3304/A Trip To the Past

A Trip To the Past
Date of Scene:	09 September 2020
Location:	Jungles of Narobia, Africa
Synopsis:	Lara and T'Challa carve their way towards a potential African archeological site that was the source of an artifact
Cast of Characters:	T'Challa, Lara Croft

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T'Challa has posed:
Things moved fast once Lara had provided the information about the Narobian artifact. T'Challa had seen to gathering equipment for the trip, and he sent a car to pick up Lara when it was time to depart. Rather than go to JFK, the car took her to Avengers Mansion where T'Challa met her and took her up to the hangar bay and a waiting quinjet. "Faster than a commercial flight," he'd commented. "If with less amenities."

The trip had been a speedy one then by commercial standards as well, reaching Mach 2 once they were out over water. Still the trip took hours. But eventually they had touched down at a small airfield in Wakanda. Something that would at best be a small civilian field in the US. There they transferred to a small helicopter a few decades older than the current models. But flightworthy. It took them over the border. There was little to show this stretch of thick rainforest was different than any other, but at a point the helicopter hovered over the bank of a small river, a spot clear of trees enough for them to rappel down to the ground.

T'Challa picks up his pack, the larger by far and slides it over a shoulder. He's wearing a black shirt and khaki trousers with boots. He looks over to check on Lara. "How long since you were last in Africa?" he asks.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had been mostly quiet on the trip aboard the quinjet, happy to speak when they brought up a topic, but otherwise she focused on the maps and a new journal she had for this expedition. T'challa would've gotten a first hand look at how meticulous Lara is in recording and tracking everything that they do, even the coordinate paths that their vehicles take to get to where they are now.

After they finish rappeling, Lara detaches herself from the line, but leaves the nylon harness around her body, a climbing harness that she figures might come in use again at some point. She's otherwise wearing a beige safari shirt over a charcoal tank top, both of which are tucked into a pair of slim fit cargo pants of an army green color, with leather boots on her feet going up past her ankles. She carries her backpack on her shoulders and hooks her thumbs under the straps.

At his question, Lara looks over to him, "Oh, my, lets see..." She states, her eyes going forward as she considers it. "It was my last trip before going to college, with my mentor Conrad Roth. He has friends in Cairo, or did, I suppose--" She hesitates a moment, since Roth was like a second father to her, and his death was one of the ones that occurred on the infamous island last year.

"Never this region before, however." She adds then with another glance back at him and a little smile to accompany it.

T'Challa has posed:
As T'Challa catches the bit of emotion that stirs at Lara's memory, he reaches over to briefly rest his hand on her upper back in a supportive touch. "Well, Africa welcomes you back," he tells her. He looks around the rainforest, the thick jungle that surrounds them. "We can follow the river for a few miles but will need to cut across the land after that," he comments, pulling out a map for Lara to compare with her notes.

"We'll have to cut our way through parts of it," he says. "There aren't even trails unless we find animal ones, for most of the way," T'Challa tells her.

He motions in the right direction to see if she wants to get underway, and starts walking alongside of her. "I cannot express how appreciative I am of your help, Lara," he tells her, having fallen into comfort easily enough in using her name rather than the more formal title. "The matter may need a certain amount of discreteness. To make sure what is found ends up with the people of Narobia. I have found a great measure of comfort with you. First when I read your work. But more as I've gotten to know you," he tells her.

+Despite the size of his pack, he is moving easily enough, hopping up atop a rock in their way and offering Lara a hand. "And not that I don't trust your hardiness. But you DID mention being on the mend. So anything you need along the way? Just say something."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara affords T'Challa a returned smile at his kind words and welcoming her to his home continent. She then glances down at her expedition device in her left hand and marks a few notes on its screen. "Well, if it weren't a grueling trek, then it wouldn't be onee that would as easily stick in our memories." She states before slipping the dvice into a pouch on her belt and moving along after him. Her own pack isn't quite as large as his, but its got all her standard equipment, and no few weapons that T'Challa might've seen briefly when she was sorting it out aboard the Quinjet, from a fancy compound bow yet-to-be-assembled to a selection of handguns, along with her general survival gear and a rather nice climbing ax attached to the back of the pack itself, it alone being quite a menacing looking potential weapon.

Lara takes his hand to ascend the rock's face more easily, then softly shakes her head. "I wasn't even really injured on the last mission. I believe it was more about letting the heat die down a bit on my activity. This past summer has been a busy one. I've been involved in a number of gunfights, and some close encounters ... of the personal danger side. But I came through okay on them all." She smirks at him softly then.

"I think they were just tired of reading my hazard reports." Lara starts down in the direction she knows they're headed, but looks back to him as she moves. "I'm glad that you're comfortable with me though, I attribute a large part of that to my upbringing. I think having such a varied exposure to other cultures has maybe helped me relate to a wider range of people. I won't say I'm the best at it, that would be pretentious, but I like to think maybe I have a leg up, maybe even two, over the average person." She flashes a quick grin then before setting onward.

T'Challa has posed:
T'Challa releases Lara's hand once she's got her balance atop the boulder, continuing along the river bank. There are signs of animals about, mostly calls but some birds can be seen in the water, and there are occasional tracks as well.

T'Challa looks over to Lara as they hike, listening to her. "Indeed, I could see that contributing," T'Challa agrees about her how worldly Lara was even as a girl. "Your father seemed the type to make sure that would be the case for you as well," T'Challa comments idly as he turns his attention back to the way ahead. A few birds stare at them, letting the pair get very close before finally flying away.

"They weren't sure what we were, I believe," he says of the birds. "It may be that people have not walked this stretch of land in a century," he says thoughtfully. Up ahead is the point though that they'll need to start cutting overland. Quite literally in many cases where the jungle is too thick to walk without clearing some vines and plants out of the way.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara keeps to the thinnest parts of the deep flora around them, weaving in and out of the foliage as she ducks beneath a low hanging bundle of vines. Once she raises up on the other side she waits for T'Challa to join her.

"I've been meaning to ask you about how you seem to familiar with father." She tells him. "But I'm worried you'll tell me that he'd visited Wakanda, at some point, and he failed to ever tell me about it." She states with another soft smirk. her father kept a lot from her, sometimes entirely intentionally too. It was a point of contention with her, now that she was old enough to really piece the puzzle together, and see some of the motivation behind why he was how he was, especially after the death of her mother.

Turning back to their destination though, Lara looks ahead at his words, and after the birds flutter away, she reaches for the small machete hanging from the bottom of her backpack, and glides it out of it's nylon and molded plastic sheath, the matte black blade visibly sharp and freshly new.

"Well, let us hope that's the case." She says of people in this region. "Not that i don't enjoy meeting kind locals. I more-so worry about meeting the other variety, or the variety that would be so afraid of us as outsiders, they might ask hastily to our even just being here at all..."

T'Challa has posed:
T'Challa makes the turn as well, pulling out his machete though not using it quiet yet while he can still maneuver around, under, or over the jungle vegetation. Though there are definitely areas visible ahead where 'through' is the only option.

"I do not believe he has ever been to Wakanda," T'Challa answers. "Not that I know of. No, as it turns out, you and I have met before," the African says, swinging his gaze over to cast a small grin at Lara at being able to make that revelation.

He gives a little gesture with his hand as if Lara shouldn't wonder about that. "It was one of your father's parties. While I was attending Oxford. We were not introduced. So I do not know if you even noticed me other than one among the crowd," T'Challa tells her.

He finally cuts through some vines to clear the way. His machete is making very easy work of them. "But we spoke, your father and I. He showed me his study. Books on Africa. Pumped me for information on Wakdana," T'Challa says with a soft smile. "I liked him. He had an eccentricity to him. But a warmth as well. I can see that same warmth in his daughter."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara does use her machete to cut a bit out of her way, but only to test the weight of the blade and get used to it in her hand as it was a new purchase and it's grip was still quite fresh. She listens to him and glances over tohim when she's not focused on merely trekking alongside this stretch of water and jungle.

"You spoke of Indiana Jones before." Lara comments. "If anyone in history mirrored that man more than my father, I would be impressed." a smile shows for a moment before she runs through what he'd said.

"A party, at the Manor?" She glances back at him. "That would've had to have been before my mother passed away. He stopped having public gatherings at the Manor after that. Which means, I was... seven, or eight? Which would mean you were in your mid teens?" She's not positive on that math, as she's not positive what T'Challa's age actually is, specifically. He's fit and youthful still, but she knows he's older than she is.

"I hated those parties." Lara quietly adds. "Until they stopped happening,m then I started to miss the... liveliness that it brought our home." She seems a bit lost in those memories, at least for a few moments.

T'Challa has posed:
"A little older, I was a sophomore in college," T'Challa confirms. He stops and raises a hand. "Which does not open me up to 'old man' comments, young lady," he jokingly warns in that soft, pleasing raspy voice of his. He continues on then, flashing a smile over to Lara. Though it softens with understanding as she talks about missing the parties.

"You were in and out there as I recall. Your mother commented that for you, the house was like the largest fort any child could ever hope for. She was a beautiful and charming woman. We only spoke the once. But I can see both of them in you," T'Challa tells Lara as he looks over to her.

"Your father also gave a talk on campus. We talked quite a bit after. He mentioned some work he was doing that might interest myself and my father when it was through. Though I never found out what he was referring to," T'Challa says.

More vines and bushes are cut. They are making steady progress. By most standards, they are making fast progress. Hacking your way through this kind of foliage is both difficult and tiring, but T'Challa's machete is making exceptionally short work of the obstructions. Then again, he might be wielding it with a stronger arm than most. Up ahead, a steeply angled slope of rock, so steep as to be worthy of 'cliff', rises up in their way.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had gotten numb to the notion of her mother having perished in a plane crash. She could talk about her more easily than her father, as it had just been a tragic accident. But her father? That was harder, he was her idol and he shot himself in his office, with Lara not even but a short distance away. She'd heard him arguing with someone on the phone while she played in the backyard, in her custom jungle-gym that had been 'tricked out' with all kinds of ancient temple-like ruins and puzzles for her to solve, all designed and built /by/ her father.

She'd been on her way inside when she heard the gunshot, and she'd been the first one to find him... It hadn't been pleasant, and she loathed life there-after, having people look down on her father for taking his own life. It never sat well with Lara, but how could it.

She does smile at his comments though. "I wouldn't refer to you as old in a negative light." She says in that soft and caring voice of hers. "Most of the people I've related to most in my life have been older than I. Some by large margins." She slows to let him take the lead up a narrow incline, now behind him she looks up at his back.

"It sounds like he was fond of you." She says. "Most people who got any measure of his time like that, tended to receive it because he saw something in them. Though i can't say for sure what he was working on when he spoke to you. He left more questions than answers, when he passed, and I'm still sorting through it all. Trying to make sense of it."

T'Challa has posed:
The land rises heading towards that near-cliff ahead as they work their way up the incline. "I was grateful for the time he gave me," T'Challa says of the attention from Lara's father. He pauses for a moment, machete in hand but not swinging at the foliage. "And that I got to see Lara Croft before she became famed archeologist and adventurer," he says in a soft, teasing voice as if he's sensing her emotions at the topic and helping to soothe them.

He looks back at the way ahead, resuming clearing them both a path. "And you know the right things to say to an old decrepit man," T'Challa jokes. "I shall have to remember them for when I see Steve Rogers next." He glances back to Lara, giving her that lopsided grin that suggests he enjoys a little banter with the good Captain now and then.

They reach the base of the cliff and T'Challa glances up it, and to either side but it looks like going around would be quite a trek. "We can get out the ropes and all. Or if you are amenable? I could get us to the top a little more quickly," he offers.

Lara Croft has posed:
The initial bit that T'Challa says of her, makes Lara smile. "Some in this world have a very different opinion of me." She states quietly, eluding to the motion that some out there might not like her too much, and that she could likely indicate some names of them!

The bit about Captain America makes Lara laugh a little more openly. "I would like to meet him someday. I see his face plastered all over the city, let alone hear him being spoken of everywhere, including within SHIELD's offices. If my ability to get along with a person is based on their number of years on this earth, over that of my own? Well then, he and I should get along legendarily well." Lara states then with a grin.

When they reach the cliff, Lara steps around T'Challa's back to stand on his left side. Her eyes go up to the peak of the cliff, then over to him. "I'm an experienced climber. Possibly one of my premiere skills, but..." She exhales lightly and shifts her weight from one booted foot to the other as her hands go to her hips. "I'm open to suggestions." She says up to the taller man aside her.

T'Challa has posed:
"I think Steve could be 7 and the world would still get along with him," T'Challa muses in that quiet rasp of his. "I have no doubt you would get on famously with him," he advises as he slips the machete back into its sheath, and if Lara's is out, makes a gesture she might do the same as well.

"I would be happy to introduce you some time," he tells her as he shades his eyes against bands of sunlight making it down through the canopy here, eyeing the cliff and probably planning the way up.

T'Challa turns back to the English noblewoman, giving a tiny nod after his survey of the landscape as if he's satisfied. "It's simple enough, just hold on," he tells her. His eyebrows go up just slightly, suggesting what's to come before it does.

Unless Lara does something to indicate he should stop, T'Challa reaches out and slips an arm around Lara's waist, drawing her in against him tightly enough she isn't likely to feel she's going to fall.

Fall? Oh yes. Because once he has her held close, T'Challa bends and leaps, jumping a dozen feet high. He grabs hold of the rock face with one hand, and propels them up higher with a hard push from a foot. Though one of his arms is occupied holding Lara, it seems his feet and one hand are more than enough for him to scale the cliff, often moving ten feet a time as he jumps from one hand or foothold to another.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara doesn't shy away from the help up. In fact, she's been told by doctors that if she keeps living the life she's been living that she'll probably be in a wheelchair by the time she's 40.

When they make it up, she's both impressed and a bit stunned by it all. Sure, she's aware of what members of the Avengers are capable of, but... she's never seen it quite this close before.

She keeps close to him, so as to not get jarred around, and as they peak the cliff's apex, she looks over and up at him. "Impressive." She breathes the word out. "Jealousy, in your ability to do that, isn't a strong enough expression." She adds, with a little grin gracing her visage.

She reaches her left hand up to stroke some of her dark hair out of her face after it was tossed about her brow by the motion of their ascent. "I was never this close to super powered people growing up." She explains. "New York has been an eye opening experience for that, to say the very least..."

T'Challa has posed:
T'Challa lets Lara go once they are safely over the lip of the cliff and away from the edge. "There are moments it has its advantages," T'Challa acknowledges in a somewhat humble tone. "Though I was accounted a fair athlete? The blessings passed down from one Black Panther to another make the world feel a different place," he admits.

"Sometimes I worry there are too many such people," he tells her as they start forward again. "One of the reasons I have begun splitting my time between my home, and the rest of the world. The needs of the world have begun to transcend borders," he says quietly. "In a way they never have before."