What is that second aura light? I can see it. If I reached out, I would feel it. I've never heard of someone with two, yet this has to be it. Stretching my aura out to the new light, I could feel myself getting giddy. This is something new! Exciting! A second semblance! I'm going to be so cool. Well, I don't want to be the bee's knees or anything, but I'm sure a lot of people will want to be my friend.
I made contact. Nothing. I didn't… I didn't feel any different. There wasn't a physical change; my speed semblance, I could feel myself "vibrate." Pyrrha can "feel" the metallic objects connecting to her. Yang's blood boiled. Blake could envision herself in two separate mind sets. Weiss had a vivid imagination. Every semblance has something.
The door abruptly being thrown open by an angry Blake, which startled me. I clenched my hold on the second semblance.
Anger - Red. What? Blake looked at me, the red around her faded slightly. I raised an eyebrow. The longer she looked at me, the dimmer the red around her grew.
"Blake? Are you ok?" Embarrassment - Pink. It overtook the fading red.
"Yeah, just thinking. Sorry." She moved farther into the room. The door burst open.
Weiss stormed in. Anger - Red. Weiss was surrounded in a bleeding red light. Her face was a dark scowl.
I'm not sure why, but I rushed over to her. Wrapping my arms around her firmly. It was instinctive. The red quickly faded. She gingerly hugged back.
"Thanks Ruby." I let go and stepped back.
"Yeah… anytime." I'm not sure why I suddenly hugged her, but it seemed it worked. Turning to Blake, I walked towards her and repeated the action. This one was more… manual. I just felt that maybe she could use a hug too.
"Ruby! I want a hug!" Joy - Yellow. I didn't even get halfway through my turn when I was picked up in a bear hug by Yang. She's the easiest to read. I don't even need my second semblance for it.
After she set me down, I looked around the room. Joy - Yellow. All around. I… I like this semblance.
A twinkle of joy manifested itself in my dampened emotions. I like it a lot.
While I do like having my new semblance activated, I don't like the overwhelming mix and mash of colors whenever there's a surplus of people; the cafeteria always seemed to have a great deal of teams or even individuals. At times such as this, I would reluctantly let go of the mood-ring of a semblance. It was really useful. Not as a combat tool or the like, but as a leader-er tool. Knowing how my team is feeling allows me to take appropriate action.
Like yesterday, I made Weiss and Blake joyous… Yang was already happy so… And today, while I haven't done anything yet I feel I will.
If I could vomit, I probably would have. The swirl and whirl of blues, reds, yellows, and hues was nauseating. I had forgotten to let go. Which, perhaps, was a good thing. Grey - Fear. An odd feeling to have when at one of the places considered the safest. Anxiety, yes; Fear, no. "I'll be right back."
I didn't wait for their affirmation or confirmation. I just waded through the crowd, hood drawn, cloak clipped, eyes down. To others, I might have looked like a character from some Assassin game. Focus, Ruby, focus. It was over here.
"Please stop." amongst the cacophony of voices, a sweet accented one stood out… I probably would have missed it if I didn't have these new… ears atop my head.
Making my way (downtown, walking fast. . .) Over to where the plea originated from, I felt a anger and disgust. Both of which were the strongest emotion I've felt so far.
The typical brute antagonizing the minority. Cardin held tightly to a rabbit faunus' ear. His lackeys joining his jeers and taunts.
Some people say, that the true mark of a hero is when they suddenly rush to save another without any fear for themself. By their beliefs, I'm a hero.
Even with heightened reaction time, I still was at a loss as to suddenly finding myself standing defiantly between the predator and his prey. I wasn't the only one that was shocked at my sudden appearance. It was enough for him to let go of the girl's delicate ear. Which is all I needed. Casually grabbing the faunus's hand, I led her away from the recovering CRDL (I think that's their name) team.
After having lost the oppressors to the wall of people, I slipped my hand from hers and melted into the sea of individuals with their trays of food and friends.
"What was that all about?" Yang scooted over, allowing me to sit.
"Honestly, I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Weiss crossed her arms and looked skeptically at me.
"I just, suddenly felt that I should pay attention to that area. I did. Noticed something weird. Investigated. Became a hero. It was strange. I was like, in autopilot. My second semblance, my new ears. It all just seemed to flow. It's like, a second nature."
"Your second nature is to go and help people?" Blake looked up.
"I… sure?"
"Well, that's pretty cool. That's why you became a huntress after all." Yang patted me roughly on the back.
"It is pretty cool."
"Ruby… what do you do when you don't sleep?" just out of the blue, Blake put down her book and faced me.
"Do you want the good truth or the whole truth?" I didn't have time to think my words through and they came out an unfiltered mess. As evident by the concern that painted it's Pale Blue - Worry or Concern across her face.
"The whole truth." I could hear her gulp from my position atop my bed.
"Sometimes I lay awake listening to the deafening silence of my own self-loathing…" She opened her mouth, but I continued. If Weiss and Yang were not paying attention before, they certainly were now. I didn't need this new semblance to feel, see the apprehension around the room. "Mostly, I think of how lucky I am to have such an awesome team. Nearly always, I think of ways to do better, but. I always, always think of you guys."
It was like a summer sunset now. The room glowed of joyous yellow, blushing pink, and mixes of both in between.
Now I know why the phrase, "Green with Envy." Is a thing. I had been given a lunch. It was someone trying to perform an act of kindness, but… I can't eat it… It's not that I don't like seafood. I just literally can't eat it. Across the table, a green color radiated. Now, I wish I could just give it to her, but then I wouldn't be honoring the random girl's good heart.
"Blake." It took her a moment to come out of her reverie.
"Sor-"
"Close your eyes and say 'ahh'."
She blinked her eyes several times as though she were processing what I had just said. Jade - mix of envy and conflict. She wants the tantalizing fish before me, but her proud personality and self-reliance is stopping her. There was another color. It was very pale and slightly pink in hue. It was very faded, like a feeling that was there, but not given much attention. A subconscious and more primal feeling. A default reaction, a natural occurrence. And she wasn't aware of it.
A silent sigh of resignation over took my friend. "A… ahh." The background color quickly grew in intensity. No longer was it dull and nearly indistinguishable in color, no. Now it was glowing with full intensity and a blaring blush to accentuate the faint one on the cat faunus before me.
Gently offering the piece to her, lips closed around the utensil and I gingerly slid it out, taking care to not scrape it against her teeth, but leave the treat trapped behind.
It was these tender, intimate, and well-set situations in which I could feel in the depths of my cold body, the missing feeling of joy. I could almost feel myself instinctively smile from the spark of life within my soul. I cherish these feelings. These moments. So… I will gladly feed my teammate. For my own sake. Is that so wrong?
At least… I don't think so. And the gentle vibrating sound coming from across the table, Blake doesn't seem to think so either.
I guess I got what I wanted on a way; I'm an unstoppable force for good, able to sense distress and react without thinking. Something like a comic book superhero I guess. However, the universe has to have balance, and my counter would be that… I don't feel much. Physically, I feel nothing. Mentally, I rarely feel anything more than a glimmer. I don't feel much satisfaction from being a hero, is what I'm trying to say. Despite that, I would still say I enjoy playing the part. Those fleeting moments of pride and joy I feel whenever I see the gratitude on their faces and in their voices. Still, I wish it was more… intense.
I think my greatest source of happiness would be from my team. I've known Yang all my life, and in the relatively short time I've known Weiss and Blake, I've grown to love them too. This team, it's like another family to me. I want to protect them and help them grow and I'm sure they want the same for me… despite current circumstances.
"Hey, Rube, whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" Yang- Questioning, A purplish hue- spoke up from the other side of the table.
"How much I love you guys." almost immediately that flushed pink mixed with the sunny yellow from around the library table. The three sources being my three teammates. I've grown to like this sunset-esque combination. Blushing from a compliment or something similar is a nice and positive feeling, and joy is… joyful? So together it's two positives and they make for quite the scene. It's almost like watching a sunset and only a sunset.
"D-dolt, both of you, shut up and finish your work. I'm not going to wait for you two babbling boobs to finish." I didn't need to see the pink aura around her to know she was blushing, but I did need my… enhanced? Eyes to catch the ghost of a smile on her delicate lips. Weiss was also happy.
Across from me, a cocktail of pink, yellow, and a green almost like envy, glowed from Blake. There wasn't much of the… jealousy? … no, it's more of a possessive or personal kinda color…
My faunus traits allow for better sensitivity which allows me to react more appropriately to situations and utilize my enhanced reaction time and limitless aura. My eyes… my voice… I don't know how they play into this "hero" ordeal. Acting without thinking in order to alleviate the suffering of others as quickly as possible and as dutifully as I can… by the public's standards, I'm just short of being the perfect hero. I'm missing a catchphrase and… and… well I don't know. Perhaps a heart? Since I don't feel anything. I guess I look and sound like a demon, and am emotional as one too in order to counteract all the heroic attributes. I imagine of I weren't so feeling-deaf, I would be disappointed. I have all the skills I dreamt of to be the perfect huntress and help others, but I can't relish the joy or accept any "Thank you's."
"Hey, Blake?" Yang's partner turned to face me, setting her book on her abdomen. A smile growing across her features.
"Yes?" Anticipation/Excitement - a yellow-orange. Joy - a sunny hue…. Nervous? - a pale dark purple.
"What do you think of me?" The warm colors faded quickly. Replacing them were the bleak colors of apprehension, fear, anxiety. A pink ray, painfully out of place amongst the dreary back drop.
"You're a great leader even though you're so young. You're very talented and have great potential as a huntre-" It was a rehearsed response.
"No, no… I mean not as your leader or as a huntress or anything like that… I mean uh… like as… as a friend? I don't know, I'm not very good with words." I shrug to affirm my words.
Vanishing in an instant, the shroud of gloom was drowned in a spring sunset. Pinks, yellows, sky blues and oranges. "I… you're a very unique and wonderful huntress. Inspirational and… cute." She cleared her throat. "I like you a lot. Love even. You accepted me instantly even though I hid my true self from you all and you… I imagine you love me- er- us so much that you would willingly lay down your life for us." Her hands rubbed at her eyes and she paused to take a deep breath through her nose. "W-why?" again, she cleared her throat.
Why did I ask? Sheepishly, I rubbed the back of my hood-covered head, "I guess I just wanted to know if I'm doing an alright job?" I wasn't sure, my reply was weak and sounded like I was questioning myself.
"You're doing more tha-" Blake was cut off by Yang.
"No. Way! Blake you're totally-" A blushing pink quickly flooded the room, only a teasing dollop of yellow rivaled it.
Blake kicked a book from the dangerous bunk bed set across from mine and Weiss's. The sudden displacement caused an abrupt change in the balance and jostled Yang from her perch. Whatever she was going to say was replaced with. "Oof... " She picked herself up. "Alright alright. I'm sorry." My sister hugged her partner and whispered something in her ear. I could pick up only a few words. Soon. Dense. Careful.