"I mean, if you're going to learn how to fight good, you need to have a decent meal beforehand!"
"I don't think Old MacDonald's qualifies as a decent meal, Yang."
"Nonsense! I've never heard you speak so offensively." The blonde giggles. "Such filthy language~" she teases. She looks at you with a flirty smile. Yang had come in following Ruby's weapon maintenance lesson to collect on her fee but was enjoying her time toying with her sister beforehand.
"Yang!" Ruby shouts. "Do you ALWAYS have to be like that?"
"It's a sister's job, isn't it? Gotta make sure you aren't too cool; don't want you ending up with as big a head as Weiss."
"She'll hear you! And then she'll get angry at ME!" Ruby whines as she puts away most of her weapon tinkering tools.
"I'm sure it's fine. It's not as if talking about your teammate is going to make her MAGICALLY need to tune up her weapon! That'd just be too cruel."
"Consider her half-right and the world half-cruel," a voice says from the door. With that quiet, all-knowing smile, Blake walks in through the door, not a sound indicating her presence before she announced it.
"Eep!" Ruby jumps in response to Blake's entry.
"Oh, hi Blake!" Yang calmly states in response to Blake's entry.
"Hello," you wave in response to Blake's entry.
"Calm down, Ruby," Blake assures. "Weiss isn't with me, so she won't get the chance to be angry over nothing."
Ruby takes a long breath. "That's good…"
"Is it?" you ask. "You need to make up with her if you're going to be a team, you know."
"But that can come later!" Yang says, a triumph in her voice. "Trust me, knowing her, she'd only get angrier if Ruby tried to invite her to eat at a," she gasps, in fake horror, "FAST FOOD RESTAURANT! Dun dun duuunnn! AND one she's not even paying for," she adds, mimicking something that can be construed as dramatic lightning with her fingers.
Blake stares somewhat blankly at Yang. She looks at Ruby, still somewhat recovering from her spook. She decides to turn to you to ask, "I'm sorry, what's going on?"
You hold up your newly improved weapon and respond, "Ruby gave me an upgrade! As payment, I'm paying for dinner."
Blake accepts this at first, but her golden eyes shift to Yang. With a raised eyebrow, she asks, "Both of them?"
"Middleman fee!" Yang declares. "And, well, I HAVE been giving him combat lessons."
"So has Jaune." Blake smirks. "If that counts…"
"But Jaune isn't a cute blonde!" Yang says, making a heart with her hands.
"Ouch. He's not THAT bad."
"What, you have a thing for blondes?" Yang flirts, raising her eyebrow to match Blake's. You tilt your eyes up to look at your own blonde hair as Blake huffs, not denying the statement.
"What Jaune doesn't know saves me money," you say, making light of the situation. You do need to watch your money considering you have… almost none. Job or no, you have no sort of nest egg of any kind. "But yeah, we're about to go to Old MacDonald's." You're glad to know that cheaply made, high calorie, toy-in-kiddie-meal places still exist in Remnant. Cheap food will always be a vice. Finding an excuse to spend more time with Blake, you say, "You're welcome to come along if you'd want."
"That's a great idea!" Ruby says. "We can hang out downtown and look at shops and get ice cream! And be a team!"
"Minus Weiss, plus Briar~" Yang teases.
"Minus Weiss, plus Briar," Ruby repeats, rather unenthusiastic.
"Well, I can't say no now, can I? Captain's orders," Blake giggles. As Ruby lights up, she adds, "I can pay for myself. Though I would be up for helping you test your new weapon later. I respect my friends enough to not charge for things."
"Hey, Ruby is technically charging him…"
"Weapon maintenance is a fine craft, unlike a simple spar."
"Tell that to my dad."
"You buy ME dinner first, flirt." Blake smirks as Yang's confidence wobbles. She knew how to talk around her perfectly, even this early on, plus could see right through her crush. That meant she's probably able to sense that you have an interest in her as well, though Yang isn't exactly shy about her feelings. "I've been craving Old MacDonald's since…" Blake makes a noticeable pause. "Well, a while. Cheap is good."
"I'll raise a paper cup to that," Yang says, mimicking raising a glass. "Come on, let's go."
After you and Ruby out your things away, the four of you head out and catch a bus to downtown Vale. Though there were closer places, the heart of downtown was alive with the bustle of… well, a heart of downtown, so there was plenty to do. You follow Blake, who seems to know her way around town quite well, pointing out all sorts of hole in the wall places. It occurs to you she never actually mentioned where she was from, but you feel she wouldn't tell anyway. That mysterious air around Blake makes you think she keeps a fair share of secrets.
You all enter the gaudily white fast food joint and take your orders. You pay for Yang's Monster Mac and Ruby's nuggets and grab something for yourself as well. You think back to when Ozpin gave you some money and your best way to measure what was worth what was a quick meal. Consistency in price in junk food is another universal constant, you guess. Blake gets a fish sandwich and an iced coffee for herself, and soon enough you're all munching away in a crowded booth. The atmosphere was warm and the food was good, especially after subpar cafeteria food that had been your last few days.
You stare at Blake sip her coffee as she herself stares at Ruby playing with the kid's toy that had come with her meal. Eventually, she just starts giggling at the absurdity, infecting you as well.
"What's so funny?" Ruby asks, unaware that a trained Grimm-hunter playing with a cheap plastic rabbit farmer was quite hilarious. Adding on to the disparity was the fact that she also had a bottle of chocolate milk with her food. The child-at-heart looked confusedly at Blake, wondering what was causing her to laugh.
"Nothing," Blake lies. "Ok, something. I just think it's hilarious that my team leader can entertain herself by playing with a Pumpkin Pete toy." She takes the rabbit from the table and inspects it. "It can't even articulate."
"It's not funny!" Ruby whines. "And it's a kiddie toy! Don't expect it to transform like my scythe! Which, I'll have you know, has 36 points of articulation." Ruby's tone reminded you of another woman of short stature.
Yang confirms your assumption and says, "Wow, that was the most Weiss thing I've ever heard you say." When Ruby jumps and tries to object, Yang covers her mouth preemptively and says, "No, that's a good thing! You can both over-explain pointless information! You have something in common!"
"Now if only Weiss had your pleasant demeanor," Blake says, stirring her coffee and staring at Pumpkin Pete. "Then we'd have some unity."
"3 outta 4 ain't bad. We could have had CARDIN on our team, after all. Weiss at least has potential."
"God, if I want on a team with that racist, scum-sucking, bigoted…" Blake trails off before taking a breath. With a bored tone, she fantasizes about, "Oh, no. Student found killed by Grimm. Strangely, the Grimm's claws left a distinct kusarigama-esque pattern."
As someone who knows about Cardin purely based on the fact that he can't go a day without saying something racist against Faunus, you don't have high opinions of him. Considering if he knew what was under your hat, then he'd treat you like a dumb beast, you feel no sympathy towards him in Blake's story.
"How IS Weiss going? I… never see you with her outside of class."
Ruby starts whining. Yang answers, "Honestly, better than we let on. The other day, she even apologized. She's still… rough."
"And still makes comments about Faunus I don't quite agree with. In her case, it's a bit more ignorance, at least," Blake adds. "We'll wear her down eventually, she lived a charmed life and it shows. I can forgive her for that."
"That's good at least."
"And what about you? How's life without a team?"
"Still awesome. Having my own room still rocks."
"I bet it does," Yang says, snickering. Looking over, you see her miming jacking off. "Hopefully you find yourself a girl before anyone else moves in. It'd be hard to get to business otherwise~"
"Yanggggg," Ruby says, slapping at her sister. "Stop talking like that! You know dad hates it!"
"And dad isn't here! It's fun to joke around."
"I don't mind much," you say, glossing over the fact that being a single 20(?) something with his own living space did mean quality alone time. "A couple of dumb jokes don't bother me."
"Just wait until I roll out the good ones!" Yang laughs.
"Anywayyy…" Blake leads. "Any idea when you plan on… I guess you're a stand-in? How will you be going forward?"
"The plan is I act as a fifth member to whatever team needs the help. After I get a bit better at fighting and all."
"Well, you aren't much worse than Jaune…" Ruby says before realizing she came across wrong. "I mean… I'm sure with your weapon upgrades you'll already be better!"
"I am looking forward to trying that out. That sword was way too big for me."
"Again, I'd be happy to help out later. I'll provide a much better challenge than Jaune. Maybe you'll magically be a little amazing?" Blake sips her coffee and smiles as you feel your throat tighten. You feel like she's messing with you in some way, but you also like it. "Right hand, wrong tool and all."
"Speaking of tools, I should quote unquote spar with Cardin. Maybe quote unquote accidentally shoot him in the knees a few times."
"If you keep talking like that, I'm not sure if can continue to control myself," Blake jokes. "I'm getting all tingly."
Yang rests her head on her hand and smiles. Winking, she asks, "So I'm winning you over now, am I?"
Ruby opens her mouth to interject, but realizes she won't get anywhere. You watch with interest (and a little jealousy) as Blake giggles at Yang's antics. If nothing else, you're learning that Yang is definitely bisexual, while Blake potentially is.
"I won't accept sweet nothings. Destroy Cardin's pride and I might just give you a peck on the cheek, my shining white knight."
Yang outs on a fake manly voice and says, "I shall serve under your name for all times, my lady. I swear on my honor that I shall dash this cretin of the realms."
Blake sips her coffee before saying, "Anddd, consider my offer rescinded. I couldn't take the voice."
"I'm still gonna do it."
"Can I get in on this?" you ask. "I'd be down for kicking racist ass."
"Sadly, no," Yang says, sulking. "For as ass-hatty a person as he is, Cardin is decent at fighting from what I've seen. Sure *I* could take him, but you're going to have to shape up good before you play hero." She finishes off her soda and peeks at the door. "Actually, why don't we head out, grab some ice cream, and get to some training? Then we can show Cardin that there are good humans in the world."
"Y-yeah," you say, covering for the fact that you weren't human. You try to pass off your stutter by taking a sip of your drink and coughing to clear your throat. "I'm good if you guys are."
