The Vale Voice - Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Blake was so anxious the next morning, she nearly skipped her tea.  She seriously considered it too, but after the last time she knew better than to pass up a semblance of normalcy on a day that could be anything but normal.  It was Thursday - she would be in full editing and organizing mode for most of the day, but what came before that filled her with apprehension.  Thankfully, her peach tea was in hand as she hurried to the office.  

She had no idea what the day would bring, but in preparation she spent all of last night relying on pros and cons lists to help make a decision.  Or try to make a decision, but there didn’t seem to be one.  Every option came with positives and negatives...enough of them that her coworkers’ words this morning would cast the deciding vote.

Would they throw the current version of The Voice onto the garbage heap, or would tradition win out?  They were excited when Yang brought up the idea, but had the reality and magnitude of such a change sunk in by now?  She sincerely hoped so.  This wasn’t a topic to be discussed lightly.

First into the office, she turned on the lights and crossed the room to drop her bag on her chair.  After turning on her computer, she walked away before it started, opting instead to sit on the corner of Yang’s desk and wait for everyone to arrive.  No way could she concentrate until they decided what path to follow.  Until then, she would sit right here and deliberate on their choices while drinking her tea.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but the sound of the door drew her gaze up to find Yang slipping in.

“Hey,” Yang said while walking over and setting her bag on the floor.

“Good morning.”  When Blake moved to get off of Yang’s desk, Yang motioned for her to stay.

“You don’t look like you got much sleep…” Yang added, her gaze fixating on Blake so intently that she turned away.  

“I had a lot to think about.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.”  Turning back to Yang, Blake shook her head.  “I’ve tried to think of how to gain more readers for a while now.  My stubbornness wouldn’t let me consider something so drastic, but maybe that’s what we need.”

“Ok…” Yang replied, but still sounded unsure.  “Just...please don’t do something you don’t want to do.”

“Do I seem like someone who would do that?” Blake replied with a smile and raised brow.  And, finally, Yang broke out that radiant smile Blake had come to expect.

“No.  You don’t.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.”

Smiling in relief, Yang sat in her chair and scooted closer.

“What do you think they’ll say?” she asked while clasping her hands above her knees.

“Honestly?  I have no idea…”

“What do you want them to say?”

Before answering the question, Blake gave Yang a long look.  What did she want?  She wanted to fall asleep not worrying about where their next rent check would come from.  Or go home on time and not feel guilty for failing the people who worked with her.

“I don’t know…” she answered, giving Yang a small smile right before the door flew open.

“Blake!” Sun shouted as soon as he saw her.  “Oh man, I’m so excited!  I came up with about a thousand topics I could use!”

“Ok, Sun,” she said before motioning for him to calm down.  “Let’s wait for everyone else to get here first.”

After he nodded and rushed to his desk, she shared an amused smile with Yang.  “I guess we know his answer,” she said, watching Yang’s smile widen.  “Can you distract me until everyone’s here?”

“Uh, sure!”  Yang beamed at the task and leaned forward.  “I went and played Thunderball with those guys last night.”

“Did you really?” 

“Yeah!  I took my sister too.  Turns out she’s pretty good at Thunderball - helps that she’s fast and can jump.   Of course, some of those guys can literally jump over our heads, so we’re not going pro anytime soon.”

“Did you have fun though?”

“Oh definitely.  Ruby did too.  Tony asked where you were - I think he might have a little thing for you.”  When Yang winked and nudged Blake’s knee, Blake leaned away and shook her head.

“I’m pretty sure Tony and Ben are interested in you,” she replied, but Yang just laughed.  

“They’re all really nice.  Except when Tony made me screw up like five times in a row - that wasn’t so cool.”

The way Yang frowned made Blake chuckle, but that carefree energy disappeared when she realized the day’s discussion was close at hand.  Velvet and Victor were already here, and Lola had just walked through the door.  Now they were only waiting for Brand, who needed to be looped in on the idea since he was out yesterday.

“How’re you doing?” Velvet asked while bringing her chair closer to Yang.

“I guess we’ll see in a bit,” Blake replied with a shrug, but still noticed the concerned glance Velvet exchanged with Yang.  Were they both worried about her now?  Because she was doing just fine.  

When the door opened one last time, all conversation stopped as they turned towards Brand.  For his part, Brand froze when he realized everyone was staring at him.

“Uh...this isn’t some type of intervention, is it?” he asked while taking a hesitant step forward, but Sun burst out laughing.

“It is!  You spend way too much time with your kids, Brand.  Like woah.  Bad dad award.”

Relaxing at the joke, Brand walked to his seat and set down his briefcase.  “What’s going on?” he asked while turning towards them.

“We’re having a meeting,” Blake explained.  “An idea was tossed around yesterday that we should make a change to the composition of The Voice.”  She made sure not to attach the idea to any one person’s name for fear it might cloud his opinion.  “We’re discussing whether or not we should stop reporting the general news that’s run by the daily papers.”

While Sun nodded at the brief description, Brand frowned.

“What would we report instead?”

Glancing at Yang, Blake mulled over how to present this.  She’d thought over the idea last night, to the detriment of her sleep, while sorting through hundreds, if not thousands, of ‘what if’ scenarios.

“We would report Faunus news,” she said, presenting the most condensed version of the idea before elaborating.  “We would highlight Faunus achievements, Faunus failures, Faunus lifestyle.  We would worry about the general news only in its direct impact on Faunus.  We would become, essentially, the voice of the Faunus community.”

She watched the idea sink into Brand’s mind, watched him absorb it and turn it over one, two times.  But he didn’t outright reject the proposition, which she took as a sign for her to keep speaking.

“I asked everyone to think about what they’d like to do.  If you’d like some time to consider it -”

“No,” he broke in before she could offer him more time.  “Go ahead - I’ll listen to what everyone else has to say.”

“Ok.”  Satisfied with the response, she turned back to the group at large.  “The way I see it is we have a few options.  We can accept the idea and make a change as soon as possible - fully change the way The Vale Voice operates.  We can reject it outright, or modify it - maybe by creating a mix of the usual news with more of this new content.  Or we can table the idea for now and come back to it later.”

Those were the only possibilities she came up with last night.  And, looking at her coworkers’ thoughtful expressions, her heart rate rose in anticipation of the discussion to come.

“Who wants to go first?” 

She was ready and willing to listen to their thoughts and take them under heavy consideration.  Hopefully, they had a clear idea of what they wanted, because she wasn’t sure which answer she would choose on her own.  Thankfully, this job wasn’t about what she wanted to do.

“Victor?” she asked, nodding to the man sitting across from her, knowing he always had an opinion to share.  Today was no exception, as he sat forward to speak his view.

“Personally, I believe we should pursue this new course of action in full.  It will be a rapid but noble change.  I’d love to shine a more direct light on the laws and policies affecting our people.”  As he spoke, his chest puffed out proudly.  “I’d like those humans sitting in government to squirm like they’re under a magnifying glass catching the scorching sun.”

“Vicious!” Sun cheered, reaching over to give the somewhat-confused Victor a high-five.  “Love it.”

Blake smiled at the response and turned towards Sun.

“What do you think, Sun?”

“I’m on board with Vic frying people,” he joked before leaning back in his chair.  “But I’m all for this!  Do you have any idea how many cool sports Faunus have that humans know nothing about?  Two words for you - Flounder Ball.”

“What’s Flounder Ball?” Yang asked, and he pointed both arms in her direction.

“See?  Exactly!  Forget soccer - I wanna write about Flounder Ball.  And Cross Cutter.  And Underwater Racing!”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then,” Blake replied with a smile.

“A big yes!”

“Ok - Lola?”

Always the most hesitant of the group, Lola shifted in her seat before speaking out.

“Some of the best makeup artists in Vale are Faunus, yet no one knows their names.  Clothing designers, too.  I’d love to send more publicity their way.”  Pausing, Lola took a deep breath before adding in a more concerned tone.  “I think our Faunus readers will love the change in direction, but I worry about how it will be received...elsewhere.”

“A valid point,” Blake agreed with a nod.  “We could open ourselves up to a great deal of scrutiny or worse - anger and backlash.”

“Right,” Lola said, relieved that Blake understood her source of worry.

“So we wouldn’t do this because we’re worried the humans might get angry?” Brand suddenly spoke up, his addition to the conversation drawing surprised glances from the room.

“I’m mentioning it as a possibility,” Blake explained.  “We want to consider these things before inviting more hatred into our lives.”

“Even so,” he replied with his signature mixture of gruffness showing through.  “I think we should do it.”

“You...do?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he said with a chuckle at her shock.  “I might be an old stick in the mud, but I’m open to change.  Plus, there are crimes against Faunus that go unreported or worse - reported and no effort is made to solve them.  We should bring those to light - maybe the community can solve what the police won’t.  Or maybe enough outrage could force change within the department.  We need more Faunus officers to begin with.”

“Wow.  Ok…”

Out of everyone, Blake expected Brand to be most resistant to change.  Seeing as how he hadn’t even known about the idea until this morning, she was amazed that he’d already come to such a strong conclusion.  She spent all last night thinking about it and still hadn’t reached a conclusion.

“Velvet?” she asked, turning towards her friend.  “What do you think?”

“It sounds like a positive change for us,” Velvet replied with a sincere smile.  “We can write about the people and topics we care about, and provide a different point of view to what’s out there.  I’d love the opportunity, but you already know that I’ll agree with whatever you think is best.  We all will.”

At Velvet’s words, Blake looked around the group as they nodded.  Having heard their largely positive responses, however, she knew what her answer would be.  She could never ignore what her friends and colleagues wanted and, admittedly, the prospect of featuring only Faunus appealed to her as well.  

Before she announced any decision, however, she turned to Yang.

“I’d like your input too.”

“Oh, no.”  Yang leaned away and waved her arms in front of her.  “This is your paper - your lives - my input doesn’t matter.”

“But you’re currently a member of The Voice,” Blake replied.  “Which means you get a say.  I’m sure we’d all like to hear your thoughts.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw everyone nod or smile at those words.  Even so, Yang was hesitant, and wrapped both hands around her knee before leaning forward.

“Ok, well...yeah, I think it’d be great if you focused on Faunus topics, not only for yourselves but because there’s nothing like it out there.  Even if someone wanted to learn more about Faunus, it’s really hard without befriending one.  And sometimes doing that is...intimidating…”  Trailing off, Yang glanced at Blake before wrapping up.  “It’s something I’d want to read, and I don’t read much.”

Blake smiled for the honest response, which was what she’d expected from Yang.

“The human has spoken,” Brand even joked, and the rest of the group laughed while Yang finally broke into another smile.

“But what do you think, Blake?” Velvet finally asked, and the room quickly grew silent in anticipation.

The time had come.  A decision needed to be made, which would be final from here on out.  Or at least, final until they came together for another meeting like this one.

“I agree with you,” she finally said, trying to look as certain as possible.  “I think that the purpose of The Voice shouldn’t be to report the same stories as the daily papers, but to present unique articles highlighting Faunus life.  Maybe we’ve played it too safe - kept ourselves out of the spotlight by writing what everyone wants us to write.  Maybe our human readers won’t like it, but we’ll provide more meaningful content to the Faunus community.”  

Pausing and looking at Yang, Blake allowed her gaze to linger before moving around the group.  “If humans do read these new articles, maybe they’ll learn more about what it means to be Faunus.  Maybe that will lead to tolerance, progress, and change.”

It was a monumental decision, and the brief silence following her words said as much.  With an agreement reached, however, now the hardest part was underway - doing the actual work to implement such a wholesale change.

“Do you want to change everything at once?” she asked, only to look around and nod when she received nods in return.  “Then so be it.  Brand, put together a piece for this week explaining the upcoming changes.  Victor, work with Sun to create an ad to promote the next issue.  Everyone else, finish up your pieces for this week as soon as possible and start planning different articles for next week.  I’ll get you space requirements as soon as I redo the layout.”

As soon as she stopped talking, everyone sprang into motion to tackle their new tasks.  Victor scooted over to Sun’s desk to create a new advertisement based off of the last one they ran.  Brand immediately put his head down working on an announcement to run in The Voice this week, which Blake now had to find space for - prominent space, at that.

“Velvet?  Can we discuss a few topics?” Lola asked, waving Velvet over to her desk while pulling up a blank document on the screen.

And Blake watched the teamwork with pride.  This was what they’d been missing for quite some time - excitement, dedication, and passion.  That wasn’t to say that they weren’t passionate or dedicated on any other day.  They were.  But right now she could feel the renewed energy in the air.  This was dedication in its most obvious form.  

Thinking about the term, she couldn’t help but feel that if Weiss had seen this on the day she visited, Yang would never be here.  Of course, if Yang had never worked here, they never would’ve had this idea to begin with.

That realization made a strange feeling brew in Blake’s chest...one she could only describe as thankfulness.  After the way she initially treated Yang (which admittedly, had been quite frosty), Yang stuck around and did her best each and every day.  Not only that, but she became their friend and colleague - the only thing that made her different was that Weiss paid for her to be here.

This idea felt right.  It could be Blake’s bruised ego speaking, but after pandering to company after company for so long, having a semblance of control over their future was a relief.  This was something they could own and execute to the best of their abilities.  Maybe it wouldn’t work.  Maybe nothing would change.  But it was worth a shot.

“Yang,” she said before motioning for Yang to follow her to her office.  Once inside, she turned around and gestured for Yang to close the door.  “Will this affect our agreement with Weiss?” 

“I honestly don’t know.  She didn’t tell me much of what she was looking for.”

Tapping her fingers on the desk, Blake briefly bit her lip then shook her head.

“If I need to, I’ll explain...that this was all your idea.”  When she smiled, Yang laughed at the lighthearted tease.  

“She won’t be surprised that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, that’s for sure.”

Opening her mouth to respond, Blake momentarily paused before committing to what she wanted to say.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t as...receptive...as I should have been.”

“I’m sorry I stepped over the line,” Yang replied, but Blake shook her head.  The apology was unnecessary on Yang’s part, after all.

“One of the best parts of working with people of varying backgrounds is that you develop new ideas - ideas you’ve never considered before.  I shouldn’t have shut you down so quickly.  You have valuable input just like the rest of us.”

“Oh...I’m...glad you think so.”  

When Yang smiled, her eyes shone brightly, and they shared that smile for a few seconds before Blake looked at the layout lying on top of her desk.  It had to be completely redone, with the current advertisements resituated into fewer pages with fewer, longer articles.  It was a radical change that would take some time to figure out, but she already had a good idea of how many separate pieces would go in this new form.

“I’d like you to work on an article for next week,” she added, and watched Yang’s eyes widen when the words sank in.  “Pick something that’s meaningful to you but still fits our new theme.”

For the first time since Yang showed up, she actually looked at a loss for words.

“Uh...I dunno about that.  I’m not much of a writer.  I’m more of a rah-rah type of person.”

“Then I’ll help you,” Blake replied with an encouraging smile.  “It will be your words and your voice, but I’ll give direction and help you put it together.  And I’ll edit, of course.”

Even with the offer of help, Yang bit her bottom lip in obvious doubt.

“I don’t know…” 

“It would mean a lot to me,” Blake added.  

“It would?”  When Blake nodded, Yang gave a slow nod in return.  “Ok...then, yes.  I’ll do it.  Or try.  No guarantees on how good it’ll be though.”

“I’m only asking for your best effort,” Blake replied while reaching out and touching Yang’s arm in reassurance.  ‘Best effort’ must be a magic phrase to Yang, because she beamed and nodded.

“You’ll get that, definitely.  I promise to try a hundred and fifty percent.”

“Good.”  Happy with the answer, Blake grabbed a notepad and a pen and handed both to Yang.  “You might want to write this down.”

Yang immediately sat down on the edge of the chair and prepared to write, looking up at Blake with attentive eyes.

“You’ll want to decide on a topic today.  Try to figure out a general outline of what you hope to say and if you need to interview anyone.  If so, call them today and set up a time to meet - ideally, the beginning of next week.  If you can’t reach them today, you’ll want to try again first thing Monday morning.  Once you do the interview, you’ll use the notes to write the article the middle of next week while researching facts, then we’ll edit on Friday.”

“Jeez…” Yang said while looking up from her fervently scratched notes.  “You guys do this every week?”

“Yes, we do,” Blake replied with a smile at the compliment.

Tearing the page off of the notepad, Yang read it over and nodded.  “Ok.  I can do this.  I think.”

“You can.  But you’ll want to start thinking on a topic now.”  

Accepting the advice with another nod, Yang returned to her desk at a brisk walk.  Smiling after her, Blake sat down at her own desk and tried to wrap her head around everything that had to be done before next week.  Not only that, but she needed to finish this week’s issue as well.

One thing at a time...the first task was drafting an email to their advertisers with an explanation of the changes.  Hopefully, they wouldn’t balk at the idea.  If they did, she would convince them to give it a chance for a couple of weeks, just like she was willing to give it a chance for a couple of weeks.

If this failed, it would be a huge waste of their time.  Worse, it could create negative publicity and anger, or turn away their most loyal readers and their few remaining advertisers.  They could end up in a worse position than they were currently in.

If it seemed like a risk, that’s because it was.  But there was also potential.

Putting her head down and getting to work, she had an email written and sent to the advertisers in the next hour.  It would take some time before she received responses - in the meantime, she printed a blank layout of the paper and started making changes to pare down space.

After removing four full pages, the arrangement of advertisements and articles took shape.  The writers would stick to their general subject areas so the categories remained the same.  However, if they wrote lengthier pieces, the advertisements could be used to break up large blocks of texts and make it look more digestible.

The more she worked on it, the more she realized it wasn’t a true paper anymore.  It was more of a...compact magazine or a section of editorials.

It was a big change, but they’d all agreed to it.  The next issue of The Vale Voice would be drastically different...and hopefully that was enough to catch their readers’ attention.

By the time a tentative blueprint formed, Blake’s mind was in dire need of a breather.  Her normal job was taxing, but she knew how to do all of it.  This was uncharted waters, and the constant second-guessing as to what would work best drained more of her energy than normal.   

Looking into the office, she found the bustle still ongoing - Velvet was reading whatever Brand wrote while Victor and Lola were having a lively discussion about something.  In the end, Blake’s gaze settled upon Yang, who had her head in both hands while staring at the computer screen.

Blake wasn’t the only one venturing into unknown territory right now...

Deciding to take a short break, she left her office in favor of walking over to Yang’s desk.

“Are you doing ok?” she asked, breaking Yang’s concentration away from the screen.

“Oh, uh, I think.”  After a quick peek at an entire page of notes lying on the desk in front of her, Yang rubbed her eyes.  “There’s just...a lot of options.”

“There are, but you can’t go wrong if you pick something you care about.”

“That’s part of the problem,” Yang replied with a gesture to the notes.  “Apparently, I care about a lot of stuff.”

Looking at the page, Blake discovered that was true.  The topics written ran the gamut on issues facing Faunus and the greater community of Vale.  But when she read through them, she didn’t find any that struck her as being right for Yang.

“Can you think of an interaction you’ve had with a Faunus that really stuck with you?” she asked in an effort to help.  “Like a conversation or a moment when you felt something change the way you viewed the world?”

When Yang’s gaze lingered on her for long enough, a small blush crept up the back of her neck.

“Yeah, that’s happened a few times,” Yang finally answered, and Blake nodded - satisfied that she’d provided some direction.

“Think about one of those times.  What about that moment was special to you, and how does it fit into society overall?” she added, and watched renewed determination light Yang’s eyes before she walked away.  

By the time she returned to her office, she was rejuvenated enough to dive back into the enormous task at hand.  She could have started immediately, but her eyes caught Velvet’s as she crossed the room and let herself into the office.

“Hey Velvet,” Blake said, not bothering to pick up her work while Velvet sat down.  “How’s it going out there?”

“We’re making progress.  Lola has some great ideas.  I think Victor is interested in helping her with one.”

“Really?”  When Velvet nodded, Blake tried to imagine what that mashup of writing styles would look like.  “That would be...interesting…” was the only thing she could come up with.

“You can say that again.  But I wanted to know what you need me to do.”

“What do you mean?” Blake asked, her brow knitting together in confusion.  “Just...keep doing what you’ve always done.  The only change will be the focus of your pieces.”

It seemed like the correct response, but Velvet shook her head.

“I know you, Blake.  You’ll work yourself to death to get this done, so tell me how I can help.  There must be something I can take off your plate.”

Blake didn’t bother arguing because Velvet would know it was a lie.  Instead, she acquiesced, and her gaze returned to Yang as she tried to come up with something.

“Have you eaten lunch?” she eventually asked, and Velvet gave her a puzzled look.

“No.  Why?”

“Can you take Yang and pick up lunch for the office?”

After glancing at Yang, Velvet gave Blake an even more confused look.  “I can…”

“I think she could use your advice right now,” Blake answered before Velvet asked the question, but remained vague so she wouldn’t have to explain the entire situation.  “Plus, it doesn’t look like anyone’s leaving for lunch, and I’ve been told that skipping meals is bad for you.”

She smiled while repeating Velvet’s words back to her, which Velvet took with a light laugh.

“Sure.  We can do that.”  And she nodded once before heading out to speak with Yang.  

While Velvet did so, Blake felt a small amount of relief that one potential problem was taken care of.  If Yang was smart, and Blake had no reason to doubt she was, she would take the opportunity to pick Velvet’s brain for a way to hone in on a great topic.  

Velvet had a wealth of experience and always helped others with their topics when they needed it.  Blake didn’t know how Velvet was so good at creating topics - the only theory she’d come up with was that from taking so many photographs, Velvet had developed an uncanny sense of what subjects could be found where there didn’t seem to be any.

Once the two left the office for a lunch run, Blake set aside plans for next week in order to focus on finishing this week’s edition.  Sitting in her email was a copy of Brand’s article - the one centered around his interview with the attempted bank robber.  

After printing it out, she grabbed her blue pen, set the tip on the paper, and read it the first time.  Then, instead of immediately going through a second time for edits like normal, she left her pen on the desk and took the page with her to Brand’s desk.

“Brand, this is amazing,” she said while waving the page to grab his attention.  Looking up at her, he beamed.

“Glad you think so.  I thought it was pretty good myself.”

“This is better than good.”  Looking down at the page, her eyes sought out the most memorable sections to read again.  “Did he really go on record saying this stuff?”

“He did.  Surprised even me.”

“Wow.”  Staring at the quotes Brand used, her mind inevitably went to Yang.  “So...Yang’s a highly effective flirter.”

That response made him laugh, drawing her gaze as he shook his head.

“I wouldn’t say she was flirting, but she’s easy to talk to.”

Nodding at the appropriate summation of Yang, Blake turned towards the desk behind her.

“Hey Sun?” she asked, and Sun quickly took off his headphones so he could hear.  “How’d Yang do with the basketball team yesterday?  For the interview?”

“Oh, man!  She rocked it!”

His response built a strange feeling in her chest - almost as if she was...impressed...with what Yang contributed.  Yang might not have any experience in journalism, but she used what skills she had to help everyone else.

“Those dudes were all over her,” Sun continued - the added commentary erasing whatever good feeling Blake just had.  “Pretty sure most of them gave her their number, and the star of the team asked her out.”  Thinking about the memory, he chuckled and shook his head.  “Pretty sure he’s married, but I’m not judging -”

“Thanks, Sun,” Blake cut him off.  Turning back to Brand, she raised the article and said, “I think we should save this one for next week - what do you think?”

“That sounds good,” he agreed with a nod.  “If I make some changes, it will fit nicely.”

“Perfect.  Then I’ll wait for the next version before proofing?”  After receiving his nod, she smiled and headed back to her office.

A lot was going to change next week, but if they came up with more pieces like the one in her hands...it could be their best issue ever.  Hopefully, the readers would follow, but only time would tell.

Picking up another piece to edit - this one from Lola - she was nearly finished by the time Yang and Velvet returned.  The two passed out everyone’s lunches before Yang sat at her desk, sipping at whatever was in the cup in her hand.  As Yang got back to work, Velvet brought Blake her sandwich.

“Sorry to bother you…” were the first words out of Velvet’s mouth as she snuck into Blake’s office and closed the door.

“Velvet...how many times do I have to say that you can’t bother me?  I think it’s literally impossible.”

“Well, maybe one more time,” Velvet answered while handing Blake a tuna fish sandwich.

“You can’t bother me,” Blake said and shook her head as Velvet sat down.  From their conversation earlier, she had a pretty good idea what Velvet wanted to speak to her about, but asked, “What’s on your mind?” anyway.

“I think you forgot to mention something earlier…”  After glancing over her shoulder, Velvet leaned closer to the desk.  “Yang told me that you assigned her an article?”

“Yes.  I asked her to pick a subject she cared about.”  Blake read the question in Velvet’s eyes, but Velvet wouldn’t come right out and ask it - that just wasn’t the type of person she was.

“It will be the first article written by a human ever published in The Voice,” she pointed out instead.

“I’m aware.  But this revamp was her idea, and it could end up saving us.  Don’t we owe her a part of that?”

Blake expected hesitancy, especially considering how big of a milestone that was.  Instead, Velvet smiled.

“I think so, but I didn’t realize you did.”

“What does that mean?” 

“You can be quite...protective...of our status as Faunus only.”

“Yes, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

When Blake waited for a response, Velvet gave that knowing smile she had - the one that suggested she knew something about Blake that even Blake didn’t.

“Something like that,” Velvet replied as one of her long ears bent forward.  “I was just wondering where you’re at.  We’re all with you - in any decision you make.”

“Well...this is where we’re at,” Blake said, picking up a stack of unedited articles but setting them down when Velvet’s smile refused to budge.  “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, not funny.  You’ve just seemed a lot...happier...recently.”

“So the stress has finally cracked me and now I’m delirious?” Blake retorted.  Laughing at the joke, Velvet shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s happened yet, but there’s been a positive change.”

Thinking about Velvet’s observation, Blake finally smiled.  She had felt better recently.  Less...buried under it all.  “I think it’s because there’s an end in sight,” she admitted.  “Success or failure...we’ll know how to move forward.  The uncertainty was getting to me.”

Nodding, Velvet finally stood up and gave Blake a big smile.

“I’m happy for you.  If anyone deserves this, it’s you.”

Blake’s brow furrowed at the response, but she still said, “Thank you,” before Velvet left the office.  Her gaze then followed Velvet all the way back to her desk before sliding to Yang.  

If Blake had to guess, Yang did exactly as hoped and asked Velvet for direction - that seemed evident by her purposeful posture and intent gaze upon her computer screen.

Glad that Yang was on her way to selecting a topic, Blake unwrapped her sandwich and picked up her blue pen to go back to work.  The articles wouldn’t edit themselves, unfortunately.

The rest of the day passed in a blur.  Between editing, she fielded questions about their new focus that she didn’t know how to answer.  Eventually taking a ‘break’ from the current edition, she wrote down every answer she needed to have by the time Monday rolled around.  Everything from word counts, to what styles would and wouldn’t be allowed, to what type of titles they could use.

When the end of the day reached them, she watched her coworkers head out together, still mid-conversation while discussing plans.  They seemed excited, but she still struggled to come to terms with the decision they made earlier that day.  

If there was any solace to be found, it was that they made the decision together.  This wasn’t her choice and hers alone.  They were a team, and they would move forward as such.  Into uncharted waters…but they would be together.

It was Yang who ducked into Blake’s office last.

“Hey, so...I’m heading out…”

“Ok.”  Leaning away from her computer, Blake rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn.  “How’d it go today?”

“Pretty good.  Velvet was super helpful.  I have a few possible topics and will go through them tonight to pick the one I like best.”

“That sounds like a great start.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”  Flashing another uncertain smile, Yang nodded towards the papers scattered around Blake’s desk.  “Do you need help?”

Looking from one stack to the other, Blake eventually shook her head.

“Unfortunately, I think this is all up to me.”  But she gave Yang a grateful smile regardless.  “Thank you for the offer though.”

“No problem.  I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Of course.”

With a wave, Yang walked out, grabbed her bag off of her desk, and left the office behind - but not without looking over her shoulder and sending Blake one last smile before disappearing through the door.  That small glance was enough to make her smile as she went back to work.

A lot needed to be done, but she was fairly confident it could be accomplished in time.  If she needed help, it appeared there was plenty available.

That thought was a relief as she dove back into her work.