Her grip on the gear shift was probably the least impressive thing about this entire situation. Given that Sokka's own grip on the aptly named "oh shit!" bar was turning his normally brown knuckles white, Toph holding to the hand-dwarfing bulb like it was another limb looked cool, but that was pretty much it.
Rather, it looked cool until she dropped from fifth to second gear, sending him into a lurch that nearly broke the windshield. She simply smiled and dug further back into the soft, supple leather behind her. He was very glad for the handle.
The engine roared at the downshift, quieting to a soft hum as they entered the sixty degree turn. He barely felt any resistance as her foot dropped to the clutch. Back to third. Her right foot dropped to the gas, and he was pulled back into his own seat with an, "Oomph!" that had Toph grinning outright.
"Careful there, butterfly. Wouldn't want you to break a wing," she mused aloud.
"What the hell?" Sokka demanded, despite himself. He had been playing it cool for the better part of twenty minutes, but then they had gotten to the hills in Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring, named for the original foundation of the city. It was the oldest neighborhood of the ancient metropolis and, accordingly, the roads were born from use and inspiration. None of them mirrored the carefully planned one-ways and roundabouts in the newer, Middle Ring, or even the newest Lower Ring.
He almost wished that there was music playing, something to redirect his focus, make him not so nervous, but Toph forbade it. As the driver, she said that it was of utmost importance that she be able to concentrate on her driving, not whatever Top 40 "shit" was liable to blare through the speakers. Sokka thought maybe she was just a control freak.
They were in fifth gear again, and she had yet to let go of the shifter. Approaching a round-a-bout, Sokka took notice of the car already on the stile, heading in their direction of course. Grimacing, he gripped the handlebar tighter and secured his free hand on the armrest beneath Toph's arm. Her grin vanished as she dropped the car into fourth gear, effectively pinning Sokka's arm in place, and dropped the gas pedal like a stone in water.
It was to his credit that Sokka did not so much as hitch his breathing when they laid rubber turning onto the wide sphere. The car behind them honked angrily and Toph laughed, not so much as checking the rearview mirror. Sokka frowned, but had to admit that they were still a safe distance away from the vehicle. Well, if he ignored the "objects in mirror..." sign out of his window.
Instead of actually getting off of the turn, though, they kept going around and around. Sokka's eyes widened, feeling a foreboding queasiness in his stomach while Toph continued to laugh, growing a little more hysterical with each second. Then without warning, without direction from her "navigator," she chose an exit and dropped the car into second gear again.
They lurched forward again and Sokka shouted, "Damnit, Toph! Use the brakes!"
She frowned, quirking a disdainful brow and said, "And waste them? The brakes are for emergencies only."
"No, that's what the E-brake is for. That's why they call it the E-brake!"
"No, the E-break is for this," she said and quickly slid her hand down to seven o'clock on the wheel while simultaneously grabbing for the emergency break. Her right foot (finally!) liberated the gas pedal while her left foot buried the clutch into the floorboard and she palmed the steering wheel furiously to the right. The brake jerked upward under her grasp, just as controlled and tight as she had been with the gear shift.
The car careened violently, squealing in protest as it obeyed the laws of physics. Toph obeyed the laws of awesome with a loud, "YATTAAAAAAA!"
Sokka was sure his neck had snapped somewhere behind them, or in front of them, and did not really care that he was about to face plant into Toph's lap. She was too busy pulling them out of the insane turn, readjusting to bring the wheel back to its original position. The car was facing the round-a-bout they'd just exited.
Before the car came to a complete stop, Toph dropped the brake back into its resting position and resumed her hold on the gear shift, dropping quickly into reverse. Without any great urgency, she began backing up, once more not regarding the rear-view mirrors, but simply backing toward their goal.
The promenade was behind them now, a wide space at the end of the road where several valets were waiting to retrieve transports.
As she backed into the proper receiving line, she grinned, chuckling to herself mirthfully. Too soon, in her estimation, she was shifting to neutral, turning off the ignition, and sitting silently once more, the very image of a proper young woman.
Sokka groaned, pulling himself out of her lap and untangling from his poor restraints. Wiping some of the spittle from the corner of his mouth her regarded her with narrowed eyes.
"We are never doing that again," he said through a frown. Toph merely smiled as she carefully, carefully swept her fringe back into its proper place on her forehead. Blotting her lipgloss, she reached up and removed a pair of black-mirrored aviators, though the sun had set hours ago.
White eyes turned to him, their view not quite centered on his face. She grinned.
"That's what you said the last three times, too."