The Vale Voice - Commentary - Ch. 7-8 (Patreon)

To say that this has been the craziest and weirdest few weeks of my life would probably be an understatement!  I’m sure that many of you are feeling the same, as life keeps moving on but at the same time has drastically changed?  Part of my schedule is turned upside down, yet the other part stays the same.  I don’t even know how to describe it, but it’s a really weird and unexpected situation.

One of the things I’m grateful for, however, is that I’ve (so far) been able to keep the same posting schedule.  Assuming the internet and electricity keeps working, I suppose.  But with everyone staying home far more often, we need entertainment now more than ever!  And, in my not-at-all professional opinion, we need plenty of White Rose and Bumblebee fanfics to whittle away our hours.

So, as someone once said, the show must go on!  Or stories, in this case.  I might post a few little oneshots to add with The Vale Voice and A Royal Match too, so keep an eye out for those.  In the meantime, we’ve finished two more chapters of The Vale Voice, so we have another commentary to go through.  

We’re nearing the halfway point of this story, so you’re probably feeling the shift in Blake and Yang’s relationship.  First of all, they’re spending more time together (finally!).  Second of all, Blake is definitely softening her mindset when it comes to Yang.  She might not have had her lightbulb moment yet, but she’s gently changing and re-evaluating how she behaves with and thinks about Yang.  

At this point in the story, I think most of her progress comes from her innate sense of curiosity.  Fortunately, she has an open enough mindset that she’s willing to be curious about why Yang’s not behaving like expected.  This gives plenty of opportunities for Yang to surprise her, and those moments of surprise act as catalysts to slowly change Blake’s mind.  

What’s funny is that Yang isn’t doing anything super special.  She’s just being a decent person, but Blake has to put up with her.  That makes me wonder how much Blake’s view of humans has been solidified by lack of exposure.  Clearly, she avoids them as much as possible.  She works at a Faunus-only workplace and lives in a primarily Faunus neighborhood.  She goes to a Faunus-owned coffeeshop in the morning.  The Vale Voice uses a Faunus printer.

Ironically, she knows this about herself.  She just hasn’t connected the dots yet.  For example, here are her thoughts on Yang being unfamiliar with a mostly-Faunus neighborhood:

It felt like Yang was offering an excuse for the answer, as if she was embarrassed by her unfamiliarity with the heavily Faunus section of town.  The excuse was unnecessary though, as they all lived in their separate worlds.

From what we’ve seen from Blake so far, I think we could safely assume that she feels trapped in her world whereas Yang is free to move about as she wishes.  But I wouldn’t say Blake’s trapped so much as she’s chosen what makes her the most comfortable (as we all do).  In this sense, Weiss’ request has pushed her way outside her comfort zone, but with positive results so far.  I’m really excited for them to grow even closer, and I hope you are too!

Chapter 7 is another one of those chapters that was added to the story to make the progression of emotions run a little longer.  My stories typically end up really long because I don’t like rushing the emotions along.  I don’t think I can actually explain my process for deciding what’s too long or too short though...I just kind of feel it?

But this is why What Defines Us ended up being so long.  Weiss had to basically rediscover herself at the same time Ruby fell in love from scratch - those weren’t emotions I wanted to rush.  Every story has an emotional progression like this which takes a certain amount of time or words to fix.  Or at least for me to feel satisfied with.  WDU is the longest because their journey should take a while.  The last thing I wanted was for people to feel like we rushed right to the happily-ever-after.  

The Vale Voice also ended up being longer than expected because Blake’s journey is one I wanted to fully dive into and show her progression.  So more chapters ended up being better, and Chapter 7 was added for that purpose.  

Also, when Blake walked home in Chapter 1, she mentions looking over at the park and watching people play on the basketball court.  From that moment, I wanted to make up a sport they could play without using the basketball nets, since she said the nets had been cut down long ago.  So, Thunderball sprang into existence!

I’ve never created a sport before, and it was much harder than expected.  I also have no idea if the end result is any fun.  If you decide to give it a whirl, please let me know!  

The purpose of Thunderball was plenty-fold.  First, I got to make up a sport.  Second, Yang got to express interest in my sport (Thank you, Yang), which was yet another moment of surprise for Blake.  As previously mentioned, moments of surprise are good for Blake and her progression through the story.  Here’s her response to Yang’s curiosity though:

As seemed to be the case, new Faunus knowledge excited Yang when few others would care.  

In a single sentence, Blake shows that her stance might be softening towards Yang but no one else.  That’s ok though.  It only takes one…

Lastly, I used the game of Thunderball to show that not all Faunus think like Blake does.  Since the story is from her POV, her views color how we read about the world, but there are moments like these that clue us in to how others feel.

In this case, a group of guys is more than willing to teach Yang how to play Thunderball.  Moments earlier, Blake felt uncomfortable just walking beside Yang because she worried about what other Faunus would think about her.  These guys, however, have no problem inviting Yang to their game.

This is another theme you’ve probably picked up on - that Blake cares a lot about what other Faunus think about her.  Humans, she could care less.  Faunus though...it’s like she fears they’ll label her as a traitor or something.  That by merely standing close to a human, she’s somehow betrayed their trust.  I guess it makes sense when you consider her “us versus them” mentality, as she places herself on Team Faunus any chance she gets.  Even if this means hanging poor Yang out to dry, like she does here:

“My friend just told me about Thunderball.”  When Yang motioned in Blake’s direction, Blake shook her head - fearing their judgement as they looked at her in surprise.  

Blake, what do you think shaking your head accomplishes here?  A big fat nothing?  You literally walked over to the basketball court with Yang, are now standing right beside her, and Yang just called you a friend - why are you shaking your head??

Anyway, more than a few people caught the significance of Tony the Tiger Faunus’ name.  I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist.  He’s a tiger!  I needed a name for a tiger.  Who’s the most famous fake tiger to have ever existed?

Tigger!

How did I forget about Tigger?  Also, Shere Khan.  And Jasmine’s tiger from Aladdin!  I can’t remember his name though…

So you figured out Tony the Tiger, but where do you think Ben’s name came from?  

It’s actually short for Bengal, like Bengal cats!  (I thought about Leo the Leopard, but...that just seemed a little too obvious.)

The only other named character in this chapter was a reference to What Defines Us - Ronnie!  AKA the name Ruby gave to Weiss’ soldier/knight guy that she summons.  Since I wrote most of The Vale Voice in the midst of writing WDU, it’s no wonder I stuck his name in here (or remembered his name at all).

Towards the end of Chapter 7, Blake has two quick thoughts that (I think) show how much she’s starting to like Yang:

Sharing that little piece of their history with someone open and willing to give it a try was...emotionally satisfying.  

And,

Yang thought that Faunus were fascinating.  Blake hardly felt the same way about humans, but there was one human in particular that was more interesting than any of the others she’d met.

She’s definitely curious now, which is a good start.  The emotionally satisfying part though...how important do you think it is that Blake be with someone who can connect with her emotionally?  Probably vitally important, and it’s something she’s beginning to feel with Yang.  Of course, the chances of her admitting that are probably slim to none.

On the other hand...Chapter 7 and 8 give us a few peeks into how Yang feels about Blake.  For example, here’s how Yang describes Blake in Chapter 7: 

“You’re extremely devoted to this wonderful paper and group of workers.  You’re passionate.  Successful.  Great at what you do.  And you’re gorgeous and don’t even realize it.”

Gorgeous, hm?  And then there’s the little moment when they’re talking about how pretty Ben’s eyes are and Yang says this: 

“Is it just me or did he have the most gorgeous eyes you’ve ever seen?”

“Oh, well, I guess…” Blake replied, the lack of enthusiastic agreement drawing Yang’s more vibrant lilac eyes her way.

And Yang looked in Blake’s eyes before turning away and mumbling, “Second most gorgeous,” towards the ground. 

So she thinks Blake is gorgeous, with gorgeous eyes, but there’s another, more subtle hint about her feelings in Chapter 8: 

“Ah, sorry.”  After pushing herself to her feet, Yang dusted off the back of her legs and smiled.  “I keep waking up early, for some reason.”

I think it’s safe to say at this point that Yang’s pretty smitten (and possibly a glutton for punishment).  She’s probably waking up extra early because she’s excited to go to work and see Blake.  She said herself that she’s pretty good at reading people, so maybe she’s reading something that Blake is definitely not seeing at the moment.

Velvet is also seeing something that Blake’s not, although she’s a little more forward about it.

“You like her, don’t you?”

Just like that, Blake’s smile disappeared.  

“She’s helpful and doesn’t cause trouble - what’s not to like?”

There’s denial, and then there’s Blake’s flatout refusal to acknowledge her feelings.  In the beginning of Chapter 8, she’s commenting on how ‘refreshed and energetic’ she feels on her way to the office even though nothing has changed.  Then she’s all happy about giving Yang a key, especially when Yang’s tickled pink to have one.  (Can you imagine Yang’s internal squealing when that happened?  “She trusts me!  She really trusts me!”)

One person Yang doesn’t have to worry about liking her is Brand, who’s probably my favorite side character.  He’s fearsome like a teddy bear!  I love that he took her with him to interview a bank robber though.  To her, that was probably one of the coolest experiences ever.  She’s learning all about how a newspaper is made and getting to help in the process.

Brand adjusted to this new situation faster than Blake has, but I think part of that might be because he’s heard stories about Yang through his daughter.  Yang probably became the “one good human” in his mind, and now he gets to work with her!  Even if Yang was a stranger though, I think he would’ve warmed up to her in no time because he’s such a ‘dad’ character.  He probably considers all of the young workers at The Voice - even Blake - to be his kids in a way.

Also, just a random side note - the bank robber was originally going to be a murderer or someone much more...dangerous.  Then I realized that I didn’t want Yang or anyone to be talking to someone like that.  So...foolish bank robber it is!

Yang made a reference to Red Carpet Romance in Chapter 8 when she decided that her code name would be Ella Lake - AKA Blake’s pen name for the more mature novels she writes.  (This reminds me that I’ve yet to write the next chapter of RCR, but I need to do that soon if I want to post another chapter once The Vale Voice ends!)

Also, Sun asked Blake out again in this chapter.  How many times are we up to now?  Five?  Six?  She doesn’t even respond this time, if you noticed.  She very cleverly redirected the conversation and he ‘forgot.’  I doubt he actually forgot though.  He probably realized what she did and just let it go.

Then, if you noticed, he got Velvet to accompany him to the ice skating rink thing.  I have no idea what that’s supposed to be, but at least he’ll have company!  They spend an awful lot of time together, don’t they?  (Just like Blake and Yang are starting to spend a lot of time together…)

One of the last things I wanted to mention were the two incidents (the ones with the bad humans) that happened over these chapters and what they tell us about each character.  I don’t think it was super realistic to stumble upon two groups of mean/despicable humans over the course of two nights, but I wanted to use the opportunities to remind everyone why Blake feels the way she does.  With Yang around, however, we also get to see how Yang feels about stuff like this.  

In the very first chapter, Blake says that there are many different ways to stand up and fight for what she believes is right.  For her, she writes.  She uses her words and attempts to persuade people through her articles.  Yang, on the other hand, is clearly a fighter who would love to get more hands on.  If laws didn’t exist in this universe, maybe I would’ve let her throw down a bit...but I didn’t want her to be that type of person.  Also, that wouldn’t impress Blake at all.

What does impress Blake (and me) is that Yang doesn’t have to say or do anything.  She’s not the one being targeted.  She could easily step aside and let the Faunus take the brunt of the jeers.  Instead, she speaks up because she knows what they’re doing and saying is wrong.  It’s Blake who tells her not to say anything, actually.  And she probably wouldn’t have in Chapter 8 if the guys hadn’t addressed her directly.  (She’s so cute and willing to do what Blake asks of her, even if it’s not what she wants to do!)

One important thing Blake takes away from the second incident is that Yang doesn’t have a ‘perfect’ life.  In fact, her views make her a bit of an outcast - humans don’t agree with her, Faunus don’t trust her, yet she refuses to change.  Could she be...an ally?

Blake might have her head in the sand right now, but that’s why we still have story left!  There’s still a lot she has to learn about herself, Yang, and the type of person she wants to be.  Fortunately, we’ll be along for the ride.

I’m excited for you to see how she continues to grow through the next few chapters, and how Yang continues to work her way through Blake’s well-built defenses.  In the meantime, I hope you’re safe, healthy, and finding some measure of good in these strange times.

Until next time,

Miko