#and 2 of them are me

[doom-dreaming]

Johntana Playlist

(link) Wherever We Are, It Feels Like Home

Surrendering; Alanis Morissette Satellite; Guster Armour Love; La Roux The Last of the Real Ones; Fall Out Boy Starlight; Muse His Brightest Star Was You; Two Steps From Hell End of the Earth; MARINA Now and Forever; Gary Numan Against the Odds; Matias Puumala If We Had Known; Gary Numan Tell Me It's A Nightmare; Kim Petras Sigma; Epic Soul Factory Guardian; Alanis Morissette Boom Clap; Charli XCX

(Arranged to be listened to in order, but I'm not your boss. If you want to hear my ramblings, look under the readmore.)

The ordering is ROUGHLY chronological, following the development of their relationship through the games, up to Cortana's sacrifice, and then the last few I included to fit into my canon-divergence AU but can still be read as canon. Some require harder squinting than others.

Surrendering "Self-protection was in times of true danger / Your best defense to mistrust and be wary / Surrendering, a feat of unequaled measure / And I'm thrilled to let you in / Overjoyed to be let in, in kind." - Cortana's POV; this fits for the majority of their whole relationship, but to me it reads as the point where they've learned to fully trust each other and work together and the vulnerability that entails

Satellite "You're riding with me tonight / Passenger side, lighting the sky / Always the first star that I find." - John's POV; this song has always been for them in my mind, it's been part of the playlist since the beginning

Armour Love "You put on your armor / You put up defenses / But why do you want to? / Because I'm here to protect you." - Cortana's POV; the "somebody else" represents everyone that John feels he owes himself to - the UNSC and humanity as a whole; I read a good chunk of this as the moment he's leaving her behind on High Charity

The Last of the Real Ones "You were too good to be true / Gold plated / But what's inside you? / But what's inside you? / I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you / But not as much as I do." - Cortana's POV; the verses/bridge are more relevant than the chorus IMO; big fan of the quoted verses because it feels like the "I'm not doing this for mankind" moment where her loyalty to John is eclipsing her loyalty to the mission/humanity

Starlight "You electrify my life / Let's conspire to ignite / All the souls that would die just to feel alive. / I'll never let you go / If you promise not to fade away." - both of their POVs, sometimes alternating, sometimes simultaneous; fits the themes of Halo 3 and the gap between 3 and 4

His Brightest Star Was You Instrumental - saw it on someone else's (sorry I cannot remember who without going to find it again) Johntana playlist and went "oh I know that one :)"

End of the Earth "But I'd still follow you down / Slow motion, no sound / To the edge of the world." "If we're torn apart then I won't let go / 'Cause wherever we are it feels like home." - Cortana's POV; favorite song on the list, I feel like it really exemplifies their relationship

Now and Forever "I choose you / Now and forever / And this is my life to give." "I'll be lost / In the forever / Until I find you again." - Cortana's POV; making up her mind at the end of Halo 4 and saying goodbye

Against the Odds Instrumental - has that epic sweeping space feel with a little bit of bittersweet mixed in with the triumph

Tell Me It's A Nightmare "Be careful when you love me / I'm only out for blood / You know I'd be the end of you / But you always wanted more / (Be careful what you wish for)." - the first half of the first verse is Cortana, until "I'm a demon in the shadows" where it switches to John and finishes out in his POV; heavy themes of him blaming himself for not being able to save her

If We Had Known "So here I stand / Tortured and helpless / Lost in my heartbreak / Your journey's over / Mine's filled with memories of you." - John's POV after losing Cortana; maybe a conversation he has with himself, maybe a dream; maybe a combination of both where he says the goodbye he really wanted to

Sigma Instrumental - one of my favorite pieces of music of all time, makes me think about floating in space surrounded by stars; (also semi-represents Cortana's return from The Domain in my AU)

Guardian "You, you who has smiled when you're in pain / You who has soldiered through the profane." "You, you in the chaos feigning sane / You who has pushed beyond what's humane." - Cortana's POV; can easily be taken in a canon context; bonus meta points for the inclusion of "guardian" and "warden" (I guess??????)

Boom Clap "You are the light and I will follow / You let me lose my shadow / You are the sun, a glowing halo." - fully self-indulgent, whimsical, and fluffy :) my house :)

[davidwontstopwritingsongs]

taskmaster season 13 has convinced me that ardal o hanlon was not playing a character in the 2000-2006 sitcom my hero, but rather that he is just Like That as a person and i respect that your honour

[nipuni]

the snake of eden 🥰

[c0rvidski]

live laugh leyendecker

[robiniswriting]

david tennant, matt smith, and jodie whittaker: if doctor who calls me and im available I am so there

me: omg yes slay I love that for you

christopher eccleston and peter capaldi: there’s nothing on god’s green earth that makes me want to reprise the role of the doctor on television

me: omg yes slay I love that for you

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

the four horsemen of Queer Agony

[forgetful-nerd]

The real reason we’ll never get another Turtles Forever is because if these three met then they would absolutely destroy everything in their paths.

Also they’d verbally eradicate any villain’s self esteem in like 10 seconds.

[hansoeii]

It's about who.

[hinamie]

I'll rip in hands and teeth and take a bite

[angele-darliing]

Made two funnygummy stuff in like two days sooooo posting both of them here.

[thepictoblr]

Woke up last night, barely remember writing this, went straight back to sleep

[amosprinz]

i call this piece “haha sunday, fuck u, we double crossed u”

[gojosbf]

may i present to you the insufferable pair in chibi

[ao3usermelancholyhues]

rb for larger sample size! feel free to elaborate in tags about your process.

[jakkenpoy]

[devilbeez]

Imma just drop this here and wait