845/Winebending not Recommended

Winebending not Recommended
Date of Scene:	24 October 2014
Location:	New York-199999
Synopsis:	Teenage curiousity sometimes lead to minor accidents that require both a stern talking to and some tender care.
Cast of Characters:	20, 301

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Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    It had been fun and interesting, really. It's not often Toph is asked to bend such large masses of earth, not for something that might actually help people. And it's no secret that the blind girl loves showing off her skills. The elves' reaction was almost its own reward.

    But who is she to deny their gracious offerings? The finely crafted leather bag seemed sturdy, and while she couldn't see the ornaments they did feel like they had been added expertly for any seeing eyes and sensitive fingers. Not to mention she got food and drink! Surely Tony and Pepper will enjoy the fine lembas bread, and the berry juice, two bottles of it! At least that's what she thought at first until she stopped for a short break before entering the warpgate back to Malibu.

    The first swig had caught her by surprise, and the blind girl had doubled over and coughed violently even as the drink had burned her throat. There was no confusion about what it was, and once she had finished coughing she had sniffed closer at the bottle. It didn't smell too bad... The next taste had gone down easier, and well... it didn't taste so bad either.

    The door slides open, and the blind girl stumbles just slightly as she walks in. Weird, she can't remember the floor being like this. Just in case she keeps to the wall, one hand used to steady her while the other clutches onto the new satchel and its contents. Just keep going forward towards the hallway, and she will be in her room. And then she can go sit down and take it easy until her head stops spinning.

    Upon reaching her room the satchel is tossed into a chair, and Toph sighs in relief as she flops down into her chair by the desk. Right... maybe check some of that twitter page. And 'troll' one of those people again. The computer reads it out for her, and Toph's fingers more clumsily over the braille keyboard. Ugh, what were those letters again? Okay, one message is enough. Maybe she ought to lie down...

    Getting to her feet, the earthbender is less steady as she stumbles towards the bed, then lets herself fall facefirst onto it, burying her face in the soft covers. Though it doesn't last as she abruptly pushes herself up again, looking a bit pale before she hurries towards the bathroom, her steps desperate. Luckily she does manage to make it to the toilet before her stomach decides to rid itself of half a bottle of elvish wine, and Toph quickly gets on her knees with a panicked look on her face and lets out a rather undignified sound that echoes in the bathroom.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Jarvis has had a long-standing job of scanning his master's electronic corrospondence for 'drunk-texts' and his detection heuristics are really quite good. And, since discovering the @toffeebeifong Twitter account, he has been keeping watch on it too. When the two tasks coincide, he does what he feels is best and drags Mr. Stark out of the depths of an engine to inform him.

Which is why, when Toph is done retching into the toilet, the camera pans up to Tony, leaning in the doorway of the bathroom with arms folded and a stern -- if somewhat bemused -- look on his face. Whether Toph recovers the spatial sense to notice him right away is a matter of how strong that wine was.

internally, thoughts race. Is this his fault somehow? Has he driven his adoptive daughter to drink? Motivated her to try it by his own poor example? Not that he drinks himself into oblivion more than once a year or so anymore. But a lot of alcohol still passes his lips. Fuck. Is this how his father's curse is going to come out and reveal what an awful parent he really is?

What he says, very dryly, is: "Started the party without me, huh?"

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    Perhaps it's a good thing that Toph can't see the contents leaving her stomach. Heck, 'seeing' right now is a bit tough, especially when she's on her knees and clutching the sides of the porcelain with her hands. Coughing and spitting a few times into the toilet just to try to rid herself of the horrid taste and small chunks left, Toph groans in dismay. "Uhhh..."

    If she wasn't feeling shitty right now, perhaps she would have tensed up some more. Though she's not exactly sure whether she should be worried about being busted or relieved that there's somebody there to help her. Heck, Tony should know how to deal with this crap considering how often he does it.

    So as Toph flops down onto her hip, sitting next to the toilet and leaning against it, using one hand to wipe her mouth and the other waves Tony to come towards her instead of standing there and being smug. "... how the crud do you do it?" she laments, not even bothering hiding how miserable she feels right now. Even if she feels slightly better after throwing up. "Uhh... the world won't shtop spinning...!" Thank gravity that she has the toilet to hold onto and lean against.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"It's called alcohol tolerance," Tony quips tightly from the doorway, the words out a split second before he thinks that maybe he shouldn't tell her that the solution to getting sick from drinking is to do so repeatedly until your body adapts. "Also I... 'm an adult and I weigh a lot more than you do." Yup, blowing it, Stark.

He pushes off the doorframe and enters the bathroom proper, plucking up Toph's glass from sink-side to fill it with water. He reaches down to nudge it against her chin. "Here. It's water. Swish and spit, then sip. Why the hell did you decide to get into my liquor cabinet? Is this one of those weird adoption psychology things? Gotta push the limits to see how much you can get away with?"

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    Oh right, he's used to being drunk. She's even witnessed him being filthy drunk. Ugh, why would he get drunk like this willingly when he was already feeling bad enough with his parents being dead? It doesn't make things better at all! As for him weighing more than her? "No kidding..."

    She hears him step closer, and there's the sound of running water... As the glass is nudged against her chin she fumbles, grabbing it before she takes a big swig of water and manages to rinse her mouth and spit most of it into the toilet, some water running down her chin as she takes a large drink of water. Though the question earns another groan. "Didn't take your booze..." Toph clumsily raises her hand and points towards the main part of her room. Or at least where she /thinks/ it is. "Finished bending for the elf king guy... got a new..." Her words are interrupted as she coughs slightly. "New satchel, and food and drink." Okay, breathe.

    "I tried shome of it, and it tasted kinda good..." the blind girl admits, then drinks some more water, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the cool porcelain of the toilet. "Didn't know it would be like this," she adds weakly. Yup, it looks like she has learned a lesson already.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony Stark isn't sure whether to feel relieved that this isn't his fault, or /unbelievably pissed/ at this 'elf king guy' for giving strong alcohol to a child. He's caught somewhere in between, his mouth just moving emptily for a moment like a fish gasping for air.

"Thranduil?" he manages to link to the name in his brain, finally, and spit it out. "The guy from the Mirkwood reports? Gave you /liquor/?" And then, nope, words fail him again. He reaches up; pinches the bridge of his nose hard.

"...Jarvis, half lights," he shifts, finally into damage control mode. Hangovers, rare as they are anymore, always make him light sensitive. So the lights dimming to twilight levels ought to... oh wait. She's blind. Idiot. "--Nevermind," he countermands himself impatiently. "Tylenol. Where."

"In the medicine cabinet, sir."

He yanks that open, knocks over a box of bandaids and takes out the bottle, squinting at the doseage information on the side. Then he shakes out two pills and transfers them into Toph's hand. "Swallow these," he instructs. "With the water." Just in case she tries to dry-swallow them like he has so often. He then grabs a washcloth from the rack and wets it in the sink, crouching to gently dab Toph's face clean and wipe away the remnants of her internal calisthenics. He makes it a point too, to press a clean corner of the cool cloth over her forehead and eyelids. Even if she can't see, they're probably burning like his do. "You gonna throw up again?" he asks briskly, trying to conceal his anger since it's not directed at her. "Or did you get it all out?"

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    "Maybe... not to me," Toph admits hesitantly when the topic of elves and wine is mentioned. "There was berry juice too." How she wishes she had stuck with that instead. Though she can't help but snicker briefly when Tony gives the initial command to turn down the lights. "I feel sooooo much better now," Toph weakly jokes. Okay, if she can make her usual blind jokes then she isn't /that/ bad off.

    The two pills are taken, and she put them into her mouth somehow before she swallows the rest of the water along with the pills. Hopefully those will help. At first she turns her head a bit away when she feels something dab at her face, but when she realizes what's going on, she closes her eyes and sighs, turning her face towards the washcloth. That feels better... Yeah, it's safe to bet that Tony knows how to deal with these things. Does she feel like she's going to throw up again? Toph hesitates as she considers this as well all while she tries to decide on what she can hear in his voice, then shakes her head. "Not now..." Is he angry with her? Well, she did do something stupid, didn't she?

    "... thanks." Somehow she thinks it would have been worse if Pepper had been the one who had found her. And that thought immediately makes her worry if Tony is going to tell Pepper. Because if that happens she is so going to get a lecture. And a lecture from Pepper is worse than a lecture from Tony. Toph swallows, then grunts as she pushes herself forward and slightly away from the toilet. "Do you /have/ to tell Pepper...?"

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"Probably. If I don't tell her I'll be in even more trouble than you," Tony offers a faint joke. "But I'll tell her I handled it." He places a hand under Toph's elbow and nudges upward. "C'mon, let's get you to bed. I'll get you more to drink. Water or gatorade?" he offers a choice. He prefers the latter himself, lemon-lime, when he's dehydrated from a mission OR a hangover, but whatever she'll drink more of is the go-to here.

He also tosses the used washcloth at the hamper, and pulls down a fresh hand-towel and dampens it before leading Toph to her bed. When she's settled he'll lay it over her forehead or the back of her neck, depending on how she chooses to lie down.

"Shoulda stuck with the berry juice," he echoes her unspoken thought. "So now you know what it feels like, can I assume I don't have to worry about you experimenting with my stock?" He doesn't SEEM to be mad at her, if he can think ahead to trivialities like that.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    Another groan leaves Toph at that, and she swears she can already hear Pepper's voice. It's bad enough to be lectured when her head isn't spinning! But she does her best to get up when Tony urges her to rise, using her arms to pull herself up from the tiled floor. Oh yes, more drink... as long as it's not more alcohol. "... gatorade." It's not often she wants it, but there ought to be a reason why he mentioned it specifically, right?

    The earthbender steadies herself on whatever is nearby as she clumsily makes her way out of the bathroom and to the nearby bed, grabbing onto the toilet, the wall, the sink, even Tony if he's within reach. But it doesn't take long before Toph finds her way back to the bed, sighing as she pulls aside the covers and crawls into bed. Her headband is taken off and tossed onto the floor, and once she's pulled the covers over her she begins kicking off her pants without bothering tossing them aside before she flops onto her side. Damnit, the world is still moving.

    "Rub it in some more," she mutters tiredly as Tony mentions the berry juice. But yes, she knows what this stuff is about. So she shakes her head. "Don't want to throw up again..." So your alcohol will be safe, Tony. As a matter of fact...

    Toph pulls her hand out from the covers and points towards the chair with the satchel in it. "Take the rest of the wine, probably meant for you anyway," she mutters. And upon inspection of the satchel, there should be some bread wrapped in leaves, as well as an unopened bottle of berry juice, and another bottle that's about three quarters full of what appears to be fine wine.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Oh, Tony was going to take the satchel away in any case, but it's nice that Toph decided that on her own, too. He sits on the edge of the bed, arranges the damp towel over Toph's temple, draping over her eyes, and pats on it gently. "Don't worry about Pepper," he promises. "I'll convince her that being sick is plenty punishment, and lesson."

To which she might well reply tartly that it certainly never seemed to be lesson enough for /him/, but that's an argument for the two of them to have.

"I'll be right back," he announces, and the mattress shifts as he rises to go to the kitchen for the gatorade. He picks up the satchel on his way out. In the kitchen, he takes a minute to rifle through the contents. Hmm, a whole quarter of the bottle gone. Must've been good. He uncorks it for a sniff, purses his lips and gives a little shrug at his layman's analysis of the wine within by scent alone -- he's really more of a scotch man -- then replaces the cork and leaves it on the counter with the weird leaf-bread and berry juice.

He returns, with the sport drink and a cup, and resumes his place on the edge of the mattress. "The more of this you can drink, the less it's going to hurt," he declares. "Believe me. I've heard Pepper tell me that often enough that it has to be true."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    It really does feel better with the cool washcloth in place, and Toph sighs in relief as she feels less miserable. And if he can handle Pepper and let her just rest up until the world has stopped spinning.

    While Tony is gone she does her best to relax, just lying completely still and trying to focus on the blessed silence and coolness of the washcloth. At least until Tony returns and she feels him sitting down on the edge of the bed. Okay, so she needs to drink something to make this hurt less? If she felt like it she would be nodding, but she does reach her hand out. "Pepper does know best," Toph sighs. Then she makes an addendum. "Not that she needs to know that..." No way. It seems like Toph is intent on taking the whole bottle as she pushes herself up slightly to help with drinking the gatorade. And she begins drinking, clearly thirsty after throwing up. Once she's gotten some more fluids down she flops down herself, letting out a slight groan. "... does that mean you haven't actually tried doing that before?" Toph mutters while her hand reaches out to grab onto Tony's arm. "You know how long until the world stops spinning...?"

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"Nope," Tony replies with a cheerful lilt. "Painkillers and hydration, every time. Of course I'm never in a mood to listen to that kind of advice so Pepper has to re-convince me every time. But the hammer in your skull WILL go away, eventually. I'm gonna leave the bottle right here on your nightstand," he announces; "and the cup is right next to it. I want you to keep working on it, little bit at a time, until you empty the bottle. 'Kay?" He gives her head under the damp cloth another gentle pat and then stands up. "Otherwise, you're just gonna have to ride it out. Sleep if you can. I'll be back to check on you in a bit." He's left Dummy alone in the shop with an open project way too long already.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    Whenever is Tony in a mood to actually listen to people? Toph groans just a bit, then nods. Right now it doesn't seem like this will end, but Tony's right. She guesses. He's been drunk many times before, he should know. So she needs to drink as much fluids as possible to feel better? Seems a bit strange, but she seriously doubts that Tony would tell her to do something that's bad for her. So she nods again. "Drink gatorade. Sleep... gotcha." That is something she ought to remember, even in her current state.

    Normally she hates being bothered while she's sleeping, but right now when she feels like crap it's reassuring when Tony promises to check on her, and she brushes her fingers against his arm as he withdraws his hand from her head. "... thanks, dad." Hopefully she will be able to sleep. She /does/ feel tired, and maybe she will be able to sleep. So she shifts slightly and snuggles up more under the covers. Hopefully she won't have to throw up more anytime soon.