So with Titan Hoppers aiming for a July release, I thought I’d do something utterly stupid. The short of it is, I had an idea for some scenes with secondary characters that didn’t fit in the story, but were fun in my head. So I’ve written them. I’m going to put a few at the end of each Titan Hoppers book and call them Snapshots. Brief glimpses into the lives of Hoppers. And here’s the 1st one, our favourite cowboy mage Willet.
Snapshot 1 – Willet
Willet checked the door to his quarters was closed. He couldn’t have anybody walking in on him like last time. Not until he had it absolutely perfect. That took practice and he knew the others would only laugh if they found him practicing.
He checked the kitchen area and his sleeping room, just to make sure he was alone. Of course he was alone. He lived alone. Why would there be anyone else in his rooms. He double checked just to make sure, even pulling open his closet to glance inside. Empty. He was alone.
The underside of his kitchen table was reflective. He’d purposefully polished it to a mirror shine. He hefted the table onto its side and leaned it up against the far wall so he had enough space to move. Then he stood infront of the makeshift mirror and smiled at himself. He knew it was vain to think it, but damn he was handsome. He popped the collar on his brown duster and danced a couple of steps on the spot, then pointed at his reflection and grinned.
“Down to serious business,” he said. “No smiles. Just do it sparky.”
Willet settled down, flexed his shoulders a couple of times, then went still. He stared at his reflection and it stared back.
“Draw.” He whisked his duster back, grabbed his cannons and drew. His right cannon got caught in the tail of his coat and he struggled to pull it free, raised it and pointed. It looked stupid.
“Scrap that looked terrible.” He spun the cannons on his fingers and slotted them both back into their hip holsters. “Gotta get this right, Willet. Can’t look a fool.”
He settled back into position, staring at his reflection. Gave it a wink.
“Draw.”
Again he whisked his duster back, grabbed his cannons, and drew on his reflection. This time they came free easily. His duster billowed out behind him looking sparky as a thruster under fire.
“That’s right. That’s it. You look good, Willet. You look sparky. You look like a titan-slaying beast.” He grinned at himself, spun his cannons around on his fingers.
“Ahem,” the voice came from his doorway and Willet startled, lost control and both his cannons flew from his fingers, clattering against cupboards and dropping to the floor.
Deiter leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his broad chest, one eye hidden by his hanging fringe.
“How long have you been there?” Willet asked as he knelt and grabbed his cannons, shoving them back into their holsters.
“Not long,” Deiter said. “Captain wants to see you.” He turned and disappeared out the doorway.
Willet sighed out his relief.
Deiter’s head poked back around the doorway. “That’s assuming you have the time, you titan-slaying beast.”
