Theme Songs

[TennyoCeres84]

This is probably one of those overused movie/tv thriller songs, but Mischa "Book" Chillak's version of Ready or Not really fits with Aspasia's ability to take down past and potential targets with either a sniper rifle and bow and arrow, if you want to go for older-style weaponry, or just sneaking around in the dark with some well-placed kicks, punches, standard blade or a silencer.

[IamLEAM1983]

There's something to Horizon Zero Dawn that really reminds me of Aspasia. Aloy's search for her origins makes for a good parallel for Aspasia wanting to get in touch with her Fae roots, and while Japan makes for a good spiritual jumping-on point, I figure part of her search is going to lead her to visit Greece's stretch of Faerie.

I felt like linking the entire game's soundtrack for its wonderful mixture of deep tribal structures and electronic highlights, but Within the Embrace kind of evokes the way I figure she'll feel once she'll have the opportunity to Choose - and especially once she'll make her Choice. Things are a bit more physiologically overt for Winter folks, but I figure Asp could feel like it's less her that changes and more the entire world around her.

I can imagine a Gruff matriarch of sorts leading her out of a vision quest and out of her tent - and the beauty of all that rocky greenery, the smell of surf in the air and the calls of birds all hit her like a ton of bricks. She'd have seen it all before while getting there - but never like this. For the first time in her life, she'd have seen signs of the Mother - God as worshipped by the Gruffs - in the world around her. Mother Mountain for some, Mother Forest for others... Either way, it would be an incredibly touching experience.

She might've been made to handle snipers and guns, the Mother made the Fauns to wield spears and bows and watch over Her bounty.

[TennyoCeres84]

Nice! The song and the commentary really fits. I figure she might've had a few archery lessons to familiarize her, but Daisuke gave her a spear, arrows, and a bow to use during the battle when was in Eien-no-Yuki.

[IamLEAM1983]

I think it goes without saying, but Horatio Grimley's primarily drawn to Vaudeville acts and Cabaret stylings, especially when things get a little off-kilter. If he ever gets to take to Tom's stage, expect a lot of calliope, theremin, banjos and harmonicas and basic waltz patterns given just a touch of Tim Burton-esque quirkiness...

Oh, and he'd probably want to sing about grotesque, if tragic murders involving beautiful waifs falling for grinning maniacs with golden voices, because natch. Circus Contraption's If I Told You Once is pretty much exactly that.



If I told you once
I told you a thousand times my dear
Never to fall in love with a man
Who drinks from the well of despair

I thought from the very start
I'd made it quite clear I fear
Now you're righteously fucked
As you swing from the rope
At the top of the stairs

If I told you once I told you twice 
I was held in the grip of incurable vice
Lips turning blue like the shade of your eyes
Limbs shudder and twitch as you met your demise

You must've looked pretty as you stepped off the chair
Pink satin slippers how they danced in the air
Your dainty tongue swelled to an alarming degree
Hope you were thinking of me
Hope you were thinking of me
Thinking of me

If I told you twice
I told you two thousand times my dear
Never to fall in love with a man
Who's broken beyond all repair

I knew from the very start
You'd end up right here - so queer
Now you've left me with naught
But a suicide note and a lock of your hair

If I've mentioned it once I've mentioned it twice
I was bound in the throes of unearthly device
Radiance bloomed as I lay you to rest
Shadows of moonbeam alighting your breast

Deep in the ground where the worms have their feast
At last you can taste an incurable peace
Now that you're dead and you're finally free
Hope you were thinking of me
Hope you were thinking of me
Thinking of me

If I told you thrice
I told you three thousand times my dear
Never to fall in love with a man
Who'd draw you into his lair

I warned from the very start
The end would be rather severe
Now your screams fall like vaporous
Stones from your mouth into the night air

One time begat twice, then third time's the charm
Disregarded all obvious signs of alarm
Skin milky white as you lie in repose
Tattered dress stained from the blood I suppose

So hollow and vacant, devoid of all light
Your epitaph written on our wedding night
As your muscles were twitching in their final plea
Hope you were thinking of me
Hope you were thinking of me
Thinking of me
Thinking of me

Always thinking of me
Just me?

[IamLEAM1983]

If Meris seems like the type to dig into the past to better inspire the future, I've always thought of Nereus as being a Futurist at heart and - secretly at least - an eternal optimist. If his and Meris' home in the Darkhallow looks so starkly modern, it's equal parts out of his frustrated architect's desires and out of the fact that looking ahead - even in terms of household design - is a hopeful act as far as he's concerned. Considering, I figure the theme to Nereus' hopes for the future and their projected home in the Darkhallow would be positive, a bit dreamlike - but also very, very modern. Enter Mick Gordon's aptly-named Everything's Going to be OK, which, to me, fits with the side of Hope he especially yearns to see for himself.

He's curious to see Hope as a biotech leader, an example of support towards ethically-responsible Transhumanism, and as a beacon of Progressive values and inclusiveness - and even more curious to see what the city's years of reconstruction produced in terms of architectural design.

You could also say this might be the theme song to his first carefree morning - especially the one he'll spend on the balcony on the house he'll have designed for himself and Meris, not far from Mertown.

[IamLEAM1983]

I've started listening to 11 Acorn Lane, and their take on Electroswing is pretty jaunty. A lot of songs in Time for Tea kind of hilariously fit Allan Winston, the kind of guy who's large, in charge and unapologetic about his curves - and possibly someone who likes to go clubbing around joints guys his age tend to frequent. Mr. Mambo and Let's Face it, I'm Cute fit him like a glove. The second one is all about his unabashed self-respect and his iron-clad belief in his ability to nab himself a guy.





Let's face it,
Let's face it,
Let's face it,

Let's come to terms,
And embrace it,
Concur,
Concede,
And face it,

I'm cute,
I'm cute,
I'm cute,
I'm cute,

Let's embrace it,
And come to terms,
There ya have it, I'm cute

Let's face it,
Let's face it (Let's face it),
Let's face it,
Let's face it (Let's face it),
Let's come to terms (Let's come to terms),
And embrace it (And embrace it),
Concur and then concede,
And face it

I'm cute (Cute, cute cute),
I'm cute (Cute, cute cute),
There ya have it, I'm cute

Let's embrace it,
And come to terms,
(Cute, cute, cute)

Let's face it (There you go)
Let's face it
Let's face it
Let's face it
Let's face it
Let's come to terms
And embrace it
Concur and then
Concede
And face it
Let's face it (Let's face it)
Let's face it (Let's face it)
Let's face it (Let's face it)
Let's face it (Let's face it)
Let's come to terms (Let's come to terms)
And embrace it (And embrace it)
Concur and then
Concede (Concede)
And face it

Ya know I'm cute (Cute, cute, cute)
There ya have it, I'm cute
I'm cute (Cute, cute, cute)
See, I told you
Let's embrace it (Don't blame me, don't blame me)
And come to terms

[IamLEAM1983]

Going back to Circus Contraption, seeing as the following really fits with not only Grimley himself, but the rest of his circus' troupe as well.

They're mostly along for the party and prefer to delight and creep people out in equal measure, but there's still the occasional situation where the big top and the attending mess of tents makes for a great spot to - ahem - deal with someone who's had it coming... Another nosy Squid trying to sneak out with some of Horatio's blood, the occasional vampire hunter or fire-and-brimstone idiot from their occasional touring stretches down South, rival bloodsuckers or some of the more contentious Dixie Fae, hackers or document thieves...

A lot of people have reasons enough to try and play a fast one on Horatio and his crew. That doesn't mean their reaction is charitable.

I always pictured the circus' planned lineups to serve as convenient noise and motion screens for sometimes gruesome - if generally deserved - murders. Horatio does what he can to limit the damage, but there's cases where a target simply has to be dealt with. In these cases, he probably arranges for a private show and does what he can to bait his target.

In these instances, I figure Circus Contraption's Wicked Fascinations fits with the idea of an admittedly clownish, if overjoyed mouse landing an about-face to reveal that it's actually the lion, and that the so-called predator has slipped right into its killer's awaiting jaws. The entire troupe walks out of the shadows at the song's apex and presses in on an overwhelmed and usually arrogantly self-assured would-be enemy.

The next day, there isn't so much as a drop of blood left to find in whatever crumbling small-town silver-screen the troupe had rented out for one evening - and no corpse to find. Spray the seats and stage with luminol and whip out a UV light, however, and the traces of a horror show pop out. Maybe someone, somewhere, managed to pluck out a desperately-fired modern crossbow bolt from the ceiling or found an errant bullet hole nobody manages to explain, but you'd need a Diviner on call to find out that righteous violence took place there.

Righteous violence - scored to big-top and cabaret music.



Welcome to our wicked little fascinations
Right on time to join us for the ride
We've devised an antiquated machination
Oddities await so won't you kindly step inside

We're inclined towards sybaritic exultation
You might find you'll have us for the night
Fall in line, we'll administer inoculations
Turn the nickelodeon and kiss your ass goodbye

The grand American traveling Dime Museum
You laid your money down and you wanna come and see 'em
'Cause people gotta cred for skill
Till the stroke of midnight chimes
Raise inquiry for the afflictions of our times

Welcome to our wicked little fascinations
Right on time to join us for the ride
Fall in line, we'll administer inoculations
Turn the nickelodeon and kiss your ass goodbye

[IamLEAM1983]

I always figured that for every soul in Pandemonium that Ascends, there's one or two that stagnates or festers there. Parts of the Infernal City are kind of magnified by the locals' overall success story, maybe cleaned up and partially fixed by their frequent exposure to Celestial Light. There's others where the local demons are a bit less easy to reach, and where things reach a kind of laissez-faire and functional level of squalor. The people there aren't as damned as they would be down in the Pit, but they're certainly not interested in improving their lot, or leaving. As could be expected, there's ordinary levels of corruption that allow for figures of potential authority to kick back and line their pockets while souls interested in playing drug dealer or gangster take over.

Bob's one of the more serious types on Pandemonium's force, but he sometimes has to brush against a frustratingly laid-back attitude in these corners, as well as the sense as he has to enter parts of Purgatory that are betraying their purpose; that are actively dangerous for resident demons and admitted souls alike, all because someone, somewhere, refuses to let go of the past and is actively profiting from that degeneracy.

Considering, Machines of Loving Grace's Golgotha Tenement Blues feels like a nice fit.



I am city
I am the park
I am glow
In the mother fucking dark

I am shocked and I seethe
I don't want to believe no more, no more
No more

Golgotha tenement, city of sores
Give me your tired and your wicked
Give me your dollar whores
Down on the boulevard
The children are sold
To pave the way
For your streets of gold, streets of gold

No more

I am the chosen one
I am the chosen one
I am the chosen one

[TennyoCeres84]

There's something about this cello and piano cover of Fall Out Boy's Centuries that makes me think of when Aspasia would be facing Rendell in a final confrontation on Paradise, after she eventually Chooses. I can see her both laying traps for her "Father" and using all her newfound skills to literally have her remember him when she traps him in stasis for indefinite amount of time and probably having him dream of her thwarting him, a legend overthrowing another that turned to dust.

[IamLEAM1983]

And here's another one for when the Circus gets its murder boner... It's obvious, but it fits.