Something Like Home (Iphie)

[iphigenia]

Iphie smiled. "Well I suppose you're trustworthy enough." She laughed lightly. She stabbed at a piece of the chicken with her fork and brought it up to her nose. She sniffed at it and took a small bite. She winced a little, swallowed, and took a big sip of water. She winced and lowered her head. "That didn't help."

She took a deep breath and ate the other piece. She winced again, but didn't reach for the water. "I don't have much tolerance for this sort of food I guess." She smiled at Toph, a little strained.

[Toph Bei Fong]

Toph's brow creased as she dragged her feet across the floor, trying to get a better 'image' of Iphie. The chair made it difficult, her separation from the floor made the other woman fuzzy. Toph was so used to just knowing how some one was feeling from the way the body tensed or relaxed, or they way their heart was beating that in the absence of these tells, she felt more than a little clueless. And she really didn't want to upset Iphie. That was the very last thing she wanted to do.

"Maybe something milder?" Toph said, half to herself. Rather than wave the smell of the food toward herself again, her hand reached out carefully to slide long the length of the table till it found the platter. From there she slid her fingers from bowl to blow, tracing the bottom edged of each one to keep from getting her hands in the food.

Finally her fingertips found a colder blow than the other sizzling platters, and she nodded. "Try this. Its called sushi. A Fire nation dish that we've -- ah -- appropriated. Should be much easier on your tongue."

[iphigenia]

Iphie was even more careful about this food than the piece of chicken before, assuming that was possible. She picked up one of the pieces and looked at it carefully. She tried to figure out what was in it. She knew the rice, but the other parts of it were certainly foreign. She sniffed at it. It might have been fish in there but it was hard to tell by smell alone, of course it wasn't very aromatic unlike much of the other dishes on the platter. She took a small bite. and was forced to finish it quickly to keep it from falling to pieces. It was some sort of fish but she couldn't tell which type.

"That's pretty good. What's this in it, and around it?" She asked as she picked up another piece and looked at it. "I'm not familiar with this sort of thing."

[Toph Bei Fong]

Toph shook her head and a slight smile curled her lips. "Well there all kinds of sushi," she explained. "I can't really tell the difference by smell alone. Especially not with all with all the other kinds of food and spices in the air. But generally sushi is sliced raw fish prepared with a in a wide variety of wrappings. Rice and seaweed mostly, but sometimes other kinds of vegetables are used.

"Here," she went on, turning slightly so that she was facing Iphie more directly. "Let me have a bite. Then I can probably tell you what kind of fish it is. Just so you know if you want to order a larger portion."

Toph parted her lips with an odd sort grace as she faced Iphie. Her hands were on her lap, and her bare feet rubbed the ground to make sure she was properly aligned with the blur that was her friend. The motion was automatic; Toph didn't really feel like fumbling for a the bowl herslef, and had already sensed that Iphie had picked up another piece. Had she thought it through, it might have occurred to her that her current pose what not entirely unlike one might assume as they moved in for, or even expected to receive, a kiss. Aside from the fact that her eyes were wide open, more or less looking toward the other woman's hairline.

[iphigenia]

"Raw fish?" Iphie frowned. The normal disease that might be caught from eating things raw didn't apply to her but to these other people, and they ate this often? It baffled her. Unless they had built up an immunity to certain diseases here, which wasn't unlikely. After all, Iphie had dealt with many types of people who had developed immunities to diseases, some of the lesser diseases granted immunity as they died off. She liked those, they were underestimated and very few people took them seriously. In any case, it was quite good. Carefully Iphe popped the piece into Toph's mouth, careful to avoid smashing the soft edible against her lips or teeth. She wasn't entirely successful. "I'm sorry." She said hurriedly as she leaned in quite close and brushed away a little of the rice from her cheek, the two of them were almost nose to nose.

[Toph Bei Fong]

Toph closed her mouth around the morsel of food, catching the utmost tip of Iphie's fingers with her lips as she did so. Those same lips curled into a smile as she began to chew, feeling oddly content by the simple action.

There was a change in the air, a whispered apology, and the shifting of a fuzzy sense of the other woman... and suddenly they were very close. Toph could feel her warmth (shouldn't she be warmer?), and the breath from Iphie's nose as she exhaled. Her chewing slowed, her smile fading from contentment into curiosity as she felt fingers that she had not 'seen' coming on her cheek. This was not the frist time they had been this close, and just like the last time, it sent the room spinning. Last time she had the excuse of her recent brush with death... what was it this time?

Toph swallowed slowly. "Definitely salmon ," she whispered after a moment, then frowned. Her voice did not sound like her. It was too soft... too wistful...

Toph pulled back slightly, turning in her seat to face toward the table again. "Yep, salmon ." she said again, sounding more like herself. "If you like it, we can order you a real meal. What do ya say?"

[iphigenia]

"Iphie returned to her standard sitting position, quite glad that her tiny mistake hadn't annoyed Toph. Unlike most all her time with the the rest of the order she had not cared for their opinion nearly as much as she did for the opinion of the woman sitting next to her. It was quite frightening. Iphie looked at the sampler dishes and realized she didn't feel all that hungry. "No, this platter seems like quite a bit so I'm sure it's plenty for us both." She smiled at Toph before taking another sip of her water.

I suppose this is the point when I ask you more about yourself. Really I don't know you all that well. I think this is a good spot for learning more about each other." She hoped more talk about the past wouldn't upset Toph, but she figured that it was important to get to know each other, or at least for her to find out a little more about this woman she felt so strangely about.

[Toph Bei Fong]

For her part, Toph polished of half of her new mug of ale. "Trust me, lil' bit, that's a big topic to be asking all at once," she said with a smile as she set the mug down. She slid her hand along the table, before finally finding the napkin there, and rolled it out to find the utensils. With her other hand, she waved the air over the sampler toward herslef, nodded, then lowered her hand to slide across to the bowl she was looking for. Once there, she speared a chunk of General Zhao's Chicken with her fork. She took a big bite, chewed and swallowed chasing it with still more ale.

"Well, you know already I'm a baroness, and a war hero, a master earthbender, and I clean up very well when I have a mind to," she smirked. "And that I spend my days looking for people that dont want to be found for whatever reason, which is what brought me to Venus. But I wasn't always so carefree and footloose. That took a awhile. When I was kid, my parents wouldn't let me out of their sight. And by their sight I mean the sight of my nannies and tutors. 'Oh Poor little Toph! Can't do anything on her own because she's blind! We'll have to watch her every second. Cut up her food! Dress her! Undress her! Bathe her!' Ugh! I was sick of that by the time I was six!

"Some people are just meant to be independent, Iphie. I'm one of those kind of people. I bet you are to. Yeah, I know you got this mission or whatever that you can't tell me about, but tell me true. If you could just say to hell with it, pick a direction and start walking, just to see what was there, you'd do it, right?"

[iphigenia]

Iphie had no idea what to say. Toph was blind? It just didn't seem possible. She had been walking around and pretty much doing everything fine. Well there was that earthbending she talked about that might be the explanation but Iphie still had no idea how that might work. She hesitated for a moment and considered her options. There really wasn't anything she could say. She decided to focus on what was said after.

"Well I've sort of already done that. I can just pack up and leave if I wanted, travel wherever I want, do what I want. There's nothing stopping really me right now."

[Toph Bei Fong]

"Ah, then that means you want to be here then," sad Toph as she finished off the chicken and chased it with still more ale. "In Venus, I mean. Yet didn't you say once that you were sent here? How lucky for you then, to be sent where you want to go." Toph shook her head. "You're a complex woman, Iphigenia Carrow.

"But to tell you the truth, once I find Princess Fussy Britches, I'm not sure what's next for me. I've been wandering about for two years now. Maybe its time I stayed in one place. Put down some roots. Break some hearts. If nothing else, I would really like to see how this whole suitor debacle ends."

Toph's hands were again sliding along the platter looking for another bowl while she gently nudged at Iphie's foot with her own. "I'm rooting for you, of course. Promise not to forget me once you're co-empress, or whatever they call it when the rulers are both women?"

[iphigenia]

"Well I wouldn't call it luck." Iphie said. "More like trying to rationalize and make the best out of the situation you're in. If I'm going to be somewhere I might as well do my best to make it somewhere worth being." Iphie picked up a new piece of meat and took a bite, frowned and set it aside. She picked up her water and took a few sips. "I don't know what they call it, but thanks. Your support means quite a bit." Her eyes darted through all the dishes. So much of it looked far too over spiced for her rather underdeveloped tastes, or spicy.

Back at the monastery most of what they had was cheap soups and stocks with bread, well technically most of what she had. She didn't exactly know if they ate the same as her all the time, though she did know that they didn't spend more on her than absolutely necessary. As such she wasn't generally used to such things. Any extra earnings she managed to get a hold of went to a different sort of food. She picked up another piece of the sushi, at least she found something she liked amid the platters.

"Even if I do make it I'll be sure to keep you in my mind. I couldn't forget you Toph." She was the closest thing Iphie had to a friend since before the incident. It wasn't something she would take lightly.

[Toph Bei Fong]

Toph nudged Iphie's foot again. "Riiight," she teased. "Because of my eyes, right?" she said, calling back to the earlier accidental compliment. She found the chicken and dumping plate finally and soon claimed another morsel with her chopsticks. "Even so... thanks, Iphie. I haven't had many friends since Cera died and the war ended. Its nice to have one now."

With her free hand she patted Iphie's thigh twice. "You realize this means we have to go shopping together now, and have sleep overs where we talk about boys all night? Or girls I suppose in your case," she laughed, and it came out as a snort. "Kidding. You dont strike me as the gossipy type. You're very direct and to the point. I like that about you."

[iphigenia]

Iphie's face fell a bit at the mention of of wooing the princess, even if it was only indirect. "Well thanks I think." She smiled a bit. "I haven't had a friend since before I got sick and I couldn't ask for a better one than you." She sipped at her water. To tell the truth she wasn't very hungry, and the extreme spiciness of a few of the dishes she had poked at had turned her off to most of the cuisine. Still she picked at a few morsels, mostly the sushi, to hide her distaste from Toph. What she really wanted was something cool to take the edge off, and even the dishes not cooked piping hot seemed to be heavily spiced or far too spicy for her to handle.

[Toph Bei Fong]

"There is one two-girl friendship ritual we MUST partake in though," Toph said with a dangerous glint in her eye. "Ice cream. And lots of it!"

Toph stood, pushing her chair back a smidge as she did so, her feet now flat on the ground so she could 'see' their waiteress. She was just behind off to their right and she waved at her. "Hey, lemme see you dessert menu!" she called. Maybe a little louder than strictly necessary. Ale seemed to break the knob of her vocal volume control, though she was far from drunk. She wasn't even tipsy, truth be told.

She 'saw' the woman nod and backtrack for her menus, so she sat back down. "Ice cream. Heh. I don't think I've had any since V-day. How 'bout you Iphie? When the last time you've treated yourself to some?"

[iphigenia]

"It's been months. Despite the cold, ice cream is still a rare treat up north where I lived and it wasn't as if I was given much money to spend on frivolities. But it was one of many things I spent my few earnings on whenever I could. Well, that as well as small cakes and other sweets." She grinned. "I may have a bit of a weakness for sweet things." That was probably an understatement, while certainly not obsessed, almost all the pocket change she managed to accrue went toward the small treats and they were always gone far too quickly. It was one of the reasons she never had much extra money lying around, the other of course being that the brotherhood always kept most of her earnings for themselves and the rest of the order.

"Tell me more about your homeland. It sounds far more interesting then where I grew up and I'm curious to know more. Can everybody control earth like you?" She asked.