#sarah watches the zombie show

[the-crowe-and-the-magpie]

Imagine if Andrea had lived long enough to meet Negan. She would've become one of his wives SO fast

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

Where Will All The Martyrs Go [Chapter 12: Please Call Me Only If You Are Coming Home]

A/N: Only 1 chapter left!!! 🥳 Be sure to vote in our final poll, which will be pinned at the top of my blog per usual 🥰

Series summary: In the midst of the zombie apocalypse, both you and Aemond (and your respective travel companions) find yourselves headed for the West Coast. It’s the 2024 version of the Oregon Trail, but with less dysentery and more undead antagonists. Watch out for snakes! 😉🐍

Series warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), violence, bodily injury, med school Aemond, character deaths, nature, drinking, smoking, drugs, Adventures With Aegon™️, pregnancy and childbirth, the U.S. Navy, road trip vibes.

Series title is a lyric from: “Letterbomb” by Green Day.

Chapter title is a lyric from: “Homecoming” by Green Day.

Word count: 5.8k

💜 All my writing can be found HERE! 💜

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist 🥰

“What the hell do you need that for?” Cregan says to Helaena in the next aisle over, sounding alarmed. You are raiding a Kwik Stop just outside Colusa, California, following Route 20 west towards the Pacific Ocean. But when Helaena replies, her voice is perfectly soothing, lyrical, too serene for the way the world is now.

“It’s not for me. It’s just in case anyone ever finds themselves in need of one.” And this makes sense, even though you can’t see what it is she’s taken off the disorderly, ransacked shelves; Helaena is always picking up trinkets to keep stowed away in her burlap messenger bag until their utility becomes essential.

Cregan is relieved. “Oh, okay, gotcha. Whew, you almost gave me a heart attack there, Miss LaeLae…”

Ice is stretched out and dozing on the cool tile floor. Luke and Rhaena are keeping watch by the front of the store. Aegon is standing by the decommissioned Icee machine and showing Daeron which route he’s marked on his map and why.

“Why do I need to know this?” Daeron is asking.

Aegon snorts. “In case I get killed, dumbass…”

Fluttering pieces of paper hang taped to the glass doors of the empty refrigerators: Don’t go towards Sacramento; People in Santa Rosa killed my brother for his car; Andrew Lounsbury, if you see this we are headed to Aunt Sarah’s house, meet us there! Meanwhile, in your own aisle, Aemond is watching you as your fingers flit through packages of Starbursts and Jolly Ranchers and Life Savers Gummies, separating the trash from the ones that haven’t been opened yet. His expression is wary, uncertain. “What?” you ask him.

“Are you…okay?” Aemond says, low enough that no one else will hear.

Of course you aren’t; you keep walking into rooms and looking for Rio, and he’s not there. But you know what Aemond means. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Did I hurt you? Are you…” He steps closer, the blue of his eye gleaming with attentive, penitent concern, sins he is certain he must have committed. “Are you sore, are you bleeding at all?”

You smile, just the ghost of a curve at the edge of your lips. “No, really, I feel fine.” And in your body, this is true. There is a tension that has vanished from your muscles, a softness in your bones, not shards of glass shifting beneath skin but living things like the branches of trees, flexible, green, damp life awash within.

“I was trying to…you know…take it slow and be super gentle, but then…by the end…”

“Aemond, you did everything right.”

And he exhales all the iron-heavy dread he’s been carrying around since he woke up this morning to find you already gone—showing Aegon how to flip Bisquick pancakes as Cregan browned them in a skillet in the woodstove downstairs—and you realize how much you’ve scared him. “I’m really sorry about…” He touches his chin restlessly. “I should have asked you if you wanted me to pull out, I just got, uh…kind of…distracted.”

Your smile grows; now you can feel it in your eyes, warm and luminous. “It’s alright. I did too.”

He is hopeful. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t have told you to stop. And anyway, I think we’re safe.” But of course you’ve lost track of the days, and in your dark trance of grief and Tramadol you were entirely unaware of the rhythms of your body, pangs of desire or clear ample wetness, biological cues, primal timekeeping.

“Cool,” Aemond says, now trying to sound casual. “And next time…are you thinking that I should try to…maybe…just to be sure…?”

You shrug, then tell him the first thing that comes into your mind, that flashes in your skull like lightning bugs at dusk. “I’m thinking that life is too short and too rare to put effort into preventing it.”

Aemond’s eyebrows go up, but he doesn’t seem disappointed. “So we’ll see what happens.”

“If you’re onboard.”

“I’m totally onboard. I just want to take care of you. I…” He glances down at his palms—open, clean—and then looks back up at you. “I’ve never had anything that felt right before. Not my family, not myself, nothing. But this feels right. And it’s where I want to be forever.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” And this is what everyone thought: Jace, Baela, Rio. But you make the oath anyway, a hollow promise that echoes like a windchime.

“Me either,” Aemond vows.

You turn to leave the aisle and your backpack hits the shelf, knocking something off the top and onto the tile floor, where it lands with a thump. You gasp, and people come running; but it’s only a box of Honey Buns that was stashed somewhere too high for you to see. “It’s nothing,” you assure them. “We’re all okay, no need to get excited.”

“Death by Little Debbie,” Aegon says, chuckling nervously, his heart still racing.

You pick up the box and think of Rio with abrupt, violent clarity: he’s playing with French-speaking kids on the beach outside Djibouti City, he’s drinking cans of Guinness with you under a full moon on Diego Garcia, he’s reaching out from the pier to pet finless porpoises in Chinhae, he’s bleeding to death on a floor in Winnemucca, Nevada. Your vision is blurring with tears; your throat is knotted and scalding.

“I want him back,” Aegon says softly.

“I know. I do too.” You open the box of Honey Buns and pass one to Aegon first, then distribute the rest. There are only six total. Helaena tries to give hers to Cregan, but he rips it in half so they can share; Aemond insists you take the last one. You eat it wordlessly, sugar melting into your bloodstream.

“I think I saw a minivan down the side street,” Luke says as he chews his Honey Bun, waving his binoculars with his free hand. “It’s probably out of gas like all the others, but…”

“We’ll check it out,” Aemond replies, and everyone follows him as he departs from the Kwik Stop.

It’s a green Kia Carnival with a zombie trapped inside: once a young man in a Nirvana t-shirt, now a ghoul that paws at the glass with its oozing hands and licks the windows, long animal drags of a decomposing tongue. But the fuel cap is still closed, and while the van is turned off you can see the keys dangling from the ignition.

“Think there’s any gas left in the tank?” Daeron says brightly. The Targaryen beach house, following the indirect route you must take to avoid the cities, is about 250 miles from where you are now in Colusa. That’s two weeks on foot, or as few as five hours by car.

Rhaena goes for the driver’s side door. “Let’s find out.” She yanks on the handle to discover it’s locked. Cregan uses his axe to shatter the window, and the zombie tumbles gracelessly out onto the pavement, rancid skin and necrotic muscle ripping from its bones. As it crawls towards the siren call of fresh meat, Ice barks viciously and Cregan swings his axe. The blade slices easily through the monster’s skull, and its flailing, murderous limbs go still.

Rhaena reaches through the broken window to unlock the doors, climbs into the driver’s seat, and turns the key in the ignition. There is a blessed sound: the thunder of a living engine. “Half a tank!” Rhaena cheers.

Aegon gags as he opens the passenger’s side door. “Oh, it reeks so bad…”

“We’ll roll down all the windows,” Aemond says curtly.

“There are organs on the floor! What the fuck is that, a liver?!”

Aemond gives it a cursory glance. “Looks like a spleen.”

“I don’t want to sit near a spleen! I don’t even know what a spleen does!”

“Then throw it outside somewhere!” Aemond snaps. “You’re thirty years old, you can’t clean a minivan?!”

Aegon grumbles as he uses sheets of Burger King coupons from the glovebox to toss zombie guts into the grass. Aemond wipes down the hard surfaces with antiseptic. Luke keeps watch and Daeron shoots down several zombies as they lurch out of nearby houses and towards the Kia Carnival. You ask Helaena for the box of 9mm bullets in her messenger bag and she gives it to you. You load your Beretta M9, stow the remaining bullets in your backpack, and take aim at the approaching zombies to make sure you still know how to get into the rhythm, that you can still be a killer when the circumstances require it. You are out of practice, but you’re beginning to feel more like yourself again. Aemond brought you back. They all did.

When the minivan is as clean as possible, everyone hurries inside and Rhaena drives west on Route 20 under the afternoon sun. At the intersection with Route 53, Aegon directs Rhaena to follow it south around Clear Lake, then to take Route 29 west through rolling hills that were once filled with vineyards, wineries, music, weddings, horse farms. Now the land is hushed, and wild, and dotted with silhouettes that sway drunkenly and swipe at vultures when they try to gobble tattered strips of putrid flesh that unravel from bones like the bandages of a mummy.

The Kia Carnival rides Route 175 west and then Route 101 south, where the earth turns dry and rocky and barren, reminding you of northern Nevada and piling stones of heartache in your belly. In a place called Pieta—an old 1800s railroad depot, according to a plaque mounted just off the road—Rhaena slows down to get a better look at something that doesn’t make any sense. There is a souvenir shop of rocks and gems, now long out of business, and in a shed beside the main building hangs a gruesome specimen that you can see through the open doors. It has two arms and two legs, but it’s not a zombie. Its flayed flesh is a vibrant, healthy red; parts of the thighs and chest have been carefully carved away like cuts of meat are sliced from beef cattle. It is suspended on meat hooks. It is being butchered.

Cregan notes uneasily: “That ain’t an opossum or a bison.”

“I think it’s human,” Aemond says, horrified.

“Guess we’re not stopping for the night anytime soon,” Rhaena quips, then floors the gas pedal.

One of Aegon’s mixtapes spins in the CD player. From the speakers flows Somebody To You by The Vamps.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you see anyone now?” Aemond asks.

Luke speaks without looking away from his binoculars. “And for the fourth time, my answer remains no.”

After a night’s rest in a cabin at Camp Liahona Redwoods in Sonoma County, you followed California State Route 1 down the coast of the Pacific Ocean until the Kia Carnival finally ran out of gas just south of Olema, a small town founded in the 1850s. A ten-mile hike has brought you to the cliff where the fabled Targaryen beach house is perched with a few hours left before sunset. The ailing daylight is golden, the wave crests glittering, gulls cawing as they swoop through the salt-lashed air. From the road that twists like a snake through the slopes of Bolinas—thick with redwoods, Douglas firs, oaks, cypresses, tall grass that whips in the wind and tufts of eucalyptus—Luke is searching the property. It is less a house than a mansion, a museum, a monument, a work of art: sharp rectangular lines and glass walls, balconies, fountains, a pool, a garden.

Cregan whistles. “A place like that has to cost a million dollars.”

“Try fifteen million,” Aemond says distractedly, and Cregan gawks at him.

“Well, from what I can see it looks safe,” Luke declares, lowering his binoculars. “No zombies.”

“You really think they’re in there?” Daeron asks eagerly. “Mom and Criston?”

“Yeah, kid,” Aegon says, squeezing Daeron’s shoulder; but his voice is morose, like he knows he has surrendered to something, a path of least resistance, a hostile planet’s gravity. “Of course they are. Let’s go say hi.”

At the end of the driveway, the five-car garage is open. There is an Alfa Romeo, a Porsche, a Ferrari, a Ducati motorcycle, and a white Chevy Tahoe, which Aemond says belongs to Criston. And there are other items of interest mounted on the walls.

“Yes!” Daeron says as he runs to a quiver full of arrows for his compound bow. Aegon lifts a golf club out of its bag and makes an imaginary putt, getting reacquainted with the feeling of his hands on the grip.

“This is an iron,” Aegon says when he catches you watching him. In the shade of the garage, he pushes his neon green plastic sunglasses up into his windswept hair. “It’s metal all the way through and gives you good control over the shot. Drivers are for long-distance, and wedges and putters don’t have enough power. But an iron is just right.”

“Are you going to teach me how to golf?”

Aegon grins, his first real smile all day. “You think you can handle it, SunChips?”

“I don’t,” you answer honestly, and he laughs.

“If you teach me how to shoot, I’ll teach you how to golf.”

“An unfair trade! My skill is useful.”

Aemond knocks on the door that connects the garage to the main house. “Mom? Criston?” There is no response; all of you wait for one, listening intently through the crashes of waves and reverberating gull shrieks. Ice begins to pace agitatedly and nudges Cregan’s hands. He looks at Aemond, half-fear and half-sympathy.

“No,” Aemond says. “No, she’s wrong.”

“She might be,” Cregan replies, steady and ever-agreeable. Helaena is wringing her small, gentle hands. Everyone is watching Aemond to see what they should do next.

He pounds on the door again, this time with a closed fist. “Mom, we’re home! Mom? Criston? It’s me! It’s Aemond!”

Still, there is no answer. Aemond tries the doorknob, and it turns unimpeded. It is unlocked. He opens the door, peeks inside, and then crosses through the threshold. The rest of you trail him like he has eight shadows, the last in the shape of a wolf.

You step into the living room: wide open windows, the ocean breeze breathing through the house. The air tastes like sand and saltwater, sun and blue skies. There are three-story glass walls that overlook the water, a staircase leading up to the next floor, pristine white couches, black end tables topped with vases full of dead flowers, grey marble floors, bejeweled golden crosses that glint cruelly in the bloody late-afternoon light, family photographs on the mantle of the fireplace. There are many pictures of Aemond, and some of Helaena and Daeron as well. You don’t see a single photo of Aegon. He notices you scanning the snapshots in the frames and looks away, ashamed.

“Mom?” Aemond calls, his voice ricocheting through the vast, open space, clinical like a hospital or a morgue. “Criston?”

“Grandpa?” Helaena says meekly. Cregan is clutching his axe and peering around vigilantly. Ice whines and paces, her strange yellow eyes glowing like flecks of gold in a stream. Rhaena tries to soothe her with ear scratches; Ice begins to howl, low long mournful sounds.

You catch Aegon’s attention when he glances at you again. “This isn’t right,” you whisper. “If they were here, they would have heard us by now.”

Aegon turns to his brother. “Hey, Aemond…”

And then there are footsteps from upstairs, slow and shambling. Everyone looks, and it appears at the top of the steps like a mirage or a night terror, like a wrathful god glaring down from Mount Olympus. Long, filthy strands of white hair hang from what is left of its scalp. Its gore-stained teeth are bared. Its eyes are cloudy like the poisoned atmosphere of another planet, one gasp enough to singe your lungs and infect your bloodstream. The snarls pour out ragged and rasping from its disintegrating vocal chords. The man was wearing a suit when he died, and the pale blue shirt is now splattered with crimson and bits of rotting flesh. The black leather shoes on its feet clop as the zombie descends the staircase with staggering, unnatural steps, its decaying arms grasping for the mortals who wait below.

Daeron says numbly: “Dad?”

Aemond’s eye is wide and dazed. Ice is growling. Helaena is screaming and fleeing towards the wall; Cregan embraces her and she clings to him. “Aemond? Buddy?” Cregan shouts. “How do you want to handle this?” And what he means is: Do you want to kill it, or should someone else? Do you need time to process what’s happened? How can we help you?

“Aemond?” you say. You touch his arm; he doesn’t react. Rhaena draws her Ruger but doesn’t shoot yet. She is looking to Aemond for permission. Luke is standing in front of Rhaena and forcing her backwards as the zombie nears the bottom of the staircase. Now you can smell it: dark wet rot, spoiled meat, blood and oily fat and organs putrefying in a threadbare patchwork of flesh.

“Dad!” Daeron wails, and he’s covering his face with his hands because he knows what this must mean for the rest of his family too.

“Aemond?!” Rhaena yells. “Aemond, what do you want us to do?!”

You reach for your M9 as the zombie’s leather shoes settle on the marble floor. This seems to shake Aemond from his paralysis.

“No,” he says. “I’ll do it.” He grabs his Glock and aims, but his finger hesitates on the trigger. And you can see the ghosts of the people who have died by his hands lurking in the crystalline blue of his remaining eye: Alys, Jace, Baela and her baby…and now Viserys Targaryen too.

In the lull, in the indecision, Aegon roars and swings his golf club. The metal head collides with the zombie’s skull. Weak corroded bone collapses; blood and brains the color of black mold leak out onto the polished marble.

“It wasn’t enough, huh?!” Aegon screams, then hits the zombie again. The corpse crumples to the floor, but Aegon isn’t done yet. “You couldn’t just fuck everything up when you were alive, you had to keep torturing us from beyond the grave, you sick bastard, you selfish prick, what is wrong with you?!” He whacks the carcass with his golf club again and again. “I hate you! I hate you! You deserved so much worse than this! We crossed an entire goddamn country, and Jace died, and Baela died, and Rio died, all so we could get back here, and now it’s all for nothing because you’ve destroyed everyone you’ve ever touched! I fucking hate you!”

Aegon strikes the zombie one last time—the skull is a pulverized soup of gore and bone fragments—and before anyone can reach for him, he has bolted up the steps to search the rest of the house. You find them in their final resting places: bones in the hallway interspersed with gold rings and a medallion of Saint Irene of Thessaloniki, bones in the shower pierced with stainless steel surgical screws from hip and knee replacements, bones in the master bedroom entangled with shreds of a bloodstained silk nightgown and long locks of auburn hair. Daeron is sobbing, and Cregan takes Helaena outside to the garden to calm down, and Aemond wanders through the rooms in shock. You don’t know what to say to him; you remember how nothing anyone said made a difference when Rio died. But Aegon is furious. He tears away from everyone and goes to his bedroom: racks full of CDs, neon green blankets, an acoustic guitar propped in one corner. Then he ravages his hiding places—inside drawers, under his mattress, on tiny shelves he carved into the walls behind golf and Green Day posters—and collects mint tins. Then he pours out the white powder inside onto his desk and arranges it into lines like contrails behind airplanes, like wagon trails across the earth.

You try to stop him. “Aegon, wait, please don’t—”

“Get the fuck out,” he hisses, and for the first time you see the cold reptilian sheen of something like hate in his eyes. “You don’t have to pretend to love me. I can be alone. I’m used to it.”

“Aegon, I’m not—”

“They’re gone. You can leave too.” Then he slams the door and locks it.

~~~~~~~~~~

While Aegon is upstairs getting high and Helaena is downstairs inventorying supplies in the massive walk-in pantry, the rest of you use shovels from the garage to bury what is left of the bodies in the backyard, unceremonious shallow graves, the soil too rocky for anything more elaborate. Rhaena uses her jagged sliver of slate to mark stones with their names and a few kind words about each of them; but Viserys’ stone is left blank. Then Rhaena returns inside to help Helaena prepare for dinner, while Daeron inspects the perimeter of the house with Cregan and Ice. Luke uses a telescope near the pool not to gaze up at the rising stars but to study the neighboring properties.

Aemond murmurs as he stands in front of the four graves: “I should have gotten here sooner. Maybe I could have saved them.”

“You still have a family,” you say, begging him to believe that there are things worth living for. “You have Aegon and Daeron and Helaena, Rhaena, Luke, Cregan. And you have me.”

Aemond stares out over the Pacific Ocean. The sky above is red and lavender, fire and dreams. “How do we get to Diego Garcia?” He is only half-joking.

“Well you just find a boat and row about 10,000 miles that way.”

He sighs and drags his trembling fingers through his hair. It has always been his job to know what happens next, and now he doesn’t. Gulls squawk and wheel in the air. His right cheek glistens with tears.

“I never saw the ocean until I joined the Navy,” you say, and Aemond looks over at you, curious but not wanting to react in the wrong way and scare you into going quiet again. He’s always mining for details of your past, and you’re endlessly evading him. But perhaps you have been too secretive. He wants to know these things because he wants to know you, and you have no idea how long you’ll be here to shed your mysteries. If a story dies with you, it dies forever.

“Really?”

“Yeah. My mother…Mama, I always called her Mama…she went to Virginia Beach a few times while I was growing up, and that was her favorite place in the world. But she never took me with her. She’d go with my aunt or my oldest brothers. So when I got to basic training on the shore of Lake Michigan, that was the closest thing to an ocean I’d ever seen, and it absolutely amazed me.”

“Lake Michigan,” Aemond repeats, trying not to sound like he’s mocking you.

You smile. “And then of course I ended up in some more impressive places. But compared to Soft Shell, Lake Michigan was a whole different planet.”

“Soft Shell?”

“Like softshell turtles. They’re one of those animals that are so ugly they’re almost cute. We have a lot of them in Kentucky. Well, we used to. Maybe people ate them all when the food ran out.”

“Soft Shell, Kentucky,” Aemond says. “What was it like? I mean…I know you left, and I know you had good reasons…but I’ve never been to Kentucky. I’ve never really been to Appalachia period.”

“It’s beautiful. You get all four seasons, and you’re out in nature all the time, and it feels old, like hardly anything has changed there in thousands of years. You feel connected to the earth. I loved the forests and the mountains. I don’t think I realized how much I loved certain things about where I’m from until I’d been gone for years. I didn’t leave because I had to get away from Kentucky. I left because I had to get away from who I was when I was there, you know? Someone lonely and helpless. But how my family was isn’t Kentucky’s fault.”

“No,” Aemond muses. “I suppose not.” You begin walking together back towards the house.

“Ready for more bad news?” Luke asks, and gestures for you and Aemond to peer through the telescope. Aemond lets you go first, and immediately you see what Luke means. There are zombies in the surrounding hills, and not just a few. There are hundreds, stumbling around aimlessly and posing no current threat; but you are not safe here.

“We don’t have enough people to defend ourselves,” Aemond says once he’s taken a look, tapping his chin in that way that he does when he’s fearful but trying to hide it.

“No, we don’t,” Luke agrees.

“And there aren’t many natural resources here to subsist on. Even the fishing prospects aren’t great without a boat or a pier.”

“Right,” Luke says.

You wonder if Aemond is thinking the same thing you are. He might not know what has to happen next, but you do.

~~~~~~~~~~

The dining room table—large enough to seat twenty—is illuminated with candles, meticulously arranged with china and silverware, and cluttered with canned soups from brands you’ve never seen before: Amy’s, Pacific Foods, Health Valley. There are cases of Perrier and San Pellegrino to drink, and bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild red wine. Everyone else is here except Aegon. You are just about to go find him when he comes rushing down the staircase and into the dining room. He is wearing clothes from his closet here: a salmon pink polo that emphasizes his sunburn, khaki shorts, a white puka shell necklace, Sperry Bahama sneakers. The left shoe just barely fits over the bandages still protecting his healing left leg. There are fingerprints of white powder on the front of his shirt.

“Oh, look!” he announces. “Isn’t this precious? A family dinner?”

“Aegon, please sit down,” Aemond says briskly.

“Come on, it’ll be just like old times. We have all four of us kids, and then…Rhaena, you can be my dear departed Grandpa Otto, you just have to scowl at everyone…and Luke can be Criston.”

Luke is confused. “What—?”

“No no no! Don’t worry. It’s a very easy part. All you have to do is gaze worshipfully at Aemond and talk about how brilliant he is. There’s really not much to it, and honestly you do a lot of that already. And then…” Aegon floats by you, skimming his palm down the length of your hair. Something about the weight of his hand gives you goosebumps: careless, careful, fleeting, intimate. He sighs: “My beautiful, tortured mother.”

“Aegon, sit down,” Aemond orders.

“Father!” Aegon cries out suddenly, spotting Cregan at the head of the table. Cregan looks around the dining room, baffled. “You’ve joined us! How unusual! Did your Titanic replicas spontaneously combust? Did the world end? Well, actually, it sort of did…”

“Buddy, I have no earthly clue what you’re trying to—”

“Now this is a tough part,” Aegon says forcefully. “Patriarch of the Targaryen dynasty, big shoes to fill! But don’t worry, I’m here to help. I’ll give you your lines. All you have to do is repeat after me, okay?”

Cregan studies him and does not assent.

Aegon slams both palms down onto the table. “You’re so fucking stupid, Aegon. You’re a humiliation, Aegon. Why can’t you be smart like Aemond, or sweet like Helaena, or obedient like Daeron? Why did my firstborn child turn out to be such a fucking waste?”

“I’m not going to say that,” Cregan replies quietly.

“Say it,” Aegon seethes.

Now Daeron is weeping between spoonfuls of Amy’s tortilla soup straight from the can. “I want to go home.”

“We are home,” Aemond says.

“This isn’t home anymore, Aemond,” Daeron sniffles.

Aegon is still trying to feed Cregan lines. “Have you found a wife yet, Aegon? No, of course you haven’t. You’ve got hands like a rat and a disposition to match. You’re an overgrown vermin, you’re a plague to every house you enter. Who would fuck you out of anything but greed or pity?”

“Aegon, please stop,” Aemond pleads, wincing and rubbing his forehead.

Helaena folds her arms atop the table and rests her head on them, hiding her face. Luke and Rhaena keep their eyes downcast. Daeron reaches for a bottle of red wine, but Aegon swats his hand away.

“Nope. Illegal. You’re not 21.”

“Aegon, seriously, I’m so over that joke—”

“Shut up. You can’t even get a tattoo without parental consent.”

“Our parents are dead!” Daeron shouts. “They died terrible deaths and they’re never coming back and you’re making everything worse!”

“Then get rid of me! Put me out on the street and I won’t be anyone’s problem anymore! I’ll get murdered or eaten and it’ll be the best thing that ever happened to you!”

Helaena breaks down sobbing, and before Aegon can register what’s happening Cregan scoops him up off the floor and throws him over one broad shoulder. Then Cregan lugs him upstairs as Aegon struggles and yowls and punches at Cregan’s back, all in vain. You can hear a lot of commotion and then finally Cregan reappears, sweat beading on his brow but otherwise composed.

“I tied him to his bedframe with an extension cord,” Cregan says. “I don’t think he’ll be making any more trouble this evening.”

“Thank you,” Aemond replies, defeated.

“If he’s going to be up there all night, he’ll need water and food,” you say. “And enough blankets to make sure he’s warm.” It gets chilly when the sun goes down here, as low as the 50s. You grab two bottles of Perrier off the table and stand to bring them upstairs to Aegon, but Cregan gently takes them out of your hands.

“I’ll make sure he’s well supplied, Miss Chips,” Cregan insists, and you are convinced he thinks he’s doing you a favor. He doesn’t want Aegon to have the opportunity to upset anybody further. And yet a part of you is undeniably disappointed.

Aegon has been gone for ten minutes, and you miss him already.

~~~~~~~~~~

In Aemond’s childhood bedroom, a huge, impersonal, spartan space, the very few pieces of furniture all in the same color scheme of white and navy blue, you cannot say anything to bring his family back to life, or his friends, or the possibilities of what his life might have been before the dead began to walk. But you remember what he did for you when Rio died and you were sinking in dark, numb despair, and so you take Aemond’s hands and place them on your body—skimming under your t-shirt, circling around your waist—offering yourself like a sacrifice that you both desperately need, like a shot of antivenom that will only buy you hours. He draws you into his lap, and beneath your palms and your lips and your thighs, you can feel him coming back to you, filling up with light like a horizon at dawn.

“I’m still here,” you whisper as he throws you down onto the bed, eases himself into you, carries you away like a ship coasting out into open water. I don’t ever want to be anywhere but here.

Aemond holds you after, ensnared in sweat-damp sheets and entwined fingers, and he confesses: “I knew it was possible that they might not still be alive. Logically, I knew that. But it was like I never allowed myself to feel it. And now it’s…it’s…it’s all at once and it’s too much. I can’t fathom that I’ll never see them again. But I don’t even have time to mourn. I need to figure out where we’re going next.”

“Aemond?”

His lips to your forehead, his voice a drowsy murmur: “Hm?”

“I have to tell Rio’s family what happened to him.”

He pulls back to look at you. “You want to go to Oregon?”

“What if Odessa really is safe?”

At first he is bewildered; then he begins to consider it. “Criston’s Tahoe is in the garage. If we siphon the gas left in all the vehicles, we might have enough to get us halfway there.”

“That’s a lot better than none of the way there.”

“We’ll all have to vote on it. The trip will be dangerous.”

“Everything is now.”

“Almost everything,” he teases, his hand sliding down between your legs, taking you far away again.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning, you find Aegon at the cliffside smoking one of his Marlboro Golds, slow meditative drags, eyes bloodshot with lack of sleep. That’s alright. He can nap in the Tahoe. Rhaena won’t need his directions for a while; you’ll stay northbound on Route 1 for 200 miles before cutting inland as you near the Oregon border.

You sit down on the sandy, shrub-strewn ground beside Aegon and wait for him to speak. It takes a while, but you don’t mind. You’ve always had patience; you’ve always been a better listener than someone who fills silences.

At last Aegon says: “I don’t want to be like this anymore.”

“Then stop.”

He smirks bitterly, glaring out into the sunrise, orange light like fire on his sunburned face. “You make reinvention sound so easy.”

“It’s not easy. But it is simple. You decide to get out, and then you do it. You don’t let anything convince you to give up or change course. The only way out is through.”

“I have a proposition.”

“I’m still not interested in fake dating you.”

He cackles. “No, it’s something else.”

“Okay. Let’s hear it.”

Now Aegon is serious. “I don’t ever want to split up again. Not in a year, not in ten years, not in twenty. Never.”

You smile as you watch the reflection of the dawn in his eyes, murky faraway blue like oceans all across the globe. “I didn’t know you thought so highly of commitment.”

“I want to take care of you until you die. I want you to take care of me until I die. And that’s as far as commitment goes with me.”

“Deal.” You offer Aegon your hand.

He shakes it. “Deal.”

Two hours later, Criston Cole’s white Chevy Tahoe is loaded high with supplies—including several of Aegon’s golf clubs and his acoustic guitar—and heading north on Route 1, a Fall Out Boy song from one of Aegon’s mixtapes blaring through the speakers:

“When Rome’s in ruins

We are the lions, free of the Colosseums

In poison places, we are antivenom

We’re the beginning of the end…”

You rest your head on Aemond’s shoulder and wait for the sapphire-and-gold Bay Area to become the misty, primordial emerald green of the Pacific Northwest.

[izaacs-notdeadyet]

Zombie Apocalypse au!!

I really need to come up with a better name cause "zombie apocalypse au" just seems bland and "tlou outsiders au" is just too long 😔😔 def drop some ideas if you have any.

Anyway!1!1 dally design drop!!

Gon be real, I did not have fun drawing this and I think it shows in the art but fuck it!! We ball. This is like maybe my second time drawing dally and I can't get him down well for the life of me. Kinda going threw art block I think but we stay on the grind 🗣️🗣️🗣️

While he wasn't fun to draw, he was definitely fun to think up his story in this au. I think I'm gonna be a bit selective with what all I say abt the gang from now on, cause I'm really considering turning this into a fic (would y'all read about this?)

Anyway!1!1 time to yap

Dally didn't grow up in New York

But he grew up in a gang with a lot of survivors from New york

The gang "leader" was pretty tough on Dally, he was the only kid and no one really liked his being there much

He was only there cause his dad had somehow managed to talk the group into letting him join when Dally was younger

On the topic of Dally's dad,

He wasn't a bad guy, but dally and him never got along much

He never hit dally though, only one time

Dally snuck away to go exploring in the city

And ended up pissing off the leader of their group real bad

He made Dally's dad hit him, kinda in a moment like Sarah's dad hitting her in the walking dead video game (take this as loosely similar, cause I've never played nor watched the walking dead)

It was then Dally decided to leave and take off on his own at only 12.

He wasn't going to let anyone hit him like that again or hold that kind of power over him

He wandered around America and maybe even Canada for awhile

I like to think he used to have a horse, one that either died or got stolen, but he loved it a lot while he had it

He found the gang on their trek through Oklahoma.

By "found" I mean found their camp and tried to steal from them, not realizing they were right outside

When it went wrong he ended up holding Two-bit (who had been sick at the time) at knifepoint, trying to get them to give up their shit

Darry ended up talking him down, convincing him to just sit and talk (made harder by Steve and Pony agreeing on something for once in their life, and it being on killing Dally)

Dally ended up staying at their camp for the night, planning to leave in the morning, but Two-bit found him at the campfire later that night

They had a talk, Two-bit didn't blame him or dislike him for what he'd done, he was the first one to forgive and really be okay with Dally's presence.

Come the next day, and Two-bit was up before anyone else regardless of how sick he was, standing up for Dally and saying Darry should let him stay.

It took a bit of convincing, but Dally was allowed to stay, and he just kinda ran with them since

[twilights-stuff]

THE LAST OF US X GRAVITY FALLS AU

First, I saw the whole hospital clip of the HBO show. Then I watched the entire walkthrough of the game. Then I watched it multiple times. Safe to say I became obsessed with this game as well as with Joel and Ellie's father-daughter bond. So of course I had to make a Gravity Falls au. I'm currently planning to draw all characters for this au but kinda stuck with classes rn so that may take a while.

Anyway here are the list of gf characters that would act as tlou people:

Wendy Corduroy as Marlene (it was originally supposed to be pacifica's mom Priscilla but she didn't fit the role so ye)

Sheriff Daryl Blubs as Bill (oop)

Deputy Edwin Durland as Frank( yes I will make these gay officers tragic in this au)

Fiddleford Mcgucket as Henry Burrell (sorry fidds)

Tate Mcgucket as Sam Burrell (poor kid sorry you become a zombie)

Soos Ramirez as Sarah Miller (yep its cruel but hey Stan needs his tragic backstory)

Dipper Pines as Riley Abel (More sibling relationship with Mabel rather than romantic because pin*cest will never happen in this blog no never)

Cathy Crenshaw as Maria Miller(Tommy's wife)

Bill Cipher as David and Kryptos as James

[alimaybankkk]

carpool

a/n: sorry if it’s a little sloppy at the beginning, i already wrote this and then i accidentally posted it so i had to delete it 😭😭

summary: carpool karaoke on the way to charleston makes your brother a little mad

warnings: supes suggestive bc of the song (slut me out by nle choppa)

pairing: jj maybank x routledge!fem!reader

“it’s a really long drive to charleston,” noted kie, handing the pack of beer she brought from the chateau to jj.

john b in the drivers seat, kie in the passenger’s, pope, sarah, and cleo somehow managing to squeeze into the middle row, and you and jj in the back, the twinkie was crammed and hot.

planning to go to charleston wasn’t exactly a nice throwback. last time you were driving that way, pope ended up almost getting killed.

“‘t’s gonna be so damn boring,” john b muttered, twisting the keys into the car. it jumped to life, causing everyone ablard to rock a little bit in their place.

“we could always find something to do.” sarah suggested.

“like what?” cleo asked.

sarah shrugged. “music?”

jj yelled from the backseat (way louder than he should have), “we don’t have an aux!”

as you were seated next to the blonde, you flinched as the heavy vibrations fed into your ears. “holy shit, jj.”

“why are you yelling, bro?” pope asked, sounding annoyed.

“we don’t have an aux so we can’f listen to music!” jj repeated.

“thanks for that, jj, really, we had no clue,” sarah mumbled.

kiara groaned from the passenger seat. “no music. now that means nothing to do.”

“i brought my speaker,” you said. everyone turned their heads to you, attacking you like zombies.

“you shoulda said something!”

“why didn’t you tell us?”

“music!”

“you’re so difficult!”

you giggled, shaking your head. you connected your phone to your jbl speaker before looking around, shaking as the twinkie bumped on the road. “nobody judge the music.”

you turned it on shuffle and the first song that played was the whole friend group’s favorite— (maybe not favorite, but they sure did like it), and as everyone cheered, eventually everyone’s gaze narrowed to cleo who pointed at jj, then sang, “come here rude boy, boy, can you get it up?”

everyone chuckled, especially you, (as cleo’s nickname for you was rude girl and jj’s was rude boy.)

cleo looked at you. “is this like, a jj inspired playlist?”

you shrugged. “most of it, yeah.”

jj looked at you, honored. “really?”

“really.”

he smiled, looking away to hide the smile on his face.

in a little bit, most of the car was jamming.

you joined along with the girls who were singing, giggling pleasantly. “i like the way you touch me there…”

pope joined in, which made you smile. pope’s vulnerable side was your favorite. “i like the way you pull my hair!”

everyone giggled as rihanna sang, “babe if i don’f feel it i ain’f fakin, no, no…”

jj watched you with hooded eyes in silence. you smiled at him when you caught his gaze, letting john b join in on everyone singing, “i like when you tell me kiss you there,” i’m a high pitched voice.

you turned back to your friends, singing, “i like when you tell me move it there…”

everyone but jj now joined in, screaming. “SO GIDDY UP, TIME TO GET IT UP…”

everyone but you stopped as you grinned at jj, singing to him playfully. “you say you’re a rude boy, show me what you got now…”

you wiggled your pointer finger at him playfully, motioning for him to come closer. “come here right now.”

he obliged, leaning into you and kissing you passionately on the lips. the pogues made fake gagging noises before continuing to sing the song.

your boyfriend joined in for the last bit of the song, chuckling at the end.

the next song was hell n back by bakar, one that your friends let you sing alone because they didn’t know it. however, they listened carefully to the lyrics and looked at jj.

“HE likes petty crimes, HE had BLUE eyes like THE OCEAN,” you sang, changing the lyrics to match the description of jj. “and where HE goes, i’ll never know, HIS friends bounced, too.”

“yuck,” john b muttered from the drivers seat. “skip this song, i don’t want to hear you fawning over jj the whole time.”

“this is her jj playlist,” cleo informed him. “you gonna have to.”

he groaned, letting his head fall back. you grinned and skipped the song.

jj’s eyes lit up when he heard the classic notes of ice ice baby by vanilla ice. he jumped up and unbuckled his seatbelt, preparing to sing.

kiara rolled her eyes and turned away. “oh, here we go.”

after singing a few “ice ice baby’s,” jj prepared you orally for his next stunt. you nodded, signaling for him to continue. he took a deep breath and winked. “alright stop, collaborate and listen, ice is back with my brand new invention..”

you and your friends scream “something!” so it sounds better and he beams, containing himself to continue.

“somethin grabs a hold of me tightly, flow like a harpoon, daily and nightly… will it ever stop? i don’t know. turn off the lights, and i’ll glow. to the extreme i rock a mic like a vandal, light up the stage and wax a chump like a candle!”

while jj sang, “dance!” pope messed up the lyrics and began to sing, “ice, ice baby..”

when everyone laughed at him, he cursed and hid his head in his hands, cleo leaning down to kiss him on the cheek.

jj sang the rest of the song alone, occasionally with a little bit of “ice, ice, baby,” from the rest of the group.

john b had liked the music up till until the next song and groaned. it was a song you listened to since you were little and he had grown tired of it. “ugh, skip.”

you frowned. “no, john b, it’s my music! my playlist! we can listen to what i want!”

“skip the damn song or i’m pulling you over and dropping you off right now.”

you groaned and obliged, repeating the same thing five more times when john b forced you to skip the songs.

a familiar sound came up and you had no clue how to feel. john b didn’t say anything; he didn’t recognize the song.

it was one of your favorite songs and you didn’t want to skip, but also it would be awkward having your brother hear you sing along to it.

but he’s DEFINITELY heard worse. so you shook it off and turned the song up louder.

jj watched you with an open mouth—he recognized the song. he just had to figure out if you knew the words.

you avoided eye contact with him and stared out the window, keeping a straight face as you parted your lips to sing. “rip off my shirt if you love me, spit in my face when you fuck me.”

john b’s head whipped around, the twinkie jolting across the road. jj’s eyes widened and he sat back in his seat.

“play with my gooch while you suck me, eat the dick like you is ugly,” you grinned as john b shouted for jj to skip the song. he scrambled, trying to grab your phone. you looked at jj and batted your eyes playfully. “i mean, hold on, wait, where your friend, bring your buddy, i don’t think that you enoughy, her favorite thing to say is cuff me…”

pope covered his ears as you sang the next line, jj trying to figure out how to skip the song. “shit…”

“what? what? skip the song!” john b screamed. cleo and kie were laughing. jj and sarah were trying not to laugh.

you continued to sing what came after the chorus, “big dick energy, i give it..”

jj let out a yelp. “she used her skips already!”

“the fuck does that mean?” john b screamed. “skip the damn song, jj!”

jj shook his head. “she don’t have spotify premium. she already used her 6 skips. damn pogue life, man!”

john b rested his head on the steering wheel. “kill me, now. please.”

kiara took the moment to pull out her phone and record it, laughing at john b who was on the verge of tears.

“meat to meat, wall to wall, coochie to my bawls, dawg,” you sang, looking over as you heard jj join with you.

“ayy, rip on my shit if you love me; spit in my face when you fuck me…”

you laughed at him, pinching his shoulder. pope was basically crying and sarah was not laughing

pope covered his ears and whined. “THIS IS YOUR JJ PLAYLIST?”

when the song was done, john b screamed, “what. the. fuck. was. that.”a

“slut me out by nle choppa,” you smiled innocently, leaning over to lay in your boyfriend’s lap.

* a/n: BYE ITS SO FUNNY TYPING THE LYRICS LMAOOOOO

[creedslove]

OMG BESTIE YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT.

i had this dream where me, Joel and Ellie were in Jackson and him and I were together after years of surviving and then (I still don't know how) I switched to the no-outbreak time where Sarah is alive and Joel is in his 40's. We didn't knew each other and I accidently bumped into him while walking with my daughter Ellie (at that point I'm in tears) and we look at each other and I have this deja vu and he seems to have it too! We don't say anything, just smile at each other and then I wake up. (I hope it makes sense 😭)

I wish Joel was real. (especially with his silver hair and southern accent that makes my knees buckle)

No outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader

A/N: omg bestie you got me screaming and crying and throwing up honestly! This dream is amazing and it sort of reminds me of X-Men Days of Future Past in which Wolverine needs to go back in time to save the mutants and prevent the extinction of mutants and humans! I like this idea so I turned into a headcanon adapting to the no mutation tlou reality hehehehe

• Joel thought the dreams he was having were beyond explanation at how weird they really were; every single night he would wake up in cold sweat, panting and wondering what the hell was going on with him

• his dream was always the same: he would dream about a world that had ended and for some reason he had survived, where monstrous creatures that seemed a mix of humans and some kind of fungus had wiped most of civilization and the world as he knew; in the dream Joel was a low life, a depressed, lonely and hard guy who had lost the will of living right after his daughter got killed and that was enough for Joel to snap wake and immediately tiptoe to her bedroom, just to watch her sleep and make sure she was alright and her bedroom was still pink and full of butterflies and not some ruin of what things used to be

• it puzzled Joel, because he had no idea where that was coming from; he wasn't one to watch zombie or horror stuff, reading books was definitely not his cup of tea and he seriously couldn't understand why kids like Sarah obsessed over watching TikToks, so he thought he didn't actually have the creativity for that

• maybe he'd eaten one of Tommy's suspicious brownies by accident?! It could be a possibility, but his brother was extra careful with these since Sarah was around

• still, it didn't matter the reason why Joel had those disturbing dreams, but the frequency they were happening, and not only that: he very often saw people he knew from his everyday life in the dream as well

• such as his former girlfriend Tess, his brother Tommy and his girl Maria, he recalls seeing those two kids who lived down the street from him... Henry and Sam, he recognized them from Sarah's school, the older brother making ends meet and always having to attend parent - teacher conferences and the little one being the gifted student his daughter told him about

• even that nut job from the other block, Kathleen showed up every once in a while, Bill and Frank, and several other friends and acquaintances Joel had met through his life and the city

• but from all the crazy shit his, what baffled him the most was that you and your daughter Ellie featured in his dream as well; he knew Ellie was a firecracker from all the school meetings he'd attended, which honestly amused him. He thought she was pretty strong and smart and it always made him chuckle when she put a boy back into his place

• but it was so confusing to him that he almost had a fatherly bond with her, at the same time he had a relationship with you. Joel had always found you attractive and he very often kept in the back of his mind his desire of asking you out, but he never went through it, and yet, in his apocalyptic dreams you were going strong, it was just odd

• Joel kept thinking of those dreams for a few days, he even considered seeing a shrink after Sarah told him he should do it, but being a stubborn Miller the way he was, he just shrugged it off and eventually, his sleep went back to normal and he got too caught up with work to pay attention to things like that

• it was only one weekend where he was taking a walk around the neighborhood with Sarah, he ended up running into you, smiling and waving gently, he felt his heart skip a beat, thinking of your apocalyptic romance and thinking of how crazy it would be to miss something he never really had

• when you saw your neighbor Joel waving and smiling from across the street, you immediately reciprocate, he was handsome and you would be lying if you said you didn't have the slightest crush on him, but he would think you were crazy if he ever found out you had the craziest dream about him, in which you both had to survive in an apocalyptic world while being a couple 🥴

____

[a-aexotic]

half & half. part 005. previous

warnings ;

taglist: @steveharringtonswifey09 @starkeysmp4 @mannstarkey @readingbcimlonely

Last night was a complete haze for you, you couldn't even process it because you had to get up to work. Work was going like usual, customer after customer.

You were pretty much a like zombie trying to get through work. You hadn't even drank a single cup of coffee and you felt like you were there. You couldn't even think straight because of your head pounding.

You didn't get much sleep last night; there was too much going on in your head. JJ, Rafe, Sarah, the Pogues, your job, college. Your mind was on a loop until the early morning. Summer was supposed to be relaxing and right now, it felt like anything but relaxing.

When you were finally done at the country club at 4:30 pm, you glad took your leave and started driving home. These past few nights have been insanely eventful and you just wanted some time alone.

You came home, ate, showered (and shaved), lathered your skin up in your favorite lotion and topped it all off with a cute pink night set you got. You went into bed and sighed at the warm feeling, turning on your TV and turned on your LEDs.

You turned on your comfort show and watched for about five minutes before, almost comically, someone knocked on your window.

You wanted to face palm yourself. You almost thought you misheard it until you heard it again. Of course the universe wouldn't let you have on peaceful night.

You put on your slippers and went to the window. You weren't completely surprised to see JJ standing there, an apologetic look on his face.

You opened the window to let him in and you stood there, arms crossed as he closed the window after him. You both stood there in silence for a few seconds before he spoke up.

"I wanted come here and say I'm sorry." JJ finally spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper. "I said things I shouldn't have and I know I hurt you, but I am sorry. It won't happen again." He looked like a hurt puppy, looking up at you.

"It's fine."

"No, it's not. When Pope said you were going to apologize-"

"Wait, what?"

He stopped and thought for a second, "Shit. Uh..."

"I'll deal with Pope another time." You felt like an overworked mother with four annoying little brats you had to deal with. "Continue."

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I just say stupid shit when I'm angry."

"Yeah you do." She said flatly, as JJ pursed his lips tightly. You let out a sigh, "do you really think I nag you?"

JJ looked a deer caught in headlights before shaking his head slowly.

"Be honest, JJ."

"Sometimes. I mean you act more like my mother than my sister sometimes and yeah, it does get a little annoying..."

You wanted to get angry but you couldn't. This is healthy communication, you kept repeating in your head.

JJ noticed your silence, "I still love you though. I know you mean well."

Your lips moved upwards slightly into a small smile. "I love you, too."

JJ smiled at you, realizing he had finally gotten on your good side once again.

You opened your arms for a hug and he gladly walked up to you, embracing you tightly. He basked in your warmth and your familiar perfume; you hadn't changed your signature smell since freshman year.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Y/N/N. How am I going to survive?"

"I'll still be with you in spirit, JJ." You guys separated. "And you can always call or Facetime, I'm not dead."

He laughed. "Yeah, but it's still not going to be the same."

You shook your head, "Let's not think about this now, okay?"

He nodded slightly, a smile still evident on his tanned face.

"You wanna watch a movie?"

Rafe had been in his room all day trying to figure what his feelings meant. He has never been so conflicted in his entire life, especially over feelings towards a girl.

Well, he wouldn't call you just a girl. If someone asked him a month ago how he felt about you, that about sums it up. You were just a girl to him but that all changed the night you had found him on that beach.

No one has ever done anything so selfless for him. You could've left him there on the beach and he wouldn't have even remembered it. But you went out of your way to help him. Not only help him, but actually take care of him.

The day after you had saved him, he woke up and he just looked at you for a few minutes, trying to process how everything that had happened. He'd only just remember the last few hours of the night, the rest was a blur.

The only thing that stuck out to him was his newfound feelings. When he looked at you, his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his body in the best way imaginable as he remembered the night before.

He never looked at you the same after that day. You weren't just a girl; you weren't just one of Sarah's friends anymore, you were more than that now. And that scared Rafe.

He'd never felt that way about anyone in a while. He was sure that he'd never felt this way ever because of how foreign it felt.

When he saw you downtown that night when that man was bothering you, it was like a instinct to go and help you. He had to make sure nothing happened to you now, because you were his savior. It wasn't even about owing it to you, it was just what felt most natural to him.

He had never been more confused. Did he like you? And if he did, how would he be able to show it without coming off weird? His mind raced, what was he going to do about you?

[boykingscourt]

what episodes do you never rewatch and why

I'm gonna try to go chronologically

1x19 - I think sarah and sam are super cute and it's a good sam episode in general but I just think the plot is mid

2x04 - again a really good character episode but it's always been a dud for me. maybe I'm not fond of zombie shit? but I'm not sure

2x18 - I'm not just jumping on the hollywood babylon hate train it's painful to get through and deserves the hate

as a teenager I watched my s1 and s2 dvds religiously and I always skipped the ones above and [redacted] years later it seems not much has changed

4x11 - "just people" episodes are usually good but I do not give a flying fuck about that family lmao

6x08 - soulless sam was funny but it's shit from a butt

7x05 - fuck off, buckleming !!!!!

8x15 - doesn't need an explanation watch the scene where sam talks about dean being unable to trust him then move along

8x18 - can't be bothered to care about those kids I would much rather be watching trials sam dry heaving over a toilet

anything past s8 I don't really rewatch a lot to have dedicated skips but after having to show such garbage episodes as 9x20 and 10x15 to my friend those will definitely be skips from now on!! much of s10 is a skip tbh

my friend and I are in s11 together so I may very well acquire more skips between now and the end of the series but like I've been saying my memory of 12-15 especially is just spotty and most of those episodes I've only seen once

[doshiart]

i was caught in a tag game, so let's go! the first one:

nine people i'd like to get to know better

tagged by Kat @mybrainismelted and Sarah @sleepyheadgallavich <3

last song I listened to: souk eye by gorillaz

favourite colour: blue, like deep blue

currently watching: desperate housewives. i'm rewatching, but now i'm on a season i don't remember and maybe i haven't seen it before. this is s6ep5 and i'm just wtf why terry trains a monkey at a children's party? lmao

sweet/savoury/spicy? sweet sweetness and spicy spice

relationship status: long distance

current obsession: friendship bracelets. i've made four bracelets so far (i'll show you soon)

currently reading: i have a low reading attention rn, but the last thing i've read was workhouse rock by @suzy-queued and i love this so much

last thing i googled: i was searching for fridge prices

tagging @suzy-queued @francesrose3 @heymacy @jrooc @blue-disco-lights

@spookygingerr @lee-ow @crossmydna @creepkinginc

___

and one delayed:

🖤 weekly tag wednesday friday🖤

tagged by @energievie @lingy910y @jrooc @gallapiech @spookygingerr @heymacy @mybrainismelted

name: doshi 🐍

age: 22

location: avoiding the real world

what is your DJ name? †milkbitch† and my first remix is gonna be a witch house version mooo! by doja cat

if you were a genre of music, what would it be? dark folk

what would you title your biography? this bitch always wasted time

what are the first three things you'd do if you were invisible? i'd keep checking to make sure i'm invisible

what subject do you wish was taught in every school? a subject called 'how to live this life and be an adult'

when was the last time you tried something for the first time and what was it? last week, i poured milk over the raspberries. i didn't like it.

what is the most underrated city you have ever visited? none

what day in your life would you like to relive? i don't remember days like that

if you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be and why? fall asleep/wake up, these things are hard

how long would you last in a zombie apocalypse? lmao i won't survive any apocalypse. i'll probably die from whining about not being able to wash my hands

what would be the most surprising scientific discovery imaginable? teleportation

if you could have any view out your office window, what would you choose? a beautiful field and lots of kittens playing there

[starlightshadowsworld]

Watched a deep dive into My babysitter's a vampire.

... And here's just things I forgot happened:

-Sunglasses were worn for protection against the sun, but they drop that like 3 episodes in.

-They killed the pizza guy.

-Sarah wasn't the original babysitter, it was Erica.

-Jesse was trying to ressurct his tribe, which were all buried in Ethans back garden.

-Rory was in love with Betty, aka Benny dressed as a girl.

-Erica and Rory definitely had a thing.

-They kill a tree by rick rolling it to death.

-Evil Benny came to be because Benny was trying to take a pic of his ass.

-Erica got possessed by a dead theatre girl.

-... The cliffhanger...

-Mr G.

-Zombie coffee.

-Ethan has been both a werewolf and a vampire at two seperate points.

-Muse-Atronics 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

-Rory's mum is so supportive over him.

-Ethans parents in season 2 don't show up together at all.

- A 10 year-old gets sent to hell.

-Rory had a prank channel.

-Erica dressing up freshmen as babies and Sarah farting from having too much blood.... Same episode.

-The big bad vice principal was shoved in a bin by Sarah in his first appearance.

-Benny's grandma is a menace.

-We really don't see the whole gang together as much as I thought.

-Jesse was a lot creepier than I thought, which is saying something cos I hated that man.

-Jesse cheats on Sarah with Erica.

-Ethan seeing dead people.

[agaypanic]

Can you write for Rory where he has like a pen pal for a school project. They both talk to each other ALL the time and he's really excited that he made a new friend! One day the reader tells him she's coming to visit and he gets all excited telling the gang about her and over all just that huge buddle of joy he always is! Well..obv he doesn't know what she looks like because they talk through letters. So when this absolute buddle of cuteness and rainbows randomly runs up to asking about and just rambling on and on about how he's her pen pal he just crushes her with a hug and just can't believe she's really their! And just ends all cute maybe throw in some flustered and blushy moments too if you can!!

My Pen Pal (Rory Keaner X Reader)

Masterlist

Request Something!

Summary: Rory’s English class is assigned pen pals from the high school in a neighboring town. You and him hit it off right away, quickly realizing that this new friendship should go beyond letters.

A/N: open ending bc i didn’t really know how to end it lol

***

Rory must have been the only one in his class excited to have to do a pen pal project. He liked making new friends, especially since it came relatively easy to him. He was just the type of boy who could get along with anyone.

When you first started talking to Rory, you just viewed it as another assignment. You each had to write five letters, one letter being sent every week. But your thoughts quickly changed when he responded to your first letter. He seemed funny and nice, so easy to talk to.

Rory thought the same about you. You were so sweet in your letters, always giving thoughtful responses to what he had previously sent, and he tried to do the same in his letters. You two had so much in common: the same taste in media, opinions on different topics, how you would survive a zombie apocalypse if the day ever came.

During the last week of sending letters, you and Rory grew sad when you realized the assignment would soon end. While talking to each other, you didn’t think about the fact that your conversations would someday come to an end.

But then you remembered that Rory lived in the next town over. You could easily see him and continue talking if you really wanted to. So, in your last letter to Rory, you asked if he would ever want to meet and talk in person. If yes, he should describe what he looked like so he’d be easy to find.

Rory was absolutely ecstatic to read your letter. He said that he couldn’t wait to see you, giving you his description and telling you the best time and place to meet.

“Rory, I didn’t know you knew how to write.” Erica joked as she watched him scribble feverishly on paper.

“Who are you writing to, Rorster?” Benny asked.

“My pen pal, Y/n!” Rory took a break from writing to look up at his friends, smiling brightly as he thought about you. “We’re finally planning to meet in person! She’s so nice; I can’t wait to meet her.” Then he got back to writing, trying to decide where you should meet. “Hey, is the park a good place to meet someone for the first time?”

***

Before he knew it, the weekend had come, and Rory was sitting on a bench at the park, waiting for you. He convinced his friends to go with him, to calm his nerves while he waited and to comfort him if you never showed. But he knew you would come.

“So, what should we look out for, Rory?” Ethan asked, looking around. A few people were scattered around the park, but they probably weren’t who Rory was looking for. “What does this girl look like?”

“Well-” Rory cut himself off, trying to think. Only then did it occur to him that you hadn’t given him a description for him to look for. You knew what he looked like, but that was it. “...I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Erica asked, crossing her arms. “You didn’t think to ask?”

“It slipped my mind!

“Well, she knows what you look like, right?” Sarah asked, and Rory nodded. “Then I guess we just wait for her to find you.”

“But that could take forever!” Rory knew he was exaggerating. But he had been waiting for what felt like forever to see you; the fact that he had to wait for you to find him first made him even more impatient. 

“Don’t worry, Rory. She should be here soon.” Benny said, checking his watch. “You told her to meet you here at three, and it’s-”

“Rory?” An unfamiliar voice came from behind the boy. He whipped his head around and looked at a girl who was looking at him hopefully, playing with her fingers. He stood up from the park bench.

“Y/n?” Hearing him say your name made you squeal, and you couldn’t help but run up and hug him. Rory gripped your waist tightly, jumping around in excitement with you in his arms, making you laugh. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!” He set you down but kept his arms around you, trying to take in every detail.

“Of course, I’m here! I couldn’t wait to see you.” You caught a glimpse of Rory’s friends watching your interaction and giggled at their stunned reactions. They probably didn’t think that you were actually real, or that you’d be so excited to see Rory. “Wanna introduce me to your friends?”

As if suddenly remembering his friends were there, even though he made them come in the first place, he turned to face them. He introduced everyone to you, and you waved excitedly.

His friends could sense that the two of you should have some alone time. After all, this meeting was for the two of you to finally hang out.

“You know…” Sarah stood up and walked to you, placing a hand on your and Rory’s shoulders and turning you toward the other direction. “There’s a really good ice cream shop down the street. Perfect for hanging out and first dates and stuff.”

You and Rory lit up at the suggestion. Quickly thanking Sarah and saying goodbye to everyone else, you and Rory practically dragged each other out of the park and to the shop. You talked the whole way there, trying to plan the rest of your first day together.

[the-crowe-and-the-magpie]

God help me but 

it’s a lot easier to become a Negan fan when Rick is no longer on the show...

I can feel it happening....

[sarah-sandwich]

Rules: Answer and tag 9 people you want to get to know better and/or catch up with.

Thanks for tagging me @monaisme!

Favorite color: green 🍏🌿🌵

Last song listened to: Our Love from Arcane and now Take a Chance on Me by ABBA is playing 🌈

Currently reading: oh boy. I've been hopping between books again. I'm about halfway through Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett and am a few chapters into Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati, but I've been craving (spoiler alert!) a really good romance so I think I put both aside for a bit and see about getting into the bridgerton books

Currently watching: I'm like 4 episodes into dungeon meshi 👍 I am slow and inconsistent at TV shows though. Also about halfway through a movie I'm watching with my husband. I think it's called Army of Thieves? It's about a German safe cracker hobbyist that gets brought into a heist and everything in Europe is like normal modern Europe but in America there is a zombie?? apocalypse?? just happening????? as a background plot???????? I'm incredibly charmed.

Currently craving: a good!!! fucking!!!!!! romance!!!!!!! I'm so tired of attraction at first sight that never goes any deeper than wanting to bone but being anxious and awkward about it 😮‍💨 I need to FEEL it! Why this one?? SHOW ME!! He was a boy she was a girl just isn't enough for me Avril!!! Am accepting recs. Save me tumblrinas. Please.

Coffee or tea: A cup of coffee at the start of every day makes Sarah a happy girl. But it has to be my shitty store brand hazelnut stuff with an entire tablespoon of sugar and a splash of hazelnut creamer or it's just no good.

No pressure tagging: @myarmsaretoolong @fieldsofview @incognetomisquito

Side note my cat was attacking me while I tried to finish this. Photographic evidence:

[bizlybebo]

I AM ASKING YOU ABOUT YOUR ZOMBIE AUS 🤲🤲🤲🤲 I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THEM !!!!!!!!!!!! i looooove a good zombie au

HOORAYYY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okok so both my riptide and pd one are heavily inspired by two different zombapoc video games,, being telltale's walking dead video games and the last of us. buuut i've put a lot of original thoughts and ideas into them and i. love them so much ^__^

the riptide one is pretty messy but the PD one is the one im prouder of :D (both AUs have heavy spoilers for both campaigns)

Riptide

-basically, this AU is inspired by the dynamic of Lee and Clementine from the first walking dead game, but it's branched out a lot further than that.

-at the start of the zombie apocalypse, Arlin teamed up w/Drey and Finn under Captain Rose, and they all formed a lil survivor group (rest of the black rose pirate are there too-- minus chip.)

-when the trio's scavenging through a neighborhood, Chip manages to steal from them, and Arlin's the first one to catch him. Chip, being himself, thinks Arlin is insanely cool and basically makes him adopt him.

-essentially the entire AU follows Arlin trying to find Chip's parents, while Rose is moving the group north through the city to reunite with his lover (and external evidence points to Chip's parents potentially being up North too, in one of the big survivor bases).

-all is fine until, yk. zombies attack them. but these are more distorted, creepier zombies, and they work in more of a coordinated spooky hivemind instead of being the typical braindead zombies as is typical of twd/twd-inspired stuff.

-rest of it vaguely follows the plot of the hole in the sea but. zombies.

-essentially, ten or so years later, Chip appears in Featherbrooke, a navy-ran (the navy still exists here don't ask) base that Jay lives in. And then it's like Origins but. zombies.

-Chip convinces Jay to join him on the road while also talking big about how he's out searching for the old Black Rose group, and is also convinced that Finn Tidestrider could create a cure for the zombies.

-gillion fucking Shows Up.

-etcetc. stuff happens.

-basically, the dynamics here are heavily inspired by the TWDG series, but grew and branched out etc. Chip and Arlin are kind of inspired by Clementine and Lee,, Chip and Ollie are kind of like Clementine and AJ,, etc.

-also. Drey is immune. He gets bit the last time that Chip ever sees him which is why Chip thinks that he's dead, but. nope ^__^ this is also why he's kept in prison by the navy, but also kept largely a secret.

-The Ferins in general in this au are all entirely fucked up and have weird connections to immunity/resistance against. becoming zombies.

^^^- Jay got sent out with Chip as a spy because he kept talking about Finn and finding a cure (+ Jayson also has the knowledge of Drey, etc.) and basically, Jayson thinks that finding a cure could help cure Ava, who died to a zombie bite around 5 years ago.

PD

I ACTUALLY HAVE A LONGFIC OF THIS ONE IN THE WORKS. BUT IT'S TAKING ME A SECOND. it's inspired by TLOU but my TLOU knowledge is actually pretty lackluster </3

-basically, the barebones of this AU is that it's TLOU. Mark is like Joel, Dakota is like Ellie, and Ashe is like Sarah.

-Instead of straight up zombies, it's demons.

-Superpowers and superheroes still exist in this AU, but they are definitely pretty different.

-The apocalypse started when Ashe summoned the trickster, killing their mother etc., but wasn't able to push the trickster back. The chaos zone opened which caused the world to fall to ruin.

-People live in safe zones put together by WATCH, and are all heavily discouraged from leaving due to the. yknow. posessions.

-William is "dead" at the modern day of the AU. He and Ashe were friends before the end of the world, but William was killed by Ashe/The Trickster.

-The closer parallel to Riley is Katori/"rooftop girl",, this part of Dakota's backstory is still pretty similar.

-The AU actually starts when Mark is tasked by Overlord to smuggle "cargo" across Prime, said cargo being Dakota.

- The Overlord is doing all that weird human experimentation shit like in canon, but this time is trying to combine human and demon DNA for the purpose of finding a "cure"/ a way for people to resist being posessed.

-Here's my favorite part of this AU. Dakota is immune to being possessed by demons cause he literally just fucking eats them. This is only possible because of fucking Fartbo i hate it here

-Anyways, William suddenly wakes up alive after being dead for 20 years at the start of the AU. He sees a wisp guiding him and follows it.

-Around the same time, Vyncent still got isekai'd. As one does. Cantrip robbed him on his first day in Prime because I think that's funny.

-Tide is a hero in the Rockfall safe zone, who adopts and mentors Vyncent and William when they first show up.

^^ okok i have. more of the AU planned out from here but since i plan on turning it into a fic pretty soon i dont want to talk more about it past this point cause. i have a really cool plot idea that i dont wanna spoil ^__^

[et-cant-phone-home-no-signal]

The Last of Us HBO - Episode 1 thoughts

Warning: Pure yapping ahead, just my thoughts and things I've noticed whilst watching, it's not serious and I don't invite arguments (fellow yappers however are more than welcome)

(these make sense in the way that i wrote this as i watched so it's all chronological, this is my bday gift to all of you lol. spoilers under the cut)

Love the opening, gives a lot of the context you'd get from the opening credits of the game in a way that's easy to follow and understand for a new audience (using my mum as an example, she knows nothing about this show other than me telling her it's a zombie show - her only experience with that is the walking dead vaguely so her expectations were mid, but even she told me it's easy to understand and actually makes more sense irl compared to TWD)

The whole pandemic stuff really just hits different after COVID doesn't it

The whole climate change thing mentioned is so real, and I know this is written for modern times by modern writers, but for them to set that idea up in a 60s show is very eye-opening

The silence + stillness of the host and audience, the camera angles chosen, it's so good and unsettling in a very inconspicuous way, bravo

I wonder why they chose to change it from 2013 to 2003. Don't get me wrong I'm okay with it, and it's fun to relate to seeing a bunch of familiar things from my own childhood (lack of smartphones, older decor, easy clothing style etc), but it's a decade difference and I wonder why? Is it to make it more relatable for us that the majority of the show is set in 2023? Are we meant to connect to that more, as we've just had our own pandemic and this is a more intense fallout that we could have had if the nature of COVID had been slightly different? Maybe I'm overthinking it

The details in Sarah's room 👌 the posters, the box TV (such nostalgia), the pictures of her and friends, of her and Joel, ribbons and trophies from winning soccer tournaments, the hung up doodle paper, fairy lights, soft pink walls, it's so comfy and lived in, girly but completely her own space :') reminds me a bit of my childhood bedroom tbh, messy but comfortably so

I love that she knows her dad won't wake up so she knocks and calls because yeah, that's what you do when your dad is a deep sleeper

The contrast with Joel's room immediately after, the details there too - the old boombox cd player, fan up and running, messy dresser with slightly open drawers, the most Texas art on the walls (come on, music, deer and a tacos and beer poster?), blue walls, a hamper filled to the brim, a fucking treadmill?? Joel, your plant on the bedside table is long deceased I'm begging you to chuck it and release it from its misery 💀

(Something my mum noted, was that Sarah is wearing her natural curly hair, which mum said "it's rare to see that, in 2003 at least", to which I replied "maybe not in America?" because fr we are European and there's many cultural differences between the USA and other countries. Mum noticed it and she grew up in the Netherlands as a 60s kid. Me personally, I didn't think too much on it because it didn't click that might be odd to see someone wear natural hair, but I also admit I grew up in small villages and towns in more rural areas of Scotland and the Netherlands, so I didn't see much diversity in people growing up until like high school, but I consumed an insane amount of media such as Doctor Who and that's always been a very diverse show. Anyway, just a little thing that was noticed, I love Sarah's hair)

The domesticity :') Joel forgetting the pancake mix (good thing too), going straight for coffee, Sarah insisting on orange juice, his utter disgust at drinking it

"Gonna have to wear diapers soon." "Who says I don't already?" 💀

IS THAT DIDO PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND??? ULTIMATE WIN (I fucking love Dido, the song playing is White Flag)

"Shell." "Calcium." *pushes egg through teeth* "Lovely." stop it oh my god

Family banter, I'm eating this shit up so bad y'all, uncle Tommy <3

The Jakarta detail 👌👌

Pedro with a Texan accent is mwah

I like the detail of Sarah's name being on her bag, I had the same as a kid but my mum would sew it into the top of my bag instead, sometimes on the outside sometimes on the inside. I feel like that's not a safe thing to do anymore but it was so normal when I was a kid

Wish I could write an essay on Joel's drawer but instead I'll just say I love that Sarah is comfortable enough at home to just, go into her dad's room and grab stuff from his dresser, and know Joel won't be mad about it :) healthy home relationship

I wonder if the knife has any crazy significance? I don't remember seeing that knife ever again, unless it's just foreshadowing to Ellie's knife

I swear, them constantly avoiding baked goods is so genius (no pancakes, no cake, no biscuits, they don't eat the cookies later, it's small and clever)

Joel throwing Sarah under the bus like that to the neighbours had both me and mum cackling

Joel "no smoking in the truck" Miller

The desert storm detail is an interesting addition to Tommy's character, and at this stage, it's open whether this is about Joel or Tommy since we don't know who's truck it is (just because Tommy is driving doesn't mean it's his, after all, Joel has a garage)

The details in the school are fun, but idk if that's a normal American school thing to have pictures of the presidents and founding father up or not, I honestly will assume it is since there's also a big ass USA flag in the corner

THE PAPERMATE INKJOY PEN!!! I USED TO HAVE THOSE!!! Damn the small details are so fucking popping

This part is wonderful - where the fuck did they source that many different and fun clocks from and where can I get them?

"20." "That's it?" "Okay, 30." "20's good."

The build up is fantastic, it works for fans and for newcomers alike - all these things like the police all day and other things previously mentioned, the lady ushering her out as quickly as possible, all the people that were outside eating and enjoying the food stands are suddenly gone and the street is silent

The whole Jesus spiel, good lord, feels very Texas in the 2000s (and still tbh, let's be real)

Sarah's face when Mrs Adler says "raisin" is SUCH a fat mood my god this kid is funny

Nanna no 💀 (that fucking grandma is FREAKY as FUCK, outstanding detail)

Mercy knows. Animals always know.

Thank god Joel forgot the cake

Pedros funny little facial expression absolutely kill me, adds such dimension to Joel as a father

Super satisfying to hear the game dialogue ngl, especially that funny little bit with the watch

It's so interesting to see Joel has always struggled with his emotions and verbalising them - the small "thank you", not looking at her, rather looking down at the watch itself, fiddling with it - he's trying but he's never been good with feelings

Joel SNATCHING that dvd like, damn son, it's not going anywhere 😭😂 it's cute to see him so excited about it though, Sarah knows what he likes, even if she's not interested in it at all

The instant sofa snuggle :')

"Don't fall asleep." "Of course I won't, it's too riveting." *Cuts to Sarah fast asleep*

The phone 💀 I remember us having a phone like that, whole ass protection sleeve and all

This extra detail of Joel having to bail Tommy out just adds so much more depth to the dynamic and I'm here for it, also explains why the fuck Joel wasn't in the house at 2am (that always bothered me a bit about the game)

Joel loves his daughter so much,,,, the gentle way he puts her in bed, shoes and all, covering her up with her blanket, little kiss on the head,,,,, I'm already in pain for what's to come

Mercy my sweet baby <3 what a good dog, so scared :(

The show really captured that out of sync feeling when something like this happens - nothing crazy yet, just utter confusion and mild panic creeping in because this isn't normal but nothing seems to be happening yet

Mercy said "peace ✌️ I'm out"

This girl is braver than me, I wouldn't have walked through the door - but that being said I haven't had close neighbours like this in years so maybe it's just that they're very close and she feels comfortable doing so

Oh that's fucked UP dude, Sarah downright walking into cannibal town that's so disturbing (fantastic acting and special effects all around)

The cordyceps special effects are so fucking visceral and disgusting, that out of the mouth?? Grim!! Love how they did this

Love the amount of game dialogue and referencing we get in this particular part - "You take 71-" "71, I know.", the whole car conversation, "That's Jimmy's place" (I know in the game Jimmy is the neighbour and it's Louis'farm that's on fire but the reference stands), most of the camera work being fixed on Sarah or from Sarah's perspective in the back, "They got a kid Joel." "So do we, keep driving. Somebody else'll come along.", just a fucking well done scene tbh

This whole part in the car from Sarah's POV absolutely invokes the same anxiety I felt when playing this bit of the game, totally made me feel like I'm in the truck with them and it's scary (scary good)

I was so thrown off by the fact that they avoided the car crash that I wasn't expecting the alternative that they chose instead 💀 like shit??? A whole ass plane??? Love that they did the eerie music to black thing though that was great

Nico honestly just stole my whole heart as Sarah she got all the fucking expressions down, the panic, the way she talks, the pained sounds, love it 10/10 casting imo

The instant reaction time on Joel and getting Sarah out of the way of that car was NUTS like, I rewatched that part multiple times just to see how quickly he switched them around goddamn

Pedro and Nico are a fantastic father daughter duo 👌

Joel pushing Sarah's head under his chin more so she doesn't look 🥺

The infected actors are fucking amazing, terrifying dedication to the role

Oh no I'm about to cry so hard guys

Sarah 😭😭😭 her whimpers make me so fucking upset this scene is so fucking sad

On a genuine note, Nico did an outstanding job of channeling the desperation from the game, and so did Pedro and Gabriel - Tommy's choked up "Joel" and look of utter defeat and grief is absolutely heartbreaking

Joel holding his dead daughter in his arms, rocking her like a baby, crying out for her to please please be okay...... Yeah

The set for the front of the Boston QZ 🙌

It's so telling that the first thing we see FEDRA do is lie to a child and kill her when they promised she was gonna be okay. They promised they were gonna feed her and get her toys, and that the medicine would help her. They told her that she was safe. And they killed her.

Having Joel be the one to throw her into the fire, holding her the same way he held Sarah, was such poignant choice - how a man can change over 20 years

The Boston details - the set itself, the extras, the shoelaces for ration cards, the covering up of the firefly logo, the sheer amount of FEDRA guards everywhere

Ah yes, the return of public hangings, my favourite 🫠

Interesting to see Joel "smuggler and dealer" Miller, something we didn't get much of in the game tbh

Tess <3

Robert is so slimy eugh

I love that we get to see more of Tess outside of her and Joel, it builds more of a picture of who she is besides just Joel's smuggle partner - also love the amazing bruise makeup they did for her, looks super real and painful

The fireflies actively causing mayhem in the QZ is also a great added detail! We see it a bit in game but I enjoy the constant references to it as well

Bella as Ellie is god tier damn they're so good - snarky as FUCK

Joel just, skipping the fucking line without giving a shit, no one stopping him

"When I'm sleeping, Gabriela listens, or my son. The smart one, not the other one, god bless him." 💀😂😭

I love that Joel has a secret stash in his apartment

Ah yes, drugs and alcohol, the remedy to all

The watch 😭

Liking the music and camera usage in this scene, makes me feel like I'm high myself

Tess just coming in, scooting Joel over in bed and being the big spoon 🙌 the tender way in which she slides her arm over his waist and he grabs her hand in his 😭

The jarring cut to it being day and him lying down alone, pheww

The way Joel is instantly awake and ready to fucking go when he sees Tess' face 🫠

Enjoy how we get Tess saying how absolutely terrified Robert is of Joel, that he needs to take a breath and go slow, but reassures him she still wants to fuck him up - Tess is handling Joel like an spooked animal, gently and with care

Marlene's casting is fantastic 👌 - JUST CLOCKED THAT THE REASON WHY I FELT THAT IMMEDIATELY IS BECAUSE MERLE VOICED MARLENE IN GAME, NO WONDER I INSTANTLY FELT SHE WAS RIGHT!! I recognised her voice without clocking it

I enjoy the changes made to Marlene from the game, she feels more real here, more brutal, this is a rebellion leader who is aware shit isn't going well, it's refreshing - we're seeing more of the inner workings of the firefly situation in Boston

I think it's cute that they still have shitty bars and stuff, humans desire connection and community so much they'll make the best out of whatever they got

"You tell me to 'look for the light' and I'll break your jaw." SLAY LOL

This insight into Ellie's treatment and her relationship with Marlene is really interesting - it's more context which I always enjoy

"You my fucking mom or something?" "Do I look like your mom?" "Nooo, you do not." 😂

First Riley mention, time to feel sad!

With more thought, the "he's here" is probably about Robert! Didn't think much on that before

Detail notice - love how hair and makeup department did Tess and Joel's graying hairs, it looks really good and natural. I read some comments ages ago that Joel's hair is too silver in some spots, but I raise to you my mum in defence, who went grey quite early (she started in her late 30s) and has beautiful silver highlights naturally between the darker hairs. If my mum ever finds out I've posted that online, she'll probably kill me, but then she shouldn't have genetically given me her terrible eyesight 😌 consider it retaliation

The wall body is so grotesque and beautiful, it reminds me a bit of Annihilation (if you haven't seen that movie, I recommend! Fantastic music and visual effects)

*Joel rambles about the building structure* "This has been 'Construction Corner' with Joel Miller." got me creasing lmao they're so snarky and funny

Man I wonder wtf happened, like, did Robert try to scam them so bad they had a shootout?? Crazy

"So this is who Robert screwed us over with? The Che Guevara of Boston?" tells me everything I need to know about Marlene

The shootout stance oooooohhsggsg

Kim and her missing ear 💀

I like the way they get the Ellie job in the show, it works really well

"Really? That fast?" crying lmao

There's clearly more history between Tommy, Marlene and Joel and I know it's because Tommy was a firefly but man what I wouldn't give for a series on the 20 years between this and 2003!!! I'd play a whole game of that!!! I wanna know what happened, in detail!!

Something that bothers me: they're soaked, their shoes are squelching, yet the floor is bone dry after they walk in 😭

I love how smart and inquisitive Ellie is, all the small things she notices and picks up on

Love the same dialogue but different way of delivering it from the game, refreshing as fuck

Ellie's a sassy little shit ain't she (I love her)

I find it constantly funny that cars and shit are still used after 20 years because y'all, gasoline has a shelf life of like 3-6 months and diesel about a year if they're stored correctly with stabilisers, so, why are vehicles used so much?? Where are they getting their gasoline from?? Yes I am aware you can make bio-gas out of plants but it's a complicated process and do you really think FEDRA is out here with greenhouses for gasoline? No me neither

Tess is actually so fucking lovely in regards to Ellie, like, mom mode detected - also love how it's Tess that takes the lead

I can feel my own back protesting at seeing them squat walk, yikes

Ellie gripping Tess' hand for support 😭💕

Joel's flashback due to the light - him beating that guy to fucking death because he's already lost one daughter to a soldier before, and he may not even like Ellie yet but he'll be damned if he lets another little girl die at the barrel of a gun like that

Ellie's face, like she wants to be scared of Joel but shit, that guy just killed a FEDRA soldier to protect her and you can see the admiration in her eyes, but the fear is there too

The radio at the end - we know Bill and Frank aren't alright but at this stage we don't know what exactly that means

The final shot of the iconic towers at the end, an infected screaming on the roof - fucking poetry

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading!! It's literally just my running thought process whilst watching!! Do you agree with some of my notes, was there anything you noticed that i didn't? Comments and reblogs welcome <3

Episode 2 thoughts:

Episode 3 thoughts:

[sephorian]

Derry Girls Headcanons

Michelle-Michelle is definitely a little Albanian off her dad's side.

Michelle-After she burnt the curtains in Fionnuala's house Michelle swore to never visit another Chippy again.

Michelle-She would totally have a stan twitter account.

Michelle-Michelle would watch RuPaul's Drag Race with James and then geek on about it to the other girls.

James-He probably had a Gary Barlow shrine in his room.

James-After he turned 18 his mother got arrested after a scandal happened with her self adhesive labels company.

James-He totally would've met up with Katya after the party.

James-Secretly (not really) loved the colour pink as a child (and still does) and Michelle would tease him about it all the time.

Erin-Definitely regrets what she said to Clare when Clare came out. Goes to pride every year now because of it.

Erin-Would be a Jonathan Bailey fangirl.

Erin-That bitch was definitely a closeted lesbian and learnt it after he many failed relationships with men.

Erin-If it were set in modern day she would 101% be on AO3, Wattpad and Tumblr.

Orla-Adopted a monkey and named him after James.

Orla-Met her dad accidentally whilst out shopping one day.

Orla-Would play Fortnite in the present day and would have Guff and Peely as her main skins.

Orla-Great at spelling.

Clare-After her dad died she made sure to never forget about her Tomogotchi.

Clare-Definitely boycotts large brands and only buys secondhand.

Clare-No Doubt stan. (She's literally just a girl)

Clare-Goated at Mario Kart.

Extras-

Michelle and Erin definitely made out at least twice.

Clare was really good at fighting that she started a boxing career and James would film her fights.

Orla and Sarah would definitely go on a bunch of quiz shows or game shows.

Mary is a Coronation Street nerd, she knows all the lore, birthdays of the cast and their children.

Colm started going to clubs at the library and made some friends just like him.

Joe met George W. Bush at a golf site.

Dennis and Sister Michael would definitely have a wine mom friendship.