8606/Harlem By Night

Harlem By Night
Date of Scene:	31 July 2019
Location:	Luke's Apartment - Harlem
Synopsis:	Lara stops by with information about the upcoming trip searching for the Lost City
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Luke Cage

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Lara Croft has posed:
Its very nearly August now and Lara has learned one thing about living in Manhattan as her primary home and place of work... Manhattan in August is supremely hot. Stiffening heat. She's been all over the world, experienced hot climates at their most extremes, this may not be that hot, but its still uncomfortable!

All the same, she's a trooper and she's in great shape, those things help round out a woman who doesn't really seem effected by the heat.

Her black Jeep arrives outside of Luke's building and she activates a new security system that was installed by SHIELD... the details of all it does are not even entirely known to her!

Wearing a light gray tank top and a pair of light tan pants, Lara strides around her vehicle and lifts up a hand to remove her sunglasses, her brown hair tied back behind her head in a loose pony tail, she lets her eyes dart left and right to take in the traffic on the sidewalk here in Harlem before she'll head up to her friend's apartment.

Luke Cage has posed:
The air conditioner is functioning in Luke's apartment, but on a day like today it struggles to keep up, especially when the sun is on his part of the building. Now the sun is down, and Luke escapes out onto the fire escape, like so many New Yorkers that treat the emergency exit like a patio.

He's sitting with a cold beer in hand, wearing a pair of shorts and his own tank top, though his is a steel blue and has the logo of a sportswear company on it. Luke takes a sip of his beer, not seeing the Jeep's arrival until about the time the driver is exiting.

He's about to call to her when he sees Lara heading for the apartment door rather than the bar. It's a small thing, but it puts the start of a smile on his face. "I heard it was about 103 in Britain the other day, Britain," he calls down to her and announcing his presence. "Probably one of the few times you were glad to be here instead of there, I'm guessing?"

He pulls out his keys and holds them up so she can see them, then tosses them down to her so she can let herself in.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara pauses before ascending the steps in front of the apartment building when she hears that familiar voice up above her. She stops, steps back a few paces and looks up to him. A smile appears as she sees him looking down to her.

"I've found that the heat helps motivate me." She says back up to him before she sees him dangle the keys and when they're dropped they free fall the distance downward right into the palm of her hand with only the slightest of jingles upon landing there-in before her fingers close around them.

She shows another quick smile up to him before she moves toward the doorway now, up the stairs and inside moments later.

It only takes her a short span of time to navigate the building and find the proper abode that contains the bar owner, and he'll hear his own keys jingle, then the door toyed with, the locks turned and the door open.

Lara strides inside, a backpack on her right shoulder by its leather strap. She takes a quick look around before she hooks the keys on the wall beside the door where it looks as though they belong (ever perceptive, this one!).

Luke Cage has posed:
The apartment is reasonably clean, a few things set out here and there. There's a laptop on a table with a screensaver with a goofy looking cat picture on it. The window is open, having served as the means of egress for Luke. He leans over to look through it, flashing Lara a smile as she comes inside and finds the right spot for the keys.

"You are a perceptive one, Lady Britain," he tells her with a smile. "There's cold beer in the fridge if you want to grab one. Or... there might be bottle water too," he says, definitely less sure of the water than the beer.

"Shall I come inside or do you want to join me and watch the neighborhood wind down from its day with me?" he asks her.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara is walking toward the open window when she hears his words about the beer and water. "Oh, yes, that sounds great." She states then as she moves toward his kitchen then and does note the laptop, the kitten picture even makes her smile quickly before she steps into the kitchen and comes back with a beer and a bottle of water.

She moves toward the open window. "I'll join you." She says to him then and with her backpack on she crouches and passes through the window's opening with ease that speaks of her physical fitness and ability to control her own body precisely as she wishes it to be controlled.

Once outside, she offers him the fresh beer and keeps the water for herself, showing him now a smile. "And hello." She says with a friend look upon her face. "I brought you all of the information on the trip, if you'd like to look it over. You'll have to sign a couple of things, denoting you're involvement in my expedition, but its nothing... nothing that you should be worried of, or anything. No one taking ownership of any of your assets." She flashes him a grin and lets her backpack slide down her bare arm by its strap where she sets it down then.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke has stood back up as he sees Lara approaching the window. The immense black man can't help but watch at the smooth, nearly sinuous way that Lara navigates the window. His throat tightens just a bit at the graceful way her lithe body moves and he tries to glance away before it will be obvious how he was watching.

Luke looks back to smile as she offers him the beer. He takes it with a look of gratitude. "Hello back at you. Anyone ever tell you that you have a knack for timing. This has been one of those days, the whole way through. Yet... I seem to be smiling suddenly," he tells her, brown eyes meeting her gaze for a moment before he drinks from his previous beer, finishing it and setting it aside.

Luke motions to where there is room to sit on the fire escape, legs dangling off the edge, or perhaps turning sideways to lean back against one of the bars in the metal railing. "I was reading up on Cairo. Hard to believe there's Pizza Hut at the Great Pyramid," he says, shaking his head and grimacing. "I don't imagine we'll have much time for sight seeing though? What's the purpose of the trip? Or, would you have to kill me if you told me?" he asks the SHIELD agent with a soft smile.

Lara Croft has posed:
While Luke talks, Lara finds a place to seat herself and she uncaps her water to take a sip from it because the heat was just so bad this evening. She smiles at what she hears him say while she's lifting her bag up and setting the drink aside on the confined space of this fire escape balcony.

"Yes, I haven't eaten at that restaurant." She tells him as she glances back up at him. "Cairo is an interesting mix of things you might recognize and be used to, and things you might not be. Such as the Trump Tower there, and... yes, local American restaurants."

She glances back down at what she's pulling out of the backpack and sets a number of folders down on her lap. She turns one and opens it up to a specific page that she knows precisely which one it is without much effort. "We're taking this to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, and that building alone will likely have a lot of sight seeing that will please you." Lara says with a soft and calming smile up to him.

On the page that is displayed on the open folder she holds is a picture of a small bronze box with Hieroglyphic carvings all across every visible side of it. "This box was included in a shipment of Egyptians relics loaned to the Natural History Museum here in the United States, though it was entirely absent from the manifest of items included. Its a... rogue element, you might say and its one I have many questions about because its connected to a famous lost city."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke settles down onto the metal grating of the fire escape, his bulky frame leaning back against one of the bars behind him. He takes the offered page and looks it over. "Returning it, you say?" he asks as he first examines it, then falls silent as Lara begins to go into more detail.

One of Luke's eyebrows goes up a little bit as Lara's description of the item, and it's significance, plays out. "So lost city, in Egypt? Like, a pharaoh's city... tomb... whatever sort of place? Should I pack for mummies and curses on this trip?" he asks her. "And if so... how does one pack for mummies and curses?"

He twists of the cap of the new beer and takes a sip as he glances over to Lara. "Was this lost city something you were already interested in? If so, seems like quite the coincidence," he comments.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara just looks over at him and she quickly smiles at his reaction to it all. "I've been interested in this lost city since I was a little girl." She replies to his last question then first. "There's something you have to understand about this city, Luke. It is... the quintessential cliche idea of what an archaeologist is out there doing, and looking for. Its a city of legend because its a city rumored to be lost, and filled with the treasures of the Pharaohs..." Lara draws in a breath then and she turns the page on the folder and reveals a rundown of the city and its legends. "This is incase you want to read up on it. They made a number of movies about it, back in... the 1930s and 40s. Classic adventure films."

She shows a quick smile then to him. "If we were to find it, which I don't think we will to be bluntly truthful. We're not even going there to look for it, mind you, but if we were to find it? There would probably be mummies, yes. But the dead kind, its almost always the dead kind." Almost always?

He'll be able to see the name of the city inside of the folder now. 'Hamunaptra - The City of the Dead'

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke takes the new page from the folder and looks it over. Reading down the list of observances, reports, sightings, rumors and legends. "Count Basil von Worthington," he says with a slight grin as he reads of one treasure hunter from the 1920s.

Luke is engrossed in the reading, holding it with one hand, the other arm stretched out along the railing of the fire escape beside where Lara sits. "Claims they found the city only to lose it again wandering in a sandstorm," he says, shaking his head.

Luke continues reading on down the list. The wind stirs and some of Lara's hair is blown against his fingers. His fingers follow the strands back, brushing gently through her hair, the large black man not even seeming to realize he's doing it as he reads.

Luke reaches the reports of the place's name. "City of the Dead. Now that isn't ominous," he says, finally looking up, and realizing his fingers are brushing gently through Lara's hair just above her ear, the touch a fond familiarity. Only, it isn't a familiarity. As Luke realizes what he was doing, his lips hang open for a moment. "Ah. Sorry," he says, fingers retreating a few inches as he waits, not sure what reaction to expect.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara just watches him read and sips her water, she glances out at the city and some kids bouncing a basketball down the street either headed toward the courts or coming back from them, who knows!

She looks back onto him when she feels his hand in her hair and it just makes her smile at the man's gesture, him not even knowing he was doing it. "Its fine." She says when he apologizes for it.

She draws in a breath then and offers him the other two folders as well. "These will have the documents for you to sign. The one with all the good info is for you to keep... but, do hold onto it. There's nothing classified in it per-se, but its the sort've information that might get a lot of question asked your way depending on who might come across it."

Lara then settles a little further, the heat is bad, but she's comfortable like this. "Still eager to come with me? Dead Cities and all?"

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke takes the other folders, opening and glancing inside but not taking the time to do more than that with them for now. "I'll keep it close and safe," he says of the first folder with a nod.

Luke's eyes go from the folder back up and over to the British woman. "Oh, more eager than ever. I mean, you know how these things normally end up in the movies for black men. Really, what could go wrong?" he asks her, lips on one side pulling up more than the other with his joking smile.

Luke taps the folder with a thick finger. "Stuff like this, people get crazy over. If I go by what Hollywood has taught me - and are they ever wrong? - there are no doubt others hunting for it too. Some of them are likely Nazis, also," Luke says.

He gets a thought and peers over at Lara, glancing her over. "Do you own a whip?" he asks.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara shows a knowing smile at him now as she sees where his innuendos are going at this point. "I do not." She says to him then in response to the whip question. "But I work with someone who does."

Another sip of her water is taken then and she sets it down on top of her right knee. "He's real, the fedora wearing man that you're speaking of. He's a real person, those films were based on his life and his life... isn't over. His adventures lead him to increasing his life's longevity and, like Captain America, he persists yet today, looking like a man in his mid to late fourties no less."

Lara then just shakes her head side to side to Luke. "Hollywood gets many things wrong. I'm sure the color of you skin won't determine the level of your safety." She nods then once toward the top of his smooth head. "Your height might though. The hallways in Egyptian ruins tend not to be as high as your impressive stature, Mister Cage." And now she's showing him a playful grin.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke grins back over to Lara. "Color ends up playing more of a role than we'd like. Though in my case, the toughness of it probably plays more of a role," Luke says, tapping at his skin as if in a meaningful way. Which might not make much sense. She's seen him bend a crowbar, but nothing else to explain the reference.

Unless she's looked him up in SHIELD's files. He'd no doubt have one.

Luke smiles over to Lara and says, "Impressive stature." He rubs at his chin. "I think I like that. I might have to find a way to work that into future conversations," he tells her.

Luke's smile fades to a little more serious of an expression. "I don't like the thought of you being in danger. Or hurt," he tells her. "Maybe I shouldn't say that. But you..." Luke says, trailing off. "I wouldn't like you being hurt," he says, the notes of emotion in his voice hinting at something.

Lara Croft has posed:
While he speaks, Lara takes another sip of the bottle of water and then lowers it back down to her lap to put the cap back ontop of it. She raises her right hand up to swipe her dark hair off of her forehead and she just gives him an even measured smile, calm as ever with her.

"I have no intentions of getting hurt." She replies to him. "Trust me on that. Its my number one priority on all of my expeditions. I'm all too familiar with how dangerous the world can be, especially for someone of my gender. You question your skin color in such situations, I assure you I understand a similar threat by simply being me in a strange land, that may not like me for who and what I am."

She draws in a breath and glances out and down toward the street, her voice is relaxed and happy sounding. "But, we all make due with what we have before us. The challenges we must face next." She looks back onto him then. "To overcome them and get what we're after."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke Cage spent some time reading up on the kind of dangers that travelers might encounter in that area of the world. "You do have a point there, Britain," he tells her, nodding slowly. "The world is some work, isn't it? I guess at least we don't have Sentinels after us for what we are," he says, shaking his head and frowning. "Harlem has been a mess lately, and I keep arriving too late to help calm things down until the worst has already transpired," he says.

Luke rises to his feet slowly, tilting back the beer bottle and drinking the last of it. "Feel like going inside? The air conditioner has probably got it down to something pleasant by now," he offers. If she agrees he'll slide the window back open for her before following inside.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara winces a bit when she hears him speak of Harlem's ills. "I'm sorry to hear that." She softly says back to him. "I'd tell you its not your responsibility to... step in and fix issues in your neighborhood but I get the sense that that wouldn't really do anything to help. But then, I've seen your bend a crowbar... I can't imagine what I haven't seen you do."

With a small smile Lara nods her head and gathers up her belongings. "Certainly." She says to the offer to go back inside. When he gets the window open she'll do her thing again to move through it and step back into his apartment. "Its at least twenty degrees cooler in her." She announces soon there-after.