do you hear SHAPESHIFTING ON A SATURDAY NIGHT BY AVERY COCHRANE playing? oh, that must be DANIKA MONROE breezing by. i don’t know if you recognize them, but they look like MICHELLE RANDOLPH to me. i heard that SHE has been in town for EIGHTEEN YEARS ( ON AND OFF ) which is crazy considering they are TWENTY-EIGHT years old. yeah, they live over on PENNY LANE, and i heard that they work as a FIGURE SKATER ( OUT OF TOWN ). i love that they remind me of THE FOG OF YOUR BREATH HANGING IN THE AIR DURING A MORNING RUN, MATCHING COLOR-COORDINATED ATHLEISURE SETS, A MOTHER’S RESENTMENT FORGED INTO A DAUGHTER’S GRUDGE, THE LINGERING SCENT OF SALTED CITRUS AND SAGE, & EMPTY CANS OF ALANI NU ENERGY DRINKS but … ugh, their playlist is so weird. why are PEOPLE PLEASER & THE CHAIN in the queue?
STATS
FULL NAME: danika blair monroe ☆ NICKNAMES: dani ☆ AGE: twenty8 ☆ BIRTHDAY: july 23, 1997 ☆ BIRTHPLACE: cider point, massachusetts ☆ HOMETOWN: manhattan, new york ☆ SEXUALITY: bisexual / biromantic ☆ OCCUPATION: professional figure skater ☆ HEIGHT: 5’6” ☆ EYE COLOR: blue ☆ HAIR COLOR: blonde ☆ SPOKEN LANGUAGES: english ( fluent ), russian ( fluent ), italian ( conversational )
BIOGRAPHY
unlike many locals of cider point, dani's feelings toward cider point have been weathered with time, fraying down to old memories and laced with adolescent bitterness. a mother's resentment passed down as a daughter's grudge. her mother, a promising young attorney from manhattan met dani's father in college and it was love at first sight. such a romance bloomed, leading to a shotgun wedding following graduation and during a summer spent with dani's father's parents in their hometown of cider point. it's during this time that danika is conceived.
nine months later and dani's mother is convinced to put her legal aspirations on hold to move to cider point, so dani's paternal grandparents can help take care of their granddaughter while her mother rests and her father works at the local autobody shop. small town life and empty promises only appease dani's mother for so long, the itch under her skin to put her degree to use and the whispering voices of dani's maternal grandparents drawing her mother back to her gilded life in manhattan.
a big blowout fight ensues between her parents, dani's mother not cut out for the stay at home wife role in a small seaside town that is expected from her, while her father argues that it was really the money and judgment of her wealthy parents that drove a wedge between them. nevertheless, their divorce is settled within the year, closing in around dani's fifth birthday. dani's bags are packed as she and her mother drive back to manhattan and into the open arms of her maternal grandparents. it isn't the last time that dani sees cider point though — upon the divorce agreement, while her school years will be spent with her mother attending private schools and charity galas, dani's summers will be encompassed by the summer salt slicked air of cider point.
any sentimentality young danika may have had for the beach and the charms of small town living were slowly eroded in time by the off-hand comments and whisperings of her grandparents. resentment bubbles up in a teenage danika for the lack of effort her father puts into re-establishing a connection between the two, while also trying to anchor down her mother and stomp out the embers of her career aspirations. at eighteen years old, danika is glad to no longer have to spend summers in massachusetts and hopes to put cider point behind her.
ambition is a trait heavily prominent on her mother's side of the family and it's such a reason that with their encouragement, danika pursued figure skating. dani finds that she has a natural proclivity for being on the ice and enjoys pushing herself to be better and do more. with many medals under her belt from state competitions to nationals, to representing the united states in the 2022 winter olympics with the u.s team and helping win gold, skating has been all dani has known throughout her life — the one constant that reassured her.
it’s during practice with a new coach whose eye was set on securing her a spot within the 2026 winter olympics u.s team that danika pushes herself more than she should and as a result, danika tears a ligament in the ankle already giving her problems. it feels like a rug pulled out from under her and the once beloved bustling and busy streets of manhattan suddenly become oppressive. a surprise to danika, her father reaches out and extends an invitation for her to recuperate with him and her grandparents in cider point. it’s an olive branch extended that the teenager inside danika initially wants to scoff at, but she would be lying if she were to say she wasn’t interested to see the effort her father put in to re-establishing a relationship with her. not to mention that cider point seemed like a better alternative than manhattan in building back up her strength and mobility.
now age twenty-eight with awareness hitting dani that she's nearing her thirties and the prime retirement age for figure skaters, she's becoming all too aware of the loitering pain in her right ankle and that she has no plan b. what's there to do after dedicating your whole life to your athletic career and you're going past your prime? dani is unsure and is beginning to understand the meaning of a life crisis.
having now been in cider point for five months, it reminds danika of her summers spent in town while growing up and the previous resentment slowly beginning to become overshadowed by … an attachment? not that danika would ever vocalize that out loud to herself, her father, or anyone for that matter. cider point has allowed for plenty of self reflection as danika contemplates her next steps for not just the current moment, but her career and whether its time to hang up the nike sponsorship and competition circuit. but that also requires danika to figure out who she is outside of competitive skating and those thoughts frighten her the most when her entire identity has been shaped by skating for so long.
ambitious and incredibly meticulous when it comes to not only how she manages her time, but transferring over into her daily habits, dani can come off as incredibly type a where one can wonder if she’s ever taken a deep breath and relaxed before. given her recent circumstances are allowing her a bit more self-reflection, dani is starting to realize that you can’t always plan your life down to every detail. personality wise, she can appear to have a hardened exterior from the competition circuit but when given the time to open up and get to know someone, dani is incredibly loyal and would stand by those she heavily values.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
someone trying to help dani loosen up .. alternatively, someone who convinced her to take up daily yoga to try and get this girl to calm tf down and relax
any type of friendships that were impacted when danika moved out of cider point with her mother following the divorce, perhaps they were close friends and could have a) drifted apart with the move and fell out of contact eventually or b) they would look forward to the summer when danika would visit and it’s almost like the distance never made a difference. generally i’m interested in any dynamics that could have been impacted with danika’s summer re-appearances and eventual disappearing act once she turned 18 and this being her first time being in a decade
someone who’s become a sort of gym buddy at this point. since she’s barred from extensive training at the ice rink, dani has taken up light exercises at the gym where she encounters your muse at the same time every day and they’ve become a pleasant fixture to one another
maybe dani and your muse got off on the wrong foot and now it’s an awkward irritation where they know it’s a dumb reason to still be as miffed as they are but it’s to a point where it’s awkward to try and rescue any future interactions’
a failed blind date … or maybe a successful blind date but not in the romantic sense but resulted in a solid friendship where they laugh about the disaster of a date they were on
friends pls even childhood friends !!
alternatively, a burned bridge whether that be an ex friend or ex flame where maybe dani’s athletic career / cider point self exile threw a wrench in their relationship and strained things with how hectic her training schedule became
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
