Sunday Snippet: Not Gonna Happen

April 21, 2019

To all who celebrate Easter, I hope it's a good holiday. Another weird weather week in Ohio. I know, big shock, right? Actually turned on the AC one day because the house was stuffy and humid. The next day, I turned it off because the temperature dropped thirty degrees again. Needless to say, it's a combination of AC and furnace for the next few weeks.

Decent television week. I did get to finish Ms. Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries and it was… soooo good. I'll finish up the other three episodes, but I'm pretty sure I'd like to see more. Here's hoping they'll do another season.

Caught another episode of Painkiller Jane and it's one I remembered from the original run. I'll admit I was disappointed there weren't more episodes even though fandom in general thought the show fared poorly against the source material.

Watched another episode of Underbelly: Razor and, yeah, the women are starting to feel the burn from the law. I wanted to empathize with Tillie but couldn't quite get there. She's just not drawing my sympathy and I can't really explain why. Kate, though, I kind of sympathize with. Nellie… is Nellie. Not quite sure what I feel for her plight.

Finished up Midsomer Murders and enjoyed the rest of the episode. I'm almost through the fourteenth series and I'm still liking the show. There's never a shortage of interesting little bits worked into the stories.

Roswell, New Mexico… the penultimate episode. Holy crap. So much happened. Questions were answered but a ton of new ones popped up from those answers. I really need another season because there's no way it can have a satisfying end with only one more episode to go. I need to know how Maria's mom fits into the situation at Caufield, if she even does, or at the very least, I need to know why she's so scrambled. And, dammit, I need Maria to know what's going on and put her two cents in. I dipped my toe into the fandom waters and, yeah, I'll probably steer clear. I love the potential interactions with everyone, including Alex, Michael, and Maria. While I'm not a full-on fan of triangles, I do like messy and awkward feelings that have to be resolved somehow. I also love how many different definitions of family there is to wade through on the show. The kind of big thing I'm dreading is a possible death in the last episode. I've got a gut feeling of who it might be and I’m not ready for it.

Also, I'm sad to see Jenna go, if she really does. Here's hoping she might make her way back in the future. The interactions between Jenna and Liz were so damn good, as in there was awkwardness but none of the bitchy-girl, fur-flying stuff that's so lame. Kudos for that!

Caught two more episodes of Peter Gunn and both were ones I hadn't seen. Pete and Edie remind me of Nick and Nora. Weird, I know. I think it's a vibe thing. Nora totally had Nick's number and I think Edie is the same way with Peter.

Watched episode four of Blade. Nice to come back to this after a long hiatus. I'm looking forward to more one season wonders on the CW Seed app.

Caught Strike Back and loved so much about this episode. Nice to have Zarkova back among the group. So cool to see Chetri pretty much rescue herself. And Alexander ending up in Moscow was better than expected. Wyatt and Novin are never boring and Mac needs to keep his choose better times to get sexed up. That's a lot of information to pack into a one-hour nutshell.

Watched the beginning of the next arc of Classic Who. This one is about the time meddler and I'm interested to see where it goes. Got a surprise when the guy from the Dalek episodes showed up. Didn't see that coming.

Caught a majorly great episode of Chicago Fire. Watching the women deal with the terrible accident in Indiana while the guys held a chili cook-off worked really well. The fact that the doom and gloom crew won—and one of the members is the dude from the Sonic commercials—kind of made my day.

Also started an episode of Iron Fist and it's full of Misty right now so I'm loving the hell out of it. Just saying.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Not Gonna Happen, a novella that started with a writing community prompt of "slasher film; in the woods". I put a slightly different spin on the concept and like where it's going.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Gina Ames and Tuck Danvers sign up for a weekend of hunting for an urban legend. When their other team members start dropping, one by one, they take off for the safety of the city. Too bad the concrete and steel can't protect them from what follows them home.

And a preview snippet…

Gina's stomach churned. "What do you think we stumbled on in Haverswood?" Nothing human if she had to guess.

Tuck lifted a shoulder. "I'm thinking more along the lines it's something we unleashed instead of stumbled on." He swung his gaze toward the window, keeping a close watch on its location.

Gina didn't see his logic. "How? We weren't summoning or chanting incantations in Latin or anything like that." They'd been scoping out a site, checking the stories from the newspapers.

Tuck leveled his gaze on her. "We weren't." His meaning came through in his tone.

Gina closed her eyes. "Why would Jake and Marley take a risk like that?" She couldn't believe the couple would push the envelope without the proper safety nets in place.

Tuck snorted. "Didn't say it was them." He gave her another pointed look.

Gina slumped in the booth. "Fuck. You think it was Del and Suz?" The duo basically came along for the ride, visiting from Marley's hometown.

Tuck didn't respond right away. Shirl approached with their food and coffee, placing the plates on the table and filling the mugs.

She stood back, narrowing her eyes. "You two had a rough night, didn't you?" She held up a hand. "Nope. Don't need to know the details. I'll keep the caffeine coming while you guys iron out whatever's going on." Turning, she headed back to the counter and started a new pot of coffee.

Gina huffed out a breath. "She's a sweetheart." After Tuck nodded in agreement, she got back on topic. "Del and Suz. Spill." Picking up her fork, she sliced into a waffle and dunked it in the syrup.

Tuck leaned in, keeping his voice low. "I think they had an agenda, one they didn't share with the rest of the class." He shoveled a forkful of hash browns into his mouth.

Gina chewed thoughtfully for a moment. "So… they wanted to what? Have an experience? Make life a living hell for everyone? What kind of agenda gets them killed along with two of our best friends?" He had to be wrong.

Right?

Tuck didn't say anything for a while, clearing half his plate and keeping an eye on the specter outside. Gina gave him some space, keeping her questions at bay. Tuck liked to mull things over even though it drove her mad sometimes.

Finally, he set his fork aside. "I could be wrong, but we didn't know them. We didn't have time to vet them before they insisted we let them tag along for the night." He picked up his mug and swallowed several mouthfuls of coffee. "Marley grew up with both, but she said it'd been almost ten years since she'd seen either one." He paused, letting the information sink in.

Gina finished off her bacon and slowly nodded. "And you're wondering why they show up now?" Actually, a good question.

Tuck jerked his chin upward. "Yeah, I guess." He paused a moment. "They were staying with Jake and Marley, right? Maybe there's something at their place to give us a lead on what's going on."

Gina nodded then glanced out the window. "Should we try to make a run for their condo? Or wait to see if Mr. Creepy goes away when the sun rises?" She hovered between wanting answers now and dreading the thought of going back out there.

A new one for her.

Tuck shrugged. "We've got about an hour until it starts getting light outside. Let's see what happens." He waved to Shirl who grabbed the coffee pot.

Gina settled back against the booth cushions. In an hour, they'd be wired on caffeine and probably still be bone-dead tired.

But they needed to find some kind of clue as to what they were dealing with and hopefully get some justice for their friends.

I'm not quite sure how this one is going to be resolved but I do like the dynamic between Gina and Tuck and how they're not sure what they're dealing with but unafraid to find out.

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye