ShimmerPod: Video Game Music
Sunset pressed the button on her stream deck indicating it was time to go live. "Hey everyone." She spoke to the chat. "We're waiting on Aria and Lyra before we can get the ShimmerPod going today. How are you guys doing?" She asked as she clicked around on the screen and typed out social media posts.
"Aww, congrats Ray-Chel. I remember you saying you were going to visit your boyfriend way back in the 'life is strange' stream. I'm really happy for you two." She read. "Take lots of pictures and post them on the Chaos, I'd love to see the wedding photos."
She glanced at the chat quickly. "What is today's pod about? Well, we're gonna get Aria bitching about something. Lyra being Lyra...and I want to ask the girls about video game music that they enjoy."
A notification popped up and Sunset accepted the call, "Sunset, love, how are you this morning?"
"Hey there Octavia. Doing well. How about you?"
"I have my coffee and I'm ready for our cohosts' antics."
"Are we ever truly ready for Lyra?" Sunset asked as she updated the stream announcement.
"Mm...good point." Octavia took a sip from her cup.
Another notification came from Sunset's pc. "Are you serious..?" She chuckled.
"What is it?"
"Check the group chat."
Octavia took out her phone, a selfie of Lyra snuggled up in a blanket burrito met her.
'Lyra is too comfortable to move. Are we still doing this morning recording thing? Press 1 for yes, 2 for no.'
Sunset's reply was simply '1?'
Then moments later Lyra replied with a picture of her flipping off the camera.
Octavia held back a laugh. "That woman, I swear…"
Aria's ringtone began and soon she was in the call. "Ugh…" She groaned, the sound of a can opening followed by a slurp came right after. "Ahh there's the good stuff." Aria slid down in her chair.
"Those are bad for you, you know."
"At this point? Things that shorten my life don't sound so bad." Aria replied.
Lyra buzzed in and was on the headset soon after. "It's too early…"
"It's the same time we do this every week." Sunset said, barely paying attention to the girl.
"Which is too early!"
"Alright everyone ready for the show?"
"Sure thing." Aria said, taking another drink of her liquid energy.
Octavia gave a simple "I'm ready."
"Let's do this." Lyra yawned.
***
The intro sequence for the podcast played, little chibi versions of the four were playing games, Aria and Lyra arguing and Octavia rolling her eyes. Sunset's tilting the camera away before their heads appeared on a background next to their camera footage.
***
"Hello everyone! Welcome to ShimmerPod! The weekly podcast of the ShimmerCode cast. I'm your host, Sunset. Joining us today are the usual suspects. Octavia, Lyra and Aria." Sunset began.
Lyra's hair was a mess and she yawned, she had on a long sleeve top, having clearly just rolled out of bed. "Goodness Lyra, have some care in your appearance!" Octavia chided.
"I'm off the market. Ain't got a reason to doll myself up." She chuckled.
"I mean she has a point." Aria said, talking into her can. Her hair was pulled back in one pony tail, though it was barely visible due to the angle, but she wore a green shirt with some writing on it.
Octavia was in a nice button up white shirt with a purple vest and her bow tie.
Sunset opted for a simple white tank top.
"See the best part of this is, you'll never know who's not wearing pants." Lyra teased.
"I'm not gonna say anything….but if I have to get up, my screen is gonna stop recording suddenly." Aria said simply.
"You two are impossible…" Octavia sighed.
"Onto our first topic of the day." Sunset cut in.
"Are you wearing pants, Sunset?"
"I am not." She said simply, before pressing forward. "News in the gaming world." She pulled up the articles as she began reading off the first headline.
After about thirty minutes, they stepped back from the news. "Not much going on today, so we have the back up of "How hath god blighted Aria". So, got anything this week?"
Aria looked up as if in thought. "Hmm...I guess I could talk about the internet guy who kept pestering me. He should be out of the hospital by now."
"Say what?"
"I'm kidding." She waved her hand. "But if you want me to vamp, I can."
"By all means. We got two more hours to fill." Sunset chuckled.
"Lyra."
"Mmyes?" Lyra hummed.
"Flying cars."
"Where's my flying car, god dammit?!"
"You don't want flying cars, because drunk ass holes will fly them into your house. Or parking on the roof...or revving the engine outside your window."
"Oh dear they've thought about this…" Octavia said quietly.
"I've seen harry potter. Ron was a child when he drove a flying car. It can't be that bad."
"You don't want to go to your fourth floor apartment and find someone parked on your couch trying to figure out what happened."
"Don't I? It sounds like the start of a wacky adventure."
"I was ruined on flying cars. So I'm gonna ruin it for everyone else."
"How?"
"Because you got drunks and idiots flying cars now! Imagine if one of them just snapped. You can't trust air rage."
"Good 'ol air rage."
"What, you wanna have a car fight in the sky?"
"Aria...you can't claim you're going to ruin something and then brING IN AIR COMBAT! DO I WANNA GET IN A CAR FIGHT IN THE SKY?! I DO NOW! NOW THAT YOU BROUGHT IT UP!"
"It goes from the assholes with crowbars hitting your car on foot to dog fighting. And then when ramming does nothing...you have to kamikaze right?"
"You're just selling me on this. It's cool sounding. You're describing the future as air pirates."
Aria chuckled "So like. What if the cars had an interlocking mechanism. Where you drove up locked in and then got on top and fought on the flying cars? The loser...has a long drop. The victor has two flying cars. This is the flying car future we need."
"This is awesome."
"The strongest dude in the neighborhood will have his own boss arena to fight him on! Fuck! I'm back in on flying cars…"
"YOU CONVINCED YOURSELF!"
"The boss has this battalion of cars."
"Turns out, he stole them all from old people."
Aria shrugged. "Shoulda got out of the way."
"And on that note…" Sunset chuckled. "How long have you two been on this?"
"We've had this conversation before. Just...not with the car warlords."
"Okay. Let's get into the final topic. Music. We all love it in our own ways. I'm a singer and guitarist, Aria's a singer, Lyra plays the lyre and piano and Octavia...is there an instrument you can't play?"
"I struggle with a few, but I like to be well versed."
"I can also play the keyboard, Shimmer." Aria added in.
"Yeah? We should get everyone together for a session." She thought aloud.
"What about that idea I sent your way a while back?"
"Oh. Without giving too much away, Lemon is clearing her schedule out before we can set time aside." She smiled. "But I'm really excited for that."
"Oho? What's this?" Lyra asked.
"Don't worry about it." Aria said simply. Footsteps came from behind her, she glanced back. "Oh. Someone's finally awake."
Sonata trudged in through the doorway. "Aria...are you recording?" She asked, eyes half opened.
"Sure am."
She yawned and hugged the taller girl for a moment. "Heeeeyyyyy everyone." She droned before standing back up. "We still have cereal?" She asked.
Aria sighed. "Yeah, but check if we have milk first." She said over her shoulder as the younger siren shuffled away.
"Cute." Lyra said with a chuckle.
Aria shrugged. "What can you do? At least she isn't as disruptive as Dash."
Sunset looked back to the screen, unaware that she was looking away for a while now. "Why would you say that?" She asked.
"Because you're slack jawed looking off screen." Lyra pointed out.
"Circumstantial. Now, off topic...babe, could you please do yoga in the other room? It's distracting." She said, looking off to the side.
"Fair. I didn't even think about that." Dash's voice hit Sunset's mike before Sunset returned to the screen.
"Love you~" She called after her. "Anyway! Music! Video game music to be specific. Let's talk about some of our favorite tracks. Now, we'll definitely miss some, but chat, feel free to throw in some of your favorites."
"Octavia should start!"
"Why me?"
"Set the bar, miss priss."
"Listen, you…" Octavia glared at the siren.
Aria held her shit eating smirk that Lyra soon copied.
"Fine. What exactly am I answering again?"
"Any songs from games you're playing that you really like?" Sunset asked.
"Vinyl has been on me to play this game for months and having finally started it, I really enjoy the music of Persona 5." She explained. "I believe 'Life Will Change' is my favorite."
"Oh dude! I fucking loved that soundtrack!" Aria chimed in. "I'd recomplete that one in a heartbeat just for some of those tunes."
"Can you tell us why you pick that song specifically?"
"I believe it's the placement of the song. In the game, your team...oh how do I describe this briefly..?" She cupped her chin. "You do dungeons based on the boss of the month...and when you go on the final run to face off against the boss...this track plays in the background through any of your last minute things. Getting items you missed? Any monsters that catch you on the run? All the way through until the boss room, and as a small note within the game you acquire team mates, of course...but at the start of the game this song is just an instrumental, after having gotten your team together, the lyrics come in. With the lyrics "Right before your eyes, Watch us multiply" its...it makes me proud. These were my thieves. My team. We made it here. This is the culmination of our adventure and I just love the song for that feeling."
"Huh. That's a pretty good outlook on it." Aria said. "The song's also a fucking jam and gets you pumped to clear up any palace you gotta finish."
"High praise from both Octavia and Aria. Incredible to hear you two agree on something.
"We can disagree right away. Octavia, who'd you romance?"
"...will this be a point of contention?"
"C'mon. Just say the right answer."
"Futaba."
"The little sister?!"
"She's cute!"
"Oh boy. What's this mean?" Lyra asked.
"Does Vinyl have an older brother? Octavia might have a type."
"I AM NOT DISCUSSING THIS."
"OCTAVIA HAS A LITTLE SISTER COMPLEX!"
"That's not a sister complex. A sister complex would be someone in love with their sister." Lyra explained, giving Aria a look.
"Thank you, Lyra I-"
"She just likes girls with older brothers. I'm not sure what that fetish is called."
"Alright, alright next song?" Sunset said with a chuckle.
"Actually. I have a second." Octavia chimed in. "I've been streaming Devil May Cry during my down times between rpgs."
"Holy shit, for real?" Lyra asked.
"Is it that shocking?"
"Kinda." Aria replies. "But which track!"
"Devil Trigger."
"Agh! That's a good answer!" Aria said excitedly.
"All of these thoughts running through my head~" Sunset began.
"Arm on fire, veins burnin' red~" Lyra added.
"Frustration is getting bigger~" Aria continued.
"Bang, bang, bang~" Octavia supplied before all four joined for the last bit.
"PULL MY DEVIL TRIGGER~!"
"It's such a dumb song that shouldn't be as great as it is." Aria said with a chuckle.
"I agree. The song feels unique in that way. I enjoy it." Octavia smiled brightly.
"Are you even at Devil May Cry 5 yet?"
"I was most of the way into it before chat convinced me to stream from the start of the series. I'm almost through three at the moment. But to clarify, I have played the first four all the way through before streaming them."
"Octavia is surprising me with these choices." Aria chuckled. "Who's next?"
"I'll go. My pick for favorite song is up in the air, but my favorite song that goes with a scene...it'd have to be "You're Not Alone" from Final Fantasy 9." Sunset looked away wistfully. "It's so somber...and it just evokes a sense of helplessness and confusion. At this point in the story, Zidane had found out where he came from...and learned that his destiny was to destroy everything he held dear and as he pushed himself up and tried to move forward he would be confronted with several scripted battles where your allies would rush in to help him...like he would for them. At least up until this point. Everyone, even your biggest detractors in the team immediately know something is wrong and try to help him. Zidane is a guy who throws himself into other people's problems to help and his friends know that. He's been helping them throughout the whole game and now it's their turn to help him, and everyone, even Steiner is there for him. It's...my favorite scene in the entire game."
"Whoa, that sounds really impactful. I'd be down to play that." Lyra said.
"You're such a sap, Shimmer. But...that was pretty accurate. Sounds like you really got into that one."
"I still cry when I get there." She admitted, wiping her eye. "It's heavy...and with all of the adventure beforehand to get to here...the cheerful and optimistic hero being...broken down to cynicism and anger...it hurts, but watching how he reacts when his friends protect him from the monsters he can't face alone… He was never alone. He had them and they wanted to help him. Because...you don't need a reason to help people." She sniffled before chuckling. "Sorry it gets me y'know?" She asked.
"Oh I understand." Aria said with a shrug. "I'm like that when I hear "The Price Of Freedom". HE WAS A HERO GOD DAMMIT! YOU DID IT ZACK!"
"How many final fantasy songs are we allowed before this just becomes a discussion about which game's soundtrack we liked most?" Lyra asked. "Because I already see some folks in chat talking about us being biased again."
"Mods, time them out." Sunset said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We've played probably all of the final fantasy games between all of us right?"
"I've played all of them, so yeah." Aria said. "But whatever. Music wise? I can't pick one over the others because there's great single tracks but does 'One Winged Angel' make seven's OST better than nine's? No way. Neither does 'To Zanarkand', which is a great track! Doesn't make it better than thirteen's...which, say what you want about the game...it's music was fucking amazing."
"I actually practice some nights by playing songs off of thirteen's list." Octavia nodded.
"Oh. That makes sense." Lyra nodded.
"I bet they sound great." Aria said simply.
"Why...thank you Aria." Octavia said surprised by the compliment.
"So Lyra, you're up." Aria said rolling past her gratitude.
"Okay, so this may seem weird, but let's take a step back-"
"Something weird from Lyra? The hell you say?" Aria jabbed.
"The national park theme from Pokemon gold and silver."
"Why that specifically?"
"I dunno." Lyra shrugged. "I just thought back to games I liked growing up and I remembered nights while trying to win the bug catching contest and that FUCKING BLUE HAIRED PRICK WHO WAS SCRIPTED TO ALWAYS WIN!" She growled. "But I'd always get a cool bug like Scyther or Pinsir and grind in the park. I loved the music there...it's just...so chill. When I actually stop to just listen to a song play out? That's an effective track."
"Is gen two your preferred?"
"Actually my favorite is gen three. But my favorite Pokemon is from gen two." She smiled.
"Who is it?"
"Ursaring." She crossed her arms. "The OG bear. Back on the GameCube I played Gale of Darkness and the first shadow Pokemon you catch is a Teddiursa, I kept him through the whole game...and he saved me because of that STAB Slash and Return. Taught him Metal Claw and Faint Attack. He's not winning any tournaments...but he took care of ghosts and rocks. He was my ace."
"That's cool. It's really fun to hear how people fell in love with their pokemon of choice." Sunset smiled.
"Is your's Rapidash?"
Sunset crossed her arms. "No!" She looked away.
"Fucking nailed it." Aria teased.
"Is your's Milotic?"
Aria's laughing stopped.
Octavia opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Lyra.
"Whismur."
She closed her mouth.
"What are you, some kind of Pokénerd?"
"I know you guys." She crossed her arms. "By the way, Lightning really likes Obstagoon. We have a lot of normal type love in our group."
"Oh! Before we get off of music, I wanna throw out a mention to Chrono Cross." Sunset said, looking at her second monitor. "For a ps1 game it's music was incredible."
"Most people just know that as the shitty Chrono Trigger sequel." Aria said.
"I know...but I enjoyed it. Even though it was a mess." Sunset shrugged. "The boss battle music is still one of my favorites." She smiled fondly. "It has that mix of desperation and energy that makes the fight feel dangerous. Like you were never prepared, always caught off guard, even though if you know the game you can blow through a lot of bosses…" She waved her hand dismissively.
"Oh, I got another one." Aria said. "The main theme of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It goes through so many tracks in the game that you can almost never escape it, not that you would want to...but when you hit the start of "Apex Of The World" and you hear those familiar chords play...it just makes the fight for me. It's so good, I love when games have overarching themes that reprise during either heavy or emotional scenes...then amp up into a badass backing track for a boss fight." She held a hand to her chest. "Oh and black eagles, best house. Fight me." She said with a smirk.
"A lot of these are more recent songs at time of recording…" Sunset said. "Anyone have any older songs?"
"But I haven't talked about the best track from the Final Fantasy VII Remake!" Lyra whined.
"Okay. What is it?"
"That awesome remix of the chocobo theme."
"That is utter nonsense!" Octavia protested. "Even Vinyl couldn't save that garbage!"
"Knew I'd get a rise out of her." Lyra smirked. "No but for real, what about Sonic music?"
"Oh god. Of course you play sonic games." Aria scoffed.
"They can be jank. But they're fun jank." She shrugged.
"Oh. What about Kirby music? They're cute and fun. Despite fighting literal demons by the end of the game."
"Okay. We're dancing around it. What's your favorite track from XIV?" Lyra asked.
"Oh man…" Sunset sighed. "Right now..? I'd have to say the theme for Shadow Bringers." She said. "Especially when you're facing Emet and the light is breaking through...you're losing yourself to it as you helplessly watch your friends fall. You look to the side and see Ardbert. He extends his axe and the music kicks in...god I fucking still get chills."
"That's a really good pick." Aria said. "So I guess we should go for different ones then… I'll pick…" She crossed her arms in thought. "Ramuh's theme from Eden was really good…" She thought aloud. "But so was Locus from back in Alexander." She cupped her chin. "Maybe...the Twinning's theme?"
"I liked Dragonsong." Octavia chimed in. "Such a climactic fight against an enraged dragon being scored by a somber tone about forbidden love...which met with disaster and ultimately sparked the war that you have made steps to end. Upon the final steps of fate...you cross blades with the dread dragon Niddhogg and put an end to his unyielding rage." She sighed wistfully. "Heavensward was wonderful."
"I really liked the theme for the Ghimlyt Dark, the battle music you've heard throughout the game is now remixed as the backing track through a dungeon that shows just how serious the war with the Empire had become...as you run through the trenches and fend off several of the Empire's heaviest hitters...including those two bitches that I think are the Emperor's personal guards?"
"Guess that leaves me...hmm…" Aria thought hard. "I'll pick Answers...because I feel like we'll be dragged over the coals for not picking it." She said. "Those first videos I watched about this game drew me in immediately. It's a slow build to a bombastic chorus where EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS. The world literally has to be reborn for us to fix it. That's a pretty tough 'game over'."
"Booooooooo." Lyra heckled. "Predictable answer, booooo."
"Fine! You want an unpredictable answer? How about...Brute Justice's theme?" Aria asked. "It was so dumb and weird when we hit that floor in Alexander. It's a goddamn megazord! I love it. Plus Blue Mages can learn his Justice Kick attack? It's so extra. There's no secret. Someone on the dev team loves power rangers."
"Yoshi, probly. He seems the type." Lyra chuckled.
"Oh and when you win and it falls over in slow motion while the characters turn away and cross their arms? Ugh its so dumb, I love it."
Sunset chuckled. "And with that...my friends...we call it on another episode of the ShimmerPod. Thanks to everyone in the chat who hung out with us today. Thank you to my co-hosts who took the time to be on."
"Yeah, yeah." Aria said with a sigh.
Lyra waved at her camera before giving it a peace sign.
Octavia politely waved as well.
"Now. I am hungry so I'mma go get lunch. We'll be back on later tonight for some games, see you then." She cut the feed from the stream.
***
"Alright girls. I'm gonna head out. Dash is getting antsy."
"Go walk your dog." Aria teased.
"I'm gonna go see what Bonnie is making today!" Lyra smiled brightly. "I smell chocolate." She disconnected moments after.
Aria's stomach grumbled. "Oh...I should probably eat something."
"Your diet is dangerous, love. Please eat, for us." Octavia said with a hint of concern.
"Fine...I'll catch you girls later." She smirked before clicking out of the call.
Octavia said her goodbyes before exiting as well.
Sunset pushed back from her desk and stood. 'Okay. What is next on the to do list?' She asked as she changed to go out. "Rainbow, let's get lunch!" She called.
"On my way!" Called her girlfriend's voice from the living room.
Another multi hour stream was scheduled for later, and then it was raid night. The workload could be heavy at times...but she loved it.
She threw on her jacket and exited the streaming room.
Author's Note
So this literally came about while I was listening to Devil Trigger on loop. I thought it'd be fun to share some stories through these four. Aria and Lyra are fun to write.
Also there's some Castle Superbeast in there if anyone's a fan of Woolie and Pat. Hope you guys enjoyed!