title | sea cryptid wip (working)
genre | ya contemporary fantasy, horror (?), romance
setting | neptune island, wa in the puget sound
themes | small town lore, bad girl, rich boy, sea monsters and other cryptids, campy government conspiracies, hate to love slow burn
pov | first person present tense
18 year old Marilyn Walton will do anything to leave Neptune Island.
To support her grief-stricken mother in the wake of her father’s death, Marilyn thieves and cons just as she learned from Dad. But to meet her first college tuition payment due at the end of July, she has something bigger in store: stealing a boat from one of the richest families on Neptune. The heist goes south, however, when she’s caught by the teenage son of the old money Spellmeyers, Augustus, but instead of turning her in, he makes her a deal to help him hunt down 230 year old buried treasure worth upwards of a million dollars and split the boon.
Tides turn when their search for the rumored treasure starts to lead them down a path far more sinister than anticipated. Just as men in black start their chase for something her father stole, Marilyn and Gus discover a hideous sea monster and the horrifying tests being conducted at the government facility on the nearby skerry. If they don’t watch their step, they may never escape the island—nor the waters that surround it.
marilyn walton: the mc. the daughter of two con artists. secret soft girl inside a shotgun shell. calls herself a “double feature” (has both daddy AND mommy issues, thinks that’s very sexy of her). please contribute to her gofundme so she can get and education uwu.
augustus spellmeyer: the love interest. super rich kid with nothing but fake friends. swim team star but like, his parents also paid his way into an ivy and his arrogance is Grappling™ with that knowledge. the best dressed straight boy on the western seaboard. proud simp.
doris: the sea monster. sort of a mermaid but in a new age post modern hyperfeminist mysterious socially isolated uncanny valley but alluring creature from the black lagoon sort of way. loves girls and wants a makeover montage more than anything. biting is her love language.
elodie tillman-choi: the frenemy. former best friend of marilyn because they had “a falling out.” recovering aspiring girlboss (don’t worry, she still gaslights and gatekeeper plenty). monsterfucker. likes to talk about how she’s “going to new haven in the fall.”
dr. wesch: the psychiatrist. treats half the town because it’s Tiny, including gus, and therefore knows everything. kind of a milf. never works Fridays because she is “researching.”
the men in black: ???. not affiliated with the sony pictures film. definitely tied up in some sketchy stuff. three dudes living out of an old van that reads REPAIRMEN in big letters. needs to learn boundaries.
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