#THIS is them being bffs for ever btw. not ship art

[ubashaaa-archived]

going to a soad concert together ^_^

[mudinyourshoes]

More thoughts on Novoland! I'm up to ep 9 and:

-Ji Ye winning the martial arts contest was brutal to the point of being hard to watch. Not just physically, but also emotionally. He publicly shamed his dad - I don’t think that was what he was aiming for but it was the result - and in the process made his rawest emotional wounds public. (Btw I’m sure he’s going to pay for doing that to his dad. His family sucks). And then he’s abandoned. Neither his family, nor his fellow soldiers, nor the servants of the king he (theoretically) just won glory for come to help him, even though he’s bleeding and staggering. The people in the stadium don’t cheer his victory; none of them help him either. Only Asule and Yu Ran cheer and only they follow and help him. He’s met Asule and Yu Ran two or three times! Their friendship and their kindness seem to me like pricks of light in an otherwise bleakly dark landscape.

-Yu Ran has a crush on Ji Ye. She could not stop looking at him. Asule definitely noticed her looking and I wonder if he’s clocked the crush or if he’s too young to understand.

-I do not ship Yu Ran and Asule. I’m surprised by this because I expected to ship them and to be heartbroken on Asules’ behalf, but no. I really like them as friends. They should be bff’s but I can see potential and room for romantic growth in Yu Ran and Ji Ye’s relationship and I don’t see it with Yu Ran and Asule. I feel like Asule needs someone who can match him in the “still waters run deep” department.

-The bit where Ji Ye is told that a spear is not like a sword because it can be drawn back but not sheathed?! Ominous, especially when taken with the advice that Asule was given in the first episodes - that the real sheath for his sword was his heart. Yikes for Ji Ye?

-The contrast between the king debating his advisors and ordering, like, 12 people around while trying to control the outcome of the contest and IMMEDIATELY losing control of it vs. Asule quietly interfering twice (once when he stops Ji Ye’s peers from beating him up and once when he orders his sworn brother to lose the fight) and controlling the outcome of the contest without anyone knowing. Also the king was fixated on the outcome of the contest (ie. short term gains) while Asule, in addition to trying to repay a kindness, was thinking about long term relationships and fostering the growth of Ji Ye’s potential.

-The entire display of Asule’s nascent puppeteering abilities makes me rabid at the thought of him being a king one day. No idea if it’ll ever happen, but if it does I will be frothing at the mouth.

-Asule’s confrontation with his uncle - where he does not reveal the orders he gave about the contest, but instead confronts his uncle about “kin slaying”. This. Omg. This is not a conversation about Asule’s sworn brother. This is Asule calling out his uncle for killing Asule’s adopted dad and also - I think - pointing out that if anyone has the right to be kin slaying it’s ASULE. Because I’m pretty sure, based on was he’s said about vengeance killing, that Asule would be within his rights to kill his uncle in vengeance for his dad. Omg wtf. THIS SHOW.

-I ship the soft spoken, peace loving general and the wise but terrifying Lady Su. The minute I realized they had some kind of star crossed lovers thing going on, I became convinced one or both of them were going to end up dead. Now I’m waiting for it the tragedy to unfold.

-Asule has precognition in his dream sometimes?

-Lady Su’s asshole son seems to think he’s about to have more power than the king. So…he’s planning on killing the king? Or doing something related to the Bare Teeth or the Heavenly Samurai that he thinks will give him more power than the king? I hope someone unleashes hell on him. Not even being Lady Su’s son can save him from my ire. Honestly, I’m kind of startled she’s that attached to him because thus far he has zero redeeming qualities and she doesn’t seem like a “love is blind” type.

[whatiwillsay]

off topic - let’s talk about gaylena 👀

selena gomez is one of taylor’s oldest and bestest friends and given that she is in the 22 liner notes, a huge part of taylor’s life, and maybe fruity herself it seems like possibly we don’t talk about her here at the blog enough!

i don’t want to do a timeline of selena and taylor’s friendship - you can read more about that here, but they met back in the day when they were both dating jonas brothers and to me this idea of finding a real friendship in the midst of these contrived promances is pretty adorable.

ofc most of y’all think taylor is a fruit basket but i think there’s a good chance that selena is too!  i’m not saying she is for sure but y’all know me.  i’’m here to make a compelling case that everyone and their dog is gay so let’s gooooo! 

Part I - At least one fake rs!  

Selena “dated” Taylor Lautner in 2009 and he’s definitely gay.  Of course, that doesn’t mean she is, it could just be PR, but y’all know I gotta note everything!  We stan our fruity bffs dating the same gays 😍

Part II - Selena x cara delevingne

i feel like there’s a chance they met through taylor but everyone in that squad adjacent circle knows one another.  cara dated michelle rodriguez for the first half of 2014 and then got with annie clark in March 2015 but it feels like it’s possible something has gone on between her and Selena from summer 2014 - early 2015? ...maybe something casual on and off a bit?

August 2014 - Steamy pics surface in Saint-Tropez, France

Selena and and a freshly single Cara vacation together in part to celebrate Selena’s 22nd birthday.

They party together and look cozy!

Pictures such as this surface and spark rumors around the two:

Selena apparently loves the rumors and gushes about being shipped with Cara.

Quote:

You say Selena drag queens were the true measure of success for you. But isn’t it true that you’re not truly famous until you’ve been the subject of a gay rumor? And last year, the tabloids had a field day with photos of you and Cara Delevingne. I’ve made it!

How did you react to those rumors? Honestly, I loved it. I didn’t mind it. Especially because they weren’t talking about other people in my life for once, which was wonderful. Honestly, though, she’s incredible and very open and she just makes me open. She’s so fun and she’s just extremely adventurous, and sometimes I just want that in my life, so I didn’t mind it. I loved it.

Notice she doesn’t deny them?  Now of course she could just be being cool, if she freaked out about it that might be even weirder but hey, it’s still kind of interesting.

Then she admits to questioning her sexuality???

Have you ever questioned your sexuality? Oh, I think everybody does, no matter who they are. I do, yeah, of course. Absolutely. I think it’s healthy to gain a perspective on who you are deep down, question yourself and challenge yourself; it’s important to do that.

(Selena btw, this is cool and all, but not everybody questions their sexuality, maybe you’re just gay 👀)

November 1 - LACMA Art + Film Gala 

they even left the event together 👀

and they hung out earlier that day as well:

They were seen the next day partying for Kendall Jenner’s bday singing to her:

a few weeks later Cara tweets Selena’s lyrics!

In December 2014 they are travelling together in texas:

in january 2015 they get cozy at the golden globes together!

and they leave together again:

January 19th/20th a bunch of gay nonsense happens

They post this gay shit with matching shoes and linked fingers:

then they say this to one another:

Enty says they were hooking up!

then we don’t get any more content that i can find for about six months! perhaps they had a fling from summer 2014-jan 2015 and then it ends, Cara gets with Annie in March?  Then after half a year apart Selena and Cara resume a friendly relationship?  Perhaps!  Selena is seen with Justin a bit off and on during this time but this was in their Style/Heat Death Era imo (tbh i probably shouldn’t give a hetty pairing including Justin that designation 🤢but y’all get what I’m saying - it’s fully possible Selena was hooking up with both of them!

Now I’m not super familiar with Selena’s discography so y’all lmk if I’m missing anything major - lyric wise that point to her not being straight.

Selena’s album Revival that comes out after this relationship has a few songs with some vibes, even though I get the feeling a lot of it is probably about Justin, allow me to reach.  The title track could be translated as someone coming to terms with their sexuality (among other things):

I feel like I've awakened lately The chains around me are finally breaking I've been under self-restoration I've become my own salvation Showing up, no more hiding, hiding The light inside me is bursting, shining It's my, my, my time to butterfly

Good for you, imo, is too sexy to be about a man even if it’s not super queer lyrically it’s a vibe ok?

Me & My Girls might be a bestie anthem a la 22 (oh wait, no 22 was gay too) but I mean...could be about a girl gang of lesbians too!

And if we want it, we take it If we need money, we make it Nobody knows if we fake it You like to watch while we shake it I know we're making you thirsty You want us all in the worst way But you don't understand I don't need a man 

Quinn Fabray indeed!

Nobody feels probably like a retrospective on Justin 🙄but...there is a hint of sapphic craving in there!  Saying this particular lover loves them differently than everyone is a bit 👀 plus this stanza:

No oxygen, can barely breathe My darkest sin, you've raised release And it's all because of you, all because of you And I don't know what it is, but you've pulled me in No one compares, could ever begin To love me like you do And I wouldn't want them to

Is Perfect about some bitch Justin started dating?  Probably but bear with me here this song is actually pretty fucking gay.  Gay enough that I’m gonna add it to one of my gay playlists.  Could this song actually be about Cara moving on to Annie?

Ooh, and I bet she has it all Bet she's beautiful like you, like you And I bet she's got that touch Makes you fall in love, like you, like you

I can taste her lipstick and see her laying across your chest I can feel the distance every time you remember her fingertips Maybe I should be more like her Maybe I should be more like her I can taste her lipstick, it's like I'm kissing her, too And she's perfect And she's perfect

Part III - Selena x Julia Michaels

Julia Michaels is a singer/songwriter known for her song Issues.  I don’t know her sexuality but she at the least has gay vibes!  It seems they met around this time perhaps because Julia wrote on Revival.

They have a friendly enough friendship for a few years, liking one another’s posts on IG from time to time, posing for a photo a time or two and then they seem to get swept up into this very intense friendship in 2019.  They write some music together and Julia goes whole hog in promoting the shoe brand Selena is hawking this time 😭

2019 - The Superior Sapphic Jelena Timeline:

It starts, for some reason with a lot of shoe promotion:

chill, chill

more shoes

but more gayness?

this homo shit

ok...

Then we go into the REALLY GAY NOVEMBER OF 2019:

Then they perform together:

And...actually kiss...on the mouth on stage???

Sure it’s just a peck but still...if that were a guy people would say they were dating.  

Somehow kissing on the mouth isn’t the gayest thing these girls do over this period because these fucking dykes got matching tattoos.  I’ve read enough Larry blogs to know this actually means they’re secretly married.  All jokes aside this is fruity behavior. 

From their IG stories:

Selena gets Julia a very nice christmas gift:

Covid sets in and content drops off but god damn!  It’s possible they just had an intense friendship but if a man and a woman collabed on music together, kissed in public, and got matching tattoos everyone would say they were dating!

Selena, as far as I can find, didn’t have any public boyfriends around this time so who are some of these love songs about?

Rare comes out in January 2020 and perhaps has some gayish songs?

Don’t tell me why but boyfriend lowkey, has a gay vibe.  Don’t ask me to explain it but it’s just the musicality of it.

Crowded Room could be a love song for Julia?  (or by Julia for Selena, since they’re collaborators?)

Baby, it's just me and you Baby, it's just me and you Just us two Even in a crowded room Baby, it's just me and you, yeah

These are general gay vibes, our secret moments in a crowded room tease

It started polite, out on thin ice 'Til you came over to break it I threw you a line and you were mine

It would have started out polite between them, since they worked together for years before whatever 2019 was happened.  And throwing someone a line first of all makes Selena sound like the aggressor but also “throwing someone a line” could be a reference to writing songs together.

Yeah, I was afraid, but you made it safe I guess that is our combination Said you feel lost, well, so do I So won't you call me in the morning? I think that you should call me in the morning If you feel the same, 'cause

Lots of people are afraid at the beginning of a gay rs.  Treacherous tease 👀

In summation!

Selena does gay stuff like fantasizing ab kissing other women in her music, getting very touchy with famous dykes on vacay, hangs out with Taylor Swift, has chronic mental health issues, dated a jonas brother and a twilight gay, has admitted to questioning her sexuality, and loves being shipped with women.  Is she gay?  I don’t know!   But all she’s missing from her celesbian bingo card is a suspiciously intense friendship with a Glee Cast member! What do you guys think?  Selena fruity or just weird?

Edit to add: so apparently I missed an entire ship and Selena supposedly acted really gay all the time with her backup dancer Charity Baroni.  Exposing SMG has posted a lot about all that.

Also Selena has been cast in a gay role! edit to add: @bisluthq went and found this for me - julia is indeed a fruit queen

[najatheangel]

Idol Life Ship 💜💙

Hi!! May I request a private idol life ship (bf or gf is fine) My pronouns are she/her, I’m a leo, INFP-T, and I’m pansexual! Im 5’3, 130lbs, and I’m 16 and I’m Hispanic! I’m introverted and shy but I’m hyper & energetic once u get to know me. I have a good sense of humor, I laugh at anything & I have a contagious laugh. I’m super emotional & I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe in. My hobbies are watching anime, listening to music, and creating choreography, and occasionally I play video games. […]

Hii darling, thanks so much for your patience. The wait is finally over. Btw enjoyed reading about you…✨

Your Company: Cube Entertainment

You were originally there to support your friend to audition for the company until one of the judges decided let you give it shot. As soon as you started singing, everyone in the rooms jaw dropped. What stood out to them the most was your powerful singing and bright personality. You’ve trained under Cube Entertainment for 5 years.

Number of Members: Total of 6 members. 3 korean, 1 Thai, 1 from Canada and then there’s you.

Group Concept: Summer/Floral 

Your Position: Main Vocalist/Visual/Maknae. In the group, everyone admires your singing it puts them to tears almost. Your voice is very soft when talking to others, but as soon as your on the mic, your voice projects perfectly for the audience to hear. You have a pretty and youthful look which attracts a lot of other idols your age. When standing next to you, their eyes sparkle up when they see you smile or greet politely. Your relationship with the members are so adorable! Since your the youngest and the most charming, they love to baby you and give you advice on anything you need. Your closest with the oldest member she’s like your mama duck standing up from the other members teasing, laughing over the fans crack videos at 2am and taking 20+ photos in the photo booth. All your members love pampering you giving you anything you ask for and taking you out on adventures to get you to open up on your shell. Fyi, you have the best agyeo in the group. 

Your Scandal: You had a few encounters from older saesang trying to spam your vlives with the most weird comments. Thankfully they were blocked from the app and were never to bother you ever again without facing your manager. 

Girl BFF: Minju from IZ*ONE. Minju meet you while attending the school Seoul Music of Performing Arts. She was your best friend around that time and you both encouraged each other to stay strong and never to give up on your dreams. When you reunited at the Golden Disk Awards, it was an emotional experience, because you both were almost on the verge of not making it into the industry. You didn’t care who was watching, but you both ran to each other hugging and crying together congratulating each other for making it together. Ever since you both went back to being besties taking pictures every award show and catching up every chance you get. 

Boy BFF: Sungchan from Nct. You both were new debuting at the same time in your groups and the kpop industry as a whole. You both wanted to network with other groups and decided to become friends with him. You both meet at ISAC competing in archery and both of your groups won the category. The whole time you were smiling at each other and felt comfortable opening up to each other about your accomplishments and time being one of the youngest in your groups. He might be a little older then you and maybe even more shy, he respects you and loves taking you out for ice cream when your having your tough days. He would even try to start a group chat with you, chenle, him and jisung. The iconic friendship of the century. 

Your Ideal Type: Doyoung from Treasure. He was another one of your close friends in the industry and the two of you help each other work on songs for each others groups. He slowly developed a crush on you while in the process of hanging out and hearing you sing his songs so perfectly. You both almost dated at one point, but remained friends for the sake of cherishing each others friendship. 

Your GF: Winter from Aespa. Just like you and Sungchan, a month later she’s debuted with aespa and you both performed around the same time bumping into each other at music shows. You both were very playful and sweet towards each other forming a bond which made everyone scream “ouuu y’all cute!” After months of talking, hanging out with each other outside of dorms you both asked each other out at the same time which was a big sigh of relief. Everyone was very aceepting of your sexuality and your relationship with Winter including your fans. Your both young so of course your not saving your self for marriage. Even if it didn’t last long, you both can agree to stay friends no matter what.

How long have you debuted for: 5 years you’ve decided to continue your career in acting in both in Korea and America.

Other Activities: K-drama Actress/Music Show Mc

@kihyvnnie That’s all I got for ya honey bunny. Thanks for requesting and I hope this somewhat made your day. ⚡️⚡️

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: Close Your Eyes

Next up, @redphlox​ & @mrsashketchum​ stopped by to chat about their Resbang, Close Your Eyes. Here’s some of what went down:

Q: What inspired the concept behind the fic?

redphlox: WELL, I've had the idea to write a left-at-the-altar fic for a while, but I never quite had it envisioned in my mind scene/plot wise. I only had the premise. Then this year I decided to research wedding planning and ask my married friends [about] their wedding planning experience, and after brainstorming/talking it out with @professor-maka​ I had a solid idea finally. I love writing about emotions, especially coming-of-age/working through difficult situations, but writing this was difficult because I've never been in that situation (being left at the altar) so it was a journey.

Q: Mak, what went into how you chose which scenes to art/gif?

Mak (mrsashketchum): I actually had to work closely with Julie on what scenes to art and for the animatic :D But for the first piece, I really loved the bathtub scene and I thought it was such a unique challenge for me to draw the backgrounds and to bring the scene to life visually :0 If it makes sense?

redphlox: Mak drew the bathtub scene first right after she read the first chapter, like she mentioned, and we worked on picking out the scene for the icon collage together! I had the characters closing their eyes during specific moments and wanted to highlight those, and Mak brought them to life!

Q: Jackie/Soul brotp is a thing that you've created in not only this fic but some of your past ones as well! What inspired that? :D

redphlox: I LOVE Jackie so much, I think it's because I see her as a snarky, quietly sarcastic type that I relate to, so writing her with grumpy ass Soul just makes sense to me. They both are so reticent in canon, it just fits to me to put them together and have them be BFFs :D

Q: Mak, what made you decide to do an animatic?? It was so cool I looooved it.

Mak (mrsashketchum): I enjoy making animatics so much and I've always wanted to be a storyboard artist. I've also been planning to make an animatic anyway for Resbang, but when I saw Julie's fic summary I knew that the animatic was absolutely something I wanted. And I thought a trailer-like thing would go very well with the story? (This is definitely not because of watching so many wedding themed movies before, nope, lol).

Q: For Julie: There were a lot of feelings spread out through the fic, some that nearly brought me to tears. Did you have the same reactions to writing it? What emotions exactly were you trying to bring out in the reader? (because you brought out a lot).

redphlox: Hmmm, well... I wanted to bring out a sense of loss in reference to relationships, and rebuilding, and growing together after the trust is lost or the other person seems to be changing in a way you aren't. I also wanted to touch on Soul and Maka's separate and individual relationships with other people outside of their relationship, if that makes sense? I also aimed to highlight all sorts of love, so it was important to me to talk about everyone's relationships with each other. Friendship, lala, haha. My reaction to writing it was... ahh, frustration, because certain scenes were beyond reasonably difficult to write.

Q: What brought about the Soul and Wes conflict? Because like I was telling you in DMs, that wounded me ahahaha it was way too real.

redphlox: The Soul and Wes conflict was something that came up as I writing. Originally Wes was supposed to be the all-knowing, all supportive and understanding brother, but the more I wrote the more Soul started to resent Wes's blind optimism, and it makes sense - Soul can be a negative person, and it seems like he needs to sulk to process, and Wes just wasn't having it. Their personalities are too different, and showing that was important because it's okay to love someone and not know how to comfort them.

Q: That felt so real julie I loved it. As the owner of many siblings it read as absolutely true. Did your life influence that?

redphlox: Wes and Soul's relationship issues are inspired by some self-reflecting I've been doing, and taking the Love Languages test and comparing it to my loved one's results.

Q: For Mak: What inspired your color palette for the bathroom scene? It was very warm and it brought out as much emotion through visuals as the words themselves did. Was that intentional?

Mak (mrsashketchum): Yes it was definitely intentional! Like I said in my previous answer, I worked so closely with Julie (we fangirled so much over everything honestly), she helped me with colors and their poses and if there were tiny details I missed. She sent me a lot of references too which is very helpful for me since I tend to make use visual references more. It's always helpful to work closely with the author so that the feeling of the artwork doesn't wholly overwhelm the feeling of the writing style? Like I wanted it to match as well :") I'm glad it turned out amazingly.

Q: I was wondering Julie how you came up with the concept of the radio confession. I loved that Jackie's show was commandeered.

redphlox: Well, I was thinking, what's the opposite of having Soul be constipated with his feelings?? Blurting them out in public of course, haha, so that's how I came up with that scene. It's the first scene I had actually, and I plotted the fic for that ending. I also have Jackie as a public figure in many of AU's, she was a blogger in my model au, so the role seems a running gag in my writing.

Mak (mrsashketchum): Constipated was the best way to describe him with his feelings.

Q: So weird question for Julie: There's a movie I remember watching years and years ago, that I was reminded of when reading the radio confession scene, unfortunately for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. Did you draw that scene up from what would have fit into the story, or were you influenced by an outside source, like perhaps that mystery movie?

redphlox: I like to listen to the morning radio and always wonder how people are brave enough to go live on air and talk about their relationships or embarrassing moments etc, so that kind of inspired the radio scene too!

Q: I really enjoyed TsuWes btw, and it's not a ship I've really seen. What made you decide on it?

redphlox: AHHH well, they're both Tall, and I love both of them so.... I made them love each other. Also the ship name WesTsu Bestu got me.

Mak (mrsashketchum): I always thought that Tsu and Wes love to tease Soul and Maka together, so the ship happened like that haha.

Q: Btw Tsubaki owning a flower shop is greaaat was that always the plan?

redphlox: Tsu owning a flower shop was also one of those things that just came about because I needed someone to deliver those "I still love you" flowers, but it fit so perfectly because of how Soul fit into learning flower arranging from her and thus getting him to stay in Death City. It was one of those things that fell into place.

Mak (mrsashketchum): Those stuff in AUs that fall into place are the best accidents, if u can call it that.

Q: Question for Mak; the animatic, that collage, the illustration; how did you manage to capture the fic in its entirety, while still giving each piece made its own personality so to speak? For example; the bathroom scene with your color choices made it warm, melancholy, touching, the watercolor for the collage was deep and soothing at the same time, intense, and the animatic, the monotones give it a blank canvas for each viewer to create their own emotional interpretation. How are you absolutely amazing I guess is my overall question??

redphlox: This is the most important question of this AMA tbh. I love the lighting in that piece akfdsgnfkdfdss. I felt it in my heart.

Mak (mrsashketchum): Oh my god. Thank u for the question!!!! I... actually honestly have no idea haha. I guess it's just that when you love a concept so much and completely have a wonderful connection with your partner that it just flows? I wanted to really make the artworks fit into the theme and the feel of the writing. I made sure that while Julie checked if my artwork had the feel she was going for, I also wanted to make sure that what I was feeling was gonna reflect on it as well. This is for the bathtub scene btw haha. The collage was actually supposed to be monochrome as well but I wanted to give it some color too? Like the fic in its entirety is just blasting with emotions? And yet it's generally so soft to me. The animatic was really supposed to have that gray background because I've seen a lot of animatics drawn that way haha. But I did make it work to my advantage that it wasn't too overwhelmingly dark but it's so that you could see the tears as well? It would be hard if the background was white and the tears were white too, right? :0

Q: By the way I loved the weddings in the fic. Like I wanted to attend them they sounded gorgeous. How did you decide on those elements?

redphlox: I have an aesthetic/personal blog where I reblog a lot of pictures of flowers and I came across one that was a ball room covered in flowers and I thought - yep, Wes and Tsu would be married here. As for Soul and Maka's wedding, I LOVE being out at night, and I love soft lighting and would like a night wedding if I ever get married, so yeah. Aesthetic, haha.

Q: How did you manage to capture a canon-like Soul in an AU?

redphlox: Ahhh I just... plot out the fic centered with feelings first and go from there.

Q: I wanna know more about this fantastic partnership. it sounds like you guys were a great team and worked so well together - any tips on communication for anyone out there who may have felt shy? Also, give us the beta comments >:)

redphlox: Okay I LOVED working with Mak! Even though we're like, what, twelve hrs time difference??? we still managed to be online at the same time and work on our projects together. She'd draw line art and show me and I'd write a scene and show her and we'd keysmash at each other. It was soooo rewarding and fun!

Mak (mrsashketchum): I would like to say that Julie and I are the Angst Twins actually. I love working with Julie too???? Like everything just really worked out.

redphlox: It wasn't even planned tbh, I would see her online and go like :eyes: and she'd be like "im working on the collage!" or vice versa. It really felt like it was OUR resbang and not just MINE y’know? Tip wise, I'd say find a platform you really enjoy being on/are available on the most and communicate through there, that really worked for Mak and I.

redphlox: Since this was a srs fic most beta comments were of surprise and like, offended bc I did something Bad.

Jaded [@jaded-envy​] made a lot of silly comments! She is amazing. Like when Maka is at the bookstore and looking up self help books for looooove, jaded titled them after some fics i've written.

Q: Question for both Mak and Julie; your partnership sounded like it flowed like a dream. Did you guys ever feel like you were overpowering one another? I know alot of partnerships struggle with the "am I bugging them too much" or "what if i'm doing it wrong" mindsets, so how did you guys get past that, for anyone who suffered from those feelings.

Mak (mrsashketchum): Oh that's actually an interesting question!  I never thought of me overpowering Julie or her overpowering over me? It's more like I want to be able to do as much work as she does? Since we're partners we must work hand-in-hand and not with one of us being the overpowering one? So to speak.

redphlox: SAME what Mak said, I always offered her to give suggestions for the fic and she always asked me for advice on colors and we listened to each other. Basically we were considerate of each other, it was/is amazing :' D

Mak (mrsashketchum): aaaaaaa true ;w; Since it is technically a partnership, we treated it as if it were like something we needed to work on together, and doing stuff at the same time really helped put it into perspective in a way?

Q: Where did the inspo from the bathtub scene came from? Did you draw from a specific experience/influence for that?

redphlox: Hmm... well, no specific experience influenced that, it just like, happened? I thought like, "ok where would Maka be if she were crying?" and it made sense to put her in the bathtub after she spilled the ink on herself, and she prob had no energy to leave, so there she stayed until Soul found her.

Q: Also Julie, I know you suffered from writers block I kicked your butt into gear once, lol. How did you overcome it? When I get to a sentence or idea that I can't exactly word or find a way to explain, I usually drop it for weeks and then come back to it. Can't do that with Resbang to an extent so how'd you get past it within a limited amount of time without rushing the pace, or glossing over an idea that was meant to be incorporated into the fic?

redphlox: ahhhh WELL, I wrote 40kish between Jan 1st and Jan 16th, so a deadline kicks me into high gear. A lot of the block was not knowing what happens in weddings and doing research tbh x) I died a little but it made me stronger.

Q: Okay you broke my heart a number of times, can you explain the thought process of why Maka never texted Soul?

redphlox: Maka was just too shook to think rationally :0 Have you ever been so anxious it feels like you're going to die? That's basically how it was for her, the emotion was too strong. She realizes later she could have done better and coming to terms that she makes mistakes is also a lesson she had to learn.

Q: How long did recording voices for the animatic take? And did you have any silly moments while doing so? haha

Mak (mrsashketchum): I actually had the weirdest time doing every voice, it's crazy. It took half an hour to be honest? It didn't need to be perfect, it just needed to have the right emotion. I had to channel every angsty fiber of my being for crying!Maka.

Q: For Mak: Do you feel like you grew in your art skills through this bang? If so, how?

Mak (mrsashketchum): I actually did grow a lot in my art skills with this bang! I felt that giving myself more challenges in backgrounds helped a lot in dealing with drawing perspective. And also with hair. I learned so much with color as well and how each shade and palette is definitely super important.

Q: What are you most proud of for the piece/pieces you did?

Mak (mrsashketchum): I’m really proud of all my pieces! But if i could only pick one then it would be the bathtub scene for sure! I spent most of my waking hours for it and I even made a 3d model for the perspective just for a reference.

Q: What are you working on next?

Mak (mrsashketchum): I’m definitely working on some more animatics and animations and my Vday art will be super late haha. Also SoMa Week is near and I'm planning really big things!

Q: Favorite/least favorite moment/scene to write?

redphlox: Mmm my fave scene to write was all of them, I felt like I looked forward to all of them now that I look back to it, if that makes sense?

Q: Hardest scene/part to write?

Redphlox: A difficult scene to write was the very end where Soul and Maka finally talk it out bc I felt that I had gotten them in SO MUCH TROUBLE that I was like "how the fffff do I fix this?" But luckily I had the best betas, jaded and proma, there as I wrote it and we were all on the doc at the same time and we were all just, live writing/betaing. I’m v happy to have explored Soul and Maka's friendships and family life. One of my favorite scenes was the scene where Liz talked Maka through some Hard Truths. I love Liz. I think there was a scene I had to delete bc it just wasn’t fitting, it was with Kim and Soul, but I ended up using bits of it later.

Q: Tell us about your writing process.

redphlox: My writing process was basically writing like a turtle at the beginning/struggling to find inspiring music to write to/plotting, and then the last bit was writing 7k daily and going !!!! internally. Lots of keysmashes to my betas.

Q: What are you most proud of this Resbang?

redphlox: Im really proud of writing and finishing this resbang tbh, I had an amazing partner and had fun with my betas, and I pushed my writing speed/abilities because I explored some feelings I hadn't ever experienced before (being left at the altar) I'm happy with the outcome!

Q: Was music important to your process at all, and if so, are there any songs/playlists that were relevant?

redphlox: Yesssss so jaded made a playlist! Lemme get it. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7rssdV2CkoNRl4-cPWuqm7ocC-QxP0Vn

Q: What are you working on next?

redphlox: Next, I'm working on plotting this year's Resbang, finishing Siren AU, writing and posting my longfic Sailor Moon AU, and aside from writing I'm working on being a better reviewer/commenter and beta :D