The Vale Voice - Commentary - Ch. 13-14 (Patreon)
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If I’d known that I would be spending this entire story in quarantine/self-isolation, I might have chosen a different one! Something with more flash and pizazz. Or something that didn’t have such a slow build. Alas, I didn’t see this future...
But I’ve managed to wrap up quite a few loose ends over the past couple months! Nothing feels better than wrapping up a story you started years ago (except maybe posting it?). Just a couple of days ago, I finished the zombies story I’ve mentioned from time-to-time. I realized after the fact that it could have been a 10,000 word oneshot or two-part story or something. Instead, I used 80,000 words to write a full story. I probably should have seen that coming...
Surprisingly, I still have quite a few partially-finished stories in need of attention. I’m not sure which I’ll start next, mostly because I’m trying to take a break for maybe one or two days and let my mind rest. I do know what story I’ll be posting next, and that’s Star-Crossed - aka Space Bees.
Star-Crossed is jumping to the front of the line because it was inspired by DLartistanon (if you haven’t seen their stuff on tumblr, you should definitely check it out: https://dlartistanon.tumblr.com/). I didn’t want to make them wait forever to see the result of their inspiration posted to the rest of the world. After that, I’ll probably post the White Rose prequel to Dream Theory, just to mix up the pairings. Those stories are both about 20 chapters each, I think, so that’s the better part of our next year planned out. (I keep considering going to two chapters a week - maybe during hiatus only? - but I couldn’t do that and keep up with these commentaries. So...we’re stuck at one chapter per week for now!)
Anyway, that’s what’s on the horizon, but let’s get into our current story.
What I like most about this section of The Vale Voice is how soft Blake has become. From not even wanting Yang around, she now considers Yang to be part of her ‘work family.’ She’s still completely oblivious to her true feelings, of course, but that’s part of the fun. At least, I consider it a lot of fun to pull the wool over the main character’s eyes. It’s like Weiss in The Winter Challenge. Everyone could see how much she liked Ruby, but she provides constant excuses and rationalizations for why she behaves differently around her dashingly sweet partner.
Blake isn’t exactly like that because she knows her demeanor has changed. She even wonders why at several points, but always brushes off thinking about it because she’s ‘too busy.’ (So much denial going on in this girl’s head right now…)
Like the scent marking thing! I had to look that up because I’ve only ever heard about it before, but apparently it’s a real thing. And I thought it would be a wonderful way to embarrass the heck out of Blake, whose sense of smell is excellent just like her hearing. That’s something I haven’t gotten into with Blake before (because I typically write real-world scenarios), but her sense of smell should be excellent too. It almost makes her way too powerful. She can hear and smell from a mile away?? Talk about a great addition to any team.
Anyway, I love the idea that scent, to her, is important. So for Yang to say that she wants all of her clothes to smell like Blake is...well, it’s implying that she wants to be Blake’s. And Blake gets embarrassed by the thought. Stern, unyielding, always-composed Blake got all flustered and hurried away.
Poor Yang was probably like…“What? What’d I say?” (If she was really smart, she could Google ‘cat Faunus’ and learn everything. For the sake of this story and this moment, let’s say she didn’t. She’s smart but not story-breakingly smart.)
Chapter 13 is, essentially, about Yang. It gives us a better look into who she is and what she values. Now that Blake’s starting to soften up, this felt like the perfect spot to let her learn much more about who Yang really is.
One way you can tell that this isn’t really Blake’s chapter is by the way she takes an observational role in almost every situation. She doesn’t know where they’re going, she lets Yang lead the way, and she just watches the interview take place. And she likes taking the backseat every once in a while - I slipped that in with this sentence:
Yang nodded and moved that way while Blake stayed near her side, happy to follow someone else’s direction for once.
Imagine Blake’s life for a second. She’s editor-in-chief for The Vale Voice, where she takes responsibility for her coworkers and the paper, overall. Everyone comes to her for help. She has to make all the decisions. She has to worry about how her decisions will impact everyone around her. Even outside of work, she lives alone so is in charge of everything getting done. No food in the fridge? She has to go to the store. Broken microwave? She has to fix it or buy a new one. When she says that she’s tired, she has many reasons to be.
Enter Yang.
Yang offers support Blake doesn’t even realize she wants, but what’s great is that she implicitly trusts Yang enough to let go for a little bit. And it’s a relief! (Maybe she’ll start seeking out that relief more often. Who knows…)
Her ability to relax, even though she has so much work to do, makes this chapter even sweeter. When she’s relaxed, she’s much more...playful might be the best word. We all know that stress makes people behave how they wouldn’t normally, and the same can be said for her. So when she leaves the office and relaxes, we get to count how many times she thinks Yang is cute, adorable, or attractive. That probably happens at least a dozen times in this chapter alone, so I’m not even going to point them out.
What I am going to point out is a little glimpse into Yang’s feelings:
Yang gave a cute thumbs up before looking embarrassed about doing so. Sticking her hands in her pockets, she motioned with one elbow for them to turn right at the next street.
Yang’s embarrassment probably stems from her massive crush on Blake. Of course Blake thinks it’s cute - she’s in the phase where she thinks everything Yang does is cute - but Yang’s probably thinking “Oh my god, what did I just do? A thumbs up, Yang? Really? What are you, twelve?”
Giving your crush a thumbs up wouldn’t be too embarrassing under normal circumstances, but I’m pretty sure Blake comes off as extremely intelligent, sophisticated, and no-nonsense. That would be like...like giving The Queen of England a thumbs up. She would probably be ok with it, but really? You meet the Queen of England and you give her a thumbs up? Couldn’t think of anything better? (Like a fist bump, perhaps. Actually no, don’t do that. Raising your fist at the Queen seems like a royally bad idea.)
We get to meet some actual twelve-year-olds in the middle of the chapter, where Yang rocks her first interview.
I really enjoyed writing about Ms. Woodley’s foster home and Blake and Yang’s experience there. When I was trying to think of what Yang cared about and wanted to write about, I felt like this made too much sense. As someone with a great deal of empathy, who has also dealt with loss, she puts a high value on family and feels for the people without.
We’re going to flash forward for a bit here, and I’m going to point out something Blake mentioned in the first chapter:
Her children, if she ever had any, would grow up in a society far different from the one she knew.
Blake seems pretty open to having kids, right? (Also, when she’s watching Yang play with the kids, her maternal side definitely starts kicking). And Yang loves kids - she said so herself. So...once they reach their ‘happily-ever-after,’ what do you think will stop them from adopting a bunch of kids?
The answer is nothing! Nothing will stop them, and I imagine them adopting lots of kids in their future. Two...maybe three or four depending on how their lives go. All Faunus, too. And Blake’s prediction will come true - not because society has dramatically changed or anything, but because her outlook on life will have changed.
We already see her outlook changing in this story, and Yang’s interview helps push that even further along. If you remember the beginning of the story, her thoughts are basically “All humans are bad.” Now, she’s kind of thinking, “Maybe most are bad, but Yang is good. And if Yang is good, maybe others are too.”
The door has opened just a crack! Now to blow it off its hinges.
Kidding, kidding. She wouldn’t respond well to brute force. She’d slam that door right in our faces.
As we leave Ms. Woodley’s behind, keep Xander in mind. That name might pop up somewhere in the future, and in an unexpected way. Of course it could be ages from now so I won’t blame you for forgetting. Here’s hoping I remember...
But on to the end of Chapter 13, which I would call eye-opening for Blake. We get to learn more about Yang, and she realizes that Yang’s life isn’t perfect. Remember that one of her first thoughts was that Yang won the genetic lottery - human and beautiful, her life must be a walk in the park. Now that they’ve grown closer, she feels appropriately guilty for making that assumption. As she says - hardship doesn’t care about appearance.
One of the best parts about this lesson is that she acts upon it immediately. She goes back to the office, calls her parents, and promises to get in touch more often.
Kali gives us some laughs before throwing a monkey wrench into things:
Her mom only tried to set her up with Faunus. Her mom only talked about her potentially dating Faunus. Her mom wanted her to end up with a Faunus. Which was...fine, really. It wasn’t as if she imagined her future any other way. But, as her attention again drifted towards the greater office and people working there, she found herself wondering what Yang’s mom would have wanted for her daughter. But also...who did Yang want for herself?
I believe I’ve done a good job of putting our future conflict in neon lights. Neon signs? Flood lights? I can’t think of the right phrase, but it’s illuminated really bright. That probably makes you wary, but Chapter 14 is just fine!
Chapter 14 is actually more cuteness. I’ve been told, however, that as stories get cuter and cuter, alarm and apprehension grows. On a scale of one to ten, how is your apprehension doing right now? A five, maybe? Approaching a six or seven?
Things are going so well though! I think we can safely say that Blake is flirting with Yang now - that’s how playful she’s being. I thought it was so funny that she, of all people, would seize the opportunity to scare Yang half to death. Can’t you just imagine her sneaking across the room? Just thinking about her doing that makes me laugh. That’s completely contrary to her character at the beginning of the story.
And who’s still rooting her on in the background? Velvet, of course. Velvet’s no fool - she knows exactly what’s going on. I love that she has the courage to point out just how much Blake has changed her handling of Yang:
“Well, it’s very kind of you to help her.”
“I’m not just going to drop her in the deep end and let her sink,” Blake replied, tilting her head in amusement that Velvet would think so.
“Oh, I know that. But let her flounder a little bit?” When Velvet lifted her hands in a ‘maybe’ expression, Blake shushed her and smiled as she flitted out of the office.
This reminds me that I had a Velvet pun that didn’t make it into the story, which I was really sad about. But I can share it with you, so at least someone gets to read it:
“Who told you that?” Blake asked, but Yang shrugged her shoulders.
“I dunno. Some-bunny.”
Cue Velvet laughing at her desk.
Of course, Velvet’s not at her desk right now because she’s busy teasing Blake by whispering something to Yang that Blake can’t hear. Blake’s curiosity spikes off the charts, yet she never does figure out what Velvet says, does she?
Have no fear, because I’m here to tell you! Although I never had anything specific planned, I imagine Velvet saying something relatively innocuous like, “Blake’s a great boss, isn’t she?” Because of course Yang would agree to that! And of course she doesn’t know how quietly she needs to speak so Blake can’t overhear, so Blake does overhear and gets really curious.
Unfortunately for her, she’s too busy to focus her attention on Yang all day. Sun needs help picking a topic. Victor wants more space (I love every time he shows up in the story). Advertisers are freaking out. And she has to reformat an entire paper in less than seven days.
I don’t envy her right now. Although maybe I do. Because in the midst of all that work, Yang’s bringing her tea and buying her dinner.
Yang proves that her nose kind of works, too! At least, it worked enough to smell Blake’s peach tea that morning. Peach does have a pretty strong, unique scent though.
Can you imagine having such a big crush on someone that you smell their tea and your first thought is “ah, she likes peach.” Then you seize the chance to buy her that peach tea later in the day? Also, this will sound kind of creepy, but obviously Yang snuck enough glances Blake’s way to know that Blake hadn’t touched her tea since that morning. Therefore...it must be cold by now and she needed a new one!
Blake’s getting pampered, and she loves it. (We love it too.)
She’s also getting a little jealous hearing about how much Yang’s playing Thunderball with those other Faunus boys. Especially Ben, the leopard. Yang senses it too. Why else would she respond like this?
“I think he’d be a good friend.” Meeting Blake’s eyes, Yang smiled. “Not really interested in him more than that.”
That’s a pretty clear ‘no, I’m not going to date him.’ Blake’s relieved, of course, but then there’s this:
“Part of Blake almost wanted to see Yang date a Faunus, out of pure curiosity about what that would be like. What was Yang like in a relationship? Was she the same? More distracted? Did she talk about her significant other often?
You know, you could find out if you just dated her, Blake. Unfortunately, she immediately follows up with this:
“Personally, she’d never considered dating a human, based partly on circumstance and partly on values. She’d never met a human worth dating. And why would she when there were plenty of eligible Faunus out there?
Dum, dum, dummmm...
But it’s fine! Totally fine…
Ok, but if you squint a little bit, do you think we can consider their dinner in the office a date? Well, a date with some work attached? They’re alone, Yang bought dinner (she even bought extra for Blake - that girl’s going to be spoiled in no time), and Blake’s having a really good time.
There is a comparison between Yang and Sun here, as Blake mentions that she doesn’t let Sun stay in her office because he’s too distracting. He moves and fidgets too much for her to focus. Yang, however...Yang’s presence is comforting, yet even more distracting. It’s just that Blake likes this distraction. So much so that she’s the one breaking the silence:
“You can talk sometimes, you know,” Blake finally said when she couldn’t hold the conversation at bay any longer.
They get along so well! And now they’re flirting with each other and teasing one another...and Blake can hardly stop smiling when she looks at Yang, and vice versa. (Just typing all of that made me apprehensive.)
But that worry is for the future. Right now, we can enjoy how cute they are, and how Yang’s being so supportive and helping Blake through this monumental change at work. We don’t have to worry about anything else...
There are seven chapters left, one of which is the epilogue. So six chapters, really. That seems like a lot and not much at the same time. I’m ready and not ready for it to end! Don’t I get like this towards the end of every story? Excited for you to see the end, but equally excited to move on to whatever’s next!
But first, let’s get these two on the same page, shall we?
Until next time,
Miko