claws

a wip playlist

A young student’s obsession with his demonology teacher sparks a twisted romance that draws him to the limits of his humanity—and into the web of an eldritch horror.

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Tracklist & Meta

HAPPY TOGETHER - FILTER

Imagine me and you, I do / I think about you day and night

The cover version of this makes it sound obsessive and gritty, which is exactly the Vibe of this story.

YANDERE - JAZMIN BEAN

This may become a little brutal If I'm honest / But it's any-anything for you my dear, I promise

Vivien stalker-coded song. He can, has, and will kill people to keep Rainier.

TANTRUM - ASHNIKKO

Bitch, I am one, throw a tantrum

Vivien is a huge bitch with piss-poor emotional regulation 🖤

EAT - POPPY

My brain is poisonous / My body is a mess / My heart is hazardous

Welcome to song part one of Vivien's internal state. Screaming and distorted vocals is just the inside of his brain constantly

SIDE EFFECT - FKA RAYNE

I wanna feel a side effect, I wanna be a victim / Double the dosage, I’m swallowing symptoms

Hey, Vivien, how's that ichor-infused testosterone going for you? Also - wanting to take something to feel something, make something change: big thing for our boy.

UNSUBSTANTIAL - ANYA NAMI

My only shreds of humanity are pain and fear / That I will never feel alive

Vivien half thinks he's dead - or that he's his brother, who is also dead. He's got a dubious relationship to being alive.

DISORDER - MALLAVORA

Can you see me now / You've not been looking hard enough / I won't be silent anymore / Sometimes I hate this body

it's about the trans angst of it all

GOD - JAKE DANIELS

You can tell me what you want, now don’t be shy / I know you like to open up your darker side / Let me be the one to give you what you like

our first Rainier song! his ego isn't the only thing that's big~

TOXIC - 2WEI

I'm addicted to you / Don't you know that you're toxic?

another dark cover that slides the original into wicked claws territory. Vivien/Rainier are the Most toxic - and also Rainier does end up literally addicted to Vivien in a way so. double points!

LILITH - HALSEY FT SUGA

And fuck like a demon / Do it like nothin' / I am disgusting / I've been corrupted / And by now I don't need no help to be / destructive

it's got demons and corruption and fucked up love all the way through, what else can i say? 'I don't need no help to be destructive' no Vivien, no you don't.

MY HEART HAS TEETH - DEADMAU5, SKYLAR GREY

aMy heart has teeth, my heart has teeth / And it's looking for something to eat

all the love in this book is destructive and devouring

SUGAR - SLEEP TOKEN

Believe that though we never eat / We still know how to feed / We still know how to bleed

this part is about Arachnis/demons in general

Sugar, I've developed a taste for you

and this part is how Rainier feels about Vivien. hungry. needy. addicted.

JEALOUS SEA - MEG MYERS

And I don't think I can stop the jealousy / When it runs, it burns like lightning through my teeth

Vivien, it must be said, has something of a jealousy issue when it comes to Rainier. And he cannot manage his own emotions enough to deal with it in anything resembling a healthy manner.

ERASER - LYELL

Come on, come on / You know I'm barely hanging on / Come on, come on / Throw my head against the wall

another jealousy song! and the way that Vivien so often takes his violent feelings out on himself as well as other people

MADHOUSE - NESSA BARRETT

i scare myself sometimes / i almost took my life / now look who’s got the knife

Vivien's mental health is Perhaps and he's making it everyone else's problem

PASS THE KNIFE - NO/ME

Pass me the knife and I'll eat you alive

don't give Vivien a knife.

PRETTY PILLS FOR BROKEN HEARTS - CLOUDY JANE

Hеllo, Alice, are you therе? / Can you tell me where we're going?

ngl, this one's mostly on here because Alice is a secondary character and the opportunity for a song referencing an Alice and also talking about drugs was too good to pass up. In my mind, in-universe she likes this song.

WORMS - ASHNIKKO

I got worms in my brain and Got a colony of ants underneath my skin

because the demons are all insect-y themed, and there are 100% spiders in Viv's brain. this has that Vibe.

MAMA - MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

You should have raised a baby girl / I should have been a better son

need i say more.

LIKE LOVERS DO - HEY VIOLET

Getting you off is my new favorite hobby

the fairytale sort of sound to this and the degeneration from meeting to murder makes this song fit into Vivien's way of seeing the world.

OLEANDER - MOTHER MOTHER

And if you leave me / Rest assured, it would kill me

Vivien latching onto Rainier so hard that the idea of not having him feels like it will cause his death

HEART HEART HEAD - MEG MYERS

You're in my heart, in my heart, in my head

OPHELIAC - EMILY AUTUMN

You know the games I play / And the words I say / When I want my own way

it's about how Vivien is a fucked up mess

CHEERLEADER - ASHNIKKO

Heart full of spiders, legs made of gummy / Who do I have to kill to make everybody love me? / I want it, I'll win it, call it ambitious

the vibe and the violence is Vivien; the ambition is Rainier

THERE WILL BE BLOOD - KIM PETRAS

There will be blood, you're gonna die / You'll never make it, never make it through the night

there will, in fact, be blood in this book. a lot of it, in fact.

AUTOTHEIST - BABY BUGS

And if I was God, I'd kill the people who believe in me / And if I was God, I'd make everybody bow to me / And who says that I’m not God? I am God to me

Another Rainier song at last! the ego on this man, honestly.

CALM ME DOWN - MOTHER MOTHER

All my life, oh-oh, all my life / I hurt myself and cut myself / Put myself through living hell

the Vivien self harm song ft 'Rainier cut the bad out of me and make me a real person'

FRANKENSTEIN - RINA SAWAYAMA

Put me together, thread a needle / So I'm like other people, without all of the evil / I'm trying to be normal, but trauma is immortal

once again - Vivien does Not feel like a Real Person except when he's around Rainier

DISEASE - LADY GAGA

Bring me your desire, I can cure your disease / If you were a sinner, I could make you believe / Lay you down like one, two, three / Eyes roll back in ecstasy

when she dropped this song believe me when i say i RAN to put it on this playlist. the disease of desire and also the infection of Pacted corruption. oh. it's so tasty.

THE MEDICINE DOES NOT CONTROL ME - EURINGER

The medicine does not control me / I control the medicine

Vivien's medicine is just his T and also demonic ichor. (he does not control either)

DEBILITATE - PALAYE ROYALE FT PUSSY RIOT

I ate your body, ate your mind / One hit of me will make you mine

have i mentioned that Vivien and Rainier's love is an addictive, toxic mess of a thing?

CRAZY GIRLS - TOOPOOR

It takes two to toxic

MY STRANGE ADDICTION - RAYNE

My doctors can't explain / My symptoms or my pain / But you are my strange addiction

there is currently a scene where Rainier literally goes to a doctor like 'what's wrong with me i can't stop thinking about this guy' and she's like 'have you considered you're in love with him?' and he's like 'sounds fake but okay.'

DARK ROOM - FOREIGN FIGURES

Way down we go / To the dark room / Where your pain's the only one to greet you

this song has big Arachnis talking to Vivien energy

MOONLIGHT MAGIC - ASHNIKKO

Ooh, our skin connects and makes a shrine / Ooh, can't kill my carnal side

there's a lot of sex in this book and for Vivien, every time is basically a religious experience

BLOOD IN THE CUT - K.FLAY

Say something, do it soon / It's too quiet in this room

kinda Rainier, constantly sensation-seeking, for pleasure and then for inflicting pain on Vivien. Kinda Vivien, with needing stimulation, with the silence in his mind buzz buzzing like Arachnis in his veins.

THIS IS LOVE - AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER

You must like being the victim / You've done nothing to get out

Vivien as victim and Vivien as villain. Rainier doesn't beat him but even if he did Vivien would let it happen like he lets everything happen if Rainier does it.

DRUMS - JAMES HYPE FT KIM PETRAS

The less you give to me, the more I want it

the kind of beat that Alice plays at her club, and also Vivien being desperate about Rainier. again.

WHERE THE DARK THINGS ARE - KERLI

Push me down to my knees / And take me where the dark things are

make a Pact with a demon. what could possibly go wrong?

NOT HUMAN - ELEGANT SLIMS

You're not human anymore / Crack in the seams / You're breaking through

ftm in this case means ftmonster

VIVIEN - ††† (Crosses)

Last night I found you wet / I was dry but you pulled me in

oh hey that's the main guy! Vivien pulling Rainier into his ichor-filled heart

LURK - THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

I'll fucking digest you one kiss at a time / You wish I was yours and I hope that you're mine

CLOSER - NINE INCH NAILS

My whole existence is flawed / You get me closer to God

god in this case being Rainier anyway, to Vivien.

EAT RAW MEAT = BLOOD DROOL - EDITORS

Your blood drool attracts the flies

this is more vibes than lyrics; the visual of it, the viscera of it

SICK, SICK, SICK - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Simple as this: I'm in love with the risk / I know what I've done, but tell me what did I miss

this line is particularly a Rainier mood, but the sex and desperation of the whole song (plus the cannibalism of the MV) just Hit Correctly for the mood of the book.

CHOKEHOLD CHERRY PYTHON - ASHNIKKO

Symbols and sigils, I saw the signs / Rats in the sewers, death on the mind / I've set my sights on you, baby, you're mine

Vivien, receiving messages from a literal demon: I Understand. I Need To Fuck My Demonology Professor.

GRENADINE - DREADLIGHT

I'll be the king of it, the queen of it / The god of it, all of it / I'll eat your heart after I lick it clean

half Rainier, half Vivien - he'll be the god of it, Vivien will eat his heart. Metaphorically. Mostly.

GOING UNDER - EVANESCENCE

Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies/ So I don't know what's real and what's not

Vivien has some issues with lies and sense of self and the reality of his identity.

LIAR (MANIC DEPRESSIVE MIX) - EMILY AUTUMN, ASP REMIX

I want to mix our blood / And put it in the ground / So you can never leave

this specific remix has the right tone for the feel of the book; this set of lines is just Vivien being a weird fucking nightmare boy about Rainier. He does want to mix their blood and put it in the ground so Rainier can never leave! He'll do whatever it takes to keep his man!! Up to and including multiple homicides!

YOUR EYES, WILL I EVER - KRIILL

Your eyes will I ever / My heart will I learn / You're gone / The days decay

this one's for Vivien and his dead brother. the ghostly feel of it fits the grief, the languishing pain of loss.

CHANGE (IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES) - DEFTONES

And I watched a change in you / It's like you never had wings / Now you feel so alive / I've watched you change

Vivien goes through some changes in this book. So does Rainier, but Vivien's are a little more...unsettling.

ALKALINE - SLEEP TOKEN

Every once in a while, something changes / And she's changing me / It's too late for me now, I am altered / There is something beneath

This one is Vivien and Arachnis' relationship. If you can call it a relationship. Connection. Infection. Worship.

GOD COMPLEX - VIOLENT VIRA

I'm gonna be where you are / Doesn't matter how far / Because we are meant to be / I'm gonna be what you need

MATCHES TO PAPER DOLLS - DESSA

If you’re asking, I can’t say no / Just one more chapter / Our book won’t close

more of a Rainier and Wolfe song than anything else, but matches and paper dolls is very much how Vivien and Rainier's whole deal goes down. (or up in smoke, more accurately)

TRUE LOVE IS VIOLENT - ALLIE X

Ah-oh, true love is violent

ATLANTIC - SLEEP TOKEN

Crumble like a temple built from future daughters

i always personally interpret this song as a suicide attempt, which is a thing Vivien does in the book and has done before. This particular line, when attached to Vivien, has a trans nature to it that hits quite hard for me.

CRAZY - DIGITAL DAGGERS

Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you / I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying / And I'm crazy for loving you

Digital Daggers cover specifically because they have a talent for making love songs sound melancholy and a little unhinged

LOVE IS THE DISASTER - LUCIUS

Oh love, love is the disaster / We're always running towards / Oh love, love's the only monster / We greet with open arms

have i talked about how this book is about destructive love that ruins your life? love makes monsters of us all etc etc

INBRED - ETHEL CAIN

From the start, they knew you were wrong / You were wrong

whenever i listen to this song and thing about Vivien's backstory i pretty much cry every time

CLAWS - KIM PETRAS

Is it love or obsession? / Does it all turn to pain?

it's the title track! the song i always come back to for Vibes to remind me how i want this book to feel. thank you miss petras for your service.