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Post by iphigenia on Jan 22, 2010 7:11:41 GMT -5
"If you say so." She rummaged around the pack, setting aside a few small cloth bundles that seemed to clink when set down. She held out the pair of pants she pulled out. "These might do. They'll be small, you are quite a bit taller than I." She rummaged around further and pulled out a small, carefully wrapped strip of dried meat. It's better than nothing and should at least take care of the hunger. Not great but sturdy traveling fare." She glanced at Toph and looked her up and down. "Are you sure you just need the pants? It really doesn't bother me."
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 22, 2010 9:03:07 GMT -5
Toph smiled. "I'll make it work. Thanks again." She felt the clinking of the frist items seat down, but didn't pry. She'd been rude enough to Iphie already.
Toph took the offered pants, then threw her coat of of her legs, and stood up. Slowly. When she reache her her full height without feeling dizzy she breathed a sigh of relief.
"No vertigo," she said, half to herself. Her hands were running along the pants, finding the waist and questing for the front and back, even as she looked straight ahead. "I don't know what kind of antidote you used to get rid of that poison," she said as she prepared to lift one legs and place it down the leg hole of the pants, "but it worked wonders. You should bottle and sell it."
She got one leg of the pants on up to her thighs, then slid the second one on to the same level. There were just a short as Iphie had predicted, but what both of them forgot to take into account was that Toph was also wider than her in some places Places like the hips. Which Toph was finding out now.
"Mmmph," she mumbled to herself. '"Tight too," With a bit of twisting and writhing, Toph was finally able to get the pants up to her waist. "But," she went on to say, "beggars cant be choosers."
She bent over to pick up the offered dried meat, when it happened.
As she bent over, her not-large-but-bigger-than Iphie's rear was pressed firmly against the fabric of her borrowed pants. Something had to give, and unfortunately it was the seem. The sound might as well been a thunderclap in the enclosed space.
Toph jerked up right at once. "That. Did. Not. Happen," she denied, but reached her hand toward her backside. Sure enough, the seam had pulled free of fabric.
Toph winces, 'looking' over at Toph with her earthsight, though she was still facing the wall.
"Ah.. it goes without saying that I'll buy you a new one" she offered.
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 22, 2010 17:59:27 GMT -5
Iphie rolled her eyes. "I was planning one burning them and these when I bought new clothes in the city. Don't worry about it. Though I think I will renege on my offer of the one's I'm wearing. I need something to wear when I get there." She leaned back against the wall of the cave. "Don't take them off, even ripped they're still one extra layer against the cold." She began carefully placing the small clinking packages back into her pack. "As for the cure. It's been bottled up too long. The whole reason I'm trying to get the princess' hand in marriage, or at least friendship, is so that it can achieve it's own freedom." She glanced at her hand and watched as it lightly took on a green tinge before quickly returning to normal. "A cure must be free to wander." She muttered quietly to herself.
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 22, 2010 21:47:52 GMT -5
"Wow, that was cryptic," said Toph, unable to see the green tinge on Iphie's hand. She inched her way back to the ground more carefully this time to prevent further ripping. She checked her drying pants near the fire again. Still damp.
With a sigh, she final closed her fingers around the dried meat, unwrapped it, and took a healthy, and decidedly unladylike, bite.
"Know what I've noticed," Toph said with her mouth full, "how many of those women streaming into Venus have their own agenda. Everyone so focused with what Anactoria can do for them. I haven't heard a single person talk about what they could do for her."
She swallowed her bite. "So if you're looking to land Her Highness, that could be you're angle. Be that one island of giving in a sea of shameless need Though I wonder, would the 'cure' just be trading one bottle for another?"
Another big bite. "But I'm getting ahead of myself," she added with her mouth full again. "I still have to find her first. Stupid, ugly, goddamn ogres..."
Toph froze, the meat half way to her lips again. She raised one foot and struck down on the ground with her heel. The vibrations went out, but she couldn't sense what she was looking for.
She swallowed the food in her mouth. "Hey, did you see a staff laying nearby when you found me? Long metal number, about as tall as I am?" She struck the earth with her heel again, harder this time. The vibrations went out further, but she still couldn't sense her staff. If it had fallen in the river, it would be easy to loose in all that water and mud...
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 22, 2010 23:05:12 GMT -5
"A metal stick? I stepped on something like that when I went back to get your wall. It's probably still there on all the snow." She watched the fire as there was little else to watch in the cave. "I'm not all that interested in her either. I don't know her and I doubt I'd be much of a queen anyway. It's not something I was born for really. Still, if I don't do this then I might as well have joined you unconscious in the snow."
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 23, 2010 8:15:09 GMT -5
Ooookaay this was just getting bizarre. Of the two statements, Toph wasn't sure whcih one puzzled her more. The fact that Iphie has moved a wall made entirely of heavy earth and rock, despite being a slip of a girl the blind earthbender could snap in two were she of a mind, or the fact where she didn't seem to really be interested in marrying Anactoria after all.
It was none of her business... she really shouldn't ask... but damn it, this was going to bother her all night now!
Toph placed the palm of one hand firmly against the ground, ready to catch the slightest indication that Iphie was not being truthful when she replied to her next question. "Wait a sec," she said. "Is someone forcing you do this? How the hell? If you could move my wall, surely you could bash their heads in for even suggesting it if that isn't what you wanted to do."
Toph shook her head, confused.
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 23, 2010 14:11:14 GMT -5
You've just woken up from a rather serious disease, not to mention the cold, you aren't thinking straight. Lie down and rest. When the snow dies down I'll escort you back to the nearest town or as far as the castle." She turned away and stared at the makeshift door. "I'm going to get more firewood." She pulled one of the bundles from her bag and withdrew a small glass vial. She slipped it into her pocket and stepped to the doorway. "Look, get yourself some sleep. I'll be back soon." Without waiting for a response she pushed the wall out of the way just enough that she could step through. Then she shut it again.
Back at the temple it had been so easy, everyone there had known about her and what she was. Now she was finding it hard to hide it. She stepped over to where she had put the leftover pieces of the tree. She shook the snow off of several of them and carried them back to the cave entrance, though she did not open the door. She stepped away and went to the stream. After several minutes of searching she found the metal stick the girl had mentioned. It didn't look all that impressive. Just a stick.
She sighed and pulled out the vial. She took a deep breath and uncorked it before taking a large drink, then she splashed the rest over her head. She held completely still for a minute then fell to her knees and threw up. For several minutes she knelt there gagging. Then she shakily got to her feet. She tossed the bottle aside and grabbed the stick. She made her way back to the entrance and carefully moved the small wall as silently as she could, doing her best not to wake Toph if she was asleep. She brought the wood in first, then the stick before shutting out the wind and snow again.
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 23, 2010 21:21:56 GMT -5
"Ah," Toph tried to speak, taken off guard by the sudden deflection of her question. Her earthsight told her nothing: not answering a question was not the same thing as lying. Before she could press the issue, Iphie was gone, again moving her wall aside like it was a child's toy.
Well it's none of my business anyway, Toph told herself. And if truth be told, she was tired. She had been tired before the poisoning, and though this strange little woman had saved her life, she was no where near full strength. Sleep was probably a good idea.
She popped the last of of the meat she had been offered in her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully. She could sense Iphie outside, carrying something large and fuzzy to her 'sight, so she assumed it was more wood. Toph scooted closer to the fire and lay down on her side facing toward it. The cave floor was hard, so she placed her palm flat on the ground, then twisted her wrist. The earth under her bent, sagged, and twisted to better fit the counters of her body. Much better, she thought.
She had just laid her head on the ground when, outside of the cave, Iphie started throwing up. The woman's heaving convulsions practically screamed at Toph through the earth, and her head jerked up in alarm. Was she ill? Just what was going on around here?
Terre de Conte was fast becoming a complicated place. Toph was actaully getting nostalgic about the simplicity of the Fire/Gaia Kingdom war.
She lay back down as she felt Iphigenia approach the cave again. She was not going to go prying again. Nuh-uh. Not her.
Still facing the fire, Toph felt it when Iphie set her staff on the ground. "You found it," she said without turning around. "That staff means a lot to me. I guess I owe you. Again." She paused, the added, hesitantly. "Are you all right? Outside just now..." she trialed off, not sure how to explain what she had 'seen' without giving away her secret.
"Anyway," she went on. "Once I'm rested up, I'll be able to get us to Venus pretty quick. That is where you're going, right?"
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 23, 2010 21:38:34 GMT -5
"Don't worry yourself about anything that happened outside." She sat back down against the wall. "You should be asleep anyway. You'll need rest if you want to travel anywhere." She tossed a few pieces of wood on the fire. "And don't get too close to that thing."
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 23, 2010 21:51:05 GMT -5
Well a shrug and a sigh, Toph gave up. She scooted back from the fire slightly, taking her body groove in the earth with her. She then pressed the heel of her hand against the ground, and dragged it in the direction of her staff. It promptly slid over to her, and she closed her hand around it. She placed her other hand on it and twisted them around its length. It collapsed into a ball, then lengthened into an elaborate bracelet that coiled itself lightly up her right arm.
"Well I am pretty tried..." she said finally. She lay back down, then raised one fist and stuck the ground with it. From just behind her back, a stone half-dome emerged from the ground. It caught the radiant heat from the fire and kept her backside more or less as warm as the front without trapping any smoke or ash.
"These domes are pretty toasty," Toph offered. "I could make you one. No reason we cant both get some sleep."
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 23, 2010 22:11:08 GMT -5
"I don't sleep anymore. I'll just keep watch." Wizards, what a strange bunch. Iphie took a few deep breaths, still feeling the effects of the healing elixir. It was a terrible thing, both in taste and effect. Nobody else seemed to be effected by it like she was though. Most people just complained about the taste but were up on their feet in no time. Every time she took it, Iphie felt like someone had torn out her intestines. Still, it was required by the masters in the order. She stared at the fire and practiced her blinking while waiting for the day to begin again.
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 24, 2010 9:06:11 GMT -5
"Don't or can't?" Toph asked, taking this final revelation in stride. She was starting to reach the point where she fully expected Iphigenia to say something bizarre whenever she opened her mouth.
I mean lets check what we know, she thought. She's a 90 pound weakling that can move tons of rock or wood without breaking a sweat, a lesbian on her way to woo a princess that she isn't interested in, feels perfectly healthy aside from sudden explosive vomiting, clearly wants freedom but follows the commands of some 'Masters' and doesn't sleep.
Yeah. Nothing she says for does from now on can surprise me at this point.
"Anyway suit yourself," Toph said finally before settling down to sleep. She must have been more tried than she though, as she was soon out like a light. Her breathing game in even rhythm, and she only snored a little bit. It might not have even sounded so bad if the walls of the cave weren't amplifying it.
Much later that night, were Iphie to look at Toph's face, she would have noticed eyes moving quite rapidly under lids. Her face, which had looked quite serene up until now, suddenly screwed up in imagined tension. The woman curled into a ball where she lay, and began shaking. This went on for maybe an hour before Toph suddenly jerked awake.
"Cera!" she called out, her voice groggy yet panicked. The half dome suddenly slammed back into the earth as she sat upright, her bracelet snapping back into her hands as a staff. Her breath was coming in short gasps, ready for fight or flight.
Her feel scrapped against the cave floor as she 'looked' around. "No that's not.... I'm not..." she seemed to calm down now that she remembered where she was. At least her breathing did.
He hands, however, were still gripping her staff so hard the knuckles were turning white.
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 24, 2010 12:18:57 GMT -5
"Unpleasant dreams? I might have woken you up sooner but I was unsure of what your reaction might have been." Iphie couldn't help the slight touch of empathy for nightmares, but she knew better than to wake a sleeping magician. She was still in the exact same spot she had been earlier, it didn't appear as if she'd moved past the action of grabbing more firewood.
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Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jan 24, 2010 21:11:59 GMT -5
"You could say that," Toph replied in quiet voice before willing herself to loosen up on her staff. "Goddamn nightmare would be more accurate."
Toph finally turned her full attention to Iphie, and realized she hadn't moved. "Are you sure you're not part statue?" she asked. But the jibe fell a bit flat with her voice shaking the way it was. Toph swallowed took a deep breath, then finally bent her staff back into a bracelet, then lay back down. "Lets try this again," she said under her breath.
Unlike the last time, however, sleep eluded Toph, and fragments of her nightmare continued to pester her. She changed position several time, and even stated to doze off once before she suddenly jerking awake again. She slapped her palm on the ground to check that Iphie was still there.
After moment , Toph climbed up on her hands and knees and crawled over to the cave wall where Iphie still sat. "Okay this is going sound weird," she admitted after a moment of silence. "But could you... well... talk for bit. About anything, just..." Top shrugged her shoulders. Give her reluctance of discussing her 'masters' and what happened outside earlier, her past was likely to be off limits. "Tell me about your trip to Terre de Conte. How did that go?"
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Post by iphigenia on Jan 25, 2010 13:31:35 GMT -5
"There's really nothing to tell. I set out from the temple with my equipment and enough money to buy myself a decent wardrobe once I arrived. I suppose I passed a few people on the road but most people where I come from are not much for socializing with strangers on the roadsides." She mentally played back her trip, looking for something of any interest whatsoever. "I was waylaid by a small group of highwaymen. They left without taking anything of course. Not even a fight. A fight would have been a nice interruption to the dull emptiness that I've been traveling through." She sighed. "And the mud, you wouldn't believe the mud. It's better here since the snow is basically just water but up north, mud everywhere. It's positively revolting." she frowned. "That's neither here nor there. Surely your tales must be more exciting, the life of a bounty hunter sounds full of intrigue."
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