Could i, perhaps, interest you in 2 vocaloid songs whose lyrics i believe perfectly describe Five Pebbles in your fic?
Thank you so much for the ask, and the recommendations, because I checked it out and you are so right. The songs really fit, and I'm so excited to learn more about RIProducer songs lol, as Monochrome Mentality is one of my all time favorites and on the list for a fic title, haha. (I also like You are an Awful Person and Chronic Wasting Disease, and of course Language of the Lost)
Infohazard is quite obviously the most clear, talking about morals which is *incredibly* correct as to how Five Pebbles can't let go of what he thinks he should be doing, the morals of the past. And the hollow shell line? That is so accurate. And the paralyzed comments too and just the comments about his overall state like the lobe one? Oh wow, this is simply perfect /gen He will, forever, be unwell /ref, Endlessly, hopelessly, hiding from a terror you cannot outrun~ And the sound of the song too, it feels kinda like a struggling, static (something old) that is falling apart but crying out.
Knock it off is... well, lovely. It really feels like his mental consciousness struggling against what he in the present knows with limited capacity of struggling to be off the string, and the "if you really cared about keeping your illness contained / you’d cut the skin away, anything inflamed" is so perfect because he's done that multiple times, and will continue to. (wink wink, not really a sneak peek as it's pretty obvious but FP isn't getting magically better anytime soon) "how you’re built, despite the guilt / seems you’re just a sinner still" is also *such* a good line of FP's own massively internalized guilt over the his long gone resident's perception of him.
I have added these to my playlist and possibly my chapter titles list, (will credit if I do) thank you. You are right about the lyrics being a bit hard to hear, but luckily the vocaloid community is so good at putting lyrics to songs as soon as possible, haha. Even songs that are so new as these!
Sorry for such a long response, but you both made me very excited to have really good songs that function as good background music and I *will* be using them to write future chapters, haha. (Just opened the doc, actually)