Dai Is Writing...

(Halfway through the months and the shorts now!! I’m so glad people seem to be enjoying the selkie babies ❤️❤️❤️  It means a lot to me that you all love Kae and Nyv too)

This short is three of six, and actually the second one I wrote last March! I think it shows but ah, it’s for fun This time our selkie pups are a little older but there’s still a few things to work out ;)

(This short is a little over 3k words long)

I waited in my hiding place as another squeal rang through the water. That was one more down. How many were still hiding? Me and…two others? I tried to remember how many of us were swimming around in the kelp-ridden cove, and how many times I’d heard someone else get discovered.

The kelp swishing past the tiny alcove I’d wedged into moved sharply, and I froze. The last squeal had been close. Did that mean—

“GOT YOU!”

Ayy, we’re inching up on 40k words now! Do I know exactly what’s happening after I finish this next chapter? Not remotely! NaNo events are always so nerve-wracking exciting aren’t they? :D Don’t mind the languished screaming, it’s just part of my process lmao aka: shrieking and making it all up as we go without having a clue what I’m doing until I’ve already done it

Whatever happens with this story in the coming days, it’s gonna work out eventually, and that goes for everyone else trying to write right now too! I believe in you guys!! Keep it up!! (or take a break if you need it and come back stronger! ;) )

A long excerpt today because hey. It’s cute and I just want to scream about the rare adorable moments of The Loving Seal from the high hills, okay.

Kae watched us walk close, large eyes sliding between the two of us, and once Naois was an arms-length away he blew a spray of water our way.

Naois gasped and ducked behind me as I narrowed my eyes, and Kae simply kept his eyes focused behind me. We all waited, then Naois giggled shyly and peeked around my side, fingers curled into my gown.

“It’s okay, Ma. I think he was just saying hello,” she murmured, stepping back into the open as I hummed and Kae blew a smaller spray.

“Oh, I’m sure,” I replied as she began to creep toward Kae’s long side, looking tiny beside the oversized bull as she reached out a hesitant hand. Before I could speak a warning to wait Kae turned to face her and she froze, swallowing. For just a moment I wondered what he would do, then Naois set her hand to his fur and the tension melted away.

“He’s so soft…” Naois breathed, marveling as Kae grunted and swung his head to me instead.

He held my eye with a pride that made me sigh, and as I moved to stand in front of his head I muttered, “Don’t be too proud of yourself. She hasn’t got much to compare to.”

The chiding words did little to discourage him, and I crossed my arms as he raised his head to put us at eye level. He leaned forward to brush wet whiskers across my face, and Naois gasped while I crossed my arms.

“Mm. Thank you for that,” I said flatly, wrinkling my nose as he grunted again and blew a short spray at me.

“Ma, I think he likes you,” Naois giggled from his side, beaming as I wiped the water away and shook my head. Then she clicked her tongue and bounced on her heels without stopping her patting.

Thanks for the tags @raiswanson, @writingmyassoff, @authordai, and @writtenbyhal!

A little more than one line since i’ve been hoarding tags:

Iluk’ka! Harsh and commanding, Eima’s voice had Iluk’ka look back up in surprise, blinking furiously against the biting wind that tore at her vision. Remember yourself.

With that the surface that had been holding her fell out from under Iluk’ka, and she felt herself falling into the void of a dreamless sleep.

Ayyy tagged in by @authordai and I know I have a few other tags kicking around I haven’t gotten to but…I lost track of which ones I didn’t do yet so yay let’s just continue my trend of always sharing more than one line to make up for it lol

Enjoy this snippet from the short I’ve been writing to supplement my upcoming Camp NaNo project :D

“If you’d rather I left I can—”

“Please stay,” peeped a quiet voice, soft and gentle enough to stop me in a half-risen position.

Blinking, I raised my gaze to him and saw he’d looked up, black eyes wide and fearful from under the head of his coat. He was still tucked in on himself, but I could see his face now at least.

I also saw the long slashes oozing blood down the bottom left side of his cheek, marring at least a quarter of the view all the way from lip to neck.

Annndddddddddd the tags!

i was tagged by @authordai and i’m not one to tag people (because anxiety) so if you want to do it feel free to tag me

my last line (which is also the first line don’t @ me) from bloody snow is:

“Snow White had always been pale, thanks to the unfortunate circumstances of his mother’s genetics.”

and my last line from the most recent fic i wrote is:

WIP (Re)Introduction: As Dreams Collide

✿ Epic Fantasy | Hope Punk | Steampunk(y Elements) ✿ first person present; five POV characters (2 main POVs) ✿ Camp NaNoWriMo Project, April 2019 ✿ Draft Three; originally known as Dreams and Shadows ✿ Book One of the Dream’s Shadow Trilogy

𝗪𝗜𝗣 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 | 𝗧𝗮𝗴 | 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱

He knows he is dreaming because he always does—and he knows that she shouldn’t be part of his dream even before he sees her. “Who are you?” She’s sitting cross-legged on the ground, head tilted in a slightly unnerving fashion. A lazy smile lifts the corners of her mouth, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.   “Yes, indeed… a good question. But what you should be asking yourself instead is this: Why am I here?” She smiles. Her face is soft and round. Her eyes reflect the sky. He does not dare look away, even as he swallows. “Then… why are you here?” “Why, that is a good question!” She laughs. He shivers. “I am here because it’s beginning, dream-boy. And you are the pivot.” He turns away, looks over the endless rolling planes. It’s getting dark, the sky turning purple and pink and gold even though there’s no sun. A thousand small lights drift sleepily through the air, some close, some further away. Somehow they make him sad. “I don’t want to be”, he says. When he looks back at her she’s staring at him. Her eyes seem larger than before. He’s never been looked at like that. “You don’t get a choice”, she tells him, the playfulness vanishing from her voice. “Children never do.”

When Ben has a deadly accident, he along with his sister Ava and their Guardian cat get dragged into an ancient conflict that might not only change their lives forever, but also those of everyone else. 

While AVA has to somehow keep the estranged members of her family together and figure out why she suddenly sees gods in her dreams, BEN “wakes” as a spirit two days later without remembering anything. Now he needs to figure out why he can’t remember the accident, why he’s not (yet) dead… and what a certain demon’s interests in him are. How do you escape a situation where every single way is terrible? Then there’s also ELINOR, their older sister, who was whisked away from home when she was four due to her aptitude for magic, and involuntarily trained to become an Asim (magic user). She’s seen her family only twice a year since then, except now she’s sent home by the most fearsome Asim to spy on her brother and her family, because while they want him to survive, so do the Asim. And Asim interest is never a good thing. And finally, there’s also KIYERA, a sixty-year old retired pirate queen… who somehow finds herself entwined in this whole mess as well because she was in that accident with Ben and finds herself drawn to the whole Nichols family drama. Maybe because everyone she ever loved is dead, and she can’t just stand by while another family ruins what she’s already lost?

There are also lots of feather-dragons, fuzzy-dragons.. and other fluffy things because I can’t just not have those.

As already mentioned, this is my Camp NaNoWriMo Project! It’s also Draft Three of what was originally called Dreams and Shadows before it dared to become a trilogy… so now that it’s a trilogy I have to figure out what subplots I need to introduce now and all that stuff :D That’s why Elinor now gets her very own subplot and it’s also why the Asim are more important from the beginning than they were before :D Thanks to everyone who helped me with their feedback <3 It was immensely helpful! The trilogy’s name is currently Dream’s Shadowbecause that’s still close enough to the original title and it looked pretty on the cover :P

Camp NaNo Progress this far:

Day 1 - written 4,831 | total 4,831 Day 2 - written 5,212 | total 10,043 / 60,000

@warmbones @wilde-writing @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad @authordai @madmoonink @merigreenleaf @lynnafred @authordai @prismalicht @sincerestaffect @romenna @zekethegm @hypnocutiegypsy @random-stuff-thrown-into-a-pot @els-writes @randooooooooooom @asttralhell @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword

Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 |

✿ Progress

WIP: As Dreams Collide (wip page | tag | camp nano)

Official Goal: 60,000 words

Daily Goal: 2,000 Words

Written: 2,972

Total: 13,015

✿ Excerpt

“The ruined Regulator will arrive any moment. You can’t seriously think that it’s a good idea if Ava’s here when he does?”, Mama hisses. The mere mention makes me shiver, and I’m tired of this discussion so I pull at Papa’s hair. “Stop…fighting!” He just sighs and for a moment I think they’re going to continue. Then he says: “This isn’t o—” The sound of the opening door is unmistakable. Papa freezes. Mama’s eyes widen and she pulls him to the side. “Let me down”, I say urgently, suddenly horrified of letting the Regulator see me on Papa’s arms. Papa does and Mama pushes both him and me in the direction of the door. “Go”, she hisses. Papa stares at it like a frightened rabbit so I take his hand and pull him forward. Two Asim enter the room first, one of them the Healer from earlier, now with her Mask on. Her body says: regret. The other one is a lot taller than her, and their Mask has a lot more gold on it, too. And then there’s the Regulator. A man in a black Asim robe with pieces of red silk sewn to his belt that make his entrance far more dramatic. His mask is as blank and featureless as the others and a uniform black, with red tears dripping down from the eye holes. I can’t see his eyes despite the bright ghostlight lamp. The Regulator glances around the room once, taking in everything and everyone. His eyes stick with Ben for a little while longer, before they finally glide over to me. It doesn’t matter that they’re not visible through the holes. I can feel his gaze just the same, and I don’t move. Mama shoves Papa and me in the direction of the door but before we can react, the Regulator speaks. “Stay. Please.” My heart skips a beat. “Why?”, Papa croaks. “You’re already here and we might have questions for you”, he says. “Faces help me understand the context.” He looks at us again. This time I can feel his eyes looking into me. It’s far worse than before.

✿ Taglist

~ if you want to be added/removed please tell me!

(So I don’t usually share “complete” pieces on here because hey, we all know lots of people skip over long posts, but I spent all of March bouncing around writing these in a frenzy and I!! Want! To! Share! So I am! I hope they help everyone come to love the sweet selkie babes as much as I do <3 Especially since I won’t be sharing the full book for a while ;w;)

This is the first short of six (seven if I decide to share an extra ~risque~ one), set years before the events of The Loving Seal way way way back when our two main protagonists first met…

(This short is about 2k words long, in full beneath the cut)

“Poor thing. He was the only one left. His whole pod was in pieces by the time Nadia got there,” one of the adults murmured.

ugh hate everything I’ve been writing lately but thank you so much kayla @wolvesofarcadia for tagging me!!

Despite the incident on Kingsroad that morning, the queue of castle goers numbered in the hundreds. A line had already formed outside the doors by the time the Hubralions had arrived. It was a privilege indeed that Fugen Tephlinor and his family were granted immediate passage to the front.

Ten-year-old Crina tugged on her father’s sleeve. “What if the king says no, Papa?”

Fugen glanced at his youngest and opened his mouth to speak, but Edra placed a hand on his arm above where Crina’s now lay.

“Hush, darling. Your father and I will speak, but not a word from you. Yes?”

“Yes, Mama.”

The heads behind them whispered, some in awe, some in contempt. Fugen tried to drown them out with thoughts of his family’s recent successes, but the weight of all those eyes was enough to choke out any acquired peace.

Alright it looks like I’m doing updates every other day then haha. Loving Seal still going pretty good! I hit 10k last night and seem to be maintaining speed well enough! If nothing else the arrangements of characters here has given me plenty of chances to fill in awkward gaps between the important plot points I know!

Also, wow this story is sad. Like. Wowsers. You’d think I’d have known this going in, being the author, but it’s still stopping me every now and again with a few daggers to the chest and I must say, from the bottom of my now hole-filled heart: whoopsies. (BUT I APOLOGIZE FOR NOTHING)

But hey you aren’t here for updates and we all know it! You’re here for excerpts! So here you are!

Darrow didn’t pay my awe any mind, instead taking advantage of my distance to begin schooling the children in ways to judge the tide from the time of day and look of the waves. In another context that might have added to the joy of the moment, but it brought reality tumbling back to me.

Isaac has been forged in fire and battle, in pain and death. He took the chaos of his nature, the ability to kill without guilt, and found a career that works well with it. 

He started off as a solider, before becoming an agent, and eventually becoming one of the Numbers. Battle is a part of his life, part of his blood some would say. The fire that burns in his dark blue eyes. While he is skilled in many forms of combat, he specializes in guerrilla warfare and tactics. 

Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

✿ Progress

WIP: As Dreams Collide (wip page | tag | camp nano)

Official Goal: 60,000 words

Daily Goal: 2,000 words

Written on Day 4: 3,928 words Written on Day 5: 3,170 words

Total Day 4: 16,943 words Total Day 5: 20,113 words

I really wanted to do an update the day before yesterday but I hated everything I’d written and basically just rewrote everything yesterday x) 

✿ Excerpt

The Asim (thankfully) just raises an eyebrow. Then she sighs, looking at him. Her whole body seems to collapse. 

“I don’t know what to tell you”, she says in a weirdly flat voice. “Something is very wrong with your brother, and it’s a miracle that he’s still alive at all. Nobody knows what to make of him. My mentor sent for the Regulator again, for a professional opinion. He should be here any minute now.” 

My parents go very still.

I’m suddenly very cold. The air smells like snow, and tiny golden sparks make everything glimmer and shine;  An unearthly wailing echoes through the room; the taste of blood; for a moment I’m in two places at once, one grey and sharp, the other the hospital room—

—someone grips my shoulders and darkness swallows me, forming the shape of a face I don’t quite know. Then Papa is there, pulling me into his embrace, lifting me up. My face is wet and my eyes burn. I bury myself in Papa’s shoulder, uncertain why, flustered and ashamed. The Regulator’s eyes are on my back even if he’s not there (except he always is, lurking, watching, looming). I shiver. Papa pats my head clumsily. I feel bad about all the times I shouted at him. 

“If I were you I’d be gone when he arrives”, the Asim says. Her voice pulls me back, makes me remember what she said. And Ben. My heart starts to race again. 

“That… sounds reasonable”, Mama’s voice replies. 

I watch the Asim leave over Papa’s shoulder, feeling cold and hot and sick. Before she closes the door behind herself I hear her mutter: “I’ve already said far too much”, and wonder, just for a moment, what I missed.

✿ Taglist

~ if you want to be added/removed please tell me!

Heyyyy we at 15k now boiiiiii! Doing good! Am I in a spot I didn’t make any plans for last month? Perhaps. But we’ll deal with that once my BS tank runs dry and that sucker has like four barrels of fuel in it so we’ll be fIIINNNEEEEE (probably). Most of my writing is done on the fly anyway, so…at least we have practice at this :D

I’ll admit it. I cracked. I didn’t plan on this scene to happen so early on (or maybe I’m just so used to writing 200k+ epics that my sense of timing is off) but GOSH DANGIT. I NEEDED IT TO HAPPEN. ;W; IT’S ONLY CHAPTER 4 BUT THE AMOUNT OF SADNESS WAS TOO MUCH. WE NEEDED HAPPINESS OF THE GOODEST CALIBER AND THAT MEANS ONLY ONE THING…

So without further ado, the excerpt! Longer today because D R A M A™

Choking down more sobs before they could escape, I pressed my face to the scratchy wood of the door. Just a moment longer. I’d pull myself together, make myself put all the heartache aside, and go back to the way things were. Nothing had changed. I was still here. The pups still needed me. Darrow still had my skin. This was just one more stone of sorrow added to the bundle tied to my legs, keeping me tethered with my head just above the waves.

I’d just…keep holding myself afloat. Alone.

A rustle in the trees startled me into whipping around. Too big for Katherine. Wolves? I knew there were a few on the island though they rarely came near the house. Even the animals knew better than to hang around such a cursed place.

The sight of the wisps drifting through the wood put me back at ease. They’d come back after all. Though I’d never heard them make noises like that, especially not—

More rustles, from far below the glimmering lights. They came from ground level, and had definitely moved closer than before.

A figure broke through the brush and I had to grip the door handle for support.

Late update tonight, but an update! Creeping up on 20k after a couple days of just barely scraping by the daily goal, but bless this story, it hasn’t let me hit a hard wall yet so far ;w; May it remain so.

That said, wow it’s hard to write scenes Kae can’t be in now that he’s made his appearance. He’s only just stepped out and I miss him already. TTwTT bring back the seal husband we want off this crazy sadness ride

Not much more to say for now, so enjoy an excerpt! Or…don’t enjoy it. Have I mentioned Loving Seal is sad??? Loving Seal gets kind of sad.

The pups hushed as he stood over us, eyes wide as he considered them.

“Some fish have claws. They aren’t like cats, though. More like dogs. Big, stupid dogs that can’t even move on land. They flop about doing nothing useful and spend most of the day asleep,” Darrow said, raising awed gasps from his audience. I held still when he let his gaze slide to me, restraining a snarl when he showed his teeth in a mockery of a smile.

“All the useless things your Ma tells you about and she never mentioned seals, hm? Interesting. I suppose it slipped her mind all this time. Come here, Culann, Moryn,” he instructed, prompting both to look to me for permission.

I ushered them toward his waiting hands with a lump in my throat, catching the irritated tick in his jaw that appeared when they hesitated. His anger was horrifically misplaced. As if I was the reason they were afraid of him! As if I didn’t try to ease their worries over him while he tore me down right in front of them!

Once he had a pup on each arm he stepped away with sneer back in place and strode back to his chair. “You see this fur? That’s from a seal, boys. The claws in the arms belonged to it,” he told them, bending so they could stroke the chair in wonder They looked curiously at the claws in question as Darrow sat down and set them on his knees, then turned their tiny faces to him as he cleared his throat.

Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

✿ Progress

WIP: As Dreams Collide (wip page | tag | camp nano)

Official Goal: 60,000 words

Daily Goal: 2,000 words

Written on Day 4: 3,928 words Written on Day 5: 3,170 words

Total Day 4: 16,943 words Total Day 5: 20,113 words

I really wanted to do an update the day before yesterday but I hated everything I’d written and basically just rewrote everything yesterday x) 

✿ Excerpt

The Asim (thankfully) just raises an eyebrow. Then she sighs, looking at him. Her whole body seems to collapse. 

“I don’t know what to tell you”, she says in a weirdly flat voice. “Something is very wrong with your brother, and it’s a miracle that he’s still alive at all. Nobody knows what to make of him. My mentor sent for the Regulator again, for a professional opinion. He should be here any minute now.” 

My parents go very still.

I’m suddenly very cold. The air smells like snow, and tiny golden sparks make everything glimmer and shine;  An unearthly wailing echoes through the room; the taste of blood; for a moment I’m in two places at once, one grey and sharp, the other the hospital room—

—someone grips my shoulders and darkness swallows me, forming the shape of a face I don’t quite know. Then Papa is there, pulling me into his embrace, lifting me up. My face is wet and my eyes burn. I bury myself in Papa’s shoulder, uncertain why, flustered and ashamed. The Regulator’s eyes are on my back even if he’s not there (except he always is, lurking, watching, looming). I shiver. Papa pats my head clumsily. I feel bad about all the times I shouted at him. 

“If I were you I’d be gone when he arrives”, the Asim says. Her voice pulls me back, makes me remember what she said. And Ben. My heart starts to race again. 

“That… sounds reasonable”, Mama’s voice replies. 

I watch the Asim leave over Papa’s shoulder, feeling cold and hot and sick. Before she closes the door behind herself I hear her mutter: “I’ve already said far too much”, and wonder, just for a moment, what I missed.

✿ Taglist

~ if you want to be added/removed please tell me!

Heyyyy we at 15k now boiiiiii! Doing good! Am I in a spot I didn’t make any plans for last month? Perhaps. But we’ll deal with that once my BS tank runs dry and that sucker has like four barrels of fuel in it so we’ll be fIIINNNEEEEE (probably). Most of my writing is done on the fly anyway, so…at least we have practice at this :D

I’ll admit it. I cracked. I didn’t plan on this scene to happen so early on (or maybe I’m just so used to writing 200k+ epics that my sense of timing is off) but GOSH DANGIT. I NEEDED IT TO HAPPEN. ;W; IT’S ONLY CHAPTER 4 BUT THE AMOUNT OF SADNESS WAS TOO MUCH. WE NEEDED HAPPINESS OF THE GOODEST CALIBER AND THAT MEANS ONLY ONE THING…

So without further ado, the excerpt! Longer today because D R A M A™

Choking down more sobs before they could escape, I pressed my face to the scratchy wood of the door. Just a moment longer. I’d pull myself together, make myself put all the heartache aside, and go back to the way things were. Nothing had changed. I was still here. The pups still needed me. Darrow still had my skin. This was just one more stone of sorrow added to the bundle tied to my legs, keeping me tethered with my head just above the waves.

I’d just…keep holding myself afloat. Alone.

A rustle in the trees startled me into whipping around. Too big for Katherine. Wolves? I knew there were a few on the island though they rarely came near the house. Even the animals knew better than to hang around such a cursed place.

The sight of the wisps drifting through the wood put me back at ease. They’d come back after all. Though I’d never heard them make noises like that, especially not—

More rustles, from far below the glimmering lights. They came from ground level, and had definitely moved closer than before.

A figure broke through the brush and I had to grip the door handle for support.