The Final Countdown - Season I

Episode 1: Parts 1-4: NBR Teaser!

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and that 2018 has already provided you with some joyous moments. I'm sorry I've been a little bit behind lately (accursed technological problems) but I'm back with a vengeance. I don't know what I'm avenging, but believe you me, I will do some serious avenging. 

That being said, thank you very much for coming by and reviewing my ridiculous little tale. I really wanted to try something different with this project. I went with reader suggestions, so I wrote short chapters to make it easier for myself to keep track of everything. It was a ton of fun, and I believe I will keep doing it for the next 'season' of this story. Thanks, everyone!

1. Is this science fiction, or is it humour? Can it be both? Is it science fiction, with humour peppered throughout, or is it humour with just a smidgeon of science fiction thrown in? I've been tossing that question back and forth since the first chapter.

2. I'm of two minds about physical descriptions of characters. I find them interesting in others' work, but I feel I don't want to layer in too many details for the reader. I like to give the reader the chance to fill in some of the blanks for themselves. Have I gone too far in the 'little to no description' direction?

PART I

Val's toothbrush was gone.

Mossy teeth. Breath that could kill the wrong end of a yak. Was there a 'right' end to a yak? Did yaks even have ends?

She stared at the toothbrush holder-thingy that she shared with...him.

Perfectly scrubbed. No gross residue at the bottom. Clean, hygienic, and one-hundred percent anal retentive. The toothbrush holder-thingy. Not him. He needed to shower more often. Maybe shave once in a while. Deodorant might mask his unfortunate musk.

Only ONE toothbrush leaned against the holder's edge - lonely, destitute - maybe even a little forlorn.

"Eddie!"

No answer. She stared at her own face in the mirror for ten slow seconds. Every strand of her frizzy red hair doubled its own frizz DNA as each second ticked by, until her hair more closely resembled steel wool than an actual human head.

"EDUARDO!"

A floppy-haired, well-fed face popped around the corner of the bathroom door. His smile said everything - 'I know you're cranky, but I have a perfectly good explanation...' It was a smile she'd seen ten thousand times before.

"Val...my love, my life...what seems to be troubling you?"

"Don't 'my love, my life' me, Eduardo Vitch." She held up the too-light toothbrush holder for the world to see. "Where's my -"

In this case, the world was one dude. One dude currently watching his life flash before his eyes.

"Toothbrush...yeah. I can explain that."

He wedged his way into the bathroom. His potbelly knocked a loofah off the counter.

It was a communal loofah. Both he and she enjoyed a good loofing.

"So."

He bent down and picked up the loofah.

"Explain it."

"I read a thing."

She slapped a palm to her face and shook her head.

Here we go, she thought.

"It said that toothbrushes can hold bacteria for months and months, and you never properly wash yours, so I -"

"Threw it out."