THE CHARACTER.
FULL NAME: Frederick Jacob Bower Jr.
GENDER: Cis man
PRONOUNS: He/him
AGE + BIRTHDAY: 32 + March 12, 1991
LENGTH OF TIME IN WINDSOR BAY: 2 years
HOUSING: Downtown
OCCUPATION: Marine Biologist/Environmental Educator/Aquarist at Aquatic Cove
THE INTERVIEW.
What’s your family like? Are you still close, or have you blocked all their numbers?
“If I had to choose one word to describe my family it’d be big. I’ve got four siblings - three sisters and a brother.” Freddie’s face betrayed little more about his feelings, though his eyes remained soft. “We’re about as close as you can be when you live all spread out across the States. I don’t see any of my family much - barely see my parents except for on Christmas, but we’ve always had a pretty good relationship.” His family had never been close, but that didn’t bother him much. When he thought of his childhood, he remembered it with a hazy fondness. He couldn’t grasp onto any distinct memories he held with his parents or his older sisters, but he knew there were good times and that was good enough for him.
If you could have any three guests come to dinner, dead or alive, who would they be and why?
“I’d like to get all of my sisters in a room together and let them go at it. It’s been forever since I’ve seen all three of ‘em in the same room, especially since Amy - the oldest, shit she’s in her mid forties now - moved to Italy.” Freddie remembered them constantly bickering when he was a kid. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that they shared a room…and clothes…and pretty much everything their parents didn’t feel the need to buy new. Even still, the three of them shared a bond he and his brother had never managed to get in on and he wondered how much of it had survived the years.
We’ve all had our fair share of shit hit the fan and moments in the sun — tell me about a defining moment in your life, good or bad.
“It can be anything, right?” Freddie asked, contemplating how much he really wanted to embarrass himself. He decided on a mild story. “Let’s see. When I was in high school, there was this beach about an hour and a half from where I lived. And, well, I was never really into school like that…” He interrupted himself, deciding to add some more context. He was painting a word picture, after all. “You need to understand, by the time I came around, my parents were past caring where I was as long as I dragged my ass home before 11. Anyway, when I was in high school, I ditched class halfway through lunch and decided to head to the beach. It wasn’t a particularly nice beach, but I’ve never been picky about the water. I headed to this beach and I was in the water almost as soon as I’d gotten there. That was the first time I’d ever seen a shark in real life. It was a sandbar shark. They’re kind of small, look a lot like what most people imagine a shark to look like but kinda shrunk down.” He held his hands out to approximate the length of the creature he’d seen that day, a wide grin splitting across his face, his eyes vibrant and a little wild like they always were when he talked about his favorite animals. “I got so excited, I kind of forgot myself. Forgot where I was, how to swim, what I was doing. I almost ended up inhaling a few lungfuls of water and had to drag myself back to shore. I’d always loved the ocean but that was when I decided there was nothing else I’d ever want to do besides see more.”
Do you have any regrets? What are they?
“Who doesn’t?” Freddie scoffed, leaning back against the bar, his dark curls plastered to his forehead with sweat. It was painfully stuffy in the bar that evening and the number of people lurking around didn’t help. “I regret all kinds of stuff. Like…I regret buying this drink.” Said drink was quickly tipped back in one smooth motion. “It kinda blows.”
Are you a leader or a follower?
“A leader. Definitely. I bet everyone says that, though.”
THE PERSONALITY.
— + passionate, curious, innovative — - stubborn, irritable, impulsive
FREDERICK IS PORTRAYED BY JOSH HUTCHERSON, AND WRITTEN BY KIWI.