Okay, if Lara had been giving off vibes that she wasn't interested whatsoever in her surroundings, namely the ongoing partying all around her? A mere act, a front put on display as to dissuade any that thought to approach her. Lara was trying her hand at exuding an air of strictly business intentions, here for precisely and precisely only that. Her wandering eyes and the quirks in her facial features betrayed the facade. The music was incredible, thrumming with deep beats that pervaded her sense of being. She felt the gentle yet strong reverberations echoing within her body as she ushered on along. Everywhere she looked, a menagerie of colors and folksy designs jumped out at her. Masks reminiscent of creatures of legend and folklore worn on the many faces of the crowd, complete with outfits that accentuated the appeal. There were those that dressed in black with the masks of the dead, bones and all, to those that forwent the monotony for the gaudy designs of the fae and the like. Lara smiled especially when she noticed the musicians, their exterior jovial to an otherworldly extent as they did the voodoo they do so well, bringing forth the melodic tunes that permeated all present.
Oh god, her stomach was growling without respite. She'd only subsisted on small meals and jaffa cakes since she'd traveled to New Orleans. Lara blamed the euphoric scents intermingling in the air, the smell of differing foods coming together to create a mouth-watering sensation. She buried the not so subtle suggestions in the crevasses of mind deep, seeking to return to them later once her business with this Tom Riddle was complete. After all, depending on whether or not it panned out? She'd help herself to a meal after. It was rather rude and lacking in manners to keep another waiting any longer than necessary.
Though those etiquette lessons might very well be dashed in short order as Lara's eye caught a few
intriguing things. The first was that she caught the sensual motions of a woman adorned with little clothing, her movement seductive and with a compelling allure all their own. She watched for a few moments, her eyes lingering to the other's as she took note of their
unusual characteristics. Lara felt that if she had, well, stared any longer she might very well have been drawn into them.
This wasn't the case because beyond the dancer's profile she caught the sight of a woman, Japanese from the looks of it, regarding Lara with seemingly familiarity. Of course this prompted Croft's curiosity, it being enough an impetus to pull her away from gawking at the dancer's performance as she headed for where she saw the woman. She seemed to have disappeared rather quickly, much to her chagrin. Still, she expected it but it'd just have been nice, if everyone that seemed a tad bit harmless didn't run at the drop of the hat when they were spooked. Still, her instincts were going wild now. She'd no clue why.
Then it was made readily apparent, her trying to follow the woman from earlier led her to here and now, where she could see a man and a younger woman. A tourist from the looks of it, seemingly enthralled in the other's grasp. The man was dressed in place, with white paint adorning his features in the style of a skeleton's skull. A top hat sat atop his head, and the attire that followed below was akin to what one would envision a voodoo practitioner. It was blatantly clear what the man was aping as, the iconic Baron Samedi. The two had been making out earlier but now he moved for elsewhere, his mouth levitating towards the throat of the girl. She seemed unaware. Her instincts were still in full red alert, alarms going off all across the board. A sharp intake of breath and Lara approached the two situated within the doorway. The Japanese woman would go forgotten, as did the dancer. Maybe they were intriguing points of note.
But something felt off with the two she was approaching, something
wrong. Of course, a lesson long since ingrained in her came to mind nigh immediately.
"You can't save everyone, Lara."
She remembered the rebuke she splashed back in reply to Roth. Maybe she couldn't. But that hadn't meant she wouldn't try her damnedest to do so. Her instincts hadn't steered her wrong yet. Yet being the operative term. Perhaps she was reading into the situation too much. There were moments where she saw faces of the Solarii bastards that tried to kill her in the faces of the innocent. In those that dressed similar. She repressed these images. Her mental state was cumbersome, a result of the post traumatic stress disorder thanks to the events of the island. Of Yamatai. Regardless, Lara thought. She'd push on. She still had a job to do.
Though of course, it'd seem highly suspicious that she was stomping over to those two secluded away from the bustling activity of the natives. She needed something convincing. Or perhaps she would be direct?
She was upon them and without missing a beat, she spoke. "
Hello there. So sorry to interrupt you two. I'm... a little lost. Sorry! I hope I haven't interrupted your..." Urgh, she couldn't think of the word. "
... liaisoning." Cue a mental face-palm immediately following that but Lara would stick it through, her fashioned dialogue tempered by her softened features, somewhat slackened yet tense posture, and hands cupping one another in a grip. She would be trying to put on a display of the unawares tourist, lost in the din and orgy of bodies that was the Mardi Gras festival.
@Saint Guillotine