Day 30: Free Space (And Final Thoughts)

"What?" Aaron asked, completely casually, as he blindly pressed his usual buttons on the coffee maker. "Hoppers are like, biologically predispositioned for open relationships and being bi and whatever, so what's-"

"'Predispositioned' is not a word, for one. For two, 'predisposed' sorta implies it's a disease or something." Zoey interrupted with a disappointed sigh. "Something like 'naturally inclined' or... I dunno. Anyway, that's not the issue."

"So what is?" Aaron asked, just as a groggy groan echoed out from the nearby bedroom. "Ohhh."

"Yeah." Zoey sighed.

"You didn't have to take the couch; we would've-" Aaron started, getting cut off by a groan and a punch on the forearm just a tad too hard to be playful. "What?! What did-"

"Coffee?" Came a groggy voice from the bedroom, just as a middle-aged woman wearing nothing more than part of a torn topsheet stumbled out. "Thank GOD!" She moaned, practically moved to the point of tears as she scooted past Aaron and Zoey, grabbed a coffee mug, and casually poured herself a steaming cup of coffee. Not even bothering to blow on it, she eagerly took a long, deep sip before letting out a giddy, half-chuckle of an exhale. "God, that hit the spot... what's up?"

"That's what I'm wondering." Aaron mumbled, not even bothering to try being subtle as he gawked at the quite visible, middle-aged cleavage next to him. "Thought hoppers were supposed to... be chill with open relationships and all."

"...We are?" The middle-aged woman mumbled, raising an eyebrow aimed at Zoey as she took another sip of coffee. "Jealousy isn't really a thing with hoppers, soooo...?"

"YOU FUCKED YOUR MOTHER!!" Zoey shouted, earning a pair of confused looks. "Oh my... are you seriously-"

"Adopted, remember? And it's not like she's in control." Aaron interrupted with a shrug and a quick look silently asking for confirmation.

"Yeah, ever since I hopped her in that gas station across town. About... week ago?" The middle-aged woman answered with a shrug and another sip of coffee.

"That's..." Zoey started, giving up with a groan. "You're seriously telling me, if I hopped the woman who raised you and began flirting with you, AS HER, you'd be totally, 100% fine with having sex with me, like that?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" Aaron asked with a shrug.

"Speaking of... I'm not quite-" The middle-aged woman started to coo.

"HOPPERS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SEXUAL DEVIANTS!!" Zoey bellowed, jabbing a finger into Aaron's chest again and again. "YOU. ARE. NOT. A. BODY. HOPPER. YOU-"

"Yeah, but I've got a hopper gene; it just... mutated. We've been over this, like, a billion times." Aaron interrupted with a shrug. "It's also why sex with me feels so good. Scientifically proven."

"You sure it's not-" The middle-aged woman began to purr, her gaze dipping down to the erection peeking out the top of the boxers Aaron had hurriedly, hastily, and poorly slipped on to start the coffee.

"You... stop that." Zoey hissed, slapping away a middle-aged hand as it approached Aaron's lower half. "You seriously don't see an issue with this?"

"Well... you're using your hopper powers to make sure she doesn't... wait is menopause a thing yet for her?" Aaron asked, getting an intense glare from Zoey for his question. "What? Pregnancy's a whole can of worms; doesn't matter who it is I'm potentially knocking up."

"Why... is your moral compass... a fucking roulette wheel?" Zoey asked with a disappointed, frustrated sigh.

"Why don't you... hurry over to 'my' house, hop into 'my' wife, maybe... 'my' oldest daughter, the one-" The middle-aged woman started to coo.

"No, no, the second oldest. She's the only one Zoey's not hopped into yet." Aaron interrupted with a sigh full of reminiscing. "Although... I wouldn't mind-"

"Not without a lot of alcohol." Zoey groaned, rubbing her temples. "Given that, every single time I've enabled... what you don't consider incest, at all, apparently, I've been drunk off my ass."

"No." Aaron chimed in, ignoring the glare he was getting. "You were high that one time, where you didn't know the brownies were-"

"Less talking, more..." The middle-aged woman purred, standing up on her toes to nibble at the bottom of Aaron's ear. "...Demolishing 'my' horny, horny pussy, until we make sure she can't walk once she gets her body back."

"Sounds like..." Aaron started, trailing off as Zoey let out a loud sigh. "Wait... Zoey." He said, grasping Zoey's hand between his, locking eyes with her. "Wanna tag in, take her body for a few rounds?" He asked, unable to hold back a grin as Zoey groaned and flicked her eyes towards the kitchen's alcohol cabinet...

Had an interesting time writing this one, trying to figure out what even to write for this prompt. Ultimately decided to jot down a chapter based on an idea I've had floating around for a while now, where the main character is, basically, immune to bodyhoppers and is in a world where bodyhoppers both exist and are, more or less, seen as normal and everything. I did, however, contemplate writing something inspired by NOOGOOD222's (https://x.com/NOOGOOD222) "DataVerse" series, namely something to do with their concept of "Data" and "Devices" in that series, but obviously didn't do it. Non-zero chance I contact them and see if getting permission for a chapter or story in their universe is possible though, so... maybe look forward to that, maybe? Big emphasis on "maybe", so... keep those hopes low, just in case.

Anyway, with that, the last of my chapters for Take-Over-Tober are finished. I think I hit every Optional Side Prompt, although I didn't think to label any of them because I'm dumb. I definitely had fun participating in the event, but... uh... kinda feeling that burn out, especially going from sporadically writing chapters over on Writing dot com to doing 30+ chapters in a month and all.

I'm not doing a favorite piece of the day today, with the "free-form" prompt making it kinda... too open, I guess? On the topic though, I wanted to say a few things about it. Not just the expected, and 100% true, stuff about how there's no definitive ranking or order of my favorites, I put the links in the order I put them in my notes app, roughly chronologically. But that Take-Over-Tober is inherently a social event and... I don't really use social media, other than to follow artists I like, basically. So sharing stuff from the event at a place I DO use, albeit more as a lurker than a frequent writer, feels kinda like the least I can do to engage with the event. And, hey, if the stuff I like gets a few more likes or follows or scrobbles or whatever, I'm more than happy to spread stuff around. Even if I feel kinda fucking old going "yo, this caption from over 10 years ago is THE SHIT DUDE, check it out", but... eh, whatever.

So... thank you VERY much for reading, if you did. If you... I dunno, jumped to the final day's chapter and then scrolled down here... gotta wonder what's going through your head, tbh. If you want more of this type of content, I've got other chapters here, on writing dot com, got captions on OpenTG Captions, have a story both here and over on Outfox, which... should be all on the linktree in my bio or whatever? Made that years ago and haven't really touched it since, tbh. Been considering writing some stuff on Outfox, making it "premium" or whatever for like... a month or something, and then posting free "definitive editions" elsewhere, with "what-if chapters" or something, along with character bios and stuff, so... if you wanna pay, you get early access, but if you can't/won't pay, you get something for waiting a bit longer. Feel free to hit me with opinions/thoughts about this kind of idea, btw.

And... that's it from me, folks, at least for Take-Over-Tober 2026. And thanks again, for reading.