#(Technically it's two playlists but they're for the same character)

[6mayhem]

zerophilia

[technofinch]

Rules — shuffle your “on repeat playlist” and list the first ten songs, then tag ten people, I got tagged by @regicidal-defenestration !

Stars - Les mis original London cast recording

Make You Suffer - the Mountain Goats

Rose Red - the Mechanisms

Witch Image - Ghost

Pandora's Box - David Francey

Baltimore Blues No. 1 - Deer Tick

Sacred Stones - the Samples

Bottom of the River - Delta Rae

High Hawk Season - the Mountain Goats

INCINERATE - the Garages

Tagging (low pressure, you're more than welcome to ignore this): @wastrelwoods @ambreiiigns @fagcrisis @ladyoftheharbour @teddybearsandlightningstorms @sh0tguncarous3l @squiretinnion @avatarofterminus @gniew777 @r-tsn-ke

And anyone else who wants to do it of course, show me your musical adventures :D

[arolesbianism]

I need to find new eternal gales songs right now I cannot keep living with most of the playlist being shit I listened to in 2018

[tatertato]

life series smp winners playlists part 1

okay so i've been just absolutely brainrotting over this for like weeks now and its time to finally post it!

i've basically just been compiling songs that i think fit each of the life series winners, and they're either songs i've seen work really really well in animatics already or songs that would probably work really well, but are less popular or not associated with this fandom (yet)

i'll be linking+listing them here as well as providing little snippets of explanation for why i think the song fits, but i don't feel like making actual spotify playlists or smth, so if anyone else wants to do that, be my guest.

ofc i still had trouble finding good songs for some of them- if anyone seeing this has a good idea that i missed, lmk and i'll update these posts (no promises tho)

i was originally gonna put all of them into one post, but fortunately i have come to my senses, so this is part 1. here we go!

update:

pt 2 (LL!scott)

pt 3 (DL!pearl)

3rd Life: Grian

Eighth Wonder - Lemon Demon: this song gives major Watcher!Grian vibes imo

Extra clever Earth-bound spirit Ghost in the form Of a mongoose (watcher in the form of a player)

Hello, I'm here I'm living in the wall I know I might be small (common headcanons of short grian, also living surrounded by cactus walls!)

Jim, let me go I watch like Hell (self-explanatory)

2. A Big Day for Grimley - AJJ: this one is because of this animatic, and also the lyrics fit the characters almost too well

I went back to the desert, little Midwest in me And now I am colder than I used to be (it feels like him reflecting on his experiences in 3L)

I came back to the desert, and the desert came into me And now there’s a quietness, and it’s deafening (returned to the desert for the final duel, and now that he's the only one left, the absence of his partner is deafening)

i could go on much longer about this song, but i feel like the animatic sums it up really well so GO WATCH THAT GO GO GO

3. Take Me to War - The Crane Wives: i know that everyone and their mother has done desertduo crane wives, but i've yet to see anyone use this song, which is a shame since its one of my favorites!

I've earned myself a reputation That my bark is much worse than my bite But I keep snapping at Goliath's hands With all of my tiny might (technically, he's not red, and also his traps keep failing, so the threats are pretty empty, but that will not stop him from being a menace)

Take me to war Honey, I dare you I'll be the sweetest thing To ever scare you Give me a fight I can't resist Give me something to break with my fists Take me to war Honey, I dare you (same thing as the last one, but i had to put the chorus in this post, it's just too perfect)

So I will leave it where it's standing And instead I will find me a match I'll turn it all to kindling I'll burn it all down to ash (we love a bit of arson in this fandom)

4. Community Gardens - The Scary Jokes: this is watcher!grian again, sorry not sorry- i do have a really vivid image in my head of an animatic for this song tho (the brainrot goes deep, i cannot escape)

Full disclosure, I am a monster A creature of despair, not that that should be a cause for concern (its so watcher coded im gnawing on the walls)

You'll be fine, you honeycomb Who could ever hurt you? Who could be so cold? You'll be fine, oh, honey pie Who could ever hurt you? Who could be so unkind? (ok so remember when i said i had an animatic idea about two sentences ago? ya. so i imagine this part as watcher!grian going through and causing the final deaths of all the winners (except scar we'll get there i promise) for instance, smiting scott at the end of LL, severing pearl's soulmate string in DL, and checking the time left before killing martyn in LimL)

The culmination of man's mistakes came the day The sun ran so hot, it turned the desert to glass (this is the whole "hail mary" thing where they blew up the whole desert and still didn't kill anyone)

If there's something to be learned from all these losers It's that the price that you pay For arrogance and a false sense of immunity Is to face the wrath of a dying star (false sense of immunity is scar's no kill passes, reputation points, etc., which really didn't mean all that much in the end (see: Bdubs))

5. Passerine - The Oh Hellos: aside from the obvious bird symbolism (passerine are songbirds), the overall theme of this song fits the character pretty well! (i think it could also apply to DL jimmy if you squint)

You were the song that I'd always sing You were the light that the fire would bring But I can't shake this feeling that I was only Pushing the spear into your side again (3L typical desert/light/sun/fire imagery, with a bonus helping this time of 3L typical self doubt and/or survivor's guilt! you love to see it)

My palms and fingers still reek of gasoline From throwing fuel to the fire of that Greco-Roman dream Purifying the holy rock to melt the gilded seams It don't bring me relief, no it don't bring me nothing (more arson what can i say- also the hollow existentialism that comes with killing your friends)

When he comes a knocking at my door What am I to do, What am I to do, oh lord (ok i like to imagine this line as grian realizing that scar's SL win means he goes to hang out with the winners now, meaning uhoh reunion time! that's about to be awkward!)

6. Do It All The Time - IDKHBTFM: yeah i know it doesn't seem like it fits at first, but i think parts of it captures the spontaneous silliness of 3L pretty well

No reason why I'm only doing anything I want to do Because I do it all the time We're taking over the world A little victim-less crime (making monopolies (or trying to) really just because)

Now we're so young But we're probably gonna die It's so fun We're so good at selling lies (this one's pretty on the nose, but you get the idea)

and that's all for grian! stay tuned for LL!scott next!

[fiercynn]

As it usually happens on here, we become fans of things by osmosis if we didn't seek it out for ourselves. So I've been following you for a bit and I have finally crossed the threshold from "this person I follow really loves this media and I love seeing their love for it on my dash, so glad they're having fun" over to "I wanna have fun, too." And that's all thanx to @thatgothsamurai's photobooth art.

So, I hope you can guide me on where I should start with patpran and inkpa, and the rest. Like, are they on separate shows that crossover? A spinoff? Like, what's going on, where do I start, how do I watch. Like you, I'm in the US. Any suggestions are appreciated.

AAAAAAAH THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY and thank u @thatgothsamurai for the amazing fanart as always (the photobooth fanart in question, a classic in the fandom)

okay so both patpran and inkpa are canon pairings from the thai bl bad buddy and its related special episodes! all are produced by the thai production company gmmtv.

the show and all related episodes are available to watch on youtube with english subtitles - i'll link to relevant playlists.

THE MAIN SHOW: BAD BUDDY THE SERIES

directed by "aof" noppharnach chaiyahwimhon (who is gay himself), and starring "nanon" korapat kirdpan as pran, and "ohm" pawat chittsawangdee as pat. the original show is twelve episodes, which aired from october 2021 to january 2022. i watched it for the first time in february 2022 and have not known peace every since

the premise is that pat and pran, who have lived next door to each other since birth, have been rivals all their lives because their families hate each other. after pran's sent off to boarding school for three years, they are unexpectedly reunited at university - where they find that their friend groups are also enemies, so they have to keep up the pretense of hating each other. but of course they fall in love instead!

the main story is about patpran, but inkpa is a canon side pairing featuring "love" pattranite limpatiyakorn as pa, pat's younger sister, and "milk" pansa vosbein as ink, a classmate of pat and pran's. though they get less screentime, i still think they have a delightful romantic arc themselves!

SPECIAL EPISODES

zero photography: an inkpa special episode that is set after the main show. directed by "tee" bundit sintanaparadee, whom i don't know much about, and aired in august 2022

our skyy x bad buddy x a tale of thousand stars: so our skyy 2 was an anthology of special episodes released between april and june 2023 for a bunch of different gmmtv bls. each show was supposed to have two special eps for their characters, but since two shows directed by p'aof were getting special eps (the other one being a tale of thousand stars, also a delightful show), he decided to use four episodes as a crossover of the two shows. in the bad buddy timeline, these eps take place during a timeskip that happens in the original show between episodes 11 and 12, and features patpran but has a few great inkpa appearances too. you don't really need to have seen atots to understand the eps, i don't think? but they probably are more enjoyable if you have haha

EXTRAS

"just friend" music video: nanon sings two songs on the bad buddy soundtrack, and ohm sings one for our skyy 2, all of which have music videos, but i'm linking to this song of nanon's particularly because the music video its own story unrelated to the show at all! it's very cute and is basically an au where they are employees at the same hotel (and in love of course)

23.5 degrees the series: this is not technically related to bad buddy, but milk and love are going to be starring in gmmtv's first full-length gl, 23.5 degrees, which will be directed by "fon" kanittha kwunyoo (who i believe is a lesbian)! thai gls are just starting to get attention and backing by the major tv studios, and milklove's known chemistry from playing inkpa, as well as an exciting supporting cast and director, are making everyone super excited for this

there are also TONS of behind-the-scenes and making-of extras if you get into the show but i figured this was enough to start with :D

let me know if you have questions about any of this! i'm not sure how familiar you are with thai media or fandoms, so definitely happy to share/explain more as would be helpful! <3

[wicked-jade]

Non sarò a casa per Natale per le richieste fanfiction, grazie

Grazie per la domanda! 💖💖💖

My favorite scene

This one's hard because it isn't finished, and technically speaking, I haven't written my favorite scene in "I Won't Be Home for Christmas" yet. But of what is written, I would have to say the scene in the jail, where Daniel is drunkenly flirting with Johnny and Bobby starts to realize there's something more going on between them. LawRusso banter is always fun, but adding Bobby to that mix was a breath of fresh air.

My favorite chapter (if it's a multichapter)

So far, it's probably Chapter 4. Drunk Daniel is a lot of fun!

Hardest scene to write

Also all the drunk Daniel scenes, lol. They're my favorites because I love a good role reversal, but they're very tricky to write for the same reason. I'm used to writing Daniel as the sort of straight man to all of Johnny's antics. And that fic flips everything on it's head, because Daniel is the hot mess, and Johnny is the sober, responsible party, trying to keep everything together. So it's been a fun challenge, trying to reverse their usual roles while still keeping them (hopefully) in character.

Favorite character to write in the fic

Bobby, just because I don't get to write him all that often, and it's interesting to get his perspective on Johnny and Daniel's relationship. Because he's one of the few people that was there at the very beginning of it all, but he also sort of exists on the periphery of the current story. So he has a unique way of looking at their situation.

Favorite dynamic to write in the fic

Sober Johnny and Drunk Daniel are a lot of fun. But it's also nice, writing Johnny and Bobby. I like exploring their friendship, and it's sweet for Johnny to have someone who is 100% in his corner.

Why I chose that title

I was struggling to come up with a concept for my Secret Santa fic, so I put on an old punk Christmas playlist I had. One of the first songs that came up was "I Won't Be Home for Christmas" by Blink-182. And it's just... the most Johnny Lawrence Christmas song ever. Like, I could perfectly imagine this song happening to him. 😂

A fun fact about the fic

The next song that came up on that playlist was "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" by the Ramones. Which also features in an upcoming chapter.

Between those two songs, I knew I wanted to write a Christmas in jail fic. And I knew I wanted Bobby to have to bail them out. But I also didn't want to write a predictable story, where Johnny gets drunk and does something stupid and lands himself and Daniel in jail. So that's where the role reversal element came from.

And so the story was born! This is one of those rare cases where the title actually came first, and I built the story around it.

[dearunreliablenarrator]

✨Good day and happy STS!✨

What is the Coolest thing you have ever come up with lore-wise? Could be anything—a sick motif, a compelling character design, unique worldbuilding, anything!

Feel free to Ramble !!!

and have an awesome day ✨✨✨

✨howdy!

umh, there's honestly so much i can touch on because i've realized i don't really share much on my WIPs outside of Mystic Mondays or sporadic snippet drops.

but i think i'll start with the most important thing that will carry over through the unreliable universe.

so. generational ties/crossroads/parallel timelines/red string theory, i believe are the backbone to the lore inside what we'll call Project NM (PM for short). which wasn't an intentional thing until I started to plot for the duo/companion book for WTRB (where the river bends-a speculative comp. romance (something like that)), because I needed way to bring all four of the characters together in their events naturally, since they'd be referenced and also (technically) be happening at the same.

this was a pretty significant plot hole eraser and pace fixer, because it gave me a sense of timing for events and as someone who isn't planner when it comes to writing, it definitely made me realize that this projects couldn't been done on the fly. (mind you writing now compared to writing in middle school is a complete different world, didn't really worry much about plot holes)

now! i can add as many side stories as i want because i've given myself a backbone to Project NM, and not have to worry about creating world building details from scratch every time i have a new idea. (this also cut down on some overactive world building things, that would have been too complicated to be real or explain)

so, it works lika this. The timeline generationally goes all the way back to GG (a sort of prequel to the unreliableverse) which i could say is set in the feudal/middle age/era because of the Age of Enlightenment is interesting and I've watched Ella Enchanted one too many times to not have my own take on it. (and knights are cool...)

And with GG (which will also have a companion, maybe) the two female leads respectively are the reasons MOST if not ALL of the female leads throughout the series are connected.

So, with that being said. No matter what timeline is currently being lived through, their descendants (or they themselves) will meet and have to face whatever challenges (curse as people are saying nowadays) together, that were never dealt with previously.

But what this doesn't mean is that they're all happening at different times or generations. For clarity, we'll stick with the Big Three. WTRB (where the river bends), CUTS (cherries under the sun) and ALT (altheia).

canonically, CUTS and WTRB are happening that same time but the entry point to their stories are staggered. CUTS and all it's horror begins in the late summer/early fall (starting from the prologue) while WTRB opens in late winter/early spring and at some point meet at a crossroad. whether that's characters referencing one another or events. There will things that shift the actions of each group, respectively as their stories go on.

as for ALT, this is maybe 500 or so years later, i haven't really decided yet. but its far enough out for some consequences to be eliminated, and close enough to still see and feel some of the repercussions of not just the actions of our characters but also the world they live in or grow around. so, 5 generations later at the least, at the max 10.

so,tiny diagram here!

i'm linking a youtube playlist, that i hope will make this make a little more sense if i've gotten you lost. it'd probably be a piece of media i'll reference alot along with Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).

while there are some more things i want to expand on here, i'll plug mystic monday one more time. there is no tag list, but it does have a dedicated tag for your searching ease. #unreliablelore or just search mystic monday!

i find the lore here- while being a bit more detail oriented and researched base, it isn't really significant to the storyline. think of it as a living library, to be referenced throughout the story. and probably the answers to easter eggs as they come.

i think thats all i can ramble on about at thee moment, if there's anything i can clarify or expand on just let me know.

k-bai✨

[koi0boi]

oh fuck yes ok

ritsu is from the game (series. i guess.) ensemble stars!! which uhhh is primarily a rhythm game (es!! music) but also has a like . i dont know what to call it but its es!! basic. irrelevant . ANYWAY. ritsu is one of the 51 (i guess now technically like... 56? characters? with 4piece added? idk. whatever) idols in the game that you can collect cards of :3

so !! ritsu is part of the unit Knights which is like. kinda fanservice-y but like in a romantic fantasy kinda way yanno. im bad at describing music but they're good . some songs r synth heavy (fight for judge...) but they're usually very upbeat songs :3 the unit is comprised of Tsukasa Suou, Leo Tsukinaga, Izumi Sena, Arashi Narukami, and Ritsu himself !! Tsukasa is the current leader of Knights, taking the role after Leo graduated (everyone went/goes to an idol school ig called Yumenosaki. now the main cast works at EnSquare or smth. Leo and Izumi are pretty important since they formed the unit but this isn't abt them (im insane abt them too tho)

anyway !!! that outta the way . ritsu . the loml ....... he's a funny lil vampire guy. whether or not he's actually a vampire or just like, chronically ill, is kinda up for debate. could be both who knows. either way he's an eepy lil guy !!! he has an older brother (rei) whom he used to have a good relationship with until during Rei's... second? year? he left ritsu alone while he was out searching for a cure for their condition which led to ritsu kind of hating him (im pretty sure ritsu calls him "that brother-shaped thing" or smth on a few occasions its funny) but they're getting better. there's like a fuckton of lore and shit but im. just gonna skip it. anyway . ritsu also has a childhood friend (mao isara) that he's like. yeah. mao regularly has to wake him up for school (and gives him piggyback rides bc ritsu whines until he does lmao) and the two are in the same year (and graduated now) . funny bit of lore: ritsu says at one point that he literally conditioned mao to fall asleep at the sound of his singing voice bc he added his songs into the playlist mao listens to to fall asleep. he's so fuckin weird. he's the Strategist of Knights . he does a lot of the planning and stuff :3 he's also like . very prone to teasing and can come off as a little apathetic or cold at times but he's actually so full of love for the people he cares about . i call him a bpd guy bc he tends to be really jealous and possessive of people (he was basically nonfunctional w/out mao for awhile) but he's getting more independent <3

theres probably more but . its late and im a little incoherent . if u wanna listen to knights music i recommend fight for judge; wonderful happiness; silent oath; coruscate breeze; or the beautiful golden drop; little romance; mystic fragrance; and also the solo songs :3 wonderful happiness is their newest song (along with their second solos ig) but !! its all on spotify. or youtube prolly idk

thamks for info dumping! Also fuck i might get into enstars just for this guy..

[queenofbaws]

💖🎶🐀 for Blood of the Covenant, Water of the Womb, please and thank you!! :-)

well oh my good golly gosh, don't mind if i do! ;)c hehehe

💖 What is your favorite moment in this WIP?

hmmmMMM this one's tough, because we haven't gotten to my fav part(s) yet and i don't want to spoil things, soooOOOOOOO here's what i'll say >:)

since blood of the covenant, water of the womb is TECHNICALLY the series and not just oooone lil' old fic........my favorite moment in all in the family is jack watching chris, caleb, and kaylee pop their skin for the first time; my favorite part of like wringing blood from a stone WILL involve a big family argument where too much is said by literally everyone involved*; and there may or may not be two additional (hypothetical) fics where my fav moments involve travis making the mistake of meeting his heroes(?) and a certain someone from bobby's past coming to family dinner

HYPOTHETICALLY. hypothetically. :)c

🎶 Do you have any other WIP related things, like moodboards, character portraits, playlists or similar?

I DO!!!!!! outside of the little mini-moodboards i make to promo each chapter, i have a sideblog - @hacketthouse - that's sort of like...a "living" moodboard, if you will, in that i'm always adding stuff to the queue over there! it's really just a bunch of stuff that matches the vibe i'm going for with the whole series. it's moodier/more serious stuff than the things i tag 'the hacketts' here on my main, so just don't expect the same goof-em-ups over there, hehe

i also have a spotify playlist i listen to while writing! it's very very long, there's a lot of weird choices i've made on it, but it's what gets me in the groove when i sit down for a long writing session in north kill ;)

and while i keep TELLING MYSELF i'm going to eventually make a big old edit with the whole fam-damily and the character traits i imagine they have (similar to the promo materials from the quarry), alas, my self-confidence with edits is still pretty low, so...i haven't scrounged up the courage to do that yet, but maybe one of these days!!

🐀 Name three reasons why this WIP is great at being insert genre here.

i think blood of the covenant, water of the womb is great at being a buddy comedy because heheheh nah, i HOPE blood of the covenant, water of the womb is good at being a horror series because

most of the horror isn't coming from the monsters at all, but just the deeply, deeply troubled family foundation and subsequent idea of morality they're working with, which i think is kind of the real horror of the quarry if i'm being honest

there really aren't any "good guys," or at least not traditional ones; just those who have a vague idea of what they're up against and those who most certainly DON'T

so much of these stories is inspired by my own family, and like. this BETTER be halfway decent horror, okay, because please let me get SOMETHING out of what these people have been putting me through lately 🤣🤣🤣

random wip asks!

[fencecollapsed]

do u guys wanna know my personal rules I use for building my character/story playlists?? no? I don't care you're getting them anyway <3

RULE ONE:

songs by the same artist cannot be listed back to back or even too close together. they've gotta be spaced out with other songs by different artists

RULE TWO:

no songs from musicals. musical songs feel too inextricable from the context they were written for and I feel weird using one to describe one of my own characters. even if it's a playlist FOR a musical character using a song from their musical feels like cheating to me

RULE THREE:

the order of the songs is based on sound flow. I'm looking for a listening experience that feels cohesive to me, so whenever I add a new song I rearrange the playlist to place it properly into the flow of sound. it's how the songs sound, not what they're about when it comes to order. it's hard to explain and I can't say if the order is cohesive to anyone who's not me but I just go with what feels right. if a song can't be fit nicely into the flow sound-wise it doesn't stay on the playlist even if it's good

RULE FOUR:

I make my playlists based on songs that remind me of the character or story, not what I think the character themself would listen to. lyrics are important! just one chunk of the lyrics fitting the character is not enough for the song to go in the playlist. if it's just a couple lines, or just the chorus, or just the bridge, but the rest of the song feels unapplicable, I can't add the song. it's gotta be more than that, at least half the lyrics have gotta be somewhat applicable

RULE FIVE:

"somewhat applicable" means that stretching is allowed to a reasonable degree. the song doesn't have to have a one-to-one exactly literal application to the character, I want room for my own interpretation. my playlist for my oc Zero has multiple songs about toxic relationships, because I find the wording used in those songs can be stretched to apply to his cult upbringing. I choose what's reasonable stretching and what's not <3

RULE SIX

if the song technically fits the rest of the criteria but I don't like it it doesn't go on the playlist this is for ME and I want songs that are GOOD

[marezelle]

6, 9, 27, 30

6. Favorite title you used

It's a tough call so I'm picking two: first, I have to shout out the custard pie appreciation consortium, because if that lyric from "The Village Green Preservation Society" hadn't stuck in my head, that fic would not have happened. I was trying to figure out what would happen during Hal's visit to Ragnor Bella, just listening to music in my car when suddenly I thought, oh. Bake sale.

The other title I especially love is let him know its flood also. Sometimes when I pull lines from poems it really is just the one line that I love, but in this case, Kahlil Gibran's "On Friendship" is just so fitting for Jemis and Mr. Dart. (It has occurred to me that I could write more little fics about their friendship, pull more titles from the same source, and create a series of it. We'll see.)

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

Jemis and Mr. Dart have my whole heart. (They're also most of the romance I wrote this year.) It's funny, because in canon I am fully happy with their relationship remaining purely nonromantic, but in fic... yeah, all bets are off. Romantic, queerplatonic, general friendship - their relationship is my favorite no matter what form it takes, and probably always will be.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

This is going to sound wild, but it's usually nothing. Here and there I might be able to stick a handful of songs in a playlist and put it on repeat, but a lot of the time I find music distracting. I have lots of writing playlists! It's just that I usually listen to them in the car when I'm thinking about fic, and less when I'm doing the writing of fic. There are exceptions, but yeah, generally nothing.

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

Besides my shock that apparently I'm capable of writing this much fic??? It would have to be that I got over the hurdle of publishing e-rated fic. Which is funny now, because it's not even like I had an issue with the idea of it, and now that I've done it, I am just like... okay. This is not even remotely a Thing to me. All it really came down to was the fact that I write for a small fandom, and there were things I wanted to read that had not yet been written, and I had ideas. Therefore... here we are. Technically the only e-rated fic I've published so far is hello, my old heart, but I have a few more wips in the pipeline that include sex. And many more that don't! I am, at the end of the day, just an aro-ace guy whose goal as a writer is exploring the relationships of these characters I've imprinted on in as many ways as possible. Upping the rating a bit just gives me a few more options when it comes to doing that.

[slightly-warmer-hibiscus-tea]

do you listen to music when you work on art? if you do, do you listen to stuff that matches the vibe of what you're working on, or just whatever you feel like listening to? the atmosphere of your pieces go hard. they're really immersive and makes me feel instead of just "see," if that makes any sense. artists can nail technical stuff like anatomy, color theory, perspective, and whatever, but the way you combine everything is next-level. beyond just being skilled like "this looks good," your work really pulls you into the mood/message. i zoom into your art and get lost in the sauce. love your work so much <3

For starters this is like such a huge compliment, thank you!<3

Funny enough I just got done throwing a fit over my headphones dying right before I could start on request.

I really know nothing about music, so I just listen to whatever tickles my brain on repeat most of the time. So warning on whatever I say because I've been told my taste sucks… But I listen to vibes I associate with the character I'm working on. Though this process is pure projection on my part, seeing a lot of the music is stuff I already listen to… Some examples like:

For Leander, I put on Shayfer James, if we're being more specific "For the Departed"… And if the piece calls for some Leander silly bitch mode, we throw in some musical theater "Trust Me" from Devil's Carnival (Note: We are a BIT conflicted about this one nowadays, but surface level it works…) then to fill the air a dash of instrumental from The Last Werewolf… When it comes to Ais it's straight Mother Mother.

We might also throw personal songs in the mix to keep my brain stimulated, so we juggle through Mitski and Dirt Poor Robins here and there.

Also, bless ya'll who make TS playlists! Forgive me my memory is shit, but whoever put Talia and Leander together you have my whole fucking heart!!!

I also make a playlist for different OCs and play it when I'm working on them (I'm still in the process of getting Noble's up and running, but I have one for my other two MCs. which has some of the same songs in both because they're story intertwine in some ways. I could honestly ramble just about the thought process behind the playlist, but I should probably save that idea for the 29th or something because I'm not even sure if that would be interesting to read.)

But yeah, that's the Hibiscus/Ak music ramble… A while back I had to make a bio for my school art portfolio and threw in that I wanted to make sure every picture told a story... Music definitely plays a part in the process, I don't know how big or small a part but it's definitely a part^^;

[keirametzbrassknuckles]

Character Ask Game: Ghost, go!

This was actually super helpful because I was very stuck in a fic of mine so thanks honestly! This came at just the right time.

Favorite line: "half a dog" is a classic but the very self assured "you wanna be better than me, Johnny" during Alone is very telling of who he is and what he thinks of himself.

BROtp: Farah. They text constantly.

I also have a crack brotp of him and the masked members of Kortac all going out to be broody and self conscious together as some kind of fucked up bonding exercise when they're not actively at odds. Masked Men Anonymous (MMA) or something.

Notp: hate to say it but Roach. No particular reason. I think it's just the depictions of Roach in fic tend to ick me for some reason.

OTP: I'm obviously a Ghoap girlie at heart but I do love GhostPrice (for the same reasons I love 09 Ghoap). Something something putting your complete trust in someone in a position of power over you after having been betrayed by everyone you ever trusted, leaning into the hands that dragged you out of Hell, a replacement father figure to fill that gaping wound for once etc etc. Whether romantic or platonic I don't care but I think Ghost's most enduring (dependant, possibly unhealthy, but in the most delicious way) relationship is with Price.

Random headcanon: He actually doesn't drink but just said he likes burbon to get a rise out of Soap.

Unpopular opinion: I like my Ghost with a little DID. I like it when Ghost and Simon are two different people in his own head. Prefer my Ghost when he's a little more cracked than regulation would allow and Shepard/Price/Laswell had to pull a few strings to keep him around. Prefer him when he doesn't technically exist and is more of an asset than a soldier.

Song you associate with them: I have a whole Ghost playlist but I was mealprepping for the week today and had my cooking playlist on and "The Rifle's Spiral" by the Shins came on and I had to pause in the middle of cutting up chicken to hyperventilate for a sec so that's been on my mind recently. Also "Neverland - A Fragment" by Sisters of Mercy. A COD artist did an amazing Ghost comic using that song and it lives in my head rent free every day of my life.

Favorite image:

It's about the TRUST the "got your six" Ghost in the light and Soap in the dark in a perfect shifting of people's assumptions about their characters idk... this just makes me feral.

[thewickedbohemian]

Fellow So Help Me Todd fans (or w/e we're going to call ourselves as esp. if this show goes on as we want it to we need a demonym), what would you most want to see in future seasons of So Help Me Todd (y'know because we all want to see future seasons of So Help Me Todd)

Here's some of mine

a musical episode later into the show (as both Buffy and Psych had theirs a ways in and assuming it gets that many seasons I don't see SHMT having one until at least a S5) but in a *crosses fingers* S3 I want at least some opportunity for Todd and/or Judy to sing (could be anything from karaoke to one of them (as as a not-technically-a-detective Judy would make the perfect undercover asset) going undercover as a singer a la Leverage's The Studio Job)

If Jenifer Lewis could have the time to appear again as Jacqueline Burton (and could perhaps be as much a recurring-guest-star as her schedule allows) since Jenifer irl has bipolar disorder I think it would be interesting for it to be canon that Jacqueline is bipolar as well (shed some educational light on a scary-seeming disorder by showing a good guy with it for once)

On the topic of mental health a thing I've wanted for this show for a while is for one of the many neurodivergent-seeming main characters (whoever the writers think best fits a given disorder with whatever disorder they best fit (e.g. Todd with ADHD, Lyle with autism etc.)) to go through an adult-diagnosis arc canonizing it and how I'd do that if I wrote for the show (though I don't trust my handling of these characters to find more than broad concepts for episodes or arcs) is through a parallel-recognition thingie when the firm's working a case regarding a parent of a kid with the same disorder fighting Portland Public Schools on behalf of their child (inspired by how Ray Romano's Parenthood character found out he was autistic and if it's Todd himself or anyone else at the firm they'd find it out themselves but if it's someone outside like either of Todd's siblings he notices it about them because of the case)

I mean this in the best possible way but Allison could use a therapist

Wherever Todd's actual career takes him I think it'd be cool if more seasons meant the twice-in-two-seasons pattern was kept up of Todd having to "play lawyer"

more Psych homages/getting Psych-level experimental (like was shown this season with "Dial M For Margaret" the Rear Window homage)

the wardrobe department to (unless it truly is fitting for everyone's character) stop with the dressing half the cast in really obnoxious patterns at once

Some other Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist alum to guest-star outside the musical episode (given the vibe of this show I could see Alex Newell showing up as another unconventionally-gendered character) and Todd making some joke-to-us-the-audience (like his "I hate theater kids" in "End On A High Note") about them looking familiar and if he knows them from somewhere

The endgame arc for Jodd (Judy/Todd) if they're truly going to be the endgame ship of if-this-show-lasts-longer (or at least part of it as for all we know some poly shit could happen either involving just Lyle as well (to appease the Tyle shippers and as the broadcast equivalent of the Leverage OT3) or Lyle and Ariel) being Judy eventually getting her PI license and becoming Todd's detecting partner in addition to romantic partner as a full-circle-parallel-redemption from what happened with him and Veronica

So what would you guys want to see in more So Help Me Todd

[darkmagickingdom]

Sup! Just wanted to ask if I have your permission to make a Cards & Dice playlist on my spotify? It's a really cute ship that I've been wanting to know more of your hcs about, and I thought they deserved a playlist! And may I know a bit more about their son as well? He's adorable!!!!

Oh you don't have to ask my permission for that! I don't have the ship patented or anything lol

I would love to be given the link when it's done though!

I remember getting that ask, I just didn't have the brain juice for it at the time. I still don't have a lot of thoughts, my creative energy has been pretty sapped lately because. Very negative current events.

I'll try and come up with a few things at least.

Oogie's actually really smart since he built all of those traps himself. He mostly just falters with thinking through possible consequences and when it comes to relationships, taking a hint

Facilier is the smooth-talking type who tends to lean towards subtle flirtation, which means it took an embarrassingly long time for Oogie to figure out he was even into him

Though to be fair to Oogie, he's used to bug flirting methods, which are considerably different. He also may very well have not realized guys could like guys, because he likely figured out his persona by watching humans (headcanon: at a casino)

Oogie didn't actually figure out Facilier fancied him until he admitted he liked the Shadow Man first

"Wait, did you just flirt with me?" "Have been for the past eight months, Oogie, but thanks for noticing."

The other folks are happy for them but at the same time very frustrated because these two are a menace together. They're always pulling pranks on other characters or scaring them or something to that extent

They bring out the worst in each other but not in a supervillain kinda way, more like a "the two kids in the class that aren't allowed to sit next to each other because they will start scheming" way

I keep comparing their antics to more evil versions of SpongeBob and Patrick but it's accurate

"Oogie, I just thought of somethin' even funnier than 24." "What's that, Doc?" "Twenty-five ;)"

They send each other into absolute hysterical laughter with the simplest of jokes

As for Sam

Out of universe, he was named after the pint-sized adorable slasher from Trick 'r Treat. In-universe, his name has the same inspo as that slasher's: Samhain, the festival that later became Halloween

Sam loves bright neon colors because blacklight aesthetic

He's technically a prince because Oogie is considered royalty by bugs. Also Facilier's a royal himself on his mother's side

Sam's a prince the same way Bambi and Simba are. Wouldn't be recognized by Man but critters respect it

This makes him a Disney Prince just like how Carys is a Disney Princess

Sam gets helped in the morning by bugs and spiders and snakes, Carys gets helped in the morning by rats and skeletons and the Gwythaints

Lock, Shock and Barrel see Sam as their little brother despite him now being taller than them, and lord have mercy on anyone who messes with their little brother. That's their job!

Sam gives really good hugs. He learned from Oogie

[stormstruck-angel]

1, 6, 10, 16, 20, 26, 30, 36, 40, 46, 50.

For the OC ask game :)

Under the cut bc this got long!

1. Your first OC ever?

Oh, this is Hard, I barely remember my little self-insert OCs from way back when. I will hesitantly say my first OC ever was... a Pokemon trainer OC. Her name was Ari, she had a Celebi who she could talk to because I said so, and her love interest was the Aura guy who hangs out on Iron Island. Good times!

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

.....This feels like a callout. Hm. So, y'see, I have this thing where I'm uncreative and have a Type when it comes to character design, so... a lot of my OCs do tend to look alike superficially.

Technically Atlas (a dnd OC) and Aurelion (a dating sim OC) should be the poster children for this question, only because they were a case of not so much 'looking alike' as 'hey I'm stealing my own character design for a different setting because I like it and couldn't think of anything else.' Consequently, Atlas and Aurelion look more-or-less like twins despite not even belonging to the same universe(s). However, I do like to joke that they're somehow distantly related--given that one exists in a sort of medieval-fantasy-Ancient-Greece blend and the other in a futuristic space empire-- if only because the thought of Atlas having a far-off descendant who looks exactly like them makes me laugh.

Otherwise, I do have a lot of blonde OCs (fondly and only sort-of-jokingly nicknamed my Army of Blondes) who kind of vaguely look like they could be related but definitely aren't. The two OCs who /are/ related basically look nothing alike at all.

10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design?

Hmmmmm, "complicated" is a very subjective term... To me, none of my OCs designs are particularly complicated - they all have more complex bits, usually wardrobe related, and only because I can't resist a fun wardrobe, but by and large they're not all that complicated. I will, however, nominate Atlas for this one, because they wear armour almost All The Time, and it's kind of ornate and I hate drawing it, so.

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)?

Hmmmmm. Probably Castor (dnd Wizard). He's a nerd. <3 Oh, but also Dani! She's an OC for a different TTRPG (Masks, if anyone is curious!) and is kind of an over-achiever-needs-straight-A's kid, bless her heart.

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Lyra and Nicky! Lyra is my beautiful, beautiful human bard, my first ever DND PC, and is a country singer. :,) I don't really have a headcanon for her voice, but her character playlist is mostly Dolly Parton with a little bit of Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves thrown in, so feel free to imagine something that suits. I imagine her belting Jolene a lot. <3

Nicky is my brandest newest baby boy, who I know very little about music-wise. He's in a band with some dudes about his age, ostensibly of the rock persuasion, but since I know very little about rock music, I mostly imagine him sounding like Charlie Gillespie, since Julie and the Phantoms is the only thing I really know that even vaguely fits the concept. 😂

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will?

Thankfully, no! I've been very fortunate that all my dear friends who play Barbies with me are very accommodating of my little characters, so I've generally never really had to mess with them any more than I particularly wanted to.

30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?

Dani, one hundred percent, bless her. She already has one stuffed animal she doesn't keep secret - she's probably got a stash under her bed.

36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)?

In fairness, almost all of my OCs are part of a larger group made with (a) friend(s), so they tend to all have a friend or sibling or s/o who belongs to someone else, but I feel like most relevant would be my beloved Rose, whose boyfriend/soulmate/husband/etc. belongs to @ash-soka <3

Shout-out to my beloved friend C, too, who bequeathed me partial ownership of the book she may or may not someday write so my little character and hers could be dating-divorced-will-they-won't-they-maybe-in-another-life-or-maybe-in-this-one for my enjoyment. <3 Wyvern+Sera 4eva <3 <3 <3 And also Anna and Clara! Bestie supernatural room-mates!!

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!

The act of creating all my OCs are always fond memories in themselves - good times where I was having fun with friends! There are too many good moments to remember and pick, honestly.

46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly?

Luckily no lmao, I don't tend to brutalize them much (at least not out loud), so I generally never have cause to be accused of such.

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want.

Hi, my name is Andy and I'm bad at blank space questions-- so here's an incomplete list of as many of my OCs/PCs as I can remember, grouped vaguely by what they're for--

Dani, Nicky, Atlas, Lyra, Castor, Althea, Bon, Zamir, Rory, Aurelion, Amaranth, Senna, Rose, Juliet, Sprinkles, Vee, Wren, Anna, Victoria, Minty, Niccolos, Penny, Maddy, Austin, Aiden, Ari, Kit, Caine,

(are you regretting giving me a free space yet--)