#i just think selkies are neat

[f1-disaster-bi]

Things I'm thinking of instead of sleeping:

1. Secretly married au - The boys throwing Lando a bachelors party because "we didn't get invited to the wedding so shut up, we're doing this" and Daniel getting his husband back at 6am, still drunk and slurring "Danny, I got a tramp stamp"

2. Selkie Lando au - Selkie Lando being trapped on land, right by the ocean, by someone that his holding his pelt hostage

[floweringpopcat]

i see your fish/cod/salmon grians and i present: selkie

[riality-check]

Selkie thoughts in the server last night, inspired by this post, and I couldn't let them go

So, maybe Eddie is writing something. And maybe that hypothetical something started out being for his campaign, but it morphed into something else along the way. If that thing exists at all.

He allegedly writes about a selkie, one with, well, maybe not the best coat, but one that's absolutely, unequivocally his. He prizes it, and he takes it with him everywhere he goes because damn if he's going to let anyone ever make him stay.

There are few things he hates more than the idea of staying.

This selkie doesn't like humans. They're cruel and ignorant. They hurt that which they do not understand, and the thing they understand least of all is the selkie.

So, he lives on the outskirts of that little town. They do not like him, and he does not need them. He swims along the coast, basking in his freedom, beholden to no one.

Until a storm bashes him against the rocks. He has just enough sense to take off his coat, to become human, before he slips out of consciousness.

He wakes up in a lighthouse. There's a man there, a strong one with thick brown hair and freckled skin, and the selkie panics. He needs to leave, needs to get out, away to the sea, back to where he's safe.

But he's too hurt to leave, and while the man, at first, rings every bell that screams danger, the selkie stays, uneasily, and rests, and listens.

His coat is always in his hands. The man never takes it.

The man speaks of his loneliness as the lighthouse keeper, but also the necessity of it. He protects ships, he protects the town, and no one thanks him for it. Not that he needs thanks, specifically, but he would like company.

He likes the company of the selkie, it seems. And the selkie, strangely enough, is starting to like the company of the man.

But he does not reveal himself. He talks instead of the things he's seen, but he takes care to sound like a human. He makes up a new life, a new story as a sailor, one who has traveled the world. The man listens, enraptured by tales of the ocean and storms and people.

And the selkie soon realizes that all of it, all of the water and the sky and the rush of freedom, pales in comparison to staying here. With the man.

But that's not right. He can't stay. He shouldn't want to. Staying is bad. Staying means the man will find out what he is, and he will want his coat, he will want to keep him as a thing instead of a person.

That's all he's ever seen as.

The man seems to notice his restlessness, and he says, "If you want to leave, you can. But don't forget your coat."

The selkie stares, and the man explains that he knew from the beginning what he truly was. And he still allows him to leave.

The selkie shakes his head and instead says, "Come with me."

The man does. There is a woman, and another man, and other people who take turns in the lighthouse, who watch it, who make the job less lonely. It was something the man could never manage, he knows that now, but he is happy that other people can.

The man and the selkie go off together, sailing the world, visiting coastal towns everywhere they can, but they always come home for the summer.

(And if Eddie finishes this hypothetical story after he and Steve realize they love each other, after Steve always reminds Eddie to take his vest with him, after they agree to get out of Hawkins but still come back for the summertime, for the late night drives and the people they can't find anywhere else, well. That's his business, and his business only.)

[skullmuffet]

I really want a month dedicated to selkies the same way there is a month to mermaids (mermay)

So I'm choosing september for this and naming it SELKTEMBER!

Once I got my life together I'll think about the details

[tennessoui]

I adore the TA AU, but I feel like it needs a few more snippets before it could go on Ao3 and feel like a proper fic (not b/c of word count, but because it feels like there are a few key emotional moments missing). (What there is is so good!)

i guess that's the question though, like. a lot of my ficlets i have are just that--ficlets, meant to either lead into another ficlet eventually or lead into answering asks about the ficlet where i then talk more about the au and it gets all fleshed out.

is posting just a ficlet enough on ao3 or is it dishonest to what the au is on tumblr?

i think the ta au is a good example of that, where there are multiple ficlets but it may not feel complete in ficlet form because part of the au is the short ask answers and tags and head canon reblogs that can't be translated over easily to ao3 because it was born on tumblr and it's by it's nature a tumblr au

another example i think would be the princess diaries au where there are 2-3 really good ficlets i like a lot that i think people would like to read but they are by no means close-ended and they're written to leave the concept open to embellishment later on

so when it comes to aus like those, do i wait, do i try to write more, do i keep them solely on tumblr....and when it comes to aus that are JUST one ficlet but left-open ended, does that get to go on ao3?? do i wait?? do i try to write more?? at that point, is that no longer a copy-paste over project and an active effort to translate from tumblr norms to ao3 ones?

[hegrowth]

listen my homies. there isn't enough attention in my span for me to go to all of you and tell you how much I adore, support, and want the best for you. but when in doubt, I am there. when in doubt, fear not and ask for reassurance. I FUCKING LOVE YOU. IF I AM FOLLOWING YOU, YOU ARE NEAT, AND I WOULD FIGHT GOD HIMSELF FOR YOUR HAPPINESS. sending you all so much love <3 I'm sorry I'm a bit all over the place tonight and lacking in energy, but I need ya'll to know that I do love you and think you're neat and am here to support you. always. uwu

edit: also I will send positivity and whatnot to folks when I do have the attention but right now my brain has a case of the zappies so it's just not happening rn <3

[miabrown007]

yeah, sorry, just gonna push that penumbra agenda until we find a common denominator

[baxtervalentine]

soooo it's established in the tooth fairyverse that at some point, leprechauns, dragons, and unicorns had similar departments as tooth fairies (or fairies in general I guess, since tracy mentions fairy godmothers in passing) but it does make me wonder what happened to them when their departments were forced to... shut down? I guess? I'm guessing they still split their time between the human and magical realms...

[valnorok]

im really obsessed with dc right now and @sreppub's selkie drawings tingled my brain because seals r just so :3

i also ran with the idea of damian being a polar bear bc i just think its neat. once hes an adult he gonn be a UNIT but hes just a lil baby man rn

inspirations below the cut thank u pinterest

[finnautica]

This month's illustration for my sticker club. I just think selkies are neat.

[yuenthevoices]

So, thanks to my new knowledge of G1, I now know mermaids are canon to at least one transformers media, so that got me thinking even more about cybertronian reactions to humans. But like, instead of your average humans, they're meta/hybrid humans.

Aquatic cybertronians like Seaspray being shown around a body of water by their mermaid/siren/selkie/nymph/naiad friend, not having to worry about their oxygen.

Speedsters like Bumblebee or Hot Rod/Rodimus racing their hybrid friend(ex: cheetah, wolf, deer, rabbit, etc.), still outpacing them by quite a bit, but they manage to keep up, while also enjoying the speed.

Taller bots like Optimus, Ultra Magnus, and Grimlock not needing to crouch or stare near the ground because their winged buddy can simply fly to meet them at eye level.

(i'm sorry i just love this gif lmao)

If we're involving magic as well, imagine trying to explain it to Ratchet or Whirl, as they attempt to compare it to what science they know and trying to find the logic within it.

In general, with the addition of fantasy like hybrids of humans, there'd be so much more diversity that the bots would have to take in, and i just think it'd be really neat and funny

[wearethekat]

Anticipated New Releases of 2024

**As anticipated by Me. Mostly SFF. Links are to goodreads because that's what I use, sorry. Anything marked "new to me" I haven't read anything by that author before and therefore can't vouch for the quality. I just think the premise is neat.**

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands, Heather Fawcett (16 January)

Sequel to the charming novel about the fairy anthropologist.

Exordia, Seth Dickinson (23 January)

Well, it isn't a new Baru Cormorant, but this modern SF about first contact may be the next best thing.

City of Stardust, Georgia Summers (30 January)

New to me. A young woman descends into the underworld in order to break her family's fatal curse.

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (6 February)

New to me. A sherlock holmes flavored duo solves the mystery of the murder of an imperial official in a labyrinthine fantasy realm.

What Feasts at Night, T Kingfisher (13 February)

The sequel to the mushroom horror book What Moves the Dead.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden (13 February)

A ghost story set in WW1 about a woman searching for her missing brother.

The Fox Wife, Yangsze Choo (13 February)

New to me. A detective in 1908 Manchuria investigates a young woman's death in an area full of mythical foxes.

Redsight, Meredith Mooring (27 February)

New to me. Unpowered priestess and Imperial pawn is set on a collision path with a pirate with a grudge for the Imperium (Gay romance).

Sunbringer, Hannah Kaner (12 March)

Sequel about the professional godkiller Kissen.

Jumpnauts, Hao Jingfang (12 March)

New to me. A SF novel in translation from Chinese, with three scientists joining forces to deal peacefully with a first contact situation.

The Woods All Black, Lee Mandelo (19 March)

I liked Mandelo's debut novel very much so I'm excited to read this queer horror novella set in 1920s Appalachia.

Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis (19 March)

New to me. A series of cozy character vignettes on a space cruise ship after a murder has occurred. One of the four (!) space hotel murder crimes books coming out this year.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace, Justinian Huang (26 March)

New to me. Reincarnation gay romance set in 4 BCE China, the 1740s, and modern-day LA.

Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (28 March)

Far future space xenoarchaeology by a man trapped on a prison planet.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (2 April)

New to me. Bizarre lesbian cannibalism monster romance from the point of view of the monster.

The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo (9 April)

Glad to see Bardugo writing more adult fantasy, and this one is especially exciting because it's a fantasy set in early modern Spain with a Jewish main character. Fun to see a more original historical period.

A Sweet Sting of Salt, Rose Sutherland (9 April)

New to me. Lesbian selkie romance.

Death in the Spires, KJ Charles (11 April)

Charles branching out from romance into historical Oxford murder mystery about a group of friends with dark secrets.

Audrey Lane Stirs The Pot, Alexis Hall (22 April)

The new Hall thinly veiled british baking show romcom. Libby says it's releasing in April but I've heard nothing from the author so I think it may be Alecto'd (shifted to next year)

Necrobane, Daniel M Ford (23 April)

Sequel to the dungeons and dragons-esque low fantasy lesbian necromancy book.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep, Sylvie Cathrall (25 April)

New to me. Sweet underwater epistolary academic romance.

How To Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, Django Wexler (21 May)

New to me. A young hero caught in a fantasy time loop gives up and tries being the villain in an attempt to escape.

Goddess of the River, Vaishnavi Patel (21 May)

Another woman-centered retelling of Hindu mythology, this time based on the river goddess Ganga.

Escape Velocity, Victor Manibo (21 May)

New to me. Evil and toxic private school alumni jockey for position in a space hotel event in an attempt to escape a dying Earth.

The Fireborne Blade, Charlotte Bond (28 May)

New to me. Gay dragon slaying knight novella.

Evocation, ST Gibson (28 May)

New to me but looks very cool. Attorney and medium David attempts to escape his deal with the devil with the help of his ex boyfriend and his ex boyfriend's wife (Poly romance).

Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky (4 June)

In an SF future, a robot kills its human owners and ventures out into a world where human supremacy is beginning to crumble.

Lady Eve's Last Con, Rebecca Fraimow (4 June)

New to me. A con artist seeks revenge on the man who hurt her sister, who's coincidentally also on a space cruise ship (Sapphic romance subplot).

Triple Sec, TJ Alexander (4 June)

An actual mainstream published poly romance (!!) by trans author Alexander.

Running Close to the Wind, Alexandra Rowland (11 June)

Gay! Pirates! Scheming! Alt fantasy world! Monks! I liked Taste of Gold and Iron a lot and I'm very excited for this one.

The Knife and the Serpent, Tim Pratt (11 June)

New to me. Space opera about an interdimensional organization. Also, there's a sentient starship.

The Witchstone, Henry Neff (18 June)

A childhood favorite of mine's adult debut, featuring a demon who suddenly has to shape up at his curse keeper job after eight hundred years of slacking.

Rakesfall, Vajra Chandrasekera (18 June)

VERY excited to read more weird queer sff from this author after a fantastic debut. Looks weird. I'm in.

Foul Days, Genoveva Dimova (25 June)

New to me. A witch in a Slavic fantasy inspired world flees her evil ex, the Tsar of Monsters. There's also a plague and a detective.

Saints of Storm and Sorrow, Gabriella Buba (25 June)

New to me. Filipino inspired anticolonialist fantasy novel about a nun who is secretly practicing the religion of her goddess.

The Duke at Hazard, KJ Charles (18 July)

A queer regency with an incognito duke by one of my particular favorite romance authors.

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan (30 July)

!!! Very excited to see a new adult fantasy by Brennan. A reader is dragged into a fictional world and finds herself the villain.

A Sorceress Comes to Call, T Kingfisher (20 August)

A retelling of The Goose Girl from reliably good fairy tale stalwart Kingfisher.

Buried Deep and Other Stories, Naomi Novik (17 September)

Collection of Novik's short stories.

Swordcrossed, Freya Marske (8 October)

VERY excited to see a new book by talented writer Marske. A man falls in love with the duelist hired for his arranged wedding. MEANWHILE. details of the fantasy world wool industry.

Feast While You Can, Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta (29 October)

New to me. Small town queer cave horror.

The Last Hour Between Worlds, Melissa Caruso (19 November)

Multiple reality murder mystery spy vs spy type antics, with lesbians.

[illarian-rambling]

Thanks for the tag @mk-writes-stuff!

Favorite Character Poll

Rules: post brief descriptions of some characters and a poll, then get people to vote on their favorite

I think this would be a fun way to introduce some of my Starbreaker characters, so that's what I'll do!

Character descriptions under the cut :)

Faalgun is a little (three and a half feet tall) dragon guy with the distinguished air of a military officer and the level-headedness of a fighter pilot. He's the pilot of the RS Starbreaker, predictably, and also serves as its unofficial captain. Keeping the ship and crew running smoothly is a full-time job, but he does it gladly. However, his honor-bound demeanor masks a craving for adrenaline and a serious addictive personality. Faalgun has a crippling gambling addiction and was killed in life by loansharks he couldn't repay. He seeks redemption by completing this quest to the edge of the solar wheel.

Nyda is an elf, a transwoman, and a certified punk. She hates authority, is supremely unorganized, has a mouthy temper, and will rail against any perceived injustice. In her life, she failed to live up to the expectations of her family of famed mercenaries, so she became an astronomer instead. This haunts her, though. She believes her astronomy is pointless because she's not the warrior she should've been due to her cowardice. Her death came after traveling to the Next-Door Land to study the stars there and immediately getting hunted for sport by a pack of Fair Folk.

Kaulakri, a halawemavish selkie, is Nyda's opposite in every way. She's neat, meticulous, rigid in her beliefs, compassionate in a blunt way, and probably more than a little autistic. She is also Nyda's contemporary by four hundred years and serves as the RS Starbreaker's cartography. Mapping is Kaulakri's passion, and she would like nothing more than to complete a map of the solar wheel. In her mortal existence, she died trying to map the Janazi Isles, catching a deadly flu before she could return with the completed product. She will never again fail in her quest to put every piece of land onto paper.

Pash is a bit of an oddball in the group. He's not Illari, but one of the Fair Folk. His Contribution, his express purpose for existence, is music, and while he does love music, he also has a passion for travel. He took several jobs as a honeytongue, leading to his post as the RS Starbreaker's negotiator. Though generally laid-back and kind, Pash inhabits a headspace particular to the fae. He does nothing if it isn't pleasurable, and will do anything in the pursuit if pleasure. To the fae, everyone is out for their own happiness alone, so you can't get mad when someone hypothetically kills you for playing an unpopular song in a tavern. They were looking out for themself, just like you look out for yourself.

Anarac is the quietest and most mysterious of the group. He hides for most of the time and barely speaks when he isn't. No one recognizes his lineage as the Araunian people have been extinct for millenia. The rest of the crew is unaware of his true purpose as their expert on End, the starry demon bearing down on the solar wheel that the gods battle eternally. Anarac is such an expert due to the fact that he was End's vessel for much of his life. The demon forced him to wreak much carnage and punished him terribly when he refused, and even when he died, his soul remained a part of End for thousands of years. Simply put, Anarac does not want to be on this boat in space. But he will protect his new friends with his unlife if it means keeping them safe from the demon who tormented him so.

Gonna tag the whole gang so this gets votes ;)

@amandacanwrite @elsie-writes @riveriafalll @kosmic-kore @kaylinalexanderbooks

@bard-coded @carrotsinnovember @patternwelded-quill @somethingclevermahogony @whatwewrotepodcast

@the-angriest-author @mk-writes-stuff @frostedlemonwriter @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @watermeezer

@leahnardo-da-veggie @mr-orion @televisionjester @ray-writes-n-shit @evilgabe29

@trippingpossum @tragedycoded @halfbakedspuds @ominous-feychild @cain-e-brookman

[chaoticskyy]

Okay Wolfblood house again.

Rn I'm thinking about two things, number one: Wolfbloods generally remember things when they're changed by the full moon. We know that with time and training, they can change at will, and we can definitely infer that memories are better kept that way. Rhydian doesn't remember much from his traumatic first turn versus Maddy remembering everything from hers. The Smiths scold Maddy for her staying up late and hitting Emma on the face with a shoe.

I just think that's an important piece of detail and a really neat choice that contradicts the traditional rampaging werewolf tropes because, like Maddy says: "we aren't monsters.'

Second thought.

It can't only be woldbloods, right? If the moon has such a deep magical and physiological ability on an entire species. Who's to say there aren't more? Now I'm not talking vampires. I'm mainly thinking things like Selkies or Mermaids, but that's purely because I like multiple secret populations doing such a good job at it that they don't know of eachothers existence. But you can very well ignore this second thought it's really nothing.

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

💎🩹©️ for an oc of your choice?

Woe, Aldreda be upon you

💎 - Chosen family (including warband)

Her chosen family is definitely the radiers-and-regular-cew of her ship: The Silent Selkie. Her men (& her Toav). Ragtag group of Guys Who Aren't Necessarily Great People 🩷

Vickon Sharp: [talked about him here]

Gidyon Pyke: The bastard son of Lord Volmark who was sent to Lonely Light to get him out of the way. He's 16 & everyone's annoying younger brother

Leofric Goodbrother: Lord Goodbrother's third-cousin-or-something-like-that. He's around Vickon & Aldreda's age. Kind of harsh & judgmental, but he talks a bigger game than he has because his main thing is that he just doesn't like being wrong.

Toav: A commonborn sailor. Everyone respects them as the most wise person in the group with the most worldly knowledge because of being the oldest (see, in their 30s) & not talking much. A genderless being made of seafoam who has dad friend energy.

🩹 - Someone who was a source of trauma

I mean, there's a very obvious answer, but I refuse to ignore Aldreda's mommy issues. Lady Melusine Myre sucks as a person. She loves her daughter, she would kill for her daughter, & she did her best, but she is fundamentally fucked up & is carrying trauma around so that's getting passed down.

Lady Melusine, it is not normal to have your pre-teen daughter as your confidant & the person you vent your frustrations with your marriage to. It is not normal or okay to not let your child have privacy & just barge into their room without knocking. Do I think she'd be like this if her oldest child/son had lived...not necessarily, but she wouldn't be any better either. Aldreda still wouldn't have any privacy & she probably wouldn't have had as much freedom to do what she wanted, but I think she'd be a little less "your father's son with his new saltwife is extremely fucking selfish & should die"/"mother that boy is 8"

©️ - Bonus: Canon NPC important to them

Besides Alicent? lol

Weird as it is, she kind of just thinks Tyland Lannister is neat. He used to have her job & he knows how you're supposed to navigate the small council, so he gives her advice on how to deal with those guys without resorting to threats because "that is not how you get people on your side on the mainland." She respects him professionally (as much as she's capable of anyway), & would definitely shrink him down to put in her pocket & carry around. Show him off like some kind of novelty. "This is my blonde bureaucrat, everyone ooh & ah over him"

[i3utterflyeffect]

what do you think the actual transformation period of selkies looks like? maybe the stick->cursor transition just looks like a blur/smear frame, and the cursor->stick transition looks like the cursor folding onto itself. i can't envision it clearly enough to draw though; even so, artistically, it's very interesting!

i've talked about it before and honestly i'm not really sure, but i think the idea of it looking sort of like they're folding up is neat! the way you worded it makes me think of Olivia from Paper Mario and the Origami King when she transforms tbh......