[...of all the people she expected to see, Toph wasn't on the list. In retrospect, she should have; she seemed the sort to hold a grudge, even if- inexplicably- nobody else did.
When she sees her, there's an immediate reaction- gone, it seems, is her usual flawless control of her stress responses, because even she can tell that the tension in her muscles, the hitch of her breathing, and the elevation of her heart rate are betraying her. She struggles to clamp down on them, to force the usual calm and detached persona.]
I had thought it obvious.
[She nearly makes a crack about not being able to see the color of the fire, but somehow the thought just doesn't provoke the same amusement that it normally would.]
no subject
When she sees her, there's an immediate reaction- gone, it seems, is her usual flawless control of her stress responses, because even she can tell that the tension in her muscles, the hitch of her breathing, and the elevation of her heart rate are betraying her. She struggles to clamp down on them, to force the usual calm and detached persona.]
I had thought it obvious.
[She nearly makes a crack about not being able to see the color of the fire, but somehow the thought just doesn't provoke the same amusement that it normally would.]