Fred, Sam, and Mary: After Party
Posted on Sun Jul 25th, 2021 @ 5:44pm by Watch Leader Frederick Hollywood
Edited on on Sun Jul 25th, 2021 @ 5:46pm
Mission:
The Factions
Location: Bladerunner 2049 Premier
Timeline: 2017
The room was filled with the kind of music everyone said they listened to but rarely did. Fred was happy at least Mary seemed to enjoy it, Maybe because it had been written in her day. She was on the dance floor with Sam as the madman had a drink. Fred kept an eye on her and the area around her just in case something happened. There was plenty of booze and snacks at the party for everyone. He had snuck a little to Sam, and Mary earlier. Drinking laws had changed so much from when he was a kid and even more so from her day.
He hadn’t really planned on schmoozing and had settled into just enjoying the scenery and the fare. His attending was primarily focused on making sure the kind had a good time and avoiding any untimely instances. So when Ana De Armas, the actress who played Joi walked up and said hi, he was a bit unprepared. “Ah Hello, very nice to meet you Misses De Armas.”
She laughed at the tall blonde man with the old style haircut. “You can call me Ana, Mister?”
It dawned on him that in this body he looked a bit younger than her. It also dawned on him that he had only seen her in one other movie and it was something you didn’t bring up in mixed company. “My name is Frederick Hollywood.”
As Frederick struggled to think of something to say and not sound like a nut job Ana took his hand and shook it. “So did you like the movie Frederick.”
His mind spun around a little. Thinking of how her accent sounded when she said his name. “Very much so. In fact my company is about to release a product like Joi. It has been in the works for a long time. There are others like it but this will be capable of a holographic interface.” To him it still had an edge of fanboyism but at least it was toned down.
“Oh wow and how soon is it going to be released?” She smiled and took a glass from a waiter as he passed.
“Within a year or so, but now that I have seen the movie I might check and see about adding downloadable content to the line up.” It would be interesting for people to have some choices for avatars that are AI companions in other media.
Then Ana looked over at Mary. “So is that your daughter, Frederick?”
He shook his head and took a breath. “No, she is my ward. Long story but she was orphaned long ago.” She made him think of his wife. He started to think of how she might be doing in Findel. Of course that depended on how linked the two worlds really were and what the god’s there allowed for. That of course made him feel guilty. Not for talking with the actress, but because he was having fun without her. It had been a long time. He could still feel her hair between his fingers.
The Cuban actress’s voice suddenly broke him out of his reverie. “Are you okay? You seemed like a million miles away all of a sudden.”
“More than a million you might say.” He paused a moment longer. “So did you like the movie?”
“I did but I also thought it was sad when my character died.” She took another sip of her drink so it was hard to see just how serious she was.
Frederick smiled in his strange way, “I agree. I don’t know what I would do if that happened to me.” It was scary for him to think about losing Aryel like that. After all she was all he had to remind him of the real McCoy. This brought another thought to mind. What if he could bring her here. Sure his own magic might not do the trick but this universe had even greater magic than his own. Ones capable of shaping reality and bending space time. In fact that sort of thing might be needed for a few reasons. He looked back at the actress and patted her on the shoulder. “Hey, it was very nice meeting you. I will see if I can iron out that download idea with your people.” With that he walked over to the dance floor with Mary and Sam. “Are you two having a good time?”
“Oh yes Frederick! Have you tried the ice cream bar yet?” Mary was so excited she jumped up and down.
“No, no I haven't why don’t you show me.” He followed his charges along to the big ice cream bar. There were seventeen flavors of ice cream and forty nine toppings. He chose rocky road and caramel. “Oh yea that is good. They must have had this handmade or something. You did give some to Sam right?”
Mary nodded quickly. “Oh yes he loved it.”
Frederick cautioned her. “Just don’t feed him this stuff too much or too often. Cats can’t have a ton of sugar. If he wants, I will get him ice cream made for cats. People can eat it. It just isn’t as sweet.”
Then Fred’s head jerked up and looked around. Someone was watching them. Someone with ill intent. The interested party was keeping themselves out of his direct line of sight. If he hadn’t been paying so much attention to ice cream he wouldn’t have moved like that. Even though he had used protection spells on the kids he didn’t want them to activate in a crowded place like this. The madman had to come up with a plan of action quickly. One that wouldn’t draw more unwanted attention and even if noticed would be easily explained.
He knocked over a dish of chocolate sauce onto Mary’s dress. Her face looked distraught. Frederick tried to reassure her quickly, “Hey, I am so sorry. I can clean that up in a jiffy. Just follow me quickly.” He grabbed her hand and headed to the nearest restroom. He figured even if he didn’t spot who was tailing him he could get Sam and Mary out of harm's way once they were out of sight.
As they walked into the hallway outside of the party he could feel the presence getting closer. The violent intent building. “Prepare for extraction plans.”
Byte Mi and Jaques waited on his next commands.
Lorde burst into the bathroom scaring the hell out of some poor guy at the urinal that didn’t finish and just ran out the door. Once they were alone he turned to his charges. “Okay I am getting you out of here for now. If I can, I will bring you back shortly.”
Sam and Mary both nodded at him.
“Extraction Plan Alpha!” His wards disappeared. Suddenly he was shoved against the tile wall so hard it broke when his face hit it. He spun around ready to kill someone for taking this day away from him.
“Oh Lorde, you should see your face.” The tiny dark haired woman just stood there almost defiant. She was well dressed and had glasses that he was sure were just cosmetic to add to her disguise. “Did you forget about me, lover?” She only said that now because there was no one else around and because she knew how much it filled him with revulsion.
“No Miko, I didn’t forget about you. I just didn’t assign anyone else to this job.” He looked at his face in the broken mirror. It was fine but he decided to clean the place up. He cast a spell and the mirror’s cracks went away like nothing had happened. He used the same spell on his outfit and again it looked like it had just been dry cleaned.
She made a sucking sound through her teeth. “Oh well it is Miss Yoko Miko.” She twirled her hand then flicked her wrist producing a rather intimidating looking pen. “Care to make a comment for the press?” She stepped closer to him. “You could make it an exclusive you know.”
“You better let me know the next time you go outside my mission parameters again Miko or I will box you. In case you don’t understand me, ask Stryde.” He made sure to allow the mind sorceress know that was a threat.
She stepped back still smiling but more in a demure way. “Hey, hey, I just came to help. You did have things you wanted to be sure got out to the press. I have a few contacts that could use the limelight by writing up something like that. As long as there is a credible source.”
“Okay, just head back out to the party and keep your eyes open just in case that scene caught someone else's attention.” He watched her walk out.
Then Lorde resummoned his wards. Mary was crying and Sam didn’t look very happy about that at all. “Hey hey, I told you everything would be okay.” Frederick quickly removed the mess he made from the little girl’s dress hoping that was the issue.
Mary looked up at him with tears still falling from her eyes. “I thought you might not be okay. I thought we might be alone again in a strange place like before.”
Frederick sighed then knelt down. “But that didn’t happen right? Besides if I ever had to go on a trip or something you have lots of new friends now you know that right?”
Mary shook her head.
“Well you have Sam. He will always be by your side. No matter what. You will have Aryel the custodian of the city you live in. She will always help you if you ask. Even if you just want someone new to talk to. There are even more people that know about you there and care about you and wan’t the best.” It was true she was the first child of the Watch. A hope for a brand new day in the future when mutant kind could be treated as the people they were meant to be.
He grabbed a paper towel and dried her eyes and then handed her back Sam’s leash. “So how about we go see what else they have other than ice cream?”
It was a big night for all of them. It had been a family night for people who had no families.
FIN
Frederick Hollywood
Lorde
The Findelian Watch
