Semblance of Brutality

A Day on the Town

Yang's perspective

I push my bowl back across the counter as soon as I finish my noodles. Ruby had already finished hers; she'd done so in a matter of seconds after she'd gotten them. Weiss is still eating daintily, and Blake is getting the last of the fish still left on the bones. My mind wanders to what Qrow and that Doom Slayer guy were doing. Was Qrow explaining the Grimm further? Or maybe he was filling him in on the history of Remnant?

"Soooooo," Ruby suddenly says, "that was good! What do you guys wanna do now?"

I weigh the pouch of coins in my hand. That meal had taken a hefty chunk out of our funds; there were only a few coins left. Before I can decide what to do with the remaining money, Ruby shouts something unintelligible. I turn my head to where her gaze is pointing and see it: a Nevermore. A collective scream of "Grimm!!" rings out through the market.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and I immediately ready our weapons and prepare to fight. Before we can start beating down the Nevermore, the roar of a chainsaw rang out. Soon after hearing it, the raven Grimm's head falls to the ground, leaving only a bloody stump where it used to be. The Doom Slayer stands triumphantly on top of the beast's corpse, giving a very cheesy thumbs-up. Everyone who hadn't fled the market - including us - has their mouths gaping open, awestruck.

"What?" he asks the crowd. "It didn't look very friendly! Something told me he needed a permanent timeout!"

I am among the first to start applauding. What could I say? He'd been here for only about a day and had singlehandedly taken down a Nevermore in record time. Without thinking, I take the pouch of coins and toss it up to him, then shout "Buy yourself something nice!"

"Yang! What the heck?! That was the last of our cash!" Weiss protests.

"I wanted some more fish..." Blake sighs, defeated.

Now, I'm almost expecting Ruby to say something, too. I look to her and see she has a large grin plastered on her face. She slides closer to me - almost uncomfortably so - and pokes my cheeks with her index fingers. I slap her hands away, slightly annoyed. The grin on her face hasn't dissipated yet.

"Yang has a crush~!" Ruby sings.

"Do not!" I shoot back instantaneously.

"Do too~!" she continues to sing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Blake and Weiss take a large step back, clearly a bit uncomfortable. Blake fiddles with her bow, and Weiss has a sudden interest in cleaning her rapier. Ruby really doesn't know how awkward she's made this, does she? Typical of her, I laugh to myself.

"Shut up!" I tell Ruby while laughing.

I flash a glance towards the other two, signaling them that it's safe to come back over. They hesitantly take a couple steps forward, still wary of my rather explosive temper. I could take this, though; Ruby and I periodically tease each other about this type of thing anyways. Of course, that doesn't mean I have to admit it. It is during this sisterly disagreement that Doomguy decided to jump down and rejoin us.

"Hey guys!" he exclaims heartily. "So, what was this about crushing? Were we talking about how I should've crushed that thing's head?"

"No, actually! Ya-"

I quickly clamp my hand over Ruby's very, very talkative mouth. I suddenly realize how conspicuous that may have looked and begin to fumble with excuses. To everyone else, I must appear to be some type of lunatic. After a few more (extremely long) seconds, I settle on a story.

"Like Ruby was going to say," I chuckle nervously, "I wanted to get in there and... crush that Nevermore's head! Because I... really hate Nevermores..." I trail off.

"O...kay. Why didn't you just jump in, then? It would've made it easier on the gas!" he jests.

"Ah, I don't know. You seemed like you had it handled."

There is a lengthy silence. Finally, Blake - of all people - breaks it. 

"How did you do that? Take out a Nevermore without even breaking a sweat, let alone using your semblance?"

"The good ol' power of human engineering, titanium chainsaw teeth, and gasoline. Speaking of semblances, though..."

"What is it?" I ask, possibly a bit too eager to help out.

"I had a talk with Qrow a little while ago, and he said that you unlock your semblance through hard work, emotional extremes, or are just born able to use it. He also said that everyone is born with one. The only problem is... I don't have one, or I at least haven't unlocked it yet. Would you guys be willing to help?"

"Yeah, sure thing!" I blurt out. "Eight AM tomorrow. Got it?"

He nods in agreeance. I turn proudly to my teammates, who are left gaping at my readiness to volunteer.  I'm not sure if even Ruby would have sold out that quickly. Doomguy takes his leave and starts making his way back to Qrow's place. Meanwhile, Ruby once again slides uncomfortably close to me and begins teasing me once more.

"Yang's sooooo got a crush~!"

At this point, I see no use in denying it. Ruby has always had a good intuition when it came to me, and she'd been right this time, too. 

"Yeah..." I mutter under my breath. 

I'm surprised the entire village didn't hear Ruby's resulting squeal of happiness.