Sunday Snippet: It's Academic

July 7, 2013

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fouth and got to see lots of lovely fireworks displays. I'm lucky enough to be invited to another extravaganza next weekend. Never too many fireworks, right?

Tonight's post is from It's Academic and in keeping with the firecracker theme, the couple definitely has some sparking, crackly chemistry. :D

Here's the tagline:

Chaos and control don't mix, but Kari Pride and Thorn Summers must find a way to balance the two or drive each other mad when they become roommates. By the end of the semester, Thorn tempers Kari's sloppy habits and she makes him yield his ruthless organization for some much needed spontaneity. When their relationship gets personal, they have to figure out how to navigate new territory.

And a preview snippet…

Thorn entered his room and groaned. "God damn, Kari."

He couldn't see the floor, her clothes tossed haphazardly all over the place. Kicking her stuff aside, he made his way to his corner and set his books on the desk, after shoving her—lunch?—into the trash bin. Flinging his pack onto the bed, he turned around in a circle and basically found the place in utter shambles.

He couldn't live with the chaos anymore. He'd either kill Kari or she'd kill him if he didn't set some kind of boundaries. He'd let her get too comfortable with the sloppy mess in the interest of keeping the peace.

Not anymore.

With a quick decision made, Thorn gathered up everything of Kari's and dumped it in the middle of her half of the room. Grabbing a spare sheet from under his bed, he rigged up two hooks and some sturdy twine and attached the sheet with clothespins. People could give him shit about being prepared, but sometimes it saved his sanity.

Like now.

Stepping back to observe his handiwork, Thorn figured his solution would work just fine. The door opened in the middle of the far wall, so no worry about walking through one half to get to the other. He shouldn't have to see or deal with Kari's slobfest from this point forward.

Heaving a relieved sigh, a weight already gone, Thorn got started on reorganizing his half of the room. Fifteen minutes into his cleaning ritual, the door burst open and Thorn braced for a reaction.

Kari skidded to a halt just inside the entrance. "What. The. Hell?" She frowned and kicked the heavy oak closed with her booted foot.

Thorn shrugged. "You obviously need clearly defined boundaries. Consider this set up as example number one."

Kari strode to the edge of the sheet and flicked her gaze between the two spaces. "Geez, Thorn, you could've mentioned something. I'd have tidied up if you had."

Thorn's fingers itched to strangle her. "I damned well did mention something. Repeatedly."

Kari's lips quirked, but she choked down her laugh. "It's hilarious. Have you seen what this looks like from here? Our cookie cutter sized room now looks more in the vicinity of a postage stamp."

She had a point, but he'd be boiled in hot oil before he'd agree.

Her gaze rose and met his. "Where did you come up with this painfully stupid idea?"

Only the genuine curiosity behind the snarky words had him supplying the answer. "My mom. She split the room I shared with my brother this way." He gave her a pointed look. "Thrace lived like a slob, too."

Kari snorted. "My mom would've lit a match and walked away."

She spoke the reply quietly, an undertone of sadness in her voice.

Thorn had no idea what her relationship with her mom had been, but burning everything sounded harsh. "Wow." What else could he say?

Kari's lips twisted with a half-smile. "Yeah." She bent down and started picking her clothes up off the floor, refilling the open drawers of her dresser. "Why'd your mom split you two up that way? Other than the neat versus messy thing."

Thorn answered before thinking about it. "Because when we fought, she had to mediate and that took time away from—" Shit, he never shared crap about his mom's drinking habits. "Well, I mean, it took away time from something else she'd rather do."

A very knowing and understanding gleam crept into her eyes when she glanced over her shoulder in his direction. Kari recognized the lie for what it meant. Thorn wanted to staple his mouth shut.

But she surprised him by sharing her own truth. "Mine went on binges. Ugly ones." She went back to sorting her clothes, turning away to focus on the task. "Used to have to shut myself up in our pantry to avoid flying objects."

Well, hell. Common ground. Who knew it would be mothers who had issues with alcohol.

Thorn yanked half the sheet down and crossed over into her space, bending down to help her fold the pile on the floor. "Mine did the slow and steady thing. Always waited until we got home from school to get started and didn't stop until she crawled into bed."

Kari paused and met his gaze, hers full of commiseration. "Sucks."

Thorn agreed. "Yeah." He worked steadily, grabbing a shirt and neatly tucking the sleeves under the back before flipping it in half and smoothing the wrinkles.

Kari laid a hand on his. "Thorn. I got this. It's my mess, I'll clean it up." She wrinkled her nose. "And make an effort to keep the clutter to a minimum."

Thorn believed her. Didn't mean he couldn't help.

He smiled. "Goes faster with two doing the work." He handed her the tank top in his hand and snagged another one from the dwindling pile.

Kari lifted a shoulder, but didn't argue. Thorn considered the lack of a snarky comeback progress. Maybe because they shared a similar situation from childhood, they'd finally broken through the wall of discontent built from the moment they met.

Thorn sort of hoped so. A truce would be great. So much better than spending the whole semester acting like combatants on a battle field.

Kari stopped again, tilting her head sideways to study him.

Okay, a reprieve might not have been reached.

He lifted a brow. "What?"

She answered. "Nothing. I mean, well, I'm hungry and thought about heading to the commissary for dinner. Wanna join me?"

He almost fell over, but quickly nodded. "Sounds great." He put the neatly folded pile of clothes on top of her dresser and got to his feet. "We could go now and finish this up when we get back."

Kari grinned. "Awesome. They're having one of my favorites tonight. Grilled cheese and tomato soup." She pushed her bottom drawer shut and stood up, grabbing her ID from the clutter on the desk.

Thorn chuckled. "Comfort food. There's nothing like it."

Kari strode toward the door, but shot him a look over her shoulder. "I know, right? Let's go."

Thorn checked his pocket, making sure he had his identification then followed her.

A definite truce. The rest of the semester looked to be shaping up.

Humming one of his favorite songs, he closed and locked the door and picked up his pace to catch up with Kari.

And common ground is achieved and a thawing of the ice begins. Instead of constantly being at each other's throats, Kari and Thorn find better ways to spend their time. :D

And that's it for this week!

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: Juvenile Behavior

Hi!

Oh wow, gorgeous weather today and I got to spend the whole day outside enjoying it! Seriously, it's so great to have an actual spring season. Usually we go from really crisp and cold to horribly hot and humid within a twenty-four hour period. Mild temps and lovely breezes are a total win. :D

I'm spending my night with my new TV boyfriends, Stonebridge and Scott, from Strike Back. And you know, Baxter is pretty kick ass, too. Only one more episode of the third season to mainline and then I get to play the waiting game for the fourth. Maybe I'll have to rewatch the episodes a couple of times to make the wait more bearable. :D And hey, I have two more eps of Arrow, so there's that. J

Tonight's post is from Juvenile Behavior, a short story where my two characters spend a lot of time doing silly things to avoid acting on their attraction. The Principle Mage reaches his boiling point and decides to force their hand. :D He also happens to be Owen's dad, so it's a fun dynamic to write.

Here's the tagline:

Freddie and Owen, top Adepts putting cadets through their paces at the Mage Academy, are very much in love, but refuse to act on their attraction. But when the Mage Principal has enough of their antics, he strips them of their rank and tenure and pushes them to act like grown-ups instead of juvenile delinquents.

And here's the preview snippet:

Orville Parker glared in his son's direction. Owen tried to muster up an appropriate response…but hell, he'd had too much fun to even try and deny the charges his father made. Cooling his heels in the maze with Freddie had been worth finishing off the bottle of Amberlane, even though the potent alcohol had been banned since the elder Parker's days at the Mage Academy. The stuff went down smooth but packed quite a punch, and sometimes the amber liquid induced hallucinations and could also trigger a dormant ability. Still, nothing his dad could say would change Owen's mind.

"You're both barred from classes."

Except that. Owen wouldn't stand to have something he'd achieved taken away because he'd actually gone and had fun for once. He opened his mouth to protest.

Freddie beat him to the punch. "Are you insane? You can't lose your two best instructors."

Ha, best argument yet. "Yeah, what she said." Owen held his dad's gaze. "Who else do you have on the roster that can teach new cadets how to master the gyroscope with their minds?" Exactly no one.

Orville shrugged. "We'll get by. You two aren't getting back into a study room until you've cleaned up your acts."

Freddie snorted. "What's to clean up? We have the highest percentage of cadets who make it through. No one else is even close."

Orville acknowledged her words with a brief nod. "True. But…" He paused. "When my top two Adepts are acting like recalcitrant teenagers, something must be done about it. And treating you like the age group in question seems a good place to start."

Owen didn't like the inference. "Since when does blowing off steam get lumped in with juvenile behavior?" Geez, his dad needed to relax a little.

The elder Parker lifted a brow. "Invisible shaving cream in the west corridor…" He held up a finger. "Levitating candelabras in chapel." He added a second. "Exploding confetti balloons in the main bathing suite. Cheap parlor tricks and beneath Adepts at your level." His hand slammed down onto the heavy oak of the desk. "You're supposed to set the example. The cadets follow your lead. You're the grown-ups." He growled. "Act like it, dammit."

Owen didn't have an argument, except… "Look, Dad, no one got hurt. That should count for something."

Freddie chimed in again. "Damn straight. Do you have any idea how much skill it takes to pull off half the stuff we did without putting anyone in the healing chambers?"

Orville shot her a blistering look.

She lifted a shoulder. "Okay, stupid question. Of course you do." She met his gaze. "What do you want from us here?"

Orville rose from the edge of the desk. "Sixty days probation where you two have to refrain from doing any kind of spell casting or conjuring." He held up a hand to stop any protests. "If you refuse, that's it. You lose all privileges and any tenure you've gained."

Freddie gasped. Owen didn't blame her, the punishment didn't quite seem to fit juvenile role his dad had cast them in. But…the man had a point, even if Owen hated to admit it.

He stood. "Fine. What do you suggest Freddie and I do to alleviate stress and tension?"

Orville lifted a brow. "You've got sixty days to figure it out. And I if I have to explain the myriad of methods you can use to bust boredom, you can't be my kid."

Freddie chuckled then laughed outright. Owen blinked and looked at his dad a little closer. The man couldn't be serious. Except…yes, he could.

Well, hell's bells. He'd be happy to oblige his old man.

Shrugging, Owen reached out and grabbed Freddie's hand, hauling her out of the chair. "Let's go, Freddie. I'm pretty sure we can figure out some grown up stuff to do."

Freddie smirked. "Sixty days, right? Yeah, plenty of time to get and be creative." Turning, she gave Orville a backhanded wave. "Just remember, you're the one who made this rather grand suggestion."

The sages tell me Orville may have opened a can of magic he didn't quite want. LOL

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye