Hey there readers!

So for some context

FIRST!

Re: Josh and Hunter... in my previous fic Stranger Tides, the Hexsquad met Vee's Cabin 7 friends and eventually began to hang out with them along with Vee as she re-established her identity not as Luz's stand in.

I've mentioned this before, but Sweet Child is NOT a sequel to Stranger Tides -- but it does share the root that the Hexsquad became friendly with Cabin 7 over their summer and bonded over pop-culture and music etc.

In Stranger Tides, Josh had a massive crush on Hunter -- who was mostly clueless until the end where he had already established budding relationship with Willow -- and anyway, Josh was a player, which doesn't strike me as Hunters type.

I loved writing Josh so much that the concept of him dating Edric was a fun one I wanted to play with. First, I am aware of the fans who ship Ed and Hunter. The character I call Josh (Joshua Chhibber -- a nod to one of my favorite Desi Geek Girls, Preeti Chhibber. ) is voiced by Zeno Robinson as well. So first, I thought the concept of Hunter's V.O. technically hitting on himself was funny. And then I just kinda wanted to play with the concept of Josh dating Edric -- whom I adore and wanted more of in canon.

in Stranger Tides, when Josh met Hunter, he gave him a cafe drink with his (Josh's) number written on the side, instead of Hunter's name and teased Vee (disguised as Luz at that point) for bringing him a Targaryen Prince to date (Hunter's eyes would have still been magenta at that point).

Josh was never that aggressive. He was aware that Hunter was a hot mess and had another love interest -- but he still flirted a lot -- and in spite of this Josh always seemed to be dating someone new and forgetting to break up with the last one.

Second:

Re: Gavin.

It's difficult for me to write Gavin's character as awful as he is -- because without too much info about my personal life, Gavin is also the name of a very sweet kid in my life. Either way, his character works best in this context.

We've already seen Gavin's father (whom he was desperate to impress in canon) as an antagonist in Sweet Child. Gawain Tripe was scoffing at Alador's proposal to have Tripe Corp invest in tech that removes sigils. Gawain also made comments against basilisks, grimwalkers, and to a lesser degree, humans.

Gavin hints that his father's company has a common interest with Tibble's campaign.

Third:

Re: Darius' Arrival and Hunter's push to stand up for himself.

Yeah, so Darius HAS arrived ... finally. This is as Gavin makes comments (jokes?) suggesting that Tibbles would like to see Hunter executed for (supposedly) targeting Bonesborough businesses that displayed support for his very speciesist campaign.

Hunter is finally allowing himself to express anger for what is being done to him by the tabloids -- AND by Tibbles who had run a tabloid (acquired by Odalia) and is now running for a major office that could have dire consequences not only for Hunter as the last grimwalker, but for his and Willow's child.

With this, Gavin drops some of that propaganda from the so-called history books which Flora lauds. Historically, he claims that the sentence for a "disobedient grimwalker" was death -- so there's a precedent -- and that brings us to Belos' pit.

While Darius has shown up, Hunter is remembering the press conferences he was propped up at -- by Darius' suggestion. He'd never told Darius "no", but at the time he would never have stood up for himself. He trusted Darius that these conferences were for the best -- even though each one ripped him apart.

Darius has arrived... but is his presence actually helping? Or is it digging up more anger?

Last:

Re: A possible incarceration or execution?

The idea that Hunter could be imprisoned or executed for any reason is literally what Vee had been afraid of happening to him.

But in this case, who benefits most from this?

Questions welcome, but answers will only be non-spoilery!

For Chapter 71 we're returning to BACHELOR PARTY FOR STEVE to get a better picture as to what happened the night in question.

See you all tomorrow. I hope!