Sunday Snippet: Rack and Ruin

I have a new furnace! It's shiny and pretty and takes up a lot less space than our old one did. And it's amazing how nice and toasty the house is again. Here's hoping the much-improved energy efficiency pays off too.

My workload is still crazypants. Trying to get prepped for having the equipment going in and out of our house didn't leave me a lot of time the past week. I also have a goal of seriously getting rid of a bunch of stuff that's been collecting in odd, random places for the past two decades.

I did get some television watched, starting with another episode of Midsomer Murders. I think I might have found the show I'll be replacing Midsomer with, but I have made a final decision yet.

Caught a few more episodes of Sapphire and Steel and watched a full arc of Classic Who. Sapphire and Steel is actually pretty interesting with a different style.

Watched a Halloween episode of Murdoch Mysteries, which ended up being pretty fun. I love it when William has to deal with people and things he doesn't feel comfortable with. Pretty cool variation on the theme song also.

Also caught another episode of Frankie Drake Mysteries. I really do like this show and the friendship between Frankie, Trudy, Flo, and Mary. My favorite season is still the first one, but if this is going to be a long-haul show, I'm down with the changes to the style.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Rack and Ruin, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Vespa Thorn, a maintenance adept for the Mage Ministry of Defense, is an addictive gambler—whenever, wherever, she'll go all in. Hale Walterson, a special forces soldier has a problem with sex—he can't get enough of it. Vespa wants Hale, but he's the one thing she won't bet on until he challenges her to keep up with him.

And a preview snippet…

Hale Walterson bit back a groan. Just his luck the best tech pulled duty today because she always found a reason to bust his balls. Blowing out a long breath, he strode into the well-ordered workspace.

He placed his wrecked stun-winder in front of Vespa Thorn, the maintenance adept. "This needs fixing." Maybe he'd get lucky and the clipboard she held would keep her attention.

Nope.

She set the board aside and frowned. "Again?" Picking up the device, she began an inspection of the charred defensive weapon.

Hale slowly turned to make his way out of the workshop, hoping like hell the too-pretty-for-maintenance-work mage didn't put the pieces together before he made his escape.

Not his fault his M-MOD unit kept getting called out to break up disruptions.

Vespa growled. "Hold it right there, Walterson." She marched around the counter and brought the stun-winder with her.

Hale paused, a kick of guilt hitting him in the gut. He had abused the weapon, but not on purpose. His last eight-hour shift only had forty-five minutes of downtime. Probably wouldn't matter to her though.

She poked him in the chest. "What did I tell you about not giving the stun-winder enough time to recharge before amping up to a higher setting?" Her face expressed her disgust.

Hale shrugged. "It's a design flaw." He couldn't resist a small dig. "One you should work on fixing." Getting her wound might not be his best move, but the weapon did have too many limitations.

Vespa made a garbled choking sound. "No. It's user error. You abuse the device." She turned and headed for her workstation. "How can a hot guy who has brains and brawn not understand simple instructions?" She placed the stun-winder on the surface of her area and ducked down to get some spare parts.

She thinks I'm hot. Good to know.

Vespa continued with her tirade. "We're supposed to stun our targets as a last resort when spells can't contain them." She removed the burned out charging cartridge and replaced it with a fresh one.

Hale defended his side. "Yeah, well, in the middle of a melee it's not always possible to get an incantation out when fists are flying." A lame excuse, but still true.

Vespa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Maybe you should use shorter spells so you don't overtax that big brain of yours." She checked the readiness of the stun-winder.

It charged but wouldn't fire. Hale glanced down and braced for impact. The compliment about his intelligence would definitely get called into question now.

She shot him a sideways glance. "What else did you do to my weapon?" The sputtered and died again.

Hale's head whipped up and he quirked an eyebrow. "Your weapon?" He folded his arms over his chest. "Last time I checked my name is on the registration."

Vespa dismantled the stun-winder piece by piece. "If you want your name to stay there, you need to take care of the stunner." She grabbed a cloth and started cleaning the gun.

Hale flushed because she had a point. "I'll apologize for the condition. I've been neglectful about proper cleaning." He'd own being lax… too many distractions that he needed to get under control.

He grabbed another rag and started helping—the least he could do, right?

Especially if he wanted to stay on her good side.

I love Vespa and Hale! They're terrific at what they do but not without faults, which they'll discover about each other soon.

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye