5620/Etruscan Museum Gala

Etruscan Museum Gala
Date of Scene:	22 October 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Thomas Raith

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Lara Croft has posed:
A Sunday night event at the Natural History Museum. Standard business hours had expired and now those at the Museum were being given an exclusive night with a new exhibit. Etruscan collections from around the world were here on display tonight, from simple vases to large statues of Centaurs and a man eating his enemy's brain... Its certainly an interesting collection and it dates so far back that its attracted a lot of attention.

Of course its a gala event and the proceeds are going to a local Manhattan Charity to keep arts in the schools.

Lara Croft is in attendance, since she's a contributor to the collection, having recently recovered a trove of ancient Etruscan weapons from a recently discovered tomb in Italy. Tonight she's dressed in a sleeveless black dress with a silver chain around her neck and her hair is tied up in a bun on the crown of her head.

She's moving about, speaking with guests who approach her... most know of her, or are in the process of being introduced to her by someone who knows her.

Thomas Raith has posed:
"Lara? Lara!" One of those old ladies who are always at these events calls out. She's 50 going on 70, overweight but not fat, wearing clothes that are just in fashion and jewelry that could pay for ten people to go to collage. "Lara, I wanted to introduce you to one of our doners. Oh now where did that man go! Oh, there he is..Thomas!" And there he is, dressed in white silk Armani and looking like he stepped off a magizine cover. "Lara Croft, I'd like you to meet Thomas Raith. And Vice Versa."

The White Court Vampire can't help a little smile that touches his lips at the rather forceful introduction. A smile that broadens as he recognises the woman. "Well hello again.."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara stands with a glass of untouched champagne in her hands, it'd been given to her two introductions ago but she wasn't really feeling the need to indulge in the drink and was waiting for a place to set it down. She turns then to see the woman she knew and to accept the next introduction when she heard the name and it made her expression soften a bit because it was a name not easily forgotten due to its uniqueness.

And when Thomas appears and approaches her, she shows a faint warm smile to the man that she'd recently met. "Hello again indeed." Lara replies to him, she nods once to the woman who'd introduced them and goes on to explain that they'd met before in Thomas' club.

Her eyes go back to Thomas then and she raises the glass up now to take a sip from it. "I hadn't realized that this sort of... event... was your, sphere, Mister Raith." She says then.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith looks around a bit and smiles just a bit, "Well my family can trace it's pedigree all the way back to the Ancient Etruskens." And then, perhaps surprising both women, he says something in that exact tounge, not exactlly a language they teach at most colleges. "Irregardless," he says switching back to English, "It was a passion of my father's, one of the few bonding experiences we shared when I was growing up so..."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara recognizes the language and it makes her show a soft smile. "Impressive." She says quietly back to him. "That language is not entirely known, I only know a handful of phrases from it from the time I spent researching recently."

When the woman who introduced them asked Lara to show Thomas the collection she'd brought in, Lara nodded softly and motioned for the man to follow her. "That night I came into your club?" She says to him then as they walk. "I'd just come back from the tail end of a trip that had saw me recovering these and having them sent back here." They approach a glass wall and behind it are racks of weapons and bits of armor. "These were recovered from a Tarquinia digsite where an entire underground cavern was discovered beneath a lost necropoli."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith nods slightly, "I'd be happy to tutor you in it, if need be, but I can only speak it. The written form is just a collection of squiggles to me." he confesses casually as he is guided over towards the collection of weapons. "They are beauitiful." He says, clearly meaning it. He seems to be taken with an ancient kopis and says, "I've actully trained with a Kukri, they remind me of these."

Lara Croft has posed:
Another sip of her drink is had from her glass as she stands with him before the display and then looks back over at him. "I'll remember that." Lara says with regard to the spoken dialogue for that language. "As it were however, reading it is a bit more what I'm after than speaking it." She shows a light grin to the man then. "Life tends to work that way, does it not?" Her eyes look back to the display of weaponry then and she looks at the pieces that resemble that weapon, the kukri. "You're right, they do." She looks back to him then. "I'll keep my eyes pealed for priceless Kukris to recover for you as a thanks for being a supporter to the museum and its efforts here in the city." She smiles faintly again for him.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith smiles a bit, "Well if you come across something that you need translated, maybe I can foreward it to my sister, her name is Lara too actully. I'm pretty sure she can read it somewhat." He says amused. He notes her still untouched champagne and empties his own before offering to trade glasses with her. "What about you? You have a certain preditor's grace to you. Have you studied any perticular forms?" he asks curiously and conversationally.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara swaps glasses with him then and she turns to a man with a tray and deposits the empty upon it for him to take from them. She looks back to Thomas then and nods her head once to him. "I'll remember that as well." She says pleasantly before she draws in a breath then and lets her hands go down in front of her lap where her fingers lace together. "I... have trained in fencing, and various self defense courses throughout my youth." She looks from him back to the display. "I never thought any of it would see practical use in a real dangerous situation, but." She glances back then to Thomas. "I was wrong about that." She quickly brings up a little smile then to try to make the words come across less dramatic.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith smiles a bit, "It's amazing how those things we learn with no intention of ever using tend to occasionally make themselves invaluable." He says and there is a play of flirtation in his tone, then again that is almost always the case. "Perhaps we can test each other some time. It's been a while since I was given the chance to cross blades with a skilled opponent." He looks back to the weaponry and nods his approval, "This is your passion, isn't it? Finding the past so that it can be known to the future."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara holds a faint smile as she's in a good mood tonight and enjoying herself, which is rare for parties... but this is one set in her element, so it helps. She looks to the indicated display again. "This is my passion." She affirms with a subtle nod to the response before she looks back at him with the light from the display illuminating the side of her face while its dimmer lit behind them. "Out of college I thought this would be the bulk of my life, finding these sorts of things and... simply saving them from others who'd simply seek profit off of them. But then, I... my first real 'adventure' took me down a pathway that lead me to where I am with SHIELD now. Essentially the same sort of work, but with higher stakes... so to speak." She looks back to the recovered items here. "These sorts of recovry now, are more of a side job when I have free moments."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith smirks a bit, "Nice work when you can get it, hmm?" he asks with that same playful tone. "Still working for SHIELD doesn't exactlly sound boring, though I thought I read somewhere that they take their really interesting finds and put them on a rocket straight into the sun. That's not true is it?" he asks, honestly seeming curious, but disbelieving. Like someone who has heard a rediculas urban legend enough times that he's beginig to doubt his own doubts.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara listens to this and she can't help but crack a smile and then laugh. She glances downward then and slowly nods her head as she looks back up. "Its all true." She replies. "All of it." A moment later and she's just grinning. "SHIELD stores the dangerous items in a wide variety of secure locations. Some, have gone to space, yes. Others are kept in boxes here on Earth. Like in that movie, Indiana Jones. Very much like that." Identical actually, because its a place Lara has access to and is down within quite regularly.

"SHIELD, keeps me busy, yes. And they've trained me to be an even more capable fighter, something I take a lot more serious these days." Lara's sleeveless dress is showing some scars on her wrists and on the back of her right arm in fact, she has nice skin but its certainly seen some action.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith laughs with her, shaking his head a bit. "And what makes an item dangerious exactlly?" he asks curiously, and gestures to the kopis. "I could make that quite dangerious, unless that security guard draws his gun. Then the gun is more dangerous, but like the Kopis only as dangerous as the intentions of the man weilding it. It seems...wasteful somehow."

Lara Croft has posed:
When a small group of people came to look at this display, Lara turned and motioned for Thomas to follow along with her so they could walk along the rows of items and historic wonders while they spoke. She smiles softly over at him. "Not quite like that." She starts. She chases her mind for a second to summon a good example. "Recently..." She looks back to him. "Earlier this yer and most of last... I was searching for a collection of magical spheres that each held the ability to control the seasons of the entire planet. They were all... guarded by ancient Sorcerer's long deceased, but the Sorcerer's had individually left dangerous traps behind associated with each orb, to ensure its safety."

Lara takes a second to exhale and look ahead of them as they walk. "A... very bad group of individuals were hunting these relics, and... I had to get them before they did. To sum it up horribly simply, and without much fanfare." She glances back to him yet again with a little grin.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith grins a little bit, "Sounds like it was a hell of a party," He says and offers her his arm as they walk along the rows, giving her the option to take it. "But it doesn't invalidate my point does it? A very bad group of people wanted to use it. You stoped them. Bravo. But in the right hands? A Touch of winter during the California Wildfires? Longer springs in famine parched villages? How is this not a good idea?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara does take his arm because she grew up on etiquette and the offer from him was a kind one, plus she's in heels and she hates heels. "Well..." Lara says with a soft smile. "You're looking at it from an idealistic standpoint. Which is... charming." She looks back over to him. "But misguided." And she takes a breath. "Have you heard of HYDRA?" She has to ask again then as her eyes travel to a set of statues set behind a glass panel. "Their intentions for such magical artifacts aren't to help the world. They're to... sweep it off of existence and rebuild it from the ground up with their own people, their own goals and agendas as the sole proprieters of the planet as a whole." She looks back to him then again. "As for SHIELD, they have no right to alter the world's natural weather. That is more power than they deserve to have, even if their intentions are sound... good intentions aren't enough."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith nods slightly, smirking just a bit and with a tone that is obviously quoting someone says "With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly. Do not tempt me, for I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have much need of it. Great perils are before me." He smirks just a bit and adds, "I was a bit of a geek when I was growing up. He nods slightly though in understanding. "Hydra was that Nazi splinter group, right? They were the ones after your orbs?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara just softly grins at those words he speaks. "Is that... Lord of the Rings?" She asks him then. "I read that at university for a course, but I can't recall if thats the source of that. Sounds like it though." She'd never seen the films either, as fantasy / sci-fi weren't really her thing ironically enough.

"Hydra funds the group that I was working against. A group known as Trinity. They're... esentially Hydra's version of what I do for SHIELD." She looks back over to him as she steps up to a statue of a Centaur in the center of the hallway. She looks up to the ancient art piece and continues. "They're searching Earth for powerful relics that can sway the fight into their favor." Her hands rub softly together and she looks back to Thomas. "And we're tasked with stopping them. Beating them... to the punch, for lack of a better way to put it." And she's now smirking a little at herself.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith nods and says, "Yes, the first one." He says with a bit of a grin, turning to face the Centaur and then glancing over at her his lips turning into a slight smirk. "Would you find it completely untoward of me if I told you that when you were talking about this just now, you transended from beautiful to radiant?" He asks, stroking her hand and giving that much too nice pleasurable sensation to it that he did in the club. "Passion I suppose, but it virtually transforms you."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara feels the touch to her hand and she looks back over at him to hear his compliment which makes her smile more brightly. "Well thank you for saying so." She says softly back at him before she shifts her weight a little and then tilts her head. "So what of you, Mister Raith?" She asks. "What is it that you're passionate for? What is it that makes you get out of bed in the morning and makes you speak... with that same emotion? You can't possibly just be interested in operating a club, even though its a nice place of course... I just mean, it seems like you're after more than that." She's not sure if thats offensive or not, she hopes its not but she has oftened said things such as that and they're taken poorly. Its part of being a bit socially awkward after all.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith considers her question for a long moment, giving it a certain amount of time to think on. "Life I suppose," He says with bit of a smile. "Life is a gift, it's something precious. I try to live for each day. For each now. Now is precious, no matter how long you live, now will never come again." His smile streaches a bit more. "I love the club because it lets me experience people I wouldn't meet normally meet. I don't just feast at the buffet of life, I suck the marrow from the bone."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara looks between the man and the statue that they're standing in front of. But when he speaks those last words she focuses on him and smiles softly at him. "Well it sounds like you've got what you love then. Your club and your passion is your work there." She reaches a hand over and offers his forearm a soft squeeze. She's approached by another person then who speaks into her ear and then she sighs softly. "Okay." She says to that person who nods softly and steps away. Lara looks to Thomas. "I have to meet with someone. I hope you don't mind... I'll try to find you to speak again before the night is over?" She's apparently been called away, a part of being one of the main contributors to the museum and this evening's event.