ahhhh this is so good, ty quake!! the answer is SO MANY. way too many.

i made a playlist for her awhile ago & while i'm copying it here, there were also a lot of songs in the tags. this is very much baseline alara:

all of these are great for act i & i have them in a lil playlist. pretty much all of these are an instant muse boost in some shape or form, even if they're just about one aspect of her, like a past relationship. also charli xcx, marina & the diamonds, & sabrina carpenter tend to give me a boost no matter what on pure vibe alone ( & i'm surprised i don't have primadonna at all mentioned, though i digress ).

there are songs that have just one or two lines that also give me inspiration, even if the rest of the song doesn't fit, like the wife's murder ballad by lydia the bard. about 2 minutes in there's a great bit that starts with 'i often wonder if i am see-through' that's so on point for her, & then she does a great break down & scream that is so her, & i think bard her would sing/act the shit out of that & have fun with it.

i will say that finding songs that i think she'd love to sing in her bard verse, even if it's not about her directly, still also gives me inspiration, so that's an easy way to get into post game stuff.

it's a bit harder to find songs about the changes she goes through/songs more accurate to act ii or iii. i have a few but more actively trying to curate those, but i have:

help i'm alive by metric the villain i appear to be cover by annapantsu* gold by marina & the diamonds i'm free by peached

*asterisk because i don't know the original, but found it from the cover by her voiceclaim ( sometimes she rearranges songs or rewrites parts, so i can only speak to this version; it's a bit oddly paced & very musical-y but still gives me act i vibes. )

it could be morning. it could be the height of the day. it could be any time or day, and they would be none the wiser. and the damn storm is to blame. they can hear it; wind howling and rain beating against the aged wood of the inn.

another glorious barovian day, but the rain is enough of an excuse to linger.

half-buried beneath the blanket, face pressed against the bed to block the world outside, florence tries to pretend they hadn’t heard gale’s question. if it wasn’t heard, it doesn’t exist. if it doesn’t exist, they can stay in this room and ignore the nightmares outside.

“ don’t know, ” comes a mumble, and the soft rustling of blankets follows. “ morning ? does it matter ? ”

aw, man ... he really hates falling asleep. he dreads it so much. puts it off for as long as he possibly can. he's a total control freak because he's always having to make up for the fact that he's really not the one at the wheel in his own body. falling asleep means letting go of whatever shred of control he does have. it's just another of several long stretches of time where he has no idea what his body is doing, & he gets that too often when awake already.

so, he prefers waking up, then? well, no ... he hates waking up more than falling asleep. waking up means dealing with the consequences of whatever he did while asleep. there's no relief there, just more dread. he's always so disoriented. so confused about where he is, how he got there, whose blood is that on his hands. he would really rather not waking up at all.

also, puck is so, so tired. in all honesty, all he wants is to curl up & go to sleep for a thousand years, & i think he'd really try to do that if it weren't for the sleepwalking horrors.

QUAKE. first off, thank you for taking a couple minutes out of your day to send me this. this was a welcome surprise! 🥰🩵

i hope i don't get stoned for this, but honestly............. i don't really listen to music. at least not to where i have an extensive knowledge of songs in my back pocket that i can answer this question with. i pretty much exclusively listen to music in the car, at work or on the train, and it's usually one album or artist on repeat for the whole week. this week, it's a perfect circle (and before that, the past 2-3 weeks have been tool, with a sprinkling of the baldur's gate 3 ost). generally, i listen to a lot of game soundtracks, esp when working or on the train bc words distract me.

hagsi...... offering

Dress my muse up

OH BOY. UHH. NEITHER.

They are very bad at sleeping. Falling asleep requires vulnerability, which they do not submit to easily. Most of the time, they can only sleep when absolutely exhausted and left with no other choice. Otherwise, they will be the most tense little curled up ball you've ever seen, wide awake for hours before getting any closer to passing out. Very tense. The thought of closing their eyes fills them with dread.

But waking up is also very bad. They are a very light sleeper (prey animal moment) and wake up ready to swing. It's very rare for them to not startle awake, either from being woken up or from a nightmare. Out of my two options, this is the one that's more dangerous. They're prone to wild magic outbursts while they're having their night terrors and they're almost guaranteed one when they're jostled awake unexpectantly- if not wild magic, then pure instincts attacking whatever threat may be nearby. No matter how sweetly or gently you try to wake the Iago, there is always a chance they will cast fireball on you. A very skittish and paranoid thing. Convinced they're being hunted for sport from the very moment they open their eyes in the morning.

Twelve Forfend, he actually pulled it off...he knew Waters boasted of his skills in espionage, had even shown-off about it in regards to his archon mark..but to actually slip himself in and out of the restricted section without so much as tipping off a mammet. And to do so at the risk of being punished by the Forum..! He'd think him breathtaking, if not for the incredible recklessness!

But oh, he'd remembered the exact tome (Field notes on the aether flowing deep beneath us, to be precise), and he'd been so careful with it. Perhaps not to risk being found out, but still. How could this man be so thoughtful and yet so entirely infuriatingly? It was that damned charming smile of his...he knew what he was getting out of this. Knew what his skills could grant him.

"I can't believe you actually heeded my request...do you not have other things that might be more worth your while?" Behni huffed, gently taking the tome from the other and peering around them as if anyone else had the time to pry into their conversation. Thancred was talented, but those security mammets were in a league of their own...

 ▌  character  building  asks  (  always  welcome  )  

It  would  be  so  easy  to  assume  he  likes  the  full  moon  because  of  flying  insects  using  the  moon  as  a  compass.  There  is  no  favorite  part,  actually.  He  appreciates  the  process  because  of  how  consistent  it  is.  The  moon  looks  the  same  everywhere,  let  it  be  in  Raurin  or  northern  Faerun.  It's  like  a  photograph  from  home  you  carry  with  yourself.  He  has  a  lot  of  time  looking  at  it   &   never  grows  tired  of  the  sight  :)