The Heart's Delight

Foreword: In preparation for tomorrow's #MCchat on Twitter and the launch of Tiogair, here's a little story to know where the chat is taking place - The Heart's Delight, Cerulean Springs most prominent Pleasure House, for the night made into a normal nightclub for all the characters to meet up.

Needless to say, this is an 'alternate universe', non-canon with Tiogair, since it requires quite a bit of dimension hopping and time-space continuum breaking. Enjoy!

And remember: #MCchat is tomorrow, and along with Zoe, the other guest bartenders are gonna be:

-Thierry Adler, the smart-ass warlock from Avrin Kelly's 'Trigram' novel and

-Hayden Howell, the tough Charleston homicide detective from Hollie Hausenfluck  Deja Vu!

And you can see them both in the upcoming novella Coup De Grăce

Come one come all, let's get our characters together!

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There was still a bright daylight when the tigress walked towards the short corridor at the corner of the three story building. With the lights still on, she couldn’t see well the neon lights of the Pleasure House’s insigna: hanging over the corner entrance, it was a big red heart with the ‘Heart’s Delight’ stylized logo inside it. It was hugged by a buxomy pink feminine shape and a blue, buff, sultry shape, outlined in neon.

With her Augmented Reality vision on, the tigress spent just a second to admire the animated figures in that virtual layer, sensually hugging and caressing the motionless neon outlines, with their hands under the heart doing unspeakable things.

The tigress opened in a grin, shaking her head and heading inside. The corridor was dark, the spotlights on the floor that would usually give some atmospheric, warm glow unlit.

The small nook for the bouncer was empty, since the place was still closed to the public.

She sent a short message to the people inside, trying not to spend too much time outside and give people the wrong idea, and the sturdy, big wooden doors were opened from the inside by a muscular man dressed in a black shirt and jeans. The most prominent feature of his bald head the mechanical third eye in the middle of his forehead, scanning her mercilessly as always.

“Still no chrome, housecat?”

“Oh, feis ort Ludwig. It’s way too early for me to answer that question.” she greeted the head bouncer, shaking her head and moving inside.

“I’m just saying. Lots of redecoration to do for tomorrow. You could have used the boost in strength.”

“I can bloody move shit with my mind. I don’t need implants for that.” she replied in a showily annoyed tone. It was a typical conversation opener for them, the man trying his best to convert people to mechanical prosthetics - of which he already had quite a few.

“Bah. Suit yourself, housecat. If you’re looking for Paula, she’s in her office, sorting the invitations and the organization for tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” the tigress replied, taking off her jacket and remaining in her hoodie and cargo trousers. Considering she was going to help with the redecoration, at least she wanted to be comfortable.

Holding her jacket, she took a moment to appreciate the place. Despite being a regular, it was always a pleasure to be in the nightclub - the tall ceiling had soft, moody lights, giving the dark red decor of the walls, interrupted by tall windows capable of obscuring at a simple command to give a fumé effect. The ground floor was peppered with circular tables and comfortable chairs, surrounding the various pole-dance stages where the entertainers would present themselves. The AR integration was still showing the night before’s schedule and ratings to have some private ‘fun’ with them in the upper floor rooms, accessed from the stairs on the far right corner of the spacious floor. A longer catwalk and circular, bigger stage was dead center in the far side of the room, with the DJ booth closeby, used for main events.

On the lefthand side of the room there was the long, old-style wooden counter, with a glass countertop. A vast array of liquors was standing on the shelves mounted in front of a mirror.

Avoiding the various stools, the tigress waved at the other workers still redecorating for the big event night, the buxomy demoness making sure the access to the upper floor was closed. It was a somewhat clean event after all.

Zoe moved behind the counter, opening the door to the office - the difference was stark. Where the public space was atmospheric and geared towards entertainment and sensuality, the office was brightly lit and functional. Behind the glass desk there was the bulky shape of Paula, her muscular body relaxed on the comfortable office chair and her mechanical arm tapping its finger on the desk surface. A small icon in AR over her head indicated she was in a call, so the tigress took the time to check the protection seal she traced some time ago.

Luckily, the potted plant wasn’t there anymore, so she simply checked the runeset for any smirch or imperfection.

Satisfied, she simply waited for Paula to finish her call.

“I told you I need the catering by tomorrow, and if you know what’s good for you, you better get it. I swear, I paid good money for it, you don’t want to screw this up. Clear? Good.”

With a huff, the bodybuilder-built woman closed the call, readjusting her neon pink hair flowing down the right side of her head, the left side partially shaven in a stylistic haircut.

“Fucking unprofessional people. Speaking of which. Hey Tiogair.”

Zoe gave her a deadpan stare. “Haha. Hey. So, getting everything ready?” she asked, settling the jacket on the coathanger and sitting on the guest chair in front of the desk.

“Girls and boys have their couple days off, catering is gonna come through even if I have to go kick their ass personally and I arranged transportation for those guest bartenders...Thierry Adler and Hayden Howell. They seem nice. You three are gonna go along well.”

“I still can’t believe ISSTAR managed to pull this stuff off. We’re talking full dimensional hopping here.”

“I guess someone up there really wants to showcase their tech. And hey, this means more people will get to know our stories, doesn’t it?”

“Well yes, that’s true. Gonna bet on me on the next popularity polls?”

“I wouldn’t be caught dead doing that after last time. Sorry, Tio.”

“Bitch.”

Paula chuckled, and gave her a long stare, with a creepy smile on her lips. Zoe frowned.

She didn’t like that expression.

“You know” the Pleasure House owner started. “Funny thing you should say that now. ‘Cause I was just about to say that tomorrow you have the first two hours shift behind the counter at the event.”

The tigress laughed heartily, shaking her head. “Hah! Right, and there I was getting worried. Good one.”

“I’m not kidding, Tio.”

“...what.”

“You know” Paula continued “interesting byproduct of ISSTAR doing this whole thing? I saw that interview you had on...Twitter? That’s what’s called, right? That social media. That stool isn’t going to pay itself…”

“B-But it’s the big night!” Protested Zoe, taken aback by those news.

“I know. And I thought, what better way to have people like you and get to know you than you actually serving some drinks. And in the meantime repaying my stool.”

“It wasn’t my fault, that asshole was harassing me!”

“And that is why I have security staff. You broke the no violence rule, and you destroyed property. You’re covering first shift.”

The tigress tried to find some other point to counteract. She suddenly widened her eyes. “I can’t mix a drink to save my life!”

“Nice try, but no. You’re gonna log on the AR assistant. It’s gonna be easy as pie.” before the tigress could rebuke, Paula rose her mechanical hand with her index up. “Or, I tell Aisha about it.”

That last threat made it. With a defeated huff, the tigress slumped back on the chair. “Aight. Boss. Just this time, though.”

“Good girl.” Paula chided with a satisfied grin.

Zoe sighed. And smiled herself, shaking her head. At least it would be an interesting night.

#CharactersTell Antagonists Characters - Interview with Dr. James Pritchett

This cake looks delicious af, btw.

Hello #CharactersTell crowd! Welcome back to one of our blog interview, and before we begin - Happy international women's day!

Here she is, with her charming smile!

I hope you're all passing it well! As for us, we're here with a returning guest author this week, and we're delving back into Hollie Hausenfluck's 'Deja Vu' book. For those of you who haven't seen the Background Character interview two weeks ago, which you can find here, Hollie is a lovely woman and author that you can find on Twitter, where you should totally follow her (and you can find her profile through this link).

'Deja Vu' is her upcoming Romantic Suspense novel, but aside from that, she is a prolific blogger - and you can get to her amazing blog through this link!

But we all know why we're here - we're here to get to know the Antagonist! So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Dr. James Pritchett, this week's guest!

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And we’re back with another Antag! I have to say I am a bit wary, you never know what sort of people comes around… What about you? What can you tell us about you, the book you’re in and the author writing it?

My name is James Pritchett. I’m from the novel Deja Vu, written by Hollie Hausenfluck.

A pleasure to meet you, James. Can I call you James, or do you prefer another way of addressing you? And...well, you’re the antag of this novel, but I’d like to get to know you a bit better. Where were you born? What’s your star sign?

First of all, I would prefer to be addressed as Dr. Pritchett. I didn’t spend 7 years in medical school for people to call me Mr. As for the rest of your questions, I don’t see myself as the antagonist. I’m the hero. I save people, just not in the traditional sense of the word. I was born in Charleston, SC and I don’t set much stock in star signs, but if you must know, I’m a Taurus.

Dr. Pritchett it is then. And well, they do say that Taurus signs are uncompromising, practical and patient. Do you recognize yourself in this description?

I am a very patient man. I’ve waited more than twenty years to get what I want. As to being practical, of course I’m practical, I’m a doctor. You have to have a practical outlook when it comes to dealing with patients. Uncompromising? I don’t see myself as uncompromising. Other’s might argue different, but I’ve done nothing but compromise my whole life for other people. Now it’s their turn.

I mean, a testament to your patience is being here humoring me with my questions, so I think I can see your points. A doctor, then? May we know in what field of specialization?

Right now, I work at a rehabilitation facility in the heart of downtown Charleston. I’m a general practitioner, though my field of expertise used to be obstetrics. I spent a lot of time in school studying and when I started working at an OB/GYN office, I just couldn’t handle working that close with these women. The filth, oh it was terrible.

If you are feeling this way about them, what made you take that specialization back in the day? And what made you choose to become a doctor?

Well, it’s a very long story, but I guess it’s important. I was born to a crack addicted mother, who couldn’t quit her habit long enough to raise me. She signed away her rights and I bounced around in the system. I never really found a stable home and I thought as I grew into a teen, that I wanted to help these women, but it turned out being an obstetrician, just wasn’t how I wanted to help them. Now I do different work and it’s even better.

I’m sorry you had such a rough life before the start of this book. I can imagine something like this must have put you in a pretty sour disposition towards seeing certain...things in your line of work. Though I can’t help but feel like the way you say ‘work’ does sound a tad...ominous? Is it what is putting you in this position in the book?

Yes. It seems that no one understands how important my work is. Although, I’m not sure If I would consider it work, it’s more like art. I transcend these women and turn them into masterpieces.

So you consider yourself an artist? How did you start finding out you had this sort of artistic streak?

It really started as an experiment. First, I found my mother, after 20 years, I was able to track her down. I thought maybe a meeting would be nice, maybe we could have one of those happy family reunions, but unfortunately I was wrong. She hadn’t changed. So now, I was left with the hard decision of what to do. I decided I would try to fix her, but when that didn’t work, I killed her. I immortalized her. Everyone will remember Sarah Smith as the poor drug addicted prostitute that was murdered. Her story will be told over and over again.

That’s...quite interesting, actually. Do you think your work will give them some sort of justice? Notoriety or infamy? It kinda sounds like you not only want to make your art, but give relevance to a life that might be completely forgotten if not for you.

What can I say? I’m a saint. But there’s more to it than that. I only work with women who have children. I know what those children are going through. Abandoned and forgotten by a mother who would rather do drugs than be a mother to her children. In a lot of ways, these children that are left behind should be thanking me. I just don’t understand how other people don’t understand how important my work is.

There are the whole societal norms and the common social construct of moral and ‘goodness’ after all. How did you find yourself detaching from those views? Or have you never shared them to begin with?

Maybe it had something to do with the way I was raised. I never really had a role model or any parental guidance. What little guidance I did receive was always delivered with some form of abuse. You see these? *James pulls up his shirt sleeves*

Look like cigarette burns right?

A hard life can give eschewed lessons, after all. There could be an interesting argument for the whole ‘Nature vs. Nurture’ here, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun for the readers to delve deeper into these sort of things themselves. So let’s change the subject, lighten up a bit. Sure, you might have your views on the world and your work, but you’re still a person. What do you do aside from...well. That? Are you an outdoors person?

Not really. In my free time, I do a lot of research and reading.

An intellectual through and through. Research related to your ‘work’? Or something else? And what about your social life?

I do a lot of research on addiction and how it affects the body. Social life? I do a lot of dating, but it’s not in the sense that you’re thinking.

Oh my! A very interesting way of wording it...I’m sure there’s quite the surprise behind those words, but far from me spoiling it. Not to mention, we’re almost out of time for this week! Anything you’d like to say to our readers?

Don’t take me for granted. I will get what I want, no matter what it takes.

I mean… don’t get me wrong, but that does sound like quite the Taurus response. Maybe there is some truth to that stuff after all. Anyway! It’s been a real pleasure having you with us tonight! Can’t wait to see your art in Deja Vu!

It was my pleasure.

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Brr. I've got the shivers after talking with him, he does sound like a driven and ruthless individual - and I can't wait to see him in action in Deja Vu!

As always, here's a reminder that you can get your characters interviewed here by reserving a slot - to do so, send me a direct message on Twitter! You can find the link to do so on the right sidebar! And with this, another week start and I bid you goodnight! See you around people!

#CharactersTell Background Characters - Interview with Joshua Freeman

Hello people, and welcome back to the #CharactersTell interviews! To finish our February schedule, today we've got a Background Character - someone taken from the nameless, faceless crowds of an author's work and put into the spotlight to explore their point of view as well.

For our first Background Character interview, we have Joshua Freeman, a detective of the Charleston Police Department.

And she has a lovely smile too!

He comes from "Deja Vu", an upcoming romantic suspense novel from author Hollie Hausenfluck (which you should totally follow on Twitter using this link).

She has a blog too, which you should absolutely take a look at, and you can just following this link!

But enough dilly-dallying around, let's get to it shall we? Here's the interview!

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Well hello there! It’s a pleasure to have you here with us tonight! Can you introduce yourself, the book you come from and your author?

My name is Joshua Freeman, rookie homicide detective with the Charleston police department. Apparently Hollie Hausenfluck is writing a novel called Deja Vu, where I will be making my debut appearance as “uncredited rookie cop”. *waves* Hi mom!

Well hello Joshua! It’s a pleasure to meet you! So, a rookie detective, huh? How are you finding your job so far? You must see your fair share of weird stuff…

Oh yeah. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff people do to each other. I've only been a detective for a few months now, and it's a lot of work, but it's awesome. I work with some really amazing people.

I can imagine that… You seem very fond of your coworkers! Is there someone you’re particularly inspired by?

There's this one detective, I think her name's Hayden Howell. Honestly, she's kinda scary, so I've been trying to keep my distance. She seems to know what she's doing though, so I guess it's okay that she's a total you-know-what.

There’s no reason to censor yourself here, we’ll make sure she doesn’t read this interview… Why is she scary? How does she usually behave?

Well if I'm being frank then, she's a total bitch. She just seems to have a short fuse and boy you should see her with detective Detweiler. The way those two bicker back and forth, it's like listening to my younger twin brothers argue over whose turn it is to play the video game, except with a lot more swearing. I heard she even punched him.

Wow, she definitely sounds like she has a very short temper. And despite that you still find inspiration in her? How so?

She's a cold blooded killer catching machine. She brings in so many perps and gets them to confess in a matter of minutes. I'm not sure what she's doing in that interview room, but when she comes out with the guy or gal, they look like they've seen the grim reaper. It's like a gift or something, I don't know man.

Damn, she’s that good? Do you think higher ups might be closing an eye on her behaviour for the result she brings home? And have you ever thought about asking her, or someone that works close to her?

She's damn good. I think everyone's just kind of used to her snide comments and temper and it's just what we've come to expect at work. I'm just speculating here, but deep down, she could be a nice person, she just prefers to be a bitch because it's more fun and she doesn't have to open herself up to anyone. I will say though, ever since her and Detweiler started bumping uglies, she seems to be a little less of a bitch. Maybe she just needed to get some. Who knows?

Mh, I see. At the very least she can be a nice person, and it seems like things are starting to get better with her. Think the upwards curve will continue? Perhaps if it does you can finally find out what she does in the interrogation room!

I damn sure hope so. Things seem to be going okay for now. Maybe the captain will let me work with her once her partner, Ramirez, retires. He's had some health issues recently, so he's gonna be retiring at the end of the summer.

Awh, I’m sorry to hear that. Then again, an opportunity for you to rise the ranks!

So, tell us, how did you decide to enter in this line of work? It’s not really a common choice.

I think it has something to do with the murder of a classmate of mine. In middle school she was walking to school through the woods and someone attacked her and killed her. It took the police almost fifteen years to solve the case. It shouldn't take that long to give someone's family closure. So I decided I wanted to see if I could change that. Plus, I really liked CSI growing up, though it's completely different in real life.

Oh, I’m very sorry about your classmate. And I completely agree, it shouldn’t take that long to bring a criminal to justice. Have you already worked successfully on some cases? One that remained in your mind?

I recently solved a case of jealous girlfriend versus cheating boyfriend. It was pretty straightforward. She caught him cheating, pushed him out the window, and then tried to run for it. She didn't get far before we caught up to her and she confessed after a few hours in the interrogation room. She cried like a baby through the whole thing.

Some people cry over spilt milk, she cried over a spilt boyfriend, I guess. And how are you finding the city? Do you see yourself staying here or do you aim to go work somewhere else?

I was born and raised in Charleston, SC. K don't think that's going to change anytime soon. It's actually a really nice place go live once you get over the traffic and constant tourists. Most people are pretty friendly, you know that whole southern hospitality thing.

And speaking of friendliness… It is February, so you know what sort of question I’m contractually obligated to ask. Any particularly friendly person in your life, if you know what I mean?

Meh. Who has time for that kind of stuff? I had a casual friends with benefits thing going on with a girl in my building, but she started to get too clingy.

Sticking to the lone detective thing for now, huh? Well, you never know what the future means… Now, you did say you loved CSI.. Give us your best one-liner after catching the perp. I know you want to. I can even give you the sunglasses if you need them.

Umm… You're totally putting me on the spot here, but I guess since I'm a huge David Caruso fan, I'll say, “Bet you didn't think you would be going to jail so soon.”

Feels weird to be on the other side of the questioning fence, doesn’t it? Anyway, our time is almost up! Do you have something you want to say to our readers?

I guess I would say thanks for listening to me ramble and I hope you all enjoy Deja Vu. Look for me in the background of the bullpen, I'll be the one sitting at his desk, pretending to look busy.

I’m sure we will enjoy it a lot! Thank you for your time and your disponibility! I’ll definitely keep an eye out to see how your career is going!

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And this concludes another lovely interview with another interesting character! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Starting with the first of March, we'll have another Main Character on the spot, and it can very well be YOUR Main Character from YOUR book!

To apply for the spot, just send me a Direct Message on Twitter! You can find the button to do just that on the right-hand sidebar!

See you all soon!