Alabast and Ren are eventually released from the clutches of their torturers. Both men crawl to the side of the fountain and drag themselves over the ledge and flip to the ground.
The men land on their stomach's, water from their body and clothes pool beneath and around them.
Alabast's water drains from his uniform, his long hair, and his tail. His tail and hair felt like it weighed an extra 50 lbs because of the water and the fact he was spun around for a while.
Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora get out of the fountain and join the three other girls as they watch the two guys recover.
Alabast gets up and loosens his tie, school jacket, and shirt.
He then shakes his head and tail, which makes the water go flying all around him.
Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Pyrrha were watching him closely. They all had their scrolls out recording him.
It was like in the movies when a guy comes from the water and shakes his hair around in slow motion and then smiles at the camera. Except Alabast wasn't smiling.
Even so, for his girls it was like….. a bajillion times better because it was Alabast doing it.
——————
Nora looks to Ren and gets her scroll ready as she smiles widely and bounces in excitement.
Ren takes his hair tie out and loosens his uniforms tie and looks at Nora. "No" He flatly denies.
"Awwww" Nora still recorded what she could. It was rare for Ren to let his hair be free. It wasn't a lot, but still. She then wraps him in a big Ursa hug. "Boo!" She rocks side to side with him, ignoring the fact he is drenched.
Ren smiles a very small amount as he gets moved side to side by Nora.
——————
Ruby watches with wide eyes. "Are you guys recording too?"
"Yeah, slow motion" Weiss says.
When Alabast is finally done his hair is slightly bigger than usual and somewhat standing up. His bangs covering his entire face. His hair down his back is also more spread out than usual. And his tail looks over two times bigger.
Alabast pats his hair to look like normal but it still looks disheveled. He looks at his girlfriends.
Yang raises her hand and smiles mischievously. "Can I get my prize first?"
Alabast turns his head to the side. "Prize?"
He hears 9 camera clicks. He raises an eyebrow. And the girls look at Blake.
"What? I couldn't help it" Blake blushes.
The girls each took a photo, evident by their flashes all being on. But Blake took an extra few.
That still doesn't answer his question.
"Let's get going before we draw a crowd" Alabast says as he begins slowly walking back towards the dorms. Luckily they weren't far from the dorms and they could get decently dry by the time they get inside.
His girlfriends all watch each other's videos of him as they walk back, but he doesn't know that. He just knows of the photos and assumes they're comparing which ones they like most.
Nora holds and leans on Ren's arm as they walk back. Nora keeps talking with Ren as he adds bits of his opinion every now and then in the conversation. But it's mostly just Nora talking like usual.
——————
After getting all cleaned up they get into their pjs for the rest of the day. After their excitement, they decided to just relax for the rest of the day.
Nora and Ren decide to stay in team ANVL's dorm room while Alabast and Pyrrha go over to team RWBY's room.
Alabast has changed his pjs to shorts and a tshirt. His shorts were black. His shirt was a black compression tshirt that had his new emblem on it, specifically on his left pec.
The emblem was a wolfs head. The left half was white, and it's eye red. While the right side was black and had redlines make the outline of the wolfs head. There was no eye on the right side. It was made specifically for his black clothing choices in mind.
Pyrrha wore her orange pjs. The long sleeve shirt and pants. And that's it. She also had her hair down.
After getting ready, Alabast and Pyrrha went over to team RWBY's room and knocked.
Ruby was the one to open the door and Alabast saw her in her tank top and pj pants, along with her Beowolf sleep mask on her head. "Hey Bast, Pyrrha!"
"Hello Ruby" Pyrrha greets
Alabast turns Ruby around and then picks her up like she's a stuffed animal. "Hi Little Red"
"Why do you have to pick me up?" Ruby doesn't fight it, but she has to attempt to pretend to not like it so she complains.
"Because I still have food in my hair and tail. So I'm going to recruit my girlfriends to help get out what is left" Alabast says flatly as he walks in.
"We are not doing that anywhere but the bathroom" Weiss states. She doesn't want to deal with the food and hair problem where they sleep or near the furniture.
Alabast looks to Weiss who is wearing her usual light blue nightgown that barely went past half of her mid-thigh. And her hair wasn't in a ponytail either so it was a very rare sight. "Yes Princess" He mocks.
"I've got the brushes!" Yang jumps from the top bunk with brushes in hand. She's wearing her black short shorts and orange tank top.
She sticks the landing and walks up to Alabast but it's only to poke Ruby in the cheek with the handle of a brush.
"Hey…. Yang…. I'm the leader…." Ruby tries to complain.
Yang continues poking her. "Not right now Rubes. We're all just Alabast's girlfriends right now. So hah!"
"Blake, what are you reading?" Alabast asks. It was the same book from lunch.
Blake closes her book. "Notes" She swings her legs off her bed and plants them on the ground. "How bad is the situation?"
Alabast shrugs. "It's not bad, but it's not good either"
Ruby looks up at him with her big eyes as Yang continues to poke her cheek. "I'm sowwy"
Alabast looks down at her. "Not your fault. We all threw food"
Pyrrha pushes Alabast towards the bathroom. "We can apologize while we brush" She smiles and nods to Weiss, Yang, and Blake who return the nod in a sort of silent agreement.
Alabast doesn't resist and goes into the bathroom. It's nothing fancy but different from team ANVL's bathroom. Mainly because it's 4 girls in this room without any guys.
There is the shower with a bathtub beneath it. The toilet. A small closet with shelves for towels and miscellaneous items. And then the counter and sink. The counter is in a chaotic mess that Alabast was told, 'It's an organized mess' by the girls.
Alabast was about to sit down in the middle of the floor but he was stopped.
"Go sit next to the tub and face it" Yang points to the side of the room on the right.
Alabast doesn't ask. He just complies and sits down with Ruby in his lap.
Pyrrha had stopped pushing him after they got to the bathroom. She takes a brush from Yang and gets in position.
"Lean forward" Weiss says and lifts his hair over his head when he does so and let's it fall to the tub.
Ruby squirms and eventually gets to turn around and face Alabast in his lap. "Better" She sighs as she puts her arms around him.
With Alabast leaning forward she was about the same height while she sat on his lap. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, which made Alabast think of a koala.
The girls could see Ruby's smug smile.
"And you said you weren't a crook". Weiss huffs.
Ruby gives peace signs with both hands and giggles.
"Let's start" Yang sits on the ground and gets to work on his tail. It kept moving a bit even as Alabast tried to keep it still. It has a mind of its own.
Blake sat on the opposite side of the tail than Yang and helped her out.
Weiss and Pyrrha got to work on his hair. This is one of the few rare times they got to see the back his neck.
Weiss got curious so she traced her finger down the back and side of his neck which sent shivers down Alabast's back. "Is somebody sensitive on their neck?" Weiss mocks.
Alabast slightly turns his head to look at her. "Thats rich coming from you"
"Hey!" Weiss wants to defend herself but can't. So she gets back to brushing with a blush on her face.
"Hehe. Weiss is sensitive" Ruby giggles to herself.
"Do you even know what that means?" Alabast asks.
"Of course I do!" Ruby confirms. "It means she is ticklish~"
"Well, that isn't wrong…." Alabast drifts off. Then he feels another finger along his neck.
He knows the culprit is Ruby because he feels her moving her arm and the others are brushing him. "Two can play that game"
Before Ruby can register his words she feels him blow gently into her ear. "Eeep!" She squeaks.
But, Alabast doesn't stop there. He moves his mouth to the side of her neck near her shoulder and kisses it.
Ruby's face turns red and she puts her face on Alabast's shoulder instead of looking over it. She also tightly hugs Alabast with her arms around his back.
Alabast leaves a a trail of kisses along her neck. He has his arms wrapped around Ruby's small frame and holds her tightly. His lips kiss her smooth skin as she squirms and shivers due to the sensation.
He takes notice of her black hair and the red tips. He hadn't really paid much attention to it, but she's the only one with short hair out of his girls.
Alabast stops messing with her and brings his right hand to the back of her head and runs his fingers through her short and soft hair.
Ruby doesn't move and chooses to recover first. She tightly holds onto Alabast. She also approves of his compression shirt as she can feel his muscles much easier like this. Especially his abs.
Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Pyrrha comb thoroughly through his hair and take out the food they can. And even after they get all the food out they continue to brush him.
After 25 minutes they are done and Alabast is freed.
"Alrighty!" Yang says as she stands up. "Now what?" The blond asks as she stretches her back and legs.
Alabast puts his hands on the side of the tub and pushes himself up. Ruby hangs on with only her arms and legs as she doesn't want to fall.
Ruby moves around to Alabast's back like a monkey and puts her head on his shoulder. A big smile on her face with her Grimm sleeping mask over her eyes. "Why don't we play Grimm Defenders?!"
"What's that?" Alabast asks.
Yang steps forward and speaks into the brush in her hands like it's a mic. "It is a game like no other!"
Weiss facepalms. "Here we go again…"
Blake just folds her arms and watches from the back.
"It is a game where you control a Huntsman or unique humanoid Grimm and you fight to the death! It is a best two-out-of-three round game. You use the controller to control your character and button-mash to victory! Or you can actually bother to learn the various combos specific to certain characters. But each character is special and unique! There are no characters that are based on actual people, but there are references!" Yang excitedly explains.
"So basically just a fighter game" Alabast says.
Yang grabs his arms and shakes him. "Not just any fighter game!"
Ruby also starts shaking Alabast but she still hangs on somehow. "It's THE best fighter game!"
Weiss looks at the sisters. "And you two have somehow yet to play while we have been here for months"
Ruby looks at the heiress. "That is because we have been training and suffering through school work. And we have this" Ruby puts her chin atop Alabast's head and puts her arms around him.
Everyone looks up at Ruby who is now technically taller than Alabast.
Weiss shakes her head.
Yang looks up at Ruby. "My little sister…" *sniffle* she wipes a fake tear away from her eye. "…all grown up to be so tall yet so small"
"Yang. It's big and tall. Not tall and small" Ruby points at Yang.
"Correct my sister. However" Yang points at Alabast. "He is big" She says suggestively and then points at Ruby. "You are small" She then waves her finger between the two. "Therefore you are currently tall while still being small"
Pyrrha steps behind Yang. "And with that being said I think it's best for us to go to the other room" She pushes Yang out of the bathroom. "And change the subject"
Everyone goes to the living room.
Alabast sits on the couch. Ruby sits on the back of the couch so Alabast rests his head back on her lap. Pyrrha sits to his left, Blake sits to his right. Yang lays across their laps and Weiss sits next to Pyrrha.
Weiss doesn't like how they are arranged, but decides that she will claim Alabast for the next day off to make up for it.
Yang has her head on Blake's lap, her torso on Alabast's, and her legs on Pyrrha's.
"Are you comfy" Blake says unamused and clearly not asking.
Yang looks up at the black haired girl with a ribbon on her head. "Yes I am. Did Alabast get to use your thighs as a pillow before me?" She asks as she rubs her cheeks on the Faunus girl's thighs.
Blake takes out a newspaper and smacks Yang on the face with it. "Bad Yang"
"Owwie~" Yang rubs her face with her hands. "So mean~"
Ruby has a controller in her hands. Her chin rests on Alabast's head, between his Faunus ears. And her arms are down around his neck.
Alabast has the other controller as Ruby sets up the game settings.
Pyrrha teaches him how the controller works. But he finds it hard to focus with Yang and Blake messing around next to him. In the end he knows what buttons are what.
"Do you know this game?" Alabast asks Weiss.
She looks at the screen which moves to a character select screen. "I know it. But I've been to busy to play it. I spent my time training or doing anything else more useful than playing a game"
Ruby leans over and pats Weiss. "It's ok Weiss. Not everyone had friends to play with"
"Wh- Excuse you, cabbage patch kid. This game could be played single-player or multiplayer" Weiss states and brushes Ruby's hand off her head.
"I know. But the single player gets bo-ring~" Ruby takes her hand back.
Pyrrha leans on Alabast's arm and rests her head on him. "Which one are you going to pick?" She asks Alabast.
Ruby had already picked her character and Alabast was looking through them. There were Humans, Faunus, and Grimm that look like people but clearly have genders. Like the male Beowolf character that fights with his claws. And there was a female Nevermore that uses more ranged based attacks like throwing her feathers.
Alabast looks through them and thinks. "I have no idea"
Yang looks at the screen. "You can choose random! It'll select your character for you…. at random" She explains enthusiastically until she tries to explain that random means random and she kinda loses her energy.
Blake pokes Yangs forehead. "Thanks for that amazing explanation"
Yang pokes Blake's cheek. "You're quite welcome!" She says as they both poke each other harder.
Alabast selects random and the game loads.
The screen flashes and then a lightning bolt goes across the screen from the top right to the bottom left.
On the right side a Huntress appears with a cape and a machine-gun/scythe. Her face is hidden and she twirls the scythe around poses. This was Ruby's choice character whenever she plays, which isn't often.
On the left side of the screen appears a man who's hair is like that of a lions mane who holds a shield and sword. He roars and then poses.
"Ooooh! He's pretty fun! The sword can turn into a rifle. And when the shield attaches to the rifle it turns into a railgun esc rifle. He's more for heavy attacks rather than agility" Ruby informs Alabast.
"And I assume your character is based on agility?" Alabast asks.
The characters stare at eachother before running towards eachother as the screen goes black a second time.
"Well, mines a best of both worlds when it comes to speed and strength. She can do both but not as well as a specialized character" Ruby says as she blows into Alabast's ear.
"Hey! We haven't even started the match and you're already cheating" Alabast reaches up and rubs his twitching ear.
"Hehehe" Ruby giggles innocently.
The screen then flashes to life and the character run onto a grassy field as the left and right screen mend together the closer they get.
Then a timer appears along with the health and aura bars of the characters. Then a giant 3 appears in between the characters as a voice shouts quietly from the tv.
"3, 2, 1, Begin!" The deep masculine voice declares the match.
Ruby doesn't just rush into the fight. "Why don't we practice our combos before? There isn't a time limit"
"Sure" Alabast was fully prepared to do Yangs strategy of button-mashing and learning as he goes, but he won't turn this offer down.
Ruby pauses the match and the characters come up on their respective sides.
Alabast looks at the list with dozens or maybe even hundreds of combos. "How the hell am I supposed to remember any of this?"
"Well, you just end up finding the ones you like and end up only using a handful of them anyways. This game is mostly for citizens who have much more time to memorize move sets. I heard there was a person who mastered all the characters for the game" Ruby states as she remembers something she was told a long time ago, which was only a year or two ago when she was back at Signal Academy.
"Ugh, let's just get to the fighting part. Seeing all these different combinations Xs and Ys are going to give me a headache" Alabast says as he picks some combos to try. He basically only learned how to change stances and transform his weapons.
"Okie dokie! I'll let you have the first attack" Ruby says as she gets ready.
"Good luck Alabast" Pyrrha says as she looks at the screen and has her head resting on his shoulder.
Alabast doesn't say anything as he makes his character run forward.
Flashes from the screen light up the room since they had closed the curtains in the room. And sounds of battle sound out from the tv.
"Winner!" The announcer's voice declares.
The woman with the cape and machine-gun/scythe stands facing away from the camera with her scythe on her shoulders and her cape blowing in the wind.
"Geez, and I took it easy on that one" Ruby says feeling kinda bad for sweeping the floor with Alabast.
"Again" Alabast says as he glares at the tv.
Yang pokes Alabast's forearm. "Isn't somebody being competitive? Or is it just being a sore loser since we found something you aren't very good at?"
Alabast looks down at Yang and pinches her side.
"Ahhh! I'm sorry!" Yang yelps and wriggles around to get free of Alabast's pinch that tickles more than hurts.
"I'm just wanting to have another match" Alabast states as the match starts again.
"Focus on your opponent as well, not just your own attacks" Weiss advises.
"You can have the next go Princess, I've just gotta not die without hitting Ruby once" Alabast focuses.
"But I don't especially want to play" Weiss says under her breath.
Yang lays facedown on Blake's thighs as she recovers from Alabast's brief but effective attack.
Blake looks down at her teammate and hesitates before putting her hand on the back of Yang's head. She doesn't say anything, but she runs her hand over Yang's soft golden locks.
"Winner"
"At least I was able to hit you that time" Alabast says to Ruby who giggles. He hands the controller over to wise. "Good luck Weiss"
She takes the controller and looks at Ruby who gives her a thumbs up.
Weiss huffs before she leans farther back into the cushions and looks at the different characters.
Weiss selects a woman who has short pink hair and wears a pink combat dress. Her weapon is like Weiss's. It's a rapier revolver that utilizes different dust cartridges.
Ruby looks at Weiss. "Going for the technique based character, I see you Weiss. Are you sure you haven't played before?"
"I'm sure" Weiss says. "My father wouldn't allow me to play. I had to study and train to be the perfect heiress"
This causes some tension in the room.
Ruby frowns and tries to apologize. "W-Weiss, I didn't mean it like t-"
"I know you didn't, I'm just letting you know…" Weiss slumps even lower against the couch cushions.
Alabast moves his tail behind Pyrrha and over Weiss's lap. He then placed his hands on Yangs back as she hasn't really moved. He looks over and sees Blake and Yang getting along. This is also the calmest he has seen Blake in a while. He knows the Faunus girl has been going stir-crazy from doing nothing since the docks.
He grabs Blake's left hand that isn't on Yang's head which causes Blake to jump slightly. She looks at Alabast who looks at her with his neutral face.
She relaxes, even more so than she thought. Apparently she was tense and stressing about the fact they don't know what is going on around Vale and what's happening with the White Fang. But holding Alabast's hand somehow makes her think that everything will be okay, just like how her books described between the main characters. And she hadn't felt like this with Adam.
Alabast feels Ruby move around as the fight begins, her controller is basically right above his chest as she presses the buttons. He looks at the screen and sees Weiss learning the controls slowly but surely. The heiress seems to be a fast learner. Ruby seems to be having fun just casually playing with her usually ice cold teammate.
Everyone just enjoys the calm atmosphere. Weiss had tried to pass the controller off to somebody else but they denied. Pyrrha was enjoying her Alabast time like usual. Blake was like Alabast in that she didn't know how to play, and she was busy messing around with Yang. Yang was busy messing with Blake and Alabast. Alabast just found watching much more fun than actually playing, and he preferred watching his girlfriends play or do their own things.
Once Weiss got into it, Ruby and her got into some heated battles. They didn't get angry at eachother and just had fun trying to beat the other. Ruby would mess with Alabast's ears and hair between matches, Weiss would pet or mess around with his tail.
Alabast enjoyed this last day of break since they would be starting school back up again the next day. And he would be continuing to train his semblances and fighting style. The game actually ended up giving him a few ideas since the characters were based on real Huntsman and Huntresses but weren't technically them for various legal reasons that Alabast was surprised to hear about.