#st exchange

[beyondthefarthestreaches]

Thank you so much for the playlist! I really enjoyed bloodstream, it sounds super good and the singers voice is addictive. Crawl away and Vermillion were also bangers.

If you have notes on your explanations of the songs I'd loveeee to hear it, wanna hear how you interpreted them!!

Okay so this is probably going to be a Wildly long answer so first let me say that I am SO glad you liked the playlist!! I had a grand time making it and I listened to it on repeat for a few weeks just to tweak and move things around.

Also: making the cover art let me flex my editing skills just a tiny bit. It's been so long since I've done anything like that haha.

Anyway! on to the lengthy answer:

Creep - Radiohead: This one is probably the most obvious one. Sort've the soft dipping of the toe into the idea that yeah this guy knows he's a little weird and feels like a loser and he really wants to be good enough for the object of his affection.

Bloodstream - Stateless: ngl I fucking love this song so much. The dreamy vibes, to me, feel like being high and - in this case - high off of another person. "I think I might have inhaled you" "you've gotten into my bloodstream" - THIS is the real start of the obsession. The first peak of elation and adoration. Their being together, part of one another is right and amazing.

Shameful Metaphors - Chevelle: Plainly, this one for me was all about "I fear your eyes closing." Now that he knows the elation of "love," the worst possible thing to him is losing the person he's obsessed with because nothing about his life up until them has mattered.

Breezeblocks - alt-J: This edges towards the darker side of things. He loves them so much, god he does so he's willing to do anything to make them stay. "hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks, germaline disinfect the scene." And of course "Please don't go, I'll eat you whole" - Vore, anyone?

Closer - Nine Inch Nails: Of course, this one is a classic. The kind of fucked up, borderline creepy, lust - "I want to fuck you like animal, I want to feel you from the inside" - and adoration. "I drink the honey inside your hive, you are the reason I stay alive." (Additionally, the concept of "You get me closer to God" in-lore with the concept of Sleep would be fascinating to explore but I actually haven't fully dipped my toes in that water yet).

High Enough - k.flay: He's up again. They're all that he needs - "I only got eyes for you." What else could he ever want?

Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana: And back down. There's some bitterness, some resentment, some acknowledgement that this "love" is a trap that he's fallen into. Maybe they've lured him into it, maybe it's one of his own making - he's not quite aware enough to be sure but they're getting the blame all the same.

Weak and Powerless - A Perfect Circle: This one is all about admitting that he knows that he's actually weak for them. Everything he is and does is about them - and maybe he kind of wants out.

Die4u - Bring Me the Horizon: So the part of this song that got me is uhh for sure dark but "'Cause the truth of it, you could slit my wrists, and I'd write your name in a heart with the hemorrhage" honestly had me on my knees about it. follow it up with 'This isn't love, this is a car crash" and the way it reminds me of the references to cars/roads/car crashes throughout Sleep Token Lyrics - yeah. ("If my fate is a bad collision and my mind is an open highway", "i was more than just a body in your passenger seat", "between the second hand smoke and the glass on the street", and the bit at 2:30 of Granite that sounds like squealing tires - anyway.)

Follow You - Bring Me the Horizon: This is worship and his desperation for them to stay (even if they don't actually know who he is or that he exists. oof). He would go anywhere and do anything for them.

Crawl Away - TOOL: Aaand right into the deep dark. The fracture in his mind when they refuse him and try to get away - because he doesn't fucking care if they don't want to be with him. They're his, no matter what they do. He loves them and he'd kill them before letting them leave.

Ana's Song (Open Fire) - Silverchair: He's a little sorry. He still needs them so badly, even if they're killing him. Even if they're killing each other.

The Greatest View - Silverchair: Honestly, this one's pretty straightforward. Little stalker guy, just following. Just watching. Deluding himself that they want him back, that they see him, too.

Change (In the House of Flies) - Deftones: This is the impact he's realizing he's had on them, in a way. Where maybe they were naive or carefree before, now they know. They know him, and they know the fear excitement. They think about him now; he's sure he's always on their mind.

Vermillion, Pt.2 - Slipknot: Something I think a lot about is the way many obsessive stalkers struggle with their self worth because it's so tied up in the object of their obsession, and that's where this song comes in. There's a faltering, a misstep, one that's not enough to send him into the rage of rejection, but one that triggers his lack of self worth. He needs them, he wants them, he hates himself.

liMOusIne - Bring Me the Horizon, Aurora: I was annoyed that I wanted this song on this playlist; I really tried to limit myself to a max of 2 songs per artist but liMOusIne just would not leave me alone. He wants them to love him back - to adore him back. "I hope that you wrote all your songs for me, kiss the ground i walk, I'm a fool for you" and then the last bit post chorus "so lock all the doors cause I'm insecure" ties back to his low self esteem. Of course, there's also all the shivery, squirmy, obsessive bits "do you like the way your skin crawls," "I'll swallow the bile for you," "I'll tickle that spot for you."

Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk lmao.

[botanyshitposts]

the boys and I all line up for the new robin wall kimmerer book like ants and one by one we all say Thank you dr kimmerer for your service

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

Chang's Muse

[elkkiel]

my arms belong around you

some cozy vess/ii vibes for @bubacorn <3 happy holidays friend!! :3

[corviisquire]

Gold rush, acid flux

saturate me I can't get enough

Sleep Token Christmas gift exchange gift for @h0n3y-bear!!

[xhinc]

@fervenial's watcher Xathrae for @secret-st-waidwen-exchange c:

[a-s-levynn]

we can spend the night in fascination~

Sleep Token Gift Exchange 2024 for @outcastedang3l 🙏🏻

[benn--10]

Here is my @thekyluxsecretsanta gift for the wonderful highsandlows! Her prompt was First Order Wins Au and Marriage of Convenience, so here are these two, perhaps a couple of years into being the wedded galactic emperors. A baby might even be in the way, who knows! Happy Holidays, highsandlows, you can check out her ao3 account here!

[ancientbygone]

and you remember everything, only til the sun recedes once again

[my piece for @protabat as part of the sleep token gift exchange!! <3]

[changewingwentz]

Crushed by silent snow❄️

My ST gift exchange for @hookedhobbies 🌨

Hope you like it! they’re trying out an old hobby which is group ice skating!! They’re going to slip again

[solphuruz]

so rain down on me

sleep token gift exchange for @hazyfaith! hope you like it <3

[beyondthefarthestreaches]

The line between love and the urge to devour is thin.

You Taste Like New Flesh: A Stalker!IV playlist

Created for @ghostlygothicgay. My goal was to capture the highs and lows that characterize obsessive stalkers and the way they think, how their mood can depend entirely on the object of their obsession. I hope you enjoy!

[secret-st-waidwen-exchange]

I freaking love that as an unforeseen result of this exchange we seem to have collectively invented a new Eoran holiday called St. Waidwen Day.

please reblog with your pitches for St. Waidwen Day lore

[yelly-ink]

well, happy st. waidwen's day to calendula and xoti and happy upcoming new year to @starlightcleric!! 2025 will definitely be a bright one for poe fandom :D and many thanks to @secret-st-waidwen-exchange for organizing this! <3

[elkkiel]

Just a couple of besties <3

A little side gift for @lauratheghost, as a complimentary piece to @stellasplendens' gift fic (+ absolutely adorable au!!!)

also on AO3!

[protabat]

Happy holidays @coconut530 this is my ST gift exchange gift for you! I hope you like it!