[ If Toph can survive months of Aang and Katara having a nonstop friendship lovefest, Accelerator can deal with the fallout. She's a little embarrassed about hugging him, but not enough to regret it. She can sense how tense it makes him, and she's enough of a bro not to comment on it, just lets him leave.
When he comes back, she's tidied up the tunnel entrance considerably, and it now looks like a well-fortified and orderly defensive structure. Toph is actually waiting for him, facing the direction he's coming from and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She'd felt him approach from a long ways off and was wondering where the badger-mole was until he came close enough that she could feel it in more detail.
She blurts: ] You got a baby?!
[ That's not at all what she was expecting. She's only been around adults before.
Toph immediately flops down herself to sit on the ground and makes an invisible vibration in the ground with the heel of her hand that she knows communicates greeting. The distressed baby badger-mole immediately pauses in its panic, turns to face her and sniffs hesitantly. Toph is entranced. ]
It's okay, little guy, I know the world sucks. You can live underground with me, I promise.
[When he comes back he notices the changes in the entrance. It seems like an improvement, and he has to hope that it's a reflection of her mind regaining her composure. Or feeling better. or whatever. He isn't sure, he's just hopeful.
Accelerator is happy to drop the badger-mole. It's even squirmier than a dog, and he's damn lucky those claws didn't shred his shirt. He gives a little sigh as he remains where he is, watching Toph carefully in case he needs to step in.]
I'm not an animal person. I didn't know what to ask for.
[ Toph really isn't all bluster -- when she says she doesn't lose control, she pretty much means it. She can have episodes of frustration that she takes out on the ground or yells about, but she always recovers before long and gets back to dealing. ]
Full grown they're the size of houses, [ Toph answers helpfully, rapping on the ground again with her hand. ] They communicate through the earth -- they're the original earthbenders.
[ The baby badger-mole comes closer, and Toph reaches out her hand to let it sniff her. Its whisker tickle a little, and that combined with the spacious overwhelming relief of having something from home after over a year away makes her giggle. It sounds distinctly girlish, and if Accelerator comments on it, he will regret it. ]
[The size of houses? Fuck, he's quietly glad he got a baby and not an adult. An untrained adult badger... mole-thing traipsing around the farm is liable to do a lot of damage. A small critter is (hopefully) a lot more manageable.
He's going to stay hanging back, watching the two of them. He may not be an animal person but he knows that that thing isn't a fan of him and he doesn't want to scare it.]
So when you're tapping the ground you're talking to it?
[That, and he doesn't want to interrupt Toph letting down her guard. It's cute, and even though it hurts it reminds him a little of Last Order.]
[ She'd really wanted a badger-mole to ride around on, but this has its advantages. She can take the little guy around with her and... actually -- ]
Yeah, basically. Hey! I just realized I could train him in earthbending, like they originally taught me!
[ Toph is absolutely delighted by this thought. It feels meaningful and real, a way to give back and acknowledge how much they'd done for her. There's a dim flicker of understanding that this must be like what Aang feels for Appa, but she hasn't seen them in so long, and she doesn't want to think of it now.
She makes another subtle ground vibration and the badger-mole cub practically launches itself at her, assured she's giving off the signals of another, older badger-mole. Toph catches it neatly, although it's already more than half her size so she ends up bowled over and laying on the ground, laughing again as it curiously sniffs her all over. She doesn't smell right, but she sounds right... ]
[Wow, it's almost easy to picture this badger-mole thing as something more like a typical pet. Maybe an overexcited puppy or something. Accelerator knows kids love animals, even Last Order frequently lamented the fact that cats wouldn't go near her because of the EM field she radiated as an electromagnetic esper.
Basically, this is very cute. Accelerator had thought maybe he screwed up with a badger-mole that wasn't fully grown, but it sounds like a baby is going to be way more suitable for Toph. He resists the urge to grin, keeping his expression neutral.]
There isn't much to do in between missions, so you'd have a lot of free time to do it. [Training an animal actually seems like a great use of all their downtime.] What're you going to name the damn thing?
[ Toph does like animals as a general rule, but she's not some bleeding heart adopting all the local stray dogs like Kakashi. And in this case, she'd have to side with Aang -- sky-bison, like badger-moles, aren't pets. They're smart and mystical enough that people are lucky they put up with them at all. ]
Good question. I have no idea, [ Toph says frankly, pushing herself back up into a sitting position and fearlessly navigating the large, furry, squirmy animal to sit in her lap, where she scruffs him all over. ]
No way is it going to be anything cutesy, though. He's gonna be such a bruiser if I have anything to do with it.
[Right. He doesn't know Toph very well, but he isn't surprised to hear she wants to avoid cutesy names. That's what Last Order would go for, and he's sure the Sisters would pick something ridiculous and on-the-nose. He isn't sure what he would do; for his owl he had gone with the name of a famous inventor. Maybe something like that.
(Or a geophysics joke, probably.)]
Ah, yeah, a vicious animal like that should have a scary name.
Uh, yeah. Did you know my name is written with the characters for "opening lotus"? It's awful. It could be "clearing the mountain," but they had to go with that. Yeuch.
[ Another thing Toph will never forgive her parents for; she sounds honestly disgruntled. (Is she comparing herself to a vicious animal? Absolutely.) She pushes the badger-mole off of her and climbs to her feet, leaving her annoyance aside to be focused on her new companion. ]
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When he comes back, she's tidied up the tunnel entrance considerably, and it now looks like a well-fortified and orderly defensive structure. Toph is actually waiting for him, facing the direction he's coming from and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She'd felt him approach from a long ways off and was wondering where the badger-mole was until he came close enough that she could feel it in more detail.
She blurts: ] You got a baby?!
[ That's not at all what she was expecting. She's only been around adults before.
Toph immediately flops down herself to sit on the ground and makes an invisible vibration in the ground with the heel of her hand that she knows communicates greeting. The distressed baby badger-mole immediately pauses in its panic, turns to face her and sniffs hesitantly. Toph is entranced. ]
It's okay, little guy, I know the world sucks. You can live underground with me, I promise.
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Accelerator is happy to drop the badger-mole. It's even squirmier than a dog, and he's damn lucky those claws didn't shred his shirt. He gives a little sigh as he remains where he is, watching Toph carefully in case he needs to step in.]
I'm not an animal person. I didn't know what to ask for.
[He tried his best, okay.]
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Full grown they're the size of houses, [ Toph answers helpfully, rapping on the ground again with her hand. ] They communicate through the earth -- they're the original earthbenders.
[ The baby badger-mole comes closer, and Toph reaches out her hand to let it sniff her. Its whisker tickle a little, and that combined with the spacious overwhelming relief of having something from home after over a year away makes her giggle. It sounds distinctly girlish, and if Accelerator comments on it, he will regret it. ]
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He's going to stay hanging back, watching the two of them. He may not be an animal person but he knows that that thing isn't a fan of him and he doesn't want to scare it.]
So when you're tapping the ground you're talking to it?
[That, and he doesn't want to interrupt Toph letting down her guard. It's cute, and even though it hurts it reminds him a little of Last Order.]
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Yeah, basically. Hey! I just realized I could train him in earthbending, like they originally taught me!
[ Toph is absolutely delighted by this thought. It feels meaningful and real, a way to give back and acknowledge how much they'd done for her. There's a dim flicker of understanding that this must be like what Aang feels for Appa, but she hasn't seen them in so long, and she doesn't want to think of it now.
She makes another subtle ground vibration and the badger-mole cub practically launches itself at her, assured she's giving off the signals of another, older badger-mole. Toph catches it neatly, although it's already more than half her size so she ends up bowled over and laying on the ground, laughing again as it curiously sniffs her all over. She doesn't smell right, but she sounds right... ]
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Basically, this is very cute. Accelerator had thought maybe he screwed up with a badger-mole that wasn't fully grown, but it sounds like a baby is going to be way more suitable for Toph. He resists the urge to grin, keeping his expression neutral.]
There isn't much to do in between missions, so you'd have a lot of free time to do it. [Training an animal actually seems like a great use of all their downtime.] What're you going to name the damn thing?
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Good question. I have no idea, [ Toph says frankly, pushing herself back up into a sitting position and fearlessly navigating the large, furry, squirmy animal to sit in her lap, where she scruffs him all over. ]
No way is it going to be anything cutesy, though. He's gonna be such a bruiser if I have anything to do with it.
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(Or a geophysics joke, probably.)]
Ah, yeah, a vicious animal like that should have a scary name.
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[ Another thing Toph will never forgive her parents for; she sounds honestly disgruntled. (Is she comparing herself to a vicious animal? Absolutely.) She pushes the badger-mole off of her and climbs to her feet, leaving her annoyance aside to be focused on her new companion. ]
I gotta show you how to make a proper den!