[RUNNING WILD.]

lara follows in her movements, raising her own shirt to reveal the first and oldest wound on her body, from the god forbidden island yamatai itself. the wound had never gotten the proper chance to heal    —   still never has, proven by the dark red and purple that was growing on the wound, with the old stab wound itself not looking as well as it normally does. but thankfully, she didn’t have to restitch or cauterize it again… will she hell press another flame burned arrow into her flesh again.

❛ i’ll be alright… we best keep moving. ❜   she lets go off her shirt, allowing the fabric to cover up the old wound again, hoping that their further adventures would not cause it to reopen…. again. she nods her head towards her partner, then moves to grab the bow she had left by the door, hooking it back over her chest to carry it, turning back with a grin. how she loved the adventure.    ❛ i’m not about to let this artefact fall into the wrong hands. ❜

         SCEPTICISM   CLINGS   TO  HER   LIKE  A  FILM,   but  she  lets  it  go  with  nothing  but  a  raise  of  her  eyebrow.    scars  have  stories,    she  knows  as  much,   her  own  body  a  CANVAS  mapping  memories  which  hurt.    a  walking  journal  documenting  fails  and  successes,  written  in  braille  over  previously  pristine  flesh.

                                “  don’t  have  to  tell  me  twice,  sweetheart,  ”      chloe  checks  her  guns  for  bullets  and  straps  them  back  into  place,   dusting  off  her  jeans  &  swinging  the  backpack  over  her  shoulder.    arm  links  easily  with  lara’s  own  &&  she  tilts  her  head  to  brush  a  quick  kiss  over  her  cheek. 

laughter escaped her chest, surprised that they were even still alive. that was another location they can scratch out, it was empty and not worth their time. instead of finding a relic, or something leading to something greater and bigger than them, they were ambushed by mercenaries. unfortunate for them, the young croft had her climbing axe strapped to her side and her pistol strapped to her sides, but also   —   her fists were fully capable. they had no chance.

she tightly squeezes chloe’s hand back, letting the other adventurer rest her head on her shoulder, lara just smiled more as the laughter died. until the room is only filled with the sound of the exhausted women after their long fight for survival.   ❛ i’ve got more than just a mean punch, chloe. they are just lucky that a punch was all they got. ❜

              THEY  CANNOT  STAY  THERE  FOR  LONG  ;  chloe  suspects  that  whoever  was  in  charge  of  the  delightful  band  of  goons  that  had  taken  them  by  surprise  is  on  their  trail  judging  by  the  fact  that  they  had  kept  most  of  the  information  lowkey.     but  while  that  is  always  a  hardship  one  has  to  cross  in  moments  like  this,  it  also  means  that  the  artefact  they’re  searching  for  is  more  valuable  than  she  had  initially  estimated.

                          .  .  .     so  much  for  a  relaxing  date.

             “   —  MIND   YOUR   HEAD,   LOVE   .   .   .   ”      not  much  of  a  greeting,   but  it’ll  have  to  do.  chloe  does  not  take  her  eyes  off  the  notebook  she  had  been  furiously  scribbling  in  moments  prior,  not  even  as  she  glides  over  the  hardwood  floor  behind  ahsoka  to  circle  something  on  the  map  in  red.  only  then,  marker  cap  hanging  loosely  from  the  corner  of  her  lips  and  hands  on  her  hips,  does  she  turn  to  truly  look  at  her.