12876/Kind Of Reminds Him Of Bootcamp

Kind Of Reminds Him Of Bootcamp
Date of Scene:	25 September 2022
Location:	Athletics: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Lara Croft and Steve Rogers bump into each other in the workout rooms at SHIELD and converse while working out.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Lara Croft

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Steve Rogers has posed:
The athletic facilities of the Triskelion are top notch. The equipment is high quality and varied. Weight machines, free weights and stair steppers and treadmills are there for strength and endurance training. Athletic courts and a pool encourage agents in recreational activities that also help keep them fit. Some say the basketball league could field a team that could take on a semi-pro team.

Some of the facilities are also used for training. While many come up through SHIELD's academy, others go through their basic training here on base. The survival course is just down the hall. A number of rooms are set up for self defense classes, with dummies, training weapons and protective clothing. Many of the rooms have at least one glass wall so others can observe the training going on.

One such class is currently underway on the other side of a glass wall. Agent "Bud" Bars is known as one of the most stern of SHIELD's drill instructors. The last hour has been spent teaching a class moves to use against a knife-wielding opponent.

One of the recruits in particular doesn't look like he's doing too well. While Bud's voice can't be heard without getting up really close to the glass, he's spent a lot of time yelling in the recruit's direction. The drill dealing with someone with a knife grabbing the recruits from behind goes particularly poorly. While most of the students master the block and the throw of the assailant over their hip, the thin recruit with the mousy brown hair has barely managed a single successful throw.

The last minute of the class seems devoted to Bud chewing him out, before the instructor motions and the class begins to break up. The recruits grabbing towels and water bottles as they start filtering out of the room.

Lara Croft has posed:
Not long before the class started, did Agent Croft arrrive aoutside that glass wall separating the class from the gym equipment she was choosing to workout beside. She'd set down some of her things, then gotten on to one of the treadmills. Dressed in a white and black spandex exercise outfit, with a white cap on her head, with her dark ponytail extended out behind it, Lara spent that entire training class just jogging on that treadmill, her ponytail swaying behind her head, her arms pumping and legs bounding as she kept up a pretty intense pace.

It's right as the class is coming to an end that Croft finishes and glides back off of the treadmill to drop down to her running shoes with a little bounce in her step. Her hands go to her hips, her breathing heavy as she walks toward her things set aside... She'd glance in to the class now and then, hearing the noises through the glass wall, though her eyes had gone back to the telvisions showing a wide array of different things... She was just mostly lost in her own world...

But in the now, the crop-top wearing Agent is raising her water bottle up to sip from it as she paces, still coming down from the run, still sweating from it all!

Steve Rogers has posed:
The students file out, some talking together, others going on their own. One or two glance out through the glass to the workout area on the other side, but soon depart with the rest. The recruit who struggled takes his practice knife over to the equipment rack, head hanging down a bit, though more disappointed than morose.

As the last of the students depart, someone else steps into the room. Steve Rogers came dressed to workout in some fashion. Wearing a pair of very dark blue warmup pants, and a fitted t-shirt, he walks over to the recruit who turns around as Steve says something to him.

Steve gestures once or twice as the exchange a few words, though it's mostly Steve Rogers talking. He grabs one of the practice knives and motions back to the practice mat, where the recruit joins him.

Captain Rogers seems to be explaining and demonstrating the move that the recruit had failed on, and then he has the recruit play the role of the attacker. Some time is spent on the block, and then the hip throw. Then Steve moves around back for the recruit to practice fending him off.

It takes about seven tries before he gets the block down, and even more on the throw. The first throw is very tentative when he manages it. Steve's expression is encouraging though, and the next one is done at nearer to full speed. A half dozen more attempts and the recruit is flipping Steve Rogers about, slamming him down hard into the mat.

Finally Steve rises and clasps the man on the shoulder, giving a smile and a few final encouraging words. The recruit leaves, looking a little more upbeat, while Steve returns the dagger to the equipment rack.

He heads out of the room then, moving over into the equipment area where Lara has finished running. "Agent Croft," Steve says, nodding his head to the woman who he met on the firing range a year ago, apparently remembering her name. He goes past her to a pull up bar and begins doing pullups that lift himself all the way as high as he can go before lowering again.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara is just casually walking now, coming down from that run, as she sees Captain Rogers appear in that classroom beside where she is now. She watches him training that man from the class, only looking away here and there. One of the people who'd left the class knows Lara, and they spend a moment sharing words, and Lara even laughs at something the Agent tells her, before she tells him goodbye as he runs off.

Another look is sent in to the class as Lara takes another drink of her water. She sees the two of them wrap up, then depart.

When Steve emerges, and goes to the pull-up bar, Lara is seated on the side of one of the benches just beside it, she's relacing her shoes, and looks up to him when he speaks her name. She gives him a slight smile, then follows that with a nod. "Captain." She says to him, letting a pause settle in there. "Helping him with the classwork was kind of you. I'm not familiar with that Agent, but it looked like something was weighing heavily on him." She notes as she sits up then and adjusts her head atop her head.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers looks over to Lara as she talks to him, body still rising and lowering under control as he does the pull ups. His blue eyes flit over to the training room at her mention of it, and then back to her. "Pyne seems like a good sort," he replies to her. "Just takes a little longer, and maybe doesn't respond to some training methods as well, I think," he comments.

Reaching the top of a pull up, his arms locked beneath him, Steve manages a tiny shrug of his shoulders and a soft smile. "I remember another recruit awhile back who underperformed on some physical tests, pretty badly," he says in a thoughtful way that has a touch of self-deprecation in it. "But was given a chance. And I think maybe he turned out ok. Pyne probably deserves the same. He'll get it. A little encouragement and success can't hurt going forward."

Steve drops down from the bar, swinging his arms slowly to stretch them. "I realized I don't think I know what part of SHIELD you work in, Agent Croft. I recall you were on the gun range with Hellboy. Do you work in the same parts?"

Lara Croft has posed:
As Steve responds, Lara centers her eyes upon him, watching him do those pull-ups almost without any effort. She knows the man's story, at least the public-facing parts of it, she admires him for what she's heard of his personality too. A quick smile follows what he says, then as he drops back to his feet. She sits there with her knees together, but her feet slightly apart, her hands on her lap and her back straight, good posture, as ever with her.

She shows another slight smile at his question, then nods two quick times. "WAND." She replies. "Hellboy... or Red, as I prefer to call him, is loosely affiliated there-in, but yes, we've worked together on a number of projects. My primary responsibility is 'acquisitions'." She tells him then as she glances away toward a pair of guys lifting weights at the far end, laughing and being a bit rowdy, but they're just having fun.

Lara looks back to Steve then, her brown eyes on his, hers slightly shaded by the brim of that pure white ballcap she's wearing. "I'm an Archaeologist by trade, specializing in ancient Asian history, though I have quite a bit of experience all across the globe. And--" She sighs softly then. "WAND has been teaching me quite a bit about the world of magic, the paranormal, and more... So who knows what may come next."

She then just gives him a quick smile before adding. "Guns, are just a hobby."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers moves over to one of the treadmills, stepping up to either side of it while he programs it. His eyes are on Lara though more than on the controls as he listens to her. "That is quite an assortment of expertise. And, hobbies," Steve replies to her. His expressions are as honest as the rest of the man, and it's easy enough to see from the one he has now that Lara's description of herself was impressive to him.

The man turns on the treadmill and then steps onto it, beginning to jog. He speeds up the pace, though doesn't seem to have much difficulty in conversing with her still, and the treadmill allowing him to still face the English SHIELD agent. "So I thought I probably had one of the more unique paths to ending up here," he comments to Lara. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if you can top me there. SO how does an archeologist, with a specialty in ancient Asian history, end up in an organization like SHIELD? Was this where you were aiming to end up? Or were you sort of drawn in along the way somewhere?" he inquires. His feet thud softly on the rapidly moving treadmill.

Lara Croft has posed:
On her feet again, Lara stands in front of the machine that Steve takes over. She has one hand on her right hip, the other still holding her water. At his question of how she ended up here, she laughs softly, and holds a wry smile on her pale pink lips for a moment before she just shakes her head a single time. "I'm not entirely sure." She tells him then in that very well enunciated British accent.

"I... stumble across something out of college. My first expedition... it became a lot more than anyone could have anticipated, I guess you could say. A shipwreck, a lost island, filled with very bad people... that wanted to do very bad things. Some of my fellow castaways survived, while some of us were, not so lucky..." She exhales softly then, her eyes lost in thought a bit. "But, when it was said and done, I realized there was a lot more magic, and mayhem in this world than my naive 21-year-old-self would have believed." She looks back over to Steve then. "A lot more Evil too, that needed to be stopped."

A smirk is given then to the super soldier. "A short time after getting off that island, I was approached by people of SHIELD. I guess Director Fury had seen some of the news reports about... what all had happened, and he was intrigued. They made me an offer, I couldn't refuse, for lack of a less dramatic way of prhasing it." She tells him then, a light smirk shown. "It's been a couple years now, almost exactly three, I guess.... and the world seems so much different."

Steve Rogers has posed:
The treadmill's surface whirs rapidly beneath Steve's running feet, though his attention stays on Lara as she relates the circumstances that brought her to SHIELD. He gives a nod here and there but doesn't speak until she's given the story. "Ah, yes. Nick has a way with those. Offers that you can't refuse," he says, his smile one of wry humor despite his running.

"It doesn't sound like something that most people would handle well. Let alone someone so fresh out of school," Steve replies to Lara. "I can see why you would have drawn Nick's attention," he tells her.

"I can't say that the whole magic thing is an area I have a great understanding of. Though sometimes it seems like if there's someone up above watching everything, He intends to see that I do. As a kid who had barely been out of Queens before going abroad, can't say I was very prepared either."

A pair of agents come in, one male and one female. They move over to a weight bench and begin spotting each other as they do bench presses. Steve asks Lara, "And do you find what you're doing rewarding then?" he asks. "If guns are a hobby, it does have its perks here I suppose," he jokes.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara offers a smile to the pair who settle in to do the bench work. She then steps back over to her small bag and sets it a little out of their way incase they want to use the sitting area as well.

At what Steve says, Lara looks back to him, she smiles at him again. "I've read some about you. A man out of time has a tendancy to draw the attention of someone interested in the past." She admits to him in a calm voice as her heart rate had come down some now.

"I do. Quite a bit." Lara replies to his question about enjoying what she does. "I know it's more common for people to serve in SHIELD who served in the military, or law enforcement. But with a division as unusual as WAND is, it would seem they need a myriad of unusual members too. And, though I never served in any military, I do have quite a bit of field training, survival training, weapons training, and I'm a licensed helicopter pilot." She smirks at him then, and after a pause, she clarifies. "After my parents passed away, I was put in the care of a man who was passionate about all of those things. An explorer. He put me on a ... rather painfully regimented training course through my teenage years." She says with a affectionate smile, and a little laugh, for that mentor's memories within her.

"So I think I bring quite a lot to what I do here... Or so I hope." She grins for just a second. "Maybe not on the level of 'Captain America', but... at least on 'some' level."

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Well then I'm glad that SHIELD has you as a resource, Agent Croft," he tells her. "They certainly do seem to run into... unusual circumstances. The kind that a capable person of intelligence can make a very great difference. Not to mention one with a pretty eclectic set of other skills to go with it," Steve replies to Lara.

His arms swing as he runs, feet moving rapidly to keep up with the treadmill. There's just a bit of extra deep breaths as he talks, speaking to the exertion. "Also I wouldn't believe the stuff they say about that Captain America guy. I hear he probably sits around at night, listening to big band records and pining over how much a Coke costs these days," he tells her, blue eyes with just a bit of a twinkle to them.

"It sounds like you were in good hands though. Lost my own parents as well. My father died the year I was born, so no memories of him. Just a few faded photographs now. My mother, lost her to tuberculosis when I was eighteen. Kind of adopted unofficially by Bucky's family to some extent after that," he comments to her.

"So of the places that you've been while you were exploring, where would you say is your favorite?" he asks Lara Croft.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara lets the water bottle go down to her side, holding it by the cap now in her left hand as she listens to Cap rundown a bit about his own story. She softly nods two small times to what he relays. "I'm sorry for your loss..." She says in a quiet voice at the mention of both his parents being gone as well. "I'm glad you had someone to take you in too." She further states. "Through it all, you seem to have come out a good person though, one that I bet both your mother, and father, would be proud of."

Another short smile is given then before his question has her laughing softly and glancing away, as she softly shakes her head from side to side.

"That's /challenging/ to say the least..." She notes in a happier tone of her calming voice. "Mmmh...." Her bottom lip is sucked lightly upon as she considers the options, before she looks back to him and flashes another quick grin. "Generally the villages, where they have fresh food, water and supplies." She playfully answers him. "But, if you're looking for more exciting answers than that, well... I've seen some very impressive locations. Some of which do not even have names, as they're just /that/ lost to history. But if I had to choose, I would likely select one of the Japanese Imperial tombs. The Keyhole Tomb of Nintoku, or perhaps the Mozu Tombs. Really, all of ancient Japanese Imperial sites have fascinated me since I was very little."

Steve Rogers has posed:
The pair doing the bench press have finished up their sets and moved over to a machine, alternating doing curls. One of them sees Steve glance over and waves over to Lara and he. Steve waves back without breaking stride, then turns his attention back to Lara fully.

"Thank you," he replies after the comment about what his mother and father might think of him today. For a moment his eyes drift off in that way that happens when someone is in their memories. "I'd like to hope so," he confirms more quietly.

His attention comes back to Lara again fully at her answer to his own question. "For a kid from New York, just having been to Europe probably made me well-traveled. Though I have to say I don't really know too much about Asian history, not the kind that you're speaking of at least. So what was it originally that drew your interest to that part of the world?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara too waves to the man with a light little shake of her right hand before she raises the bottle up again and is soon crossing her arms over her bare midrif. She looks back to Steve then, and smiles a little at his follow-up question. "It felt like it was as far away from reality as I could find when I was a little girl..." She tells him. "I grew up in a very strict rules kind of household. My mother and father were the Lady and Lord of Surrey, England. With such titles, comes all the expectations of a child to perform socially as you might expect. Etiquette training, socialite expectations. I ... I hated all of it, and with a father who was an avid Explorer, he passed the same 'bug' on to me, it seemed. I'd sink myself in to all manner of books within our library, from Norse mythology, to ancient Egypt. But Asia? Japan? Mmm... they just called to me, I suppose. It felt the most foreign, I believe."

She shakes her head, and laughs softly to Steve again. "And now look at us, holding delegation with representitives from other worlds... I guess my library growing up wasn't as extensive as a bored child might wish."

Steve Rogers has posed:
There's something charming about listening to Lara talk about her past. The accent certainly doesn't hurt, and it's a bit gentler of an accent than Peggy's, at that. But the differences between Lara's life growing up, and Steve's, is quiet evident when she tells him more about her family life.

"I suppose that would be quite a lot for most kids," he comments to her, looking thoughtful. Steve reaches a hand out to the console and taps a button. The treadmill begins gradually slowing from the not-quite-sprint he was at, down through a run and to a jog. Finally dropping down to a fast walk and then stopping, making sure the user has time to adjust before it stops.

Steve Rogers steps off the treadmill, moving to pick up a towel that he'd brought with him and set to the side when he came in the room. He lets out a bit of a sigh and says, "Ah yes. Delegations from other worlds." There's a bit of an expression that might take a moment to decipher. Captain America looking slightly awkward for a moment? Or maybe it's embarrassment? "I've found the hard way it can be kind of difficult dealing with the different views, and cultural differences. I mean it's difficult here on Earth. But between here and, well, say Asgard," he comments, that expression still there. A little sheepish perhaps.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara keeps her arms crossed, but shifts her weight from one foot to the other, her eyes sweeping over to the side to watch some of the others not too far away in this extensive gym. When she hears Cap slowing the machine down, she looks back to him, and tilts her head ever so slightly, her loose ponytail angling just a little behind her shoulders.

"I've been lucky enough to have met your fellow Avenger, in Thor Odinson. I've actually been assisting him with his project of late. He's taken me, and several others, to some rather amazing realms far away from this one. That, has been an experience of a life time." She states softly while watching him with the towel. She purses her lips together, and shifts her weight again to the other foot once more.

"I'm sorry if I've been talking your ear off while you're trying to do your routine." She adds then with a slight smile again. "I have a way of rambling sometimes."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve moves over to get a bottle of water out of a cooler that is kept stocked, then moves back to Lara as he opens it and takes a sip from it. "No no," Steve says with a slight wave of a hand as Lara offers an apology. "It's been nice to have someone to talk to while I was getting in some work," he tells her. "Tried to get Sam to come work out, but he begs off ever since we were running the same course awhile back," he comments with his eyes showing just a hint of a smile at the ribbing that has continued between the two from that meeting.

"Thor," Steve says then, and his smile is enough to read the respect that Steve has for the Asgardian. "Yes, he's really something. He has picked up... well, he's picked up a fair amount about Earth. It sometimes surprises me the parts he is and isn't familiar with," he tells Lara with a faint chuckle that suggests a few of those moments can be amusing.

"His father... understands the current environment of Midgaard a little less, as it turns out," Steve says. "But I know what you mean about the kind of wonders you can see when traveling with Thor. I'm actually going to be accompanying on one of his trips soon. Though apparently not to a place as nice as the Keyhole Tomb of Nintoku."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara once more laughs lightly at the talk of Thor, and his understanding of the modern world of Midgard. She glances away again for just a moment, before she looks back to Cap, still holding her arms crossed over her midsection. She keeps that warm smile on her lips. "He's like a kind Uncle, or Grandfather, in the body of a male model." She surmizes of the Thunderer, being playful toward him even though he's not here.

She nods her head softly again to what Steve says. "Well, if we end up together on that mission, I look forward to working with you. I've heard good things, you know?" She asks with another small grin.

"But... with all that is going on in Britain of late, I might have to be headed home for awhile, as much as I might wish to get out of it... it would be important to my mother and father, thus it must be important to me as well."

Lara turns back to the bench she left her bag on, and walks back over to it, slipping her bottle back in to the mesh pouch on the side of it then.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"That's an interesting way of putting it," Steve Rogers replies, giving a warm chuckle. "And probably appropriate. Sometimes I forget he's a bit older than a grandpa, at that," Steve concedes.

He hangs his hand towel about his neck then as he follows Lara when she heads over to the bench. "And I'll look forward to it as well, Lady Croft," he tells her. "But yes, duty never really lets up stops, does it? But I imagine they would be proud of what you've done with your life. And from what I've seen, how you've handled some tough times," Steve says, returning the thoughtfulness that she'd paid him earlier.

He gives a small wave of his hand as he starts to head towards the exit. "Oh, and if you see Pyne, an encouraging word couldn't hurt," he says, flashing Lara a quick grin before giving another wave of his hand. He makes his way to the exit, glancing back over his shoulder once as he goes.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara sorts out her bag and raises the strap up to hook it over her shoulder. She smiles at what Cap states, then nods her head once. "If I see him, I will. I'm headed over to the climbing wall area." She indicates, as he starts to make his exit. "And thank you for the kind words, I appreciate them. If you ever wish to vent about your own responsibilities, don't hesitate to look me up." She offers with a raise of her left hand to give to him a little wave as well.

Lara turns then, and starts to walk to the other side of the large gym floor, one of the guys on the weight bench she's passing by speaks up, doing smoochie noises at her and saying 'I love you too Captain Rogers.'

Lara mocking laughs at the man, shoves him by the shoulder, and then picks up his towel and snaps it at his rear end. "Watch it, Rodrigues." Lara says with a little laugh, as he yelps and jumps away from her, catching his towel when she tosses it at him. He calls after her, but she's already walking off toward the climbing area around the corner....