With a swipe of her fingers, Imogen created a red ribbon that stretched across the entire length of the gallery main hall before cutting it open with a construct scissors, symbolically opening her art gallery for real.
The crowd cheered and clapped before they started making their way slowly towards all of the different pedals of this flower as Imogen was surrounded by those in her close circles or those that wanted to get in. Jon took some obligatory pictures of that and a few more celebrities that he vaguely recognizes from some other places before taking off to locate Freya.
He had extremely limited backstage access, and he just ended up acting as one of the guests in the main hall while hiding his camera in a small bag inside of his hand. Thankfully, the suit he is wearing for today made sure that he doesn't look too out of place at the very least.
By the time Jon made it through the security channels designated for reporters, Bones and Freya had already gone outside and started their little fun session.
When she returned with haste, that was when Imogen cut the ribbon. The movement of people then evolved to become chaotic and vast as Jon immediately dashed to a higher level before trying to spot out the red hair of Freya's.
Instead, he spotted Pethant walking alongside Bones as they headed into one of the galleries.
Knowing that this won't be as easy as he had initially thought, Jon turned on his eyes as sharp as a string of atoms.
He started from the entrance to the contemporary galleries right around where he is and quickly scanned across the crowds walking past him before turning his head towards the entrance into the traditionally themed ones. There was nobody that remotely resembled Freya.
Those that are the ten fingers carried around a certain prideful aura, and Jon has sensed only three of those out of the crowds here. Slowly narrowing his way through the crowds, he turned his attention towards the snacks stand.
There she is, munching away at a bowl of nuts.
As much as Jon hated to admit it, this is prime paparazzi material. With his fingers as accurate as entangled quantums, Jon took a string of snapshots of her munching away before approaching.
The nuts appeared to have been the salted honey glazed variety, and she looked absolutely ravenous. When Jon stood next to her, she began a little startled with grains of salt sticking to the side of her lips.
'AHHH!' She freaked out before jumping backwards and realizing who Jon is, 'why....why are you here! This is too embarrassing...'
Jon handed her a piece of paper towel before she went ahead and used her sleeves. She snatched it out of his hand and wiped furiously around her mouth before trying to recollect herself and maintain what remained of her image in front of Jon.
'You...what was your name again?'
'I am Jon, and I am the cameraman you met at the Superhuman Association resort.' He said with a straight face, and Freya scratched her head as if those words were as meaningless to her as some of the protein deficient snacks.
'Right...that's why I recognized your face. But why are you here?'
'Is this a safe place to talk?' Jon asked, maintaining the channeling of his energy in his eyes as he scanned all around the room. Right now, the robot cameraman from United Networks had started walking all around the place and began their photography procedures. However, Jon couldn't shake the feeling that a few of the lens are pointed to the two of them here.
'Nothing is safe anywhere.' Freya shrugged before reaching out and grabbing Jon's arm with her hand. Leaning in close, she lowered her voice, 'follow me around and act as if you are my personal photographer, and nobody will be suspicious.'
'I think you just want a photographer straight up....'
'Don't be like that!' Freya blushed and complained before finishing the last salted honey glazed peanut.
Dragging Jon out of the building, they started with a few pictures by a pond of water which enclosed the flower shaped art gallery. As Freya posed around the building in a dominant stance with arms crossed in front, legs split a little wider than the shoulders and the entire gallery as the back drop, Jon raised up the camera and took a snap of it.
'So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?' Freya asked, 'I...wasn't in the clearest of mind back then, so...'
'Wait!'
Jon put up a finger, sending Freya into alert as she prepared for an enemy. However, Jon simply squatted down and took another snap.
Much better.
The feeling of dominance and strength was lacking in the shot before simply because of the angle, and now things are better.
Showing the picture to Freya, much to her pleasant surprise. She looked up longingly at Jon for a moment before dragging him to the next stop.
'You asked me to find you in S Prime to talk about the matter regarding the RED BLOB.' Jon said, taking a picture from Freya's seven o'clock position as she is walking in the beautiful backdrop of the water and encircling around to take a shot from the front. Just like Ally, Freya appeared to have been a natural at being a model, or she has had lots of practice before.
'Ah...yes.' Freya said, turning slightly to her side and holding onto the edge of her jacket to emphasis her lean abdomen and curvature of her chest and butts, 'the middle man during the incident at a abandoned ghost city spilled something about the Red Blob being made out of concentrated superhumans right?'
'That was what I heard.' Jon replied, taking a picture of that as Freya went from pose to pose before continuing.
'As far as I know, the RED BLOB is something that had its origin from the underworld a long time ago. Maybe that's where you should start looking.' Freya said, reaching out and grabbing Jon by the arm, 'come with me to the inside.'
'Are you sure you are okay being seen like this with me?' Jon asked lowly, 'we are being followed and looked at.'
'That's the exact reason.' Freya said with a sly smile, 'those robots will be too preoccupied with me hanging out with someone like you and forget all about what we are actually saying!'
Why does Jon feel like that was a shot at his experience?
'Anyhow! Let's go inside again!' Freya said cheerfully, pulling Jon along the same way that Ally does.
'I am in a relationship now....can you let me go please?' Jon said, and Freya turned around quick fast and in a hurry before throwing Jon's arms back angrily. Then, she stomped away, leading Jon to run after her, 'I didn't meant to...'
'BLAH BLAH BLAH! Yeah.' Freya said through gritted teeth as she scratched her hair forcefully, 'why did I even bother to help you...you player...'
'This is an important matter, and I am sure you know it too.' Jon said, 'something from the underworld cannot exist on its own out here. They need an entire network of production, transportation, processing, distribution and management.'
'They need people up in the surface too.'
'You...you are right.' Freya said, looking down at the floor as she kicked open the door to the main hall and walked through, 'but I would recommend starting from the underworld. The RED BLOB used outside was to enhance the strength of superhumans in battle, but here...it tends to serve a slightly different purpose. Finding a supplier up here is incredibly difficult, but things are different down under. Go to the EDGE at zone negative one, and you will find what you are looking for.'
Jon lets out a frustrated breath, and Freya looked at him with a surprised look.
'You looked like you have dealt with the matter of the RED BLOB before?' Freya asked.
'Can't say I haven't.' Jon said, looking deeply into Freya's eyes as her face slowly turned red. They shared the glance for a moment before Freya looked away first and dragged him through the gallery.
The rest of the day continued as Freya instructed. She has provided Jon with more than enough information to work with, and in response, he is to walk around as her personal photographer. People tend to move out of the way whenever Freya appeared, and her dominant aura is often what filled the entire room. Most of the superhumans around avoided her like a plague, but Jon had no reaction to it, which is yet another reason why Freya found herself drawn to the unassuming cameraman.
'The cameraman business isn't quite the same here, is it?' Freya commented before asking for Jon to show her yet another perfectly taken photo.
'Can't say it is.' Jon smiled back as Freya gave him a thumbs up.
'How about you work for me as my personal photographer? You can go wherever I go and I will make sure to pay you handsomely?' Freya suggested, as the two walked through the modelling section.
Jon immediately felt a glare coming from the corner of the room. It is coming from Ally without a doubt, and this is indeed the modelling section. He took a quick glance and immediately spotted her in the corner of the room. She looked absolutely furious when she saw Freya and Jon walking next to one another, and appeared to have been a single move away from jumping out of the stage and attacking Freya.
With his eyes widened and breaths heavy, Jon mouthed a sorry before gesturing to Ally for her forgiveness, but it appeared she is having none of it.
'I...I will think about it.' Jon said at last, 'In order to find out the truth about the red blob, I want a lot of movement freedom, so maybe following you around everywhere is not the best idea.'
'I see....' Freya said, then she reached into her pocket and picked up a business card before poking Jon in the arm with it, 'How about this. I will hire you whenever I need a photographer at a big event?'
'I will take that.' Jon smiled, and Freya returned the smiley gesture.
That's when Jon felt yet another glare coming from the opposite of the room. He turned to see Pethant and a tall skinny man looking in his direction.
Pethant was standing behind the angry and jealous man and shaking his head subtly, so Jon pretended that he didn't see him.
'Let's go!' Freya said, grabbing onto Jon's arm and pulling him forward, 'we got eight more galleries to go! Follow me!'
Leaving the angry stares that burned holes through Jon's jacket behind, the two of them made a run for it. As they pushed through the crowd, narrowly avoiding some of the stands, exhibits and other guests, Freya was chuckling excitedly like a little girl, and that was the first time Jon saw a genuine smile on her.
His critical glare towards her softened, and he now understood that perhaps she is also afraid of being alone underneath all of the tough exterior.