#its so hard to get any roach content where hes alive and just vibing

[boxofthings]

GhostRoach & Ghostroachsoap brainrotters understand the pain of going through their respective ao3 tags and getting excited to see a new fic only to find out it's another "Roach was a past lover who died tragically" trope fic :')

[jaskierswolf]

Congrats on reaching another follower goal! For the song prompt option, Trouble by Cage the Elephant for Geraskier? No pressure if you don't vibe with the song!

Thank you!!! 💖 I vibed. Nonny. I vibed!! It was so hard to choose one line!!! They were all so good!! This was vaguely longer than expected, but I hope you like it! TW: Canon-typical violence and injury. (Oops)

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Geralt cursed and spun round to stab another ghoul in the throat. It crumpled underneath his blade with a horrific shriek. Another one took its place before Geralt could even take a breath. There were too many. He couldn’t kill them all, not without help.

“Ahhhh!” He yelled and lunged at the next round of ghouls. He formed Igni with his fingers, blasting them with fire.  It still wasn’t enough. A ghoul managed to catch him in the arm, ripping through his armour as if it were butter. He swore as the poison from the ghoul’s salvia entered his blood stream. Potions. He needed potions. He cut down the offending ghoul, stabbing it through the eyes.  “Fuck!” He growled.

“Geralt!!” Jaskier yelled from the branch where he was sitting.

Geralt spun round to the sound of Jaskier’s call, frantically searching. He couldn’t let Jaskier get injured. He couldn’t die. Geralt stumbled across the field. The ghoul’s poison already starting to weaken him.

“Jaskier, stay back!”

“You’ll die!”

Fuck. Jaskier had that stubborn petulance in his voice that Geralt knew meant he was about to do something incredibly stupid. Geralt didn’t have a chance to argue as another ghoul jumped on his back. He spun round to try and shake the monster but it was no use. He gritted his teeth and fell back into a roll. The ghoul hissed as Geralt managed to escaped its grasp. He was about to blast it away with Aard when it fell down at his feet.

Jaskier stood behind the dead monster, his silver dagger raised and bloodied. “Ah. Well, that went better than expected. Oh fuck!”

Geralt yanked the bard behind him and another fucking ghoul lunged forward. He grabbed Jaskier’s dagger and jabbed the blade into the monster’s skull. It crumpled as its kin had before it. Geralt spun them both round in a circle, sword raised and ready. but that had been the last of them. He gripped Jaskier by the shoulders and glared furiously at his friend.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Jaskier?” He snarled, searching for any obvious injuries. He couldn’t smell the bard’s blood but the stench of ghouls was almost overwhelming so he couldn’t trust his nose. “You could have been killed!”

Jaskier scoffed and tossed the fringe from his eyes. “Yeah, well. I wasn’t. You’re welcome.”

“I was fine.” Geralt growled. He spun Jaskier around so he could check the rest of him for injuries. His silvery doublet was splattered in ghoul’s blood but there was still no sign of injury. Geralt closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, scenting the air for any trace of human blood.

“You!” Jaskier yelled and spun round, pointing a finger in his face. “You were not fine, Geralt! It bit you!”

Jaskier grabbed his injured arm and he hissed. “Fuck!”

“See!”

Geralt yanked his arm back and peered at the wound. It wasn’t good and now the adrenaline was starting to fade he could feel his head getting heavy. “Shit. Saddlebags!” He snapped and Jaskier’s eyes widened before scurrying over to where they’d left Roach away from the fight.

Geralt stumbled after him. They met halfway and Geralt tore his satchel from Jaskier’s shaking hands, searching for the small golden bottle in the mess of potions. When he found it he ripped the cork out with his teeth and downed the contents. He grimaced at the taste but almost immediately he could feel the potion working against the ghoul’s poison.

“Geralt?” Jaskier carefully took the empty bottle from his hands and pocketed it. His long fingers brushed Geralt’s cheek.

“Fuck.” Geralt spat. The potions were one of the most vile tasting concoctions on the Continent. He needed ale to wash away the bitterness. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before turning to scowl at Jaskier once more. “Why, Jaskier?”

Jaskier’s fingers flexed by his side, his blue eyes darting to the side as he mumbled something that even Geralt’s enhanced hearing couldn’t pick up.

“What?”

“I said! It was for love.” Jaskier blushed furiously. “and I did it for life, your life, to be exact. You can’t die, Geralt. The world needs you alive, I need you alive.”

Geralt’s heart skipped a beat.

Love.

“Love?” He murmured, cupping Jaskier’s face in his hands.

Jaskier raised his chin stubbornly. “Yes. Love. If you don’t know that by now, Geralt. Then you are even more of an idiot than I first suspected.”

Geralt just laughed in disbelief. “Love.” He repeated, quietly so the bard couldn’t hear. Then, before the last of the adrenaline and fake courage could leave him, he pressed he lips to Jaskier’s forehead. “I need you alive.” He said firmly, hoping that Jaskier could hear the hidden words that Geralt wasn’t ready to admit to yet. “So don’t be so fucking reckless.”

Jaskier squawked indignantly and swatted Geralt’s hand away from his cheek. “I’ll show you, fucking reckless.” He muttered, and just like that the moment was broken.

They were back to being two friends on the road and killing monsters. Just like it had always been before.

[jaimehwatson]

I made another Snowpiercer playlist!

After posting my Wilford/Audrey playlist a while ago, I added some songs that didn’t quite make the cut to a different playlist, intending to put together another similar one. But rather than focusing on just one ship this time, I also ended up getting really interested in theorizing about what Wilford’s relationship with Melanie might have been like before the Freeze, and exploring the idea that maybe there was something going on there and some kind of love triangle with Audrey.

So here’s my new playlist, full of absolute jams that could apply to any combination of relationships involving Wilford, Audrey, and Melanie, and/or just general Snowpiercer vibes! Read on for more detail about the songs I selected, and as before, content warning for references to canon abuse & self-harm/suicide.

1. “The Tradition” by Halsey

Oh, the loneliеst girl in town Was bought for plenty a price Well, they dress her up in golden crowns His smile hides a lie

She smiles back, but it's a fact That her fear will eat her alive Well, she got the life that she wanted But now all she does is cry

Thanks @onetrainsnowpiercer​ for getting me into this excellent album! I thought it would be fitting to kick off the playlist with one that could suit the earlier days of Wilford’s relationship with Audrey, like my previous playlist was more focused on.

2. “cardigan” by Taylor Swift

'Cause I knew you Steppin' on the last train Marked me like a bloodstain, I

I knew you Tried to change the ending Peter losing Wendy, I

I knew you Leavin' like a father Running like water, I And when you are young, they assume you know nothing

Did you think I would make a Snowpiercer playlist without Taylor Swift on it? Not a chance. I picture this one being more from Melanie’s perspective, reflecting on possibly having had some kind of ill-fated romance with Wilford when she was young and naive.

3. “No Children” by The Mountain Goats

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow I hope it bleeds all day long Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises We're pretty sure they're all wrong

I hope it stays dark forever I hope the worst isn't over And I hope you blink before I do And I hope I never get sober

The only reason this perennial favourite of mine wasn’t on the first playlist was that I had too many Mountain Goats songs already and wanted to keep things balanced. But this one got all the ones that didn’t make it to the first playlist plus some more I thought about later, so I’m kind of giving up on that balance by now. They just have a lot of great songs about terrible relationships, and I love them all so much.

4. “Gold Guns Girls” by Metric

I remember when we were gambling to win Everybody else said, "Better luck next time." I don't wanna bend like the bad girls bend I just wanna be your friend Is it ever gonna be enough?

This is another one that I can picture being about young Melanie, gradually growing more aware of everything that’s terribly wrong with Wilford and his approach to life, and of how little he cares to try to fix it.

5. “You’ve Haunted Me All My Life” by Death Cab for Cutie

And there's a flaw in my heart's design For I keep trying to make you mine

You've haunted me all my life You've haunted me all my life You are the mistress I can't make a wife And you've haunted me all my life

And this one I can see being Wilford thinking about either one of the women, and his unhealthy attachment to them and inability to keep them around for very long—maybe once he’s finally reunited with them both on some level in season 2, but still can’t fully persuade them both over to his side.

6. “Old College Try” by The Mountain Goats

From the cities to the swamplands From the highways to the hills Our love has never had a leg to stand on From the aspirins to the cross-tops to the Elavils

But I will walk down to the end with you If you will come all the way down with me

Another Mountain Goats classic. If you divorce it from its context of being from a concept album about a horrible marriage, I actually think this song is kind of sweet in the way it describes a couple still committing to try to make things work despite a whole host of problems. But never mind that now, because I’m putting it back in the new context of a whole collection of horrible romantic relationships!

7. “Risk” by Metric

So you're beaten up but you bounce back It’s all part of the pull And the story runs like a soundtrack We repeat 'til we're full Started slow, started late Started strong, then we lost faith Started slow, started to lose control The more we accelerate, the more we accelerate

Half of arranging any playlist I make is just trying to split up the Mountain Goats and Metric songs so that they aren’t always clumped together. Anyway, this one seems especially fitting to me in its imagery of a speeding vehicle of some kind (it’s a train, I’m always picturing a train) alongside its description of a relationship going badly.

8. “Big God” by Florence + The Machine

You know I still like you the most The best of the best and the worst of the worst Well, you can never know The places that I go I still like you the most You'll always be my favourite ghost

I think this one could be any one of the three of them contemplating their complex feelings about the past at some point around season 2.

9. “I Still Do” by The Cranberries

I don't want to leave you Even though I have to I don't want to love you Oh, I still do

There aren’t as many specifics that match the characters going on in the lyrics here, since it’s more of just a general break-up song, but I also really like the creepy way it sounds.

10. “Fault Lines” by The Mountain Goats

But none of the money we spend Seems to do us much good in the end I got a cracked engine block, both of us do

Yeah, the house and the jewels, the Italian racecar They don't make us feel better about who we are I got termites in the framework, so do you

This one feels really fitting for pre-Freeze Wilford, especially the engine imagery!

11. “I Don’t Care” by Fall Out Boy

Say my name and his in the same breath I dare you to say they taste the same Let the leaves fall off in the summer And let December glow in flames

Erase myself and let go Start it over again in Mexico These friends, they don't love you They just love the hotel suites

Another song that is simply a) an absolute jam, and b) generally fitting for my favourite obscenely rich asshole and his terrible relationships

12. “You asked for this” by Halsey

I want my cake on a silver platter I want a fistful in my hands I want a beautiful boy's despondent laughter I wanna ruin all my plans I want a fist around my throat I wanna cry so hard, I choke I want everything I asked for

This one I can picture as Audrey—or maybe Melanie too, but especially Audrey—beginning to regret getting involved with Wilford, but only once she’s in way too deep for leaving to be a safe or easy decision.

13. “my tears ricochet” by Taylor Swift

And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

Much like several other Taylor Swift songs, I just know in my heart that it’s the type of music Wilford listens to in secret, while possibly drunk and definitely singing along very dramatically. This one he dedicates to Melanie once they’ve met up again in season 2.

14. “Speed the Collapse” by Metric

All the way from where we came Built a mansion in a day Distant lightning, thunder claps Watched our neighbor's house collapse Looked the other way

This one has a lot of good apocalyptic imagery that I can imagine scoring Wilford’s life in the last few years before the Freeze, as he makes his plans to save himself and let so many others die.

15. “Ox Baker Triumphant” by The Mountain Goats

I will thank my ride and crawl my way back inside To the guts of the building where my enemies Hide in the dark like roaches And I will signal the camera crew and everyone will do What he's been trained how to do Sweat dripping from my face as my moment approaches

Click your heels, count to three I bet you never expected me A little worse for wear Practically walking on air

I love this song a lot, and listening to it lately makes me imagine Wilford plotting his revenge while on his way to catch up with Snowpiercer before the end of season 1.

16. “Firewood” by Regina Spektor

The piano is not firewood yet But the cold does get cold So it soon might be that I'll take it apart, call up my friends And we'll warm up our hands by the fire

Don't look so shocked Don't judge so harsh You don't know You’re only spying Everyone knows it's going to hurt But at least we'll get hurt trying

This has to be one of my favourite songs of all time. It’s very beautiful, and I love the piano in it. I’ve always personally interpreted it to be at least partially about someone surviving a suicide attempt, and the overall imagery about burning a piano for warmth—and this bit about not judging someone for doing that—reads to me as more of a general statement about the difficult choices people struggling with mental illness and other similar issues have to make to survive. I listened to it recently and I could picture Audrey singing it in the nightcar. I think it suits her well.

17. “Cry for Judas” by The Mountain Goats

But I am just a broken machine And I do things that I don't really mean Long, black night Morning frost I'm still here But all is lost

I think the imagery of this song suits the show a lot in general, but I can also particularly imagine it being Wilford in a rare moment of self-awareness about how much damage he’s caused to the world and the people around him.

18. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” by David Bowie

Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget Oh oh, oh, oh, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide

I love Wilford a lot. I don’t want anything bad to happen to him ever. I hope he kills more people, and I hope he gets his train back, and I hope he wins. But if he does eventually die in the show, I hope he’s found in the bathtub with there being some ambiguity about whether he really killed himself or whether one of his victims turned the tables on him, and I hope the climax of this song swells as the camera pans over his dead body. That’s the only Wilford death I will accept, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

19. “Source Decay” by The Mountain Goats

I park in an alley And I read through the postcards you continue to send Where as indirectly as you can, you ask what I remember I like these torture devices from my old best friend Well, I'll tell you what I know, like I swore I always would I don't think it's gonna do you any good I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok Down toward the water

Okay, I promise this is the last Mountain Goats song on the playlist. It’s just—it’s perfect. It has a train in it. And on the podcast “I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats,” John Darnielle commented that there’s barely anywhere you can go south of Bangkok before you hit the water, it’s a train going nowhere, it’s so good. It’s also one of the songs I’ve previously ripped a line off for my fanfiction titles!

20. “Sellers of Flowers” by Regina Spektor

The sellers of flowers Buy up old roses They pull off dead petals Like old heads of lettuce And sell ’em as new ones For cheaper and fairer But they die by the morning So who is the winner? Not the roses Not the buyers Not the sellers Maybe winter

And Regina Spektor closes out the playlist again! This song is another one I picked more on imagery and vibes than anything else. But since it’s about a young child in a world that seems to be moving inexorably toward an all-consuming winter, if it suits any of the characters, maybe it’s an appearance of Alex here at the end!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the playlist!