The Vale Voice - Chapter 5 (Patreon)

If there was one good thing about Friday, it was that the weekend was mere hours away.  Even though Blake worked through the weekend on various bits of housekeeping for The Voice, there were far fewer interruptions - meaning she worked much faster and more efficiently.  Before reaching her highly-valued alone time, however, she had to make it through another Friday of chaos and last-minute changes as the week’s issue was set in stone and sent to the printer.  

With a steaming cup of tea already in hand, she took her first sip while walking into the building that housed The Vale Voice.  Finding that the beverage’s temperature had cooled to a drinkable level, she took another sip and headed upstairs.

The first thing she noticed when stepping out onto the third floor was that Yang wasn’t there, which was a silly observation to make.  Just because Yang was early one morning didn’t mean she would always arrive early.  If anything, being forced to wait in the hall had probably encouraged her to show up later.

Unperturbed, Blake unlocked the door, turned on the lights, and found the office in a casual state of ‘issue-day disarray,’ as Sun called it.  Desks were messier than usual, strewn with rough and final drafts alike.  Pictures lay around, waiting to be paired with their respective articles.  Post-its were stuck everywhere, holding last-minute reminders for needed or desired changes.

Issue-day disarray.  She hadn’t said anything at the time, but she liked how it sounded.

Heading into her office and dropping her bag by the desk, she easily fell into her typical morning routine - drinking her tea and waiting for her computer to start so she could get to work.  Once that happened, the first task she set about doing was inserting the final drafts into The Vale Voice blueprint.  In addition to the articles, she addressed other formatting concerns - spacing chief among them.  Over the course of the day, she would repeat this process over and over again - taking each finished product and placing it carefully in their next edition.

While she worked, her coworkers arrived for the day.  First Victor, followed closely by Lola, and finally Sun and Velvet walked in together.  Finished with the second article on her list, she paused and looked into the office, her brow furrowed in thought.  

Everyone was at work, but...where was Yang?

Deciding that now was as good a stopping place as any, Blake pushed away from her desk and walked out of her office.  

“Hey Blake!” Sun immediately greeted her.  “I’ll have these to you in a couple minutes!”

“Take your time,” she replied while heading over to speak with Velvet.  As she went, she spared one long look at Yang’s desk and wondered where their resident human might be.  Was it possible that Yang got lost again?  

“Good morning, Velvet.”  Turning away from the conspicuously-empty desk, Blake smiled at her close friend.  “Can I see your shots from the fair yesterday?”

“Oh!  Sure, let me find them for you.”  After opening a file of images, Velvet enlarged the first one so it took up most of the screen and slid out of the way so Blake could click through at her own pace.  Leaning forward to better see, she examined the first photograph before moving to the second, the third, the fourth, and so on.

“These are...incredible.” 

As usual, Velvet captured distinct emotions in every photograph.  The pure joy of a child being handed a balloon, the triumph of someone beating a carnival game, the excitement of a group of friends about to board a ride.  

Clicking to the next picture and finding the first photo of Yang, Blake paused for a few extra seconds and studied it closely.  

Yang was leaning against one of those temporary metal barriers and laughing with one of the carnival employees.  What they were laughing about was anyone’s guess, but it was easy to feel the joviality through the colors on the screen.  And, as expected, Yang was exceptionally photogenic.  Even when she wasn’t aware the camera was on her, this...light...seemed to shine from her.

“Very nice,” Blake mused before clicking forward and stopping completely.

“These are my favorites,” Velvet said while gesturing towards the screen.  After taking in the first photo and moving to the next, Blake could see why.

The series of four photographs created a sense of time lapsing while the event unfolded in stop-frame.  In the first photo, Yang knelt on the ground, her long blonde hair cascading down her back while her arms extended in front of her.  Her eyes sparkled with anticipation while looking straight ahead...at a young tiger Faunus.  The small boy was in the midst of sweeping one foot across the dirt-trodden ground, with his head slightly lowered in determination.

In the second photo, he was running - his short legs carrying him as fast as possible while he prepared to launch himself towards forward.  Yang was still waiting, arms still at the ready.

In the next photo, he was flying in the air - his arms held wide like an airplane while he grinned in pure joy.  The young tiger might be thinking that he’d fly away rather than ever return to the ground, but Yang was waiting for him to come back to earth with a laugh on her lips.

In the last photo, he’d made it safely back into Yang’s arms.  And in this brief moment, which might have lasted no longer than a second in real time, she held him off the ground - her eyes closed while she hugged him close.  As she did so, his tail curled in a clear sign of delight.

“They’re fantastic...” Blake whispered before clearing her throat and turning towards Velvet.  “Can you send these to me?  All of them, I mean?”

“Sure.  I’ll do that right now.”

When Velvet smiled, Blake nodded and sent one last glance towards the photo on the screen.  She had a lot of questions as to how or why that moment even took place.  Who was the little boy?  How had Yang stumbled across his path?  Why had they decided that this was what they wanted to do?

Before she could begin to formulate answers, the door suddenly opened, drawing her attention away from the computer as Yang raced inside.  Her apologetic eyes immediately found Blake’s gaze, and she hurried over with an equally regretful posture.

“I’m so sorry I’m late -”

“I knew it - you’re a party animal!” Sun cut her off with a laugh.  “Up all night, I bet.”

That wasn’t at all what Yang was going to say, but she managed a chuckle while setting her bag on her desk.

“I don’t know about party animal, but I might be a night owl.”  

When Sun laughed at the joke, Victor quickly joined in - his ‘whowhowho’s succeeding in making Lola laugh and Velvet smile.  Even Blake cracked a slight smile in response to Victor’s happy chortles before heading back to her office.  She only made it a few steps, however, before sensing a presence at her elbow.

“Hey, I’m really sorry I’m late,” Yang repeated.  “I had to help my sister -”

“It’s ok,” Blake cut in before turning around and giving Yang a reassuring nod.  “It’s fine if you’re late every once in a while.”

“It is?”  Yang looked so shocked by the statement, Blake couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes.  It’s called personal accountability, Yang.  As long as you get your work done, I’m not going to set a schedule for you.”

Blinking once as that information sunk in, Yang finally grinned.

“That’s pretty much the coolest thing anyone’s ever told me.”

Unsure of how to take that response, which sounded like another compliment, Blake nodded again and turned away.  “I’m glad you think so,” she added before heading into her office and closing the door.

Why was that moderately embarrassing?  She hadn’t intended to sound so...boss-like...but that was probably how it sounded.

Quickly putting the conversation behind her, she hurried about getting the next edition ready for printing.  Now that everyone was here, the work would pick up as finished articles were pushed to her inbox.  

On cue, a message popped up on her screen with Sun’s final drafts attached.  Slowly and methodically, she scanned the articles in search of last-minute errors, allowing herself as much time as necessary to ensure she missed nothing.  She absolutely could not rush this part of her job, because if she did, she would miss easily correctable mistakes.  

It took some time, but she eventually made it through each piece and determined that there were no errors to be found.  When she gave Sun a thumbs-up through the glass walls of her office, he gave a ‘whoop!’ of success before jumping to his feet, gathering his belongings, and heading home early. 

Under ordinary circumstances, it might annoy Blake that he was so willing to go home early.  Before leaving, however, he stopped at everyone’s desk to see if they needed help with their work.  Only after receiving ‘no’s across the board did he send Blake a wave and head out...but not without stopping for a good five minutes to say goodbye to Yang and Velvet first.

With Sun’s section of the paper finished, Blake turned her attention to the next set of articles needing final review - this time from Lola.  Velvet sent hers in at nearly the same time, giving Blake almost all of the pieces she needed except for Victor’s.  Knowing him, he was using the extra time to sneak in as many vocabulary words as possible.  He knew that Blake would cut most of them, but that never stopped him from trying.

Now that she thought about it, maybe this was his way of expanding her own vocabulary.  She was often forced to look up new words when he used them...and by sneaking them in between the rough and final draft, he all but assured they would get cut in editing...

Returning her attention to the task at hand, she went through each article with a fine-tooth comb.  She prided herself on being a good editor, which meant she refused to allow mistakes printed in their paper.  Even the smallest typo could cast doubt or remove credibility from their reporting, which in turn erased some of the longstanding trust they’d built with their readers over years and years.

It was one of her most important responsibilities, and she took it seriously.  To everyone else, however, it was probably incredibly boring to watch her unblinkingly stare at several paragraphs of words - sometimes reading through the page three or four times before determining it was fit for printing.

Once Lola and Brand’s articles were complete, she took a break before starting Velvet’s, which shouldn’t take long based on the rough drafts she saw the other day.  But first, she stood and stretched her back before heading over to the office door.  After glancing around the room, her gaze landed upon Lola.

“Lola,” she said, keeping her voice quiet so as not to disturb the tranquility that had settled over them.  “I’m finished with your articles, if you want to head home.”

“Oh, thank you.  I’ll leave in a bit.  Yang and I are going through this week’s style magazine first.”  When Lola held up a magazine that had been sitting on top of the pile on her desk, Blake nodded and pretended that the news hadn’t surprised her.

After giving Yang a curious glance, and receiving a hesitant smile in return, Blake turned to Victor.  “Will you have your final drafts done soon?” 

“Just sent them.  I believe you’ll find they meet your standards.”

With an amused smile, Blake shook her head and returned to her desk.  “They always do,” she said over her shoulder before sequestering herself once again.  On her computer she found Victor’s articles waiting for her, leaving just two more sets to go through before moving on to the next stage in the process.

Somehow, it always worked out that she saved the best for last.  And by ‘best,’ she meant the most technically sound.  Velvet’s took only a few minutes apiece to proofread, while Victor’s took a little longer to remove a few too many complex words.  Mellifluous, maudlin, and obfuscate were left on the cutting room floor this week, but caustic and perfunctory were allowed to stay.

Personally, she had no issue with the lesser-known vocabulary words.  From a style and reader standpoint, however, there were only so many upper-level terms one wanted to read in a Saturday paper.  Even in the political subjects Victor covered, there was a need for approachability from all levels of readers - not just the upper echelon of wordsmiths.

With all of the articles complete, Blake sent Velvet and Victor a quick message letting them know that they were free to leave if they wanted.  Hardly breaking stride, she immediately set about fitting each piece into the rigid page formatting and made adjustments as the newest edition of The Vale Voice came to life before her eyes.

When everything was perfectly placed, formatted, and saved, she leaned back and gave herself a few second reprieve before setting up an email to their printer.  As her mouse hovered over the ‘send’ button, however, an idea popped into her head.  She nearly dismissed it as soon as it appeared, but something about it made her pause and glance away from the screen.   

Drumming her fingers on the desk, she watched Yang read something on the computer screen.  More articles, maybe?  Or was she doing more research for Lola?  

Seeing as how Blake hadn’t come up with any responsibilities to pass along, it was admirable that Yang somehow found enough to fill the day.  If she hadn’t been tasked by Weiss to observe them, it might feel like she was an actual new employee learning the job and everything that came with it.  There was the whole ‘human’ thing, but if it weren’t for that...

Maybe Velvet was right.  Maybe Blake should take the time to speak to Yang instead of making assumptions based on what she looked like.  Because, from everything she’d seen so far, it looked like Yang was making a considerable effort to be helpful.  

Coming to a decision, Blake copied this week’s edition onto a portable memory drive instead of emailing it to the printer like usual.  After grabbing the small device and her keys, she headed out of her office and walked over to Yang’s desk.

“Yang,” she said, drawing lilac eyes away from the screen.  “Would you like to come with me while I drop this off?”

There was a brief hesitation - Blake noticed it clear as day - but Yang quickly said, “Uh, sure!” and popped out of her seat.  

Sensing the lack of certainty, Blake added, “You don’t have to -”

“Oh, no - I want to!” Yang replied with a smile for good measure.  “I was just reading more articles, but I can do that later.”

“Ok…”  Noticing Velvet watching them intently, Blake turned her way.  “Velvet, you’re more than welcome to join us.”

But Velvet shook her head at the offer.  “I’m planning on leaving soon, but you two have fun.”

While Yang searched for her phone and keys in order to leave, Velvet mouthed ‘be nice.’  Shaking her head, Blake replied with a simple ‘of course.’  Of course she could be polite for an afternoon.  That wasn’t much to ask at all.  

Noticing Yang standing by her shoulder, Blake gestured towards the door.

“Shall we?”

After Yang nodded, Blake led them out of the office - taking the stairs before leaving the building and walking into the early-afternoon sun.  Taking a deep breath of fresh air (at least, fresher than the recycled air in the office), she glanced at Yang before heading towards their destination.

Their feet hit the sidewalk in an asynchronous pattern, and the silence that had followed them out of the office seemed to have no end in sight.  Yang clearly wasn’t feeling as talkative as she appeared to be in the office and, if Blake had to guess, the strained feeling between them had more to do with her presence than anything else.  Logically, it made sense - they hadn’t spent any time together.  Mostly because Blake was busy, but also because she hadn’t made much of an effort to get to know their temporary guest.

As the uncomfortable silence expanded, her mind was drawn back to the unfortunate way she ended Yang’s first day at the office - by insinuating that she had no idea what discrimination felt like.  Even if she didn’t experience it in the way Blake did, that didn’t mean it was impossible for her to imagine...

“I’m sorry for what I said on Wednesday,” Blake apologized after the silence continued for too long.  Feeling Yang’s gaze turn her way, she kept her own trained straightforward.  “It wasn’t very thoughtful of me to...assume that you couldn’t understand.”

“Hey, no problem.”  When Blake spared a glance to the right, she watched Yang shove her hands into her front pockets and shrug.  “I mean, if that’s the way you feel, that’s the way you feel.”

“But I shouldn’t make assumptions.  I don’t know you, and I don’t know what you’ve been through.”

“Well, we could change that.”  After another one of those disarmingly genuine smiles, Yang added, “I mean, you could get to know me, then know for sure that I’m a horrible person.”

The grin Yang threw in at the end of that comment succeeded in making Blake smile. 

“I don’t think you’re a horrible person,” she said, forcing her eyes back in front of her.  “I just...haven’t had many good interactions with humans, I suppose.”

“I’m sorry...I wish that wasn’t the case.”

And Yang did sound sorry, casting her eyes downward while following Blake around the corner without a word.  It wasn’t until they reached the next block that she finally looked up, her eyes searching the streets before asking, “Where’re we going?”

“Since you don’t have much experience in print journalism, I thought you’d like to see how things work behind the scenes.”

“That sounds exactly like something I’d like to see.”

Satisfied with the response, Blake led them a little further before pulling open a door to a business that probably looked closed to someone who didn’t know the area well.  

“This is where The Vale Voice is printed.”  Walking into the large warehouse-like space filled with giant machinery and a plain cement floor, they were greeted by silence.  Of course, Blake knew that the silence was only temporary: as soon as the machines came to life, the steady roar of paper flying through the printing presses would fill the air.

Their entrance was quickly noticed, and an elderly raccoon Faunus with ink smudges running up and down his smock rushed over.

“Is that Blake Belladonna I see?” he asked while extending a hand to her.  “You haven’t been here in ages!”

“We’ve been busy at work,” Blake replied, shaking his hand and giving him a warm smile.  “But I wanted to stop by in person today.  I was hoping you could show my...friend...how you bring The Voice to life.”

The label felt disingenuous, but she couldn’t think of another word to use in this situation.  Coworker didn’t feel like the correct answer either.  Observer?  Temporary employee?  

Fortunately, while Yang looked surprised by the term, their host didn’t flinch.

“It would be my pleasure.  I love showing others the art of printing.”  When he smiled at Yang, Yang smiled in return, and Blake realized she still needed to introduce the two of them.

“This is Raphael,” she explained as the slender man dipped his head.  “He’s been printing The Voice since...well, since before I was born, most likely.”

“Has it been that long?” Scratching his chin as he thought about the past, his eyes briefly glazed over before snapping back to the present.  “Time’s flying by.”

“It really is,” Blake agreed before waving towards Yang.  “Raphael, this is Yang - and I’m sure she’d love to see you work your magic.”

“I really would,” Yang added with a sincere smile.  “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Then you’re in for quite the surprise.”

As expected, Raphael was ecstatic at the opportunity to show off his art form, and Yang seemed equally excited to learn.  But, before any of that could happen, Blake turned towards the second person approaching them and found a young man who looked more and more like his father as the years passed.

“Ah, there you are!”  Clapping one hand on the boy’s shoulder, Raphael gave him a good shake while moving him forward to meet Yang.  “This is my boy, Vincent -”

“But you can call me Vince,” Vincent cut in while stepping forward and shaking Yang’s hand.  “Can I get you some water or something?”

“Oh -”  Briefly taken aback by the offer, Yang quickly regained her trademark smile.  “I’m ok, but thanks for asking.”

When Vincent nodded and stepped back in line with his father, Blake gave him a curious glance.  That was an unexpected offer for him to make...especially seeing as how she’d hardly heard him speak before.  Granted, the last time she’d been here was years ago, and a lot could change in that time.

“I brought this for you,” she finally said, holding up the memory stick containing this week’s version of The Voice.  Making a pleased noise, Raphael took it from her hand and motioned them to the far end of the room, where the process would begin.

“The larger papers have dedicated printers that work daily,” Blake explained when they stopped in front of a computer that Raphael loaded the images into.  “We don’t need that much equipment, so we use Raphael.  Every Friday, he’s in charge of making sure The Vale Voice is ready for delivery in the morning.”

“It’s my favorite time of the week,” Raphael added.  Moving masterfully around the various contraptions, he waved an arm for his son to help.

“First, we make the plates,” he said, his brow furrowed while he lined everything up in the machine.  “Easy enough - we etch the image onto these thin aluminum plates.”  After holding one up as an example, he fed it into the machine as Vincent pressed start.

The process, which sounded time consuming, actually took no more than a minute per plate.  In no time at all, the two Faunus made a stack that encompassed every page of The Vale Voice.

“This is what they look like when done,” Vincent said while holding one out for Yang to see.  “Pretty cool, huh?”

“That is cool.  So what do you do with those?”

“We take ‘em over here.”  Directing them to the next machine, Vincent handed each plate to his father, who was in charge of pressing them into place on the giant spool taking up one end of the printing press.

“You need to make sure they’re in the right order, otherwise you’ll end up with a couple pages printed upside down.”  Working as he spoke, Raphael checked and double-checked each plate before moving onto the next.  His diligence was one of the many reasons Blake loved using him as a printer - none of their pages had ever been printed upside down.

“Wow, that’s a big roll of paper,” Yang said while pointing to the giant spool of newsprint loaded into the press.

“They weigh a ton, too.”  After handing his dad the last plate, Vincent dusted off his hands and sent Yang a smile.  “But you get a good workout moving them around.”

“I’ll bet you do.”

With their materials loaded into place, Raphael checked everything a third time before nodding.  “Start ‘er up!” he directed his son.  After pressing the proper buttons on the control panel, Vince stepped back and watched the giant roll of newsprint come to life.  At first, it spun slowly - giving them a steady view of images appearing on the newsprint after it passed under the giant spool.  After a few seconds, the printing press sped up, adding a loud droning noise to the air as sheets and sheets of paper flew past.

“Black ink first,” Raphael explained, raising his voice over the sound of the press before leading them down the line.  “Individual colors here - for photos.  Cut lengthwise here, then widthwise, then folded together.”

Stacks upon stacks of neatly-folded newspapers were already rolling down the conveyor belt to the other end of the room.  From there, they would be picked up by various distributors and delivered in the morning.

Grabbing a copy off of the closest stack, Raphael handed it to Blake, who handed it to Yang.

“Hot off the press,” he said before happily returning to his work.

After flipping through the still-warm pages, Yang stared at the papers practically flying off the press.  “This is so cool,” she said mostly to herself but loud enough for Blake to overhear.

“They can print tens of thousands of copies in an hour.  Not that we need that many, but that’s how fast the process is.”

“I had no idea...”

Chuckling at the wonderment in Yang’s eyes, Blake walked back to the start of the press - where the first words appeared on previously blank paper.  This was, personally, her favorite part.  One second, the page was as blank as could be.  The next, it was covered in the words that she and her coworkers had spent the entire week writing.

“It’s awesome that you created that.”  Turning towards the comment, Blake found Yang giving her a reassuring nod.  “Like, you put all that together,” Yang added while pointing to the press.

“It’s a team effort.”

Her words were muffled, and Yang likely didn’t hear them over the sound of the newsprint spinning off the roll.  But the sound stopped several minutes later, as their printing quota was reached and the machine slowed to a stop.

“There you have it,” Blake added.  “Distributors will pick up the copies early tomorrow morning and deliver them to specific locations around Vale.”  As she spoke, Raphael bustled around wrapping stacks of papers in twine for easier pickup.  She expected Vincent to help his father - instead, he lingered by Yang’s side.

“So...how long have you been working at The Vale Voice?” 

“Oh, I don’t actually work there.”  Yang shot Blake a glance with the response, as if worried she’d be offended by the assumption.  “I’m just helping out for a bit.”

“Well, they’re really lucky to have you.”

Yang chuckled and turned towards the stacks of finished copies, but Vincent took a step forward to follow her movement.  “But hey, if you’re looking for something to do after you’re done helping them out, you can always hang over here.  I can show you how to print a thing or two.”

That offer gave away his intentions, which Blake should have figured out much sooner.  He was flirting with Yang, or at least trying to.  It seemed like a horribly unprofessional thing to do, but it wasn’t exactly a hyper-professional environment, to begin with.

“‘How to print a thing or two?’” Yang repeated with a light laugh.  “You mean how to do magic.  I mean, look at this!”  She waved towards the stacks of newspapers that had just flown through the printing press.  “I can’t believe this was only a computer file a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, yeah, it kinda loses its ‘magic’ after a few years though...”  After Yang hummed and studied the papers for a few more seconds, Vincent joined his father in wrapping the last of the copies - seemingly forgetting the question he’d asked that Yang had seamlessly redirected.

The fact that he was so overt in his flirting was...irksome.  Sure, Yang was pretty, but was he really so shallow as to go after the first pretty face that walked in?  What about personality?  Moral compass?  For all he knew, Yang was one of the people protesting Faunus rights at the courthouse every weekend.  And yet he still willingly went after her?

Sure, Yang probably wasn’t protesting, but he didn’t know that.  Because he didn’t know anything about her.

It was startlingly similar to the situation that Blake found herself in.  Except...her reaction had been negative, whereas Vincent’s was openly positive.  But she was trying to change that first impression - that’s why she was here at Raphael’s to begin with.

“Do you print for other companies?” Yang asked before pointing to some other printed materials lying around.

“Oh yes, of course.  We stay busy.”  With a grin, Raphael wrapped the last package of papers before clapping his hands together.  “And there you have it.”  When his son came to stand by his side, Raphael gave him a thoughtful expression.  “You know, this seems to go much faster when we have company.”

Understanding the meaning behind that statement, Blake decided it was best to take their leave now before sitting through more uncomfortable invitations.

“Thank you for indulging us,” she said, giving the man an appreciative smile and receiving one in return.

“You’re welcome here anytime.”  

“Definitely,” Vincent rushed to add.  “You can stop by whenever.”

Barely preventing herself from rolling her eyes, Blake instead caught Yang’s gaze and nodded towards the exit.

“Uh, thanks, Vince,” Yang said before following Blake out.  “And thank you both for showing me how printing works.  It’s seriously awesome.”

As Blake held the door open, she waited for Yang to wave goodbye before they walked out into the afternoon sun.

“Seems like you made a new friend,” she commented as soon as they were outside, still moderately annoyed by Vincent’s behavior but feeling more amused about it as they left the printing shop behind.

“Yeah, sorry about that.  I didn’t want to be rude, you know?”

“You handled it well, but...do you get that often?  Even from Faunus?”

“Uh, I mean, anyone really.  Boys, girls, humans, Faunus…”  Yang shook her head, as if somehow it was a bad thing to be so highly pursued, before grinning at Blake.  “One time, this little kid at the park proposed to me.  It was adorable.”

“Ah.  I didn’t realize you were engaged.”

Yang let out a startled laugh at the joke, which, frankly, Blake hadn’t expected herself - it slipped out before she gave it a second thought.

“I guess you could say I am,” Yang replied with a nod.  “I definitely didn’t tell him no, that’s for sure.  He was way too cute for that.”

“So if someone cute asks you to marry them, you won’t be able to turn them down?”  When Blake gave Yang a look of amused disbelief, Yang waggled her brow in return.

“What can I say?  I’m a sucker for a pretty face.”

After Blake chuckled at the joke, the two of them lapsed into a momentary silence that was far more comfortable than when they left the office.  Of course, Velvet had been right.  Yang was actually quite enjoyable to spend time with and easy to talk to.  While Blake expected there to be some sort of...invisible break in their ability to communicate...there simply wasn’t.  And, on the plus side, Yang seemed to be a genuinely nice, caring person.  Weiss certainly could have sent far worse people to their office.

“Have you dated a Faunus before?”  As soon as the question slipped out, Blake knew it was prying into Yang’s personal life, but she was curious to find out if any of those potential suitors were successful.  And, as luck would have it, Yang had no problem answering.

“A couple,” she replied with a lighthearted shrug.  “Here and there.  Nothing too serious though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  Wait, why’s that so surprising?”

Blake shrugged and kept walking.  

“It’s just...not very common.”

It was fascinating to think that Faunus would actively go after Yang, and that Yang would reciprocate those feelings.  Part of that surprise might be because it seemed like Yang lived an exceptionally fortunate life.  Why would she make it difficult by adding a Faunus to it?

Another part could be that, personally, Blake had never considered dating a human.  It just...didn’t seem like a human could ever fully understand her.  How could they comprehend what it was like to be a Faunus, and thus an outcast to society?  And if they couldn’t understand her, how would a relationship ever work out?

But, after just this short time together, she could definitely feel the draw Yang had about her.  Sun’s reaction, and Vincent’s advances, made more sense now.  If Yang was willing to entertain the notion, why wouldn’t they at least make an attempt?

“So you use a Faunus printer,” Yang commented, drawing Blake out of her thoughts as they rounded the corner before the office building.

“And a Faunus delivery team,” Blake replied.  “We try to provide opportunities to the community, no matter how small.  And you don’t have to keep that, you know.”

When Blake pointed to the paper in Yang’s hand, Yang held it up and smiled.

“But it’s one of the first ones off the press!  It could be worth a ton of money one day!”

Pulling open the lobby door and letting Yang walk through first, Blake laughed.

“Maybe if the world runs out of paper...”

“And that could happen.”

Shaking her head and smiling, Blake followed Yang upstairs and into the empty office, where she finally sighed in relief.  Friday afternoons offered a small moment of respite when the next issue was with the printer and there was no more work for her to do.  At least...there was no more work she could do on the current edition.

“Feel free to head home now,” she told Yang as they stopped at her desk.  “Not much happens around here after we’ve gone to print for the week.”

Looking around the unattended desks, Yang nodded.

“Yeah, I noticed everyone taking off early.  Makes sense though - not much to do until we’re back at it next week, right?”

“Exactly.”  For whatever reason, the fact that Yang understood without Blake having to explain was a bit of a relief.  Not that she had a problem defending their work habits, but it was nice not to have to.

“Then I’ll see you Monday.  Unless...do you work over the weekend?”

“I do, but everyone else is off.  Their only task is thinking of topics for next week.”

“What will you do?” Yang asked.

“Go over accounting, manage invoices - all of the general office maintenance I sometimes don’t get to during the week.”

Nodding to herself, Yang thought about something for a moment before speaking again.

“You know, the Vale Fair is this weekend.  Maybe you can check it out?  I’m taking my sister.”

“Older or younger?” Blake asked.

“Younger.  Couple of years.”

With a nod, Blake filed away that information and concluded that it explained a bit of Yang’s nurturing energy.

“You can come with us if you want,” Yang added, and Blake paused to consider the offer.

The Vale Fair...when was the last time she’d been to a fair?  It had to have been years by this point - so long that she couldn’t even remember her last visit.  But spending time with Yang outside of work would undoubtedly be uncomfortable for them both.  Plus, there were several housekeeping matters she wanted to finish before the new week started.

“Thanks,” she finally replied.  “But I have a lot of work to do.”

If Yang was disappointed by the answer, her expression didn’t show it.  But why would the answer disappoint her?  It was unlikely she’d expected Blake to accept.  Most likely, that was one of those spur of the moment invitations where the desired response is actually ‘no.’

“Ok, but if you change your mind, the offer still stands.  And if you need help with anything too - just let me know.”

Blake nodded while Yang picked up her bag to leave - still holding onto the next day’s copy of The Voice.

“Oh.”  Stopping by the door, Yang gave Blake one last, winning smile.  “And thanks for taking me to see how the paper is printed.  That was really fun.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”  

That was as much as Blake could think to say before Yang smiled and left the office behind.  The door closed behind her with a soft thud, leaving Blake alone in the quiet room to think over their afternoon.  

It had been unexpectedly enjoyable to drop off the file in person versus emailing it and immediately beginning her next task.  The short break was a welcome change from the constant working.  And the conversation had been a nice distraction from the stress of keeping The Voice afloat. 

Heading into her office and checking the time, she considered going home early before sitting down to finish a few side projects first.  What would she do at home but work anyway?  She might as well stay here a little longer.  But, realistically, she should take more breaks during the day - it might help her feel less exhausted by the time she made it home.  Plus, as Yang just proved, those breaks could be enjoyable with the right company.

Not that Yang was the right company or anything, but...she possibly wasn’t as bad as Blake originally wrote her off to be.