As Alabast is walking around Vale he notices a particular shop and decides to stop in.
*Ding~*
A bell chimes as he opens the door and enters the bookshop. He can hear some shuffling from the back room behind the counter.
"Be right there!" A voice calls out from the back room.
Alabast doesn't respond as he looks around Tukson's Book Trade. He notices some books that catch his eye, specifically Ninjas of Love. It was a book he had seen Blake carrying once rather recently. He wonders if she has been able to read it with how busy she must have been lately.
Among the books Alabast also picks out Howling at the Moon for various reasons. The title did hook him, but reading the back he became a tad bit interested. It's about a wolf Faunus guy that can never reach the object of his affections. Does it strike a little close to home? All good books do that a tad bit.
"Welcome to 'Tukson's Book Trade', home to every book under the sun! What can I help you wi-" A muscular man exits the back with a giant smile on his face but pauses when he sees Alabaster standing in his shop. His eyes widen when he remembers the child who used to read some of his books rather frequently over a decade ago. And one of the most fearsome White Fang members. "You…"
"When did you leave the White Fang?" Alabast asks without turning to look at the shop owner and previous White Fang member.
Tukson's face gets serious but he doesn't take any other action as he replies. "Maybe a year or two ago…"
Alabast furrows his brow and closes his eyes. That's longer than he expected this peaceful man to stay with the organization that turned rather violent 5 years ago. "What compelled you to leave so late? Why not leave with Ghira and the other few?"
Tukson frowns for a moment before going back to his neutral expression. There is a brief moment of silence before he answers. "I wished for peace and equality for all. I decided to stay in the White Fang through the violence to see if our struggles will bare fruit… and they did…. Just not the kind I had hoped for…"
There is something that tells Alabast Tukson is hiding something else. But the answer was good enough for him.
Alabast tilts his head to look at Tukson. "I've also left the White Fang, I'm not here to drag you back or anything"
Tukson narrows his eyes. "You weren't the type to do fetch very well…"
Hearing Tukson say this tips Alabast off to why Tukson may have left and stayed for so long. He knows that Tukson shouldn't know this detail. It might just be an insult, but Alabast knows Tukson just let something slip. The guy must know things he really shouldn't and might have left before being caught. Either way, it's of no concern to him now.
"Just here for books" Alabast walks over to the counter with the two books in his hand.
Tukson raises his brow upon seeing the books. His expression softening either out of confusion or relaxation. Possibly because he realized that Alabast truly left the White Fang or because of the books themselves.
Seeing that Tukson is still hesitant Alabast takes out more than enough Lien to cover the two books. "The Albain brothers were behind many evil plots. Their goals justified any means in their eyes, but now they have been brought to light and taken care of. Enjoy a good life Tukson"
With his brief words given Alabast exits the bookshop and continues his walk after putting the books inside his bag. The town has an early morning and only gets rowdier as the No morning people wake up.
Along the way he looked into some new songs. One of them being 'Red Like Roses' and he's reminded of the previous night. The Little Red should be fine, right? As far as he remembers from the show she should be fine and attending Beacon. But the details of that have been buried beneath the sand of time.
Without realizing it Alabast had made his way to the Bullheads going to and from Beacon. He wonders when Blake will arrive but figured she is likely already there, she always had a thing about punctuality.
Getting on the Bullhead that will leave soon he goes to the back and leans against the wall. It's relatively empty and he doesn't want to draw much attention, although his appearance does the complete opposite. He considers reading, but decides against it at the current moment. If he's going to read he would much rather do it somewhere more private and quiet. As more people enter the Bullhead he gets put more and more on guard due to his years in this world. Even when he enters towns he avoids large crowds, so having a Bullhead full of teenagers crowding around one another isn't exactly calming to him.
The Bullhead lifts up into the air and begins its flight towards Beacon as Alabast opens his eyes and looks around. Having his eyes closed helped him relax a small amount along with the music playing in his ears.
"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"
This loud voice draws Alabast's attention. He sees the Little Red from the previous night along with a Not So Small Yellow.
Little Red frowns groans out under her sisters crushing hug. "Please stop…"
As the two siblings continue talking about how Little Red skipped two grade and about bees knees or whatever, Alabast loses interest. He looks around the Bullhead and only notices a blond guy trying to keep his lunch down, so no Blake.
Not long and a holographic screen begins playing some news, but it's about the White Fang so Alabast tunes it out. And after it switches to Glynda Goodwitch he continues to ignore it.
Once Glynda disappears and the holographic screen goes along with her Alabast watches as eaveryone besides himself move over towards the windows.
Moments later the blond guy uneasily stumbles across the Bullhead and spills his guts a little bit next to Yellow and Red. And he does find it amusing when the two girls freak out when they find puke on Yellow's shoe.
——————
Alabast waits until everyone else to exit the Bullhead first before he gets off himself.
Once he exits the Bullhead he can see Beacon Academy for the first time and he's gotta say that the next 4 years might not be that bad. The place is beautiful and he wonders if he will even be able to explore the entire campus in only 4 years.
Coming back to the events unfolding in front of him he watches Little Red and Yellow talking before Yellow gets taken away by some of her friends, leaving Red alone and dizzy.
As Little Red tries to stay standing Alabast gets ready to move on when he spots something he'd really rather not see right now. It was a bloody Schnee. And the brat of the bunch as well. The Princess herself, Weiss Schnee.
Red falls backwards due to her dizziness and she collides with a cart carrying a bunch of cases for the Schnee brat. The cases get sent up into the air and fall after the collision. The brat decides to start yelling at Little Red, who tries to apologize. Weiss continues to reprimand Little Red even though she is also in the wrong. And when she opens a case and begins flaunting a vial of dust around recklessly Alabast can't help himself from going over to the two.
Alabast nearly gets caught in the explosion of the dust after Little Red sneezes due to the amount of dust in the air. The blast nocks the vial of dust out of the brat's hand and goes flying in the air. Alabast then steps in when the Schnee calls Little Red a dolt and goes off on her yet again.
"No, you listen here you brat! Its not her fault you were carrying around dust in vials on unmarked containers and didn't take the proper precautions on securing it! And she wasn't the one to open a vial and start waving it around! The blame may partially lay with her but you aren't getting away scot free either. And she already said sorry, Princess" Alabast finishes reprimanding the Schnee while holding back a few extra choice words.
The brat looks at him, specifically his ears and tail, and looks even more pissed off.
Alabast had his arms crossed as he looked down at the Schnee. He was absolutely fuming and has to grab his biceps. That's when he hears a voice that he hasn't heard for enough of.
"It's heiress, actually. Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world"
Alabast can hear the voice get closer and then move to his right as the person stands next to him. He doesn't dare look as he continues to glare at Weiss.
Then the brat has the audacity to speak: "Thank you! Finally some recognition!"
The voice beside Alabast continues, clearly also not pleased with the Schnee's current actions. "The same Schnee Dust Company famous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners"
Alabast can't remember the last time he smiled even when talking to Blake. But when he looked at who the voice belongs to saw it really was Blake he couldn't help but smirk. He quickly made it disappear though and looked back to the Schnee who tries to rebuttal. "What?! How dare… th..the nerve of….. uhhh"
The Schnee was infuriated and took the vial from Blake was holding and stormed off while her men moved the cases behind her. But then the worst thing happened, Blake saw Alabast. She muttered "Black Wolf" and was about to run when he put a hand on her shoulder and almost had it cut when Blake drew her weapon and turned around ready to fight.
Little Red, actually named Ruby Rose, just looks at the scene unfolding in front of her. It's just like a movie she used to watch with her dad and sister.
Alabast simply held his hands up, palms facing Blake, showing he doesn't want a fight. But Blake doesn't lower her weapon which is a black short sword with a black ribbon tied to the end, named Gambol Shroud.
"Blake, I ditched the White Fang as soon as I found out that they were attacking innocent people. I wanted to see if you were ok. I know they attacked you recently and I came as soon as I can. It must have been scary being a human surrounded by Faunus trying to hurt you, right?" Alabast noticed Blake was wearing a bow to hide her Faunus ears and guessed that she was trying to hide her Faunus trait.
He tried to wink but he remembered that his left eye is covered so it just looks like he is blinking. So he just sighs and hopes that Blake understands that he isn't going to blow her cover if she was trying to hide her ears. Blake makes him act and feel stupid when she is in front of him. It's like he can't think sometimes.
Blake finally lowers her weapon and puts it on her back but doesn't look at Alabast with kindness. She keeps her eyes on him and doesn't look pleased before eventually just turning and walking away.
Alabast reaches out but lowers his arm back to his side with a sight. He knew that Blake wouldn't be happy to see him, but he really hoped she wouldn't be this hostile. Their relationship was never bad before, it instead gradually improved as they got older. But perhaps that was just his view on things. Seeing her look at him like that… it hurt much more than any pain he had felt for a long time.
"Err….uhmm….. Thank you for standing up for me back there! You looked very cool…. I mean you are very cool! You're like SUPER tall, you have some cool battle scars, and your hair looks so fluffy I just wanna play with it! And you have this mysterious vibe going on that is also super cool! And your WEAPON!! What is it? It looks like-"
Alabast turns around to see Little Red behind him as she keeps talking seemingly to herself more than him. She just keeps going on and on, faster and faster. This wasn't exactly the response he was expecting, but he decides to befriend the girl if only for now. He doesn't plan on getting attached. "Aren't you scared of me?"
The girl looks up into his red eyes with her vibrant clear silver eyes. "Why would I be? You tried to defend me against the mean girl. I figured you couldn't be all that bad, and besides... I don't know anyone here yet, so… I figured that I could do worse than the big nice guy that tried to help. Like it could have been Vomit Boy, but I'm sure he is also nice"
Right as soon as she said Vomit Boy the guy appeared and was about to join the conversation but looked at Alabast and heard Vomit Boy and just slouched his shoulders and walked away. The two not even noticing the guy.
Alabast shrugs his shoulders "Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I'm nice. You don't know me"
Ruby then brightly smiles at Alabast. Normally it would tick him off if somebody smiled directly at him like this, but this time it doesn't. It almost seems nice. "My sister constantly tells me that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet… My name is Ruby Rose! You can call me Crater…. actually, just call me Ruby" Her smile falters when she is about to say Crater Face but quickly stops herself.
"Whatever, Little Red. The names Alabast Noir. Call me whatever, I won't care" Alabast tries to move past her awkwardness.
"I like Little Red I guess. And I'll call you... I know, I'll call you Ally!" She points up at him.
This causes Alabast to get a tick mark on the visible part of his forehead and lean closer to Ruby. "I changed my mind. I care, I care a lot. It won't be Ally, so choose again"
"Awww, but I like Ally…" She pouts and gives him her puppy dog eyes but when she notices it isn't working she taps her chin before listing off names. "Fine then! How about wolfers…. No? Then Boulder! Charcoal! Ash! -"
Ruby seemed a little sad about getting her nicknames rejected. But recovered instantly and then started listing possible nicknames until Alabast had enough and goes with the only decent sounding one.
Alabast holds his right hand up. "Stop! Alright, alright. I get it, go with Ash. At least it sounds better than 'Ally'"
Ruby jumps into the air with her arms raised above her head. "Yay! First friend acquired! Now we're friends, Ash!"
Alabast thought he would be mad or something with this girl being so straightforward but is either ok with it or already too tired to deal with her enthusiasm.
"Whatever Little Red. Now where do we go. Nobody is here and I have no idea where we are supposed to go"
They both look around and don't see anybody near them, leaving them alone and lost.
Ruby looks worried and sad. "Uh oh"
Alabast grabs her hood and puts it over her face so he doesn't have to see her acting cute and adorable. "It's not that big of a deal. There are only a few places that they can be. So don't get all sad. It's bugging me"
Ruby then grabs the hood and pulls it farther over her head and replies meekly. "Sorry"
Alabast sighs heavily and rubs his face with his right hand. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. Just be yourself, anything is better than the funk you're in right now". That was his attempt to make Ruby feel better and it somehow worked.
"Ok! Wait….. you were in the White Fang?!?"
Alabast covered her mouth with his giant hand and brought his left hand out from under his cape and brought his index finger in front of his lips and shushed her. "A little late on that don't you think? Keep that quiet would you. I don't want the entire campus knowing. I think Ozpin already knows anyway. I don't care if they find out later, but wait until after our first two days ok?"
He takes his hand off of Ruby's face after she nods with sparkly eyes. Her first friend is already trusting her with a big secret like this.
Alabast straightens up and looks around before turning back to Ruby. "I left as soon as soon as I heard that we were attacking innocents. I thought we were fighting for equality and justice, not for the hell of it"
"Ohhhh. That's good at least… See?! You DO have a good heart! I knew you couldn't be bad! Now where do we go Ashy?" Ruby puts her hands on her hips and looks around, not having a clue where they need to be.
Alabast sighs heavily, again. "It's likely in one of the buildings with a giant room. Let's head to the Auditorium first and check it out"
"Right! The auditorium… why didn't I think of that?" She playfully hits her head with her palm as she turns around and talks to herself.
Not wanting to be late to whatever is coming up, Alabst begins walking and Ruby runs to catch up when she notices.
As Alabast leads the way Ruby doesn't like the awkward silence so she defaults to her favorite things. Weapons. "Soooo~, what's the giant weapon on your back? I have my baby"
She takes out her weapon, Crescent Rose, in its compressed form before turning it into its scythe form and slams it into the ground. Alabast keeps walking but looks over his shoulder before turning back to face where he's walking. Ruby continues after she runs to catch up to him. "It's not actually my baby, haha… But I made it myself and it's name is Crescent Rose. It's a customizable high-impact sniper rifle! What's yours!?"
Alabast reaches above his head and grabs the handle of Nights Fall. He pulls it off his back and holds it in his right hand as it transitions from its compressed state into its main form, the giant great sword. "This is Nights Fall"
He grabs the blade with his left hand and pulls it off, revealing the long katana blade. "This katana is called Hollow Silence"
Then he turns the great sword blade into the rifle form. "Lastly, this is Dark Heart"
Ruby's jaw drops her eyes nearly blind Alabast from how sparkly they are. Her brain is trying to reverse engineer how the different parts work and fit together. "Wooooooaaaaaahhhh…."
He puts them together and then puts them onto his back again and looks over to see Ruby practically floating with stars in her eyes staring at his weapon. He clears his throat. "Ahem. It's rude to stare ya know"
"Oh! Sorry, but it's so cool! It fits you so well! You see, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I just think they're so neat! So did you make it? And how did you come up with the names?" Ruby's eyes don't stop sparkling with amazement and curiosity but she does come back down to the ground.
"It was given to me after years of hard work and proving myself. I just got it a little bit ago after an important mission. I didn't even get to choose the names either. But I guess it made my life easier so I don't mind" Alabast remembers a little over a year ago when he received Nights Fall and met Sienna for the first time.
"Wow! You must have been pretty important! Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to bring this back up" Ruby lowers her head and scratches her cheek.
"I brought it up first so don't worry about it. Besides it's just us two for now. So if you have a question I'll answer one more for now" Alabast figures he can satiate the young girl's curiosity now instead of letting it build up to explode in both their faces later.
And he can't help but get caught up in Ruby's positive energy. He doesn't feel better, but he is enjoying having someone to talk to after so long.
"Sweet! Let me think... When you said you saved that Blake girl earlier, what was that about?" Ruby remembers the way the two of them interacted and wondered what their past was.
Alabast scratches behind his right ear roughly. "Of course you would go for a heavy one. Haaaaah, well it's a story alright" He decides to just tell her of their first encounter so he doesn't get caught up in a web of lies later on.
"It was a while back. I actually saved her when we were much younger. I was probably 6 or something at the time and didn't even have aura yet. This is actually what helped me join the White Fang. So I was at a peaceful protest for Faunus equality with my mother and got separated from her. I was going through the crowd in search of her when I saw a little human girl my age in the crowd. She was about to get beaten by some other humans who got a little rowdy and wanted to start trouble. So I went and attacked one of em and she was able to escape. That girl was Blake. Fast forward many years later and I encountered her again when she was in trouble and didn't get the chance to ask if she was alright. So after leaving the White Fang I followed her and decided to restart my life as well"
Ruby was looking at him with even more stars in her eyes than she was looking at his weapon. "You are her hero! That's so romantic! That's an amazing story and it makes me have so many more questions! So do you lo-"
Alabast cuts her off. "She doesn't remember what happened when we were kids. And I don't intend to tell her, I expect you to not tell her either. We're here"
Ruby finally notices that they have entered the auditorium and there are tons of people around. She then spots her sister through the crowd and they wave at eachother. "That's my sister with the yellow hair. Her name is Yang Xiao Long, wanna come and meet her? I think you two will get along fantastically"
Alabast looks at Ruby's unique silver eyes for a moment. "No" Alabast walks away from Ruby. "See you around Little Red"
Ruby slumps her shoulders as Alabast walks away but immediately runs over towards her big sis.
Around the edge of the room only a few people were alone, most people knowing others from their Primary Combat Academy. So Alabast goes towards a wall and leans against. He watches Ruby as she reunites with her sister.
——————
Ruby walks in front of Yang.
The blond haired girl has her arms crossed as she looks at her younger sister with a smirk. "How's your first day going, little sister?"
"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby states, unable to hide her frustration with her sisters abandonment earlier.
"Yikes! Meltdown already?" Yang shows some concern as she raises an eyebrow. "What about your dark knight over there? Things couldn't have been THAT bad"
"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?" Ruby grabs her chin as she recounts what happened.
Yang smirks widely. "Are you being sarcastic~?"
"Ughh!" Ruby scoffs before quickly explaining. "I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me! And then Alabast, that big guy, came and saved me I think, and then-"
"YOU!" Weiss exclaims from behind the girl who nearly destroyed her dust.
Ruby jumps into her sister's arms. "Oh Gods, it's happening again!"
Weiss points at Ruby. "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"
Yang deadpans. "Oh my Gods, you really exploded"
"It was an accident" Ruby defends herself to her sister as she gets back to the ground and turns towards the crabby girl. "It was an accident!"
A DUST for Dummies pamphlet is held out towards Ruby from Weiss.
Ruby studies the pamphlet for a brief moment. "What's this?"
The Heiress begins to list off policies faster and faster to Ruby who immediately gets overwhelmed.
"Uhhhhhh…." Ruby doesn't even know how to handle that.
"You really wanna know how you can make things up to me?" Weiss asks.
"Abso… lutely?" Ruby wonders what she will have to do.
Weiss shoves the pamphlet against Ruby's chest and crosses her arms. "Read this, and don't ever speak to me again"
"Look, uh…" Yang scratches the back of her head. "It sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"
Ruby nods and her smile comes back as she stands next to her sister facing Weiss. "Yeah! Great idea, sis!" She extends her hand. "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"
Weiss fakes a smile and enthusiasm. " Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about roguish boys, like tall, darkhaired, and unkempt over there!" She points over her shoulder at Alabast.
Alabast couldn't help but overhear them and looks around when they look over at him.
Yang smirks and winks at him.
"Wow, really?!" Ruby can hardly believe it.
"No" Weiss flatly says and glares at the girl.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
Everyone's attention is drawn to the stage where Ozpin is standing and holding the microphone.
——————
Alabast barely listens but pays attention to Glynda when she takes the stage. He figures that Ozpin just wanted to say some words and then will make Glynda say the detailed part.
And he was right.
She basically said that they will sleep in the ballroom tonight and have their initiation tomorrow morning.
This causes Alabast to sigh since he only has sweatpants and a long sleeve compression shirt to sleep in. He wonders if they have sleeping bags or blankets prepared for them.
So everyone funnels out of the auditorium and heads to the ballroom where a bunch of sleeping bags are laid out in rows on the ground.
Alabast doesn't care about where he sleeps so he goes and changes first. There are lockers out in the open around the walls so he goes to the bathroom and changes into the grey sweatpants and white compression shirt. It doesn't show off his scars at least.
After putting everything into his locker he walks out and sees Ruby and Yang towards the side of the room. There aren't many sleeping bags still open and he has to walk past Ruby and Yang. Could he have used his Semblance to appear across the room? Yes, but he had already caught the attention of the sisters.
He hears Yang and Ruby talk as he gets closer.
"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang plops down on the sleeping bag next to Ruby.
Ruby doesn't look up from her letter she is writting. "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though.
"I know I do~" Yang actually purrs as she watches several muscular and shirtless guys wrestle eachother with one guy in a headlock.
Then she sees the guy her sister found before coming to the introduction ceremony. The guy's long and unkempt hair makes her want to sit him down and give him a very special and thorough grooming. Looking at the few visible scars on the man's face and hands made her even more interested in who this guy is.
Seeing him approach, Yang nudges Ruby. "Your hot, tall, and mysterious friend is coming over here"
Ruby finally looks up from her writing to see Alabast walking towards them with a neutral look on his face. Ruby looks between Alabast and Yang nudges her sister back. "Yang, you're drooling, cut it out"
Yang snaps out of it and quickly wipes her mouth with the back of her hand only to realize that Ruby just tricked her. She looks to Ruby who looks extremely smug. "You think you're just soooo funny don't you" Yang states sarcastically
*Bamf*
Ruby's pillow hits Yang in the face. Ruby then looks over at Alabast who was still walking towards them and thought of something. "Hey Ashy, we have an open sleeping bag next to us, right here". She points to her right because Yang is on her left and the others are full.
Yang leans over to Ruby "Quick thinking Ruby, I didn't think you were so bold! Good job!" And gave a thumbs up to Ruby at the end.
"It's not like that Yang! We're just friends for now!" Ruby quickly tries to resolve the misunderstanding. She simply wanted to help a friend in need.
Alabast walks up to the sister duo and sighs. "Haaaah… Sticking with Ashy aren't we…"
He crosses his arms and leans forward, over Ruby. "And what do you mean by friends for now, eh? Don't get ahead of yourself Little Red"
Yang starts laughing and slaps Ruby's shoulder. "Hahaha! He caught you Rubes! But I can't believe you two already are using nicknames! Hahaha, guess it's only a matter of time then!"
Alabast then turns his head to the right and glares at the blond bombshell of a woman. "There won't be anything that changes in time. And you don't even know me"
Yang shrugs her shoulders and smirks at Ruby. "Ruby here says that you seem all mean and scary but beneath that your just a lost, little, fluffy, wolf cub. She even says you defended her when she exploded and that Weiss girl started shouting at her. And I figure you can't be all that bad if you're putting up with her"
"Hey!" Ruby tries to throw another pillow at Yang but ends up getting it thrown back at her.
"Whatever" Alabast is taken aback by how Ruby described him to her sister. He looks at Ruby who just stays laying down motionless with the pillow planted over her face.
He shakes his head and as he lays down he can't get comfy on his side so he keeps rolling over until he is facing Ruby and Yang with his tail near his chest almost becoming a pillow between his arms. He keeps his eyes closed until he hears the siblings next to him murmuring to eachother.
He opens his right eye a little and sees Ruby and Yang looking at him with soft eyes and tilted heads. "Stop looking at me like that, it's creepy and I won't be able to sleep!"
Yang and Ruby don't stop but Ruby starts talking, much to Alabasts annoyance. "I was actually just writing a letter back to my friends at Signal. I skipped two years and was able to attend this place early. So I had to leave all my friends behind. But I'm here with my sister Yang! And now I've made a friend! (That's you by the way)!" Ruby starts out with lots of energy but it fizzled out when she talks about leaving her friends behind. But her usual energy comes back when she mentions him.
Alabast rolls his eyes. "Aren't you lucky. Consider yourself lucky that you're from around here. I'm from Menagerie and I know four people here in total. And only one 'friend' unless your sister wants to be like you and force friendships?"
Yang gives a concerned smile to Ruby about her forcing a friendship. She knows it's a joke but still… "I just might do that Mr. Lonely"
"I never said I was lonely! I'm perfectly fine on my own!" Alabast snaps back at Yang.
Yang is laying on her side as she talks to Alabast. "Sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve…. I would actually like to be friends if that's alright with you. I'm Yang Xiao Long. It's nice to meet you, hehe, Ashy!"
Alabast was calming down and closed his mouth and eyes getting ready to sleep but then he hears Yang giggle and snapped his eyes open and slightly growled. "Don't push your luck…. Blondie"
"*Gasp* He gave you a nickname too! Now we're all friends!" Ruby proclaims as her first friend at Beacon becomes her sisters friend.
Alabast doesn't even acknowledge Rubys declaration
After Ruby calms down a little she looks around and notices a girl sitting against a wall reading a book. After noticing her she whispers "Blake?"
This causes Alabast to snap his eyes open and look at Ruby. He follows her gaze and sees Blake reading in dim candlelight against a wall not too far away from them. This scene reminds him of a time he came back from a mission in the dead of night. Blake was sitting on a random window sill on a second story while reading a book. Alabast looked up at her and the sky was clear with this world's partially shattered moon hanging in the sky above Blake.
Reminiscing about this moment, Alabast realizes it was around this moment he truly started caring about what happened to Blake beyond feeling indebted to her father.
Yang follows Alabast's gaze. "Do you two know her or something?"
Ruby nervously laughs. "Hahaha… or something"
Yang narrows her eyes as she stares at Ruby and Ruby quickly looks away. Yang doesn't let up on her intense staring since she knows how to get Ruby to talk.
Ruby slumps her shoulders and sighs before explaining very quickly. "Fine! She also tried to help me stop getting yelled at, but it actually seemed like she was just trying to get a rise out of Weiss for some reason!"
Yang then looks at Blake. "Why would she start something with a heiress from the biggest dust company?"
Alabast shrugs. "Beats me"
Yang looks at Alabast and sees him holding his tail to his chest and wonders what it feels like. Then she shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "Well why don't we just go over and say hi?"
"Bad idea" Alabast shoots down the thought immediately.
Ignoring his statement, Yang stands up as she grabs Ruby and Alabast's hand and tries to pull them towards Blake. She is able to pull Ruby up but Alabast seems to just be sliding along the ground on his sleeping bag. She struggles a little bit as she pulls him. "What...are you made of!?"
Ruby stops struggling. "Muscle and fur!"
This causes Blake to notice the three approaching her. And she isn't too pleased to see Alabast. This is the first time she hasn't seen him in his uniform. And she hasn't seen him sleeping or lying down before either. She watches him laying on his side while spooning his tail, his hair is scattered on the sleeping bag. She also sees the scars on his hands and face, and his left ear that is cut short. She wonders how he got those. She was curious, but was never curious about bough to ask.
Finally Yang gets to Blake and sings a greeting. "Hel-looooo~! I believe you three may know each other?"
Blake looks at Ruby over her book that is hiding her face. "Aren't you... that girl that exploded?"
Ruby smiles awkwardly. "Uh, yeah! My name's Ruby! But you can just call me Little..." Ruby stops herself from saying Little Red, she kinda wants that to be Alabast's nickname for her since he probably won't give her another one. "Actually, you can just call me Ruby"
Blake looks back in her book "Okay"
Yang whispers to Ruby "What are you doing?"
Ruby whispers back. "I don't know… help me!" She then goes back to smiling.
Yang looks at Blake. "Soooo… My name is Yang, you and I haven't met yet. What's your name?"
Blake sighs into her book because of these distractions. "Blake"
Yang responds. "Well, Blake, I'm Ruby's older sister! And this guy's most recent friend! I like your bow!"
Blake responds with slight irritation. "Thanks!"
"It goes great with your..." Yang looks this girl up and down as she tries to finish her compliment but she drops the ball. "…pajamas!"
Blake narrows her eyes at Yang. "Right..."
Ruby laughs uncomfortably while Yang continues. "Nice night, don't you think?"
"Yes - it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book!" Blake looks at the 3 people disturbing her quiet time, Ruby and Yang stand there and don't move while Alabast also stays still. "That I will continue to read" Blake continues to try and give the girl's a hint but just gets to the point. "As soon as you leave!"
Yang whispers to Ruby. "Yeah, this girl's a lost cause"
Ruby turns to Blake. "What's it about?"
Blake is clearly surprised "Huh?"
"Your book. Does it have a name?" Ruby points at the book in Blake's hands.
"Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body" Blake wasn't expecting this little girl to ask this.
Alabast is reminded of the books he just bought that morning.
Yang adds in sarcastically "Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!"
Ruby ignores her sister and continues. "I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!"
Blake laughs a little. "And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"
Alabast is surprised that Blake laughed. He rarely saw it after her dad stepped down from High Leader. She only laughed near Adam and never around others. Was she that uncomfortable around everyone in the White Fang, yet she was that comfortable around Adam? Alabast can't help but wonder is she will she ever laugh with him…. He hugs his tail closer to his chest.
Ruby smiles brightly at Blake. "Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"
Blake smiles at Ruby. "That's... very ambitious for a child" Her smile turns into a frown. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale"
Ruby doesn't stop. "Well, that's why we're here! To make it better"
Yang hugs Ruby and lifts her into the air. "Oh, I am so proud of my baby sister!"
Ruby is kicking and flailing as she tries to get away. "Cut it out!" The forced sisterly bonding evolves into a dust cloud of fighting limbs and flying stars as they try not to fall on Alabast but continue their scuffle.
Blake laughs slightly at the sister's antics. "Well, Ruby, Yang, it's a pleasure to ha-"
Weiss storms onto the scene in her pajamas as Ruby traps Yang's leg. "What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"
Weiss and Yang see each other and say the same thing at the same time. "Oh, not you again!"
Ruby hushes them and whispers. "Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!"
Weiss unhappily responds. "Oh, now you're on my side!"
"I was always on your side!" Ruby helplessly claims.
Yang chimes in. "Yeah, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!"
Weiss gets a little louder. "She's a hazard to my health!"
Alabast speaks up finally. "I'll be a hazard to all of your health's if you don't get quiet!"
Weiss yelps. "Ahh! When did he get there?!" Then everyone notices him curled up.
Yang is the first to respond. "Alright tough guy. No need to be cranky, I'll push you back to your spot" Yang then puts her hands on his back and feels his muscles.
"If you are done groping my back you can push me now" Alabast says in a low and quiet tone, not hiding his annoyance.
Yang nervously laughs and starts pushing. Then Ruby joins in to try and help. Or cop a feel, who knows. And they eventually get him back into his original spot.
Ruby and Yang dust their hands off and watch as hair falls from their hands. Yang comments. "Muscles and fur indeed"
The sisters climb into their own sleeping bags as they get ready for some sleep. Yang wonders how long it would take to groom all of Alabast's hair…
Blake, who rolls her eyes at the fight and comedy skit, simply closes her book. She reaches over to grab her candle and blows it out, enveloping the area into darkness.