Scene #1127: Down the Badgermole Hole

Owner	Pose
Toph Beifong	It wasn't too long since she headed out here all the time. Though then again, that was before a certain incident. And while she might not be overjoyed by the feeling that she can't go alone, she does understand Tony too. So she will keep her minor annoyance at bay. It's not like he doesn't let her leave the house, far from it. So it's not the same. It does seem like Tony genuinely appreciates the large creatures too. Though Toph does keep up the lead as they head up from the warp gate outside Gaoling and up to the forests where the badgermoles usually tend to be. "They are over in this direction!" Toph calls back over her shoulder, clearly eager to visit the creatures again. And to see the badgermole cubs again. For now she's not slowed down by her backpack, which seems to be stuffed full for the occasion.
Tony Stark	Tony Stark dressed appropriately for this venture, though perhaps not for the locale, since he's no longer concerned with impressing Toph's parents. Jeans and hiking shoes, and a suit of armor within swift recall distance. Just in case. He keeps up a steady pace behind Toph, neither lagging nor hurrying, letting her lead the way as he ocassionally pauses to take in the scenery and a breath of fresh air. And to keep an eye out for any potential trouble. Still, it's a shame Pepper couldn't come on this jaunt. This would be a nice romantic walk for them and they could totally gross out Toph. "I'm coming," he replies for the third or fourth time as he steps over a fallen log and under a hanging branch and tries not to snag himself on any thorns. "So how big are the babies going to be by now do you think?"
Toph Beifong	Today the forests seem quiet, the sun is shining, and the birds are chirping merrily. It might be approaching autumn, but this far south in the Earth Kingdom it doesn't seem like the cold will be a problem at all. All in all the forest seems quite alive, and Gaoling itself seemed to be rather lively with people all about. Toph doesn't seem to mind that Tony takes his time, and is it so strange that she's in a good mood? She even finished up all her lessons before they left. "Oh, nearly as big as I am! They take a while to get large, and I think Boss is about thirty years or older...?" The blind girl shrugs. "Hopefully he's fully healed up by now." Soon enough they reach the caves, and Toph doesn't hesitate to skid down the slope leading down into the waiting darkness. "It's dry and fine!" she informs Tony, just in case he is nervous or if he can't see. But she does bend the earth so there's a slight upwards curve, just to help her and Tony slow down. This of course catches the attention of the inhabitants of the cave... and a familiar mumbling roar echoes as Stinky shuffles forward, followed by some of the larger badgermoles. And Toph beams, raising her arms as she steps forward. "Heya! Missed you guys..." She hugs Stinky's head, and it licks her cheek. Before turning to sniff the air in Tony's direction.
Tony Stark	Tony does appreciate the gentler slope, making his way down it considerably slower than Toph does. He came prepared for the dark this time too, clipping his phone to his front shirt pocket with the flashlight function on so he's not completely blind. Hey, everything else in here is blind, they shouldn't mind him having some light, right? They shouldn't even notice. It's Stinky's /smell/ rather than sight that identifies the large beast to him though, and his nose wrinkles as he tries to adjust to the closer air. "Hi Stinky," he says casually in the beast's direction as it turns to sniff at him. And he snorts. "Thirty? I'm older than that." As if that makes him infinitely superior. Boss probably can't even wrap his big dumb head around a simple circuit board.
Toph Beifong	No, the light is not bound to disturb Toph nor the equally blind badgermoles. And it does seem like Stinky recognizes Tony too, even though it's been a while. Stinky is slightly larger now, quite longer as he shuffles closer, leans close... and licks at Tony's face in greeting with a low rumbling sound. Toph grins, even as she scratches another badgermole in greeting. "Yup, he recognizes you all right!" Or maybe he smells Pepper's perfume on Tony, who knows? "And I know you are older than Boss, it's not a contest. Come on." The blind girl leads the way down the tunnel, and along the way there are many badgermoles who all seem a bit curious. Many of them do seem curious about Tony, moving closer to sniff at him, but it seems that they aren't too disturbed by him. And Toph does make sure that he can keep up with her too. The entire nest seems like a maze, but Toph knows where she is going. When they reach the outside of a small cavern, she does halt and turns back to Tony, holding out her arm. "Follow my lead. If we bother the babies too much, the mom won't be happy." Then she heads inside. The small cavern is warm and comfortable, and well... it's far from empty. In the corner is a large shape that Tony should recognize as Boss, as well as another badgermole that is a fair bit smaller. But the moment Toph steps forward, there's also the sound of squeaks and loud whines from the back of the cave... where five small badgermoles are all piled up, most of them asleep. Boss raises his head with a low grumble leaving his throat, and then he gets to his feet and steps forward. Toph herself reaches out to rub his nose, sighing. "He's still moving a bit awkwardly..."
Tony Stark	Tony grimaces as he's licked. "...Thanks, Stinky. I love you too," he mutters as hewipes badgermole saliva out of his beard and wipes his hand on his pants. Thanks to his light, Tony can see perfectly well -- okay not perfectly, but well enough to get around the cave without smashing into anything. But he allows Toph to lead him in and he's careful to stay behind her. He jokes about it, but he does not want to piss off Boss. Circuit boards aside the big guy could probably rip him in half without his armor on. Maybe even with the armor on. "Hey big fella," he greets carefully. Keeping his voice low and what he assumes is soothing he reasons, "Well, he got torn up pretty badly. He's a wild animal Toph, they adapt." And if he's over thirty, he's probably no spring chicken either. Not that he has any idea of the full lifespan of these things.
Toph Beifong	Stinky makes another sound as Tony speaks to him, bumping his head carefully against him before Tony follows Toph down the caves. At least Tony can feel safe when Toph is with him here, and she seems perfectly calm amidst all of these large creatures. Especially around Boss. When Tony talks to him the large badgermole turns his massive head, and he sniffs in his direction before leaning down, though he thankfully doesn't lick Tony. While she doesn't like hearing it, Toph knows that Tony speaks the truth. And perhaps Boss won't completely heal from the attack that Rex and the tyrannos had to kidnap that poor badgermole cub. She nods, then does her best to smile. "He seems to remember you." And while the other adult badgermole, presumably the mom, is alert, Boss seems calm. So... let's check out the babies! The blind girl rubs Boss' nose once more, then she walks over to the mom and strokes her face gently, earning a lick from her in return before she lies back down, seemingly appeased that there's no danger here. And Toph walks over to crouch down next to the pile of badgermole cubs, keeping her hands to herself. Indeed, the cubs are nearly as large as she is at this point, their markings faint, and their claws and tails not all too long. "They are waking up now that we're here. Just let them come to you first before you touch them." Which might not be too long, as three of the cubs are sniffing the air curiously and lets out some squeaky sounds as they crawl over towards them.
Tony Stark	Oh, no worries about that, Tony likes having both his hands still attached to his arms. He follows her lead and sits himself cross-legged on the dry floor of the cave, a little behind Toph. He keeps his hands loose over his knees, so the babies can sniff if they want to, but he makes no effort to reach out to them. The squirming lumps of black fur and muscle remind him a bit of Buster when he was much younger than this; but of course he was never worried about Buster chomping any of his limbs off. An idea occurs to him. He reaches up to unclip his phone from his pocket, and a few swipes of his fingertips opens up his music player. A few more swipes finds a simple, slow blues guitar track and he starts playing it at low volume. Badgermoles like music, he remembers that. They even liked his awful sitar playing. He looks up curiously at the babies to see how they'll react, since they've probably never heard anything like it before.
Toph Beifong	The cubs seem far less dangerous than the adults, with their claws not so long and far less sharp. But they do seem to perk up at the sound of the music, as does the two adults in the cavern. Boss lets out a high rumble and even rolls over onto his side, and the mom closes her eyes. The cubs crawl forward, all of them awake now and highly curious about the sound. Why, Toph even lets out a chuckle as they seem more focused on Tony than on her. "Now that is cheating!" she states, even as one of the baby badgermoles moves to crawl /into/ his lap and to nose the music player. The others follow suit, and at this point he gets many of them sniffing curiously at his hands, while two of them seem to inspect Toph.
Tony Stark	Tony laughs. "I can't help it if they find me fascinating, Toph. Most people do." He's careful to keep the phone out of their reach, having to hold it up high in one hand as the baby climbs into his lap, eliciting a grunt at the weight of the thing. He very gently pets its head, smoothing his fingers over its cheeks and over the brows of its blind eyes, the same as he used to stroke baby Buster to get him used to his smell, and associate it with safety. "Maybe we should rehearse our Christmas duet for these guys," he jokes. "They'll probably be more forgiving critics."
Toph Beifong	"And here I thought only humans were here to appease your ego," Toph mutters with obvious sarcasm. But she can't help but smile when the baby badgermoles are clearly curious about Tony. It is fun to watch, and well... it's nice to know that he likes the creatures that obviously mean quite a lot to her. They are the ones who taught her how to earthbend, after all, and she does owe them quite a lot. When Tony proves to be friendly the baby badgermole leans into his hands, making more of those squeaky sounds, but sounding much calmer. Toph pets the two who are exploring her, letting them get up in her face as she leans into them and lets them get used to her too. At least the parents seem calm, and if they would have attacked somebody for messing with their babies it would have already have happened. The cubs themselves seem far more curious, with one of them snuffling up Tony's back. "What, you think Pepper will dislike it /that/ much...?" Toph asks. Personally she thinks it's coming along nicely, and well... it's fun! That's what matters. It's fun preparing for Christmas. Though there is something... Toph's expression is serious even as she strokes one of the baby badgermoles' face, her hands gentle. When she speaks, she sounds slightly hesistant. "... do you think we could do something next week? On the seventeenth?"
Tony Stark	Tony just chuckles along with Toph's assessment of their musical skill. No, of course Pepper won't hate it. Even if he cringes at every little off-tone harmonization. Which, yes, they are getting better at. And then his breath catches in his throat. "...why?" he asks, suddenly guarded as his posture tenses. He forces himself to draw a deep breath and let it out, so as not to alarm the animals.
Toph Beifong	If Tony cringes at the off-tone harmonization, then what does he imagine Toph does? Of course she can hear every time she should get the tone higher or lower to match Tony, who obviously has more musical practice than she does. But she /is/ getting better, luckily. It's easy to notice how Tony tenses up, just like she imagined he would when she brought this up. How can she miss hearing how he reacts? She continues petting the baby badgermoles that snuffle and lean into her, and one of them even begins chewing on her sleeve while making a satisfied sound. One of the other badgermole cubs is busy licking Tony's hand at this point, and the other tries to sit up to get to the music player. Which it obviously can't, but that doesn't mean it won't try! "You know why," Toph says softly, though her tone isn't accusatory. More than that, she looks a bit tense herself. "I think it would be good for you. And let you think of something else." Not to mention she's sure Pepper would agree.
Tony Stark	"I think I'd rather just... stay in and not do anything to mark the day," Tony replies quietly. He manages a half-smile at the cub trying to climb up his arm, but lets out a soft, "Ow, careful with the claws buddy," as he unhooks it from his shirt sleeve. "Or if... if we have to do anything I don't think we should plan it."
Toph Beifong	While she can understand why he wouldn't want to do anything on that day, she still doesn't agree with it. After all, he seems to be way too used to grabbing a bottle on that day. And that only seems to make him more miserable. The badgermole cub licks at Tony's sleeve even as it is unhooked from it, and it rumbles slightly in that squeaky way and bumps its heads affectionately at him. Oh yes, they seem to like Tony, or at least the music, a lot. It's kinda cute, really. At least Toph thinks so as one of the badgermole cubs settles with resting its upper body in her lap while she pets the other one. "So... if I wake you up in the morning that day and suggest something to do that doesn't involve other people or anything bothersome... you would go along with it?" Hey, at least she can get that he doesn't want to be around tons of people. Nor does she expect him to be his usual self that day. But at least having him be less drunk and at least waste his day doing something slightly more constructive... that would be a serious improvement.
Tony Stark	"...Maybe," Tony replies, still guarded, though it's difficult to be serious while being headbutted by a baby badgermole. He shifts the phone to his other hand to give his arm a rest, and scritches its head with the one he lowers from above his head. "I can't make any promises, Toph, you know it's... hard, for me. And it doesn't feel right doing anything /fun/." But he knows what it is that really bothers her. "I'll... /try/," is the best he can promise. Maybe, with Toph and Pepper and Buster all together they can keep him from feeling completely miserable and alone.
Toph Beifong	Well, it isn't a /no/. And he's not refusing to talk about this either. The baby badgermoles continue inspecting him, though one of them does curl up with its head resting against his leg. The other two are still somewhat playful, or at least affectionate. They enjoy attention, that much is clear. "I know it's hard..." Toph responds with a sigh. It's not like she's planning on dragging him to an amusement park or something. Heck, it would only upset him more. It wasn't easy 'seeing' him like that last year, and she only recalls how much not like... himself he was. How he reeked of alcohol, and how angry he was. And since they are officially family now, isn't it her job to help him? At least she likes to think so. So when he says that he will try, she nods. "And I'll try too." One of the baby badgermoles rears up and places its paws on Tony's shoulders... and then begins snuffling him in the face and licking him. That does make Toph smile again, and she grins. "You really have a way with the ladies, huh?"
Tony Stark	"Is this one a lady?" Tony asks, genuinely unsure. He's not about to go groping around to find out. "Must like my cologne," he reasons, twisting his head to keep the questing tongue out of his eyes as he scrunches up his face. "The /ladies/ can never resist it." Not that he's wearing any; just a faint smell of engine grease under the soap. "Hey, they relate to me. Us cave dwellers need to stick together..." he trails off, a little thoughtfully. "Of course," he concedes after a moment in that dark place, "this is a much nicer cave."
Toph Beifong	"She is," Toph says without any doubt. "At least your cologne doesn't smell as strongly as Carrie's perfume..." Ugh, she gets nauseous just thinking about it! The talk about cave dwelling though, that makes Toph snort. "Of course this cave is much nicer, it has badgermoles. And they are snuggly!" No, there's nobody here who wants to harm anybody right now. The badgermoles just want to live their lives without being bothered, and right now the two humans are not bothering them or their babies. "Not to mention you can leave anytime you want to. We shouldn't stay too long, gotta make sure we get enough dumplings, right? Pepper would kill us if we didn't get enough for her too." Pause. "Unless we casually forget to mention that we got any dumplings in the first place," Toph shrugs with a mischievous grin on her face.
Tony Stark	Tony gives Toph a smirking look. "Toph," he reminds her, "I /love/ Pepper. And I'm a billionaire. Why would I cheap her out of dumplings? Do you think I don't /want/ to sleep in my own bed tonight?"
Toph Beifong	Yeah yeah, she knows. Toph can't help but snort though. "I'm just saying they are popular there, and we better get there before they sell out." Then she can't help but stick her tongue out. "And you mean sleep in your own bed when morning comes. You get less sleep than I do!" And seriously, Pepper would banish Tony to the couch for mere dumplings? Then again, they aren't just mere dumplings, are they? Either way, it would be drastic.
Tony Stark	Gaoling dumplings are Serious Business in the Stark household. Even so... no, she probably wouldn't banish him to the couch. Just one of the guest bedrooms. Still, he'd rather not risk it. "Okay, kids," he addresses the cubs gently, as he thumbs down the volumn on his phone and it fades to silence. "Uncle Tony has to get up now." He squirms to get himself out from under the weight of the one curled up in his lap. With as many years experience he's had squirming out of bed without waking up his one night stand, this should be easy.
Toph Beifong	It appears that the baby badgermoles do react when the music dies down, and one of them whimpers just slightly and bumps its head against Tony a bit. Where did the music go? Toph likewise manages to get away from the two badgermoles that has been curling up on her, and she rises to her feet and walks over to Tony, reaching out for his arm. "At least things seem to be doing okay here, and the babies are growing as they should. Maybe we can wait until next year with checking up on them." After all, there's much to prepare for now as Christmas is approaching. And then she begins leading him out, even as there's the sound of the mother badgermole moving behind them to tend to the babies who seem to be searching for their departing playmates and chew toys. "Now let's get those dumplings so Pepper stays happy." It's in their best interest, after all.