192

"I still… don't think… you deserve… to be Raven's daughter…" Vernal hissed, panting as she kneeled on the ground and holding her aching ribs as she tried and failed to catch her breath. Around her, the wreckage of several long fights stood, burn marks and craters littering the ground as she glared at her opponent.

Yang, meanwhile, just took a few deep breaths as she wound down from her agitated state and rolled her shoulders whilst popping open Ember Celica's gauntlets with a smooth, mechanical motion that ejected all of the spent shells. Around her legs, the greaves did much the same thing, ejecting spent casings of Dust that had been used to intensify her kicks.

Out of the last several rounds of their poorly thought out fight, Vernal had yet to land more than a few hits on Yang, the blonde's Aura still fully in the green while Vernal's was only a few points away from being shattered entirely.

"I don't want to be Raven's daughter. The fact that she thinks she can come back after nineteen fucking years of abandonment to try and parent me again when I'm already a goddamn adult is absolute bullshit, and the fact that you think I'm trying to steal your shitty mom from you is even more bullshit! I mean, come on what did you think would happen here? I'm already strong enough and skilled enough to almost beat Professor G in a straight fight, all of your stupid clan got shredded to pieces in five fucking minutes! You got folded so hard that Professor G didn't even remember your face because she was too busy dragging Raven back to Haven that one time!" Yang sighed, shaking her head as she ran her hand through her hair and strode closer to Vernal, kneeling down and looking the other girl in the eye. "You can keep her. If she wants to be a part of my life too, that's not stealing your stupid mom. I don't care, okay? Do I think having more sisters is neat? Sure. But if you don't want anything to do with me, that's fine by me."

"... You're a prissy bitch…" Vernal shot back weakly, grumbling as she slowly recovered her Aura and started to recover from the pain and stood up to go retrieve her weapons from where they'd fallen to the side- cracked and damaged and completely unable to stand up to the rigors of fighting someone whose weapons had been enhanced and upgraded by Ruby's not-really patented but entirely unable to be replicated grimm infusion process. Yang almost felt bad for Vernal…'s weapons…. Because, wow, bandit weapons that weren't Raven's Omen kinda fucking sucked. 

Even being Raven's adopted daughter didn't entitle Vernal to good weapons, apparently, just basic Huntsman spec weapons. 

"And you're an unpleasant piece of shit that acts superior to everyone with your 'rule by strength' thing that's just an excuse to be nasty and a cunt to everyone around you without ever once being vulnerable or letting yourself feel a positive emotion other than enjoying people's misery," Yang rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, watching Vernal stumble around from the strain and bruises she'd picked up along the way. "You're not even strong enough to dominate anyone in the house except Oscar right now, and if Oscar decides to give Ozpin his head for five minutes you couldn't handle him either."

"... Fuck you. Stop acting like you're the one who's superior when you're a prissy city bitch…" Vernal hissed out, grumbling under her breath and letting her emotions cloud over as she attached her weapons to her arms again and folded them away into their inactive state. "Stupid blondie…"

"You do realize you live in my house right? We live six miles from the nearest small settlement on this island, and another twenty from Vale," Yang deadpanned, motioning at the woods around them and scoffing at Vernal's idiotic bullshit. "Look around Vernal. We're in the fucking woods right now. Most of my childhood was spent splitting logs and beating Beowolves to death. What were you doing, shaking down people in gas stations?"

"... Shut up."

"Nah. Look, this is a conversation you need to have, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who can give it to you because, like it or not, I'm basically your sister now too," Yang shrugged, crossing her arms and continuing to follow Vernal around the clearing, cloak fluttering in the heat put off by her Aura even in a resting state. "Professor Goodwitch doesn't know or care about you enough to say this, Raven wouldn't give you this talk because she's a bitch, Ruby only told you to be polite while you're in company or else, and, really, no one else actually likes you or cares about you enough to tell you that your worldview is garbage. Except Ilia, I guess."

"... She's soft too," Vernal spat, shaking her head but looking away as her shoulder sagged and she tried really hard to not let her emotions flood her Aura. She seemed… almost embarrassed about having hooked up with Ilia, but in a way that took the fire and wind out of her sails. "Soft but…"

"Yeah, we get it, you get topped by a girl who's the definition of a bottom," Yang snorted dryly. "Regardless- Vernal… Your worldview sucks, people are literally stronger when they help each other, and emotional vulnerability and kindness is better for long term survival than being an unpleasant piece of shit that tries to make some kind of stupid violence based pecking order like a feral chimpanzee. Literally. The fact that the Branwen Clan survived that long without getting shredded by grimm is actually a miracle."

"It's because the Branwen Clan was the strongest bandit clan in Mistral!"

"I'm pretty sure it's because you were all pathetic and even the grimm knew it."

"... Fuck you. I don't have to listen to you." Vernal grumbled irritably, crossing her arms and kicking her feet in the dirt and glaring at Yang with about as much petulance and hatred as a particularly angry child. Honestly, when it came to actually living in society and/or being around normal people, she had about as much experience as a child. A young adult with the emotional maturity of an angry, shitty child because she grew up in a place where punching down was the only socially acceptable method of gaining status and prestige. 

Yang kinda felt bad for her. Kinda. Not that much though.

"Well, considering that your boss and mom is my shitty deadbeat bio mom and I'm stronger than you, then by Branwen Clan rules that means I'm above you and that means you have to listen to me," Yang shrugged casually as she walked over and clapped Vernal on the shoulder- throwing her arm around the shorter, slimmer girl and holding her close with a tight embrace that was less warm and comforting and more like a prison alight with sunbaked heat that skittered along Vernal's Aura in a series of sparks and ripples of flame as Yang's hair lit up. "So. Shut up. Stop being a bitch. Let people in and accept that not every conversation is some kind of power play. You already have a head start with Ilia. You might be able to convince Ruby to help you with that if you can drag her out of Penny's lap for longer than ten minutes."

Yang paused, almost snickering to herself at the idea of separating the two lovebirds in any capacity before remembering this was supposed to be a serious conversation with her shitty sorta sister that she really didn't have any intention of treating like a sister if she stayed a huge annoying bitch who probably killed innocent people for money and cargo not too long ago. "... And also stop trying to challenge me for the position of Raven's favorite kid. You're the one she actually stayed to raise, however shitty of a job she did with that."

"... Fine. Fuck you," Vernal finally grumbled after a long moment of silence, entirely unable to really say anything in response to Yang's words at the end there. "... I can't fight you anyway… weapons are about to break and I don't have anything to fix them with."

"Yeah that's a problem you take to Ruby. Ask nicely and she might actually give 'em an upgrade," Yang shrugged again all but dragging Vernal along back towards the house. "Anyway. If you're done blowing off steam and trying to hype yourself up like a bubble in a nail factory, let's just go back inside. It's lunchtime and I need to get there before Cinder eats the last of the leftover buffalo wings."

"... I wanted those wings…" Vernal protested, letting herself get dragged along because she really couldn't escape Yang's grip even if she wanted to. 

"Too bad. If you actually say please and thank you for once in your life, I might let you have some."

"... Please…?" Vernal asked, feeling more pathetic than she had in years as she continued dangling under Yang's arm kind of like a potato sack. "They're really good…"

".... Eh. Fine. As long as there's still wings left."

"... Thank you…"