Blake's entire morning after taking a shower was filled feeling completely anxious.
Here she was sitting in professor Carlisle's class, rubbing her legs together anxiously. The photo she had accidently send was heavy on her mind. Once the class was over she needed to talk about it with him, at least that's what he implied he wanted to talk about.
"You okay Blake?" Yang asked concerned.
Blake nodded "yes I'm fine just focused on listening" she lied. Weiss gave her a look of suspicion, like she knew what was going on. Obviously Blake hadn't told them anything about her day away with the young professor, nor the semi-explicit photo she had accidently send him this morning. With the knowledge that Weiss would tear her apart for it.
"So that was all for today everyone, class dismissed" Carlisle said.
In an instant the crowd of students dispersed up the stairs as the end of their class was announced. Team RWBY grabbed their stuff and prepared to leave as well, giving Blake a small hope that she could escape the incoming awkward talk.
"Miss Belladonna, could you stay for a minute, I would like to discuss something you" the professor said.
Blake's pride once again fell in her shoes, she should've known he wouldn't have forgotten. "What did you do?" Yang asked curiously. Weiss scoffed at her and Ruby looked confused "it's nothing you guys. You go I will catch up."
Reluctantly as they were, the team left her behind. Blake then walked back down the stairs, her head down from embarrassment as she approached the professor she was secretly crushing on. Or well not so secretly after that photo, that would imply quite a lot.
"Blake," the professor started "I would like to talk to you about…."
"I'm sorry about the picture" Blake cut in suddenly.
Professor Carlisle raised an eyebrow at her "picture…I just wanted to explain to you why I suddenly left yesterday, but now that you mention it, yes what was that picture about?" he asked crossing his arms as he leaned against his deck.
Blake could barely look at him, embarrassment flushed down her face. She couldn't speak. She wanted too, but she felt silenced by invisible hands.
"Blake, are you okay" he put his hand around the sides of her face in comfort, holding her face up to meet his, he could see the outlines of tears in her eyes. "Hey, hey it's okay. I'm not upset, it's alright Blake."
He smiled at her, his eyes shining behind his glasses as he moved his finger softly under her eyes to remove the small forming tears that where threatening to spill.
"I…I didn't mean to send it….it was an accident" Blake stammered out.
Carlisle smiled at her, gently cupping her face in his hands "it is alright. Everything is alright. You looked beautiful. I am thankful you trust me with something so intimate, especially since you showed me your ears, that would take quite the courage."
Blake was still silent, encouraged but still unable to form a sentence.
She felt a sense of shame and relief. He wasn't mad at her, no matter what he always seemed to see and hope the best for people. He wished to see the side of her that she was afraid to show, for fear of mocking, prejudice and being cast out. But professor Carlisle seemed to accepting, so willing to give anyone a chance.
Maybe it was worth the risk.
Blake moved her hands to her bow, slowly and softly tugging at the strings until pulling them apart, causing the fabric to move from her head to her open palms. Her cat ears, her Faunus attribute where clear as day. Only seen by the eyes of the professor.
He looked at them with admiration, taking in the sight. Blake blushed as he looked at her, almost taken aback by his reaction. Not one of fear but one of acceptance, almost admiration.
"You are so brave, Blake" he said to her, giving her a soft smile.
Without a second thought Blake wrapped her hands around him in an embrace, taking the young professor by surprise as he looked genuinely taken aback. Blake was holding him tightly. She just needed to hold him. This man of pure acceptance.
She felt his hands wrap around her in return, softly holding her.
"Thank you" she almost whispered to him.
"You don't have to thank me for doing what I'm supposed to do" he told her.
Blake felt she could stay like this for hours. His embrace felt so safe. But all good things come to an end as he removed his arms from her and she was forced to release him as well.
The young professor adjusted his glasses and looked at the now smiling Faunus girl "well what I wanted to talk to you about before this overly emotional display…I'm currently working on trying to discover more of the forests around Beacon. And I could use some help in that. Would you perhaps like to assist me?"
Blake laughed and smiled at that.
"Of course profess….I mean Firen. I would love to help you" she replied.
Carlisle beamed a smile "wonderful thank you Blake. I will inform you if I should require your assistance. Now I think you shouldn't keep your team waiting much longer" he told her.
Blake nodded in agreement, turning around before realizing her bow was still in her hands.
"If I may?" she heard the professor asked.
She turned back to him as he gently took the untied bow out of her hands and slowly but surely tied it around her revealed cat ears. Blake looked at him as he did so, completely focused on the task at hand. Their faces so close together…
He accepts you. Take the shot! Her mind screamed.
But she couldn't. Not now. She shouldn't push it, he had already done so much for her.
"There you go," he said as he pulled the bow into shape, covering her ears once more "beautiful. Now go ahead Blake, we will see each other soon."
"Thank you" Blake beamed smiling as she walked out of the classroom. Leaving a smiling professor Carlisle behind.
15 minutes later…
Blake found her teammates sitting in the cafeteria and joined them.
Ruby immediately began bombarding her with questions "what happened?" "what did you do that made him want to speak to you?" "are you in trouble?" and it continued on and on until Yang tried to calm her little sister down.
Weiss looked at her with a sight of disgust. Like Blake had taken the last desert right before her eyes.
"Why did he wanna talk to you?" Weiss asked condescendingly.
"Uhm…" Blake stuttered, remembering the interaction that had just occurred minutes ago "professor Carlisle is working on a project and he asked me to help him with field research." This wasn't untrue, the professor had asked her that specifically.
"What!" Weiss shouted angrily "why did he ask you for that?"
"I don't know….maybe he just thought I had a lot of experiences outdoors" she said, not wanting to escalate things further.
"Ugh" Weiss scoffed as she grabbed her stuff and left the table in a huff. Blake wanted to go after her, but Yang shot her a look that said don't, she'll calm down eventually and Blake just said back with a pit in her stomach. She knew Weiss liked the professor, but what could she do? The professor asked her specifically to help him? It wasn't her fault he was more interested in her.
Down the main hall…
Firen Carlisle walked silently, a cup of coffee in his hand and a briefcase in the other.
"Boss!" a sudden voice yelled, causing Carlisle to drop the coffee in surprise. The hot liquid making contact with his arm, causing him to cry out in pain. He turned around to see Vadim running towards, causing his anger to boil.
"What do you want Vadim!" he yelled in anger.
The small man stopped right in front of his superior, a scroll in his hand an image presented on it "this is the Eliphas Code, a device created by the Schnee Dust Company to track any living being with just a bit of DNA. With this device we can find what you're looking for" he told.
Through the searing pain on his hand Carlisle managed a smile at that information.
"Unfortunately the company has given the device to one of their benefactors and I don't know which one" Vadim told scratching the back of his head. Carlisle's smile immediately faded.
"Thank you for once again proving your universal uselessness Vadim. You know I should really.." Carlisle was interrupted by a figure coming across the corner. Immediately composing himself, Carlisle turned to see Weiss Schnee coming his way.
Wait a minute, the Schnee girl….Maybe she knows he thought.
"Professor Carlisle could I have a moment of your time?" she asked.
"Of course dear Miss Weiss, what can I do for you?" he asked trying to suppress the burning pain in his hand.
"Well I just heard that you asked Blake to help you with a project" she said, to which the young professor responded "correct. Miss Belladonna has a special set of skills I require for this task, hence why I asked her to help me."
Weiss nodded in response "well I was hoping if I could help you with something?"
Remembering what his quivering manservant just told him, about the device made by the Schnee Company, a thought sprung to his head.
Perhaps you can.
Smiling at her "unfortunately I don't really have anything that requires your help at the moment. But my interests vary often, perhaps you would like to help me some other time with another project. How does that sound?"
Weiss immediately beamed up "yes, yes of course anything to help you."
Carlisle chucked at her enthusiasm. No way was he sure that this girl had the information he needed, much less the device he needed. But it couldn't hurt to try.
"If you please hand me your scroll for a moment?" he asked her. Weiss stumbled around in her bag for her scroll before handing it to Carlisle, who was trying desperately to surpass the pain in his hand. He opened her scroll "I will give you my number so you can contact me if you find something interesting" he entered it and returned the scroll to her.
Weiss had to stop herself from giggling. This is really happening, she thought estatic.
"Thank you so much for the opportunity professor, I promise I will help you in any way you can" she said excited. "I'm sure you will" the professor assured her happily. The heiress turned around and walked off with a giggle and a smile on her face, brightening up her normally white eyes.
Carlisle looked after her, he had a lead now that could possibly help him find the device needed to find her. He was this close, he just needed to plan it just right.
"Such a nice girl" Vadim said unprompted.
"Quiet! And get me some damn burn ointment now you incompetent buffoon!" Carlisle shouted angrily, causing Vadim to run off in search for what was commanded of him.
Author's note:
Hello everyone. I want to thank you all for reading my story, I'm glad you all enjoy it, let me know what you think about it. I really enjoy making the story and it's turning into quite an interesting one. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing.
Hope to see you all back soon for the next chapter.