[ Sitting in a dark basement with a friend is basically one of Toph's favorite things, so she's perfectly happy to leave them windowless when Vincent says he's used to it.

But unsurprisingly the story he has to tell is a somber one, and before long she's scrunching her toes into the packed dirt of the bench she'd made. Her legs are too short for her feet to reach the floor (she'd made it with Vincent's height in mind) which means she ends up fussing away little curls of earth with her feet that flutter down in the darkness, Toph's version of a nervous fidget. Otherwise she's quiet and serious as she listens.

She immediately wants to say something disparaging about Lucrecia, tries to keep it in, and fails utterly. ]

She agreed to experiment on her own baby?! And you're really this torn up about her? [ Toph asks in disbelief. ] Or did you... I mean, did she change from when you were close? You said you weren't able to protect her.

[ Toph can easily imagine there's more to this story, and before she can get to the Sephiroth and Vincent part, she's first thoroughly stuck on Vincent having all these feelings for a woman who would do that to her own child. ]