It was a rare rainy day on Patch, but that didn't deter the five girls vacationing in the Xiao Long house whatsoever.
They'd spent the morning fairly lackadaisically so far, simply lying about the living room and socializing until Ruby shot upright from her comfortable cuddle pile with Blake and Pyrrha, her silver eyes shining excitedly.
"Guys guys guys!" the brunette squealed. "I just had the best idea! Be right back!"
Her redheaded girlfriend waved away the cloud of rose petals that now floated about her face. "Well, this should be interesting," she smiled.
"Usually is," Blake agreed, curling around Pyrrha's torso with a contented purr. "Though I was quite comfortable the way we were."
"So long as it doesn't involve any physicality," Weiss complained lightly from where she rested atop Yang's prone form on the loveseat. "Whose idea was that tortuous game last night, anyway?"
"Hey now," the blonde underneath her protested. "Twister is a time-honored game…"
"...To get within groping range, I figured that," Weiss completed for her with a smirk. "There was more of that going on than anything else."
The other three girls in the room shared a round of snickers before Ruby flew back in, skidding to a stop while holding aloft a small grey game cartridge triumphantly. "Found it!"
"Whatcha got there, sis?" Yang asked.
"This," Ruby proclaimed proudly as she busied herself setting up the game console. "Is Heroes of Remnant!"
"Ohhh, nice, we haven't played that in forever," the blonde laughed, pulling Weiss up and into a sitting position with her.
"It is a… video game?" Pyrrha asked cautiously.
"Yeah, but so much more!" Ruby had her pajama-clad butt up in the air as she dug into the cabinet under the large vid screen. Both Blake and Pyrrha were eyeing her appreciatively until they were hit by simultaneous pillows thrown by Yang and Weiss.
"It's a cooperative game," the oblivious brunette continued, as more pillows began soaring through the air above and behind her. "We all get to pick characters and customize them, and it supports up to eight players at once! It's a really cool- Awk!"
Ruby had sat up once she'd dug out enough controllers, but was promptly smacked in the face by a missile-like pillow from Pyrrha.
The redhead held her hands to her mouth in consternation as Ruby picked herself back up off of the floor. "Sorry, little rose!" she squeaked.
By the glint in the brunette's silver eyes, however, she was having none of it.
One stupendous, drag-down pillow brawl later, the casualties of which were a pair of oddly-lumped orange throw pillows which Ruby and Yang assured weren't well-liked anyways, the room was set back to order and the evidence concealed. The five girls were once again seated but with controllers in hand this time as Ruby booted up the game.
"So, what exactly is the objective of this game?" Blake asked, vainly trying to get her hair to lay back down.
"Adventure!" her brunette girlfriend replied cheerfully. "Here, I'll set my character up first, show you guys how it's done."
She selected an avatar from the screen, one that wore a cloak. They were small and squat chibi figures, but she was able to change the colors enough so that it resembled herself fairly accurately.
"And now's the best part!" Ruby exclaimed. "We get to pick the animal spirit!"
"Er, animal spirit?" Weiss asked confusedly.
"Right, gives your avatar some of the characteristics, and also gives you some abilities," Yang explained.
Ruby moved the cursor around until she selected a wolf. As she did so, her avatar sprouted furry wolf ears and a tail, looking much like a Wolf Faunus.
"And now," the brunette continued, "my agility and strength have increased, and I also get a bonus in groups, like we are! Oh, and at a higher level I can unlock 'howl', that's an AOE spell!"
"Pardon?" Pyrrha asked blankly. "What is an… AOE?"
"Area of attack," Ruby explained as Yang started her selection next. "Don't worry about it just yet, we'll figure stuff out as we go along."
Blake and Pyrrha shared a good-natured shrug, but Weiss still looked a bit concerned.
"Relax, babe, it'll be fun," the blonde snickered. She'd made her avatar with a glorious mane of blonde hair, one that reached the ground. "Someday," she sighed dreamily.
"Yang, there's no way you can keep your hair that long," Ruby snickered.
"Watch me. Alright, so… Yep, here we go." With that, Yang selected a baby dragon. The only notable change to her avatar was that it now trailed steam from her mouth.
"So now I'm like super-strong but a little slower, and I can unlock 'fire breath'," the blonde finished triumphantly. "Who's next?"
"I'll go," Blake said softly. She created hers in black and purple, and then selecting a cat, naturally. Her avatar looked pretty much as she did now with the addition of a tail.
"Mmm," she mused. "That's nice."
"You're such an adorable kitty cat," Ruby giggled, snuggling into Blake's side while Pyrrha began her selection process.
The redhead had made her character with hair the length of Yang's, but in a bright red color to match her own. "I can dream as well," she proclaimed loftily to the snickers of the others. Flipping through the animal types, her eyes lit up when she found a red fox. "Oh, how lovely!" she said with a grin. Her avatar now sported pointed red ears and a fluffy tail.
"Oh my Oum your avatar is sooo cute!" Ruby squealed, glomping onto Pyrrha excitedly. Blake was laughing as well, placing a kiss on the redhead's neck and making her blush.
"You would have made a beautiful Faunus, love," Blake murmured.
"Alright you three, break it up," Weiss smiled. "My turn."
In short order the heiress had her white-haired avatar created, and ended up selecting a snow fox, giving her matching white pointed ears and a fluffy tail as well.
"Nice," Ruby giggled. "And you can unlock 'ice blast' later!"
"That sounds like fun," Weiss replied primly. "So, now what?"
"Now," the brunette proclaimed excitedly, bouncing in her seat, "we adventure!"
o o o
"Ruby, are you even trying?" Yang complained
"Of course I am! If you could manage to actually tank for a change and keep this Dragon Grimm from chewing on me, it'd go a lot easier!" Ruby retorted.
"Er, should I try my special thingie now?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly. Her avatar had been darting in and out of combat, but without landing a significant hit. Now, though, her red icon was glowing to get her attention.
"Yeah, go ahead and hit it now, Pyrrha!"
She did so, and her avatar twirled about in a red cyclone, spinning dizzily about the screen. Once it was done, and her exhausted avatar sat on the edge of the action, the enemy collapsed, defeated.
"You did it, fluffy fox!" Ruby squealed, dropping her controller and giving the redhead a tight squeeze. "You killed the big bad guy!"
"I did?" the redhead breathed, a wide smile forming on her face. "Huh. So I did."
o o o
"Ugh, I've done this puzzle hundreds of times and I can never remember how it goes," Ruby complained.
"Is it some sort of matching?" Blake asked hesitantly.
"Kinda," Yang added, her brow furrowed. "But there's some sorta rules to how they go…"
"Am I seriously the only one who can see how this works?" Weiss asked in astonishment. Her question was met with four blank looks.
With a smirk, Weiss' avatar ran about the dungeon room, quickly rearranging tiles until the entire floor glowed a cheerful blue.
"Wow," Pyrrha said, impressed. "How did you do that?"
"Simple mathematics," Weiss answered smugly.
"No wonder I can never get that puzzle," Ruby groaned.
o o o
"Ahhhh what are these?" Pyrrha yelled frantically.
"Rats! Giant rats!" Ruby yelled back, twisting her controller about. "And there's like a literal ton of them! Keep moving, don't let 'em swarm you!"
"Can I breathe fire on 'em?" Yang asked excitedly. "Lemme breathe fire on 'em!"
"NO YANG NOT WITH US ALL IN THE SAME ROOM!" Weiss almost screamed, her avatar dancing about.
"Girls," Blake stated calmly. "I got this."
The other four watched in amazement as Blake's avatar flew about the screen, adroitly handing out death and dismemberment to every giant rat in the room.
"How did you do that?" Ruby asked in wonderment.
"Racial bonus versus vermin," the raven-haired girl smirked.
"Nice!" Yang cheered. "Let's see what loot they had!"
o o o
"And the valiant adventurers emerge from the dungeon, victorious!" Ruby cheered.
"Not to mention obscenely rich," Weiss added, a gleam in her eyes.
"And powerful," Yang laughed, giving her girlfriend a nudge. "That's a pretty badass sword you picked up, babe."
"Thanks for letting me have it, sweetie," the heiress replied.
"Nah, it's fine, I liked the scepter better anyways. Now I can do some cool dance moves."
The five of them perked up as the front door opened, revealing a rather wet and dripping Taiyang.
"Hey there, girls," he greeted them. "Anybody hungry?" He held aloft a large bag, that from the smell of it was loaded with noodle boxes.
"Starving!" Ruby exclaimed, tossing her controller to the side and grabbing hold of her girlfriends' hands to pull them to their feet.
"It can't be dinner time already," Pyrrha stated, her brow furrowed. "Oh my Oum, it is! How long were we playing?"
"Er… six hours, give or take?" Blake replied sheepishly.
Weiss bounced on her toes in a very Ruby-like manner as they followed Taiyang into the kitchen. "Yang, sweetie, can we bring that game with us back to Beacon?"
"Weiss!" Pyrrha laughed. "You would get absolutely no studying done!"
"Oh, I suppose you're right," the heiress replied glumly. "But we can still play again after dinner!"
"You bet, babe," Yang chuckled, wrapping her arm around her girlfriend's shoulders.
"I think we've created a monster," Ruby whispered.
"Perhaps," Blake whispered back, a twinkle in her amber eyes. "However, I feel the same way."
Ruby pulled back and looked at her Faunus girlfriend with a surprised smile.
"What?" the raven-haired girl said defensively. "I have only one more unlock until I can summon a swarm of attack cats! Tell me that isn't awesome!"
"No, not at all, kitty cat," the brunette chuckled. "Totally awesome."
A/N: Honestly I could have gone on a lot longer with this. And I would love a game where I could summon a swarm of adorable attack cats.
Lessee, what do the stats look like for this fluffy little crack ship… Hole hairy Grimm balls, 74k hits? Wow. Not to mention the 342 followers and freaking 408 reviews! I love you all, you seriously rock my socks.
So, as of right now, the reviews left for my stories on FF haven't been showing up on the site since the beginning of the week. I see them from the emailed notifications, but they aren't viewable on the story. I'm still gonna answer them, though, as best I can. EDIT: Oh, they're back up again! Yay!
ILikeHotDogs: Zwei!
THB4: Dude, I know I've said it before, but I've written chapters shorter than some of your reviews, lol. I think the others are aware by now of Blake's dislike for Zwei, hence why he doesn't get to sleep with them. Much to his dismay, I'm sure, but at least Yang and Weiss would welcome him in.
RealTerminal: Hmm, so a separate chapter with Freezerburn in Atlas? I shall ponder this...
Gorsouul: Always happy to put a smile on someone's face!
Demonic Angel C: Aww, Zwei isn't evil, he just loves everyone.
Jack Inqu: Honestly, it's the same with my own dog and cat. The dog just wants to give love and slobbery kisses, while the cat wants to rip his throat out.
Guest: Heh, if it comes down to Zwei or Blake, I know for certain who Ruby would pick…
Jazzatron: Yepper. Cat Faunus don't play around.
FelipeCH98: Lmao, okay I've added Howling to the Voidby jupitermonkey4 to my read list, that looks hilarious.
SamuraiShippo: I'm sure Blake will resist until the bitter end, though!
DandyHandy: I for one welcome our new overlord Zwei. And I can understand your phone's confusion, truly when one is fangirling the fingerling follows soon thereafter… /snort
TheDemonAngel935: The battle eternal… cat versus dog… adorable slobbering little demon spawn that he is.
growlscout: Yeah I just wrote Claire as the shy silent type, no real hidden agenda there. And I have to admit, corgis are like my favorite dog ever…
ScaryGirl95: Nah, I don't think they'll kill each other, I mean all Zwei wants is to give doggie snuggles and kisses.
PupOnDRun: That's 'cause you're awesome!
Lemonysuperpie: Yay another intrepid sailor on the crack ship! Welcome!
anubis7446: Thank you kindly, so glad you've enjoyed so far!
guest21: Management is not responsible for any injuries attained by falling off the bed laughing. /grin
Stay shiny!