Sunday Snippet: Six Degrees of Separation

Had a fairly decent week with work projects coming together and the upper respiratory yuck staying solidly in the background. I continued improving and the cough is down to a manageable level with over-the-counter meds. Whew.

I'm almost finished with Batman: The Animated Series and then I'll get back to a wider variety of shows again. This week's episodes were "Love is a Croc," "The Ultimate Thrill," "Cult of the Cat," which I go back and forth on whether I like it or not. "Critters" is not one of my favorites. I do love "Animal Act" because Dick gets to revisit his circus family and it's followed by my favorite season three episode of "Old Wounds," which shows the messy breakup of Batman and Robin and how Batgirl played a role. I have a few issues with season three and one of them is the way Bruce / Batman became a complete hardass and, quite frankly, a giant dick a lot of the time.

"Legends of the Dark Knight" is fun because it's a complete departure from the norm and explores a couple of alternate versions of the dynamic duo.

Almost forgot about "Girls' Night Out," with Live Wire and Supergirl guest starring. That's a fun episode.

I finished up with "Chemistry," which is kind of a meh episode for me. I think I have three more episodes and I'll have the rewatch completed.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Six Degrees of Separation, a novella that explores the changing dynamic between two characters.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Melick Traynor and Ramona Peartry, two Academy of Light magicians, have a single passionate encounter after Ramona nearly loses her life to a dragon. But when they navigate their new relationship status, Melick has to step down as Ramona's precept, but neglects to tell her why.

And a preview snippet…

Melick entered Ramona's alcove and found her shuffling through the ever present cards.

He stopped and announced. "You're getting up today." He lifted a brow, daring her to argue.

Ramona flicked her gaze up and back down. "Really? You got a trick up your sleeve to make that happen?" Her fingers nimbly flipped the cards over, setting up a solitary game.

Melick smirked. "As a matter of fact? I do." He moved further into the alcove but stayed close to the open door.

Ramona grunted. "It's gonna take more than a flashy spell to make me move." Her fingers flexed over the deck. "And I'm not in the mood to chat, so shove off." The monotone barely changed.

Melick sighed. "Is this about the precept change?"

She shrugged. "You can't have any faith in me if you wanna make me someone else's burden." She still refused to meet his gaze.

Melick made a garbled choking sound. "Ramona. Do you trust me?" Why did she have to be difficult?

She snorted. "I used to."

He'd take the tiny opening. "Good enough." He moved closer and all but compelled her to look at him. "I can't, right this very moment, get into why I'm asking for the change. But it's not because you're a burden. Far from it. Can you just go with that for now?"

Pursing her lips, she studied him. "Fine." She rolled her shoulders again. "Whatever."

He bit back a grin. He'd gotten to her. She battled with herself, but she'd give him some room and lay off the snide, snippy attitude for a while.

She scooped the cards up again. "Still waiting."

Her voice drew him from his thoughts. "You haven't checked in with the mechno mancers have you?" Time to get her motivated.

She frowned. "Why would I?" She waved an arm over her injured leg. "I've been a little laid up."

Melick nodded. "Right." He eased a bit closer and leaned in a little. "See … the problem with being cut off and out of the loop is that you miss all the good information."

She narrowed her eyes. "What am I missing?" She shook her head. "I've got everything I need. Three squares. A comfy bed." She waved the deck back and forth. "Entertainment."

Melick gave an exaggerated lift of his chin. "Sure. Sure. All true." He propped a hip on the side of her bed. "But you don’t know the latest details about the dragon you felled. I'd think you'd be interested in that."

Shot him a curious look. "Why?"

He dropped a crumb. "They got the beast torn apart." He stopped there.

She made a frustrated sound. "And?"

He added another small clue. "It's not at all what they expected." He stopped again.

Ramona smacked the cards on the table. "Meaning what? If you don’t spit it out, I'm gonna have to hurt you."

And there he had her. Finally.

Melick snorted. "You'd have to actually get up to do that."

"Melick…" Underlying menace filled her tone.

He held up a hand. "Fine. The beast isn't all gears and motherboards, Ramona. It's biomechanical." He paused a moment. "A living, breathing, organic being."

Her mouth dropped open. "What did you just say?"

He leaned in. "You heard me. And it's giving the mechno mancers fits. They can't figure out how the thing functioned."

Ramona growled. "But that's my deal. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Melick could see the burning itch to take a look fill her. To dive into a new project and figure out what made the dragon tick.

He grunted. "Well, maybe because you're all laid up and can't help out." He shrugged. "Too bad, also. They're getting cranky and that usually means they'll bring out the blow torches soon…"

I love this series so much. Melick and Ramona are a joy to write and watching them try to get their acts together is fun.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye