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Yang dropped the cup.
She stumbled backwards, trying to get her breathing back under control, to keep the thoughts of him out of her mind The drying towel fell from her hand, hitting the floor. A small, comforting hand was placed on her shoulder, and she slowed down her breathing. Yang looked down at Neopolitan, holding up the glass cup with a raised eyebrow.
The mute girl had made multiple visits to Yang since the Fall. She'd been crying the first time, holding up Roman's cane. Neo had professed--as much as she could, in any case--that she was done with Roman, prepared to live with Yang and put her life of crime behind her. But she'd clearly still cared about the man that raised her--or so Yang guessed.
Yang took the cup out of her hands with a nod of thanks. She'd finished drying it, so she stuffed it into the proper cabinet. She picked up her towel, and moved to keep drying before Neo clapped a hand around her wrist. Yang looked at her, blinking. "What?"
Neo stared at her. And not her normal stare, but a soul-searching one as she met Yang's eyes.
"Neo, you're creeping me out," Yang said, giving her girlfriend a flat look. When Neo didn't move, she tugged her wrist out of the smaller girl's grasp and continued drying. After a minute, she turned and looked over at Neo. Neo was still staring at her.
"Neo, I've got work to do," Yang said. "Can you just...let me be for now?"
Neo disappeared. Probably, she'd been gone for a minute. What she was doing now was beyond Yang.
And beyond her caring.
Yang finished the last few dishes, leaving them out to air-dry. She moved into the living room, fumbling with the remote to turn on the proper channel.
Damn, this is so hard to do with my left hand. Being right handed, then losing your right hand, had to be the most annoying thing that could happen.
Something cool and metal touched her shoulder. She shuddered, then turned and looked back at Neo. Neo was holding up the prosthetic hand Tai had gotten Yang. Her multicolored eyes flickered from the prosthetic to Yang's eyes.
Yang raised an eyebrow, then ignored Neo, turning back to a television program that she cared about even less. She gritted her teeth as Neo poked her with the mechanical hand. Neo moved to Yang's other side, waving her hand in front of Yang's face. No, waving the prosthetic hand. Yang grabbed it, then yanked it out of Neo's hands and hurled it across the house. It slammed into a wall, bounced off, and hit the ground. Yang stood up and glared down at Neo.
"What the hell are you doing?" Yang shouted.
Neo had backed off a step. "I don't want to try that thing on," Yang snapped, trying to control her temper. "I don't want to do anything right now. Just let me be." She turned around...then felt a tugging on her scalp. She immediately spun around. Neo pointedly held up a single strand of blonde, yellow hair.
"You didn't," Yang said, flabbergasted. Neo waved the strand of hair at her, then grinned devilishly.
Yang's eyes flared red. "Go. Away."
Neo shook her head, then poked Yang with the umbrella. Hard.
"Stop it."
Neo smiled at her, batting her eyelashes and resting the umbrella upon her shoulders. What she meant by that was very clear, even without words.
Make me.
Yang threw a punch, shattering the copy of Neo. As expected, Neo lunged from the nearby shadows, spinning into a helicopter kick. Yang caught her leg and swung the surprised Neo around. Neo landed on her hands and bounced onto her feet. Yang lunged forward, slinging her fist towards Neo. Neo blocked with the umbrella, so Yang threw a kick at the smaller girl.
Neo used the prosthetic arm to block. She held it in her hand, like a second umbrella, then flipped into the air and kicking Yang in the face. Yang stumbled back, raising her hand to block a swing from the umbrella. Neo propelled herself over Yang, kicking her in the back. Yang stumbled, swinging a roundhouse punch at Neo. Neo ducked beneath it, then slugged Yang in the stomach with the prosthetic. As Yang doubled over, Neo hit her in the face with the umbrella. Yang retreated, blocking Neo's long-range umbrella jabs with her hand. She was used to fighting with both hands. In addition, she hadn't fought anyone in quite some time. There was really no way she could take on Neo right now...
Suddenly, she got it. She lunged out, grabbing the umbrella. Neo stopped, surprised, but looked to Yang expectantly.
"I get it," Yang said. "You don't want to see me giving up." She released the umbrella, stumbling across the room to her chair. "You want me to do something. But what? What can I do? Roman's dead. White Fang are outside of my radius. So what?"
Neo dropped the prosthetic in Yang's hand, then used her Semblance to turn into Cinder.
Yang stared for a minute, then sighed. "Stop her. You realize how hard that'll be? I don't know anything about her--" She abruptly stopped. "But you do."
Neo nodded, turning back to herself.
"Okay." Yang lifted the prosthetic. "Okay then."
I can do that.