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Toph didn't go into the pizza party. Partly because she doesn't know what a pizza is, partly because the linoleum on the kitchen floor makes everything annoyingly out of focus, but mostly because she wanted to be on her own. It seems she wants to do that a lot these days.

She surveyed the bunker: fixed some structural damage, reinforced it, expanded a little. But then she ends up crouched on the edge, toes curling against the rock, head bowed.

She could be accused of staring into space, except she doesn't really stare anywhere.

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Thrust thinks that one over for a moment. "Were they keepin' you in reserve or somethin'?" he asks, puzzled.

She'd make a really good secret weapon.

After a second, Toph laughs out loud. The idea of her being a secret weapon is funny.

"No, they wanted to protect me."

"... From what?" Thrust asks, incredulous. "Can't think of anything'd be dangerous to you longer than it takes to drop a boulder on it."

Granted, that might depend on having a handy boulder or two. ... Maybe she could make the ground open up under someone. Really, this is a power that has potential.

Damn straight it has potential.

Toph shrugs. "There's a war on at home, and they didn't want me to get hurt, so they wouldn't let me learn earthbending.

"I just learned it anyway."

"That's a fragged-up way to think-- no offense." There's a war on... so they try to deny her access to a skill set she can use to defend herself?

Humans are weird.

Or possibly don't realize that war doesn't always care if you're part of the military or not.

Toph shrugs again.

"As far as I know they've stayed out of the war so far.They wanted me to do the same."

"They're lucky, then," he agrees. "I meant-- it's a skill set. Somethin' useful. Why try to keep you from learning it?

"Course Transformers don't have parents, so maybe it's a species thing I'm missin'."

"It's a way of fighting," Toph says. "And I'm blind and small, and they don't want me where I could get hurt. They were wrong, but I know why they did it.

"It's because they love me."

"That earthworks ain't fighting," Thrust points out, even if it's not quite as roughly as usual, for him. "But all right."

Love and logical thought do not always get along-- Thrust knows this. He also knows it sucks to miss people you're not likely to see again.

So clearly it's time for a change of subject.

"How rare's this earthbending stuff? I mean, I get you're real good at it, but can anybody do it, where you're from?"

"No," Toph says. "But it's pretty common - not everyone's a Bender, but even then you can only bend the element you were born into. I'm from the Earth Kingdom, so I'm an Earthbender. Only the Avatar can master all four."

Thrust tilts his head. Stupid language datatrax-- Thrust knows of considerably more than four elements, after all.

"Okay... this ain't my native language, and not all the translations I got are perfect... What definition are you using for 'elements'? I got everything but that part."

Even if he's probably going to ask who the Avatar is an avatar for later.

Toph's forehead furrows like she thinks he's crazy.

"Earth, Fire, Air, Water."

It's said slowly and carefully, like to a backward child.

It's not Thrust's fault his reality has different elements. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0423.html) Note: not Thrust's reality.

"... I think I'm gettin' the picture," Thrust says. "So you've got four factions-- kingdoms, I mean-- and the powers are divided up along faction lines?"

It's an interesting way to do it. Weird, to Thrust's way of thinking, but interesting.

Transformers might be a little more popular in this specific sphere if they were set in the OotS reality.

"Faction lines are divided along powers," she says carefully, trying out the idea.

"Makes more sense that way around," Thrust agrees. Long lines (well, long for organics) who all had the same powers, of course they'd have trouble trusting outsiders with different powers.

That only makes sense.

Toph shrugs, but says nothing.

"Who's the aggressor in the war?"

"The Fire Nation."

Of COURSE it's not her Kingdom. The difference is, the Fire Nation official sotry also has them down as the aggressor.

Conquest for fun and profit! Thrust would be familiar with the idea, if he knew his old boss a little better.

"Sounds like people who don't frag around. They got a reason, or just decided Earth Kingdom territory looked like prime real estate?"

Hey, as far as he knows, it's only a war between two factions.

"It was a hundred years ago," Toph says. Who knows what they were thinking? They wiped out the air nomads."

"... Right, humans don't live that long." Somebody keeps forgetting. Sure, they only sort-of pick up on his sensors, but they act like people. It's easy to forget that humans only live for about a vorn. "Long time to be at war, then, right?"

"Right," Toph confirms.

Okay. That sounds like either an invitation to probing questions to get her to air her feelings on the matter or a cue for a subject change.

Thrust doesn't know her that well.

"So are the powers hereditary?" He's pretty sure he's never going to figure out how it works, but that doesn't mean he's not curious enough to try to form a hypothesis.

Actually it's just that Toph's not one to volunteer a lot of information.

"Yeah, I guess? I mean, neither of my parents were benders, but it can run in families."

And Thrust is used to being that person, not talking with that person.

"Huh." Then he shrugs. "I keep tryin' to figure out how stuff works," he says, by way of explanation.