So here we are… nearly a year from the last time I updated any of my stories. I've been hard at work with Twitch streaming (meeting new friends, making connections, AND I even built a new PC from the ground up) and trying to figure out what to do with my life in terms of majoring (gonna be heading to college soon). Writing has been in the back of my mind for a good amount of time, but it's never gone away from my thoughts. I wanted to get back to writing so I can at least finish my projects and see where it takes me (a sort of test to see if I still have the motivation to keep writing fanfics for RWBY), since I felt it was unfair of me to have dropped from the face of the Earth without finishing the stories I had started.

Am I going to finish those stories? Maybe… my life is starting to revolve more around Twitch instead of here, since I do want to grow there and accomplish my goal of doing bigger things… which I kind of am doing, now.

I'm going to Dreamhack Dallas at the end of this month (May 31st) to take part in a speedrunning marathon for charity. I'll be speedrunning Outlast (Glitchless) to end off Day 1 of the event, so if you want more info on that, then head on over to my Twitch channel at (/)thedarkenedrose (delete the parenthesis there, of course) and type in !dreamhack (I linked the schedule to that command, so you can see the list of runs. I come on right after Halo 2 Anniversary so it's going to be hype). I hope to see some of you guys there, since it'd be great to hear from old and new readers if you like to donate and support the charity (which is 1uponcancer, who are great people, by the way).

Anyways, this "Short" is going to be structured differently. I haven't written in a good bit, so I need a warm-up to see how I fare with writing, again. It's been nearly a year, so I'm rusty as hell. If I make more of these shorts, just know that these shorts revolve around Ruby's last couple of days before kicking off the tour that's mentioned in the finale chapters (not in chronological order, by the way. Also, it's just to help with getting in some more details and tie-up loose ends that I have honestly kind of forgotten about. *sigh* ). Though even if I'm rusty, I hope you guys enjoy. Let me know what you guys think by leaving a review. It'd seriously help me know where I am now in terms of writing skill so I can improve and derust much quicker.

Much love and credit to MartunaMajor for looking over this short. I'd be too nervous to have put this out if I didn't have anyone to look it over, especially with a good guy like him. Now… let's proceed.

Tomorrow

I remembered what I said about that day

It will be the start of something new

Something new that you won't know of until it comes in

The clock starts to run once more as soon as you open your eyes and take in the air of the new day

And when you get up and look out the window to the world beyond home…

The sound and feel of that soft gust of wind

The sounds of children laughing as they make their way to school

And the warmth that was the nearly ending Summer

You can't help but think that, what is now Today, will be a good day

That's how my day started if I were to sum it up in a poem; the morning had a sort of peaceful feeling to it as I woke up. It's only a few days before the Scattered Petals tour, but I've been hard at work when it comes to coming up with covers or a new song for the next album. Even if I'm going to be away for my biggest tour yet, I'm always working on something new to bring to the world.

I stretched my arms and looked over to my right to see Weiss sound asleep; I couldn't help but smile and lean down, giving her a gentle peck on her cheek. In a quiet fashion, I got out of bed and made sure she was properly covered with the blanket before heading out of the room, not even bothering to fix myself as I made a beeline to the studio. It felt like a cover day to me as I entered and grabbed my guitar, Roseline, from the wall. Sometimes, I determine what I'm going to do by the way I feel or what I've been motivated to experiment with, whether it'd be covers or instrumentation that can lead to laying down the basis for a new song.

I spent the first few minutes of my time booting up the computer and turning on the audio control board before heading inside the sound booth. I sat down, connected Roseline to a pedal board I made, which I compiled many different effects pedals to over time, and made some quick adjustments to them to get the sound I wanted to get out of my baby. I looked over towards the piano and noticed a mic was already at the ready to be used if I wanted to move over to it. At least I don't have to spend more than half an hour to do what I want to do for this quick cover. It's just an idea after all. With covers, I tend to take a more fun approach to them to see what I can come up with first before taking a more serious approach to it. I would also consider whether or not to take the cover to Coco and get her thoughts on releasing it through the label, but I think it's better not to do that for this song; it just wouldn't feel right. I finally tweaked my guitar's tuning to a different standard before humming happily. "Finally! Let's get to it!" I exclaimed to myself. I put the headphones that were hanging on the mic stand beside my guitar on my head and strummed a few notes to see how the volume was before looking back at the piano, again.

How I stared at it would make people wonder if I was okay or seeing something, but to other musicians, it was the look of potential; that stare of interest to see if there was something you could do with whatever it was you're staring at for the sake of music. Though in actuality, it was a look of morbid curiosity, due to the fact that I was still learning more about the piano. I was never that great at improvising with it or getting something good out of it until Coco got in touch with me, last year. Coco was such a joy to work with, since she's been in music for waaaay longer than I've been. She saw something in me and offered to mentor me, which I couldn't resist accepting; it felt like I got a major step into the industry itself when she made that offer over the phone, even if it was after the second album I released that got a lot of people around Remnant listening to what I had to offer. Just hearing the responses to that album made me so damn emotional, having known that I had finally broken out to the world of music, and Coco contacting me was the icing on the cake that I couldn't wait to have.

She taught me things I never knew about the industry, even if it was the bad parts of the industry itself. It didn't deter me, but it definitely helped me be wiser when it came to making some short EPs to pass the time between the second and third and current album in my career, since I would jump from label to label to see who would fit with what I'd like to do with my music. Eventually, I decided to work under Coco's own label, since she was the one that allowed complete, creative freedom with our works with hardly any sort of harsh time constraints attached to get our works done for pressing and releasing. She taught me the basics to the grand piano, how to crack through higher notes without killing your voice easily, and connected me with so many great people, even her girlfriend Velvet (now wife after having dated for more than a couple of years), who works as a roadie for many of the bands or individual artists that signed under her label. I have a lot to thank her for; not only was she a great mentor that helped improve and enhance my musical style and range, she became a great friend at the end of all that.

After what could have been minutes of staring at the piano and reminiscing, I finally got ready to record. I'll give it a shot. I thought and sighed shakily, now thinking about the song I was going to try and cover. I've been playing this rap album on repeat from a guy that passed away a while back, due to depression. It was saddening to hear that, since this album made me fall in love with his works. He just knew how to turn his experience with depression into something memorable, upbeat, melodic, and of course, melancholic with this album. The man was a kind and creative genius, even if he had issues with addiction and had his bad songs like any other musician.

There was a piano portion at the end, but I haven't really given myself the time to go and find a notes sheet to print and use, since it was only just recently the thought of covering this song came to mind. Nevertheless, I didn't want that to discourage me, so I thought of covering that part by ear and seeing if I can improve on my improv skills for the instrument. The only thing I wish for was for someone to lay down the drum line instead of having me listen to the song itself.

At least with the guitar portions, I recognized the notes the guitarist he worked with played during the song, so I can easily improv to that and even add my own take on it. I even had a board nearby my pedal board specifically meant to repeat a riff I play in a sequence over anything I else I play, so I can create the melody and rhythm all by myself without having to have someone else play one or the other for me, since I can do multiple repeated sequences at once along with having a quick reset button to not throw myself off when the beat changes up. I even try to create songs I improvised with the board, just to see if I could create something with only one person instead of a whole band. Of course that will never replace having Yang and Blake at the helm with their respective instruments; it's just another way of experimentation for me when I want to think or create something alone.

I readied myself, pulling out my scroll and connecting it with the computer that works in tandem with the audio board so I can play the music through my headphones to play along with it. I'm trying to go through it in one take, so even if I make a mistake or the song kind of goes ahead of me, I'll just recover and keep going. I want to see if there's potential in covering this with my voice and style, though I'm catering more to the song's style than trying to make it heavy. I think that'll just ruin the song if I tried to make it rock or metal. I thought and sighed, shaking my head at some feeble attempts I've done before in terms of experimenting with soft music and turning them into something heavier.

As soon as I connected my scroll's music player to the computer, I set it down on the slim music stand I sometimes used for writing ideas and lyrics on when I'm here in the booth and picked up my guitar pick before hitting play on the song. The player has a seven second buffer I use so I can hit record from a button on the wall in front of the glass window a friend of Blake's made for us; it's been a pretty handy tool when I want an idea/fun recording to be as hassle free as possible. A few seconds after taking my seat again, the song started to play with a smooth intro. As soon as the beginning notes went, I started to strum along with the beat.

The world is so small 'til it ain't, yeah

I'm building up a wall 'til it break

She hate it when I call and it's late

I don't wanna keep you waiting

I hope I never keep you waiting, yeah

I know the song itself was depressing, despite the sound of the beefy guitar, drums, and background instrumentation; though to be honest, I can't help but fall in love with this beat. I'd love to make a song with this sort of instrumentation.

I think I know it all but I don't

Why you always at the mall when you broke? Yeah

And I just wanna ball

Maybe dunk but I've never been tall, yeah

I might trip, I never fall

God knows I've came close (don't try this at home)

The artist himself was a guy struggling with a severe form of depression. Even if he was rich from making music, he didn't really feel happy and sometimes felt lonely. Thinking about his situation, it saddens me, since many other musicians have succumbed to depression and aren't around with us anymore. I would have loved to have met them, especially this guy. A couple more lines in the verse and a chorus later, I knew that I was getting into this cover, my body mindlessly working the pedals on the riff repeating board and effects board as I kept singing along.

Yeah, I got a bad attitude, playing 'til I'm out of moves

No need for shame, I get more peace at slow speeds

Go beat the game, young control freak

It's cold in my veins, I'm below freezing, snow season (Made me)

They know that I so need my space

Don't wanna grow old so I smoke just in case

It was interesting to hear he was a smoker despite doing music. That sort of stuff can make singing pretty difficult so I never really got into that sort of stuff, since it also can lead you somewhere dark and troubling if you're not careful… well, and Yang made sure I didn't try that stuff. She seems pretty fine with me drinking alcohol when I occasionally do; then again, I drink in moderation, unless she decides one day to prank me with spiking my drink with even more alcohol… whenever that is.

All I got is a little bit of space and time

Drawing shapes and lines of the world we made

Tomorrow may be right around the corner

But I swear it's gon' be worth it if I make you wait

There's somewhere above, you keep reaching up

That's really all it takes

We don't need nothing but today (Day) today (Day)

Today (Day) today (Day)

As soon as the last verse went, I put my guitar down and let the riff repeater do the work so I can prepare to get on the piano. As soon as the final lyrics to the chorus went, I quickly got ready on the piano for the finale… my favorite part of this song.

Yeah, nine times out of ten I get it wrong

That's why I wrote this song, told myself to hold on

I can feel my fingers slippin'

In a motherfuckin' instant, I'll be gone

Do you want it all if it's all mediocre?

Staring at the wall and the wall's full of posters

Lookin' at my dreams, who I wanna be

I guess you gotta see it to believe

I thought about it for a good bit as I created the first two albums of my music career. There was the risk of getting into ruts, moments where it feels overwhelming and nothing comes to you in terms of piecing together an album. I've been lucky to not have that happen, especially with how far I've gotten already, though I felt that I should ready myself for the day it happens. It makes me appreciate Weiss so much more than I already have, because I know she'll be there for me when things get rough. She's been such a supportive and caring wife… and I wouldn't want to trade her for the world.

Oh, I been a fool but it's cool, that's what human beings do

Keep your eyes to the sky, never glued to your shoes

Guess there was a time when my mind was consumed

But the sun coming out now, clouds start to move

Don't tell me nothing but the truth

I'm tired, I don't gotta spare a second

Win or lose, win or lose

I don't keep count, nobody checkin'

As soon as the song ended, I congratulated myself, since I did a heck of a great job improvising on the notes there at the end. I'm definitely getting better at this… can't wait to do more with you. I thought and pat the piano like a prized possession before taking the headphones off, hanging it on the mic stand near the stool I sat at before grabbing Roseline. I hit the button on the wall again to end the recording before heading out the booth, setting Roseline back in its respective place before saving the recording.

"I'll have to give it a check later, I'm starving." I thought aloud and stretched again, still feeling the need to stretch my limbs since it hasn't been long since I got out of bed. "It was a great time, anyways. I'll definitely have to take a more serious approach to covering this song. There's so much more I could do with it to make it a great cover. I have a feeling he would have liked to hear it if I put more work into it. Here's to you Mac."

I smiled and turned off the computer and audio board before making my way out, looking back at the studio and taking in a feeling that formed in my mind. "And here's to making more music." I turned off the lights and closed the door before getting on with my day, thinking about what else to try and create before the tour that will change my life starts... along with figuring out for the life of me on what to say to Weiss about what I decided to go through... I just hope it doesn't split us both in the end.

So in the past few months, I have started listening to more artists in the R&B/Hip-Hop genre (I'm not much for it, but I do listen to a good few artists just because I'm planning on getting into music composition, one of these days) to get a good feel of the sound and how some go about writing lyrics for their albums. Mac Miller was one of the biggest I have listened to and even though I know of the things the guy did (he was a drug addict, sadly), he had an album called Swimming that was like his goodbye letter to the world, and it really stuck with me (especially this song I used, Small Worlds). The man was in a dark place, and it showed in his music. It was sad, but beautiful at the same time, since he captured a feel that's honestly genuine and humbling. If you need something to listen to, I highly recommend that album, since it can open your eyes to some aspects in life you may not have looked deeply in before, along with showing that fame won't solve all your problems.

It's a bit off for Ruby to be covering this stuff, but with musicians, some have the ability to be able to adapt quickly, depending on the genre of music. And whenever you look for inspirations to change up your sound with the next album, you may look in the most unlikely of places to find what you're looking for. Anyways, if you guys want to know where I am and still want to support me in my endeavours, then Twitch is your best friend since I've dedicated myself more and more to streaming (I already linked my channel in the beginning AN, so just scroll up and copy it, along with deleting the parenthesis).

I hope you've all been well… it's been an awfully long time, but I'll do my best to try and finish what I started before moving on (unless there's still one more story in me to write). For now, take care… and stay classy. 3