The world was gray. It always had been for her; cold and void of any 'color'. Mai had grown up watching her friends gush about suddenly seeing the world as it was, how beautiful sunsets were and fields of flowers and the such. All because they had met their soul mate.

No one was sure how it worked out that way. To be honest, Mai didn't think they ever would. One day you just went about your day as usual and the next you're on cloud nine holding hands with some complete stranger and acting like you've known them for years. Just the thought of being sucked into something as sappy like that made her sick to her stomach. If anyone had asked her- which no one did- she would have told them she was perfectly fine never meeting this 'soul mate' of hers. She had grown so accustomed to her grayscaled world. It was familiar and at times comforting to her.

And then he had to happen.

Mai had been going about her day as per usual. Wake up, grab a quick bite on her way to the university, check on Ty Lee and Azula to make sure the latter had not yet killed her partner. It was later in the afternoon during her business communication course did she spot something out of the corner of her eye that made her tense up. It was just a flicker of the light, there was no way that could have just happened. Her eyes must have been playing tricks on her.

Still, the mere thought of having possibly seen a splash of color- 'What was it again? I think it started with… R?'- made Mai uneasy for the rest of the day. She had been so caught up in her thoughts on her way home from school she didn't notice she was about to collide with someone until it was too late.

"Hey, watch-"

Books and papers tumbled to the pavement next to the mess of squirming limbs and muffled curses.

"-ow."

Mai shut her eyes tightly, placing her hand against her temple and shaking her head. She could feel her face grow warm at her carelessness.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, buddy?"

There was no response, and for a brief second Mai wondered if she had knocked the other person silly. She opened her eyes to look at them and felt her stomach bottom out when she did.

There… there was so much of it everywhere. The skies, the vehicles rushing by, the pedestrians looking down at them with mixed expression on their faces. Gone was her monochrome world, gone was the familiarity and comfort, only to be replaced with this over stimulation of colors everywhere. Mai felt her heart pick up when at the center of it all was him.

He looked to be just as stunned as she felt, his one good eye comically wide. She paused to wonder what had happened to the other; the left side of his face marred by what she could only assume was from fire. His jaw slack while she watched the gears turn behind his eyes. It was a long few breaths before she opened her mouth to speak but he had beat her to the punch with a small grunt.

"Your… knee is in my stomach."

What a charmer.