My week in TV
started with an intense episode of Walking
Dead and kept amping up from there with Arrow
and Bitten. I kind of wish I had a
Chris Hardwick type to decompress with after watching the latter two also. LOL
Seriously, the season finales may break my brain. And the glimpses we're
getting of Orphan Black have me
impatiently waiting for April 19.
Tonight's post is
from Boxing Day, a short story with something of an interesting spin on
the narration.
Here's the tagline:
Aeryn Gray packs up
the personal belongings of Nash Nitali and spies a pair of boxing gloves. The
sight takes her back through their weird brand of courtship and she takes some
time to reminisce about their long, tangled affair.
And a sneaky peek…
Aeryn
grabbed the last of the stuff from Nash's locker. A can of shaving cream, some
crumpled up newspaper, and a pair of boxing gloves. Seemed weird to box up his
life, throwing bits and pieces into random containers. She snagged the gloves,
lifting them to her
nose, inhaling the scent of leather, newspaper, and Nash.
She slid her hand inside the
leather, a tingle of awareness shooting through her. "Geez, how stupid to
get turned on by a boxing glove."
Then again, so many of their big
moments happened before, during, or after Nash put on the gloves. Snapshots
played out in her head, starting at the beginning when she got her first
glimpse of Nash, in the ring on Sigma base. God, the man looked hot throwing
punches and jabs, his feet moving lightly over the surface, a quick
shuffle-slide motion. Aeryn sank down onto Nash's bunk, letting the memory make
her smile.
She sobered. "Not the best
first impression I've ever made." More like the worst.
To be fair, Nash played a big
part in her crappy attitude that day. She'd entered the gym, intent on working
out some aggression. Her commanding officer missed their scheduled briefing at
0600 to go over her transfer from Theta. Aeryn hated early morning meetings and
having her CO blow her off started her day on a sour note.
She never got her workout in.
Instead, her attention focused on the sparring match in the ring. One combatant
had a T-shirt on and the other—who turned out to be Nash—went shirtless. She
slowly made her way over, quickly picking up on several mistakes the
bare-skinned man kept making over and over.
Standing ringside, she shouted.
"You're telegraphing your next move. Keep your eyes forward and focused on
your opponent's face."
Nash shot her a quick glance and
suffered a left hook for his trouble.
Aeryn shrugged and propped her
elbows on the raised surface. She watched several more moments, shaking her
head at the stupid mistakes Nash kept making. He might look incredible with
defined, sinewy muscles flexing and bulging with each jab, but he obviously
didn't know shit about boxing. He dropped his guard and caught a hard uppercut.
Aeryn slapped her hand on the
floor of the ring. "Oh my God! You're dropping your guard. Are you stupid?
Or do you just like pain?"
Nash held up a gloved hand,
stopping the match, then turned and faced her. "No, I'm not stupid, and
no, I don't like pain." Using his teeth to unfasten his glove, he flung it
off. "We're training, learning how to look for weak spots. Can't find them
if they're not there, right?" He removed the other glove. "Now it's
my turn. Who the hell are you? You've gotta be new because no one else would
ever be obnoxious enough to interrupt one of my sparring matches."
Aeryn flushed, her face heating.
"Just transferred in from Theta." Maybe she'd jumped the gun by
offering her opinion, but being called rude stung. "Aeryn Gray, Lieutenant."
Nash blinked and jerked his head.
"Aeryn Gray?" He tilted his head to the side. "You're my new
pilot?" His quickly scanned the wall, glancing at the clock. "Wait. What
time is it?"
The pieces clicked in her brain
and a wave of anger smacked her in the face. "0700. I waited half an hour
for our briefing." She lifted a shoulder. "I guess you had better
things to do." Turning, she started for the exit. "Can't say it's
been nice meeting you." She waited a beat. "Sir."
Gathering her gear, she shoved the
hatch open and left the gym, a bitter aftertaste lingering from her not so
stellar introduction to Nash Natali.
Her new commanding officer.
I always have fun
writing horrible first impressions. Makes figuring out how the story unfolds
from there more interesting. J
That's it for this
week. Catch everyone on the flip.
ML Skye
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