someone else. In case he isn’t around.”
Luckily, that was something Bo would actually do, whether it was an order or not. It would definitely feel weird, but she knew that Lara would rather she was alive and well than starving and potentially dead upon returning home.”It wouldn’t hurt. Though I’m not really close enough to anyone else to ask if I can suck their chi when you aren’t around. God, that sounds horrible.” Bo made a face. Sometimes, she really hated being a succubus.
Lara chuckled, taking Bo’s hand and kissing her fingers. “We’ll figure that part out later. Once things are settled with Logan.” Lara had no problem with Bo’s past with men or bisexuality and she liked Logan, but she felt like women were less likely to demand more from Bo than she was willing to give.
Some women aside, anyway. “I don’t know if I’d prefer a woman or man for the back-up to be honest.”
“Alright,” Bo said with a nod. She gave Lara’s hand a little squeeze after she kissed her fingers. Sometimes she really didn’t like these kinds of conversations even though she knew they were necessary.
“If you have a preference, or even have a suggestions for someone, let me know. And if I think of anyone, I’ll let you know and we’ll go from there.” Bo gently squeezed Lara’s hand again, then rubbed her thumb against her hand. “I’m sorry about you coming home to me like this.”
She then looked up at Lara, reaching up with her free hand to gently caress Lara’s cheek. “I have to say, despite it covering an injury, you look sexy in the eye patch.”
“Not right now, but..that’s a good idea.” Lara sighed, looking at their hands and feeling a little discombobulated with one eye behind an eye patch. “I’m sorry I came home like this. I know it makes you worry.”
She lifted her head and flashed a smile. “Revenge for your halloween costume.”
“We both worry each other, it comes with the territory of caring. I’m just glad that you’re alive and walking under your own power.” She moved her hand to touch Lara’s cheek beneath the eye patch, but she made sure Lara saw move her hand there so she didn’t startle her.
“I needed something other than a schoolgirl uniform to wear. Though perhaps I should wear corsets more often?” Bo wasn’t above doing that to accentuate her very ample cleavage.
She should have been paying more attention, the trap had caught her unawares. But she wasn’t used to old traps actually working outside of her dreams. At least in the place she’d been. Lesson learned and she was lucky; it could have been worse.
“Corsets..good.” She exhaled slowly.
Bo always worried when Lara went off without her, or anyone, on these expeditions. Partially because of the potential for injuries like what Lara currently had. Another was that she could get very seriously injured, or worse, and be trapped where she was, unable to get help because no one else was there. But as much as she wanted to travel with Lara, she would impose herself on her and wait to be invited to join her. After all, Lara had a job to do, and Bo knew she’d only be a distraction, even if she wasn’t trying to be.
“I thought you might approve of that,” she quipped. “Though I suddenly realize I forgot to properly welcome you home. So, welcome home, babe,” she said before she gave Lara a welcome home kiss.
And despite the fact that she was hungry, it was just a normal kiss.
“I’m glad to be home,” Lara said, kissing her back. Fondly, sweetly, lovingly. All the things and all the ways that she felt about Bo and what Bo meant to her. She pulled her head back and couldn’t resist, “Though wherever you are, love. That’s home.”
A wide grin spread across her face. “You’re so romantic, I love you,” she responded, her eyes glittering with happiness as she gave her wife another kiss. “You’re home for me, too. It’s not the same without you here.” It wasn’t quite the whole Lara was the other half of her kind of effect, but the fact that life just wasn’t complete without her wife around.
Lara nuzzled her nose against Bo’s chin. “Lets get you a snack, hmm? I think I’m going to need a little break before the full meal, if you’re as hungry as I think you are.”
Sometimes, it could be a very tantric affair with Bo.
“Let’s just go with a snack. You need your strength and energy to heal yourself. If only I could heal you by giving you chi, that would solve a lot of issues.” Bo could use chi to bring people back to life, but she couldn’t use it to heal them. Which was really irksome to her.
“I wish we had someone who could actually do that kind of research.” That they could trust, aka not Lauren. Lara picked Bo up and carried her towards the stairs. “In the meantime. Snack time.”