#shakarian playlist

[otemporanerys]

A playlist for my species swap Shakarian fan fic set during Mass Effect 2

The playlist | The fic

Liner notes below the cut (tw discussions of suicide)

Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Breeders

I always like to start my playlists with something to set the mood - this is definitely an atmosphere song. I also like using covers for species swap, and a different one kicks off the ME3 playlist lol if I ever get around to writing that. The defamiliarisation sets up the AU

2. In the Wake of Your Leave - Gang of Youths

OK so technically tracks 2 and 3 are cheating because they're actually for Interregnum, leave me alone

Anyway! Sad bangers are my jam, and I wanted something that conveyed the grief of losing someone, but giving the energy a bit of a kick after the Breeders song

3. I Don't Smoke - Mitski

I'm a basic bitch who loves Mitski, what can I say?

No, this song is for the Gareth sad spiral (TM) and for the fact that sad smoking is cool, actually (don't @ me)

4. Peel - Weakened Friends

This is a Shepherd song, you know, the beginning of her terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad nervous breakdown.

There was an earlier version of LBEL which was much more actively about Shepherd trying to bring Cerberus down from the inside: but actually now I think the lyrics speak much more to Shepherd feeling like she always has to fit the mold of the pragmatic, practical soldier

5. Toy Soldier - The Menzingers

This is thee Garrus song, sorry I don't make the rules. The lost friends! Carrying on despite that loss!!! Dutyyy

6. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Gareth is kind of an old soul, which is why his songs lean slightly more retro - and just the deep well of yearning in this song always gets me. It's very much his feelings after Shepherd saves him, loving her and wishing he didn’t

7. Born to Lose - Sleigh Bells

I primarily associate this song with Shepherd being discarded by the Hierarchy and the struggles she has with knowing protocol is to kill herself

8. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles

Gareth: conceal, don't feel 😢 I have always loved this song and it's very much Gareth knowing that he can't be open about his feelings

9. Quitter - Weakened Friends

More good mental health time for Shepherd, excellent. I don’t mind repeating artists in my playlists but I do tend to keep it to one

10. Bullet with Butterfly Wings - The Smashing Pumpkins

The one thing I am actually a snob about with playlists is not using too many "popular" songs, but I did like this one for Horizon. Shepherd's really starting to spiral here, folks

11. Anybody (Stripped) - Dead Sara

Horizon sex, Shepherd POV. She's so lonely in this fic, really longing for connection, and this song is the words she doesn't know how to say

12. Baby I Got the Death Rattle - Los Campesinos!

Horizon sex, Gareth POV

This is one of those songs that doesn't start as a blorbo song, but if you tell me you've heard a lyric that's more "Garrus Vakarian down bad" than "Baby I got the death rattle and baby I got it bad | I've been digging my own grave for quite some time when I'm not digging up the past" then I would love to hear it

13. Bedroom Eyes - Dum Dum Girls

One of my favourite bits of LBEL is the quiet intimacy that Gareth and Shepherd have when they're sleeping together, and this song reflects that

14. Hopeless - Screaming Females

Shepherd dumping Gareth because she likes him too much 😭 I'm fine. The lyrics and the vocals are so plaintive, again the emotions Shepherd won't allow herself to express

15. Something Bigger, Something Brighter - Pretty Girls Make Graves

This isn't a terribly literal inclusion, it's a good angsty-sounding song for where Shepherd's at post-breakup

16. Heavy Metal Heart - Sky Ferreira

This is just. Shepherd's song 💖 I love it, and her

17. Apocalypse Now (&Later) - Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers

This is a great Mass Effect 2 song more broadly but man is it perfect for Gareth and Shep reuniting just before the suicide mission!!!

18. The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

Fuck Cerberus, part 1. There just is not a better song for being done with someone else's bullshit

19. Search and Destroy - Peaches

Fuck Cerberus, part 2 (or, how Shepherd got her groove back). Peaches always has such brilliant swagger and I adore this cover - Shepherd coming back into her own power and recognising how dangerous (and unpredictable) she can be

20. I Would Find You - Oceanator

I adore this song, the softness and kindness at the end of the world. It's really the thesis statement of the fic, and a promise for Gareth and Shepherd going forward, even through the hard times. It was the perfect grace note to end on

#shakarian playlist #mass effect playlist #shakarian #mass effect #my playlists #species swap

[corpocyborg]

🎶 9 Ship Songs 🎶

Tagged by @kirschewine! (Thank you so much!)

Rules: List 9 songs for one (or more) of your ships. Optionally, tag 9 people.

---

If you want more song recs, you can find my full Renegade Shakarian playlist here. There are several GoroV playlists on my Spotify too, with slightly different themes each. This is the main one.

---

(Renegade) Shakarian

"I want the parts of you you only show to the corner of your bathroom mirror. / I want the parts of your hand grenade heart that beat slowly with anger and fear."

"Outside, a street of fire. / Broken glass and aching hearts. / Petrified, as we divide. / Screaming out a war of words. / We're not fighting to be heard. / We just wanna watch you burn."

"One speed, full speed. / That is all I need. / They can eat my dust. / Hell yeah, rock on. / Will you come along? / Do I have your trust?"

"We fought through hell, hand in hand. / Trying to save you from yourself. / Night and night, watch me burn. / So you can save me from myself. / First it's you, now me. / Night and night. / We fought through hell, fought through hell. / Meet me in the fire."

"I'll pay no mind to the scorpion. / Perched and poised on my shoulder. / I'm not the kind to head a warning. / And as I'm gazing into you. / I think you're fearless too."

---

(Devil Ending) GoroV

"I came here by day. / But I left here in darkness. / And found you. / Found you on the way."

"You are the hole in my head. / You are the space in my bed. / You are the silence in between what I thought and what I said."

"We should've been enemies. / We could've never met. / We should've been enemies. / It would have been better than starting again."

"This revolution, baby. / Proves who you work for, maybe. / Who do you work for, baby? / And does it work for you, lately?"

---

Tagging: @luvwich, @gamerkitten, @merge-conflict, @bnbc, @just-a-cybercroissant, @another-corpo-rat, @heartofarasaka, @ghostoffuturespast and @fereldanwench!

#spotify #shakarian #cyberpunk 2077 #gorov #mass effect #renegade shepard #takemura x v #playlists #fanmixes

[vakarians-babe]

42!! c:

42. No Light, No Light (Florence + The Machine)

#this one is almost certainly on here bc its on my shakarian playlist......... #spotify wrapped #cairamelcoffee

[baejax-the-great]

For wrapped prompts: 40 & Fenhawke

Hawke isn’t sure what drove her to climb the roofs of Viscount’s Keep. They are spiky and slippery by turns, steep, with a sharp wind knocking her about, not at all convenient for brooding, and if she falls, she will almost certainly crack her head on the cobblestones below.

And wouldn’t that just be fitting? One year after driving the arishok from this very keep, the last of the Hawkes falls to her doom for no other reason than this city is an endless maw of death that seems to want to eat her family alive. Or because she had half a bottle of wine before starting on this venture. Protection against the wind, at least.

From her perch, just like a real hawk, she thinks somewhat absently, the view might be beautiful if she held any sort of tender feelings for this city. Instead, each glint of metal reflecting moonlight makes her wonder whose house is being cased tonight, which gangs have decided to gift themselves with a new claim as Kirkwall rings in a new year. She can see all the way to Lowtown and the Gallows beyond. She thinks she might even be able to smell them.

And then she spies something else—another miserable soul who has decided that a rooftop in Hightown in winter is just the place to spend Satinalia. Hawke pulls at a roof tile, jamming a knife in and wiggling it until it’s free in her hand. She feels the heft of it, then she chucks it across the night sky.

Fenris bursts into fiery blue as the tile shatters next to him. He is on his feet quicker than Hawke can see, and she waves at him. He is too far away for her to see his expression, but as the lyrium on his skin flickers down to just a dull glow, he picks up a bottle of wine from near his feet and raises it to her before taking a swig.

It’s the closest they’ve come to talking since they spent the night together.

She turns her attention away from Fenris and stares down at the city that saved her life and took everything from her. She inhales deeply, and wondering if the echoes will help her reach all the way to where her sister rots in the Gallows, she shouts at the top of her lungs, “Fuck Kirkwall!”

From a lower rooftop somewhere to her left, she hears a deep voice call, “Here, here.”  

#fenhawke #fenris #hawke #da2 #this song is on my shakarian playlist but wow does it work for these two #anyway lonely kirkwall christmas felt right #thanks for the prompt!!!!

[girlvvalmighty]

spotify links masterlist!!

okay so the way I like to hyper fixate on the things I enjoy is by making playlists (and I mean a lot of playlists) so I thought I would share them for other people to listen to! if you're like me! hope you enjoy! 

cyberpunk 2077: 

temperance; "guess I meant, I dunno... a happier ending... for everyone involved."  "here, for folks like us? wrong city, wrong people."  (enemies to lovers w/an unhappy ending, Johnny Silverhand/V, listen in order for a better experience!)

the streetkid; valerie “v” vega; "I don’t wanna die, who does? I just don’t see a way out” (streetkid V, under construction) 

playlists in the works: 

hello there, night city!; a day in the life (cyberpunk 2077 vibes music from the game & more) 

dragon age:

alas, so long as the music plays, we dance; dragon age brain rot! all of my playlists combined just if you’re feeling a vibe. 

warden senses tingling!; here’s a ladder, can you get off my back?// dragon age origins, listen in order

cheap advice, from a dragon; Hawke this, Hawke that. why does everything have to fall to me? // dragon age 2

I have a world to save. again; well, shit // dragon age inquisition 

playlists in the works: 

never doubt it; zeveran arainai/warden playlist. 

nothing would be worse than the thought of living without you; fenris/hawke playlist. 

fallout: 

 war never changes: but people do; fallout playlist (under construction!) 

playlists in the works:

revelation 21:6; fallout 3 playlist 

rigged from the start; fallout new vegas playlist

where did my baby go?; fallout 4 playlist

mass effect: 

odesia shepard; earthborn; sole survivor; savior of the citadel; “I won't let fear compromise who I am”  

playlists in the works:

no shepard without valkarian; “you’re about the only friend I have left in this messed up galaxy” (shepard/garrus valkarian) 

its not your fault, I ruin everything; shepard/Kaiden alenko but shepard moves on in me2 haha :(

saints row:

its our time now; saints row 1-4, listen in order. 

can you tell this is my outlet for the things I really like lmao

#cyberpunk 2077 #dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age inquisition #dragon age 2 #Mass Effect #Saints Row #fallout 3 #fallout #fallout new vegas #fallout 4 #silverV #spotify #playlist #shakarian #shenko

[mt07131]

If you thought I was going to make a template and not use my Shepards as an example, you would be very wrong

#putting them through the wringer (photoshop) #ngl I made the template because I had the idea for them #because i love sharing playlists but theirs are Stupid Long (especially maeve's) since i have no self control <3 #maeve shepard #ophelia shepard #lorelei shepard #shakarian #shenko #shrios #garrus vakarian #kaidan alenko #thane krios #commander shepard #mass effect #mass effect legendary edition #mele #my templates #shepardcore #opheliacore #loreleicore

[mirthfullyme]

follow my garrus/commander shepard playlist 🥰

#playlist #spotify #spotify playlist #mass effect #me2 #me3 #garrus vakarian #garrus romance #mass effect garrus #shepard x garrus #garrus x femshep #fem shepard #commander shepard #mass effect playlist #shakarian #Spotify

[so-not-a-psycho]

#mass effect #garrus x femshep #shakarian #playlist

[thefloatingstone]

I feel like I'm too old to do something like make a playlist for a ship but also I should make a playlist for no reason other than to dump songs I associate with Shakarian into it.

It's not making a "Playlist for a ship".

It's making a playlist to put songs into that vaguely have a theme.

Because I'm an adult who pays bills and shit.

#text post

[otemporanerys]

spotify wrapped forrrrr 49 and/or 88? :3c

49: If I Fall You’re Going Down With Me - The Chicks

88: My Name Is Trouble - Nightmare of You

#ask meme #ty! #49 is on a shakarian playlist #88 has shakarian Vibes but the lyrics aren't quite right 😕 #spotify wrapped

[corpocyborg]

A Mass Effect playlist for Garrus Vakarian and Jane Shepard going down the darkest road together. | "I saw my eyes in your eyes and they looked back. I detected light, but focused in on the black."

#mass effect #shakarian #garrus vakarian #renegade shepard #commander shepard #playlist #spotify #fanmix

[turianhousewife]

shakarians pls reply with your favourite shakarian songs im putting together a playlist

#ill go first #eyes without a face - billy idol #shakarian #garrus x femshep #garrus x shepard

[shivunin]

AO3 Wrapped, 27, 28, and 29? Also, ty for sharing your writing with us. Reading your fics was one of my highlights of the year 💗

Yay, thank you for asking! And what a lovely thing to say 💗 Back at you---I genuinely adore your Shakarian things and I think about that one fic with the numbers very, very often (I've reread it more than a few times lol).

(AO3 Wrapped Asks)

27. What do you listen to while writing?

I have character and fic-specific playlists, so whichever one fits the task I'm working on. I listen to Wen's playlist the most, but lately I have been listening to my Tav playlist pretty often as well c: If I'm not in the mood, I pick an album I've heard a lot so it will blend into the background (The Crane Wives, The Oh Hellos, The Amazing Devil, or Dessa most often).

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Palimpsest. I think it's my best Fenhawke thing, and I really like the rhythm of it. Also it's wrenching, which I always love.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Aghhhh that is so hard T.T Ummm. Off the top of my head, from "In Any Life":

Maria turned at last, and he was close enough to catch her eyes through the billowing sheets on the line.  Fenris found his voice at last.  “Alive,” he said, but it hardly mattered; she was already moving, lifting her arm to push the linens aside, her eyes fixed on him.  “Fenris?” “Yes,” he said.  “You’re—here?” “I am.” 

She sped up as she moved, until she was running full-tilt across the small amount of yard between them. He could see that she would not slow down, so he stopped and braced himself instead, spreading his arms slightly. She was a blur; she was a streak of red and black and brown against the green of the grass behind their home. She was— When she reached him, it was with full force, and he would most certainly have been bowled over if he hadn’t made himself ready for it. Hawke was—she was so much more present than everything else, so intensely real under his hands, in his arms. How had he gone a year without holding her? How had he gone a day? Both of them were breathing hard, both of them were speaking, but he couldn’t make sense of any of it. It didn’t matter. He didn’t care. He was home. He was home.

#thank you so much for asking!! #ask game response #ask response #ao3 wrapped

[meggannn]

hey there!! for the wip asks, how about 7 & 21 for whatever shakarian piece(s) you want to talk about? ;)c

7. What is your favorite scene you’ve written so far?

this is unfortunate because I haven't written the scenes I'm most looking forward to in any of my 3 shakarians, lol. but I do like the concept of "Shepard drags a dying Garrus out of a dumpster" from my Mass Effect/Imperial Radch fic, I think it's a strong opener!

21. Share 3 songs that would belong on a playlist for this chapter/fic.

this I can do! for "Down Girl"

Andromeda—Weyes Blood

Oh No Darling!—Sarah Kinsley

Hard Time—Seinabo Sey

Jungle—Tash Sultana

I Am—AWOLNATION

#askbox #queenofbaws #down girl

[scribblesandknots]

1, 10, 16, 21 for your shakarian fic please! :)

1 - Give a 5-word summary of this chapter/fic.

Canon Shakarian with more angst :)

10 - What is the last line of dialogue you’ve written?

Cheating with a little bit of context:

“Garrus - when we find them, you’re on medical as soon as we secure space,” Shepard said as she ran.

“Yes, commander,” Garrus replied. He wracked his brain for every scrap of quarian-specific medical knowledge he’d ever picked up, but most of it consisted of “antibiotics ASAP” and “avoid suit puncture at all costs”.

He booted up his medical HUD overlay, hoping desperately he wouldn’t need it.

16 - Write the next 5 sentences and share.

“Hold!” Shepard called, sliding to a halt ahead of Garrus. He twisted his body desperately to skid past her instead of into her and narrowly managed it. She shot out a hand and pulled him back into cover, steadying him. He got a glimpse of the Colossus stalking ahead of them - and at the quarian bodies at its feet.

“Shepard to Kal’Reegar, come in,” Shepard said into the comm a quiet, tense voice.

21 - Share 3 songs that would belong on a playlist for this chapter/fic. 

Oooh, I actually do have playlists for Garrus and Shepard for this fic! I'll let you guess which of these songs are for which of them. :)

#mass effect #fanfic #writing #shakarian

[that-wildwolf]

Edge of Yesterday post I promised to make

Look. Look. When you write a fanfic that's almost 150K words, you get obsessed. And if you're me, you get unhealthily obsessed.

Playlist with all the songs quoted in the fic:

Playlists I used while writing:

Deleted scenes: (the links don't work in the app, you have to open them through the browser on mobile)

👉 Shepard with turian kids in Alba

👉 Alternative ending of chapter 29 — more focused on fixing the Charon Relay

👉 Shepard playing Russian roulette

Some general trivia I didn't know what else to do with:

👉 Shepard was originally going to remember much sooner; she got into an argument with Garrus that eventually culminated with something along the lines of "I can't make myself remember" "Neither can I make myself stop loving you". Realising she'd hurt him was enough to make her unlock, and she immediately apologised even though he didn't initially understand what had just happened. I changed it for a wide variety of reasons, but mostly because I did not see it as in-character for Garrus to tell her he loved her.

👉 Another discarded version included Shepard never fully getting her memories back. She would continue to have those flashbacks like in Act 2, but nothing beyond that, and she and Garrus would slowly build a new relationship on the foundations of what little she remembered. It would be implied at the end that she might regain all her memories one day, but that it's unlikely. I liked that version a lot but scrapped it because I really wanted to include the "I love you" scene, which could only exist in this version of the story.

👉 The following is an excerpt from chapter 34.

"You've done so much for them and it might feel like they don't appreciate that — and maybe they don't, maybe they never will."

This is a reference to Starry Starry Night by Don McLean.

👉 Shepard was humming Reignite in chapter 28.

👉 I'm not sure if everyone saw what I was doing with these, but at the beginning of some chapters in Act 1, there are small flashbacks to when Shepard was in a coma. This is a way to show that Garrus is still kind of living in the past, fixating on that he's still waiting for her. With time they get less and less common to show that he is slowly starting to connect to her in the present too instead of just living in the past. They're gone completely by the time Act 2 begins.

👉 In chapter 33, Victus says it's been almost three years since the war's ended despite the three year mark passing a few chapters earlier. This is because a year on Palaven is the same length as 14 months on Earth.

👉 There was originally supposed to be smut in this fic, but I deleted it because I didn't want to do something their relationship couldn't recover from. I also deleted a few scenes of what I believe is professionally called a "sad wank". I mean, it was three years. and he was bound to be sad and horny. Why didn't I write that in the end?

👉 In chapter 18, Shepard panics because she doesn't want Garrus to see her during one of her flashbacks. In truth, most of the flashbacks have been around him.

👉 Look I'm not usually that straightforward about symbolism in my writing but screw it. Tea is a metaphor for love, Coffee is a metaphor for friendship. The weather reflects the characters' emotions. This also goes for the changing of the seasons.

👉 Obviously Shepard's flashback in chapter 12 was because she remembered the ME3 Presidium date with Garrus, but actually every single one of her flashbacks is due to a situation that reminds her of something from the games. For example, the following is an excerpt from chapter 18:

She put a hand on his cheek. [...]Despite what she expected, Garrus didn't pull away from her touch — though neither did he move closer. He just stayed completely still, his eyes zeroed in on her as she slowly brushed her thumb along the rugged scars on his cheek.

Garrus flared his mandibles, his eyes shining.

"Shepard, I..."

The reason she's having a flashback here is because this reminded her of their goodbye at the end of ME3 :)

👉 The idea for Alba City was taken from one of my scrapped endings for this fic, where Shepard and Garrus are on the run from the law (don't even ask. 😅 It went in a wildly different direction.) and are hiding out inside a dead Reaper while Shepard recovers from blood loss after Garrus had to cut out a tracking device out of her body. I obviously got rid of most of that, but the idea of living inside a dead Reaper stuck with me.

👉 Some honourable mentions for songs I didn't manage to fit into the 36 chapters include... Well, a lot of things, but mostly My Immortal by Evanescence. Look at the lyrics. Fits too good.

👉 I replayed Mass Effect 3 twice as research for this fic. *shudder* the trauma

#wild rambles #edge of yesterday tag