5866/The Dark Book

The Dark Book
Date of Scene:	28 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Wong is the sweetest.
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Doctor Strange

---

Lara Croft has posed:
Well its been an interesting week for Lara. A little before Thanksgiving and the British woman helped stop a magically constructed guardian monster from rampaging through Manhattan's lower end. After she used the book that created it, however, the book itself became somehow... magically fused to her person.

Even if she left the room it was in and went too far away fro it, it would appear beside her, or near to her again laying on a counter or table top. What made matters worse was if she slept at night the book would utter the sounds of children whispering, sometimes crying... all words spoken in the book's native origins. Phrygian. A language that Croft was only mildly familiar with due to its close relation to that of Greek.

Needless to say that SHIELD's WAND division was well equipped for most magics, most. But this was above the level of magic wielders that SHIELD has under its employ currently... So here Lara is.

Stepping out of her Jeep, the tired and bewildered Lady Croft is making her way toward the Sanctum Santorum's front doorway, wearing a black leather jacket, a dark maroon colored hoodie beneath it, some blue jeans and black leather boots, she holds the Dark Book clutched to her body as she ascends the steps and prepares to knock on the door.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    The door opens for Lara as she approaches the doorway and the usually empty doorway is blocked by the blad Asian man with a dark brown gi and a sweet smile painted across his gruff features as he spots Lara,

    "Miss Croft! Welcome to the Sanctum once again. I fear Stephen has not returned from his trip to Mexico." The man says, taking a step back and following the path of the door, allowing the tomb raider access into the sanctum. "Please, come in. Is there anything I can help you with?" He asks, polite and punctual.

Lara Croft has posed:
The door opened without having to knock, this didn't really surprise Lara in the least bit. She's grown accustomed to living on the fringe of the 'magicking world' as Rowlings might describe it. Though the difference between that world and reality is that in reality things tend to be a lot more complicated and a lot more... darkly slanted. Such as the tome she holds clutched to her form.

"Wong." Lara says, summoning up a smile to her youthful face. He'll note she looks quite tired though as she's gotten very little sleep with this very demanding book in her possession. "I very much hope that you can, if Strange is unavailable." Its been a long time since she even saw Stephen, over a year. They'd never found the other two Weather Spheres, but neither has Hydra up to this point either!

Lara moves to step inside, if she's able and she takes her arms off the book to hold it out in her hands with its cover facing up. Its likely Wong will see it for what it is, a book bound in what is most likely human-crafted leather, etched with runes of ill intents and purposes. "I need consultation, answers, for this." The cover of the book reads in Phrygian... 'The Dark Sister' an odd title, for an odder spell book.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Wong takes a small step back as the book is presented to him but to his credit, he steps right back up. Quickly shutting the door and locking it, Wong turns back to Lara and motions for her to enter the main room. "Come, we are going to need a bit of space and some books. Lots of books." Wong says flatly.

    The wizard starts to step away but thinks better of it, "On second thought, I'm going to help you right here. Now just stay calm miss Croft. What you have is, well, you know a bit about it already I assume, but this is a very dangerous book. One thought lost by our kind."

Lara Croft has posed:
"Thank you, Wong." Lara says when the man shows intentions of helping her, something that seems like a rather large relief for the young archaeologist who's been immersed in the strange ways of the occult for several years now, but still ultimately out of her element when it comes to the amount of experience others have with it all.

"Its a spell book, of some design. I know that much. After I read a specific clause to de-summon a terrible constructed creature's spirit, the book seems to have 'bound' itself to me. It even follows me, room to room." She tells him as she follows after him. "Rarely have I come across an item that even WAND doesn't want, so this is a new ground for me... admittedly." She says that last word a bit softer, more meekly, but thats likely due to her weariness in the moment.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Wong motions for Lara to follow him, through the common room and the museum up stairs to a back room on the second floor, another library, with a large wooden table dominating the center of the room. It has layers upon layers of books and scrolls strewn atop it's fine surface. Wong turns to the shelf off to the side and runs his fingers across the spine of several books before he pulls out a single small book, almost a pamphlet.

    It's read in quick time and he frowns at Lara when he sets the book down. "Now this is all we know about the 'Dark Sister' and her book. It's a book similar to many other books from around the world, but generally there's only one of these per religion or sometimes even language." Wong's tone is dark and grim, but he looks to Lara, "This could be called the Anatolian book of the dead." Wong explains, "Once you read from it, it is bound to you even beyond your death. The only way for it to transfer is for it to be read, successfully, once more."

Lara Croft has posed:
"I was afraid of that." Lara responds to Wong after trailing after him into the room with the stacks of books which all get a once over, but she doesn't have the time nor inclination to try to figure out what each of those books is, or is about... even if some part of her desires to. There's pending issues at play already however.

"I thought that was the interpretation that I got from reading what I could of it, after all, all I did was a simple passage, read aloud. Though I suppose the nearly extinct dialect it was written in makes it a little less than simple to most..." Lara looks to Wong then.

"I cannot ask anyone to take on this burden, of this... horrible thing. Surely there is a proper way to dispose of it, such as a specific kind of fire. Or perhaps a treatment that will melt its magic and the pages within it?" It would seem that Lara doesn't want to pass the burden off on someone else, how compassionate of her!

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Wong lifts the tiny book once again and offers it towards Lara, "I know of no such, saving grace from this book. There might in fact be one, but it is not known to us this day." Wong says before he tilts his head and reaches his hand out for the book Lara possesses. "Let me see this thing. I will read the book front to back, there might be some spell or text within the book about removing it. Sometimes they put the warnings at the back you know." He says with a faint shrug.

Lara Croft has posed:
A breath is drawn in and the archaeologist dips her chin in a singular nod to the resourceful Wong--admittedly she doesn't know where Wong falls when it comes to power and training levels of Strange, she knows Strange has an impeccable memory though as he's recalled numerous little details from the previous interactions that surprised even her, her interactions with Wong have only ever been social up to now.

A short and soft laugh is exhaled after he says that bit about the warnings. "How kind of them." She replies as she hands the book over to him and then places her hands on the outsides of her hips, elbows aiming outward now. "Don't take the burden of the book onto yourself, Wong." She says to him then. "I don't want anyone to bare what it does, its like a slow and odd torture." After saying that she cannot help herself but to look to some of the other volumes on the table, since she is a life long bookworm...

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Where did you find this?" Wong asks as he cracks the book's cover and slowly begins to read the passages, his hands casting a sort of small green hued spell and covering his right eye with the spell.

    The wizard slowly starts to read the book, carefully mindful of not thinking about what the pages and books is actually made of.
    Why, why is it always human flesh and blood.
    That's disgusting.

    "So this is a large book, it might take some time, I might need more time in order to decipher all of the words, and even then, there is no promise of a counter spell being hidden within." Wong says, giving it to Lara straight.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara picks up one of the more harmless looking tomes and she tips it over to look at its cover. 'The Nine Chickens in the Nine Realms' God... that sounds like a fun book to read. She forces herself to put it back where she found it though, laying it gently back in its place.

Her hands then go forward to the edge of the table where she places her fingertips gently against its edge while her brown eyes go over to look upon the balded Wong. "I... ran across it in a moment of haste and little time to think about the ramifications of what would happen if I indulged myself in its..." She clears her palette and slightly shakes her head. "pages." She finishes her sentence, flatly.

"A person was fighting a monster, not too far south of here last week. The monster was... the body parts of its many victims, all fused together into one horrendous monstrosity. The person fighting the creation was simply using a handgun to ward it off. It wasn't going very well. But they told me that the book was inside the building the beast had come from. So I delved within to find it and... well, once I did, I returned to where they were battling. Out upon the city's streets now. I had to act fast, just to stop it from devouring anyone else into its ghastly trap."

Lara takes a second to bite her bottom lip, to shake her head again from right to left causing her dark brown bangs framing her face to sway softly against her pale toned skin. She glances away and then back to Wong. "All I had to do to send it away was to ask it a question it couldn't asnwer." She pauses then, and faintly smiles. "I asked it where my father was... Long dead, is the answer it didn't have to give."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "That's -I'm sorry." Wong says, falling silent for a moment and pulling his enchanted hand away from his eye to address Lara. He replaces the hand and looks back down at the book and frowns as he reads.

    "So, is the creature still out in the world or is it somehow wandering the ether looking for your answer for eternity or something like that?" Wong asks, now concerned this Frankenstein's monster could still be on the loose, though he would trust Lara, as she's a capable woman and made such a fun movie.

Lara Croft has posed:
That movie was terrible and Lara has been too afraid to even watch it, Samantha saw it though and described it in great length to her... she has no plans to ever watch it.

Lara gently laughs again and shakes her head. "Its gone." She says then to him, thought part of her isn't actually entirely sure about that. "It said in the passage that if the creature couldn't answer the question then it would be banished back to where it came. But..." She sighs then. "I'd hoped that I could find a way to restore the people it had consumed. Some of them may have even had answers to question for. While others were simply innocents from the street, certainly not deserving such a fate that befell them."

Toward a chair, Lara moves then and she seats herself with a huff. She's tired and it shows. "Obviously I have to stay here if you're going to read through the entire thing, Wong. To which I am greatly indebted to you for doing. I'll even order some delivery food if thats thanks enough." She says to him. "Whatever suits your fancy for the evening."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "I have a way for you to finally get some shut eye, if you need. I am certain this house is stronger than this old dead magic. At least I hope it is, for your sake." Wong says with a look up as he shuts the tome and tucks it under his arm.

    The wizard would help Lara out of her chair and lead her out of the room. "I think if I'm close enough, the book wont teleport next to you, but the magics within our rooms should be strong enough to keep the curse out, at least for the night." Wong says, not sounding too confident, but hopeful.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara sits up then onto the edge of the chair as he says that. He's clearly smart enough to know that the woman probably hasn't slept since this ordeal went down. "I dislike being a burden, but to be truthful, this entire problem... confounded me. Rare, I assure you." She shows a slight smirk to the older man and then stands up to follow him.

"Thank you, Wong." She tells him then as he leads and explains to her his intentions. "I really do appreciate the kindness, especially since neither you, nor Strange 'owe me' anything. And I know how you both value your privacy here in this important place. Its... not my intentions to ever take advantage of what it is that you and Stephen do here."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "We are both here to help, and that is what we are offering to you. Help. Do not think of this in the way of favors or 'oweing' we're doing what is right." The man says with a smirk as he leads Lara out of the library and back down the stairs but turns to go under them and down an impossibly long hall before he stops at a random doorway and opens it up. The interior a complete and perfect copy of her normal bedroom, down to the carpetting and the little knicks on the night stand and dresser from use and abuse. "Get some rest Lara."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara steps through the long hallway and she looks around at all the artifacts that this house possesses, she could spend a long time in this house just viewing them, let along marveling at their existence. "I have to say, Wong, my child hood self would've melted to be in this... museum of a home." She says to him as they step up to the doorway. "My adult self practically is as well." She smiles again once more.

When the door opens and the sight of her room is shown, it just makes her laugh softly. "Of course. Astounding." She says then, its childhood home and room no less. A place she hasn't been in quite some time. "Thank you again." She tells him. "When I wake up, I'll find you and we'll order some dinner, yeah?" And with that she moves to wander into the room to look around at it and likely to fall asleep within minutes!