The Tomb Raider (lara) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-02-15 16:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, bo dennis, lara croft |
Who: Lara and Bo
What: Birthdaycation
Where: Indonesia
When: 2/13
Rating: PG
Now, the trip in and of itself was a gift to Lara, but Bo had still gotten something else for her. Bo was a firm believer that someone should have something physical to unwrap on their birthday. And at Christmas. Trips and gift cards were all well and good, but Bo believed everyone should be able to actually open something as well. Bo had somehow managed to get Lara’s wrapped present to Bali intact, though she’d left it concealed in the suitcase so Lara didn’t get curious and find it before Bo was ready to give it to her.
It was also common knowledge that Bo wasn’t a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, she tended to work the closing shift at Logan’s bar more often than not which added to that, but even when she worked earlier or had the day off, she was more a night owl than an early bird. Except, apparently, since they arrived in Bali. Sure, they’d only really been there for one day, but still. The sunset the night before had been gorgeous. Bo had woken up shortly before dawn, but had lain there for a little bit before she realized the sun was coming up.
So she got up, doing her best to not disturb Lara as she grabbed her kimono robe and walked out onto the deck of the villa and gazed out at the valley below. It was beyond breathtaking to watch the sun rise and the light start to bring vibrancy to the land. She leaned on the railing, thinking this was one of the most beautiful sights in the world.
Conversely, Lara was in fact a morning person, both by nature and virtue of her profession. But she’d put in many late nights before, of course, including the one the night before.
Though that had been less business and more pleasure and had gone a long way to a dreamless sleep..
She ached, in good ways, as she always did, and despite Bo’s best efforts her movement did draw Lara out of sleep. But she didn’t get out of bed, simply sat up, silent as a panther, and watched her beloved take in the sunrise.
One of the most beautiful sights in the world indeed. Lara’s chest tightened, a tear rolling down her cheek even as she smiled because god she loved this woman.
Slowly, quietly, she slipped out of bed, not bothering with a robe herself as she padded towards her wife and slipped her arms around her from behind. “Good morning.”
She hadn’t heard Lara get up and walk out towards her, Bo was too enraptured by the sunrise. Perhaps her wife was rubbing off on her in more ways than one with her growing love of traveling and seeing new places. She liked the adventure, and seeing what the world had to offer. But most of all, she loved sharing it with Lara. And the simple fact she’d chosen a place this time that Lara hadn’t been to made it all the more special. It was a first time experience for them both.
Smiling, Bo leaned back against Lara. “Good morning,” she responded as she set her hands over Lara’s. “Did you sleep well?”
Lara kissed Bo’s shoulder, nuzzling that spot after. Her voice was still thick from sleep. “Slept like the dead. It was fantastic.”
Valentine’s Day and her birthday being terrible aside, this was already turning into a good trip.
Bo chuckled. “So am I correct in thinking you liked my tactic for wearing you out?” She teased. Bo well knew by now that sometimes Lara had trouble sleeping. So now and then she tried to employ sexual tactics to exhaust her enough to get a good night’s rest.
“It’s a good tactic,” Lara admitted. It took little effort for Bo to find her on switch, especially when there were no other distractions.
It usually took some effort when Lara was researching or distracted, but even then Bo rarely failed.
“What about you? How did you sleep?” Lara rested her chin on Bo’s shoulder and peered out through the window.
“I’m glad you approve.” Bo liked pleasuring Lara, and enjoyed getting her to unravel in such a way. And, well, outside of the fact that sex was necessary to keep Bo healthy, she just enjoyed being that close to Lara, to feel her skin against her own.
“I slept quite well. Didn’t expect to wake up this early, but the view is certainly something that can’t be missed.” Bo leaned her head against Lara’s, watching the sunrise bathe the valley below in golden light.
“Careful, love, or you’ll become a morning person just like me.” Lara pulled part of Bo’s robe aside a little, so she could kiss the skin of her shoulder instead of cloth.
She focused on the light from the sun, and the way it made Bo’s face shine.
“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me,” she quipped, then shivered a little at the kiss to her skin. It was definitely nice and warm, not just from the sunlight falling on her, but from Lara’s proximity. She just wanted to stay there like this forever.
Lara certainly had been rubbing off on Bo last night. She smirked against her shoulder, keeping that thought to herself. “I had the best view when I woke up. You were bathed in golden light, shadows dancing across your body.”
“Did you? Well I’m happy to know you liked the view.” Bo finally turned around in Lara’s arms, sliding her own arms around her neck. “And now I have the best view.” She said with a smile. She then leaned in to give Lara a proper good morning kiss.
“Bullshit,” Lara said, before being silenced by that good morning kiss. She ran her fingers through Bo’s hair, down her cheek and under her jaw as she let the kiss linger.
And then her stomach grumbled.
They could definitely sit there and argue over who had the best view, but Bo didn’t feel like playing that game right now. When she heard Lara’s stomach rumble, she couldn’t help but to chuckle into the kiss before breaking it gently. “Sounds like we should think about breakfast,” she commented with a grin as she brushed her fingers through Lara’s hair.
“Mm,” Lara agreed, unsure what the plan was. She’d barely paid attention coming in; it had been dark and her focus had mostly been on her wife. “Thoughts?”
“It’s taken care of,” Bo assured her. She gave her a soft kiss. “Why don’t you put something on and I’ll handle it?” No, Bo wasn’t cooking, but all she had to do was warm the food up.
“You want me to wear clothing?” Lara asked, putting her hand to Bo’s forehead. “You haven’t come down with a travel bug, have you?”
Winking, Lara sauntered back towards the bed, finding a shirt and pair of shorts to put on. “Do you have plans for today? I feel kind strange. Not having a plan.”
“I don’t know, maybe I’ll need you to be a doctor and give me an exam,” she teased right back with a grin. As Lara went to put something on, Bo went into the kitchen and pulled out the breakfast food that she’d had waiting for them and started warming it up. It was a good, hearty breakfast, one that was good to have after a night of passion and before a day of exploring.
“My plan was more of the how about we explore variety. After all, this is off the beaten track for tourists, there’s bound to be a lot of interesting things to find and explore. And it’d most likely help plan what we’ll do for the rest of the time we’re here.”
“Maybe later,” Lara promised. She stuck her tongue out at Bo. “I’ll stitch you up without painkillers.”
Yes, she was definitely in a good mood, and she sounded a little hopeful and excited. “Hiking?”
“No painkillers? Talk about hardcore,” Bo replied with a wide grin. It was definitely good to see Lara in such a good mood. It always made Bo happy that she could get Lara in this mood on a day she typically hated.
“Yes, hiking. We can go down to the village and get some food in the market to take with us while hiking, if you want.” While breakfast was warming up, Bo set the table for them. She was trying to decide when exactly to give Lara her present. While they ate? When they were done and before they left?
Lara had stitched herself up numerous times without painkiller. Even on her most recent trip, the one she’d come home injured from, she’d done most of the healing herself.
“I think it’s a date then,” Lara said, watching Bo set the table, eyes glittering.
There was also that one time where Bo stitched Lara up without painkillers. And Lara had once stitched her up without painkillers before her succubus nature had taken control. So neither of them were strangers to that.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she responded and gave Lara a big, warm smile. With the table set, she checked on the food. “Alright, make yourself comfortable. This isn’t quite English breakfast, but it’s still pretty hearty and should give us a good energy boost.”
It was one reason they had true love, Lara had joked once. She took a seat at the table, choosing the one that she thought would keep her closest to her wife. Lara usually preferred being close enough to touch Bo. Even if they ever visited Croft Manor in London (a fact Lara really did need to rectify) she wouldn’t eat very far from her on that huge table.
Love did conquer all as long as one let it. They’d had their share of problems of course, but they’d come through it all stronger. Bo served breakfast, then sat down next to Lara. “I’m going to let you take the lead on where you want to go hiking. You’re the one who has direction sense. I’d probably just get us lost in the woods.” She chuckled, reaching out and taking Lara’s hand in hers before picking up the fork in her other hand and started eating.
“Once I know where to start, I can figure it out from there.” She leaned her elbows on the table, eyes sparkling with excitement. “Maybe we’ll discover something! Lost ruins or evidence of previous inhabitants.”
Oh, Lara knew she wouldn’t be the first to find those places,but it would be new to her and that was enough.
“Anything is possible, though I have little doubt that you’ll find something.” Bo said with a smile, loving the sparkle in her eyes. This was exactly one of the reasons she’d chosen a place that wasn’t a tourist hotbed. They could actually stretch their legs and maybe find something interesting.
“I’m glad I brought my camera and gear.” Lara sat back a little, looking thoughtful. “There’s diving, too?”
She wondered if she’d find a lake or a pond and if she should pack something for that, then reasons she could probably just go nude.
“I’m sure there is. Even if we don’t find a lake or something, this is an island. We could always hike to a beach.” Bo said after swallowing the food in her mouth. “Now you see why I told you to more or less pack all of your equipment. Though that was also the fact I didn’t know what you’d prefer to do when given the choice, so I just let you bring everything and then let you choose from there.”
Sure, it made packing and lugging the suitcases that much more of a hassle, but it also gave Lara the ability to do whatever she wanted to. Otherwise, they could find a ruin and not be equipped to delving into it because she hadn’t brought that equipment. Or likewise on not bringing the diving equipment.
“Maybe some ruins in a nice secluded cove,” Lara said, raising her eyebrows. She added coyly, “So we don’t have to pack swimsuits.”
Though maybe she should anyway, even underwater stone could be rough…
Bo arched an eyebrow and smirked a bit. “I like the sound of that. Skinny dipping while exploring.” She winked, leaving the question of what they’d be exploring up to interpretation.
“When you put it like that I don’t think we’ll find anything we’re not both rather aware of,” Lara retorted. But she hurried through her breakfast anyway, excitedly.
“I rather think that’s point,” Bo replied with a grin. She finished off her breakfast, then decided to give Lara her other present now. Mostly because she couldn’t wait to see her reaction to it. “Okay, wait here just a moment. I have something else for you.”
Bo got up and went into the bedroom. She went into her suitcase and then returned with a wrapped gift. “Happy hand-fasting anniversary,” she said and held the gift out to her wife with a warm smile. The gift was a framed map. The map seemed rather random, not depicting any piece of land on the planet that was instantly recognizable. There was a heart icon located on the map. At the bottom it simply said ‘Jupiter’ and gave the latitude and longitude of where the heart was located. It was the spot where Lara had proposed to her, and she hoped that Lara would like it.
Lara didn’t have anything for Bo besides chocolate, but then she knew how much Bo liked chocolate so didn’t feel too guilty on that count. But her wife was gone before Lara could protest or object to any more gifts. The trip was quite enough,thank you, and she was happy enough to get away from everything to be with her wife.
So she gave Bo a cross look that wasn’t all that cross. More of a ‘I love you and am fond of you but srsly?’ type of look.
That is, until she opened the gift and stared at a map. Lara blinked her eyes at it as it registered and she recognized the coordinates. Lara lifted her eyes to Bo’s, and she was crying.
Bo could’ve made it worse and said ‘happy birthday’ instead, but she knew exactly how her wife would react to that, so she’d settled for the hand-fasting anniversary. That was the only title this day had that Lara wouldn’t protest. She watched as Lara opened the present, then as Lara looked at her and was crying, it made Bo’s eyes tear up.
“I found this website that does this sort of thing, and I knew it would be perfect.” She pressed her hand against Lara’s cheek, gently wiping the tears away with her thumb. “I love you.”
Bo had struck the exact right chord. Lara sometimes forgot the timing of that, and Bo's efforts to make Lara actually appreciate February 14th. She was most certainly succeeding.
She leaned her face into Bo's hand, closing her eyes and not really able to form coherent words for several precious second. Finally she managed, "It really is perfect. What made you think of it?"
Bo had taken it upon herself to make Lara not completely hate February 14th. She liked that she was succeeding in that regard. Which may have been ironic since Bo didn’t exactly view her birthday as anything special. Before meeting Lara, it had just become a normal day on the calendar for her, nothing to really mark. She still didn’t really see it as being something worth celebrating, but she wasn’t against it being marked.
“Well, my first thought was that since you’re an adventurer, you’d enjoy the map part. Figuring out what to mark on the map was harder. Hand-fasting ceremony? Wedding? Where we first met? I decided on the place where you proposed was the best option because it pretty much encompassed everything.”
It really did. Lara ran her fingers over the map, then idly traced the frame. She knew exactly where to put it when they got home, but for now she set it aside, cupped Bo's face and kissed her deeply. How this wonderful woman had come to know and understand her so well she'd never fully believe, and never take for granted.
She had to smile at the way Lara touched the map and the frame. Bo was rather proud of herself that she’d happened across that website. She no longer remembered how she’d come across it, but the important part was that Lara loved it. She returned the kiss just as deeply, brushing her fingers through Lara’s hair.
Lara leaned her forehead against Bo’s after the kiss came to its natural end. She kept her eyes closed, breathing in Bo’s scent and enjoying the warmth and closeness of her.
Finally, after a few more moments, she pulled away. “I think I’m ready for that hike, love.”
It was these sorts of moments that Bo loved the most. Just sitting there with Lara, taking in the warmth and scent of her wife in the quiet moments. She just loved the simple act of being close to Lara. They didn’t even have to be doing anything other than just sitting there.
“Alright, then let’s get dressed.” Bo said with a smile, fingers brushing along Lara’s cheek as she stood up, making quick work of putting the used dishes in the sink to take care of later before she headed to the bedroom to pull out some clothes. Tank top and pants. Cargo pants because one couldn’t have enough pockets to carry things in. And her new pair of good hiking boots, of course.
Lara switched to cargo pants and a tank top as well, along with her favorite boots, long ago broken in and still comfortable. She’d wear them until it was no longer safe to do so.
Grinning almost giddily, Lara put together a traveling pack, with basic tools, a camera, her swimsuit, and a few other odds and ends. Two climbing axes and some rope hung from the pack as well as a cantine.
“It’s a dangerous business, going out your door,” Lara quoted, withdrawing a pistol from her suitcase and sliding it into a holster on her belt. “Sometimes you need a side-arm to keep your feet.”
Bo pulled her hair into a ponytail, then set about packing some things, including an extra top and a cantine for herself. She also had a travel medical kit she put in her backpack just in case. Now, she didn’t have a gun, but Bo strapped her thigh dagger holster onto her right leg and slid her dagger into it. She also slid the Siracon into one of the pockets of her pants. At least the Siracon could act like a machete if they got into thick jungle or something. And she had a dagger for extra protection as needed.
“And not all who wander are lost,” she quoted back with a grin. “I’m ready.”
“I like to think I’d make a decent Aragorn,” Lara said, heading for the door. If that made Bo Arwen, so be it, but Lara did have a crush on Liv Tyler even if she hadn’t realized it.
Either way, Bo in one of Arwen’s dresses would be spectacular. Pulling the door open, she gestured for Bo to go first.
“Are you kidding? You’d make the best Aragorn,” Bo responded with a sly smile. She didn’t quite know if that would make her an Arwen. She was more an Eowyn as far as fighting went, but she supposed an elf was close enough to being Fae. That and, well, Bo had had a crush on Aragorn when the movies came out. Then again, she did like guys on the scruffier side of things.
She headed out the door and put her sunglasses on. Even at this time of the morning, it was still warm out. “Man, the pictures I saw of this place definitely did not do it justice.” And then she spotted the swing and grinned. “And we can use that swing. It….might have been the deciding factor in booking this trip.”
“Perhaps I should stop shaving and washing my hair.” Lara closed the door behind them, strapping her pack into a better position, and then stopping as she looked at the swing.
“Really? It does look rather fun, doesn’t it?”
She wondered if Bo’s brain was guttering at all.
“You’re perfect just the way you are,” Bo said with a grin. She liked scruffy men, she didn’t like scruffy women. Unless it was Lara just coming back from a long expedition.
“Doesn’t it? Perhaps we should give it a try later,” she said, glancing at her wife with a glint in her eye that definitely said her brain was in the gutter. Then again, Bo’s brain was in the gutter about 85-90% of the time. It was part of the territory of being a succubus.
Lara leaned in close, too close, and said in a low, growly voice. “Then it’s a good thing I packed the strap.”
Then she slipped past Bo, whistling as she found a trail and started down it.
Bo shivered at the tone of Lara’s voice and her words. “Fuck me,” she muttered as Lara slipped past her. That was certainly something to look forward to later. She shook her head and quickly moved after Lara down the trail she found.
“So in your studies, have you read anything about the history of Indonesia?” She was curious, also she just liked picking Lara’s brain when it came to history. Lara’s intelligence was incredibly sexy.
“Maybe later,” Lara called back, though she was already distracted by the forest and the thrill of something unknown and new. She slowed down so that Bo could catch up, and kept her voice respectfully low. “There was an off-shoot of our species tens of thousands of years ago that went extinct on one of the islands here. They shared the island with ancestors of modern humans, and stone tools were found on that same island, dating to over a million years old. It’s the earliest evidence anywhere on the planet that early humans could make sea crossings. The earliest known form of art was found in Java. Etchings made with a shark tooth on a fosslized clam, dating half a million years ago.”
She’d done her homework, after all.
Bo caught up, listening as Lara talked about the history of human evolution. “By the use of past-tense I assume that means this off-shoot of the human race doesn’t exist anymore.” Bo didn’t precisely like saying ‘we’ when it came to humans because she wasn’t human anymore. She didn’t know what the specific genus and whatever for Fae was, but they weren’t homo sapiens.
“Though the etchings on a clam is actually pretty cool. Making etchings on something that small is pretty difficult, especially for that long ago, isn’t it?”
“They seemed to have died out twelve thousands years ago,” Lara answered, pushing away some foliage. She hadn’t even gotten into the really interesting recorded history. “They were a pygmy race, about three feet tall.”
She held a branch for Bo to step under. “No, it’s pretty simple to make but for it to survive this long? That’s the surprise!”
“So they’re like real hobbits,” Bo commented. Which would be pretty cool, actually. She ducked under the branch as Lara held it for her. “Ah, I see. Well that’s still pretty cool. It’s always interesting to see what survives the ravages of time like that. Especially on an island. A volcanic island.” Bo knew that much. She’d poked at some general knowledge of Indonesia when she’d initially booked the trip, but she’d let Lara fill in details.
“Hmm. Seems like it. Island pygmyism isn’t too uncommon either. I should look into theories about that.” She also wondered what had been lost to time and nature, but there was no time to mourn that.
She found a stream that led to the sea and turned inland to follow it. Where there was fresh water, there might be signs of people!
“Does island pygmyism only happen in people? Or does it happen in animals as well?” Bo asked, curious about that. She wasn’t sure if that level of knowledge fell under Lara’s umbrella or if it was more a question for someone who studying biology and evolution and all of that.
She followed along, keeping her eyes on where she was stepping so she didn’t accidentally step on something she shouldn’t or twist an ankle or something, but she glanced around now and then, taking in the beauty of nature around them. And she also wondered about the wildlife on this island. Things in the line of jaguars or leopards or other carnivorous animals that might try to eat them. Also snakes were a concern.
“You know? I don’t know. Something for us to look up back at the bungalow.” Lara hopped onto some rocks in the middle of the stream as it started to widen a bit, then jumped to the other side. There was some kind of pool she could see, with what appeared to be the remains of a structure. “Now what’s this?”
Bo watched Lara hop across the stream. She wondered if she could manage hopping across the stream like that, or just run across it. Bo wasn’t always the most graceful of people, except when she was fighting. However, she managed to hop onto the rocks, then land on the other side of the stream without twisting an ankle, so that was good. Hearing Lara’s question, she looked up and saw what she saw. “Well, I think we found adventure.”
“Or adventure found us,” Lara suggested. She approached the pool of water carefully; the water wasn’t brackish or dirty, and had plants and flowers floating in it, but that didn’t mean she wanted to ingest any of it.
“It looks like a fallen pillar of some kind. I think there was a little gazebo type structure in the middle of this pond.”
Having had played those games, the absolute irony of Lara making that statement was not lost her. And Bo managed to keep herself from chuckling about it. Instead, she followed her wife, moving carefully. She glanced at the pond and the pillar.
“A gazebo? I assume you mean something a little different than what are in city parks?”
“Oh. Yes. It’s just the closest thing I could think of to give an idea of what we’re looking at. A structure with no walls and a ceiling, though there’s no telling what it was used for.”
Carefully, Lara bounced over to the ruins to get a closer look.
“Maybe it was a bathhouse of some sort?” Bo suggested, though she was most likely wrong. She was just going off of the fact the structure had been built on a pond. Unlike Lara, Bo didn’t bounce over to the ruins, she was a little slower making her way over there but she finally came up by Lara’s side, looking down at the ruined pillar. “Any idea how old it might be?”
“That’s a possibility.” Lara smiled at her, gesturing her closer. “Though if all else fails, assume religious meaning or use. Though that’s probably also going to be wrong.”
“It’s at least six hundred years old. The design isn’t much older than that though. Less than one thousand!” Excitement tinged her voice.
“True, there were a lot of things built for religious reasons of varying sorts.” Bo looked at the pillar and noted the excitement in Lara’s voice. “So, how can you tell it’s six hundred years old? I mean, is it the way it was carved? The decoration on it or lack thereof?” She was honestly curious. Bo never understood how someone could just look at some old monument or building and slap a rough date on it like that without like, carbon-dating it or having a record of when the thing was initially built.
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” Lara said, hand sliding up Bo’s back slowly and exploringly. Her work did sometimes make her excited, and this was both work and pleasure.
“Most of the time we don’t know the function of something, we assume religious reasons. Even funnier, when something looks like… well… sexual, it gets catalogued for religious functionality. You should see the British Museum’s collection of dildios masquerading as ‘phallic art.’”
Bo shivered a bit at the feel of Lara’s hand on her back. She arched an eyebrow and looked at her wife. “So you just lump it in with some sort of religious functionality? I suppose there can be some sort of religious things in regards to sex. But seriously, the British museum has a collection of dildos? Now that sounds like something I should see.” She said with a smirk. Perhaps whenever they took a trip to London, that would be high on the list of things Bo would definitely want to see.
“They were too embarrassed to mark what they’re actually used for,” Lara said. “And to be honest, until I met you I was among those too embarrassed. Though I would have classified them correctly anyway.”
Just blushed furiously while doing so.
“Then clearly I’ve done well to get you to be less embarrassed about it,” she quipped, a gleam in her eyes. Bo slipped an arm around Lara, stealing a kiss in the process. Bo had been sexual by nature before she’d dreamed, it had just been ramped up to the triple digits after becoming a succubus. She did enjoy rubbing off on Lara. Literally.
“If you’re a good girl,” Lara promised, kissing Bo back. “I do have plans for you and either that swing or that hammock.”
But later, definitely later. For now, she still wanted to explore. “How large is this island again?”
“With a promise like that, I’ll be on my best behavior,” Bo responded with a smile. And just the thought of Lara taking her on the swing or the hammock was quite the turn on. “I don’t know, large enough to have volcanoes and civilization?” Which wasn’t really saying much, but Bo hadn’t exactly paid attention to how large the island was when she’d booked the trip and sought about learning the basics of what to expect here.
“Pity,” Lara murmured. She rested her cheek against Bo’s. “I suppose it’s too large to explore in a single day, don’t you think? Why don’t we look around for a few more hours before returning?”
Bo closed her eyes, nuzzling her cheek against Lara’s. “Probably. But that sounds good to me. We can always look up maps of the island or something back at the villa if you want to pinpoint specific areas you might want to explore in,” she suggested. Bo felt that Lara would prefer to just explore, but it never hurt to suggest options.
“I love that you know me so well that you realize I’ll end up getting lost here forever without a plan of action,” Lara pointed out. She patted Bo on the cheek, the gesture turning into more of a caress by the end of it. “Lets head back.”
“Sometimes it’s a good thing to have a plan of action.” Bo stated with a smile. She leaned into Lara’s touch, relishing in the touch. “Alright. We can make a plan of action and explore from there based on what you feel like doing.” Bo took Lara’s hand in hers, threading her fingers through Lara’s and let her lead the way back.