Owner	Pose
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin doesn't have a key from Lara just yet, so like before he uses the one hidden by the back door to unlock it and stumble into the kitchen. The feline man is drunk, as usual, or at least appears that way. He doesn't really announce himself, but he does close the door behind him and locks it. He's certain no one was following him, but you can never be sure. He looks like he's had a rough week, his clothing torn in places and his fur disheveled. He doesn't seem particularly worse for wear, though. Where-ever he was, he got away without any visible injuries. He stays in the kitchen for a moment, rummaging through the fridge for something to eat.
Lara Croft	Lara was in the living room area, she'd been standing behind her desk and reading a book that was open in her hands. She'd been home only since last night and had found the place empty, seemingly since she'd left. When his arrival is heard, Lara looks up from the pages of her book and she turns toward the hallway that leads into the kitchen... She appears then in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe and watching him, observing his torn clothing. She, herself, was wearing a dark blue tanktop beneath a white button-down shirt, some dark jeans and leather boots. "More fighting?" She asked then, her voice hinting at concerned tones. "Are you injured?"
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin pulls his head out of the fridge, his attention turning to Lara as the door closes. "Injured? No," he says, offering a smile, "Just a little bit of trouble as I was trying to leave a museum." His tail gives a lazy sway, and he crosses the kitchen. His arms slide around Lara's waist, and he draws her into a warm embrace, nuzzling his cheek against her's. "I am glad to see you safely returned, as well," he murmurs, before adding, "I brought you something." His hand slips into his pocket for a moment, pulling out a necklace. A silver necklace, in fact, that Lara(being the great relic hunter that she is) would likely recognize as out of 12th century China. It's made of carved jade secured by a delicate thread(likely replaced at some point), with a large citrine set at it's center, roughly twice the size of her eye. He holds it up with one hand, the other still resting around her waist. "I hope you like it," he purrs to her, "It is one of a kind."
Lara Croft	Lara watched him approach and she afforded him a soft smile as he embraced her so kindly. She returned the gesture, though was still holding that book in her left hand with her thumb between the pages keeping her place. When he produced the antique jewelry and held it up she fluttered her eyelashes a moment while her vision focused onto the silver pendant with the jade sets. "Its beautiful." She said then, her brown eyes going to look at him with a little grin. "How in the world did you come across it?" Lara's free hand, her right, reached out to accept the necklace, she'd intend to turn it around and inspect it from every angle. "Its very valuable, you know." She said to him then, still eyeballing it... because... shiney! "I'll have to polish it up and make it sparkle again."
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin clears his throat and slips away from her a bit, setting the necklace in his other hand as he looks down at it a moment. "Ah, well, it wasn't... particularly easy to come by," he says, his tail swaying a little, "I had to, ah, borrow it from the exhibit at the Chinese Historical Museum in San Diego." He grins a little bit, his tail flicking again. "They won't miss it, though. I left a fairly convincing replica in it's place. This one..." He glances up at Lara again, his expression taking something of a more serious gaze on her. "This one I need you to keep safe..." He holds it out to her, watching her. "You're the only one I trust with it."
Lara Croft	Lara took her eyes off of the necklace when he said he pilfered it from a museum. She lightly shoved him by his right shoulder with the book-holding-hand and she exhaled a heavy sigh and a light laugh. "You stole it from a museum?" She said to him in disbelief. "Thats bad!" She huffed again and shook her head side to side. "I have to assume you did it for a reason then if you're wanting me to watch over it." She glanced back down at the pendant and held it in the palm of her right hand with her fingers together and the chain draped over them. "Is this important to what you've been doing then? Because if you were just out to get me a gift, thats not the kind of gift you need to aim for." She smirked at him then.
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin leans back against the kitchen counter after she shoves him, and his tail twitches again. "I had no choice," he says, "If I did not take it..." He shakes his head, and then smiles to her. "It is not exactly the necklace I was after. It is the gemstone at it's center." He taps the citrine. Even in her hand, the citrine seems to dimly shine with its own light. "This is Chajing, the citrine stone. It is one of eight, called 'long de yanjing'. The Dragon's Eyes. When apart, they hold no power, but when brought together they become a key to a gateway, Long Damen, the Dragon's Gate. I do not know what waits on the other side of that gate, but I have met those who seek to open it. It is why I have come to America. It is why I have come all this way to find you, Lara Croft. I need your help. We must not allow this to happen."
Lara Croft	AFter hearing this story, Lara sat her book down onto the kitchen table to her left. She then held the pendant with both of her hands between her fingertips and she inspected it much more closely now. "I've never heard of that." She told him then, sounded surprised and likely a little mad at herself. "I'll..." She flipped the necklace around in her fingertips. "I'll have to do some research..." She started thinking of internet sites, the SHIELD archives, the wealth of knowledge at the New York Public Library. Lara looked back up at him, a calmly serious expression on her face. "A gateway to a dragon realm... I cannot imagine there are many 'good' desires involved when it comes to wishing to open it."
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin chuckles softly and pulls out his gourd, uncapping it so he may take a drink. "I do not think you will find much information about it in Western books," he tells her, "The only reference to the Dragon's Eyes that I found were in ancient scrolls in a monastary in Tibet. This one I found by chance. Xiang has Manao Shi, the onyx stone. He took it when he killed my Master. Where the other six are..." He pauses to shake his head. "I am uncertain." He sets his gourd down on the counter, walking past Lara now. "I have need of a shower, though," he tells her, pausing as he passes her to give her another brief nuzzle. "I will leave you to research what you will, though I do not think you will find anything." He slips away from her then, to head towards the stairs.
Lara Croft	Lara looked at the citrine as he spoke and when he passed by her to go toward the hallway upstairs, she smiled softly at him. "You under-estimate me, Drunken Master." She said to him in a coy sort of way. "If I have to go across the world to find information, then I'll do just that." Her right hand came up and she held the necklace on display. "If Xiang is willing to kill for these... and they do indeed open up a gateway to another dimension... then this one-hundred-percent falls into the job description I was hired on at SHIELD to look into, and prevent from happening." Lara closed her hands around the pendant and brought it back down in front of her stomach with her other hand, holding it gently between fingertips. "Now we have all of SHIELD to back us on this as well."
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin stops on the stairs, half-turning to lean against the banister and grin down at her. "If SHIELD is willing to help, I welcome it. Though... I do not know where these men... they call themselves the Serpent's Skull. I do not know where to find them, or who they are. They may be within SHIELD as well, so perhaps we should... remain cautious, for the time being." His tail swishes a little, and he grins broadly at her. "I am glad to see you have taken an interest in it, though. I thought it may be just the thing to catch your eye. Imagine how jealous the other relic-hunters will be when they see you with it." Zhao Lin gives Lara a wink, before disappearing upstairs to the shower.
Lara Croft	"Yes... well..." Lara replied as he stood upon the stairs and started up them again. She started to go back toward her desk in the living room area up near the front windows. "Director Fury is the kind of man who encourages springing traps... so he'd likely want me to put a big 'banner up' in the SHIELD headquarters, telling this group where to find this piece of the puzzle." Lara smiled one last time at him before he vanished to go and clean up, while she'd go to her desk and start preparing for a new research topic in that oh-so-wonderfully organized way that she was great at! (Its extremely disorganized to anyone except her.)