"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
- Romeo and Juliet
---
Juliet and Romeo
Part 1: Have you met...
"Oh, hello, darling!" A young blonde debutante beamed, her silvery evening gown sparkling under chandelier light and scattering across the cleanest marble floors this side of 14th street. "You look, oh, so dashing!" She grinned at her greeter, puller her head back so slightly and pawing at him with a hand playfully.
Her greeter, a 30-something multi-billion dollar dotcom investor balked sheepishly. Even if he knew that everything going on around him, especially this girl, was an act, he was still somewhat embarassed by the attention. "It's no big deal Marci..." he trailed off, lowering his head ever so slightly with a vague grin, rubbing the back of his neck.
Marci couldn't help but notice a redheaded girl in a black dress eyeing her conversation with the host of the party. If there was anything she knew, Marci knew when she had someone's attention, and she knew what jealously looked like, and she had the king of jealousy not 50 meters away. "Have you met my husband, Charles? Oh, you just have to meet him, Terrance! Terrance! Come this way baby!" Marci turned to grin at Charles for a moment. "He's an investment banker and he works from home and my parents love him to death."
Striding from the crowd a caramel-skinned man with hazel eyes and a tailored designer suit with a silver ascot to match his wife extended his hand. "Terrence Gibson." He beamed cordially. "I take it you're to thank for the calamari?" He laughed heartily, Charles laughed nervously, but forced it out and it somehow seemed more natural.
Glancing to the side, Charles noted the redheaded girl watching their interatction while pretending to be involved in her own chatting circle. Marci could see Charles visibly begin perspiring, tracing his gaze to the redhead.
Oblivious, Terrence began speaking with Charles about fluff conferences. Marci sighed mildly. Once again, her husband embroiled in... shop talk, until the girl in the black dress sauntered over. Marci could see her pretending to be casual, but the men would be fooled.
"Charles..." she smiled warmly, but you could see the insecurity in her eyes. "...you haven't introduced me to your friends yet." She extended her hand to Terrance and Marci.
"Oh, hi Candace..." Charles managed to sputter. It came out in a way which oozed infatuation. You could mop the floor with the stuff. "These are the Gibsons..." he trailed for a moment then cleared his throat. "You remember Marci, don't you... from the Cruise..."
Candace eyed her carefully, squinting. "I thought your name was Tiffany?"
"Terrence Gibson, nice to meet you." Terrance interjected with a jovial strength. "This is my wife Marci... you know our man Charles, here?" Terrance had gone from who are you to 'my main man' in about forty five seconds.
Candace smiled in Charles direction for the first time in 13 days. Charles' blush indicated that he had been counting. "Oh my yes, Charles and I went to high school together."
"That's so nice! Terrance and I met in high school! You two must have such wonderful stories!" Marci exclaimed, placing her hand on Candace's shoulder, pulling her into the group.
"Not really..." Charles sighed nervously. What were these people doing? They can't put that much pressure on this girl! She'll split!
Terrance laughed. "Nonsense. If you don't have stories, we must make some! Garson, bring me something that ends in '76." He nodded with a grin as he flashed a solid black credit card.
Marci shook her head in faux exasperation. "Terrance, the man says he doesn't know the girl..."
"Doesn't know me?" Candace craned her head in stiffled alarm in Charles direction.
"I didn't..." Charles began to explain before realizing it probably was pointless at his point.
"Come let's go make some memories! Your yachts near here, isn't it, Chuck?" Terrance had gone from not knowing Charles existed to calling him Chuck in under 45 minutes.
"But... I'm supposed to be the host..." Charles protested in confusion. As Terrance took the champaign bottle and extended his elbow towards his wife, who turned to Charles with a grin.
"Sounds like someone hasn't played hooky yet." She glanced to Candace with a mischeivous grin. "Will you be joining us, dear?"
Candace hesitated for only the briefest of moments. She grabbed Charles arm as they headed for the door. "Why didn't you tell me you knew such wonderful people."
Charles laughed, still nervous, but at the same time excited. It was true. He hadn't played hooky before.
--
4 Hours Later
--
"Goodnight, Terrance, Goodnight, Marci!" Candace waved her shoes at the married couple as they departed from the boat. Charles, shirt mostly unbuttoned, jacket long gone couldn't keep a grin off of his face.
"You two love birds going to call it a night?" Marci arched an eyebrow at Candace who cried in defiance. "Nevah!" laughing giddily.
"See ya' round Chuck. We'll be on my yacht, next time, aight?" Terrance gave his new friend a thumbs up.
Charles seemed to hesitate for a moment before calling out. "I'm real glad I invited you guys. You guys are the best, okay!"
Terrance and Marci just laughed and waved as the turned and headed for the parking lot.
"Well that was fun, dear..." Marci patted her husbandon the arm as they walked past all the expensive cars parked there.
"So..." Terrance cleared his throat. "When did you decide you were going to set up Candace and our boy?" He arched an eyebrow.
Marci giggled. "Oh goodness, the moment I saw them! I just knew they had to be together."
In front of the two, a door slid open. There, sitting in an unmarked Black communications van were two figures. One, a man in his late fifties, stout, perhaps of hispanic heritage. The other a young woman, looking not too terribly unlike Marci in facial structure.
The older man spoke casually still reading the paper. "Are you two ready for your treatment?"
"Oh, yes, ever much the so." Marci chimed in. Terrance only looked at her puzzled.
The woman in the van cleared her throat. "Are you ready for your treatment?"
Terrance beamed. "Treat on, sister, treat on!"
"Marci" and "Terrance" climbed into the van.
--
Later
--
Topher punched some buttons and the Imprinting Chair raised up, pushing its occupant, a caramel skinned hazel eyed young man with chiseled features and a short cropped haircut into a reclining position.
"Did I fall asleep?" he asked.
"Yes, Romeo, you did." Topher beamed genuinely. If Romeo were even a bit more astute he could detect the double edged sarcasm in the word Romeo.
Romeo nodded, as if processing the chain of events. "May I go now?"
"If you like..." Topher nodded and Romeo rose from his seat and headed down the stairs into the Dollhouse. The bright woods and white lighting amongst the eastern-influenced natural decor was a delight to the senses. It was hard for anyone not to be at peace here, even one who hadn't a care in the world.
At the bottom of the stairs he saw two familiar faces, which caused him to smile. "Hello Echo, Hello Juliet."
Fifteen minutes ago, Juliet had been Marci. Now, she was a blank slate. Tabula Rasa. This made her wide dentist-engineered smile all the more genuine. "Hello, Romeo." The pleased sound in her voice was clear.
Echo tilted her head oddly as she observed Romeo's interaction. She knew it was different somehow than other interactions here, but she couldn't put a finger on it. They were friends, but friendships have starts. Theirs did not seem to have a start that she could remember in all her time here. "Hi Romeo. Would you like to go swimming with us?"
Romeo's chest swelled at the thought. "I would love to go swimming with you Echo and Juliet." One could see in his restless mannerism he couldn't wait to dive into the pool and pull through the waves.
Echo nodded, a smile slowly spread across her face. She loved swimming. This would be fun. "Let's go..."
And off the three went to the pool. Above, two figures watched them walk off. One was an older gentleman, a former network marketer, businessman and psychologist named Ichabod Cabrillo. His far receeded hairline and notable bodyfat made him weak as a field agent, but his brain made him an invaluable asset in virtually any situation. He was a master extractor, and rarely needed codewords to manipulate his Doll. He knew their psyches nearly as well as the creator/processor, Topher.
Next to him was a indefinitely suspended FBI agent with dirty blonde hair, an open suit jacket and a lot on her mind. She had at least three guns on her at the moment, with more in the van and some exclusive stuff at home. She spoke darkly. "This is so royally screwed up. Those two were screwing each other's brains out two hours ago, and now they're going off to play in the pool like children." She shook her head.
Ichabod only laughed. "It's best not to think about things like that, Agent Ellison... have you ever seen the Matrix?"
"Yes... and call me Asia, by the way. Unless you want me to call you Doctor Cabrillo."
He only chuckled. "Well, if you think about it too long, you'll start wondering what's real and what's not real, and how you can never be sure which is which." Ichabod looked up from the New York Times briefly. "Then you'll be asking yourself if you're one of them. It will seriously mess with your head. Don't let it happen to you."
Asia just shook her head as Echo, Juliet and Romeo disappeared into a door on the opposite side of the hall. "They shouldn't have done that to her." Ellison said bitterly.
The older man just laughed. "Shouldn't is a dangerous word, Miss Asia." He laughed for a moment. "Heh, Miss Asia." He put down his paper and headed for the door. "Come on, I'll get you some coffee, we can celebrate your first mission. A complete success... and we're alive. You're three for three, Asia!"
Asia grimaced, taking one more look over the Dollhouse before following her pseudo-partner out of door. Topher was heading in and didn't notice how close Asia shoulder was getting to his.
"Nice job, new gAH!" Topher was shoulder checked hard by the new girl he sought to congratulte. She didn't even turn in his direction as he rubbed his shoulder. "Ah." He winced. "Nothing like making new friends..." |
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