Jackie is in trouble. Trish is going to milk the situation for all she can. Of course, Jackie can't just say, "Hi, Trish, apparently I'm a magical girl." Well, she could, but Trish would then call Jackie's parents to have them take her to see a doctor and watch over her a few days. Jackie's other alternative is to admit to Lance's existence.
Trish, being Jackie's BFF, latches on to that news. I set up Jackie's lack of love life back in the second chapter, a two week affair with someone who turned out to be engaged. Jackie having a new beau is a good thing in Trish's eyes. She wants her BFF to be happy, though Trish's version of happy doesn't necessarily line up with Jackie's.
Trish also provides a grounding for Jackie. Weirdness is happening around, but Trish has homework still, and is trying to herd cats when it comes to her project team. Getting concessions from Jackie should help her and give her team a warm place to work.
I think I was being a bit too subtle with the heat outage at Carleton. It's not a natural mechanical or electrical failure, but there's not much I'm providing to say otherwise. I probably needed someone to say something about it, but I didn't want a neon sign pointing at it, either. It's a balancing act. I'm not fond of Chekhov's guns. When I read, I want the setting to be real, not a literary device. Sure, I have used it, including in Lethal Ladies and The Soul Blade, but in both cases, I didn't plan it. (For the record, the Chekhov's gun in Lethal Ladies was a pistol. In The Soul Blade/, it was how Brenna felt about Officer Matt. Also for the record, I have no problem with Chekov's gun, a phaser II.)
Trish at times acts as a reminder to me that the story is supposed to be a romance. Jackie isn't as interested in either potentials as she is in her new game and the subsequent discovery that she's a mage. Trish keeps pushing her bestie and me to get more romance into the romance novel. Today, if I were to write Digital Magic from scratch, it'd be urban fantasy first and foremost, and then if there is chemistry between Jackie and anyone, the romance becomes the B-plot.
Steve returns, in Digital Magic Chapter 10.
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, lamenting the adaptations hits.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, The Mandalorian.
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