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aerkame · 1 year

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Welcome Home Finfolk AU Headcanons Part 1

Just some headcanons on the characters so I can come back to this later for writing/reference. And a bit of a tease for some people eager for Finfolk/selkie stuff. Warnings: Implied kidnapping. It's kind of a given considering that in Orkney folklore finfolk often kidnap people they like/love.

Original post:

(I guess this takes place in a puppet world? Like humans are just humanoid puppets so it's not as confusing to make Welcome Home characters complete puppets but finfolk versions.)

Eddie Dear:

A complete sweetheart of a captain that's a bit clumsy. While Wally can steer the waters himself, he'd much rather have Eddie be the captain on most of their ships, having found that the much larger man knows the waters better than himself and Home.

Eddie is so sweet that most don't even notice the unusual way his felt skin slightly changes colors when it rains, the small finned ears tucked under his captain's hat, or the tiny teal scales that grow under his arms when he's stressed. Maybe he's a lot more clever than people realize. Using that sweetness of his to distract others from what's happening...nah, he's just a clumsy sweet guy, right?

Instead of having shipments in, it's usually Eddie that helps bring in most of what the island has when it comes to strange items. They're still a bit stuck in the 70s so sometimes Eddie brings back boatloads of lost shipments with up to date everyday items.

Wally Darling:

Wally Darling is a true finman at heart. He keeps all those he is close with very close on this island he made so long ago with his and Home's own magic. He may or may not have helped kidnap a few of the neighbors with Home and others, bringing them here.

Sometimes Wally will find himself in looser fitting clothing on warmer days. But usually he keeps a suit worn with his pompadour being well-kept. Everything at Home must be perfect.

Unlike most finmen, his powers have gone far beyond what is normal. While most can control the ocean waters through waves and small rain showers, Wally has little to no trouble making storms, hurricanes, giant whirlpools, and changing the very currents of the ocean to his favor.

Making Home was probably his greatest feat yet. Creating an island wasn't uncommon for his kind. But creating a giant, living, sentient island hidden within a vale of sorts in the middle of the ocean that not even other finmen could reach was something otherworldly. It's like he's creating a whole new world.

He will sometimes crash planes and ships far out in the ocean if they so much as get too close to the world they reside in. Of course he ensures that Eddie, Howdy, or Barnaby goes over to the crash sites to wipe away any memory of where the passengers have been, just in case...and maybe he should start up a rough storm or two in that area for good measure. You can never be too sure.

Of course Wally never expects anyone to actually make it to the shores of Home, but if someone ever did, well...that would be quite the impressive feat! You'd have to not only get past the others sensing your presence in their waters (coupled with oncoming storms), but also get past the vale their world resides in.

Truly, Wally just wants everyone in Home to be able to live happy and free here. He often creates more and more islands and small peninsulas along with the others just to explore and have fun. And they do have fun and joy, almost everyday! Though he needs to slow down on the island-making, he often gets lost on his own creations sometimes.

Barnaby B.Beagle:

At first glance he's just a big ol' fluffy dog with a big personality, but when it rains or when water is doused on the guy? He really tends to grow in size.

Unlike the others, Barnaby tends to have a completely different form when he lets loose. Instead of scales, he grows smooth and cool skin, and instead of pointy fin ears he grows side gills and one large triangular fin on his lower back. (Poppy often needs to help fix his clothes for this reason.) All this topped with giant rows of sharp teeth. Very shark-like indeed.

Due to his size and sharp features, it's no wonder that Barnaby often accompanies Eddie or Howdy when taking care of people that are getting too close to Home, or when someone on the mainland is getting a liiiittle too close to pinpointing where Home's vale is. You could say he's a bit like a giant guard (shark?)dog.

Sometimes Frank wonders if Barnaby is even a finman like the others or if he's some kind of hybrid...or possibly a subspecies?

This big guy is friendly and loves cracking jokes, but he isn't dumb, and he definitely isn't letting anyone hurt his family.

Wally and Barnaby go way back to when he was just a pup (get it?), having been washed up ashore on what was a lonely Home at the time. Wally was the first person to ever treat him so kindly and not judge him for how he looked in his original form. Most finmen hated it.

Barnaby so far has been the only one to ever make it to Home on his very own. Maybe it takes something special to get here. Or maybe it was Home who invited him that time and not Wally's invitation.

Frank Frankly:

Quite frankly the most nerdiest guy at Home. Not only is Frank's house neatly organized with specimens of insects everywhere, but that has evolved to specimens of fish and many books on mythical sea creatures, something that started all thanks to Eddie and Home.

Frank remembers his first time here clear as day. He was so skeptical that finfolk were real or that any mythical creature was real. It took a lot of convincing and quite a few magic tricks to finally get him to open up his eyes about that.

The man has been obsessed with the life that resides in the ocean since he first learned about finfolk. You could ask him about any, and I mean ANY sea creature and he'd probably know everything about it.

One of his keen interests is that of finfolk and selkies. They had similar traits but were vastly different in many ways. Finfolk he could research on however long he wanted considering he was living with them. But unlike finfolk, selkies weren't seen as much anymore. Stars, selkies were even considered on the verge of going extinct according to other finfolk and sea creatures, something about selkies getting their coats stolen too often? Frank would shake his head at that thought. Some people were just too cruel.

Sometimes Frank will feel a pang of loneliness when studying on his own, but usually Eddie is there to cheer him up, or Julie, even if she was a bit too much.

Both Julie and himself are the only residents at Home that are not finfolk, just some ordinary people that found their way here, though they don't remember how or when...

You(Suprise short fic! Hahahaha-):

There was something off about this part of the ocean. You have never ventured this far out before, always staying close to coasts and peninsulas, but it was like you were just drawn to a force here.

You perched yourself onto the small deck of the tiny sailboat you owned and crossed another spot out on the map. There was nothing here either, just like the past few miles you checked. No islands or signs of land in sight...and yet you could sense that something was indeed there. Call it an instinct, but your body was refusing to leave you alone until you satisfied your curiosity.

Looking down into the deep waters, you debated on going back down there to take a second look...nah. You were still soaked and the fur would take forever to dry off again. That, and the skies continued to darken as if it would rain any second now. Actually, a nice swim and a quick look seemed like a good idea.

The fur hood slipped over your head as you buckled the inside of your jacket to keep everything secured, the last thing you needed was a current to take away your seal jacket, you put too much time and effort into making your seal fur a real set of clothes.

You jumped in as soon as thunder roared right behind you, feeling the tingling feeling of bristles and fur wrapping around your felt skin. There wasn't supposed to be a storm yet...

The currents began to change, almost pulling you towards the place of interest from earlier, it was far too strong for you to swim against even as your flippers swished back and forth as hard as they could. Before you could turn your back to face another direction, rough waters ripped your body from left to right, up, and down, until everything felt too dizzy to gather your surroundings. Your vision was such a blur that you did not notice the sailboat you were once on begin to sink down towards you. A long metal object suddenly made contact with your head and everything went black.

I had this finfolk-selkie hybrid OC for the longest time and every time I looked at selkie OCs no one seemed to make it into normal-ish clothing. Like imagine being a selkie in the modern world. Having a seal coat turned into the softest hoodie or jacket would be the best thing ever. You could take it anywhere with you in plain sight and no one would even know.

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fallennike07 · 11 months

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Recently, Nike and I have been taken by @aerkame’s Finfolk AU of Welcome home. Seeing as we’ve also been taken by the Welcome Home on its own completely, we’ve decided to take a writing venture and create an AU heavily based on @aerkame’s but with a slightly different twist.

If you are unfamiliar with @aerkame’s au I suggest you guys go check it out on their blog! It’s fantastic! But to sum it up, it’s one in which the neighbors are all finfolk/sea creatures and Home serves as a magical island that is hidden from normal puppets and is where the neighbors live. (Normal puppets take the place of humans and humans don’t exist in this AU)

So our modifications to the AU:

The reader isn’t a selkie, but a talented human sailor instead. Reader was raised on an island in the pacific with the sailing skills of Pacific Islanders, so she has exceptional sailing and navigation skills (especially to stay afloat during storms which serves as a plot point later). She sails between many islands, exploring the Ocean and also to gather resources, but she’d much prefer to be on the water than on land. Reader also goes out of her way to help sea critters, partially because that’s her job, and also because that’s her passion. We based her on Moana and wanted to include their culture with Reader.**

We still have several parts we want to solidify, but below is a rough idea of the timeline and events of this AU:

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Barnaby

The first neighbor the reader encounters is Barnaby.

While traveling along a relatively peaceful sea, reader comes across him in his shark form tangled in a net/buoy/sea pollution. Being kind to ocean creatures as she is, the reader goes to untangle Barnaby.

Naturally, Barnaby is hostile at first because he doesn’t know the reader. Reader uses a fish to feed and earn Barnaby’s trust so he’s calm enough to allow her to free him from the net.

Although free, the net has cut Barnaby some. Reader gives him another fish which keeps him there as she patches up the cuts. Once she finally finishes, Barnaby leaves quickly.

Because she had thought Barnaby was just a shark, Barnaby didn’t mention the encounter.

Julie

Julie is the second neighbor to encounter the reader.

During a particular violent storm Julie got caught in, she was severely weakened and injured. As she floated through the waves, helpless to flee to deeper waters, she passed out.

The reader, also caught in the same storm, saw Julie’s body limply floating. Like with Barnaby, she goes to rescue Julie, although surprised by the mermaid. Undeterred though, she makes sure that Julie is safely to the boat and begins patching her up when the storm subsides.

Julie awakes to the reader gently treating her wounds or something. She’s too weak to do anything more than pull away, but once the reader showed that she was helping her, Julie stopped and allowed herself to be taken care of, seeing it as a tactical advantage.

As the days pass, the reader provides food and medication to nurse Julie back to her full health. They also embark on a few journeys together, causing Julie to build a strong respect for the reader when she sees her in action.

Sally

The third neighbor encountered is Sally

After being missing for a few days, Julie’s disappearance is concerning to others. Especially since Sally is close to her, she goes searching for Julie.

When she finds Julie on the boat, Sally is very relieved. She tries to take her home, but she’s still too injured. When the reader appears, Sally threatens to attack them, but Julie intervenes since the reader is still in the process of healing her.

Sally stays and helps Julie recover until she can leave, also making friends with the reader and growing to respect the reader as an equal and not a plaything.

Barnaby V.2

Something, something, adventure or other, they encounter Barnaby again and have a little adventure or something. Julie and Sally let Barnaby know that readers is healing Julie, so he doesn’t kill her…yet.

Eddie

Eddie is the fourth neighbor to encounter the reader.

When Sally and Julie return, they report that a human had seen them. Even though reader saved Julie, their existence is still in danger because the reader knows they exist. After a meeting with all the neighbors, they send Eddie to sink the reader’s ship in a storm.

As Eddie approaches, he sends countless storms to overturn the boat, but reader manages to keep it afloat amidst the waves. Eddie tries a different tactic of forcing the boat to rocky waters, but once again the reader escapes unscathed.

Frank

Frank is the fifth neighbor to encounter the reader.

Eddie recruits Frank to help him by getting him to spy on the reader by pretending to be a shipwrecked castaway. When the reader encounters him, she naturally helps him all that she can by offering passage to the mainland.

As they travel, Frank is impressed by the reader's knowledge of the sea and boats. His disdain turns to begrudging respect and he finds himself turning from wanting to kill the reader to wanting to keep her due to her exceptional abilities. However, he continues his spying and attempts to kill the reader several times, only to be evaded each time.

After being dropped off on the mainland, Frank waits until the reader disappears before meeting with Eddie again. He reports as his mission was to, but he also adds that the reader is quite an impressive human they may want to keep.

Eddie uses the intel from Frank to attack the ship, but again is thwarted. Frustrated now, Eddie returns to report his failure. The neighbors gain a new kind of respect for the reader because it’s not often that a human can out maneuver a magic storm created by one of the most potent storm creators among them. Wally is the only one more powerful than Eddie at that.

Julie and Sally, Barnaby

Julie and Sally are sent to try and get rid of the reader again. But, because of their previous friendship with the reader, they can’t bring themselves to and instead get the reader to swear that they won’t say anything about it.

Barnaby tries to get rid of them too and fails also because of the reader's sweetness towards him and the ocean.

Wally at this point is frustrated because what should be a simple mission is now incredibly difficult. Reader has become a slight obsession to him at this point.

Since the reader can’t be killed, there’s a suggestion that they capture her. Wally is annoyed at this because she’s supposed to die, but doesn’t outright reject it, rather saying that he’ll need to see her personally before making a decision. He eventually decides that if the reader is as great as the others have claimed, it may be to their advantage to keep her.

Wally and Howdy

Wally is the sixth neighbor and Howdy is the seventh.

Wally stages a plan to go meet the reader himself after months of evasion. When he plans to go however, there’s a fleet of ships that run the risk of finding their island. So instead, Wally, Barnaby, Howdy, and Eddie go out to deal with the intruders.

In an unexpected twist of events, the reader also gets caught up in the crossfire as she tries to get the ships to go away because they’re endangering the wildlife. While Wally is fighting alone, he almost gets hit by a bullet, but the reader puts herself in front of him to protect him.

Although stunned by the person’s beauty and flattered at her protection of him, he doesn’t care that much at first, because he doesn’t know that it’s the elusive reader, so he leaves her where she fell although pondering how she’s dressed differently than the other crew members.

When meeting up with the others though, Barnaby and Eddie report that they saw the reader's ship broken into pieces in the area, therefore meaning that she was also there. Wally freezes, thinking about the girl wearing different clothes that protected him. Barnaby and Eddie split up to find the reader while Wally and Howdy clean up the mess.

Just as Wally thought, the strange, beautiful girl that protected him turned out to be the human he had been obsessing to kill. They take her back with them for Poppy to heal her.

Now that he’s seen her face, Wally’s obsession turns from one of just getting rid of her to one with more romantic undertones. But he doesn’t quite realize that at first, he just noticed that the reader is pretty and visually appealing.

Howdy, for his part, recognizes the reader as being one of his best customers on the mainland.

Poppy

Poppy is the eighth neighbor the reader meets.

When Wally and the others come back from their mission, Wally brings the reader straight to Poppy since she’s the most knowledgeable in the healing arts and will probably be able to be the most comforting to the reader once she wakes up. At first, Poppy is confused because wasn’t this the human they needed to kill? But she takes the reader in and treats her wounds anyway.

Word quickly spreads to the other neighbors and Sally and Julie come to visit the reader while she’s recovering. Frank and Barnaby, who had also made friends with the reader, visited. Wally also came and visited during the time when the reader was unconscious. He mostly would just watch her though.

Sometimes, in the dead of the night, Wally would sit and watch her, ghosting his fingers over her face or hold her hand and wonder.

After the reader woke up, she got to meet Poppy and Howdy formally. She also was reunited with Sally and Julie and Barnaby. Reader was also shocked to learn that Frank lives on this island and felt betrayed, but after some explaining, Reader begrudgingly accepts it. Reader also gets to meet Eddie formally, with Eddie admitting that he was the one trying to kill her with storms and asking what finally broke her boat when he couldn’t.

Wally is the last one Reader finally meets, coming to her in the light of the setting sun, after all the others had left. Wally smoothly introduces himself but is blunt about the reader's purpose on the island, although in his mind, he’s transfixed by her eyes. Her beautiful eyes, as deep as the sea that he could get lost in all day… and then he leaves.

Then reader is at least able to sleep after a hectic day of revelations with a lot to think about in her plate:

Where was she?

Can she ever learn to trust Frank again?

How she should feel about being saved by the very people who wanted to kill her?

How would she deal with the threat of death or entrapment?

And who exactly is the mysterious Wally Darling?

End of Act I

Current Relationships

Wally: Wary of

Julie: Bestie

Sally: Bestie

Barnaby: Friend?

Eddie: Distrustful

Frank: distrustful/betrayed

Poppy: Respects and grateful to

Howdy: Wary/no opinion

*Home: ???

The neighbors hold another meeting now that they’ve all formally met the reader about what to do with her. The neighbors who had built friendships with the reader thought it would be better to keep her while the ones who hadn’t were more in favor of killing her or wiping her memory. Eventually, they decided to see if the reader had the potential of being an asset before deciding her ultimate fate.

After the meeting, Sally, Julie, and Frank have their own meeting about the reader. Frank points out that although the others are calm about the reader, it’s because she’s trapped now and no longer poses a threat to them. But if the reader is to enjoy her stay and they are to convince her to stay permanently on good terms, she’ll need to build positive relationships with them—especially those like himself who had threatened her life. Sally and Julie realize the truth of his words and therefore begin hatching plans to build their friendship.

While theoretically they could just use a trust potion or something, those also have a tendency to hide the person’s true character, it might destroy the reasoning of keeping the reader in the first place and they want her to remain herself. (Plus, they’d have to ask to help get ingredients for that and the other neighbors that might not like the reader as much and say it would be better to kill her.)

This leads to the weeks of the reader’s recovery being filled with friendship building attempts.

Friendship Plan #1

Repair Frank’s and Reader’s relationship with a picnic.

Julie, Sally, and Frank all have a picnic together. They do it under the idea that since Frank is the most knowledgeable, he’ll be the one to answer the reader's questions. Reader is at first skeptical, but slowly grows comfortable with him; the presence of her friends will keep her safe if Frank tries to attack.

They continue having these picnics as a group and the reader slowly grows back trust for Frank, realizing why he did what he did.

Friendship plan #2

Poppy bonding time

Since the reader already has to stay in Poppy’s house, she gets to spend a lot of time and quickly grows to trust her caring nature. Also because Poppy cares for the reader, she is often the one reader talks to about her frustrations.

Friendship plan #3

Barnaby

After the initial picnic with Frank, Barnaby joins in sometimes, also bringing the quiet Wally at times. Once the reader is able to walk more, she gets into the habit of taking strolls through the jungle. Barnaby may encounter her during these strolls and joins her, chatting about anything at all. Reader tells him about her backstory as a protector of sea creatures.

Friendship Plan #4

Eddie and, kind of, Barnaby

At some picnics, Eddie will also hang out and also expresses his deep respect for the reader's seamanship. Reader is a bit more forgiving, since after spending time with Frank, she grows to understand the motives of the neighbors.

Eddie also brings back some of the pieces of the reader's boat to her. Reader’s boat was very precious due to its origin and so she cried over it. This also allows Eddie to see the more human side of Reader.

When the reader is able to walk, she begins working in rebuilding her boat and goes to Eddie first for help with that. Barnaby helps her collect materials too.

Wally being Wally

Wally joins on picnics and other activities too. It isn’t a conscious plan to build friendship, but just he happens to be there.

He doesn’t necessarily say anything important, but he does join in on the conversations. He usually sits next to the reader or with her in sight. From this, the reader grows to not be wary of Wally and more or less accept him as friendly.

Wally obsesses less about killing the reader and more about keeping her as he learns more about her personality. (The way she laughs, how she cares about everyone even if she’s scared, the crinkle in her eye when she finds something funny, the slight twitch of her lips when she teases…)

He may be slowly falling for her…

Friendship Plan #5

Howdy

As the reader is collecting pieces to build a boat, she often needs things that can’t be found on the island. Howdy on occasion has something she needs, so the reader comes by his shop to ask for it. After finding that he is quite gentlemanly and kind, the reader also comes to his shop just to talk with him in general. She gets interested in the potions he makes so he tells her about his potion making hobbies and in return, she tells him about her peoples’ customs which involve similar rituals to marking potions sometimes.

Wally being Wally

Again, not an intentional friendship plan on the part of Julie, Sally, and Frank

As it is raining one night, the reader goes out to bask in the rain. Rain is one of her favorite things because of the important symbology it had in her culture and also because it feels so nice anyways. Most everyone is asleep by this point, so the reader is supposedly alone, under the moonlight, dancing in the rain.

Wally is the only one not asleep. He too enjoys feeling the rain on his skin, that one moment where the water is everywhere and land isn’t an obstacle as it is a means, and so he is walking outside as well.

The clearing that the reader found to dance in was one that he made specifically for this purpose, so as he goes there, Wally hears the reader’s singing and sees her dancing. At first, he’s stunned and not entirely sure what to do, but eventually his presence is made known to the reader. She freezes immediately to see him there.

For a moment, there is panic on her face, only for a moment, and they stare. Reader looks like she was about to bolt, but Wally stopped her by asking about what she was doing. Seeing as the reader was already somewhat comfortable with his presence, the reader relaxed and began to tell him about it. When he asks to learn, the reader and him spend a good portion of the night dancing in the rain together.

As the sun is rising, they’re sitting and watching it. Reader falls asleep against Wally from the exhaustion of staying up all night and Wally watches her wondering if he should stay still or move her somewhere comfortable. Wally also comes to the conclusion that this human is one they simply must keep.

Friendship plan #6

Eddie again

This is officially where Sally and Julie work to get reader and Eddie to like each other as friends, by having them play games along with Frank, themselves, and Wally. The other neighbors eventually join in as well.

Friendship plan #7

This is the last friendship plan the Sally and Julie have, seeing as the reader is on such good friends with most everyone now.

They all decide to go on a swimming trip in a lagoon. Reader is, of course, unable to breathe water, but no one thinks about this until they’re talking about taking the reader to see the coral reef nearby. The reader reminds them she wouldn’t be able to breathe that long and some of the neighbors begin brainstorming water breathing potions that they could give the reader, but all of them would take a while to get the ingredients. Wally offers a different solution: A merman’s kiss will grant the ability to breathe underwater, although temporary. But now the reader is blushing and they all decide to do something else.

End of Act II

Current Relationships

Wally: friend, may or may not be developing a crush on

Julie: Bestie

Sally: Bestie

Barnaby: Bestie

Eddie: friend, talks about sailing with

Frank: friend, goes to for knowledge about sea animals and stuff

Poppy: Respects and grateful to, thinks of as a mother

Howdy: respects, thinks of as a distant father

*Home: ???

So after their little rain ‘date’, Wally has stopped being cold to her and instead is good friends now. He also acts like a gentleman to her and is occasionally flirtatious, but in a way that the reader can’t tell if it’s a game or just his natural way of being. At picnics he always sits beside her, they frequently touch, and he always seems to gravitate towards her. The Reader also notices how charming he is to her and she starts developing a crush on him and wonders about love.

At this point, we’re not entirely sure about how the plot progresses, but there are certainly a few moments we want to happen.

Underwater kiss

For some reason, the reader is trapped underwater and Wally is the only one around to help. She only has two minutes maximum before fainting and there’s no way to get air to her before then. Wally looks at her and only one thing comes to his mind: a merman’s kiss.

“Don't’ hate me for what I’m about to do” he whispers a bit insecure, the reader looks at him confused before he presses a kiss to her lips and her eyes widen.

When he pulls away, Wally looks at her concerned. “What.” Is the only thing the reader says and he laughs in relief that she wouldn’t be drowning today. They explore underwater for a bit before going back to the surface.

Love potion stunt

Wally has most definitely decided that he wants to keep the reader and he is infatuated with her. But he also wants her to love him back the same way. So he makes her a love potion and drugs her with it during a time when they hang out together. But the love potion sapped all the personality she had that he was obsessed with and he quickly realized that wasn’t what he wanted and had to, very frustratingly, wait out her demands to kiss him until the potion wore off and she fell asleep to be her normal self. He also slipped her something to forget the evening so she woke, she would just think she drank too much or something.

He was also trying to figure out how to propose that she be turned to a finfolk and scheming how to get her to love him.

Sailing the new boat

After finally, finally, finally finishing building the new boat, the reader took it out to test its seaworthiness. Her friends swam alongside her, testing out the boat's durability as she sailed it around them and through their waves. Even Wally got involved, although careful not to destroy the boat with a storm. After they return to land though, he’s struck by how she could leave them, leave him, now if she wanted, and he’s struck with the desire to destroy that boat, but then reader is hugging him and thanking him and all the neighbors for all that they’ve done and she’s so happy to have found a family and she loved it here, and Wally saw an opportunity.

Meeting

That night, the neighbors all discussed what they wanted to do with the reader now. All of them voted in favor of turning her to a finsfolk so she would stay and be part of them forever, Wally enthusiastically so. After Home gave the final yes vote, they began to hatch a plan about it.

Tag

Reader and the neighbors were playing a game of tag through the trees when reader accidentally slipped and was about to fall if Wally hadn't caught her. Giggling at her clumsiness as Wally scolded her, the reader relaxed into his arms saying something about being so content right here. Wally could hear his heart beat in his ears.

Stay forever, please.

Reader is talked to about the idea of becoming a finfolk and staying with her friends forever by Julie and Sally. Reader is blown away by the proposition: “really? I get to choose? By my own free will if I can stay? You all wouldn’t mind?” Of course, her choice is an illusion, to make her more favorable towards them, but what the reader didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

She told them that she wanted to think about it first. She went to where she considered a good thinking spot, the edge of a cliff. And she sat there and thought. She eventually decided that yes, she could stay here with her new family, and her friends talked like she would still be able to do what she did before, just with travel buddies.

There’s a tension in the days following the proposition as the neighbors wait for reader to make her decision.

The turning

Wally turns her, and when he sees her gorgeous scales, he can’t help but confess “you’re beautiful”. Seeing her turn made him fall even more in love with her and he wanted to confess it dearly, but he was interrupted by the others. The other neighbors were quick to celebrate the reader's joining of them.

Blank space

Before the next snippet, some activities go on as the reader learns more about her new form and what it’s like and also Wally getting teased for now obviously being head over heels in love. We haven’t thought out those yet.

Relearning how to function and needed to be helped

Sailing on the boat now

Wally asking for advice to ‘woo’ the reader but being told that he didn’t need to do anything and not understanding why.

Swimming underwater

Being able to touch Howdy?

Getting their own house to live in (though that may not be permanent)

Reader’s shell

In the clearing where reader and Wally first danced in the rain, they stand now. Through the past couple of weeks, reader and Wally have grown even closer, with Wally being reader’s primary teacher. That being said, the reader's feelings for Wally have grown even more and so has Wally’s. So much so that Wally has spent full nights searching for a special shell for the reader.

And in the clearing that night, under a full moon and the gentle pitter patter of rain, Wally gave that shell to the reader as a marriage proposal. And she accepted.

Shells are special for the neighbors. They represent a promise to be there, no matter what, and to never leave. As the reader held the shell, she may not have known at first the true depths of its value in her life, but she knew that she would spend the rest of her life here with these folks and Wally, her Darling.

…and then everyone tumbled out of the bushes because they were totally spying and placing bets on how this would go down.

End of Act III***

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Final notes

*We’re thinking Home might play a strong role in Reader getting to interact with the neighbors. Home might be like a god who happens to be manipulating certain situations to get the reader to become a new neighbor, for whatever reasons Home has.

**We haven’t completely decided/done the research on the culture, so we may wind up changing this. The reader may instead be a huge fan of sea folklore in general. Or maybe both. We just don’t want to make rude assumptions or stereotypes of the culture.

***We also haven’t thought ahead this far and if this is the ending we want. Nike doesn’t like writing angst, but we may want to include some given how ruthless finfolk can be. As of now, this is a really fluffy story.

And that’s our AU thus far! Again, all credit to @aerkame for allowing us to use their AU!

#Welcome Home #welcome home x reader #wally x reader #finfolk au #welcome home au #welcome home Finfolk au

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