Chapter 16

Writer's Block

Ruby

"Why. Can't. I. Make. This. Work!?" I said, slamming my fists on my desk with each word. I heard Blake giggle at me from my bed. "You shut it!"

"Hey now, I already fixed From Shadows and wrote two more in the time you spent working on this one, I think I'm allowed," the Faunus said. I planted my face into my desk. For some reason, I just could not get the lyrics and rhythm down for the song I was working on, and the fact that Blake already had three ready to be composed wasn't making it easier. That put us at about five songs for the album, I figured we'd need at least ten for it to count as a full-length.

"We have to write four more after this one, too," I said, resignation tinting my voice.

"Lemme take a look," Blake said, stretching her hand out. Without lifting my head up, I handed it over. Blake took a moment to look over the sheet. "You're having trouble with this? Just have Yang rap the bridge."

"Why didn't I think of that!?" I said as I bolted upward. "How'd you figure that out so fast?"

"Babe, I play bass, rhythm is sort of my specialty," she snarked. A knocking on my door caught both of our attention.

"You two leaving room for Jesus in there? I heard banging," Yang called through the door.

"It's open, you can come in," I called back.

"Pants check," my sister said as she poked her head in. "Dinner's ready if you guys want to eat." Blake and I both nodded and followed her downstairs. Weiss was already at the counter dishing up. Dad was still at work, no doubt sorting some tour stuff out with Ozpin. When the three of us got our plates ready, we joined Weiss at the table.

"How's the writing coming, you two?" Weiss asked us.

"3 new songs are ready to be composed, and I think I fixed From Shadows, so that might be a contender for the album," Blake said.

"I hope we can keep it, it's fun to play!" Yang said with her mouth full. Weiss shot a look at her girlfriend, who then swallowed her food and said "Sorry, force of habit."

"If it fits, we keep it," I said before taking a bite.

"Maybe we could make that 4 ready to be composed?" Weiss asked.

"What do you mean?" Blake responded.

"I may have wrote something in my spare time, I don't think it could turn into a punk song though," Weiss elaborated.

"We don't necessarily have to stick to one genre, you know?" Yang said. "A little variety is never a bad thing."

"She's right," Blake said. "Let me take a look at it." Weiss pulled out her phone a typed for a few seconds, before Blake's vibrated. She took it out and read what Weiss sent her. "You're right, it's not punk, however I think it could be a decent intro song."

"But I already had an idea for an intro song!" I exclaimed.

"Wait, if you were working on something else, why didn't you work on that when you had block?" Blake asked.

"Well you see, I…" I was at a loss. That would've been a good idea. "Huh, why didn't I?"

"Well can we do both?" Weiss suggested. "What does yours sound like, Ruby?"

"It starts off all slow and pretty, right?" I said excitedly. "Then it goes into this really cool orchestral interlude, then the song turns into something we would normally play!"

"And how long is this song supposed to be?" Blake asked.

"Well, depending on how long we make the interlude." I said thoughtfully. "About eight minutes?"

"Eight!?" the other three exclaimed.

"What are we, Tool?" Yang joked.

"Ruby, that's really long for an intro song," Weiss said.

"I hate to say it sweetie, but I think Weiss's song would be a little better," Blake said with some sorrow in her voice.

"Here," I said, handing my phone to Blake. "Just take a look." Blake looked over what lyrics I had so far. "It's not done, but that should've pretty close."

"Well Ruby, it's really good," Blake said. She thought for a moment. "The punk segment honestly could be it's own song, so why don't we cut out part of that interlude, and then split it. The first part will be our opener followed by Weiss's song, then we'll put the second part later in the album."

"But it would sound so good together as a whole!" I protested.

"That's why we could play the full thing live," Blake continued. "We could have a slow build to the album though. I can work in a piano part for From Shadows and put it after Weiss's song… Weiss does this one have a name?"

"I was thinking Mirror, Mirror," Weiss answered.

"I like it!" Yang said.

"Same, so From Shadows will come after Mirror, Mirror. I think I can come up with a piano part to make it flow better." Blake turned toward me. "What do you want to call the song we just wrote?"

"I Burn, nice and simple," I answered.

"I Burn will be after From Shadows, and after that will be… Red Like Roses, Part 2," Blake explained.

"How'd you know I was calling it that?" I asked curiously.

"It's the only lyric that both parts share," Blake answered. "After that could be This Will Be the Day and Can't Trust Anybody Now, and we can end with my songs, I May Fall and Wings."

"Red Like Roses, Mirror Mirror, From Shadows, I Burn, Red Like Roses Part 2, This Will Be the Day, Can't Trust Anybody Now, I May Fall, and Wings," I listed off. Blake nodded in confirmation. "Well girls, I'd say we have a tracklist!" Almost immediately after I said it, Yang's phone started ringing.

"Hey, Dad," she said as she picked it up. "It's funny you called, we were going to head over to start composing as soon as we finished eating." Dad's voice came quietly from the speaker into Yang's ear. "Really? Well now we have to. Okay. Okay, sounds good! See you in a bit!" Yang hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked.

"Taiyang has a surprise for us," Blake said. I wondered how she knew that, but then I remembered her cat ears. I instinctively reached to pet them, before Blake slapped my hand away. "Not now, Ruby."

"That's right, we're supposed to head over as soon as we're done eating!" Yang said before shoveling the rest of her food into her mouth, with me following suit. Our girlfriends looked at us like animals, with Weiss putting her hand to her face and Blake rolling her eyes.

"C'mon you two, finish eating so we can go!" I said.

Dad led us out of the main building and out to the rear parking lot. Parked there was a massive bus. Strangely, it was painted with all of our hair colors, red, white, black, and yellow (since there's no blonde paint).

"Is… is that ours?" I asked nervously.

"It sure is!" Dad confirmed. The four of us immediately ran to it and inspected it. The inside was gorgeous. When you stepped into the cabin, the first thing you'd see is the massive TV that sat on the diagonal wall that separated the driver's compartment from the main cabin. Next to it was a U-shaped nook with a table, and across from that was a couch with a foldable table in the middle seat. The couch had a perfect view of the TV. A curtain separated this segment from the next one, which contained four bunks, all just big enough to squeeze two people in. A door at the back of this compartment led to storage, and in that room was the door to the bathroom.

"What do you guys think?" Dad asked.

"It's perfect!" I exclaimed, going to take a look at each individual part of the bus.

"Did you have anything like this with Embers?" Weiss asked Yang.

"No, we just had a couple of vans," Yang said in awe. "This shit's crazy though."

"Weiss!" I called out. "There's inputs on the TV! We can bring games on tour with us!"

"The bunks look like a cozy space to read in," Blake commented.

"Now before you guys start talking about touring or anything like that, you should probably finish your album," Dad said. "Yang told me you had some songs ready to be composed?"

"Actually, I think we have our full tracklist mostly written out," Blake said. "We just have to tweak a few things in some of them, and then compose."

"How many songs do you have?" he asked.

"Nine, but a couple of them are a bit longer," I said.

"That sounds good! Not enough to fill a complete set, but you can fill the rest with covers. I mean, Sam Hunt does it," Dad said. The four of us looked at him, confused as to who he was talking about. "Oh right, you four don't listen to country."

"Well, I need to figure out some orchestral segments," Blake said. "Do you want to be our producer again?"

"Of course," Dad said with a grin.

"Then you can help us track what we have already while Blake works on that!" I said. "Yang, you're up first!"

"Alright, drumming time!" Yang said excitedly.

Short chapter this time, wanted to get this out before I had to go out of town for the weekend, plus I couldn't think of anything meaningful to add to the chapter. As always, thank you guys so much for reading! To those of you that don't follow me or read Simpler Times, I just started a new RWBY fic called Stardust. If any of you are interested in RWBY in a Star Wars-esque galaxy, feel free to check it out! See you guys later!