#if you want to listen to the entire song just click the lanterns link on the caption :)

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: Simple Melody

For our final AMA of Resbang 2017, @alliope, @bbbutterfingers & @daciafu stopped in to answer questions about their Resbang, Simple Melody! Here’s some of what went down:

Q: My first question for Allie is what inspired you to do this AU?

Allie: Well I've generally had the idea for an Over the Garden Wall AU for a while, not necessarily for SE, but as the first check-ins deadline was approaching I ended up rewatching bits of Over the Garden Wall and it just kinda clicked? Mainly I think it came from Crona's betrayal and Beatrice's betrayal and everything fell into place from there. I thought the eerie atmospheres would work well together! So I ended up scrapping my previous idea and wrote 3k plus a summary like three days before the first check-ins, rip.

Q: For butter/dacia, what went into how you decided which scene(s) to art?

butterfingers: HM well there was some chitchat when we started about what kind of work we wanted to do and I said that I loved the Boom comics covers, and then I shouted WHAT IF I MADE  COMIC BOOK COVERS! and I think Dacia went WHAT IF I DID BACKGROUNDS and I guess we just approached it as if we were doing something comic-y haha!

Allie: You two were the power duo.

daciafu: I've always been in love with the style of the backgrounds of OTGW since that's where all those cozy and spooky feelings of fall and the Unknown really shine and I'm honestly HORRIBLE at designing backgrounds so I wanted to take the challenge and push myself to get better! Mimicking other people's styles really helps me break down how they make their choices and teaches me how to make things look Decent so I was super hyped to pick up the OTGW style! And then when Butters and I were trying to figure out What Do and she said she wanted to tackle covers, I decided to do background-heavy scenes. 😊

Q: What is generally your guys’ process (writing for Allie and arting for butters and dacia)?

Allie: Well, I wrote in little scenes, like I would get an idea for a scene and just go for it, the fic wasn't at all coherent until maybe a few days before posting. This actually posed a problem since linking scenes took longer than I thought it would. Because I had most of my scenes written, I thought I had more finished than I really did. By the end of Resbang, I had 56k written but only 20k remotely post-able. I'm a super obsessive planner though, so my whole fic was outlined in detail early on, which was nice cause I knew what I was doing lol

butterfingers: I loved going through Allie's notes, I was always excited to see how they'd connect the dots! My art process is as follows: scribble something, put it aside, look at it a lot throughout the day with the thought that maybe I can surprise myself into seeing something new, find something I hate, fix it, rinse and repeat. For this project I actually... have a friend who works with Boom Comics and she was able to hook me up with a nice little gallery of illustrations for the OTGW comic so I got to go through and put together my mood board for it 😊

daciafu: I read over the gloriousness that was Allie's draft and immediately picked out some neat scenes or wanted to reimagine the classic OTWG ones. I spent a lot of time studying first! Looking at the art books, and poring over the show’s scenes and kind of getting a feel for the color palettes, textures and compositions. Then I watched a tutorial on Youtube where someone just deadass uploaded their painting process on a piece of official art that made it into the show. So that was EXTREMELY helpful to watch the way they painted back-to-front and kind of blended the planes without like, losing depth?? The internet is so, so wonderful. And then I got to work! Started with a soft brush for lineart so it wouldn't be too prevalent, moved onto base colors, then shading, and then really trying to establish textures and make the atmosphere Just Right(tm).

butterfingers: Genius!! Oh damn that sounds like such great advice vis à vis backgrounds. /takes notes

Q: You sound like the dream art partner Allie, I weep for my artists and my last minute HERE IS 10K I JUST TYPED UP BC IM A MESS.

Allie: Ahh geez, these two were the dream partners honestly, like I'm so glad they could gather stuff from my notes, cause I've always got everything together in my head, but then it gets out there and it's a mess, these two deserve all the love.

butterfingers: There was one thing I regret that I didn't have the chance to draw and it was like a throwaway line somewhere in your notes about Maka presenting Soul with a praying mantis and him freaking out. I resonated with that so hard hahaha.

Q: What was the hardest scene for you to write?

Allie: The hardest scene to write that's actually posted was anything with Justin really, I don't get his character and it was tough to write him. There were a few scenes that were hard to write because I rushed them, but I wouldn't say they were genuinely difficult scenes, I just gotta rewrite 'em! But overall the ending scene I'm still struggling to write and there's a dream scene that occurs which has been difficult to write just for making it dream-like enough?

Q: And what was the hardest to art? :o

butterfingers: I had a hard time with Maka's expressions. I had many scribbles designing a Ragnarok lantern, too, but it was very fun!!

Allie: Your design for the Ragnarok lantern was so good, I still cry over it.

butterfingers: Ahaha thank you! He was very Calcifer inspired ;)

daciafu: I struggled quite a bit with the first one I painted, just because it was all so new to me. I had to base color 3 different times because the soft lineart bothered me if something extended too far, or there was white background peeking through. And then reimagining the texture in the leaves and the ground to try to separate the planes there but also wanting them to be cohesive was a bit of a headache. If I had to go back and do that one over again I think I'd be more prepared to deal with the foliage lmao.

butterfingers: Your textures were very excellent, that was a quality I struggled with as well!

daciafu: The first one I painted was the Golden Light scene where Maka and Soul are leaving the woods and entering the fields.

butterfingers: Trees r hard.

Allie: They all came out so incredible though, I'm in awe of how you were able to create those leaves.

daciafu: Omg ;;;;; At the same time trees are so organic and flowy and the chances of getting them wrong are pretty slim considering they can get janked as hell lol they're super fun to just zone out to. "I’ll just put a happy little leaf here, ooh and how’s about another one right next to it. They can be happy friends. Oh look, the squad showed up!!" Channeling my inner Bob Ross... but yeah you can just do whatever with them and they somehow come together.

Q: Daciafu how do u.....background, like you did so well and all I hear from art friends is various levels of pterodactyl screeching when the word background is mentioned.

daciafu: I heavily based the Leafing the Forest scene and the church scene after stills from the show so I don't get composition points there, but I built the pumpkin fields just based off of the environment’s design elements. I really wanted to push the depth of that scene but also give it that same never-ending quality to it, and I'm super happy with the results. Another note is that I omitted the characters entirely while building the backgrounds. Since I'm usually a pretty character-heavy artist, I wanted to tackle it like I was preparing the scene for an animator later. And then once they were done, I added in our sweet kids. Doing it that way first really helped to cement the characters in the space rather than my usual "character is done, how can I put them in an interesting physical space?" struggle lmao.

Q: Did you guys feel like your writing/arting changed at all or that you learned anything/picked up new skills/honed old ones etc. etc. during Resbang?

Allie: Gosh yeah, it changed a lot. In hindsight a bad idea, but this was the first fic I'd ever written with intention of posting and the longest piece I'd ever written. Before this I had written very little and my longest piece was maybe 10k. Throughout Resbang I've learned most of everything from the ground up, it's taught me a lot about my limits, how I work and writing in general. I've definitely improved a lot from the experience!

butterfingers: Let me tell you all about the airbrush tool that I discovered during Resbang. Amazing. Incredible.

daciafu: I learned how to paint backgrounds!!! Which is something I've always wanted to get better at. And I got super comfortable in Clip Studio (I'd just gotten it) as well as using texture brushes, so overall it was a very helpful and wonderful experience as a Resbang participant and as an arteest.

Q: Oh that reminds me butters, what program do you use?

butterfingers: Paint Tool SAI for the most part, and then Photoshop for color correction, borders, and, like, finesse things! :)

Q: Did you guys listen to any music that inspired you or helped you create?

Allie: Ah, yeah! I had a playlist actually! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjTCaFkFU6rkD1edJwCZmHvJiUwlSUeGZ

If you want I can explain some bits of it? I use music a lot when writing aha. I like to associate certain songs with characters and character relationships, so most of the songs are connected to a particular part of the story. The Monroe Transfer, Wayfaring Stranger, and Mountains were all more general atmosphere stuff. Blame was very much related to Maka, which may not be apparent now, but yeah. Ragnarok I actually connected a lot with Willow Tree March. Soul was probably closest with A Lady. Crona had a lot of songs, but Neptune was most specific to them, as was probably Ghost Towns. Some character relationships I associated with certain songs, Crona-Ragnarok and Soul-Maka were both pretty connected to Always Gold, especially that dang last line "there were holes in you, the kind that I could not mend" oh man. Crona-Maka was definitely We Could Be Friends, Bloom, and Spell. Meet Me in The Woods I thought was a pretty good group song! Those are just some general bits of my thinking with the music aha.

daciafu: Definitely checked out Allie's dope playlist. For most of my working time, tho, I was either listening to TAZ: Commitment or MBMBaM oddly enough lol. I will forever think of Justin's uproarious laughter whenever I look at them lmao.

Q: Were any of the relationships difficult to characterize?

Allie: Mmm this may sound weird but early Maka-Crona was weird for me, cause they were kinda at that point where they want to (or at least Maka wants to) like each other, but they don’t like or trust each other at all and it's a weird spot for them. I'm used to writing them as at least interested by one another, if not enemies or already fond of one another, so this felt like a very odd place to start with them.

Q: Do you guys have future plans for writing/drawing? Aside from polishing and posting the rest of the fic!

Allie: I have,,, too many plans,, I need less plans,, someone please take them away from me, I can't be trusted with them,,,, I do want to do a sequel for this when I get it finished, playing on the detail about crows memory lasting five years so. Beyond that I have a SoMa fic to finish for the prompt challenge!! I'm working on a gift for Crescentcrona, which is a fantasy Kirona fic called Eat The Rich. I have polyam week fics that I'm cleaning up, I think my favorite so far is a Azusa/Naigus/Sid/Mifune one for Through The Seasons. And God I have so many CroMa fics I want to write, I gotta fill the AO3 tag. I think the biggest one right now is a wings-related soulmates au that I've been working on on the side since October I think?

daciafu: Yo there's one scene that I'm like sUPER hyped to do if Allie does the sequel because I already know exactly how I wanna draw it but I wasn't able to fit that in near the end, and it didn't end up in the first part. But there are a couple of other scenes Allie and I workshopped that would be super fun to do and I would love to draw them. Other than that, my drawing plans are pretty much working on commissions as they come in. Surprisingly my queue has been maxed out and I just got a full time job so of course now I'm like.... hm.... I'll get 'em done eventually!!

----

That’s the end of the AMAs for the 2017 season! Thanks again for reading along with us, and see you next year! :)

[rosymiz]

Like A Rose, CH 13: Golden

Title: Like A Rose By: ArisuChanSenpai (Visit my blog for AO3 link!) Fandom: League of Legends Ship: Jhin x Sona

The lights suddenly shut off, and the audience fell silent. They heard the strumming of strings as a spotlight shone on the side and cheered as it followed Sona to the center stage. Sona took a deep breath to calm her nerves, maintaining the elegant smile she barely managed to work up. She couldn’t see anything but a blur in the dark behind the light. She forced herself to keep a steady breath, or she was going to make a mistake.

But she didn’t know how long she could be able to pull this off. Only one question continued to ring in her head like a broken music box.

Where was Jhin?

Her finger plucked the wrong note, but she managed to recover by improvising a section in a different key before letting the last note reverberate and returning to the original key. She had to tread carefully, or this concert was going to be a disaster.

Adagio, she repeated to herself as she played. She had two songs until the intermission before the last half of the performance and one more before the finale. She would have to search for Jhin during then. But for now, she had to concentrate on her own state of mind.

Shen and Zed were watching from the side, observing Sona with a watchful eye. Zed narrowed his eyes when he couldn’t see the dancer in the other dark corner of the stage. “You’re certain?”

“I am. I wouldn’t make such assumptions otherwise,” Shen replied. “Khada Jhin is the dancer, and I haven’t been able to find him this entire time.” He tightened his fist under his crossed arms. “I’m suspecting that he somehow manipulated Lady Sona into making him the dancer of the concert, but…” He paused, thinking back to last night. “But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like that’s accurate.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Zed hissed. “The Golden Demon is here, and he’s probably going to send hundreds of these people to their graves.” He started walking away to scout the area until Shen stopped him.

“I’m not letting you catch him this time,” Shen said in a low voice. “You’re filling in for me for the speech, Zed.”

Zed’s face contorted. “Why should I do that?” he growled as he jerked his arm out of Shen’s grip. “I’m more suited to catch that monster in a dark night like this. You, on the other hand, he would spot from a mile away.” He then looked at the city square and beyond. “He obviously has no plan to counter us like that time at the Blossom Festival.”

Jhin had tried to lure them during a festival before. They didn’t realize what he was planning until his traps sank its teeth into its victims. He had used white and red lanterns to help judge the distance between his gun and Zed to make that perfect kill. But by the time they gathered together to make chase, Jhin already slipped out of Ionia.

Shen grabbed Zed’s arm again and held tighter. “Because when you head in, you don’t think about the safety of other people. We have the entire city gathered for Lady Sona’s concert, and Jhin might shoot her of all people. Do you know what kind of outrage that will cause?”

“Tch.” Zed clicked his tongue and shot a glare at Shen. “Fine. What is your plan?”

It was intermission. Sona flew past the musicians and confused crew members to go to the inn Jhin was in. If luck was on her side, he was standing in front of that dresser—waiting, deciding, and hopefully still resisting. She had a few minutes. Her fingers plucked a chord that embedded her each step with magic to help accelerate her speed.

She pounded on the door of the inn, hoping the innkeeper was in and not at her concert. When the door opened to a young woman cradling a baby, she tried to point to Jhin’s room on the second floor. The woman seemed to understand and let her through with a key. Sona bowed in gratitude and rushed up the stairs, shoving the key inside and bursting into the room.

The only sign indicating Jhin’s visit was an open dresser, where the shelf that held his bag was empty. Sona’s breathing quickened as she hurriedly went through the drawers, the closet, the restroom, under the bed, even the dresser to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. The gun was gone. Jhin took it with him.

Hopelessness overwhelmed her as she collapsed to her knees. His compulsion overtook him again, and she wasn’t there to help him. She cursed herself for thinking he wouldn’t slip away under her watch. But she couldn’t keep pitying herself like this forever. She had to find him.

There was no time. The intermission was going to end soon, and Sona had to return to perform the next few songs. Her eyes glinted with determination as she made her way back. She was going to search for him during Shen’s speech. But not without help.

“Sona, dear!” Lestara paced to Sona’s side. “Where were you? The intermission is about to be over.”

The musicians also walked over to her. “Lady Sona, where’s the dancer? We haven’t seen him during the first half. We even tried searching for him while you were gone, but he’s nowhere.”

“I need your help. From all of you. Please.” She clasped her hands together in plea.

“What do you need, dear?” Lestara asked.

“Stall for me when Shen is giving his speech before my finale.”

“Lady Sona, you’re up!” the stage manager called.

“Is it about him?” she referred to the dancer. “Sona, what’s going on?”

“We promise we will tell you everything. But I have one special request to ask of you, mother.” She calmly breathed out. “No matter what you see or hear, please wait for us. We’ll be ready.” She rushed up the steps to the stage manager’s urgent ushering, leaving her mother with just that.

People cheered again as Sona made her way to the center stage with her usual elegant smile. She waited for their applause to quiet down before she started playing. Her magic spilled onto the strings, creating an aria of green and turquoise around her for an extra kick. The audience marveled at the sparkling atmosphere that lifted Sona with elegance. They clapped to the lively beat of her song, singing along.

Akali and Kennen were watching from the sidelines of the crowd. Kennen was on Akali’s shoulders clapping to Sona’s music while she was nodding her head to the beat. She then noticed Zed exit the venue and hop away from roof to roof. She watched in suspicion when Zed seemed a bit… larger than she last saw him. She lost track of him to catch Kennen from almost falling off her shoulders.

Next was the song Sona made for Shen. She looked to the side, seeing Shen leaning against the metal pillar with crossed arms. Did Shen always wear black? He seemed paler than usual. She brushed it off, tuning her etwahl to the proper key to play his song. There was no time for her to think about little details.

“Oh! I think it’s the song she made for us!” Kennen whispered excitedly.

“Well, it’s meant more for master since she only knew his preference in music.”

“Yeah, but we’re technically connected to him, so,” he drawled, “we still count!”

Akali smirked behind her mask. “Good point.”

Lestara stepped on to the stage to help interpret Sona’s signs. “My daughter has worked on this song specifically for the sponsor, Master Shen, to express her gratitude. She did her very best to match the song to his tastes, and she would like you all the close your eyes and listen. Listen and think of a memory that it reminds you of.” She stepped backstage to let Sona start.

She let a a progression of notes resound loudly a few times in a slow tempo. She then played a soothing song that reminded Akali and Kennen of their meditation with their master. It brought a calm to their hearts as they closed their eyes, reminding them of a past time they considered the happiest. It was a song fit for someone like Shen, who meditated every day to maintain the balance within him.

Shen felt himself relax. Memories of his father surfaced as he listened. His father’s broad back that stood tall and proud with the Eye of Twilight at the ready. His father’s kind disposition after a night of training together with Zed. He wanted to reach out to those peaceful days when Zed was still a brother to him. He opened his eyes, Zed’s red cloak on his back flowing behind his back.

He wasn’t the one leaning against the metal pillar backstage. Shen was much, much farther away, crouching behind the slant of the tiled roof of a building. He and Zed had switched places, Shen wearing Zed's helmet and red cloak and Zed only wearing the black outfit underneath, but keeping their weapons on their person. His eyes scanned the top of buildings to search for a man on the rooftops or in the empty streets below.

It didn’t take him more than five minutes by the time he spotted a figure sitting on the edge of a building, his unruly, white wig swaying in the wind. The dancer—no, Khada Jhin—was watching the concert with that trademark gun hanging from his hand. The sliver of moonlight glinted off the metal into Shen’s eyes.

But why did Jhin look so resigned? He was hunched over with his legs crossed, not having even noticed Shen watching him from nearby. Shen didn’t dare reveal himself yet, for Jhin could have easily shot him the moment he felt his presence. Patience.

Jhin watched Sona play the song for Shen. It was just as relaxing as he remembered. He let out a heavy sigh. “What am I doing?” he asked himself. What did he grab his gun for? His compulsion collided heads with his desire, his need, for peace, refusing to let him rest without whispering poems of artistic beauty. Uncertainty plagued his heart from taking the shot.

He didn’t know how to handle the fierce battle inside him. He felt so compelled to hear screams of agony and terror. But he wanted peace. He needed the peace. Yet he just couldn’t attain it right now. He looked down at the gun in his hand, turning it over and feeling the grip against his fingers.

Another heavy sigh left his lips.

Silence filled the air after Sona played the last note. The audience applauded, their claps growing louder with their cheers. Lestara joined Sona onstage, her hand to her back and whispering something into her ear. Sona nodded and left after bowing with grace.

“I’m sure you’re all anticipating Sona’s finale, but we would like to hear the sponsor’s thoughts about the song my daughter worked hard on.” She gestured to Shen to come up to the stage. “Master Shen?”

Zed trudged up to the stage, his head lowered to hide his red eyes under the shadow. “Thank you… Lady Buvelle, for the kind words. I feel… humbled to hear such a beautiful song made in my preference in music.” This is how Shen sounded like, right? He suppressed a growl of spite rumbling in his throat.

Jhin’s head slowly looked up. That wasn’t the voice he knew to be Shen’s. He stood up on his feet, his back straightening. It was another familiar voice that he’s been searching for: Zed. Both Shen and Zed were here for the grand performance he’s been longing for for years. To think they were in the same vicinity without him planning their little reunion. How unexpected!

But he didn’t laugh. He didn’t smile.

His hand gripped the gun tighter as he aimed it at the stage.

Would the compulsion stop if he got rid of Shen and Zed once and for all? Was that the true answer to the peace he wanted?

He was lost.

Zed was about to walk backstage after finishing his awkward speech.

All he needed to do was shoot.

The tip of thumb found its way to the hammer of the gun.

If I was Khada Jhin, where would I go? Sona asked herself. She was running past strips of buildings, looking around for a spot that The Golden Demon would choose to shoot. No, these buildings would bar his vision. She arched her neck to look above the roofs for something. Anything.

She whipped around when she didn’t hear the voice from the stage anymore. The speech was finished. She was about to slam her hands on the strings in frustration and anger when the sound of the female musician’s voice boomed from the city square.

“Hello, Ionia! Can I hear a round of applause for the sponsor responsible for this lovely concert?” The crowd cheered. “We would like to introduce ourselves as the background instrumentalists of Lady Sona’s concert tonight, and we cannot describe how honored we are to perform together with her. On Lady Sona’s request, we will be playing a few songs of our own while she’s preparing for the finale!” She pulled Zed back to the stage with them. “Oh, Master Shen! You should stay and listen!”

“Keep Shen on the stage. Do whatever you can,” she told them.

Sona smiled in overwhelming gratitude at their way of stalling for time. She kept running.

And running.

And running.

She was about to give up hope until a pin of light gleamed brightly in her vision. She looked up to see Jhin standing on the edge of an abandoned building, his weapon already assembled to take the shot. Her eyes widened as she dashed into the building and up the stairway to the rooftop.

No voice was there to let Sona yell his name. No matter how hard she tried.

At the end of the staircase, she saw Jhin wrap his finger on the trigger. In a panic, she opened her mouth and strummed a chord.

Suddenly, Shen and Zed’s cowering frames disappeared like an extinguished flame as Jhin was hit with a surge of golden music. All the peaceful and joyful memories in his life flooded into his vision, and his time in the cherry blossom grove with Sona began to envelope him like the sunlight that shined through the trees into the clearing.

For a moment, he swore he heard a voice. A voice he felt drawn to—familiar—but unheard. Always silent and contained in music. He heard her call his name. His real name. The light drowned the darkness until there was nothing left. His gun fell to his feet with a metallic clatter.

Jhin turned around to see Sona running to his side in tears, throwing herself into his arms and send them collapsing onto the ground. “Sona…” He breathed in gasps as he realized she stopped him from making a big mistake. He embraced her tightly as he listened to her repeat his name through her breaths. “Sona… Sona… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

A whistling sound coming from her throat as she sobbed intensely. She made it in time. She made it just in time. She stopped him from killing someone. Her tears wet his robe as she gripped the backside.

He dug his face into her shoulder as he whispered gentle apologies. “I’m sorry. I won’t be losing my way anymore. I promise. I’m so sorry.” He shut his eyes. He never wanted to cause Sona this much heartbreak. It crushed him to listen to her cry. “This time, this time for certain, I’m with you. I’m still with you.”

His ivory mask slipped from his face beside his legs, the edge of the mask chipping off as it hit the ground. It didn’t matter to him anymore. He didn’t want any part of that life ever again. He opened his eyes when he sensed Shen’s presence. He looked up to see Shen dressed in Zed’s clothing, holding the hilt of his sword behind his back.

“We finally caught you,” Shen said firmly.

This was it. Jhin stared at Shen a little longer, waiting for that destructive flame to be ignited again. But there was nothing. He couldn’t feel that compulsion to kill anymore. It disappeared like the last wisp of smoke from the stub of a candle after being used up.

“So you have,” he could only reply before pressing his lips to Sona’s shoulder and cradling her in his embrace.