#uuh… as I was about to say I’m don’t listen to enough Hard Rock but I do like it! I just need to sit down and culture myself

[ikeromantic]

Following Orders

A Mitsuhide Akechi fanfiction, approx. 2200 words. This scene occurs between Ch. 12 and 13 of the romantic route - featuring Kyubei! And Motonari! Spoilers Ahead!

P.S. I took some liberties with this chapter ^_^

First: Mitsuhide and the Maiden

Previous: Siege

Kyubei rubbed a hand over the skin of his head. It felt cold in the pre-dawn breeze, unused to being exposed. Shaving a receding hair line was a necessary sacrifice to ensure he wasn’t recognized. Between that and the scraggly beginnings of a beard, his own mother would have trouble picking him out from the other guards.

For his patrol, he’d picked a spot near enough to the shogun’s chamber to overhear most of what went on within, but out of Ashikaga’s line of sight. Perfect to keep a low profile and gather intelligence. Mitsuhide already had the bulk of what Kyubei knew - all written in cipher and left in the cache in the orchard. Things were going as planned. Or . . . they had been.

This morning he could tell something was amiss. Instead of the usual morning routine of servants going in to prepare the shogun’s clothes and food, to bathe and dress Ashikaga, the hall was eerily still and silent. Yoshiaki sat alone in the audience hall, his eyes red from lack of sleep, his face set in hard, angry lines.

Kyubei expected more activity, especially after the discovery yesterday that the estate was surrounded by enemies, isolated from help. This stillness was troubling. It meant he’d missed something. He didn’t have long to wonder what.

A man hurried into the hall from one of the secret doors nearby. This one let out near the guardhouse, but the man wasn’t a guard. He was Yoshiaki’s messenger - a man Kyubei felt certain was ninja. His presence here had not been a pleasant discovery, and it seemed Kyubei’s fears were now realized.

The messenger carried a woman slung over his shoulder. Though her face was badly bruised, and hair hid her features, Kyubei recognized her. The chatelaine, and his lord’s fiancee.

It was difficult to resist his first urge to disembowel Yoshiaki’s man, take the girl, and run. His orders were to infiltrate and inform - if he acted now, he’d be no use to his lord. He had to be smart about this. Kyubei followed the messenger into the shogun’s chamber.

The chatelaine was tossed to the floor like a sack of rice. Her hands were tied tight at the wrist, anchored by rope to her feet. Kyubei could see where she’d begun to bleed. He wanted to tell her he was here, that she would be alright. But instead he knelt beside her, quickly checking her for weapons just as a guard would do.

Ashikaga’s eyes went wide as he took in his prize. He didn’t even seem to see the messenger or Kyubei. “Well done.” He stood and walked from the dais. He stopped at her feet, an unpleasant smile curling his lips. “Leave me.”

“Yes, excellency.” The messenger bowed low, and backed away.

Kyubei knew he would be expected to go to, but he couldn’t simply leave her here. Not like this. Not with the shogun ready to visit every humiliation on her, flesh and spirit. He backed away to the door, but stayed beside it, as if he would protect the shogun from intrusion.

The chatelaine glared up at him from one eye. The other was swelled shut, bruised the color of overripe plums. She struggled up to sit on her knees, never taking her eye from the shogun. Had she not been gagged, she would have spoken. Or spit at him.

Yoshiaki regarded her with disdain. “Keep your head down! How dare you raise your eyes to me without my permission.” His voice was a strained hiss.

“Mmf-ing mmll,” she growled back at him. She didn’t look down either. Somehow, Kyubei didn’t think that was an apology. He couldn’t help a small burst of pride at how she held her own, even now.

“What insolence!” Yoshiaki slapped her with his fan. Her cheek reddened from the blow, as much from humiliation as the slap. “Even animals have better manners.” He stared down at her and shook his head. “To think this pitiful creature is the result of lax rule under Nobunaga.”

The chatelaine tried to reach for Ashikaga - to do what, Kyubei could only imagine - but she couldn’t even come close.

Yoshiaki pushed her with one slippered foot and she fell back, smacking her head on the floor. “Peasants exist to serve their betters with good behavior. You are proof I am needed to lead this land back onto the right path.”

Kyubei held himself rigidly still. He dared not act unless absolutely necessary, but this was harder than he expected. All he could do was watch Ashikaga for now. But if he looked like he might kill the chatelaine, then he would die.

“As the traitor’s fiancee, I am certain you are aware he has this castle surrounded?” Yoshiaki paced slowly around the fallen girl, circling her.

“Ahh mmoe mme mlls uuh,” she said around the gag.

The shogun laughed, his pitch high and false. “You should hope that he cares for you enough not to get you killed, if you hope for anything.” He squatted down, staring intently at her face. “For each day he keeps me under siege, I will send him a piece of you. Should we start here?” He brushed a hand over her lips.

“Ah, excellency? Fingers or - or ears are traditional,” Kyubei stuttered. Not that he wanted her to lose those either. But he felt he had to intervene.

Ashikaga glanced up, his expression one of annoyance. “You must belong to the daimyo here. My men know when to keep silent.”

Kyubei bowed low and stepped back to his position. Every muscle in his body was taut and ready to spring into action at the first sign of violence from the shogun. He didn’t think his chances were good if he was forced to act now, but there was no way he was going to stand and watch Yoshiaki cut a piece from the chatelaine.

Whatever the shogun planned to do next, the chatelaine changed his mind. She brought her bound hands up to slam into his chest, rocking him back a step.

Yoshiaki straightened, his face crimson with rage. “You touched me! You . . .” He snarled incoherently, unable to speak an insult great enough for this affront.

Kyubei saw his opening. It was a risk, but worth it. He lunged forward and grabbed the chatelaine by the shoulders, slipping her onto her belly. He set a knee on her back, though he kept his weight off her. “Shall I kill her, excellency?”

“No.” Yoshiaki was literally shaking with rage. “I need her alive until that kitsune arrives.”

“Then let me humble her for you.” Kyubei leered down at the captive girl and licked his lips suggestively.

After a moment, Yoshiaki nodded. Though his face was still red, a slight smile returned to his lips. “Yes. Take her and let the men use her. You may do whatever you want, so long as she lives.”

Kyubei bowed. “It will be my pleasure.” Then he picked her up and put her over his shoulder.

The chatelaine kicked at him, cursing from under her gag. Beneath her show of anger, she trembled too. With fear.

It was a long way to the storage sheds, but Kyubei hurried there as fast as he could. It wasn’t that fast, not with a squirming chatelaine on his shoulder. He passed a few of the castle servants and one sleepy guard, but no one seemed to take note or care that he had a bound woman with him. When he got to one of the empty buildings, he pulled open the door and stepped inside.

The chatelaine had quieted down by now, but she was glaring at him like an angry snake. Kyubei set her gently against the back wall. He tore her kimono, baring one of her shoulders. The skin there was bruised too, he thought darkly. And he removed her gag.

“Mitsuhide will kill you too,” she said hoarsely. Her lips and tongue were swollen.

“I’m sure he will.” Kyubei gave her a drink of water, which she accepted reluctantly. Then he reached for her bound hands.

“Don’t touch me,” she yelped and tried to push him away.

Kyubei stepped back and frowned. He didn’t want to reveal himself to her - not when there was still danger for both of them. But he needed to get those bonds off her too. “Look - I’m just going to untie you. Nothing else. For now.” He gave an evil smile. “I’m on duty until noon. After that . . .”

The chatelaine spat at him. “I would die first.”

“And you might.” Kyubei grabbed her arms and held her still while he cut the binds from them and from her feet.

She rubbed her wrists, hurt and angry and clearly exhausted. Despite that, he was fairly sure she was planning to try to escape. Already figuring out how to get past him, and whether she thought she could run.

“You will stay here. Quietly,” Kyubei told her.

“Or what?”

“Or I . . . I follow my orders.” He narrowed his eyes and slowly looked her over. “I follow them right now. And when I finish with you, I have a lot of friends.” Kyubei felt disgusted with himself and how well he was playing this role. But he had to keep her quiet, even if it meant terrifying her.

The chatelaine pulled her knees up to her chest. Fear and anger played across her mouth as she tried to decide how to respond. “I’m not . . . not afraid of you. Or your friends. Mitsuhide will come and he will stop you and your disgusting lord.”

Kyubei smirked. “We’ll see.” Then he set down his water gourd and went out the door. He closed it and tied it shut. Then he carried some heavy crates to set in front of the door too. Just enough to dissuade anyone from trying to go in. “Girl, you should stay very quiet now. I am leaving. If someone else finds you before I come back, it will be worse for you.”

The chatelaine was silent.

***

Motonari sprawled against a tree trunk, listening with half an ear to the day’s reports from his scouts.

“I thought I heard a woman just before sunrise. Might o’ been a rabbit . . .” He was saying.

“Ya can’t tell the difference between a rabbit and a girl?”

The scout gave a half-hearted shrug. “Well . . . it sounded like a woman. But there ain’t women out here so it couldn’t be.”

With a look of disgust, Motonari motioned the scout away. It seemed someone managed to get through their barricade. Though he had no proof to speak of, the pirate knew without a doubt the little Oda princess was involved. But he needed more to go on than his gut. The abbot and the kitsune wouldn’t act on that alone.

He was about to go looking when Kennyo walked into camp. The abbot’s frown was deep, his jaw set in hard lines.

“Mitsuhide!” Kennyo called in his low, grumbling voice.

The kitsune stirred from his tent after a moment. Despite his wrinkled clothes and mussed hair, he managed to look elegant. ���What has happened?”

The abbot tossed him a sandal.

Mitsuhide caught it, his expression turning from annoyance to unhappy surprise.

Motonari tilted his head, curiosity peaked. “What is that?”

“A woman’s sandal, with a broken strap.” Kennyo replied. “It was discovered near the castle late this morning. It was not there earlier.”

This was about the location Motonari’s man had heard the ‘rabbit.’ He tried hard not to grin. If anything would get this battle started, this was it. Finally.

“There’s no doubt,” Mitsuhide said softly, turning the small shoe over in his hands. “This is . . . it belongs to my little mouse.”

“Huh. So Ashikaga’s got somebody with enough skill to get past us, carrying a hostage even.” He couldn’t keep the admiration out of his voice. “Be real fun to kill that one.”

Kennyo ignored Motonari. “Will he negotiate for peace in exchange for her life?”

“Negotiate? The shogun?” Mouri laughed. The idea of that man asking for anything was hilarious. Ashikaga didn’t ask - he simply took. “More like he’ll use her as a human shield.”

“What is your plan, Mitsuhide?” The abbot waited to see what the kitsune warlord would say.

Motonari waited as well, if less patiently.

“I believe our enemy has just given us a reason to stop playing nice with him.” Mitsuhide’s golden eyes glowed with the heat of his anger. They fixed on Mouri. “It appears your boredom is at an end.”

“Finally!” Motonari didn’t wait for him to change his mind. He turned on his heel, giving his men the signal to arm up and get moving.

Kennyo looked surprised. “You would abandon strategy and attack now?”

“We cannot delay. Not even for dawn. I won’t keep my darling little one waiting for me.” His mouth turned up at the edges in a sharp smile.

“You don’t sound as desperate as I thought you would,” Kennyo replied. It was impossible to know what he thought about that.

Mitsuhide nodded once. “I have never been calmer. Now come. We must use whatever means necessary to rescue her - and to make the shogun regret his actions.”

The abbot turned to rally his men. There was nothing more that needed to be said.

Motonari didn’t worry too much about Mitsuhide’s state of mind, or the abbot’s judgement. He rushed into the orchard and toward the fortress, eager for the bloodshed to begin. This was going to be fun.

Next: Base Villains

[ahs-requests]

y/n having sex in the back of fuckboy!Michael's car pls 🙏🏼

Pairing: Fuckboy!Michael x Fem!Reader

Warnings: nsfw, fingering, oral (male receiving), vaginal sex, edging.

WC: 1.6k

The songs playing in Michael’s four-seater sedan are muted after hearing thumping house party music all night. Generally, you wouldn’t run off with a guy you just met, but Michael somehow schmoozed his way into getting you into his car. He’s parked in an abandoned parking lot of a department store that’s closed hours ago, casually draping himself in the backseat next to you and feeling the high kick in.

You hold a lighter to the bowl of his pipe and suck in the heavy smoke, already getting hit by how strong it is. You cough out the fumes, handing him his pipe back. He snickers at how you choke, as if mocking you for being too amateur. “Your weed tastes like shit,” you spit back at him, subtly trying to hide your coughs. The reality is that you don’t really know if it tastes bad; you rarely ever smoke weed, but it always tastes like shit to you anyways.

“My uncle grows it,” he mutters with the pipe between his lips.

“Well, your uncle’s weed tastes like shit,” you joke a little too aggressively, sinking into your seat. The high is already making everything feel like it’s been thrown into slow motion.

He sits up in his seat and you get a whiff of his intoxicating body spray. “I didn’t bring you here just so you can shit on my weed, okay?” he’s starting to sound a little impatient.

“Bring me here?” you laugh. “The empty parking lot of a department store. So romantic.”

He leans over, a puff of the grim marijuana smoke blows into your face. This time the smell doesn’t bother you; with how delicately it leaves his lips and hits yours, it’s almost arousing. “That’s the thing, baby,” he whispers close to your ear, “I don’t do romance.”

You’ve pegged yourself as the monogamous type and always viewed one night stands as too dirty for your blood, but something is different with Michael. As soon as you laid eyes on him, you wanted to know what he smells like, what he feels like, what he tastes like. He’s so obviously just another jock, keeping score of how many pussies he’s fucked, but there’s something undeniably irresistible about the man.

His lips are inches from yours, still parted from releasing the smoke from his lungs. You take the opportunity to kiss him. His soft lips suck yours, his hand already laying on your cheek to guide your face towards his. He wastes no time, introducing his tongue into your mouth and flicking it around. You wonder what that would feel like on your core.

Michael’s skillful fingers run up your thighs and press against the moist area between your legs. You draw in a breath, your lips still against his. He kisses down your neck, his big lips running along your goose-pimpled skin. He shifts your panties to the side and struggles to stuff a finger inside. “Mmm, baby,” he moans, “you’re so tight.”

“Yeah,” you croak. You try hiding your gasps as he pulses his finger inside of you. “Thanks,” you reply awkwardly, unaware what to tell this stranger who’s inside you. He smiles against your neck.  

You convince yourself to blame the weed on your ineptitude and escalate the situation, putting your hand on his thigh. You rub in the denim, slowly moving up his leg until you reach his crotch. Your hand brushes over his bulge, feeling how rock hard he’s gotten under your charm. He takes in a deep breath when you touch him.

You tug at the zipper of his blue jeans, trying to take your mind off of the hex his fingers have over you. He takes his finger out of you and leaves your throbbing cunt to help slip off his jeans. Of course, he just wants to get inside you as soon as possible. But you have to admit, you want the same.

He shimmies his pants off and you graze over his cock, eagerly pulling at the elastic waistband of his boxers and dragging out his thick length. He groans onto your skin, his voice sending a vibration against your vocal cords. Michael grabs a fistful of your hair and drives you down, pushing your head towards his cock. You follow his commands without question, lowering your head down to his bulbus pink tip and beginning to suck on it. You sit on the floor of his car as he continues gripping your hair and ushering you further down his length.

He throws his back and groans when you make contact, sucking his veiny cock and tasting the bitter precum dripping from his hole. You bob your head, pushing him as far as you can into your throat before you start choking, but he mercilessly pushes you further. His round tip tickles the back of your throat and you gag, pulling him out of your mouth and coughing, tears rolling down your cheeks. You wipe them away, hoping he didn’t notice.

You still feel a numbness in your cunt since he’s left you unfinished, so you decide to give him a taste of his own medicine. You sit back on the seat next to him, slightly rubbing against it to alleviate some of the tension. He yanks your hair, hard. “Why did you stop?” he asks, visibly annoyed.

You begin rubbing your clit in circles, opening your legs wide enough for him to watch. “Because you did the same to me,” you reply sweetly, then spit down on your wet cunt, dripping onto the backseat of his car.

He bites his bottom lip, watching your juicy cunt dribble all over his car. He leans into you, kissing you again, this time his kiss almost feels like it’s battling your lips. “Oh, yeah?” he breathes into your mouth. “What if I just stuffed you up right now? Fucked your tight little pussy and filled you with my cum? Huh? Is that what you want?” his voice is low, intimidating. It sends chills down your spine.

You just nod. A weak “yes” spills from your lips when he’s already climbing on top of you, pushing you to lay down in the back seat. He spits on the head of his cock and holds it to your entrance. He presses himself into you, filling you up in a matter of seconds. You gasp, grabbing at his arm for support and burying your nails into his car seats.

He pushes further inside you and your cunt writhes in pain. Your muscles twitch as he begins pumping his thick cock. “You’re so fucking tight,” he starts up his mantra again, “you’re taking me so well.”

He pushes even deeper, rocking his hips into your wet cunt. You feel your hole accepting more and more of him with each plunge, your pain subsiding and pleasure rising. His cock grinds against your g-spot, it feels as if he hits every important nerve. At first you couldn’t speak from pain, now it’s from unadulterated satisfaction.

You roll your eyes and throw your head back, hitting the window of his car. “Oh, fuck,” is all you can bring yourself to pant. He fucks you so hard that you keep smacking your back against the door with each thrust. “Just… like… that,” you encourage between thrusts.

He leans over you, his sweaty hand rams into the window, leaving behind an ominous print on the glass. “You feel so good, baby,” he praises, bending down to give your lips another peck.

He pummels himself into you so hard that the whole car is rocking against his thrusts and the air becomes thick, dirty. The two of you relentlessly pant, exchanging grimaces and letting out small groans. You sit up, feeling yourself approach climax, and he grabs onto you, pushing your body flush against his. The pace of his thrusts are faster than before. “Fuck,” he keeps breathing, “fuckfuckfuck.”

Michael pulls you into a hug against him, digging his long cock into you a few more times. His last thrusts getting harder and harder until you feel something warm release inside of you and he lets out a shaky groan. “Oh yeah, baby,” he sighs, flopping back on the seat of his car and taking himself out of you. He wipes some sweat from his brow.

You’re still panting, your cunt aches from edging climax. “Uuh, hello?” you hit him as he pulls out his phone, scrolling on the bright screen.

“Hm?” he replies, not even looking at you. You’re already kicking yourself for letting him convince you into this.

“I didn’t finish,” you say bitterly.

Michael lays his phone flat on his chest; his face twists in discomfort. He sighs deeply, as if you were interrupting something crucial on his cell screen. “Look, um…” he trails off, using his hands to gesture at you.

“Y/n,” you answer for him.

“Yes. Listen, y/n, I’m so sorry to do this, but I have to go back to my dorm,” he explains, you’re already rolling your eyes and shaking your head. “I have practice in the morning. Y’know I’d love to finish you off, but I really have to get going. You think you can do the rest?”

Fucking asshole.

[strxnged]

Yoooo that looks painful with their horn things

Bro I’m in a bio class rn and I HATE it!!! Learning about Protista and fungi is so confusing 😖 this class is so hard

Ok ok ok so I have a weird music taste lol

I listen to a band called Starbomb cause it’s members are people who have a gaming YouTube channel that I like

I also listen to a lot of anime openings and endings

I drive about 40 mins to my college each way and I have a specific YT play list that has a mix of the things I like

what’s yours?? Also what kinds of tv or movies do you like?

-🥖

yeah biology is :// like i wanted to do all the sciences that i could but biology is just facts about life i didn’t exactly need or want jlasdfjkk

ooh i checked out their music! it’s interesting, it’s a style i haven’t immersed myself in enough (yet) hLKJSFDFLKD also yes i love japanese music and anime openings tend to be 👌👌👌 like i don’t really like sao but all the openings and endings and the ost could not be better. also FLY HIGH!! is one of my top 10 most played songs so i guess that says something about me.

incoherent yelling bellow \/\/\/

I LOVE TOO MUCH MUSIC. literally i 🤲🤲 i am always expanding my library. i have this playlist just of songs i want to listen to and sort into one or two of my ninety-three playlists. ahisjkslkjasdlk i’m a little bit addicted to music. i really like rock, pop, inspirational (but like modern inspirational), r & b, classical and/or soundtracks, and then japanese, korean, french, and whatever other languages of music. i just. language does not stop me, because i like being able to zone out while listening because the english lyrics aren’t distracting me. but i also appreciate lyrics a lot, sooo basically the only kind of music you won’t see me listening to is music with lyrics that are rash and meaningless? likeeee uh GOODMORNINGTOKYO for instance? ijustcan’tlistentohismusic itfeelslikemyearsarebeingattacked.

hwhwhwh i like a lot of tv or movies but i actually can’t sit through many movies because attention span go brr. i really like the flash and supergirl (ik they’re cheesy but like? ??? you can’t devalue Dreamer, the first trans superhero - also my favourite superhero at the moment) ALSO i love Doctor Who, This Is Us, Gilmore Girls (rewatched at least 4 times my guy), and of course many animes hsdfhhsf i have seen Your Lie in April and OHSHC and Death Note many times (uhhhhhh hi now i want to rewatch death note somebody stop me) JKWAJKWAJKL J it was very risky of you to ask me what TV i like because i could talk about a single show for paragraphs (A SILENT VOICE? I WROTE AN ESSAY ON A SILENT VOICE) and OMG JKFDSKLDSKL LCAN WE TALK ABOUT VIOLET EVERGARDEN? AND FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST HSDFHHFHHSFDH ALSOOOO nobody likes angel beats but i think it’s fANTASTIC :( i love yuri and i love hinata and yui ugh ughajfksdgd ALSO the openings are great HHSFDHh. UM AND KANEME WOW. i haven’t even...... talked about ................. k-dramas, or even haikyuu........ yeah we could be here for awhile

uuh YEAH!!!! what TV are you interested in? (also what are your favourite colors)

[mor-beck-more-problems]

A Brainful Process || Morgan &Rio

@3starsquinn

Cemetery field trip!

(Contains: zombie and animal gore)

Cemeteries were safer to visit in Morgan’s idle house than the woods. In cemeteries, most of the company was resting six feet under, and those that weren’t had a tendency to wave at Morgan as she walked by, content to leave her alone, one still soul to another. Some even warned her when it was better to turn back home. There’s a girl with the stake that comes by around now, a ghost might say. Or, we don’t like you that much. Cemeteries were safer, yes, and yet somehow tonight Morgan still found herself tackled to the ground, wrestling with a one legged zombie who, for all her wild hunger, really knew how to use her strength to her advantage. “Uh--a little help, maybe?” She called, appealing to one of the spirits nearby. “I don’t know what you expect me to do about it,” the old man said, and drifted off to watch her struggle somewhere else. “Okay, okay, ok--ow!” The zombie woman bit into her shoulder, moaning with hunger. Morgan kicked, trying to knock her off balance enough to shift the weight between them like Mina had taught her, but it was a lot harder when the opponent didn’t have much of a mind for sensing pain. Morgan set her jaw and lashed out to struggle with the zombie woman again. “We got this,” she grunted. “You’re gonna be fine, you just gotta stop trying to eat me!”

Cemeteries had scared Orion far before he knew ghosts and spirits existed. He supposed he always knew they were real. Growing up learning about werewolves and Fae made pretty much anything believable. If his parents had bothered telling him about Santa, Rio might still think he was real. But he had always thought of ghosts in the more creepypasta YouTube sense. That they haunted others. They were crazy stories that made things colder and flipped on lights. Not the kind that possessed other humans and drained their life force. But ever since Rio had learned about the Dybbuks and other evil spirits, Rio hadn’t been able to get them off his mind. Rio began pulling books about ghosts and spirits. The more he read, the more intrigued he became with some of the accounts of sightings. Winston and Ricky must have really gotten to Rio. Without even realizing it, on his way home that night he was taking a detour and heading towards the cemetery. For no other reason than pure stupidity, if Rio had to guess. Once he was within range however, he started hearing voices. The hairs on his arms stood straight up and he immediately began shaking. At least, until he realized that the voices weren’t ghosts or spirits but a person. A person that sounded like they were in danger. Rio picked up his pace, beginning to job before breaking into a sprint towards the cemetery, stopping only when he finally spotted the source of the voice, a woman being attacked by another. “Hey!” Rio yelled, trying to sound more dangerous than he actually was, “Let her go!” Rio began moving towards the two slowly, freezing when he finally realized who the victim of the evening was, “Professor?”

The sound of another voice made Morgan’s dead body go stiff. Fuck. The last thing she needed was human company, or some hunter about to stumble upon a two-for-one deal. “W-we’re fine!” She grunted, finally grappling the zombie woman to the ground and pinning her down. “She’s--she’s just---uh--” Morgan struggled for a good lie. The woman was in literal pieces, her skin sagging off her bones and pockets of bare muscle spreading bursts of dark, grotesque color. And the person was coming closer. “Having an attack! Nothing to see here--Rio?”

Morgan saw him through the edge of her vision and didn’t know whether to be relieved or agitated. She hadn’t told Rio the ‘sudden loss in her family’ that explained away two weeks worth of missed classes had been her own. She hadn’t told any of her students. Funny enough, that still wasn’t a conversation she felt like having. But there wasn’t going to be any fooling him. He was too much of a supernatural scholar to not see the obvious, at least when it came to the woman thrashing and groaning under her. “Hey!” She said brightly, panic tight in her smile. “How weird and amazing to run into you here! I’m fine, she’s fine, we’re both fine right now, completely. But you should really stay back and um, maybe grab some rope? And some fresh brains?” She was convinced, maybe falsely, that she had enough confidence to sell everything she was saying without the need for questions. Then the zombie woman rocked against her weight and threw her off, driven by the pull of fresh meat.

For a long moment, Orion just stood from a distance and stared at Morgan and the woman clawing at her. This didn’t make any sense. Why was Morgan being so casual right now? Was this some sort of fever dream brought on by the lack of sleep? “Uh” Rio hummed, drawing it out for far longer than any of them needed. “Both fine. Right.” He realized, maybe many beats too late, that he had still not moved from his spot. Until now, he had stared at the sight as if it was a horror scene in a movie. “Brains?” Rio asked, touching at his head instinctively before realizing that Morgan probably had a rope and brains here. Because this was a zombie. A zombie. A ZOMBIE? It took this long for the fear to finally rush into Rio’s body and he immediately started fidgeting, the usual skin crawling feeling worming its way through his body. “Oh my god. A zombie! I’ve never met a zombie! I’m going to do something now.” Rio spoke aloud, as if that was going to finally motivate his body to follow the commands. Apparently it worked, his feet finally inching across the grass and towards the two. “What do you want me to do with these things once I have them?”

Morgan’s thin smile fractured with dismay. As much as she was relieved Rio wasn’t some guns a blazing hunter trying to get more goo for their collection. But she didn’t know if this was really the time for scholarly curiosity either. Maybe more like run and take action time. Move faster NOW time. Morgan dove for the zombie again, tackling her to the ground and pressing down with all her weight. She looked up at Rio, pleading for his help. She could keep the zombie pinned down for now, but she wouldn’t be able to help the dead woman with just her hands alone. And, shit--of course Rio wouldn’t have anything on him. He wasn’t Kaden, for crying out loud. Morgan looked around them, mind racing to keep up, to stay ahead of any panic. Maybe this was the time for scholarly curiosity. “The plan!” She said, forcing as much confidence into her bright voice as possible. “The plan is you...find something that will do instead of rope. Um...your belt! And uuh…” She looked around her with dismay. “My belt!” It was a lot daintier, meant for her small waist as decoration rather than supporting any weight. “And we are going to bind the zombie as tightly as we can. Because, fun fact: zombies have a much higher pain threshold than humans! Whatever would hurt for you won’t hurt for them, so that’s not something to worry about when they’re...like this.” She swallowed thickly and forced another smile as the zombie rocked and struggled under her. “When her limbes are secure, we’ll get her some of the food from my bag--” what was supposed to have been her lunch, “--and give her some of that. And then...more, probaby. From...somewhere else. I’m not...actually sure from where yet, but--fun zombie fact 2: decomposition and ‘rabid’ behavior is a symptom of starvation and not, necessarily, the zombie’s natural state! With sustainable access to food, your average zombie isn’t much different than a human, by outward appearances anyway.” Now if they could work on this together without Rio wondering too hard about how she knew all this, it might actually be easy. Or at least, not hard.

Okay, obviously it was clear that Morgan was preoccupied right now. Trying to hold back the woman- er uh the zombie from munching on either of them. Ignoring the swelling excitement as well as the far more palpable fear that was building inside of him, Orion tried to put aside any jitters and listen to Morgan’s instructions. He was lucky he had worn jeans today instead of the usual joggers or track pants, and that he was embarrassingly skinny for his age and height, so any pair of jeans that he wore usually required a belt. He pulled the belt free, hooking his pinky around a belt loop to avoid his jeans dropping. God, that would be embarrassing. “Okay uh- my belt is good. And your belt is uh- still attached to you.” Rio called, still standing a few feet back. He was not incredibly comfortable with the idea of undoing his teacher’s belt, but he supposed there were… strange circumstances.

“This is great!” Rio tried remaining positive, his voice cracking at the end of his sentence. Although Rio greatly appreciated the information on Zombies, a species he had not done much study on. He was familiar with a couple of culture’s depiction of zombies in their own lore, but from what Morgan was describing, they differed quite a bit. “I am very happy to help and I am totally going to keep my cool during this time.” Rio said aloud, probably trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Morgan. He slowly inched towards them, holding his arms out with his belt gripped tightly in both hands. “Do uh- you want me to do this? Or you? Is the whole thing about a zombie bite still true?”

Jeepers, this was going to be tricky. The zombie woman was beginning to thrash, dragging her and Morgan across the ground inch by inch. The closer Rio got, the more she wriggled her head, gnashing her rotting teeth. Morgan shifted position, pressing her knee down into the woman’s back. This was really not very seemly, but she couldn’t think of another way that would keep the zombie from hurting anyone long enough to feed properly. “We got this, we got this,” she murmured, still racing for ideas. “We got this!” She declared. “You are doing a great job, Rio! Just grab her legs and I’ll get the arms, and we’ll bind them up together. No worries!” She grabbed one of the zombie’s arms, then the other, wrestling against the woman’s frustration. “But, uh, yeah, about the bite. Fun fact, that’s--fuck!” The zombie woman’s teeth bit into her hand, grazing the cuff she used to hide her real scar. Morgan finished wrangling the arms with a grimace and whipped off her belt to fasten her arms together so the wrists would come more easily. “The bite thing is real,” she said, looking down at the wound in her hand. “But don’t freak out, Rio, okay? It doesn’t matter if she bites me, it’s you I’m worried about. Uh, get her wrists and ankles together?”

Orion could do this. He could totally do this. He did not love the idea of grabbing onto this woman, zombie or no. But Morgan seemed convinced that she would not feel the pain and that they were not going to harm her. That was what Rio wanted right? What was some tying and gagging if it meant helping her and others not get hurt? That was totally something that Rio could get behind. Grabbing onto her legs was surprisingly easy. Hunter strength and all made wrangling the woman’s legs surprisingly easy. At least, until the zombie bit Morgan. Rio dropped the legs immediately and began screaming his head off. At that moment, he wasn’t sure what was happening. Would Morgan turn into a zombie? How fast was the process? Was there something he could do to stop it? Rio had seen some zombie shows. How they amputated the body part that had been bitten to stop the spread. Even the idea made Rio light headed. He definitely couldn’t do that. Finally, Rio contained himself again, grappling the legs again and holding them. What the heck did Morgan mean that she wasn’t worried about herself? Was she immune to the bite somehow? “I- I don’t- uhhhhh” Rio’s brain broke for a moment, but he forced himself out of the slump. Grabbing onto the woman’s wrists and easily pulling them back to meet the ankles and wrapping his belt around them. “Oh god- Oh god. I hate this. I’m really bad at this. I think I’m going to puke. Are you okay???”

“Rio! You cannot puke on this woman!” Morgan shrieked. Oh dear. This wasn’t calm. This was the opposite of calm. Could she breathe? Was that ever going to work again? She missed the time when all she had to do was tell herself to breathe and her body would start to right itself back into something right and normal. But the quiet was too great and there was too much happening at once. “I’m fine! I’m not even bleeding!” Mostly because she didn’t have any circulation. “Just--just hold her steady and don’t turn into a zombie!” She scrambled over to her bag and prised open a tupperware full of brains, a blend, as it happened, but even a smidgen of person in there probably wasn’t going to get this woman back to normal. They’d have to take her somewhere better, or get better to her. Morgan stuck the tupperware under the woman’s nose and watched, grimacing, as she moaned and wrangled herself closer to fit as much of it in her mouth as possible. Morgan sat back and deflated. That would keep her busy for, what, five minutes? “I’m sorry,” she said. “I am fine though. I’m…” Morgan shook her head and sid off the cuff, showing Rio her old scar, a perfect oval in the shape of Remmy’s mouth. “I’m already bitten and dead, Rio. Say, you didn’t happen to bring a car here, did you?”

“I’m not going to puke on her!” Orion yelled back, unsure why he was even still yelling. Stress. He totally blamed stress. He needed to calm down. Take a chill pill or something. That was all thrown out the window when Morgan tried to reassure him by letting him know that she wasn’t bleeding. “How are you not bleeding?” Rio was right back to freaking out now. But Morgan seemed more together than Rio was. She was in the right state of mind to fish out something from her bag and give it to the tied up woman. “Is that… brains?” Rio asked, the most calm he had been since showing up here. He examined the mush curiously. Everything seemingly clicked into place when Morgan showed off what looked like an old, already healed scar. She was dead? “You’re… a zombie?” Rio muttered aloud, needing to hear the words to actually begin processing it. A moment of fear passed through him as he considered that Rio had just willingly walked into being part of their midnight snack. But he pushed the thought away quickly. That couldn’t be. This was his professor. They had talked about books and the supernatural together. “Woah. You’re nothing like the old Haitian story of zombies.” His head tilted curiously as he examined his teacher to try to pick out any defining details. By all accounts, she looked human to him. “Hmm… interesting.” Rio nodded, and then grimaced at the next question, “About that… I don’t really have a car right now. It belongs to my parents and I’m not really talking to them right now and- y’know what? It’s a whole thing. Clearly we have other things going on right now. Maybe I can call my friend Blanche. Or one of my roommates! Maybe they can help us? Or uh… Where are we taking her anyways?”

“Wow, kid, that’s really one heck of a compliment,” Morgan deadpanned. “But...yes. I got hurt really bad and I died. Two months ago now. That’s why I missed so much school towards the end of the semester. I died, Rio.” She looked down at the woman gnashing her teeth at the brain bits in the tupperware. “But I have people who help take care of me. I can stay fed easily. I have a home. I have a girlfriend that loves me. I even have magic pills for my new zombie physiology that help manage all the depression I’ve got over dying. I don’t know which of those this woman is missing, but whatever it is, she’s still a person. She’s as much of a person as I am. Does that make sense?” She looked at him earnestly. Rio was a good kid. Rio didn’t believe in hurting people. He had to get it. Maybe it was hard to see the woman in her own right. Even Morgan couldn’t do that. She didn’t know her name or if she was happy before she died or how long she had been dragging herself out of bed. She could only see her pain. She had to be in so much pain to have sunk this far. The days of starving had to have been excruciating. With this kind of decay, maybe it was even weeks. “I was thinking of getting her to the butcher’s, but I don’t know if their stock will be enough for her. It’s worth a shot, if we can keep her from getting noticed. “Unless you wanna do a run? You got venmo, Rio?” She asked. The brains were almost gone, and of the two of them, Rio was the one most in danger. And this wasn’t his problem, now that she was mostly subdued. “You don’t have to, you know. I can take this from here.”

Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say at this moment. Clearly, Orion had no idea what he was doing. He had grown up knowing about the supernatural. He loved learning about them and yet despite this he still had just barely scratched the surface. He knew nothing about Zombies, or real zombies at least. “Wow. I’m uh- sorry? That doesn’t sound like a good thing. But you don’t look dead.” Rio tried, he didn’t think that helped redeem him. “Okay that was probably a bad thing to say too. But despite all that… I’m really glad that you have a good support system, y’know? That must have been a really difficult thing to go through and… well I’m really glad things seem okay now. At least, hopefully everything’s okay.” And Morgan seemed dead set on helping this woman right now. And though the woman tied up seemed a little… murdery right now, Rio believed that with some help she could end up like Morgan seemed now. Completely put together. “I believe you. And I’m in. Let’s help her. Uh- I can run somewhere and get stuff… I don’t know what to get. But tell me and I’ll figure something out.”

“Well, you can tell that to my necrosis whenever I wait too long to eat my wheaties.” Morgan mumbled. You can test my pulse too, if you want.” She held out her hand, the bite standing out as a heavy shadow on her pale skin. “And no, you don’t need to be sorry--” But Rio was. He was just a kid doing his best with problems way bigger than himself. “But thank you. I know you mean it well.” She stared at the woman writhing in front of them again. She could see, too clearly now, what hunters did. A raving thing, a disaster they needed to triage before it got out of hand, a monster… “I can venmo you. A hundred dollars so should be able to buy out the brains at the butcher shop, whatever other weird organs they’ve got. That’s a start.” And while he was out she could maybe scrounge up a deer. They wandered through near dusk in little clusters, and it was the time of year when fauns were left to hide in the tall grass while mothers hunted. If she was quick and lucky, she’d be able to nab one for this woman to have. And maybe then, maybe if they were lucky, she could be okay. Morgan wrenched a hand through her hair and took out her phone to send the money over.

Orion laughed, happy that despite the horrible events that had clearly befallen his teacher without him even knowing about it, she could maintain some level of humor. “Don’t worry. I believe you. It’s uh- definitely not my first rodeo with the supernatural.” Even if he didn’t quite understand, he did believe. “Um right. I got it. Give me…” Rio paused, checking his phone for the time, “Twenty minutes. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

One of the good things about being a hunter? Superhuman endurance. Rio was definitely not in shape, but he could run for a while without having to stop. From here, he was pretty sure that it would be more efficient to get a car. If he could run home and borrow Ricky’s truck then he could get to the butcher shop and back without too much trouble. So he ran towards their house as fast as he possibly could, not letting anything distract him.

It worried Morgan how much animals still trusted her. The faun was too scared of the moaning woman six yards ahead to move. Morgan was able to settle down near it, still as death, and when it came over to sniff her out of curiosity, she took its neck and snapped it. The head dangled limp from the body like a toy that had lost all its stuffing. She carried it back to the woman and did not have to wait for her to wriggle and strain against her bonds trying to eat it. Morgan took out a knife and sliced the creature open neatly so she didn’t have to fight. Then she walked away enough yards so the smell of it wouldn’t compel her to steal a starving woman’s meal and licked blood and skin from her hands.

When Rio finally returned, Morgan was perched atop a large cross marker, stained with blood for all that she’d tried to keep herself clean. “Just unwrap everything for her and drop it where she can reach,” she called. “And then, you know, come over here so you don’t get bitten.”

Buying brains from a butcher was perhaps the most uncomfortable Orion had ever been. Despite this incredibly odd request, the butcher didn’t seem to think much of it at all. Which could only mean that this was not an uncommon request that he received. Which probably implied that Morgan and this woman were not the only zombies in town. It hadn’t occurred until now that Morgan could have been the one that turned this woman. But no. His Professor wouldn’t do that. Not unless she had to for some reason. Right?

Rio drove back to Morgan mostly in silence. He hated driving the truck. He didn’t trust himself with a big car. Plus he could barely see while driving the thing and hated ruining Ricky’s seat and mirror placement. But desperate times. Rio parked and hopped out, extending his arm so he could hold the brains at a distance from himself. “I’m here!” Rio yelled out, stopping when he noticed that Morgan had blood all over her shirt. Oh no. “What happened? Are you okay?” Rio asked. Despite this, maybe because he was too trusting just as Athena had always insulted him with, he followed Morgan’s instructions. Unwrapping the brains and tossing it to the tied up woman before hopping away and standing close to his professor. He could smell the blood that stained her. It was fresh.

“It’s okay, Rio,” Morgan said. “What do you think I’m gonna do, die again?” She smirked. A beat later, maybe too late, she wondered if that was maybe a bad joke. Rio knew about the supernatural, but maybe not about death. He hadn’t studied zombies before in his big secret library. He barely seemed comfortable with hauling brains and organs over from the butcher. Morgan sighed with a grimace and tried again. “I killed a faun for her. I didn’t think that was something you needed to be around to see. Brains sustain zombies best, but freshly dead meat is…” Her stomach grumbled, twisting. “Like candy on Halloween. You can’t not have any.” She looked down at him, still clinging to her perch. Her fingers had worn notches into the rock, worrying at the grain to keep from breaking off Bambi’s leg and going to town herself. “It’s just how we’re made,” she said quietly. “When the mother comes back to see if her faun is still around, I’ll try to get her too, if our friend isn’t back to herself yet.” She hesitated a moment, wondering if they had crossed into over sharing territory, if this was already too much for one troubled kid to bear in one night. “You don’t have to watch, or be around for any of that,” she said. “This is just another Tuesday for me, but it was a lot to get used to. It still is. You’ve been a big help, though. If all this turns out okay, it’s gonna be because of you. Because you cared.” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “You uh...you can ask me questions, if you have any. I know all this is...strange. And lived experience can tell you certain things a book can’t.” She offered him a smile, her fear weighing on her softness. Please don’t think less of me for this.

Orion laughed nervously. Was that Morgan being offended? Or Morgan making a joke. A few seconds later and Morgan smirked at Rio, hopefully confirming that it had been a joke instead. “A faun.” Rio repeated, mostly to himself. He was still processing. Rio appreciated the information. He was taking mental notes, making sure to remember all of the information that he was learning about zombies. Maybe he would head back to the building tomorrow, start digging through his books for some information on the undead. The whole thing seemed like Alain’s side, but Rio knew better than to trust a hunter’s point of view when it came to the supernatural. Rio knew from personal experience that those teachings were biased. “I don’t- I usually don’t do that well around blood. But uh- I don’t want to make you do this stuff by yourself.” Morgan opened the board for questions. And boy, did Rio have questions. Way more questions than he possibly knew how to order and ask. “I- I have questions. But right now seems like the wrong time, y’know? With her… in the state she is in.” He sighed. Just another person in this town that has been through some awful experience that Rio wasn’t able to help prevent.

Morgan nodded and watched the woman eat. It might’ve been faster to let her have her hands back, but Morgan remembered the complete haze around her mind when she woke into her feeding frenzy. She hadn’t even known her own name, much less ‘eating people bad.’ If the wrong person had been in the room, she probably would’ve done everything she could to tear them to bits. “Anyone tell you lately what a good kid you are?” She asked. It was a rhetorical question, but she hoped nonetheless that someone was encouraging his generosity. Even if he could probably stand to get less squeamish. In time, the groans of the woman changed. Morgan gestured for Rio to stay back and made her way slowly over.

There was hardly anything left of the faun, but just enough that Morgan couldn’t stop herself from reaching into its ruined skull and scooping out its small black eyes and the thin tissue of its cheek muscle to munch on. She knelt down near the woman, still working the flesh in her mouth. “Hey,” she said, gently as she could with her mouth half full. “Can you talk? Are you good now?” The woman groaned and dashed herself into the red stained grass, angling her mouth for the rest of the faun. “Okay! Not feeling the impulse control. That’s okay! But I’m gonna need like...one intelligible word before you get this carcass.”

“Mmmhh. Aaarr...oh..k-kay.”

Blessed universe she was okay.

Morgan went around and loosened her bonds enough for her to wriggle free and stepped back as she held the faun and the scraps of flesh she hadn’t devoured yet as if they were all the treasure in the world. “You...shouldn’t...have done this,” she panted.

“I don’t see why not, Morgan replied. “What’s your name?”

The woman sucked the last remnants of life from the faun’s ribs and reached for a scattering of brain bits to shove into her mouth. “Ashley,” she said at last. “I didn’t--” She paused to swallow. As she wiped the mess from her chin she caught sight of the blood and mess on her hands, matching Morgan’s and then some.  “I didn’t ask for any of this,” she said through gritted teeth. “Not any of this, you idiots.” And then she was sprinting downhill, stumbling and falling over her own feet but never stopping, the dead animal still tucked in her arms. Morgan reached for her, but caught only the edge of her torn hiking vest. It fell right off, like it had been waiting to all along.

“It hurts sometimes, being like this, Rio,” she said, hanging her head as Ashley disappeared from sight. “Even when you have everything you need, it can still hurt.” There wasn’t any point in tracking her down again, not when Rio could get hurt, and he had done so much already. She willed herself to look up and gave him the saddest apologetic smile. “Sorry you got sucked into this. What were you up to before anyway?”

Orion felt the heat burning his cheeks as the blush came on. Good kid. They weren’t unfamiliar words, not anymore. But they still warmed him each time he heard them. He supposed being starved for acceptance and praise did that to a kid. “Uh- I get told that more so recently than ever before. But uh- Thank you.” Whether or not she was expecting an answer, Rio thought it would be rude to just not thank her for the compliment.

Over time, Rio witnessed first hand how the almost primal hunger seemed to die down from the woman. Slowly, her eating became less frantic and more of that of a human that had not eaten in days. Morgan was fearless, strolling right up to her. Though he supposed death probably helped to quell many of the fears that Rio felt right now.

The zombie- Ashley- seemed confused. Scared, even. And despite what the two had done to help her, Ashley took off the moment she was comprehensive and scurried off down the hill, leaving Rio and Morgan by themselves. And all of that fear and anguish that Rio could see in Ashley’s face, must have been similar to what Morgan had been through. Her words were raw, her smile doing nothing to mask the sadness or pain present in her voice.  This was her life now. Something she was forced to deal with in order to stay alive. Or re-alive, which wasn’t actually a word but would have to apply for this situation. “You helped her. Even though she couldn’t see it right now… you just protected people from potentially getting hurt. And you protected her from making a terrible mistake. That’s… incredible.” Rio breathed, realizing only now that he had been holding his breath the entire time. “I was just at the old Scribe building, heading home for the night when I heard the noises outside the cemetery.”

“Stars, I hope so,” Morgan sighed. She didn’t feel like she had done much. She had hoped to at least talk to someone else like her for a little longer, to ask what she really needed to get by for longer than a day or two. Who did she have? How had she starved so badly? All she had to go on was one torn up hiking vest and a name. She pushed the thought of Ashley to the back of her mind. Maybe she could put out a call online or ask the ghosts in the cemetery to keep an eye out, just in case she turned up here again or...something. But for now she was as good as lost.

Morgan exhaled. Without the need for air, her body retained most of its tension from the past hour until she worked consciously at it, slumping and rolling her neck and shoulders and arms. “You helped too, Rio. I wouldn’t have been able to manage her by myself. Come on,” she urged gently. She held out an arm, beckoning him close, imagining a one armed hug to calm his nerves. Then she saw the blood on her hands and thought better on it. She let it fall limp at her side and wiped it down on her skirt. “I appreciate that you tried. That counts for something.  Let’s get you home, okay?”

[artswaps]

What do you think Keith’s favorite little things in life are?

oooh this was really fun to answer but once again I went off on a super long tangent, OOPS SORRY HAHA. Also not proofread so… be warned lmao. Under the cut:

- Nature!!! Keith is a nature boy and loves quiet, natural places. He probably feels really content in a natural settings, the kinda environments that have a stillness to them. Not silence- he hates silence- but quiet; birdsong and crickets and the wind, the sounds of wildlife etc. etc. 

He likes sunsets and sunrises, likes the sound of rain and storms (even if being stuck indoors when there’s things to be done can be pretty frustrating), likes watching birds and other animals he finds doing their own thing. He can probably identify a lot of different bird species, might even have at least a vague idea about what their different calls sound like.

But there’s also the more adventurous and boyish side to Keith that would really love exploring those kinds of natural places. Hiking for sure, but also maybe stuff that’s a bit more daring, too. He has a healthy respect for nature, and has decent survival skills, so maybe he’d be a bit of a thrill seeker. 

dsfjk sorry for getting a bit sidetracked but here’s a story: I had a couple of friends come down to visit me last week, and at the end of the day while we were heading home, we took a detour to look at Hopkins Falls, a waterfall close to my town.

I looked at a dry part of the cliff face that had a lot of rocky parts jutting out and said as a passing remark to my friend Matt something like, “hey, wouldn’t it be badass if someone could just straight up and climbed that wall?” 

APPARENTLY he took that as a challenge because the next thing I know he was giving me a fuckING heart attack and climbed a cliff face about 5 times his height in like, 20 seconds flat. Then, realised that he couldn’t get back to the lookout path from where he was and had to climb back down, and the whole time I couldn’t help but be horribly aware of the VERY UNSAFE ROCKS AND POTENTIALLY DEEP WATER below him.

Yeah. That’s Keith. He’d scale a cliff with no safety gear just because he KNOWS he can pull it off, and he’s curious about what’s at the top, okay?

So yeah, Keith likes nature and he likes birds and he likes exploring!! 

- He also seems to genuinely like training? There’s been a couple moments in canon where we’ve seen him training by himself in his downtime. Having a task set out in front of him that he can work through to reach a goal is just how Keith likes to operate; I imagine he finds a lot of satisfaction in learning new moves and knife tricks, and at being able to pull off the things he’s been practicing in battle. 

Burning physical energy like that probably helps him think clearly too, so maybe he also uses training as a way to help clear his head. Keith’s very action-driven, doesn’t like staying idle for too long or sitting still when he could be doing something, so training and practicing with his Blade are good outlets for that. 

- Movies!! I imagine that Keith loves goofy action movies, especially the classics. I’ve noticed that it’s a pretty popular headcanon that Keith is a bit oblivious when it comes to pop-culture, and I also personally like the idea that he just… doesn’t really keep up-to-date with more recent stuff if it doesn’t interest him. Lance might make an Avengers reference or something and Keith’s just “??? don’t get it, don’t care”.

But he’s surprisingly knowledgeable about the old classics like….. idfk, Die Hard for example (I myself am very ignorant about action movies and a lot of pop-culture in general LOL)

OH, and old Sci-Fi. He doesn’t like, watch it religiously or w/ever and has only caught a few scattered episodes, but he’s seen some classic Who before and was pretty into it. When he gets back to Earth he wants to hunt the old series down and watch it from the start. He thinks the dated effects are charming and after his time in space, the old Doctors remind him a LITTLE bit of Coran, haha.

I don’t see him being much of a Disney fan at first, because he hears about all these animated films about princesses and true love and just kinda says “pass”. He just wouldn’t be interested? But uuh there was a hc that came up when @ravensimaginaryfriends and I were talking abt Kallurance stuff a while ago where Lance introduces Keith and Allura to Disney and they end up having a whole bunch of Disney marathons and it was a VERY good convo. 

Keith becomes surprisingly fond of Disney movies! Not so much the older Princess-y ones but even those he doesn’t hate. They’re simple and not showboat-y and can be kinda fun to watch with friends. But he loves the friendship/family-oriented ones like Lilo and Stitch and Fox and the Hound (because let’s be real those are the BEST ones anyway).

I also have a hc that Keith is a big fan of Miyazaki. His favourite Ghibli film is Howl’s Moving Castle, because that’s my favourite and I’m always right. (NO lmao he probably likes, uuuh… idk Mononoke, bc it has more badass fighting and cool nature-y vibes. Or Spirited away, because the dragon is cool.)

Other lil things:

- Reading!! He has to be in the right mindset for it, and he doesn’t really have time for it at all up in space, but back on Earth Keith really enjoyed reading. Even if was just perusing through old books on constellations or hoverbike magazines or whatever. He finds it relaxing, when there’s nothing else he’s pressed to be doing.

- Keith is a carnivore and he loves meat lol. He isn’t a picky eater (living in the desert like he was, and up in space with limited resources like he is now, he can’t really afford to be a picky anything.) But uuuh if you gave him the choice he’d choose a steak over a plate of veggies any day. He loves gravy on everything. Also, would probably kill for some greasy take-away food? It’s a very simple pleasure but he loves Maccas. (if he ever went to McDonalds during his time living alone then he’d buy like, 3 Happy Meals for himself, because he can be a big eater and 1 isn’t enough for him but uuh sometimes the toys are cool LOL)

- He likes classic rock music, and classic pop, as well as some occasional bluesy or jazzy stuff. He didn’t really own a phone or Ipod or whatever, and would just listen to the radio back in his shack, but he’d always have it tuned to the same station that played the classics. Eagles, The Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, etc etc. Doesn’t really have a favourite artist, just really likes the energy of music, and enjoys anything with a good beat or solid melody. Has a secret love for the Bee Gees. 

[chaipastels]

Do all of the asks!! :3c

Oh dang alrighty then, lets go-

Blush : What do you do when you have a crush on someone?

–Do my best to hide it and pray to the stars that it goes the fuck away so I can go on with my life because I hate having emotions and the people who I end up liking almost exlusively are explicitly not into me and I care more about respecting their boundaries than taking a chance about asking out somebody who has shown little to no signs that they would ever want to be with me in any capacity past friendship, which is an important kind of relationship that I value and do not want to fuck up just because my heart is a fucking moron ✌Tldr; be a coward and do nothing about it

Kiss : What’s the sweetest thing someone has done for you?

–This winter break my best friend’s family basically adopted me. Like, I literally lived with them all month and it was wonderful. They’re family to me and I honestly don’t know how I would have been able to cope without them.

Cuddle : Which one of your mutuals do you really want to hug right now?

–Not really feeling physical contact at all right now tbh

Heartbeat : What fictional character do you love?

–There’s no way you can expect me to pick one character out of all of the casts of characters I love, my dude

Romance : Perfect date?

–Hmn I talked about this in the last ask so I guess another cool date would be going on a road trip! Nothing long, maybe somethin that would be somethin you could drive to and back in a day or two. Like, from where I live you could drive to Niagra Falls, stay the night in a hotel, and drive back no problem. It could also be fit into one day if you’re in a rush. Doin that could be a pretty nice way to spend time w/ your datemate

Joy : What truly makes you happy?

–Theres nothing like being with your friends and finding new and inventive ways to destroy entire nights just goofing off and having a good time, escaping from all your worries for a little while. Full bellies, full hearts, lots a laughs

Happiness : Who are your kin?

–Yes

Love : Are you, or have you been, in love before?

–I have been in love before, yeah. Not anymore.

Beloved : What do you love the most about yourself?

–My hands.

Sweet: Favorite love song?

–Oof this is a hard one I like a lot of love songs uuh-Right now its probably “Would you be so kind?“ Or “In the Middle” by Dodie

Cute : What’s your aesthetic?

–ffuck if I know. Sad art gay, I guess

Thoughtful : If you could change your name, what would you call yourself?

–Trying to change my name to Mike atm. If I had to choose a name other than that It would probably be Aspen

Charming : Who helps motivate you?

–My friends, usually. My counselor is pretty great too.

Beautiful : Who is your ideal significant other?

–A wonderful monster gal from some other plane of reality would be lit

Affection : Who do you ship?

–I am one of those gross multishippers when it comes to most fandoms, not gonna lie. If you can make a case for it that doesn’t completely disrespect the characters identity or like, involve some unacceptable element like pedophilia then, it’s probably cool in my book.

Kind : What Pokemon would you be?

–uuuuuhh shit dude idk I was a munchlax and a mudkip in the PMD games so we could go w one of those?

Heart Beat : You’re getting coffee with a celebrity, who is it?

–I dislike coffee a lot, but I guess I would want to talk to Gordon Ramsey. He’s terrifying and I’d like to listen to what he had to say about the place’s drinks

Giggle : Do you believe in love at first sight?

–Absolutely not. No. Shit doesn’t work like that. You can have good chemistry with someone right away but there is no way in hell that you can love someone right off the bat.

Laughter : Who can always make you laugh?

–Honor. She’s one of my best friends and she knows how to make me laugh even when I’m in a total slump. I appreciate her more than I know how to put in words

Smile : What do you find attractive?

–Creativity, wit, cleanliness, respect. Good laughs.

Warmth : What is your happy place?

–There’s this place a friend of mine took me to once. It used to be a rock quarry, but they converted it into a little walking path. You can go off the trail and go down into where they used to but the rocks. Theres a narrow path you have to go down, barely wide enough to fit my shoulders length, and you cant really see any of it until you get to the bottom. Coming out of there, you can see everything has grown in. Theres trees and small plants and moss everywhere. The rock faces stand stories above you and its just, so beautiful. It felt so peaceful. We explored that place for hours, and I felt so at peace there. I’d like to go back some day.

Huggable : What are your favorite flowers?

–Peony flowers are really beautiful,,

Soul Mate : Who is your best friend?

–Ryanne. I’ve known her since the 5th grade, no idea why the fuck she’s put up with me for so long.

Unique : What qualities do you look for in other people?

–uuh I guess to not be a dick and to be interested in some of the same stuff as me?

Trust : Do you trust people easily?

–No. It’s very difficult for me to trust people. I’m a paranoid anxious wreck.

Dearest : What item is most dear to you?

–Other than my phone? Probably my ring. I got it during a really bad time in my life and it reminds me that I can get through anything.

Well, that was a lot, sorry it took me a few days to get to anon, hope you learned what you wanted O:

As always, Thanks for asking!! 💚