paixaorpg | A Moment of Peace [Complete]

Genie would never thrive as an art critic. Though the work of a critic is easy, regardless what he truly thought of a piece, negative criticism was not something the djinn would often share. Words of encouragement and optimism were the most likely to escape him. He wanted to inspire the artist, help them flourish apposed to hurt their feelings and possibly lead them to the end of their career. It was for this reason he stopped to admire even the smallest display. He did not quite understand every piece he had come across so far, but none the less enjoyed them.

Cora had selected a lovely 'boring old museum' for him to explore. He made note to thank her when next he saw her. He would also note not to mention that he had accidentally broken three vases within its walls. Not only that, but angered the staff by bringing in can of soda pop that he had accidentally split on a work of art. But other than that, he showed complete respect for the art. Yes, he did!

Making his way back to the entrance hall, he appreciated the prodigious ceiling art. A quick picture was snapped of the spectacle, (his flash off, of course) before he referred to one of his many tour guides to see what else the museum held that was relevant to his interest.

Lara, too, preferred to keep her opinions about art to herself - at least when not among her friends. She didn't particularly care about encouraging an artist or convincing him or her to quit. She rarely, in fact, gave any opinion to the artist unless they were speaking directly.

That said, however, it seemed a perfectly lovely museum to spend time in, and Lara was admiring the various pieces when she saw a rather ostentatious creature - a djinn, by the looks of it. That must surely be the Genie she spoke to over the journals, so Lara waved at him, giving him a cheerful grin.

Did you ever get the feeling you were being watched? Genie did. Actually, he knew he was being watched. But the audience was much different then one would normally expect. -unless of course you had just finished watching 'The Truman Show'. But, at the moment, this feeling had nothing to do with you, the goof behind the keyboard, watching him.

Curiously, he brought his book down to find a beautiful woman waving at him. At least, he thought it was him. He looked behind him to make sure before waving back. A smile stretched across his lips as he zipped toward her, then back to where he had been previously standing to grab the guide he had dropped due to his quick movement.

"You were right, we did run into each other! You wouldn't happen to be some sort of oracle by chance, would you? I've seen them in many forms but... Would you mind if we take a picture together? It's for my scrapbook. Though, I'll be putting it in my slide show too. Unless, of course, you don't want to be in there, then just the scrapbook. Some people just don't feel their photogenic; their hair isn't right, their makeup needs to be touched up... Those won't be a problem, will they?"

Lara couldn't help but chuckle at Genie's enthusiasm - and she could definitely see where it could be catching. "No," she laughed, once she could get a word in edgewise, "I'm not an oracle." Never mind that she had never believed in fate, having focused on becoming a master of her own - the very idea that her actions inevitably led to the same result didn't appeal to Lara in the least.

She raised an eyebrow at his request for a picture, but shrugged - why not? It wasn't as though this was her own world, after all, where the press had often tried to hound her into revealing her own secrets as well as those of others, the bloody idiots. "Very well," she said simply, smiling; she didn't particularly care what she looked like in pictures, especially since she preferred to spend her days swinging around trees or climbing mountains, or else examining an ancient tablet of some sort.

Genie was overjoyed to hear Lara's response, and instantly threw his camera onto its tripod. Carefully adjusting its height, he used many tools to make his measurement exact: a ruler, a drafting compass, stopwatch, a calculator, a normal compass... He even licked his finger to check which direction the wind was coming from (regardless of the fact that they were in a building).

Joining the woman's side, he struck a playful pose and smiled at the camera. "Say 'Mickey'!" he said before pressing the extended shutter release button.

Nothing happened.

"... Hu, that's odd. Hopefully it not broken. Maybe the batteries just-" Suddenly, the entire museum was lit by a blinding light; a ridiculously bright flash was produced by Genie's camera. Once his eyes adjusted, the djinn chuckled to himself. "I may have placed too bright a bulb in there."

[ooc: kajgkaj LJ wasn't showing me that I posted... Then I forgot italics. Oro.]

Lara chuckled a bit at Genie's careful ministrations; was all of that really needed? She watched, however, amused by his antics. Genie was quite eccentric, from what Lara had seen - but then again, Lara was considered eccentric herself, especially by those who disapproved of her chosen career.

"Mickey?" That was an odd way of smiling for the camera, but Lara said it anyway - she was already consenting to a picture, so what did it matter what she said? She gave a puzzled look at the camera's apparent malfunction... which was promptly captured by the camera finally working, followed by a number of blinks as she adjusted to the light again. "I quite agree."

"Hopefully this isn't the last one I have. I just replaced bulbs yesterday." he explained, fiddling with his camera idly. "I think I picked this one up in China before I rode a rickshaw along the great Great Wall. I couldn't remember what my camera took and just bought any. Usually I keep a spare on me, but..."

Taking note of the now developed photo that had fluttered to the ground from the camera, he picked it up for closer inspection. Then he laughed. He pointed at the picture, and laughed louder. How loud? Enough for the museum staff to shush him, but nothing more. Zipping his mouth shut, (literally, mind you) his giggles could still be heard as he passed the photo to Lara. It wasn't very likely that she would find it quite as funny as he had, but she none the less deserved to see the photo.

Genie's pose was difficult to describe: he was greatly stretched out, clearly in the process of movement which made him look rather comedic. His jaw was extended far to his left while the rest of his face was to the right. His tongue was spotted sticking out of his mouth as though he had been trying to lick the air. Clearly he was in the middle of saying something too when the photo was taken.

Sneaking an extra peek at the picture from over Lara's shoulder, he unzipped his mouth. "Is it just me, or does this picture make my butt look big?"

Lara, too, couldn't help laughing, although she kept her own amusement comparatively quiet. Her lips were pursed in the photo, and an eyebrow was raised. The effect was, Lara thought, rather silly. She handed the photo back to Genie, still smiling. "At least you can't say the picture is boring."

Her brows knitted together at the question, and she looked at the picture again, seeming to give his question serious thought. "No," Lara replied, "I certainly don't think so." Not that she hadn't noticed that Genie was odd to begin with, but she had never received that question before, not even from her female friends.

Genie nodded in agreement. He enjoyed pictures that captured the viewers eye instantaneously apposed to leisurely. Why, his very vacation slide show consisted of such images. This one would contribute wonderfully.

Giving a sigh of relief, Genie took the photo back and wiped the forming sweat from his forehead. "Whew! I was afraid all those chocolates I ate in Belgium had finally caught up with me. You know what they say about the sweets. 'Guuurl, all that's gunna go straight to your butt. Uh-hu!'"

He snapped his fingers and swayed rhythmically as though it helped convey his point.

"But forget about me, what about you? How are you? Have you seen the entire gallery yet? I just finished visiting the North West side. Very interesting pieces, most of the mythological sort. Of course, nothing compares to the plants outside. I wonder who the artist was behind that. It's simply remarkable. I wonder how it long took to weave all that grass. -oops! There I go again. My, my, how can I resist yeah? Mama Mia, does it show again?"

Zipping his mouth shut again, he smiled at Lara apologetically.

Lara couldn't help but wonder just how many of Genie's pictures ended up like this. "I don't really like sweets," she responded. She preferred to eat healthily, and although she did admittedly have the occasional sweet, she didn't enjoy them constantly. Junk food and archaeology didn't seem to mix well, especially when one had to be fast on their feet.

"No," Lara answered, "I arrived here not very long ago. The art here so far is interesting, however." Even if she didn't like some of the pieces, Lara didn't mention it - far be it from her to influence others' opinions on art.

"I do wonder why they have such things here as opposed to the real plants, where there are none outside." It was... suspicious, Lara thought.

"Perhaps they had trouble growing them from the lack of sun?" he replied thoughtful. "The dome over the city cuts off the sunlight, and their technology appears no where near advanced enough to be using any hi-intensity hid grow lights. Or! It was just to make things look pretty. It could be a tourist attraction. People are always trying to do something new and exciting and this certainly meets that quota."

Shrugging, Genie looked back at the North East side of the gallery. "Would you like to look at the rest of the gallery together? I brought snacks!"

Smiling, the djinn produced a number of juice boxes and snacks. "What would you like to drink? I have apple, orange, tropical punch, wildberry, strawberry kiwi raspberry iced tea, citrus, I think this one has vegetables in it..."

"I wonder why they haven't bothered to put real plants in, especially as they're capable of growing outside," Lara mused. "It may be something else, though. I'm fairly sure this city is hiding something." But what, exactly? And what had Larxene's purpose been in misleading her and sending some of those strange creatures to attack her? On the bright side, however, Lara did get quite the adventure out of it, and there seemed to be the promise of another one ahead.

She smiled at Genie and nodded. "That would be lovely," she assured him. "And it's been a while since I've been able to enjoy a museum." She laughed at his offer of drinks. "Wild berry would be fine, thank you."

Genie didn't see what the people of Paixao could possibly be hiding, but he kept his mouth shut. They all seemed fairly nice to him, regardless of their seemingly harsh reactions at time. He did suppose he had been a little... Well, 'much'. Invading their personal space, being perhaps a tad to loud, or simply touching something that he knew he shouldn't.

Handing Lara her desired juice box, he kept one out for himself before making the others disappear in a cloud of blue smoke. He removed the straw from its wrapper and carefully punctured a hole into the box with it.

“I have some granola bars too if you’re interested. Carrot sticks, celery sticks, grapes, Chex Mix, raisins, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, pita bread wedges, yogurt, canned fruit… I don’t know what this grey stuff is, but it might be still good. –WHEEEW! Nope, never mind! Definitely not good.”

Pinching his nose closed, he tossed the mysterious grey article aside and continued further into the museum. “Well this is an interesting piece.” He said, stopping to observe a large canvas painting. “What do you think?”

The city had a dome. Not only that, but during her short time in Paixao thus far, Lara had never seen so much as one citizen set foot outside. They seemed afraid of something, but what? Lara doubted that Larxene (as devious as she seemed to be) could manage to terrify an entire - and gigantic - city into submission. This place, like the church, was hiding something.

Lara, after glancing around to make sure it was all right, poked a hole in her juice box and sipped. It was rather good, she had to admit, and the archaeologist found herself amused. "Nothing right now, thanks. Perhaps later." She didn't want to risk making a mess, even if she was a neat eater.

"It's quite interesting, and I like the use of color," Lara replied, examining it. "The artists here seem to be rather fond of mythological creatures; there's hardly a piece of art to be found otherwise."

"Maybe they're less familiar with typical, more domestic animals? There does seem to be a lack of them here. Although... I did see a few statues of lions and tigers. Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!" Laughing at the memorable quote from Oz, he covered his mouth in hopes of keeping his voice down.

Once he found that he had calmed down, he summoned a book and pair of spectacles. “There is something these griffins we keep finding remind me of, though. Ah, let me see if I can find it now. I know it’s in here some- Ah ha!” Adjusting his glasses, he read aloud from the scripture before him. “As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature.’” he read, a grin quickly beginning to spread across his features. “’Griffins are normally known for guarding treasure.'"

Removing his spectacles, he tapped them against his chin thoughtfully. “There are a lot of griffins about, it might be possible that the people believe- or, did believe, they would protect their city. Paixao could easily be a treasure from what I’ve seen.”

"That's true," Lara mused. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen any animals around here, mythological or not - and she was certain that Sonic definitely didn't count as one. Those creatures she had fought earlier outside the city couldn't have been animals, either. "I wonder why there aren't any here..."

She nodded at Genie's description. "That sounds accurate," she replied. This place was very strange; jewels in lieu of plants and people who not only set foot outside, but generally looked the same. Granted, people tended to share certain regional features where they lived, but this seemed odd somehow, and Lara wanted to figure it out.

She couldn't have herself getting bored, after all.

Genie pondered carefully over Lara's question. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen any animals here either. How strange. "It's the environment that's the problem." he replied. "There are no plants or other animals for them to live off. -oh, wait! I completely forgot, I did see an animal! Well, maybe not see, per say, but I did hear one. There was a dog talking over the journal system."

"It might be," Lara said, "but I'm not sure that's the case." She had, after all, been to a store where there was no lack of food to be bought. "And besides," she continued, "there are real plants outside."

"A dog that talked?" She raised an eyebrow at Genie, though she had heard - and seen - stranger. "What about?"

"I'm not quite sure. I didn't even know I spoke dog before meeting him. Something about 'booking her'. 'They shook her'? I don't know. He was difficult to understand. Maybe my dog’s a little rusty. After all, I haven't used it in ten thousand years... I think." Suddenly transforming into a blue lab, Genie let out a howl. "AWOOOOOOOO~! How was that, not too bad? Maybe it needs a little more bark to it- but not too much, otherwise I might as well be a tree. Ha ha ha!"

Jumping around excitedly, the large dog looked around the museum curiously, sniffing at the ground in search for any particularly interesting smells. Then, without warning, he doubled back and jumped up and onto Lara, giving her a big, wet, slobbery kiss on the cheek. His tail wagged vigorously as he panted at her, a smile clearly spread across his lips. He hadn't lost his touch, had he?

"Booking?" Lara repeated, her brow furrowing. "That's odd..." Wait. Booking was another term for arresting, at least in certain English-speaking countries - was that it? "Do you mean she was taken?" she inquired. Who would take a little girl?

The archaeologist's eyes went wide when Genie turned into a dog, and she instinctively stepped back cautiously when he licked her on the cheek. Wiping it, she said a little coolly, "Not bad, but I doubt many people around here transform." She chuckled, though. "Still, it's not a bad impression."

"It sure sounds like that." he replied, panting as he brought himself back down to the ground. "I don't know by who, they kept saying 'they'. It sounded like she was a criminal."

Changing back into his usual form, he stretched out and laughed. "Here? Not likely. I haven't seen or spoken to anyone quite like me. But there was someone who could fly -excluding my rug man." Scratching his arm, Genie murmured something about fleas. "... There's such a diverse crowd here. It's all very exciting. I haven't seen anything like it since- Hey, look a mermaid!"

Bringing himself to painting, he admired the aquatic creature. Much like the current citizens, her skin was very pale. Her hair was a natural, shining, blonde while here eyes were, you guessed it, blue.

"It does sound criminal," Lara agreed, her tone hardening subtly. Anyone who would kidnap a child was a monster of some kind. Lara had done a lot of things that other people didn't approve of (along with some things she wasn't proud of), but kidnapping or harming an innocent was something she'd never do.

The woman nodded, looking at Genie. "Someone who would fly? Naturally, you mean?" Even with all of the strange things she had seen in her lifetime, there were things that could surprise her, present company notwithstanding. She followed the other as she spoke, looking at it. "It's certainly beautiful," she said, "but I wonder why she and the other creatures like her - sphinxes, for instance, are painted with those features?" Every single one of them had blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin - it was as if the citizens had never even heard of variety. Then again, they did all look mostly alike.

This would be where Genie and Lara thought differently. Not that they didn't already, of course, but regarding the missing girl they did. He looked at the woman puzzled. As far as he knew, the child was the here criminal, not the organization. The kidnapping, what kidnapping? She had been collected to face the court justice and pay for her crime(s), had she not?

Throwing the thought aside, he observed the painting further. "I think so. They offered to carry me in case I couldn't fly on my own. It was a kind offer, but I couldn't make anyone carry me." Crossing his arms above his chest proudly, he nodded as though to confirm this. "If anyone's gunna do the carrying around here, it's going to be me."

"I couldn't really tell you, as much as I would like to know myself." Genie replied to her question regarding the painting. "However, the art has shared a lot about their culture so far. If they have a library, I'm sure we could find out more there -Ooh, this is starting to sound like a scavenger hunt!"

Excited by this idea, he clapped his hands together and summoned a pair of binoculars to look through. "The secrets of an ancient, mysterious, and unknown civilization unraveled for the first time! Think of the prestige! The tremendous understanding and knowledge that can be gained! Think of-"

Finding his binoculars mere inches from Lara's face, Genie scooted back. He was getting carried away again. "You know what I mean. Do you think they planned all this for us; the whole mystery thing? I don’t think they have anything even close to this in Disney World."

Lara tucked the thoughts about the kidnapped child away to examine later. Now was not the time, and besides, it sounded like there were people taking care of it. She tilted her head in amusement at Genie's remark. "Someone offered to carry you? That does sound rather kind of them, at least." The Englishwoman wondered just who (and what) else was in such a strange place, and what they could do. So far, she had come into contact with a bunch of strange, ghost-like creatures, a blue, humanoid hedgehog that ran faster than the speed of sound, and a genie.

Nothing would surprise her after this; nothing. Really. Lara found herself extremely credulous after everything that had happened so far. It was really too bad that Alister wasn't here; her research assistant could use a good dose of mythology coming to life every once in a while. Lara smiled to herself, nodding along to Genie's words. "A library?" she responded, perking up, "Really? Perhaps I'll have to go and see what's in there." There had to be some clues, perhaps even answers, somewhere in the city - and Lara had made an entire career out of finding those.

"Perhaps," the archeologist responded, "but I've always rather been in this sort of thing for knowledge." And sport, occasionally; Lara couldn't deny she had fun doing what she did. She politely stepped back when Genie did. "Who knows?" she answered, "but I think that whomever is causing this situation doesn't want to be found out." At least, not yet.

She always did love a challenge.

[ooc: After this, I'll go with the new way of posting to threads (responding to the entry instead of the comment), so you may want to track this entry. ♥)

"I would like to look myself." he agreed, curious as to what more this mysterious city held in store. "If there's anywhere in the city that has any useful clues, it's got to be there. They might have a few old record that would be worth taking a look at. Maybe some books about their history, their art, a few postcards, and even a little coffee shop in the corner. I could use a good cup of coco about now."

Surprised by Lara's response regarding the prize for such a discovery as this, he raised a brow. There was something he didn't hear often. Usually ones primary interest consisted of gaining power, wealth, and respect. Personally, he cared little for these things -aside from the last one. Being a Genie, power and wealth could easily be achieved. At least, what one normally considered power. At any rate, he liked her response.

"I don't particularly like meddling into things people don't want me to." The djinn began, transforming into a blue version William F. Buckley to perform a spot on impression. "But there are a few provisos, a couple of quid pro quos... I would thoroughly enjoy helping you if granted the opportunity."

"There may be other places as well," Lara responded, shrugging, "besides the library. I'm sure there are." But where? That was the question - and right now, the library seemed the most obvious place to go for research. Lara already had wealth and power, and frequently made use of both - but even if she didn't have those things, she would still have answered the same.

Lara smiled at the impersonation; she rather liked Genie, even if he had the potential to grate on her nerves. "That would be nice," she agreed, "and I need something to do here aside from lounging around." Exploring old, dilapidated churches aside, that is.

Genie raised a brow at Lara's train of thought. "Other places accessible to visitors, or otherwise?" he asked, suspicious of her ways to gain further information. He had no interest in breaking the law, regardless of what could possibly be learned by doing so.

Appearing in a typical black and white striped prison uniform, he shook his chains at the woman. "The prison look isn't something I think I could get into. Besides, wouldn't you rather be on the cover of 'Time' than a wanted poster?"

On this note, he held a wanted poster in front of Lara's face. A square had neatly been cut out, revealing the tomb raiders face on the other side. The poster offered a great reward for her capture, as well as a number of crimes of which she supposedly committed.

Lara shrugged. "Both, I suppose," she replied easily, "but I've yet to see a place that isn't visitor-accessible, even though the guards posted don't seem to like people leaving." Even so, they hadn't truly done anything to stop Lara from leaving, and had welcomed her back as if nothing had happened.

She laughed at Genie's impression. "I have been on magazine covers, actually," she responded, "and it's really not all it's cracked up to be." In fact, she found the press annoying - it was always a relief to find a rare place where they didn't know her, or at least knew enough not to bother her. She'd had people after her life too, of course, and while that could be just as annoying, at least it was just as fun.

[ooc: Damn LJ. I lost the first post, hopefully this one works ;_;]

"Really? Wow, I never knew. Then again, I haven't had the chance to catch up with the Times for awhile now. I'm afraid I missed the article. Still, better you're on the cover of that than on 'Paixao's Most Wanted'." Giving the poster a light flick, it rolled up into his hand and disappeared. "Besides, stripes are so last year."

Genie's prison uniform vanished as he presented Lara with a series of colour cards. "We need to go for more of a fun fall look. I'm gunna throw some colours at you here, lemme know what you think: Orange, red, gold, and salmon." On that note, he offered her an actual salmon. Unfortunately, the fish smelt fairly vulgar, forcing him to apply a clothes pin to his nose. "Alright, forget the salmon. Maybe we should jump right into designers. I know a-"

Suddenly, the blue supernatural found himself interrupted by a meek digital beep. His eyes traveled to his watch which, strangely enough, seemed to just appear on his wrist. He tapped it curiously, then held it to his ear.

"Oop! That's is me! You never know with these things now days." Chuckling, he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm afraid I must be going. Though I would love to see the rest of the gallery, I promised a friend I would meet with him. You're welcome to join us if you'd like! We're just playing a few rounds of pool at the Cheap Prayer. Maybe look at a few vacation photo's, have a few drinks -assuming Rug can drink... You should come!"

Lara chuckled. "The press these days is really quite a lot of rubbish, so you're not missing much," she replied. She really did get tired of reporters hounding her for photographs and interviews. "Although I do believe you're right. Stripes don't suit me at all." Neither did death or prison, either, but Lara kept that part silent.

The explorer laughed, surprised at how much she was enjoying Genie's company. "Let's see..." she mused, her nose wrinkling at the fish, "I rather like the red, and I know some lovely designers back home." Even if thy didn't do her any good here, although it did remind her that she'd need more than one outfit while she was here, especially if her current clothing got ripped.

She nodded at Genie. "I understand. Things have been quite busy around here, from the looks of it." She smiled and shook her head. "Thank you, but I'm not in a drinking mood at the moment. Besides, I think I may like to see the rest of the museum - the artwork here it lovely." Besides, there might be a few more clues here, and Lara wasn't about to skip anything over.

Genie would have loved to go on about fashion, even help Lara find some new clothes. He was quite the designer himself, having made many outfits for his previously masters. Helping Lara with one would be a cinch. Perhaps the next time they saw each other they could find something?

"Oh, alright." he replied, understanding the woman's reasoning. It was doubtful he and Carpet would order anything other than pop at the bar, but that likely wouldn't change Lara's decision. He nodded as well. "Let me know how the rest of the museum is."

"I will," Lara replied, smiling at Genie. It had been enjoyable, walking around with him and looking at the artwork, but she thought that for now she'd like to be alone. Despite having people she felt close to, Lara was a creature of solitude and she enjoyed her independence.

"I do hope you have fun with your friend," she continued, holding out her hand for Genie to shake, "and I'm rather glad we ran into each other."

"Me too." the djinn replied, accepting Lara's handshake more than happily. "I hope we see each other again real soon! Maybe we could do some baking or paper craft together? -OH! Maybe even some knitting!"

He hoped he would meet more people as unique and exciting as Lara. From what he'd seen so far, Paixao looked quite in favor of that aspect. So many people from so many worlds... He wanted to meet them all.

But for now, that would have to wait. He had a rug to catch. Waving goodbye to the woman one last time, he flew out of sight. However, he could still be heard exiting the museum by the loud crash shortly following his departure. His voice echoed throughout the dome, "Sorry!"

A Moment of Peace [Complete]

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