Thick silence hung over Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, as she slid her hand into the dark chasm. Her slender fingers closed around the bread, and pulled it out.
She smiled at her over active imagination, and headed for the fridge - intent on making a sandwich.
She had been at home for two months, taking a forced holiday from her adventuring. It was unnerving, being stuck at home with only Winston for company. She was restless, lonely and unsatisfied.
She had given the butler the day off, sickened by his constant pottering. She sighed, and picked up her sandwich.
"I'm bored," she said aloud, taking a bite. She mused over ringing a friend, but realised suddenly that however many people liked her, and were amicable with her, none of them were really her friends. Most of them were only interested in her wealth, or worse her body. Lara was beginning to feel sorry for herself, there was no one to participate in being bored, lazy and slobbish with.
Daytime television offered no relief. It was clear the person who wrote it was even less intelligent than those who watched it, and Lara had found three plot holes in the opening sequence of a soap opera earlier that day.
Clad in a pair of loose jogging trousers, and an old black tank top, she padded in mismatched socks upstairs, towards her 'office'. Her barely used office, with the shiny new computer in it. Her waist length hair was loose - that laziness again - and she had to lift it out of the way before she sat on it and ripped most of it out.
It only took her a minute to find her way on the Internet. She keyed her name into a search engine, and found several articles. Much of the publicity wasn't positive, and her title of 'Tomb Raider' was burned as thievery in most of them. She sat munching her sandwich, non-plussed. Eventually, she was tired of reading of her soiled reputation and tried a few new keywords.
At last, she stumbled upon something that interested her. The page itself was murder to navigate, and it was covered in teenage angst, as well as ridiculous graphics, but it mentioned a legend. Lara knew there was always something in folklore, something had to start a story like that.
I have no idea if this is real or anything but i read it on another site (i forgot the URL!!).
I think it's true.
Years ago, like hundreds or thousands, there was a place that no man knew about. Dragons lived there. (Geez, who wouldn't see a dragon?!) Well anyway, some priest who's name I forgot too was out walking, when he found the secret place. The two dragons who lived there were in love, and wehn the priest guy killed the male one, the girl's heart broke. It turned into a precious stone, and formed two pieces. They are lost in some freaky temple in Brazil or something...
Lara scanned the rest, and found no more decent information. She couldn't believe she was checking this out of the whim of a fourteen year old 'goth', who spent her time poisoning Geocities with her depression.
She knew the dragons were probably made up, but the stones might not be. It wouldn't be the first time a crazed idiot had forged a valuable jewel and hidden it somewhere in a temple to keep it safe. She surfed for hours, and finally located the temple. It was in Brazil, somewhere in the middle of the jungle. Just the way she liked it.
An hour later, after surfing about three hundred websites - Lara had already decided she was going to check this temple out. Usually, she wasn't so impulsive, and she was less than willing to admit that it was a childish fascination with the romance in the legend that was driving her. She was Lara Croft! She didn't need romance, she had tombs and men that had been dead four thousand years, and what could be better?
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The jeep bounced over rough terrain, causing the native driving to curse in his own language, which he assumed Lara didn't speak. She looked down her nose, over her sunglasses at him. He didn't seem to care whether she was offended or not, and continued to curse all the way to the temple.
Lara groaned as they pulled up beside a similar vehicle - this was supposed to be for her, and this guy looked so equipped to go into the temple that he could barely stand.
"Hello," she said icily.
The man had his head buried in a trunk. At the sound of Lara's voice, he slowly removed his blond head, and turned to glare at her with piercing blue eyes. Clearly, he thought some silly English woman had come to bother him on his quest. Whatever he was going to say to her never made it out of his mouth, as recognition swept over him visibly.
"Lara Croft?" he grinned, sticking out a hand. "I was just reading about you,"
"Thief, lunatic and grave robber?" guessed Lara, shaking his hand.
"Hero of the modern day world," he blushed. "I'm Michael Ryley."
"Nice to meet you. Mind if I ask why you're here?"
"It's my first..."
"Raid?" Lara filled in the blanks, realising what a novice he was.
"Yeah, I figured this was a nice obscure way to start."
Lara eyed him quizzically. He was out here all alone, with apparently no experience at all and he had some of the strangest looking tools Lara had ever seen. All she ever carried was the one backpack, and in it she managed to store a sleeping bag, various armaments and food.
"Well... If you don't mind me saying," began Lara carefully, side stepping him and approaching his car. "You've got too much here, and you should leave some of it."
"You think? I thought 'be prepared'..."
"Be prepared, not totally submerged," corrected Lara. "How were you planning on getting this stuff around in there? Once you go in you can't just duck in and out as you please, Mr. Ryley."
"I..." he failed to think of a way. "Well, would you mind helping me pick some stuff to take?" he flashed her a grin that could have melted a heart of stone.
"I suppose," she shrugged, fidgetting. She stuck her hands into the back pockets of her shorts, and looked absently into the trunk.
"The tools are a bit much," she murmured. Eventually she picked out an empty bag, and put in his sleeping bag, a flashlight, his camera and a few small digging tools. She found a long twine of rope, and added it as a last thought.
"That's it?" he spluttered, blinking at her.
"Along with any food, and water you have," Lara nodded. She had a feeling he might want a little more help from her, and she didn't particularly feel like giving it.
"I might see you in there," she called non-commitally.