#elk rambles

[elkralt]

you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

[theelkmaiden]

So.....my grandad sent my brother a VHS player for Christmas and we had no idea what it was, so we opened it.

We have a vha that has always lived in the back of the cupboard called "[Elk]'s birth". Of course, being the person I am, I decided the watch it.

And to say that it explains at least a couple of things about me......

My dad recorded it over an angsty episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

Star Trek: Voyager, which was my very first hyper fixation, with an episode about my very favourite Klingon who I have definitely adopted some traits from seeing as I loved it as a kid.

Also, I spent the entire 10 minute video either crying or sleeping. And I only stopped crying when my dad told me to shut up. So....yeah. is irl foreshadowing a thing?

[chronicowboy]

Buck doesn't know how long they sit there in that café just talking. He's never had that before. The last time he'd done this, sat across from Natalia in the midday sun, he'd been excruciatingly aware of every passing minute as he tried to be fascinating to her, spun yarns of deaths and near-deaths and deathly comas. Here, now, Buck just exists and that seems to be more than enough for Tommy.

Tommy who hangs on his every word like Buck is the next Shakespeare even as he's rambling about rainbow emojis and allyship. Tommy whose smile is so big and wide that it carves the most beautiful caverns into his face that Buck kind of wants to live in. Tommy who grimaces every time he sips the coffee Buck bought him but dutifully drinks the whole thing over the course of their date even when Buck tells him he doesn't have to. Tommy who keeps muffling yawns into his fist every five minutes having just gotten off a twenty-four hour shift like he'd stay in that uncomfortable metal seat forever if he could.

It's the best second date of his life, so when Buck tells him to go home and get some sleep, he doesn't resist the urge to prolong the date for the few moments it takes him to walk Tommy to his car. With anyone else, so soon into whatever this might turn out to be, Buck would worry that it's too much too soon. But Tommy has been so loud in his affection even with how gentle he's made sure to stay. Buck wants to be as free in his wanting as Tommy as is, so he reaches out and slips his fingers between Tommy's, damn near euphoric when they begin to swing between them as they walk.

It takes a moment to drag his eyes up to Tommy's face, caught up in the feeling of a hand in his. It's not the first time he's held a hand, far from it. Not even the first time he's held a man's hand. But this isn't Eddie letting him squeeze his fingers as he screams in pain. This isn't Taylor indulging him every now and then. This is Tommy smiling softly down at their hands like he's as mesmerised by it as Buck is, the tips of his ears growing pink and sending a giddy thrill of satisfaction through him.

"Can I ask you something?" Tommy says, giving Buck's hand a happy little squeeze.

"Don't think there's a limit on second date questions," Buck replies.

"Evan." And, Jesus, there's something about the way Tommy says his name. Even when it's that chiding little tone that should remind him of his parents, all he feels is an overwhelming warmth, all he can hear is fondness.

"Of course you can." Buck grins and watches Tommy's smile crinkle his face all over again like he just can't help it.

"Why'd you choose that abomination of a coffee for me?" And Buck groans just to hear Tommy laugh. "Really? What even was that?"

"Black coffee four sugars," Buck mumbles, kicking a stone across the sidewalk sheepishly.

"Jesus, Evan." Tommy's laugh is something special, loud and unrestrained and the sound of sunshine maybe. "Why?"

"I-I don't know, I panicked!" Buck doesn't realise he's drifting away from Tommy until the man pulls him back in by their joined hands, and Buck lets the bump of their shoulders calm him. "Just thought, you know..." Buck turns towards Tommy's car, but Tommy drags him gently towards the Jeep, leaning against the door when they reach it.

"You just thought..."

"I don't know." He shrugs, heat rising to his cheeks under the weight of Tommy's bright-eyed attention, lowers his voice all the way. "It reminded me of you."

"What was that?" Tommy grins, using the excuse to move in a little closer.

"It reminded me of you," Buck repeats, clearer this time, more confident. "You know, bit foreboding on the outside, but all sweet on the inside."

"Christ, you really are adorable," Tommy breathes, sounding as effected as Buck feels.

A kaleidoscope of butterflies swarms in his stomach, delightfully unfamiliar to him but already intoxicating, almost addicting.

It's not two men stood on a busy sidewalk in the middle of the day then. It's just Buck and someone he really fucking likes, someone he hasn't been able to stop thinking about for a week, someone he's only kissed once somehow. And suddenly that's a fact that absolutely should be rectified.

Buck steps forward, leaning up just ever so slightly on his toes, and kisses Tommy right there in the middle of LA. And it just feels right. Overwhelming in the best of ways. It's a quick press of lips, something more suited to the schoolboy he feels than the very adult man he is, not the kiss he wants but the kiss they both need. Chaste and lovely. A hello again. A beginning.

Tommy's free hand ghosts against his jaw, a flutter of a touch as Buck falls back onto his heels and takes a breath. It takes Tommy a few moments to open his eyes which means Buck gets to watch them flutter open, dazed and delighted.

"Get some sleep, Tommy," Buck tells him, finally letting go of his hand with a squeeze. "Text me when you wake up."

"Yessir," Tommy murmurs.

And Buck can't resist another kiss then, just as quick and chaste, anything else dangerous to Buck's self-restraint, before he unlocks the Jeep and climbs in. Tommy waves him off, and Buck glances back just in time to see Tommy's hand falling down to his lips as if to chase Buck's touch.

[broh3m3]

You're hardly recognizable anymore

[snoocola]

Happy dot hack day!!! Here’s my small collection to celebrate

[xannerz]

its always surreal to me to see people praise s2 of centaurworld. s2 was so spectacularly bombastic and aimless and it ended in this awkward forgettable fizzle.

i feel like a dick saying it b/c i really do love the show lmao. or, at least half of it lmao (/stares at tnwk). gf and i've been thinking about rewatching it just to write out our thoughts on why s2 was such a poor follow-up to s1 - from the tone to the setup to all the worldbuilding the narrative had to offer in between the (far more) memorable songs of s1. idk. it's sad because cw really had the bones of a cult classic, but idek if you can call it that.

ive seen a few posts commenting on its lack of popularity, and i feel like it certainly deserves more, b/c i do feel like it's a novel idea made w/ love, but the shift btwn s1 and s2 wasnt just in the plot. there was a full-on *fracture* in the quality and direction and i'm still scratching my head over it. more than i should be, probably. but, it's just a bummer.

[cilan-radical]

That part of existence when you're an objectively problematic introject and you kinda just sit there like. Well do I talk about my source? I want to gush about my son but I'm worried about getting bombarded with a shit ton of hate over my source and the fact that we found comfort in it at one point [looks at my hands in defeat]

[elkriens]

Haha. What if I rewrote the entirety of mekakucity actors and make it into a fanfiction. What if.

[daprosy]

I GOT A PERFECT PHIGHTING OC IDEA

okay so this thing AND THE HORNS ARE ELK HORNS

ELK CLONER PHIGHTER the kind of phighter that will stick to you like glue (it will modify ram too)

it'd be a practical jokester because yes it's cloner!

i feel like it could be either lost temple or blackrock. i like lost temple more though so probably that.

every time cloner spawns it rerolls abilities from other phighters? who even knows

[kirnet]

Starting to keep a journal by my bed so I can write down all my writing thoughts that I totally will forget once I fall asleep. I’ve gotten up like 6 times already tonight

[elkralt]

GUYS?

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Grah I need to draw Mark's monster form again sometime cause now i'm thinking of leaning more into the elk symbolism with his design. like.

Going to make his antlers more elk like in appearance (despite how much of a pain antlers are to draw despite looking super cool- /VLH) And just. going with that.

[chronicowboy]

—LOVE DISORDERS AND OTHER OLD HEARTACHES, Ashe Vernon

[spinnysocks]

this creature needs a nap . immediately

[angsty-prompt-hole]

I wanna see more sci-fi and fantasy content focused on like wildlife biologists and stuff, like can you IMAGINE how feral those people would be

And not just normal biologists or whatever I'm talking field biologists and grad students and wildlife technicians who actively work with animals out in the wild for animal research. Habitat managers too, like what sort of insane kind of habitat management things do you have to do for magical creatures?

And, most important of all, where would people who work with magical creatures or aliens fall on the weirdness scale for wildlife professionals

[mhaccunoval]

hunger strike || mine, 23 may 2023