#trans henry is everything to me

[ghost-106]

i’m reading a trans henry fic and that one song from i saw the tv glow started playing

[loafthecat]

Happy trans day of visibility to my favourite gay ccc workers!!!!! (Sorry tulip and Ollie your still cool too dw)

Get yourself a aggressively supportive man like Liam who will beat up anyone that misgenders you, alright-? <3333/silly

[twinksintrees]

thank you for showing me a version of masculinity i’ve never seen before. thank you for showing me it’s possible to be a man, and masculine, and sometimes feminine, and affectionate, and emotional, and honest, and gobliny and silly. and earnest. thank you for showing me how to be a man in a way i’ve never seen. not in my real life, not like this.

[asvidema]

i am enjoying kcd2 a normal amount for sure. got lots to say about it already

[starry-graves]

Because I refuse to shut up about him, a lil thought on trans wolf?

and as usual, for the sake of my brain (and knowing how the military is,) lets make this modern

read with caution as there are some heavier topics here. slight mentions/hints or potential triggers of NSFW, anxiety, dysphoria, religious trauma

Wolf, born last after three older sisters in the countryside of Texas was the forth wolfe daughter

something never sat right, an itch under his skin when his Ma dolled him up in dresses that should be pretty enough despite being hand me downs.

tears rolling down chubby cheeks when one of his sisters took scissors to his hair. when the oldest finds him, asking if he’s upset over how much was cut off, he begs her to cut off more because it feels right.

blue eyes bright with tears when his sister asks him if he’s “trying to be a boy” (she doesn’t mean harm, but its not common where they are from) and leo just shyly nodding.

he gets shit then for being the only boy, the baby of the family too. and everything starts clicking into place. they help him tell ma, who, not wanting to overwhelm him begins slowly removing the dresses and frills from his closet, nice button ups and tshirts from the boys section replacing them little by little. (he almost cries when he gets his first good pair of jeans over the pockets alone.)

/////

he graduates highschool at a whole 5’2”, slowly inching up to 5’10” (generously)

bless his ma, because somehow that woman worked a miracle and erased all history of a fourth baby girl wolfe, her first and only son in place. so when Leo goes to enlist in the Navy, he is Leonard Henry Wolfe.

He saves every penny throughout highschool, able to afford a surgery that leaves him with bilateral scars across his chest.

He graduates from the Naval Academy and then flight school, gaining the third name he has ever been given. Wolfman.

He meets his pilot who becomes his best friend. His best friend who knows more than anyone else���well except that he hasn’t told him he’s trans. theres that. and he doesn’t find out in the locker room or showers, or even the bunks, Wolf too careful.

It’s in their own accommodated housing, a couple beers turned into cuddling and soft kisses passed between lips when Hollywood slides his hand underneath Wolf’s sweatshirt and Wolf freezes as a finger curiously traces over a thin scar. He jerks back, effective in removing Hollywood’s hand, eyes panicked as he looks like a frightened animal, ready to run off. and he does. he runs. he makes it to the porch before breaking down because it took so long but he finally ruined it. and he expects to be transferred to another pilot at hollywood’s request. and he’ll go without a fight even though it’ll rip his heart out.

instead a door opens and closes, bare feet padding across the small porch where leo sat, ready to throw careless insults at a god he doesnt believe in for this fucked up joke. and an arm is being wrapped around him and breaking down his walls. he whispers a soft ‘sorry’ as his eyes blur with tears.

“you think this would ever change a damn thing about how I feel? You’re my RIO Wolf, I have your back no matter what…and I can only pray to whatever—” he waves his hand towards the sky they are so used to being up in “that you’ll let me love every inch of you. no matter what that means.”

[yatima]

A propos of nothing in particular I wanna talk about Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake from my other favorite TV show, M*A*S*H. Henry was based on a historical person who seems to have been pretty shitty, and in the sitcom he starts out as a terrible leader and kind of a hateful jerk. Over time, though, he demonstrates competence, shows real growth and, thanks to a terrific performance from a gifted actor, becomes a beloved character.

In the final episode of the third season, Henry gets his much-wanted honorable discharge from the Army and is given a hilariously chaotic send-off from his unit in Korea. Just as we think he's going to be safe for the rest of his life in Bloomington, Illinois, Radar comes into the OR and speaks the words that are engraved on my HEART: "Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors."

My God. People were SO MAD at the showrunners. Henry worked so hard! He went through so much! He deserved an endless retirement full of fishing! He didn't deserve a random awful sudden death! We loved him and how he interacted with all the other characters and we missed him for the rest of the show!

My God if the rest of that show wasn't immeasurably changed and improved. After Henry died for real, everything had stakes. Profound tone-shift from wacky hijinks to still incredibly funny but character-driven and insightful. Frank and Margaret went from flat caricatures to - well, at least in Margaret's case - one of the best and most complex women on TV at the time. (Team Let Frank Be Trans can still win.) The shallow nihilism that the early seasons shared with the novel and the film was replaced by a hard-earned melancholy that set the comedy in high relief. Henry's death underscored one of the most memorable exchanges in the show, that came two entire seasons later:

Hawkeye: War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.

Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?

Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?

Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe.

Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them — little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.

M*A*S*H isn't just a show about war. It didn't just define the modern workplace comedy, it did so by making the point that the modern workplace is where most of us viewers spend our lives trying to reckon with the violent empire in which we are embedded. At its best, M*A*S*H showed us that the resistance lives and endures in pockets of unconditional love and mutual aid.

Henry wasn't being punished for anything, and his death wasn't a statement on the part of the writers that people like him don't deserve to live. The writers loved Henry too. People, unfortunately, die. We are all going to die (cue Sufjan Steven's Fourth of July), some of us old and surrounded by people who love us, and some of us way too young and unfairly and not infrequently as a direct consequence of the aforementioned violent empire. The randomness and cruelty of it is what makes love and resistance so utterly necessary and beautiful.

Rest in peace, you lovable jerk.

[preheville]

things i read in april ☔️ most of it went really badly but i got some wonderful news on the very last day so maybe everything will be ok... :-) and i read so much! granted most of these books were under 300 pages but that's ok. i will take this win. i won't list all the papers i read because i had my final essays due but i'll list a couple that i liked ^_^ my favies are in pink

articles, essays, and papers

screwing around with "the turn of the screw", businesscasualsuperstar

sexual hysteria, physiognomical bogeymen, and the "ghosts" in the turn of the screw, stanley renner

bye-bye barbar, taiye selasi

why i'm not an afropolitan, emma dabiri (follow-up: why i am (still) not an afropolitan)

why afropolitanism matters, ryan thomas skinner

black women and the new magical negro, chesya burke (a chapter in african american cinema through black lives consciousness)

poetry

a brave and startling truth, maya angelou — short and really lovely... not much to say on the subject but i think it is well worth a read

content warning: everything, akwaeke emezi — i was disappointed by this one! it's very highly rated and i wanted to like it but i fear most of the poems came across as very derivative to me. i liked a few but i'd love to hear your thoughts on it if you read it and liked it (or not!)

books

bad blood: secrets and lies in a silicon valley startup, john carreyrou — this one's about elizabeth holmes and theranos. it's super interesting. rich people are crazy.

princess floralinda and the forty-flight tower, tamsyn muir — a princess gets put at the top of a tower with you will not guess how many flights and quickly realizes no help is coming to save her. sharp and funny and witty... i started this one a year or two ago and never finished but i'm so glad i reread it this month because it's easily a 5-star read. (plus the audiobook by moira quirk is a delight!)

heart of darkness, joseph c. conrad, peter kuper — i will be frank i had the graphic novel version lying around and i chose to read it instead of rereading the original because i cannot stand heart of darkness SORRY. i could talk about it forever but i do not enjoy reading it. i think this book does a good job at adapting the original text. don't feel particularly strongly about it.

a certain hunger, chelsea g. summers — the 'memoir' of a food critic who kills and eats the men in her life. whip-smart and just a great time. i don't know why this book took me MONTHS to read because i ADORE it! it's very compulsively readable and funny and descriptive... it reads exactly how you think an uppity food critic would write a memoir about her cannibalistic escapades.

helpmeet, naben ruthnem — a novella about a devoted wife and her husband who undergoes a gruesome transformation. didn't feel particularly strongly about this one. it's alright and doesn't take very long to read, but i also wasn't as interested or compelled by it as i'd hoped.

the turn of the screw, henry james — I ♥️ TTOTS

i’m thinking of ending things, iain reed — a woman contemplating breaking up with her boyfriend goes with him to his parents' farm in the countryside. atmospheric and vague. i wasn't expecting to like this one very much, but i did! one thing i will say is this is one of those books where the less you know about it going into it, the more you will enjoy it.

the employees: a workplace novel of the 22nd century, olga ravn, trans. martin aitkin — a collection of witness statements from the crew of the six-thousand ship in the wake of an incident. short and prosey. thought this one was quite good. obviously, i enjoyed some statements more than others.

woodworm, layla martínez, trans. sophie hughes, annie mcdermott — a granddaughter and grandmother live together in a haunted house in spain, slowly revealing the intricacies of a terrible crime. this one was EASILY my favourite read of the month (maybe alongside or slightly above a certain hunger). it's so rich and written so wonderfully... i highly recommend it...!

[tailsbeth-writes]

But the glimmer in your eyes is telling me other things

Alex walks pets to scrape a few bucks together while going through grad school. One day he gets a last minute client with a snobby British owner. First impressions aren't everything...

Written for @cactusdragon517 as part of the @anywhere-with-you-event mini event. [bonus smutty chapter coming soon!]

Rating: T | Word Count: 2.1k | Oneshot: AU: Magical realism, Trans Henry & lots of David content

[scarlettmystery59]

Okay, I’m not gonna say much on this, but I feel like I have to address it. Yes I did message final-boy-creel to ‘warn’ him of henrysglock because he ships Henry and Brenner and I wanted to let him know just incase he didn’t want to see that kind of content. Honestly I should’ve just left it as it was when final boy started saying that he finds it fine when people ship them but anyway-

The whole screenshots thing actually wasn’t from me

I actually asked flustered-art / flusteredbard ( @flustered-art ) about this and they pretended they had no idea but yet later today I’ve found out that they were the one who sent them to final boy saying they where from me in the first place so they were lying to final boy and me at the same time. (Who even knows why 💀)

So…yeah I’m not dumb enough to make up something as stupid as that LMAO why would a trans person be transphobic are you kidding? Like as much as I don’t support what henrysglock writes about Henry and Brenner why would you fake that about someone it’s so stupid

Literally all I was trying to do was warn final boy just incase he didn’t want to see that kind of content, honestly I feel like this whole time I’ve had half truths and lies told to me about everything and it’s all blown way out of proportion

I want to apologise to anyone this has affected, genuinely I don’t even know what’s true and what isn’t anymore

[ingravinoveritas]

hey, if you watched comic relief, did you think david looked unbearably tired? he sounded near tears at times and idt it was just bcs of the charity videos

Hi there! I'm not in the UK, so I wasn't able to see Comic Relief while it aired, or any clips until now.

I didn't notice the tiredness at first, but it definitely seemed to become more visible later in the show, as did the sounding near tears. This moment (which I got from a fan on Twitter who compiled all of David's bits) in particular really got me, as it's so apparent here...

As to what could've been causing this, I think there are several things that could have been happening, possibly even all at once. Up until I got into Good Omens/David/Michael, I wasn't at all familiar with Comic Relief, but having watched the show for a few years now, there are some really striking things I've noticed about how it's structured and what it involves.

On the one hand, you have lots of famous actors and comedians and musicians putting on a show and telling jokes...and then on the other, you have emotional videos of people in dire situations, both in the UK and abroad. And because Comic Relief is live, it's much harder to build in transitions between these two things, so you end up dramatically shifting from lighthearted to serious and back, and it leaves you with a bit of whiplash as a result.

So if those abrupt tonal shifts are difficult for us an audience, they must be even more challenging for the host(s), including David. I think the live aspect of the show makes it very similar to theater and how David might have reacted in differing moments during Macbeth, because we're seeing emotional reactions in real time, without the benefit of editing. Tonight was also the last occasion of Comic Relief that Lenny Henry was hosting after nearly 40 years at the helm, so I feel like that probably made David emotional as well, given how much he has worked with and admires him.

As for the tiredness, it seems there were at least a few interviews that David did prior to the broadcast, so he was probably running around all day trying to get everything done. Then you add to that the chaos of multiple hosts on stage and everyone trying to find their marks (which seems to have been something David was stressing out about a bit in one of the interviews today), plus the charity videos, and it's no wonder that he looked so drained.

(Another thing I also wonder is if David's demeanor had anything to do with sharing the stage with Davina McCall, who was allegedly outed as a TERF last year. Given the attacks from the anti-trans loons that David and Georgia have endured over the last several months, I can imagine that he might not be comfortable co-hosting with someone who espouses such views. And for the record, there was something about Davina that inexplicably annoyed/seemed off to me long before any of the TERF stuff came to light. It seems like my instincts have been confirmed in that regard...)

So yes, those are pretty much all of the things that came to mind regarding David's demeanor at Comic Relief. He's probably been running himself ragged lately with new projects since Macbeth ended (the Genius Game hosting gig, for one, and an appearance on the SmartTV game show, plus multiple upcoming Comic Con appearances), so hopefully he can find some time to relax and breathe in between all of this, because he more than deserves a break.

I hope this helps to answer your question. Thanks for writing in! x

[thighzp]

❤️

Trans Alex AU and here is Henry convincing Alex to please please please teach him how to eat him out 🙈 (note, if you don't like feminine anatomical terms used for trans men, bow out now.)

With a trail of kisses up the fabric covering Alex's thigh, Henry said, "Care to teach me?" “Baby,” Alex breathed out heavily. He didn’t miss the way Henry let a groan slip from deep in his throat at the nickname. “I would love to, it’s just, well… I wasn’t really expecting this. So I’m not like, shaved or anything?” He finished it almost as a question, embarrassed to even be embarrassed about it. Henry swiftly pulled Alex’s hips forward and nuzzled his face over the still-clothed heat between his thighs. “You do realize I’m a grown man sweetheart,” he teased. “I think I can handle a little pubic hair.” Alex could feel Henry’s hot breath against his cunt, now beginning to throb with want. “Okay,” Alex sighed. “Okay, yeah. I can teach you.” “Excellent,” Henry smirked up at him and jerked down the waistband of his trousers. Now sat in only his briefs, the wet spot was on full display that Henry had already teased out of him, it took everything in Alex not to clamp his legs shut. It did help that Henry immediately grasped his large hands around Alex’s thighs, forcing them apart so he could ogle the wetness he had caused. Without hesitation longer than to admire the site, Henry leaned forward and licked a stripe over the wetness, adding to it even more. Alex’s thighs closed slightly, trapping Henry’s head and causing the blond to moan, the vibration sending shockwaves through Alex’s cunt. He got his fingers through Henry’s hair to pull him back, stating, “Jesus, Hen. Get these off me – now.”

okay now I want to switch places with Henry...... or maybe Alex...... either, really I'll take either

[sparklyshakespeare]

the case for hyper-femme hotspur

this is my tumblr blog and this is like kind of just what we do heresies

OK so basically okay so

first of all i think anytime there is a character who is so strongly associated with an extreme form of gender expression in our collective zeitgeist (i.e hotspur and hyper-masculinity) there’s something not only extremely fun to play with but incredibly valuable about analyzing the story from the opposite end of the gender performance specturm. also canonically there are like 3 female characters in 1h4 and that sucks. also also don’t you want to see hotspur in pink glitter? i know i do and this tumblr is not a democracy!!

in this hypothetical dream sparkly version of the play, both hotspur and worcester would be women. not played by women, i mean textually explicitly women. this is important!! 

worcester should be very nancy pelosi hillary clinton-esque in the way that this is a middle-aged woman who has been taught that to be successful in her field (politics) she will have to strip herself of most of her femininity and perform a certain level of masculinity in order to be taken seriously. this creates a whole other layer to the hotspur/worcester dynamic when all of a sudden this young, hyper-feminine woman is being taken more seriously and being given more praise than someone who has worked and fought through the bullshit and done it all “right”. she hasn’t earned her place, she hasn’t had to struggle - and worcester resents her for that. (there’s like a whole dissertation to be written about how much of 1h4 changes when only worcester is genderbent, i love you queen worcester you are everything not in this version here you kind of suck lowkey)

henry iv is just a misogynist he just kinda sucks but like this is something we all knew screw that guy

ok now we can talk about hal because i know hes like the one all you little gay people care about. 

to me, it’s never made sense why the Henriad is framed as hal’s hero’s journey. maybe it’s because i’m queer (i’m like actually positive that’s why), but leaving home and finding acceptance and family from a group of outsiders who society has deemed as worthless is the path i’ve watched so many friends walk. having to leave that and return to your shitty dad because “duty calls!” and THEN leaving behind and disavowing the same community that opened its arms to you? i don’t see that as an awesome coming-of-age about learning how to handle responsibility, that’s deeply, deeply tragic. and far farrrrr too true a reality for most members of our LGBTQ+ community here (Bible Belt). SO guess where this version of 1h4 is set!!!!!! anyways, its the Medieval Revival of the ‘70s in the Bible Belt south, the Boar’s Head is a gay bar, and hal is trans. 

hal is trans-masc in some way and this needs to be incredibly explicit (like pronouns pin with trans flag on costume explicit). and then when the news breaks, when “I’ll to the court in the morning.” (we’re cutting the text so this is where that scene ends. cool? cool. cool!), hal takes the pin off. it needs to be like A Moment. it should make me cry, and i cry really easily so that’ll probably be pretty easy to do, but this is a gut punch. 

oh and lady percy is still a woman, they’re gay, because i said so. blah blah blah because look hotspur and hal really were so alike all along and look hotspur is fighting so voraciously because she’s hungry for a world where she can openly and unabashedly be with the person she loves but ultimately because i love lady percy and i love lesbians and this play doesn’t need another man. but also because look hotspur is fighting so voraciously because she’s hungry for a world where she can openly and unabashedly be with the person she loves. worcester and vernon should also both be women and have the blossoming of a relationship but be a lot more discreet about it (worcester should be extremely hesitant). now we get a cool split between younger and older generations of activists in both the feminist and the gay rights movement oooo themes oooo motifs oooo lady gagita 

as far as hal/hotspur parallels go, it’s probably pretty obvious at this point. your dad constantly praising someone who represents, at least in his mind, the ideal concept of a woman, disappointed you can’t be more like her, all the while you’re coming to terms with the fact that you’re not a woman, but he’ll never see that, so what the fuck are you supposed to do?!? it’s a LOT! but i think there’s also something to be said about the less obvious parallel. which is that hyper-femininity is NOT an attempt at ideal polite womanhood or self-Stepfordization, hyper-femininity is in fact the extreme performance of womanhood in rejection of that. hyper-femininity is queer in nature (also hotspur quite literally has a wife but i guess hal wouldn’t be able to tell that just by looking at her) there’s something to be said about the moment hal and hotspur see each other, and then the moment hal and hotspur seeeeeee each other. and go hey, you’re just like me. this person who you’ve been constantly compared to and made out to be lesser than  because you dare to be deeply wildly madly truly you is in fact exactly the same. we’re the same. and oh my god, in another world wouldn’t it have been lovely to just like go dancing together? sucks it’s not another world now we’re going to gay fight each other i guess

[pompomkisasszonyka]

He's literally me...

Trans. : "My husband was a cultured man, really, incredibly cultured. He collected books you know. Books, paintings, stamps, beer caps, everything he could think of. Not so long before his death he started collecting Napoleon busts. You would be surprised to learn how many busts they made of that horrible little corsican. My husband had 582 busts. "Henri", i said to him, "this can't go on like this. Either you leave alone those Napoleon busts, or i'll leave you and exile myself to St. Helena." I said this only as a joke, you know, and he said, that he was just thinking: we should go vacationing on St. Helena, with all the busts! My God, he was so obsessed, i couldn't bear with him! I believe that we need a bit of culture everywhere, but not to the point of madness"

[toxi-works-at-culvers]

Uhm, question(s) about your William if you don’t mind me rambling a bit!! Please forgive me if I say some lore inaccurate stuff.. I don’t know your Williams lore head to toe (unfortunately)

How the hell did he hide (if he did hide his pregnancies, I’m going to assume yes because homophobia and what not) a whole — no I’m sorry — three whole pregnancies??? I’ve thought about it a bit too because my William is also a trans man… but seriously… like there’s so much to consider 😭 I know there’s a few obvious answers like “Oh, you know he wears baggy clothes to hide it” but you can’t hide like fatigue and nausea, for example, if that makes sense. Also how did Henry feel about his pregnancies? (if he was aware of them, of course. Excluding Elizabeth because.. ahem.. that’s totally not also his daughter in this case.. cough cough)

Again sorryyy for rambling 😔 I just have a lot of questions, yeah? English isn’t my first language ignore my booty sentence structure pls

HIII NO WORRIES ANON UR GOOD!!! sooo i sort of already did talk about this before HOWEVER i certainly don't mind going over it again. i will paraphrase but you can find the original text Here!

because william is fat, it takes longer for any signs of his pregnancy to be visually noticeable, and so he remains in the public eye during that time and continues performing until he cant anymore.

once he's unable to perform AND it's noticeable that he's pregnant, he shifts to doing more behind the scenes stuff. mostly staying at home and coming in to do paperwork or other shit around the restaurant before any employees arrive to see him and then leaves early/late.

henry and clara both help to cover for him. most people dont ask henry because he'll just give them a glare but if they ask where william went he'll say he's been feeling unwell. clara also does the same. the pregnancy is never announced. unless clara somehow finds a way to look believably pregnant to divert suspicion. shrugs

and if william ever got spotted, a lot of people in the community probably wouldn't even realize. its 1970something after all, and men can't get pregnant right? william is a man. we know this to be true. it could never happen

william could explain nausea with bad food or simply being sick i think. fatigue gets the sick excuse as well. or he could say he's simply tired from all the things he has to manage at the diner. those are admittedly a little less believable but, ah, oh well

as for how henry felt! he was aware of all of them since he and william are both personally close and work close. he acommodates by finding a replacement performer and bringing stuff to william. i think he is prettyyyy neutral for the most part? the first pregnancy with michael, he might be sort of disgusted (he was raised as a christian and all) but opinions sort of change over time. it becomes normal to him. elizabeth is both a terrifying surprise that could fuck everything up and a joy/blessing to him at the same time. he sort of likes getting to care for william while he's pregnant. Normal Boy Best Friend Behavior. Of Course.

& ITS OKAY ANON I LOVE RAMBLING & YOUR ENGLISH WAS PERFECTLY FINE!! THANKS FOR THE ASK :3

[springlucked]

hihi!! i just wanna say i absolutely love your fics and they're everything to me

i was wondering!!! in dearly detested, we know dave realized he was trans after henry found him, right? or at least that's what henry implies. did henry choose "william" for him, and dave changed it after he found out it was henry's son's name? or did dave choose "william" at first but changed his mind? either way, i know henry refuses to use his current name.

first, thank you!!

In my mind, when he’s first found by Henry (“…a pathetic girl on the streets…”), pre transition and all, he chooses William as a name for himself. Probably because it sounds all nice and professional.. (Perfect for a circus! Henry will love it!)

And then Henry takes him under his wing, and he takes on the guise of being the best ally ever. Helping him transition, calling him by his chosen name.

Dave starts going by, well, Dave when he finds out about Henry’s dead son, because he’s desperate to be loved by him in that same way.

Henry refuses to call him by this name to really twist the knife and remind him that he’ll never be the ‘real’ Dave as much as he tries. Ow!

In a way… it’s poetic that Dave keeps changing his identity to please Henry. Even if Henry doesn’t even call him by that name, he keeps clinging to an idealized image of the son he wants to be seen as.

In the same vein, it’s interesting how he ‘chooses’ a name for Jack (Old Sport) as a way to keep some sense of control with the people he does love.

Ouch !! But awesome question !!!

[saveugoodmadam]

everyone meet my oc!!! his name is dr arthur buchanan and he is 35 years old, he's one of jekyll's oldest friends and kiiind of went to university with him but more on that later. he is a voice of common sense in the society (so much so that he appears as such in jekyll's mind). his job title is basically that he studies stuff that transforms, so like werewolves and vampires etc.

more info under the cut! I'm also probably going to do a separate post going through everything in the background because there's a lot of details back there! also this took me like four days in total lmaoooo

arthur's scar is from seal hunters while he was in his seal form. people tend to kind of assume it was from a werewolf or vampire he was working with but no. humans.

his hair is quite long because culturally selkies only cut their hair before returning to the sea, so how long his hair is indicates how long it's been since he's last been home.

I mentioned him kind of going to uni with jekyll- basically, if you look on the wall behind him, he's got a diploma from the hidden university, which is a university for magical or folklorish people. it operates out of several places (kind of like the open university) and one of those places just so happened to be a hidden door in jekyll and lanyon's university library.

he would be trans by human standards but selkies don't really have a concept of gender, only child-bearer or non-child-bearer so it's not a big deal to him. plus also once you're on land you have to pick a human name for yourself anyway- arthur named himself after the hero of the storybook that a much younger jekyll was reading when they first met.

similarly, his accent is kind of weird and hard to place because of the many people he learned to speak from, including jekyll, his teachers, townsfolk, lanyon, the club he founded for lanyon's exes and the lodgers.

he's also accidentally married to sinnett because of the seal pelt rule. they haven't really addressed this but they have something unlabellable going on between them and arthur goes absolutely batshit ballistic at frankenstein for the 'le sommeil de la mort' incident. imagine how batshit henry got and then imagine how batshit he would have been if it had been lanyon and not sinnett and you have the basic idea.

he also knew about jekyll and hyde before most other people because it was such an obvious textbook case of people dealing with a first experience of metamorphosis from both of them but he's been sworn to secrecy on the matter. they usually come to him to bitch about each other and get drunk.

this is all the lore I've thought of so far but if you want to drop me an ask about him please do 🥺🥺🥺 please. please. let me infodump to you.