Convinced of Greatness (HH)
#36 of Hockey Hunk Season 6
It's the Hockey Hunk Holiday Special!
Convinced of Greatness (HH)
*
Hello, everyone!
I am very glad to present The Hockey Hunk Holiday Special , coming to your computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. I've got something unusual to offer to you this time around, and I hope you will enjoy this...glimpse. *smiles* I hope to be coming back on a more regular schedule next year, but now, do enjoy this for what it is, and remember that this story is far from over.
I extend my thanks to everyone who has been reading, old and new, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Cheers y'all,
Gruffy
*
"It had been prophesized for years countless past, that the great comet would pass across the circle of the sun and bring darkness before yet unknown. The whispers of the Prophesy had been passed down, maw to ear, scribbled in precious rolls of parchments, engraved in stone and buried with their makers, even. The quiet foreboding that had occupied the minds of those before paid no heed to the anxiety of the Masters of the Stars whom observed this phenomenon across the years, quiet nights of contemplation and study in their towers, murmured congresses held in the daylight hours, calipers, orerries, telescopes and divining wands spelling out the inevitable numerological truth of the upcoming conjunction of the stellar with the mundane. The silence would not last for much longer.
_ _
Lord Protector Hugh was in his grand chambers at the High Point Castle in Caledon, when the messenger rider arrived with the epistolary from the Ascended City."
_ _
...
_ _
..." and that is, indeed, the opening of my prologue to...yet untitled Caledon Rocks prequel project in the works."
The collective "awwww-maaaaaan!" caused a rumble and a mumble to pass through the conference room. The tiger in the green shirt carefully folded the A4s on the podium in front of him and tapped them against the worn wooden surface before he smiled to the audience again.
"Thank you very much," the tiger said.
The crowd began to applaud.
"And thank you, Lord Mistwillow!" a voice suddenly boomed through the room, amplified via numerous loudspeakers and belonging to a fox in a white shirt and a tie who'd just gotten up from a foldable plastic chair near the podium. "I think it was a very special treat for everyone here at the Otherworld to hear about this exciting new piece of fiction!"
The tiger smiled and leaned towards the microphone on the podium.
"I thought it was the least I could do," he said softly. "It's so nice to be here!"
A few furs in the audience whooped.
"It definitely is a pleasure to have you here as well, sir!" the fox cheered. "Now, our assistants are ready to take questions for you, so anyone with a questions, do raise your paws and our assistants will be coming for you with the portable microphone."
About three dozen paws shot up.
"And it looks like we've got a good turnout...excellent!" the fox smiled. "Our assistants are moving in...please stand up when you are making the questions!"
The first one singled out was a bespectacled terrier who coughed and cleared his throat before the microphone was placed close to his muzzle.
"Uhm...my name's Nathan...my friends call me Nate..."
"Hello, Nate!" the tiger on the podium smiled. "What would you like to ask?"
"I...I'd like to tell you I really like your books and I've got them all and...uh...I wanted to ask, will there be more about the Witches of the Dancing Stone in the next book?"
The tiger let out a good-natured rumble.
"Well, you do remember that in the last book, the Witches managed to put a spell on Slithering Horde which trapped them in the catacombs of the Flag Sisters' old monastery, and I think it was implied that they would have to return once a year to re-cast the spell to keep the Horde in check, so...I think we should wait and see what happens, don't you think?"
The young terrier's tail was going about 50 miles per hour when he nodded energetically and collided his nosepad with the microphone.
"Oh, that's really cool, I mean...yeah, really cool!"
"I'd think so," the tiger smiled.
"Let's have our next question!" the fox on stage called out. "I think...close to the back there...a young gentleman there..."
The next speaker was a bear in an oversized The Mystic Cauldron T-shirt which he tugged over his belly as he stood up.
"Hello, Lord Mistwillow, I am very happy to be here and it's an honor to meet you," the bear boomed into the microphone he grabbed from the hapless young wolf who had brought it over, "I would like to make a question about the Stratagem of St. Percival. In chapter 14, page 201 of the deluxe illustrated edition, Lord Protector Wilbur is being held captive by the Halcyon who threatens to put his soul into the Captive Crystal...and you mention that the soul crystal has a blue glow to it, but in The Justice of Helios, the Grand Alchemist has a soul crystal that is purple. Can you maybe, uh, explain that a bit?"
The bear's eyed pierced those of the tiger on the podium. The tiger smiled.
"That's a very good question," the tiger mused into the microphone close to his muzzle, "I think it comes down to the nature of the Elemental Magick used for creating the said soul retaining crystals, and the alchemic processes used in the process of making them. The Halcyon was probably using one he stole from the Sea Wizards, because we know that he is a renegade Sea Wizard. Or he could have acquired one through some other means. Since he is 260 years old...he has been around the world, studying different forms of alchemy and other forms of magic."
A murmur went through the crowd, and even the bear gave a curt nod.
"Okay...thanks," he said solemnly.
"My pleasure!" the tiger smiled.
"Aaaand...looks like there's a paw up near the aisle there...if you could..."
One of the helpers approached the fur in question, a coyote girl wearing oversized round glasses and a plastic flower in her head furs.
"Hello, Mistwillow, I'm Jasmin and I LOVE your work!!!"
"Hi, Jasmin! That's really nice to hear!" the tiger smiled. "What would you like to ask?"
"So, I would like to ask the question everyone is thinking about...so...is it true that Beckett and Argon are an item?"
A few furs in the room groaned...someone whistled...a few gave curious looks towards the coyote girl, who kept staring expectantly towards the tiger holding the high ground on the lectern. It seemed that the majority of them were actually interested in hearing the tiger's answer. The tiger eyed the crowd slowly, and seemed to be thinking about the question before he indeed started to speak.
"Well, there is obviously a lot going on between the characters that doesn't get written about, being that they all live in the castle...they do have private lives when they're not banded together and adventuring and saving the Kingdom from supernatural menace."
"Soooo..." the coyote girl went on, "does that mean that when Beckett pulled his butt muscle during sword practice and Argon gave him a massage you made to go on for several pages..."
Someone whistled in the audience, and the coyote girl flicked an annoyed ear at it, her eyes resolute at the tiger on the front of the room.
"Well that's another part of Alchemist life...little bumps and bruises alright."
"But it really sounded like Beckett was really enjoying that massage, I mean...come on!"
"I'm sure he definitely appreciated the help from his companion," the tiger mused.
"Ooooooh..."
"So, I would say," the tiger smiled, "that they are good friends, and if there's anything else going on, you'll have to see another book for it."
"Ooooooh - oh, so - "
"And I think we ought to take the next question," the fox MC on stage cut in, "let's see...there's a paw up over there....yeah..."
"Hello!" the malamute said quickly as soon as the microphone was within reach, "I'm Micah, and I have to like say, I'm so glad that you're here because you were like so brave when you came out as gay, because after seeing that video I told my best friend who was like, like she's known forever and we're still best friends, so..."
The tiger maintained his calm smile, despite the sudden tirade coming from the dog.
"That's very brave thing for you to do," he said.
"...uh...thanks..." the dog wagged his tail," so, I wanted to ask you, Mistwillow, if your friends have been supportive now that you came out as gay...uh...yeah, that's what I wanted to ask. Thanks."
The malamute handed away the microphone to one of the helpers and sat down, looking nervous.
"First of all, I have to congratulate you for being very brave for coming out to your friend, and for making this question, too, of course," the tiger spoke calmly, "and your question is a very important one, because I'm sure many furs are thinking about it, even if it's not about something as big as being gay. Everyone has one thing or another about themselves that they feel is very private and not something that can be easily shared with even your closest family and friends...so, to find the courage, and the right person to talk about that to someone...that is a really important thing. And that really shows the value of friends. And since you asked me, yes, my friends have been very supportive, and understanding. I have been out to them for quite some time, anyway. The public reaction has been very supportive, too. Thank you for your question, too!"
Slowly, some furs began to applaud, before a few joined in. Then some more. The tiger could see the fluffy dog looking at his own toes while a kangaroo sitting next to him, too, joined in.
*
"...it was so very nice to meet you, sir, I do hope you'll come again!" the fox MC was still enthusiastic once everyone had filed out of the conference room and that had left the tiger to linger by its door with the waggy-tailed fox.
"I'm sure that if I am able to come, I certainly will," the tiger smiled, ears flicking against the grey flat cap he had popped onto his head after leaving the room.
"Everyone enjoyed your talk so much, and the little sneak peek, too, just wonderful - "
"...no, I told you, I'm not going to be agreeing to anything less than what we talked about before...no, no, Smithers, I told you, I told you - you know what, I'm going to call you again and if I'm not hearing - no, I told you, I told you - !"
_ _
The fox's tall ears perked at the sudden shrill voice booming into his ears, and the tiger turned to look about, too, to witness the leopard in a black and grey business suit standing by a pillar, one paw holding up her phone to one ear while the other clutched a takeaway cup.
"My warden," the tiger chuffed as he turned to look down at the slightly shorter vulpine.
"Ah..." the fox mused curiously.
"She must be waiting for me, I think I must be off soon," the tiger said, "very nice meeting you, and I must say again, it was a very pleasant talk."
He offered his paw, which the fox took and shook eagerly.
"Oh yes, very much so, sir, and I do hope to see you again soon!"
"Likewise," the tiger rumbled.
"I must be off now, I think, Alan Dean Foster is speaking next and I'll have to get everything ready for that...heh..."
"By all means," the tiger nodded.
"Thank you again, and it was most pleasurable to have you onboard."
"Likewise."
They exchanged a few more pleasantries, after which the tiger slowly made his way over to the energetically talking leopard.
_ _
"Busy still, Miss Lopez?"
The leopard gave the tiger a glare and a sharp flick of her ears.
"...yes, Smithers, I told you - well hold on, you know I'm Boston, I can't just hop over there - "
_ _
"So it seems," the tiger snuffled mildly.
"...I'm calling you back later, the charge is here. Yes, Smithers, later, byebye!"
_ _
The leopard snapped her phone off.
"Bastard," she grunted.
"I hope that wasn't my publisher," the tiger commented.
"No, darling, it was not yours," the leopard hissed, "that was for one of my other clients. They're trying to screw me up over the e-book royalties and we know where the future lies, so I'm not letting them get away with it."
"Do not underestimate the allure of bound books, Miss Lopez," the tiger said, "I've seen more of them in everyone's paws here than in some of the bookstores we visited over the publicity tour."
The leopard lady sneered.
"We're in the pilgrimage spot of furs who think that the fact that something only had 100 copies made makes it cool and interesting," the leopard snapped. "They're holding the only copies that exist."
The tiger chuckled.
"That's a rather interesting view."
"We're here to sell books so that you can keep swaggering around like you own the place, not like you're going to help to stack the chairs when the lights turn off," the leopard said, "now, it's fifteen minutes past one, so that's forty-five minutes before we open the line at the Pickles stall."
"Indeed it is," the tiger replied," I thought we might take a little stroll before that."
The leopard gave the tiger an 'are you serious?' look before she chugged down a muzzleful of her soy chai latte with macadamia crumbs and then smacked her lips.
"You're going to be mugged if you go out there," she flashed her tail towards the stairs leading to the second level, with cardboard signs announcing that the Dealer's Market was located in that direction.
"Then you should accompany me as my bodyguard," the tiger said, "besides, I'm not being mugged now, am I?"
"They move in groups," the leopard said, "just wait for it."
"Then I'll be your bodyguard," the tiger offered his arm, "shall we go?"
"Isn't that a bit excessive?" Miss Lopez glanced at the arched arm.
"Hmmmm...where did you get that coffee?" the tiger sniffed in the direction of the plastic-topped cup.
"From the food court, of course, but the queues are enormous, and I couldn't get you one because you were taking so much time."
"There were a lot of questions," the tiger said, "I like answering them."
"Let's hope they'll also show up at the Market. We've got books to sell."
"Somehow I imagine that furs who want to get a book signed by me have brought their own books," the tiger said, "sometimes they even bring books they already had signed by me, just so that they can show them off and share the memories from the last time they met me. I find that quite sweet, if a bit eccentric."
"There's a big pile of Justice of Helios on that stall and we're going to have to try to sell them."
"I'm not selling anything but my good will," the tiger replied as he made a move towards the looming staircase, "that's what keeps them coming back, and interested."
"Alright then," she replied before pulling out a silver object from the pocket of her smart business suit.
"What's that?" the tiger asked.
"We're making another YouTube video to your official channel," the leopard replied as she aimed the silver rectangle up to her eye level and pointed it at the tiger, "Lord Mistwillow at the Otherworld 2011, Boston."
"Is that a new camera?"
"Did you think I was going to film this on a camera phone or something?" the leopard rumbled. "Of course not. HD is the word!"
"Why, you're better at this than I am," the tiger chuffed goodnaturedly.
"...ACTION!" the leopard yelped.
The tiger's ears perked at the sudden exclamation.
"Do you think we need a permit for that?"
"Nobody else is asking for one either and everyone is taking photos and videos," the leopard replied. "Now greet your fans. I'll edit this part out."
She shoved the camera forward, which resulted in the tiger leaping back.
"Not that close!" he chuckled, but then obliged and lifted a paw, "okay...hello, everyone!"
He gave a cheerful wave.
"Mistwillow here at the very friendly Otherworld science fiction and fantasy convention here in my hometown of Boston, taking a look around the venue after holding a talk about my secret new project...which you might hear more about in my blog later on!"
The tiger smiled again.
"And as you can see, now that my lovely assistant is panning the camera around..."
The leopard's expression was priceless to him while she waved the camera about to capture the mingling crowds.
"...attendance is good on the second day of the convention, as you can see, there's a lots of furs around here...and I'm enjoying myself here in the very much likeminded company. And indeed, there were a lot of furs around to hear me talk about my work, so that's definitely a very nice thing for me too..."
"You're not exactly being too interesting," the leopard snapped.
"What do you want me to do then?" the tiger questioned. "Reveal plot spoilers?"
"Just keep telling how great this thing is, it'll make them want to come and meet you in a future convention or something!"
"Are we going to edit this argument out?"
"What do you think?" the leopard's tail swung dangerously close to a passing wolf in chainmail armor, clanking past along with a Master Chief in full gear.
"Okay, okay," the tiger chuckled, "the atmosphere here is quite fantastic, and I'm always happy to see everyone interacting with authors and artists and artisans and one another in a friendly environment such as this convention."
"Okay, now go up the stairs, we'll take this up to the Market!"
"Yes, boss," the tiger rumbled, "as you can see, the convention center has been made up just for us, with all these cool banners and stuff..."
The tiger waved his paw about, which prompted the leopard to capture a few of the banners hanging from the walls and the ceiling.
"That's a pretty damn big Gandalf looking up from there...hah, who knows if Grand Alchemist Alembic will one day be pictured like that, heheh...wonder if Ian McKellen would agree to play him, too...such a pleasant guy, he is, too."
"Did you actually meet him?" Miss Lopez asked.
"We said hello in London once when I was promoting," the tiger replied as he scaled the steps to the upper level, making sure that he would be at least vaguely in shot while the leopard followed him up a few paces behind him.
"Okay, good, fans love name-dropping celebrities," Miss Lopez purred, "keep going!"
"With namedropping?"
"With you telling how wonderful this place is!"
"Okay...well...and not to mention, so many stars are in attendance today...Alan Dean Foster, Margaret Atwood, and Robert Kirkman, to name a few...I'm feeling my shine definitely overshadowed today, hah...such a cool gathering we've got here! I hope to be chatting with some of them today...though I'm always up for meeting my fans...some of which I think might just be coming..."
The leopard aimed the camera boldly at a raccoon and a rat, whom had obviously curious looks on their eyes as they spotted the tiger trailed by his lady companion, and then, after exchanging glances, began to make their tentative way towards the tiger.
"Hey, uh...are you..." the rat started out.
"Hi!" the tiger smiled. "I see you've got copies of a very particular book in your paws..."
The raccoon glanced quickly at the hardcover edition of Justice of Helios clutched against his chest and flicked his ears bashfully.
"Uh..."
"And yeah, that's my book," the tiger smiled, "were you guys at the talk? I don't think I remember you making questions at least..."
"Eh..we didn't..." the rat said.
"But I certainly can see you've got books for signing," the tiger stated as put his paw into his pocket to retrieve his standby pen, "that's awesome!"
"We...we were going to come to your meet and greet at the Market..." the raccoon said.
"And you definitely should come, I'm there to say hello as much as I'm there to sign any books, so you should pop by!" the tiger smiled. "Now, since you're here early, you might as well jump the queue..."
"R-really?"
"Well I'm not holding this pen for nothing!" the tiger chuckled. "Anything particular you want me to write?"
"Uh..."
"Is she...is...is she filming us, anyway?" the rat asked.
"That's my agent, doing a little clip for YouTube about me at the con," the tiger said, "if you don't mind appearing in the video, that is, this could be part of it."
"Definitely not!" the raccoon yelped. "I mean, not a problem..."
"Great!" the tiger said, "so...want me to sign this for you by name?"
"Uh...you could?"
"Sure!"
"Then...eh...can you sign it for Nicholas?"
"By all means," the tiger smiled as he opened the book and did his curly mark on the inside page, "for Nicholas...by Lord Mistwillow...at the Otherworld...2011...there!"
"Oh, that's so awesome!" the raccoon's tail wagged as he eyed the new signature on the book.
"And how about you?"
The rat was quick to flip out a well browsed copy of A Mystic Cauldron.
"It's my first one," he said bashfully.
"Those are especially nice to sign, everyone tends to have most memories about them," the tiger smiled as he received the book with due care and attention, "of course it's fun to sign brand new copies, too, but then the furs are more excited about what they will read next, rather than sharing good memories about reading these over and over again..."
"Yeah, I can't even remember how many times I read this one..." the rat scratched his neck.
"Shall I sign I for you by name?"
"Oh, yes please," the rat said, "I'm Cory..."
"Okay...for Cory...from Lord Mistwillow...at...the Otherworld...2011...Boston...awesome!"
"Wow, thanks!"
"Hope you'll pop by the stall, too," the tiger said.
"So awesome to meet you, dude...uh...I mean...Lord..."
"Very nice to meet you too," the tiger held out his paw.
The two took their time shaking his paw before they hurried away, chatting to one another excitedly, with swaying tails.
"Well, that's my life," the tiger spoke to the camera," do you have enough already, Miss Lopez, or shall we give our fans some more eye candy?"
"We didn't even get to the Dealer's Market yet," the leopard replied.
"Well, it's just over there," the tiger waved his paw towards the decorated entrance, "not a long way to go. Won't waste any of your valuable film."
"It's got a flash card!" the leopard yelped.
"As you can hear, everyone, my agent is at the vanguard of new technology here," the tiger chuckled in reply, "I'd mention you the maker but I think that's probably product placement...and speaking of which, we're stepping into the Dealer's Market..."
The long, arching hallway was filled with stalls on both sides, populated by mingling furs and cardboard cutouts, banners and displays, with furs milling about them to admire the goods.
"And what a cornucopia of creativity...writing, visual arts, video, sculpture...creators of worlds and dreams..."
The tiger glanced at the leopard over his shoulders and chuckled at the expression on the one eye he could see of her.
"Is that a bit long-winded, Miss Lopez?"
Her ears said it all.
"And familiar names here, too...there's The Shuffling Dead, for example..." the tiger nodded in the direction of the stall adorned with cutouts of terrifyingly staring zombies, "oh, and I think there's a stall selling _Harry the Hilarious Human..._aww, man, I remember that from when I was a cub...looks like quite a few anthro artists are in this year...didn't see any skinsuiters yet, though..."
The tiger rubbed his chin.
"Well that's a smart looking stall...'Free Association'..." the tiger mused for the camera before he stepped over to the little stall populated by a fedora-wearing hyena and a blue husky scribbling on a sketchpad.
"Hi guys!"
The duo looked up from their work.
"Hello!" the hyena said.
"Hi..." the husky said.
"What is 'Free Association', if I can ask?" the tiger pointed out the stylized sign hanging over the stall.
The two furs exchanged glances before the husky nodded to the hyena.
"Well, it's an illustrated novel we're self-publishing, it's a slice of life romantic tale with...prose and full color illustrations, currently available on Kindle and other e-publishing platforms and we're looking at possibilities of print-on demand publishing in paperback form as well."
"So you're just starting out...awesome!" the tiger grinned. "It's exciting times."
"We've got some...sample illustrations of characters here and...and stuff..." the husky pushed a plastic folder over towards the tiger, "if you want to take a look..."
"By all means!"
"It's just some character sketches...and..."
"These are cute!" the tiger smiled. "Very...they're full of character and expression!"
"I'm learning new kinds of shading...like...like here..." the husky pointed out a drawing of a dragon on the plastic-enclosed page.
"This is very impressive," the tiger said, "very intricate work...you do great sketching here..."
"Here's a...a card with contact information and...how to buy the book if you find yourself interested...web page and all..." the hyena handed out a small card signed with intricate paw-writing.
"Splendid!" he said as he glanced at the card. "Does your web page have an art gallery?"
"It does," the hyena smiled to the husky.
"Great, I definitely want to be taking another look at this stuff," the tiger smiled as he closed the sample folder, "looking good!"
"Thank you so much!"
The tiger wandered over to the leopard who had stayed behind.
"Did you catch that on film, Miss Lopez?"
"I'm not here to film you doing random personal stuff," the leopard said, "besides, we should -
"Oh, damn sorry, there's someone there I want to say hello to first," the tiger said, "ten minutes...please?"
"If you really must," the leopard shrugged. "But we are late - "
"PR, Miss Lopez, PR!"
The tiger wandered over to a table draped with shiny black cloth where a stout Rottweiler had just finished signing a black book and was in the process of handing it over to a rather excited-looking arctic fox.
"...really nice meeting you!"
_ _
"Oh yeah, it's so cool, thank you so much, dude!"
_ _
"No prob! Take care!"
_ _
The starstruck arctic fox moved about, tail wagging at a good speed, as the tiger moved in, seeing that there was no queue going on for the moment and he could make his move.
"Hello there!"
The Rottweiler looked up from his desk and made a quizzical brow quirk before his ears started to perk.
"Ain't we seen each other before?"
"Colin Gilbertsville," the tiger offered his paw," we chatted back in Comic Con."
"Hmmm that's right," the Rottweiler's grip was warm and firm, "that's it."
"Pleased to see you here, too," the tiger smiled pleasantly, "doing your own thing here."
The Rottweiler shrugged.
"Something like it," he mused before glancing at the penciled drawings adorning the stall, "selling a few books, talking to some furs, signing a few..."
"Great job," the tiger smiled. "I'm going to be doing some signing later on myself at my publisher's stall."
"You got any talks lined up? I haven't had the chance to look at the schedule too much because I've spent most of the time here."
"I did a small reading today" the tiger said, "and will be signing later."
"I'm going to be talking at the evening session in the speculative fiction panel," the Rottweiler said, "ought to be interesting."
"Oh?"
The Rottweiler reached for under the desk and pulled out a laminated sheet of paper.
"Here..." he poked a big finger down on the spot he wanted, "'A World without Fur - An Exercise in Speculative Fiction', at the big hall."
"I will try to make it, certainly," the tiger smiled. "Sounds just like my thing."
"Yo, Scott!" the Rottweiler barked over his shoulder.
A black drape of cloth shifted and a wolverine stepped out into view, lively eyes, a healthy-sized body covered in a well-fitting T-shirt.
"Yeah?"
"Come on and meet a good man," the Rottweiler smiled, "here's Gilbertsville, a writer. Gilbertsville, here's Scott, a writer's better half."
The wolverine chuckled.
"More like the best half, but I'm modest," he said as he offered his paw in a respectful shake, "Scott."
"Colin," the tiger said, "a pleasure to meet you too."
"Ain't you the guy whom Tank here said joined the league recently?"
The tiger gave the seated Rottweiler a curious look, to which the sitting canine only smiled.
"He's been to YouTube I think or wotchacallit," the Rottweiler rumbled.
The tiger simply nodded.
"Call it my official...joining the club announcement?" he mused.
The wolverine laughed.
"Thought that hat was already meant to be it or sumthin'..."
They both laughed, behind the table.
"Aw, just kiddin', "the wolverine winked, "don't matter to anyone as long as you don't write crap."
"I'd like to think I don't," the tiger smirked.
"He ain't," the Rottweiler grinned.
"Neither do you," the tiger said, "though I'm afraid I didn't bring my copy of Beneath the Skin with me..."
The Rottweiler snapped his fingers.
"Well we better fix that, should we?" he mused as he took out his book-signing pen.
"That is too kind," the tiger said, "let me at least pay for it."
"Nah, it's on the house" the Rottweiler replied as he flipped the crisp fresh printed book and opened the cover, "hmmm...let's see that old John Hancock..."
"Miss Lopez," the tiger cleared his throat.
"Yes?"
"Could you write a personal check to a Mister Tank Jaeger and charge the company PR account, Miss Lopez?"
"But - "
"Right now, and I'd hate to leave Mister Jaeger waiting, and we do have to go to my own table soon, too, don't we?"
"We should be there already," the leopard snorted.
"Better hurry, then," the tiger smiled.
"...for...Lord Mistwillow...from...Uncle TJ...yeah...that's appropriate, I think..."
"A pleasure, I assure you" the tiger said, "already looking forward to the next one, too."
"Something's in the works," the Rottweiler commented as he capped his pen and snapped the book shut, "Just have to wait and see."
"The answer no fan ever wants to hear, but it' a burden the author must bear," the tiger said.
"I'd say!" the Rottweiler laughed roughly once he offered the book up for the tiger's picking, "here, can put this down next to his brother on the shelf."
"I sure will," the tiger smiled.
"Quite the kick to think about it sitting there next to the super secret manuscripts to your not yet published books..." the Rottie winked.
"Heheh," the tiger laughed in kind," of course."
"He barely lets me read his," the wolverine shook his head.
"Another part of being a writer's better half," the tiger mused.
"I let you read plenty," the Rottweiler looked up to the standing male next to him.
"Hummph."
"It has been very nice talking with you, but I think I have to head to my table before my assistant decides to...assist me..."
"Hope to catch you in the panel!"
"Oh, definitely," the tiger smiled, "Miss Lopez?"
"Mmmmmmrrmrrthhrer..."
"Just a moment, now."
"You better buy me something nice with that," the wolverine poked the Rottweiler's shoulder with his elbow.
"Hmmmrph...how about new spark plugs?"
"HA!"
*
THE HOCKEY HUNK RETURNS IN 2015! HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!
*
Thank you for reading! I hope you had a good time, and I look forward to your comments! Also remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Special recognition goes to Tank Jaeger (who also supplied part of his own dialogue :P - thanks, dude! ) ,
Frosted_Fur and
Valanx for their appearances in the Dealer's Market :P
Cheerio, everyone, happy holidays!
_ _