7187/An owlish sort of perspective

An owlish sort of perspective
Date of Scene:	09 April 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Lara and Silver discuss the implications of the owl spirit in Symeon's tomb and plot their next move.
Cast of Characters:	Silver Sable, Lara Croft

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Silver Sable has posed:
"I am telling you, I didn't see it."

Silver Sablinova sits at the patio table on her home's balcony. The remains of breakfast for two are on the table. She's wearing what could pass for business attire, a sleek high-waisted set of grey trousers and a sleeveless white blouse. Both are silky and expensive looking, particularly combined with her designer red stiletto pumps.

She stares in befuddlement at the tablet in her hand and the video playing upon it. The image is of her, dirty, wet, muddy, wearing tactical gear and somewhere underground by lit by low ambient lighting. She's chatting blithely with Lara, who has voice-overs on the camera. From the angle it must be mounted to Lara's belt or backpack straps. Behind Silver, *completely* unobserved by the woman-- an owl. Ten feet tall if it's an inch, glowering down at her. Silver's body language indicates that it must be completely invisible to her, and it moves silently and swiftly to ensure Silver never collides with it. The flickering, erratic recording of the camera only lends furthur mystery to the strange circumstance.

"It's an owl," Silver mutters. "A giant *jebem* owl," she mutters, cursing in Symkarian. "It does not look like any owl I know of, not for this region." She turns the tablet left and right, brow furrowing. "But I am not an ornithologist."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara is outside at the table as well. She's wearing an olive drab button up shirt over top of a light grey low-scooped tank top that clings to her form, a pair of dark green trousers that are slim fit as well, but hold pockets along the outside of her thighs and the front and backs as well, a pair of leather hiking boots are on her feet they look brand new as the ones she'd had on during their previous trek were just in dire need of cleaning and she couldn't re-wear them today in this lovely setting that they're currently in.

With her over shirt's sleeves rolled up to her elbows and her hair tied back behind her neck, Lara stares at the camera and the 'thing' on it. "There's just no way around it, neither of us saw it or heard anything from it whiel we were there. Yet look." She points at the display to her friend and leans over so they can both stare at it together, shoulder near to shoulder. "Its talking, to you specifically and its the same... odd color scheme as the tree and its flowers." Lara exhales sharply and then shakes her head.

"I've no experience with real... 'paranomal investigations' as it were. I'm with a division of SHIELD that is partially specialized in that field, but I'm, not that Agent. Its not my field." She looks back to Silver then and shows the woman a faint smile. After a short pause. "We have to go back, you know." She tells her. "To try to communicate with it. Or at least... your people do. If its even still there..."

Silver Sable has posed:
"Absolutely worthless," Silver huffs at Lara, scoldingly. Her eyes dance with an amusement that belies her words. "Are you trying to tell me the world's foremost adventuring archaeologist-cum-secret-agent isn't also an expert on the paranormal? Next you'll tell me you were lying when you said you could do rocket sciences," she says. The mercenary clucks her tongue and bumps Lara's shoulder with an gentle affection, focusing back on the entity in the video.

"I can't make out what it is say," Silver says, trying to fiddle with the sound. "I can hear a few... words, maybe. Repeated. It's trying to say something and it looks important to it." She watches wings flutter in visible agitation at her lack of recorded response.

"I hope it survived," she mutters, looking ashamed. "When we breached the cavern we might have flooded it completely. We'll need diving gear to get to it, at a minimum. Are you certified for SCUBA?" she asks Lara, looking back to her with concern. "Cave diving is very dangerous. I have done it only twice myself."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara lightly laughs at the chiding of her paranormal prowess, or lack there of. The shoulder bump makes her smile warmly as she straightens in her chair again and sets the camera down on its stand to let it play or to let Silver operate/tinker with it if she wishes, she's already watched that segment about eight times since she discovered it early this morning.

"I never even believed in the paranormal until..." She draws in a breath then as her hand goes to the cup of coffee on the table. "Until the events on Yamatai. There I saw it first hand and, well, it was one of the plethora of ways in which I started to view our world as a whole new place." She shares a sidelong look to Silver then and still has that soft and ghostly faint smile that she tends to have when in a casual setting like this.

After a sip of the coffee is had, Lara's head shakes side to side. "I may not be a paranormal investigator, like that group in Manhattan, but I am a certified scuba expert." She then lets her smile shift into a lopsided grin. "I was there when Captain America was pulled out of the icy ocean you know? My team and I had quite... a job there. Quite a revelation for our world, that one moment, to find a man like that, still alive after so many years in such a terrible place."

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver reaches forward to offer a refill of Lara's cup, pouring with her own hands rather than summoning someone to do it from the kitchen. She tops her own mug off and sits back in her chair, long legs crossing towards Lara in the adjacent seat. She cradles her mug on her fingertips and slouches in a comfortable posture. She's seen the video enough times, too. Her lips curl into a fond smile at Lara's words, completely unconsciously. At the mention of Captain America, her eyes widen a little. "You were part of that team?" she asks, surprised. "I did not know that," she confesses. "I do not much care for America, but I respect Captain Rogers immensely. He fought on the Eastern Front during the War, you know. My grandfather met him and admired him a great deal. Every soldier in the world knows that name by heart," she tells Lara. "I'm envious of you."

She sips her coffee, then her lips purse in thought and her eyes flicker to the table. "The world is getting smaller every day," she says, a little more somberly. "I am still reeling from meeting Thor. *Thor*," she tells Lara. "And the Valkyrie are real. I mean, not abstracts of religious worship, but someone I can drink with and touch and shake hands. It's... intimidating," she confesses, looking a little humbled by the notion. "I spent a few days drinking heavily while I came to terms with the fact that Thor is not just a prayer away, he's in my phone."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara graciously accepts the refill with a soft 'Thank you' in her utterly British way, a smile to accompany it and then a sip is had, a long and lasting sip while she stares over the cup at Silver and listens to her response. As the cup comes down, Lara is just leaning forward on her knees, her hands holding the cup out between each palm to feel the warmth between them as she allows a slow grin to form over her lips, especially near the end of what Silver says about Thor.

"The first time I met him..." She starts to reflect on those memories, looking away down at her cup. "I do believe I stammered more in my life than I ever could've imagined I was capable of." She shoots her stare back over and up to Silver's eyes. "I grew up on Norse Mythology. I still have my original copy of my Prose Edda on my desk back in my loft in Manhattan. When my father originally gave it to me, he expected it would last me through our entire plane trip from London to India." She releases a light exhale, sips her coffee once more and shakes her head.

"I had it finished before our plane pulled out of its gate for takeoff." Her face lights up with those memories, her overall demeanor seems softer and more colorfully 'alive' than the sometimes haunting expressions that she otherwise defaults too.

"I've helped him several times since then." She says, after clearing her throat lightly. "I've recovered a number of Asgardian artifacts that he's graciously allowed me to retain. They're in a safe place now though... their powers yet remain intact. The gauntlets even allowing one to wield his hammer, should they wear them and ever get close enough to it to dare and try."

Silver Sable has posed:
"You *met* him?" Silver says, surprise in her voice. Lips twist into a wry moue. "I'm going to choose to decide that I'm among the rarest of fine company, and take it as a compliment he's met you," she says. Fingers swipe against Lara's forearm with a gently affectionate reassurance.

"I think my biggest disappoint is finding out ... what a *man* he is," Silver confesses. Lara's light tone and pleasant disposition encourage her confidence in the woman, and she even allows a flashing, merry laugh. The leggy mercenary shifts in her seat so she's resting an elbow on her armrest near Lara, and smiles at the woman with a grateful encouragement for her open candor. The silver-haired woman seems to understand how rare it is for Lara to be so candid, and it shows.

"I believe he was flirting with me. Or trying to. Of course he cocked it up rather badly and I ... uh, threw a shot glass at his back," she mumbles into her coffee. She suddenly looks a little embarassed at her display of bad manners, and her eyes flicker to Lara's face again.

"So did you do it?" she asks. When prompted, she amends: "I mean, lift the hammer."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara laughs lightly and shortly at the first words from Silver, she nods to her and reaffirms with. "The rarest and finest of company." And follows it up with a playful and short-lived grin.

At the rest, she nods once again. "I did. In fact." She confirms. "At one point his hammer was... taken from him, by magical means, and once he located it he needed assistance to retrieve it so he came to me, of all people, mostly because of those gauntlets. He wasn't sure that I should be the one to use them, but I... plead my case." She sips her coffee once more before continuing. 'So while he provided a distraction to those whom had taken it, I slipped in through a roundabout entry way and uitlized the gauntlets to bring it out to him, where he was 'battling' those who'd taken it."

She laughs again, and slowly shakes her head to the memories of it. "Believe me when I say that I won't soon forget the chance to hold such an item. It wasn't long before he called it to his hand, of course, and with it I flew across the distance to him... And, well, together we escaped."

Its clear that she's left some details out of the story, she may not even be allowed to tell as much as she did, but she trusts Silver.

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver's staring rather intensely at Lara when she finishes, elbow balanced on the armrest and chin in her palm. Her eyes glitter with a darkling intrigue at the woman, and when given a look, fingers flick apologetically in the air with a total lack of sincerity. "I'm picturing you in silver armor and a winged helmet, flying through the air with the hammer of god in your hands," she explains. Her lips curl into a teasing smile. "Indulge my ... imagination for a few moments." Shoulders rise and fall in a decadent, langorous sigh of appreciation, and she makes herself sit upright again.

"That is quite the story. It's much better than mine," she tells Lara, enviously. "I hope I can meet him again though. He's an awesomely compelling figure, is he not? Like standing in the weather before a terrible storm. But he is rather kind and humble, too." She frets her lower lip, thinking, and glances at Lara. "I ... being completely honest, I think he was more than trying to flirt with me," she tells Lara, hesitating even to bring it up. "I only bring this up because ... " she gestures slightly, between them. "I'd rather you think of me as boorish rather than untruthful."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara has to laugh again at the vocalized imagination of her in Valkyrie-essque attire. "In the sake of being mindful of your wishes, I'll not comment on what I was actually wearing and instead let you imagine it as such a glorious attire as you so desire it to be." She says, finishing those playful words with a light smirk before she sits up in her chair again and sets her mug of coffee it on the table beside her once again.

"I entirely believe that he was flirting with you." She replies further. "Why wouldn't he? After all... he's Thor, of all people. His legends may not be entirely factual with how his personality truly is, but there are key elements that yet remain today. One of them being, a clear and present interest in the opposite sex." Lara has to smile then and shake her head. "I'll say that he's never done such a thing toward me, but, I don't think I'm precisely his type... Alas." She places a hand over her heart and feigns a level of disappointment, whether there's any truth to it or not!

Another soft grin is shown then as her hand goes back to join her other, palm to palm between her thighs now. "He's a King now though, since his father's passing. I believe he's holding himself in higher regard in how he should behave. Especially after the disaster that his people hve had to... endure."

Silver Sable has posed:
"Courageous? Brilliant? Witty?" Silver throws some adjectives at Lara with a growing grin, full of affectionate admiration. "You're perhaps far more than warrior than I think he realizes. I've seen how you fight," she tells Lara. "You could ... some additional training would make you very formidable," she amends, trying not to be rude. Silver is a professional soldier, after all, just like Lara's a professional archaeologist. "But there are three kinds of people. Fighters, freezers, and flee-ers," Silver says. "Your instinct is to fight back. This is very rare, and very admirable."

She finishes her coffee and considers Lara's fine features again, soaking up the late morning sun and her companion's presence. "What is the Prose Edda?" she says, siwtching topics. "You mentioned it before. A poem?" she hazards.

Lara Croft has posed:
All of this from Silver just makes Lara look onto her with an appreciative stare, and a thankful nod toward her. "I think he just sees a bookworm, scientist type. Which is entirely fine. To be quite frank, he's not really 'my type' either. The troubles that come with him are troubles I couldn't possibly ever pile onto my life. I'm far too... gone for such a life, with such a burden. I'm sure that King Thor will find himself an appropriate Queen for their new realm here on Earth, and I'll happily be there should they ever need my help."

Lara glances to that same late morning sun and she lets it bathe her face in the comforting blow of it. "You're sweet." She says as she looks back to Silver, the sun on her right side now. "And you're completely right. When I first joined SHIELD my 'combat' experience was based mostly on hiding and waiting, biding my time. Now its a bit more refined, still geared toward that approach as per my trainers at SHIELD, but its not something that I'm nearly as experienced as... yourself. 'A panther' is my animal." She says then, before elaborating. "Thats what my trainer has told me to do. Choose the animale I most wish to fight as."

At the question of the Porse Edda, Lara reaches for her phone on the table and she doesn't hesitate to bring up a look at it, it only takes her a few swipes of her thumbs to get to her book collection and to that one specifically. She offers the device over to Silver then. "Its from around 1220 A.D. written by Snorri Sturluson--" Lara grins lightly. "Wonderful name... But yes, its a collection of Norse literature. The Language of Poetry, is my favorite section of the compilation."

Silver Sable has posed:
"I'm a fan of immediate violence and aggressive action, personally," Silver says with a more typically dry humor. "I find that conversations about spirit animals become largely secondary to putting a few well-placed rounds into an adversary."

She accepts the digital document and squints at the screen, trying to make heads or tails of the old script. "Not a language I know how to read," she says, crestfallen. An idea occurs to her and she returns the phone to Lara, fingers lingering on her hand for a moment. "Perhaps... you could read it to me sometime?" she inquires, eyes brightening. "I think I'd enjoy learning more about this aspect of my culture. All our traditions are oral," she explains. "Very little is written down. They're told over and over again, especially in the very rural places. I've seen even small pagan shrines and altars in the deep woods, and some of them were recently used for worship."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara has to lightly laugh at the topic regarding spirit animals. "Yes well... this is SHIELD we're talking about. They're... well they're the embodiment of all modern ideas and cutting edge techniques for how to train a militaristic 'world protection' agency. There are a lot of great things in what they do, and a lot of ideas that simply leave one's eyebrows slowly raising in curiosity. And not the good kind of curiosity, mind you."

Lara has a light grin showing then as she accepts the phone back from the other and dips her chin in a concise expression. "I would be more than happy to read it any or all of it to you, time available of course. I was just... that kind of child, more interested in learning new languages and the ways of other cultures, than I was in toys or video games."

The phone is accepted back and Lara turns it around to glance down at it again for a brief moment before she looks back to Silver and then deactivates the screen on it. After a second she says to her. "So then, what is our plan for today? What shall we tackle and conquer on this fine morning? Mysteries of Owl spirits in dark caverns or other such endeavors?"

Silver Sable has posed:
"I think I'd like to know more about this strange owl," Silver concurs, and rises from her seat with a smooth, leggy ease. She brushes some imagined dust from her trousers and folds lean arms across her flat stomach, looking thoughtfully at Lara. "Perhaps some research is in order," she offers, considering. "I do not know where to begin. The Symkarian National Library? Maybe something furthur afield, for instance?" she says, equivocating. A hand rises and falls through the air, a neutral gesture to throw it to Lara. "I'd frankly like to make sure it didn't *follow* us somehow," she adds, looking over her shoulder.

"Come," she beckons. "We'll review my security camera footage, do some research, and see where our day takes us from here," she tells the Brit. A smile flashes at her, and she offers curling fingers to Lara to hold. "In either case, we'll have a lovely day to spend some time together, da?" she suggests, her tone a little on the light-- even whimsical-- side.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara also rises up when Silver does, just a beat behind her motion, and once on her booted feet she reaches for her belongings upon the table, the camera and the phone. She slips the phone into the pocket on her left thigh where it vanishes within and the camera is held by its strap in her left hand.

Her eyes glance out to the horizon beyond where they are while she stares a moment, then sweeps her gaze back onto Silver. "I hadn't even considered that." Lara says to Silver then. "It following us... that is." She raises the camera up as she goes to accompsny the other inside. "If your security footage shows nothing, we can always try this again too, see if it picks up anything."

As they progress side by side, Silver will feel a presence on her back, a light and ghostly touch. "What if its watching us right now?" This is Lara's way of making a joke though as she raises her hand up then to show that it was her doing the teasing touch. She has a sense of humor! When she's in the right mood at least...