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Mondays typically wore her down, but Blake felt refreshed and energetic as she made her way to work on Tuesday morning.  No, her workload hadn’t lessened.  No, The Voice wasn’t miraculously out of financial trouble.  No, the world hadn’t suddenly changed overnight.  But, for as bad as things could be, everything seemed to be pointing in the right direction.

Brand and Yang got along fine, Yang was helping the office in more ways than one, and the stress of mitigating that situation had disappeared from Blake’s shoulders.  It initially felt like such an ordeal to have a human observing them for a few weeks but, at this rate, the time would pass quickly.

“Good morning, Yang,” she said while stepping out of the stairwell and pulling out her keys.  “You beat me again.”

“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.”

“It’s ok.  I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Naw, don’t worry about it!  I’ve only been here a couple minutes.”  After following Blake into the office, Yang waved one hand to show she wasn’t bothered.  “Did you have a good night?”

“It was more of the same,” Blake answered while setting her tea and bag down on Yang’s desk in order to search for something.  “Ah.  Here.”  Buried at the bottom of her bag, she found the shiny, new silver key she had made on her way home last night.

“This is for you,” she explained while handing it to Yang.  “Now you won’t have to wait for me in the morning.”  Freed of the key, she nearly walked away to get to work, only to pause when she noticed the way Yang stared at it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked before smiling.  “Don’t tell me you wanted a princess-themed one.”

The joke was successful, as Yang laughed and finally looked at Blake with bright, grateful eyes.

“No, this is...great.  Thank you.”

“No problem.  Sorry it took so long.”  Before they delved further into what it ‘symbolized,’ Blake turned and walked to her office. 

Giving Yang a key seemed like a huge deal a few days ago, but that was an overreaction on Blake’s part.  There wasn’t much of value in the office.  Plus, based on Yang’s...proximity...to Weiss Schnee, she surely didn’t need the money a few outdated computers would fetch.  It was symbolic more than anything else, but giving her a key was more practical than making her wait in the hall each morning.

Once settled in her office, Blake surreptitiously watched Yang slide the key onto her key ring.  With the newest addition in place, she held them up and looked at them for a second before stowing them away with a smile.  That smile made Blake smile, which she hid behind her cup as she took a sip of tea.  

At least Yang appreciated the gesture, no matter how small.

From there, the morning progressed as normal, with everyone arriving at varied times while Blake went through her emails then sketched a possible layout for this week.  Based on what the writers were working on, she created a rough outline and took an educated guess as to which article would make it onto the cover.  

It wasn’t until Brand knocked on her door that she paused and looked up.

“Good morning, Brand,” she said, willingly setting her pen down for a break.

“Morning, Blake.  I was wondering if I could borrow Yang for the day?”

“Depends...are you going to bring her back?” Blake half-joked, half-seriously asked.  Thankfully, Brand returned her concern with a chuckle.

“I will.  I think she can help me with something important.”

“Really?”  Blake hadn’t meant to sound so shocked, but the surprise was practically palpable.  Again, why was she so surprised?  How many times would she feel this way until she gave Yang a little more credit?

Undisturbed by the dismay, Brand nodded while a smile grew under that full brown beard of his.  

“Really.”

“Aren’t you doing a piece on that bank robber who got himself caught in one of the vaults?”

“I am, but he hasn’t been very forthcoming.  But Velvet told me how helpful Yang was at the fair, so I thought I’d see if she can help.”

“You actually want her to talk to this guy?”  Leaning back in surprise, Blake shook her head while thinking about the idea.  “I don’t know, Brand…”

“Not alone,” he assured her.  “I want to see if we can run a good cop/bad cop scenario.  And I have a sneaky hunch this guy will find it very hard not to talk to her.”

Picking up on the meaning behind that statement, Blake wrinkled her nose and, after glancing out of the office, sighed when she saw that Yang looked gorgeous, as usual.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.  Plus, it’ll be great experience for her.”

Shaking her head, Blake wrestled with what the right answer might be.  Brand wanted to take Yang on a pretty serious assignment - this was a high profile piece that would be a hit with their readers if done well.  It was exactly the type of article Blake feared Yang would mess up due to inexperience.

But...if Brand thought Yang would be helpful, Blake’s job was to support him.  At the same time, she didn’t want Yang to jeopardize Brand’s work.  And, most importantly, she didn’t know how she felt about Yang talking to some sleazy bank robber.

“We’ll let her decide,” she finally said.  “If she wants to go, then feel free to see what she can do.”

Receiving Brand’s nod of approval, Blake walked to her office door and found Yang and Victor discussing the piece of paper in Yang’s hand.  Once it looked like they were finished speaking, Blake called over.

“Yang, could you come here?” she asked, waving Yang over.  When Yang walked into the office, she stood comfortably next to Brand - even though she looked relatively puny in his imposing presence.

“Brand has something he could use your help with today,” Blake said.

“Oh yeah?”  Yang grinned up at Brand.  “Whatcha need, Papa Bear?”

Blake gave Brand a surprised look, but he was all smiles at the nickname.  

“I’d like you to interview a criminal with me,” he explained.  “He was caught trying to rob Vale Credit Union a few weeks ago.”

Yang’s jaw dropped while her eyes widened.

“Are you...serious?”

“Yes.  We’re going to play some good cop/bad cop to get a story out of this guy.”

“And you need me to play bad cop,” Yang replied with a stoic nod that broke into a smile when Brand’s shoulders shook with laughter.

“Leave the bad cop to me, kid,” he said with a friendly pat on Yang’s shoulder.  “I need you to work as much charm as you have on this guy.”

“Wait a second…”  After holding up a hand to pause the conversation, Yang pointed towards Brand in disbelief.  “You want me to flirt with a bank robber?”

“Attempted bank robber.  Seeing as how he never made it out, it might be inappropriate to call him otherwise.”  When Yang continued to stare at Brand, he eventually stopped and nodded.  “But yes.  Are you in?”

“Hell yeah I’m in!”  

More than a little excited, Yang raised her hand to give Brand a high five, only to have to jump when he held his nearly out of reach.  Blake averted her gaze in the process, as Yang’s shirt lifted and offered a glimpse of a smooth, flat stomach until Yang pulled it back in place.

“When do we leave?” 

“Now,” Brand answered.  “The interview’s scheduled for eleven, but we want to be early.”

“I’m so ready.”

As the two walked out of her office, Blake shook her head and smiled at the enthusiasm.

“Can we use fake names?” Yang asked while Brand collected a few items from his desk.  “Can I be Honey Bear?  Cuz I’m the sweet one?”

“You can use anything as long as it’s believable.”

“Is Honey Bear not believable?  Ok, ok...I got it - Ella Lake!”

“Where’s that from?” Brand asked as he led Yang to the door.

“I dunno.  I think I read it in some book somewhere…”

Brand held the door while Yang walked through, still chattering excitedly.  In the hall, she turned and gave Blake one last grin before disappearing.  Chuckling to herself, Blake shook her head one last time.  Who would’ve thought those two would get along so well?  

Noticing Velvet walking over, Blake turned her attention to her friend and smiled.

“How’re you doing?”

“I’m fine.”  After sending a glance over one shoulder, Velvet smiled at Blake.  “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?”

“It is nice having her around.  She gets along with everyone really well.”

“It seems that way,” Blake agreed.  “We’re lucky.  It could’ve been worse.”

“Like she could have had a wealth of experience, right?”

Blake narrowed her eyes at the loaded question.

“I can see what you’re trying to do, you know.”

“Good!”  With a smile still in place, Velvet returned to her desk, leaving Blake to shake her head and smile herself.  

Velvet started at The Voice at nearly the same time as Blake, so they learned the business together and grew to be close friends through the course of it.  As such, Velvet was Blake’s second-in-command, if that was an official title.  Her opinion was important, valuable, and right more often than not.  If she believed that Yang fit into the office, that confirmed the growing feeling Blake was only beginning to accept.

“I sent you two more articles,” Victor spoke up as she passed his desk.  When she paused, he gave her an intent gaze while holding his briefcase in his hands.  

“That brings you to what...fifteen?” she asked, but he shook his head.  

“Ten, I believe,” he replied before dipping his chin.  “I’m off for a few interviews.  Have a wonderful Tuesday.”

“You too, Victor.”

As he bustled out of the room, Blake shared a look with Lola.  

“Don’t you ever get tired of editing his pieces?” 

“It’s a good opportunity to learn some new words,” Blake replied before giving Lola a playful smile.  “You’re free to try it if you’d like.”

Shaking her head and laughing, Lola said, “I think I’ll pass for now, thank you.”

Resigned to her plight, Blake headed into her office only to discover that she’d picked up a tail - a very energetic tail.

“Sun,” she said, taking her seat as he hopped onto the edge of her desk.  “What do you need?”

“Oh, nothing.”  After swiping her pen out from under her hand, he presented it to her with a flourish and a gentlemanly, “Your pen, m’lady.”

“Thanks.”  She accepted it and pulled out her ledger to enter the values, same as every Tuesday.

“So, I was thinking…” he said, the introduction already announcing his ultimate intention.

“Yes?” 

“Well, today’s Tuesday!”

After a few seconds of silence, Blake looked up and motioned for him to continue.

“And I was thinking you wouldn’t be too busy today!” he added.  “So maybe you wanna go to the batting cages with me?”

“Batting cages?”

“Yeah!  You know -” he said while making a swinging motion with his arms.  “Baseball?”

“I’m aware of the sport, but I didn’t know there were any batting cages near here.”

“Yeah.”  Sensing a bit of interest, he sat forward in excitement.  “They’re on the east side, over the bridge.  Pretty cool place - there’s an arcade too, if you’re into that!”

After tapping her pen on the desk, Blake finally looked down at the page in front of her.

“Yang coaches a little league team, you know,” she said while going back to work.

“I know!  The Batter Bees!”

“There’s no one batter,” she remarked.  Apparently, he hadn’t heard the joke before because he laughed as if she just made it up - and, thankfully, forgot all about the invitation he’d extended.

While he tore a piece of paper from one of her notepads, she wondered if Yang knew about these batting cages.  Most likely.  Hadn’t she said that she lived on the east side?  Maybe she went there with her little league team.  That would be quite a sight - Yang shepherding around a group of kids in helmets wielding bats, both human and Faunus.

Finished with the ledger, Blake flipped it shut with a sigh and stored it out of sight for another week.  Afterward, she looked at the machine Sun lugged into the office earlier this morning.

“What is that thing, by the way?” she asked while pointing her pen at it.  It looked like an elongated fan of some sort - a cylindrical shape that sat on the floor and angled up towards the ceiling.

“That guy?  He’s a foam machine!”

“A foam machine,” she repeated, giving him a straight stare.  

“Yeah!  I was at a party the other night and they had one.  It was awesome!  My buddy’s letting me borrow it - I’m going to take it home and try to hook it up to a speaker.  Foam to music - won’t that be awesome?”

“So you’re not going to use it in the office?” she clarified.

“Wouldn’t that be fun though?” he asked in lieu of an answer.  “We should throw a party at the office, with a foam machine.”  When he grinned at the idea, she smiled and shook her head.

“Maybe one day, Sun...”  Returning to her work, she tuned him out while he made notes on a pad of paper.  

Working with him around was more difficult than being alone.  That probably had to do with his ceaseless motion, or the way he made abrupt movements that cut into her concentration.  He was less distracting than he once was, but still...she accepted his presence with the knowledge that she would get less done.

Why let him sit in here at all?  She supposed that...maybe...it was nice to have company sometimes.  Plus, he’d learned not to overstay his welcome - after several rather forceful ejections from her office.  He’d learned quite well, in fact.  Today, right when she began to grow agitated by his continued noise, he hopped up and stretched his back.

“Gotta check out that skating thing downtown,” he said with a wink.  “Be back later!”  After grabbing a few things from his desk, he recruited Velvet to go with him before strolling out of the office.

With the office nearly empty save for Lola, Blake blissfully moved to her next task: catching up on editing.  Blessed with peace and quiet, she made it through two articles in no time.  In the middle of the third, Lola stood up and left, and the grumble in Blake’s stomach announced lunchtime.  

Seeing as how she had the entire office to herself, which so rarely happened during the day, she ignored the feeling so as to take full advantage of the silence.  By the time Lola returned from lunch, she’d made a sizeable dent in her work.  By the time Velvet and Sun returned - talking about something while sitting down at Velvet’s computer to go over the photos - Blake had caught up on editing entirely.  

After responding to an email from Gary and giving proper credit to his human assistant, Lloyd, for the design of the advertisement, she dove online in search of stories that could be reported on.  For the most part, the journalists came up with their topics, but sometimes she made one or two suggestions to fill in gaps in their reporting.

Finding nothing worth mentioning, she switched gears and searched for more advertisers - a task that took up a never-ending amount of her time.  It was, by far, the least favorite (yet most vital) part of her job.  If she wasn’t forced to spend so much time emailing companies, maybe she would have time to contribute her own writing to The Voice again.  That wish, however, felt selfish in the grander scheme of things.  

Late afternoon was approaching by the time Brand and Yang returned to the office.  Recognizing Yang’s laugh immediately, Blake looked up and caught Brand’s gaze as he walked to his desk.  As soon as he flashed a thumbs up and a big smile, a wave of relief swept through her.

The interview went well, which explained Yang’s excited talking while Brand typed up notes at his computer.  Leaning against the desk, Yang answered his questions as he asked them - nodding, shaking her head, or laughing in turn.

From Blake’s office, she almost couldn’t believe her eyes.  The two were collaborating - human and Faunus working together to write their thoughts on whatever had been learned over the course of the interview.  Brand’s use of the information would be interesting seeing as how some of it came from a human’s point of view, but Blake couldn’t wait to read it.

Once their data mining was completed, Brand packed up and patted Yang warmly on the shoulder before heading out with a wave - his day complete for now.  Trailing Brand almost to the door, Yang dropped into her chair instead of leaving.  From the way she ran a hand through her hair and blew a breath of air through her lips, it looked like she needed some major decompressing.

Blake understood the feeling, which was similar to taking a crash course in an unfamiliar subject while trying to maintain rapport with the person being interviewed: in this case, a career criminal.  It became easier with time, but for the first one...maybe Yang could benefit from having someone to speak to.

And Blake could really use something to eat.   

Deciding that some time out of the office might be beneficial to them both, she left her desk and walked over to Yang.

“How’re you doing?” she asked, drawing Yang’s attention to her.

“Good.  I mean, I think.”  Yang shook her head and grinned.  “It was a whirlwind.”

After nodding, Blake shot a glance towards Sun, who was wearing headphones and bobbing his head while fiddling with that machine.

“Do you want to grab some food?” she asked in a quieter voice.  “Or do you need to head home?”  She added the last part when she realized that expecting Yang to stay late was presumptuous, but her worry disappeared when Yang smiled.

“Sure,” she replied, wise enough to match Blake’s volume.  “I’m starving.”

“Let’s go then.”  Blake gestured to the door and smiled when Yang hopped up and fell into step beside her.

“You have a place in mind?” Yang asked once they slipped into the hall.

“I do, but if there’s something you’d like -”  Blake’s polite question was stopped by Yang’s head shake.

“I’m not very familiar with this part of town, so I’m at your mercy.”

Lingering inside that response was that Yang didn’t spend much time in heavily Faunus areas.  That was pretty typical, and what Blake expected, which was why she’d thought of somewhere in advance.

“There’s a tiny takeout place a couple blocks from here.  They only make one specific meal each night, but I’ve yet to be disappointed.”

“Sounds great.  See - you know all these awesome places I could probably never find.”

“Well...it depends on if you’re looking for them…” Blake replied, glancing at Yang out of the corner of her eye as they left the building behind.

“Guess I’m not very observant.”  After chuckling at herself, Yang added, “I think I’m better at people than places, though.”

“I can see that,” Blake replied without a second thought, drawing a surprised look from Yang.  “I mean, you seem very personable,” she added, although that did nothing to dull the compliment just given.  

“How’d today go?” she asked before they lingered on that response for too long.

“I know I say this a lot, but that was the coolest thing ever.”

“I take it you got some good information from the guy?”

“Yes!  Well...to me, it was amazing, but I dunno how it’ll work in Brand’s story.  I hope he can use it.”

“Did playing good cop/bad cop work?”

“Oh yeah.  But Brand didn’t really play bad cop so much as just stand behind me and growl whenever the guy got too...enthusiastic.”

Blake grimaced at the term.  “Do I even want to know what that means?”

“He really wanted to hold my hand for some reason,” Yang explained, holding up one hand and looking at it as if wondering why it would be so desirable.  Shaking her head, she dropped her hand and shrugged.  “I’m all for holding hands, but not while some crazy dude talks about how he planned to kill a security guard in the entryway, but the guy was lucky enough to be on break.”  Remembering that moment, Yang wrinkled her nose.  “That just didn’t quite do it for me, ya know?”

Blake made a similar face at the explanation, which was about what she’d expected.  From what Brand had told her, the guy was a sleazeball and completely clueless as to how to be a professional criminal.  Unfortunately, that didn’t stop him from trying. 

“It’s good to know you’re not psychotic,” she replied, and Yang laughed.

“I mean, people call me crazy sometimes, but I hope they don’t mean it in that way.”  

After the two of them walked for several seconds in silence, Yang took a deep breath and continued in a more sober tone.

“Hearing about his life was just...so sad though.  His mom died when he was young, his dad was a horrible person…”  Trailing off, Yang sighed and shook her head again.  “It makes you realize how impactful childhood can be.  It can leave scars that determine who we become.  You can’t even see the scars, but they’re there.  Hurting when you press on them too roughly...”

Lightly swinging her arms, Yang looked around before sending Blake a small smile.  “I’m kinda wondering what mine are,” she concluded - the sudden introspection causing Blake to blink in surprise.

“What makes you think you have any?” 

“Well...it just seems like we all have one or two.”  Sticking both hands in her pockets in a display of nonchalance, Yang shrugged off the weighty topic.  “I’m probably the last person who should talk about feelings though.”

Blake wanted to ask why that was but also didn’t want to pry.  Instead, she allowed them to turn the corner in silence before waving towards the line of people stretching across the sidewalk up ahead.

“This is the place,” she said, keeping an eye on Yang’s response as they joined the end of the line composed entirely of Faunus.  Well...now all Faunus except for Yang.

“Wow.”  As soon as Yang spoke, the possum in front of them took a step forward to put a little more distance between them.  Yang noticed the action and briefly frowned, but the reaction didn’t last long before she smiled at Blake.  “This place is popular.”

“It’s one of the better places to eat in the area.  And it’s almost literally a hole in the wall.”

The ‘restaurant,’ if it could be called that, was nothing more than a register on a worn-counter with a roll-down gate used for security overnight.  The kitchen was tucked behind a drawn curtain, and the only employee to be seen was the young, wide-eyed lemur whose parents ran the kitchen.

Each Faunus ordered their meals and paid before the lemur disappeared behind the curtain only to reappear a short time later with the appropriate amount of boxes in hand.  These were placed in a plain paper bag, the top rolled down to keep the steam in, and handed off to the customer with a smile before the next person in line placed their order.

“What’s on the menu tonight?” 

When Yang asked the question, a few leery eyes shot in Blake’s direction - searching for the one who’d brought a human to their local spot.  Brushing off the looks, she glanced at the small whiteboard held to the wall of the building by a single nail.  

“Chicken and bacon baked mac ‘n cheese.”

“Uh, wow.  That sounds fantastic.”

On cue, Blake’s stomach growled.

“Smells fantastic too,” she added, taking a sniff of the air as the scent of bacon and cheese drifted from behind the curtain.  Catching Yang’s knowing grin, she cleared her throat and changed the subject while a soft blush appeared on her cheeks.

“How did it feel to be a journalist for a day?” she asked as they inched closer to the front of the line.

Yang chuckled at the term and glanced at Blake.  “It was a bit of a blur.  I mean, I had no idea what I was doing other than the very cryptic instructions Brand gave me.”

“Cryptic instructions?”

“Yeah!  He was not at all specific about what he wanted out of the guy.”  Clearing her throat, Yang lowered her voice in an attempt to impersonate Brand’s deep rumble.  “‘We want him to talk.’”  Stepping forward when the line moved, she resumed her normal tone and said, “About what, Brand?  What do you want him to talk about?”  Switching voices, she concluded with a brisk, “‘Himself,’” before throwing her hands in the air.  

Laughing at the little charade, Blake shook her head in amusement.

“Sometimes we don’t know what we’re looking for,” she explained.  “No matter how much planning you do, you can walk into an interview expecting to write the piece one way then leave with it spiraling in a different direction.”

“What you’re telling me is that he had no idea what he wanted.”

“Pretty much.”

When Blake smiled, Yang laughed - a sound that drew more attention their way. 

“Well, he fooled me.  Here I was all worried about letting him down.”

The comment was lighthearted in the moment, but Blake could tell that Yang meant the words - that she’d actually worried about hurting Brand’s work.  It was sweet that she’d been concerned...Blake had worried about that same situation, after all.  

“I’m sure he would’ve given you more direction if you were headed the wrong way,” Blake assured Yang as they took another step forward.  “He wouldn’t just let you flounder on your own.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  He’s too nice to do that.”

Blake agreed with that statement wholeheartedly, but the comment felt a bit unexpected coming from Yang.  Blake had worked with Brand for years and seen how he behaved with his family and coworkers - she knew from experience that he was a kind-hearted, gentle man.  Yang, however, had known Brand for only a few days and started with a rather unfavorable impression of him, yet she’d already come to the same conclusion.

Before Blake responded, the sound of loud laughter rounded the block and moved towards them.  From the sudden shift in energy from the Faunus in line, she already knew it was bad news.  And when she searched out the source of the noise, she confirmed it.  A group of young men were approaching them -  all college-aged and, based on their matching jerseys, heading home from some sporting event.  

They were intoxicated and rowdy, but it remained to be seen if they were just loud or something more sinister.  Regardless, the line now brimmed with unspoken caution.

“Heyyyy!”  Blake sighed at the tone, as one of the boys held out an arm to stop his friends from walking further.  “Look at this!”

“Whatcha guys waiting for?” the second asked, walking right up to the line and looking around.  “This where you get your rabies shots??”

“Good for them!  Keeping the rabies away,” the third added with a dutiful nod.

While the three of them laughed, they got no response other than a few dirty looks.  Looking at Yang, Blake pointedly shook her head, trying to convey without words that Yang should leave the situation be.  Yang frowned at the instruction but crossed her arms over her chest and didn’t say a word - although her jaw clenched in anger.

“Quiet bunch, huh?” the first boy added.  “Guess they’re all -”

His words abruptly ended when his eyes fell on Yang, who fearlessly stared back at him.  

Hey there, gorgeous,” he said, taking on a different tone while sidling up to her.  As he did so, his buddies let out whistles that made Blake’s skin crawl in repulsion.  “What’s someone like you doin’ with all these Faunus?” he asked with a wave towards the line.  “You lost?  Need a nice, strong man to escort you home?”

Grinning, he crossed his arms and blatantly flexed his muscles.

“If you can find one, let me know,” Yang replied with a sweet smile that quickly fell into a scowl.  “Cuz all I see are a bunch of jackasses.”

The boy’s grin instantly fell as he took a step backward in surprise.  The surprise wore off quickly though, and a sneer appeared in its place.  

“You’re one of those, huh?  A Faunus-loving waste of space.”  When Yang glared and said nothing, he shook his head and moved back to his friends.  “Your parents really fucked up raising you.”

His friends gave him an obligatory laugh while they walked away, all three of them shooting second and third glances Yang’s way as she glowered after them.  It was only after they rounded the next corner and disappeared that she dropped her arms and sighed.  As she did so, her gaze fell to the ground and stayed there - oblivious to the sympathetic glances sent her way by the other Faunus in line.

That interaction had started as usual, with Faunus in the spotlight, then all of the vile and filth had been heaped onto Yang’s shoulders alone.  They were spared this evening, but at what expense?  From the quiet looks of her fellow Faunus, Blake could feel that, as a group, they wished they could have shared in the hatred Yang just received.  They were used to it.  But Yang...was she used to it, too?

“Two, please,” Blake said, grateful they’d reached the front of the line so she could break the silence.  Noticing Yang reaching for her wallet, Blake waved her hand away.  “It’s on me.”

For some reason, Blake knew that Yang would normally protest the gesture, but today she agreed with a quiet “I’ll get yours next time.”

It was with this muted persona that Yang accepted their bag of food - still finding a nice smile for the young boy running the register - and followed Blake back to the office.  

In the quiet, Blake couldn’t decide what she wanted to say - mostly because she found it difficult to come to terms with what happened.  Something about the altercation didn’t sit well with her, and she needed to figure out why.  Besides the obvious answer of a group of humans once again being horrible.

When a deer Faunus moved to the very edge of the sidewalk as they passed by, she realized what was bothering her.

Yang was an outcast.  Maybe not in the same way that Blake often felt isolated or marginalized from society, but an outcast all the same.  Other humans wouldn’t accept her for who she was.  And Faunus were suspicious of her intentions.  She suffered discrimination and prejudice like Blake did, but from everyone.  

Once upon a time, Blake used to hide her ears underneath a ribbon - she used to hide who she was beneath a strip of fabric wrapped into a bow.  Not anymore.  She refused to alter her appearance to conform to those around her.  It wasn’t fair for her to hide when other Faunus could not.  This meant that she was subject to the same treatment, as unsavory as it could be.

Yang could hide her views - or change them.  Instead, she stood her ground.  Was it heroic or idiotic to stand unflinchingly in the face of prejudice?

Whichever it was, it had been ignorant for Blake to assume Yang’s life was a cakewalk because she was pretty and human.  Who knew if that was the first time something like that had happened.  Maybe something even worse had happened before, and Blake had no idea.  Instead, she thoughtlessly assumed Yang’s life was perfect.

“I think your parents did an amazing job raising you,” she said, looking over and catching Yang’s small smile aimed towards the ground.

“Thank you.  I value your opinion far more than theirs.”

“In that case, I don’t think we should listen to drunken buffoons.”

After several more silent steps through the quiet evening, Yang finally let out a loud sigh.

“You’re right.  They’re not worth it…especially not when we’re about to have a fantastic dinner.”  Holding up the bag, Yang smiled - the expression relieving in more ways than one.

“Feeling better?” Blake asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah...it just makes me mad.  I don’t care what they say to me, but…”  Yang clenched her fists and gritted her teeth before shaking her head.  “I get that I shouldn’t lash out at them, but I’d love to punch them in the face just once.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“Yeah yeah...I’d get in trouble and blah blah.  Weiss has read me the riot act on that like a hundred times.”  With another sigh, Yang swept a hand through her hair.  “I don’t know how you stay so calm.  Like it doesn’t faze you at all.  Doesn’t it make you angry?”

“Of course it does.”  Hearing the edge in her tone, Blake reminded herself that there was no need to be defensive with Yang.  “It does make me angry,” she continued in a more level manner.  “But by now it’s...a background simmer that only occasionally boils over.”

“I guess I need to find my inner Zen or something…”

“Sadly, I think it’s more...acceptance.  Accepting that this is the way things are and there’s not much we can do about it.  We’re like rats in a laboratory cage - powerless over what happens to us.”

Yang took in the words and mulled them over for a few seconds.

“I’d like to think we’re in a maze,” she replied.  “Maybe we run into dead ends all the time, and maybe it’s discouraging that we can’t see the path to the end, but there’s a way out if we keep trying and don’t give up.”

The analogy made Blake blink in surprise.

“I’ve...never thought about it that way,” she admitted.

“Plus, you never know, maybe there’s a reward waiting for us at the end.”

Thinking through that viewpoint, Blake decided she liked it far better than her own.  It might be difficult, and some days it might be extraordinarily difficult, but there was a way to solve the problems they’d gotten themselves into.  They just needed to keep trying, to keep running into dead ends and not grow discouraged.  Many people would eventually stop trying, but it wasn’t in her nature to give up.

“Like a piece of cheese?” she joked as the office building came into view.

“Hey, if that’s what makes you keep going, I won’t judge,” Yang replied with a grin.  “Personally, I’m hoping for a giant chocolate cake.  That’s a real reward.”

This time, Blake held the door open for Yang as they walked into the lobby together.

“What makes chocolate cake such a reward?” 

“I’m going to eat the entire thing by myself, Blake.  That’s the reward.”

Laughing at the idea of Yang eating an entire cake by herself, Blake held the door to the stairwell before following Yang upstairs.  Again, taking that short break had worked wonders for her mind.  Even after the unfortunate incident while waiting in line, she felt rejuvenated and ready to wrap up her day of work.  Maybe she’d even head out after finishing her food, then she’d make it home at a decent hour again.

At least, that was the fleeting plan that disappeared the second she opened the door to the office.  Standing in the doorway in shock, all of the stress of the day came rushing back to her in one fell swoop.

“Uhhh…” Yang said while Blake’s heart sank at the sight.

The somewhat-neat, somewhat-cluttered office they left behind only minutes ago...was now covered in foam.

“Sun!”

Comments

Whyarewehere

Hmmm... I wonder where Yang has heard that name before? Always love the little references! Great chapter and love the interaction and retrospection from Blake. Cheers!