8644/Talk About a Theft!

Talk About a Theft!
Date of Scene:	11 November 2021
Location:	Teacher's Lounge - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	Two 'archaeologists' talk of immortality. Kitezh comes up. Lara may be off soon.
Cast of Characters:	Roland Livingston, Lara Croft

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Roland Livingston has posed:
Armed with a laptop and a stack of papers, Roland makes his way into the teacher's lounge looking quite prepared for a session of grading papers. The Englishman moves to one of the corner tables and drops off his stuff before heading for the vending machines for a drink and a snack. Bills are fed to the machines, buttons are pressed and stuff is dispensed. Grabbing his bottle of Gatorade and bag of chips he returns to the corner to get to work. Of course, he doesn't make it there when he takes not of Lara Croft also doing her thing.

His destination changes to meet up with the young woman, "Good afternoon! How are you? I didn't know you were working here."

Lara Croft has posed:
    The teacher's lounge was usually empty during class periods. Lara occasionally dipped in there for coffee and a quiet place to read or research. She avoided people, generally. Currently, however, she was on a mission. She'd avoided interacting with Roland on campus for quite some time, but now she moves to him as he goes to intercept her. "Well, thank you," she says. She doesn't feed back platitudes or overly polite banter. She's either more rude than many other British people or America has been rubbing off on her. "I've decided to let you in on a bit of a quest I've been doing. My work at SHIELD has not gotten me any closer, so I thought perhaps you might know some things."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I am a font of knowledge," Roland replies in his upper class English accent, inclining his head so that it's nearly a bow. "Among other things. How may I be of service?" There's a smile on his face as he speaks, apparently not bothered by the lack of niceties on the part of the other person. He sets his chips down on a nearby table and cracks open his drink so that he can have a gulp, but his attention is focuses on the young woman.

Lara Croft has posed:
    The young 'archaeologist', if one can call her that, holds out a National Geographic magazine. "I'm sure you're aware of what happened in Yamatai," she says. "An expedition I went on to attempt to complete my father's work. He became obsessed with immortality. Yes, I know," she interrupts him before he can even speak. She continues, "It's the mad dream of many a king. I have witnessed an immortal soul, however. I need to exhaust all options before I can rest on this." She concludes, "I know of nobody else I could realistically get true information from. Do you know anything along the lines of what I seek?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Quite aware of your adventure. I had one similar not long ago," Roland says with a nod as he glances at the magazine. "If your quest has already given you a brush with the immortal you're likely on the right track." The young man pauses to think for a second, "There's a few means thought to achieve immortality that I can think of offhand. Sorcerer's Stone. Holy Grail. Divine Source. Tear of the Unicorn." Then there's a shrug, "Holy Grail's likely in France or the UK. Sorcerer's Stone could be manufactured by a talented enough alchemist, if I recall correctly. The other two are far more mysterious."

Lara Croft has posed:
    "I'm not working with nothing, here," Lara says. "I do wish I'd come to you or someone like you before," she says, tucking the magazine under her arm. "If possible, I'd like to avoid an immortality that ties me to the will of any higher being. I'm not interested in being a paladin. However, a sorcerer's stone or unicorn's tear, if they exist, aren't bad options. You wouldn't happen to have information on any of that, would you?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Unicorn's Tear is, in all likelihood, in the hands of Gebhard the Undying," The young man says with a frown. "It was recovered during the First Crusade, but dated back to a missionary from Wales looking to win converts in Acre to Christianity. He was executed and buried with the Tear. Years later one of my family members obtained it from the crypt and we kept it safe until... Until the rest of my family was butchered and our artifacts stolen."

Then he nods his head, "I don't know any alchemists good enough to make a Stone. Likely they'd require some sort of grand sacrifice, innocent souls or some such. If there are any still in existence and I get a lead on them I'll contact you." There's a little pause, "I've heard rumors about the lost city of Kitezh, in Siberia. One of my uncles went there looking for the Divine Source, but he was driven off by Soviet Military. It's probably substantially safer to investigate now that the Soviet Union has fallen."