Cutscene: Introspections

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

April 18, 2011

2:57 PM

"-he PRT still refusing to confirm or deny allegations of ABB influence in these attacks desp-"

No.

"-ougarton Abbey star, Courteney Dockery, in financial hot w-

No.

"-ext time on Law & Order: PRT. Check your loc-"

No.

"-ove it, I sawed this boat in half! And repai-"

No.

"-oes Mayor Christner intend to address the attacks on this city with his current st-"

No politics.

"Tonight on Mock Trial with Judge R-"

No.

"-scape from Protectorate custody, with the aid of subordinate Oni L-"

No news.

"-eath toll from what is being called "The Brockton Central Hospital Massacre" has been lowered from the initial estim-"

I said, no news.

"-st time on Los Amantes Clandesti-"

I don't speak Spanish, so no.

"-agic in a coral reef is not just the reef itself, but the importance it holds in the entire tropical ocean eco-"

Nothing educational, please.

"-ime Scene: Scene of The Crime, a Chad Dylan Cooper producti-"

Terrible.

"-es irae, dies illa, Solvet saeclum in favilla, Teste Dav-"

… Ughh, no classical right now.

"-ttle Legend: Superhero Adventures right here on Disney Ch-"

Definitely not.

"-nother episode of Young Eidolon right here on Cartoon Ne-"

Hmmm...

A set of stormy gray eyes blinked slowly, allowing another thought to penetrate the assembly line of rejections. The image of a boy in a bright green cloak, tattered jeans and a metal mask striking a pose surrounded by several other colorful characters was reflected in those same eyes as triumphant music blared before fading out.

...Why not? His bored expression shifted slightly, the sides of his mouth rising up as something occurred to him. On second thought, let's ask the expert.

Turning away from the television in front of him, gray eyes dropped to the floor as Theo cast a glance at the infant within the colorful confines of a bouncing walker, her legs softly kicking as she slowly made her way around the space in front of the couch. The baby continued her babbling and cooing, utterly oblivious to her older brother's growing smile as he watched her play.

"What do you think, Aster?"

The ten-month-old let out an odd squeaking giggle as she looked up, attention drawn by her name. The amount of dribble escaping her mouth was plentiful as usual, droplets trailing down the sides of her mouth already adding a glistening shine to several of the brightly colored plastic knobs and toys that adorned the front of her walker. Tilting his head at an angle as he leaned forward, Theo continued his thought towards his sister, still smiling that same soft smile.

"What do you think, Aster? Do you want to watch Disney Channel or Cartoon Network?" His question was replied to with a spiel of infantile babbles, the little blonde baby's attention no longer on him, as her focus was now occupied by some colorful rubber toy in her hands, the thing positively bathed in her drool.

"When you're right, you're right." The older boy nodded sagely, treating the nonsensical babbles with as much seriousness as he could despite the smile on his face. "Disney Channel is for babies."

It was a curious hand that lingered on the remote, finger hovering over the volume button for a few moments as he held his gaze on the screen. As of right now, it showed a commercial of several young children of different ethnicities bouncing through the air for some pointless reason. Theo didn't pay it much mind apart from wondering in what fictional universe could a group of children so excited about easy-peel tangerines be found?

His eyes glazed further over as he eased back onto the couch, some annoying TV spot about bullying coming up immediately after and doing its utmost to send him to sleep. He let out a yawn, a free hand rising up to scratch his butter blond hair as he placidly waited for the commercials to pass.

In a few moments, they would be airing a rerun of Young Eidolon, a cartoon all about the titular Triumvirate member's heroic misadventures as a preteen wannabe hero named Eddie Long, the entire thing set in a more modern environment than the famous hero's actual late 80s debut. More than likely, it was one he hadn't seen yet.

The idea, design, and even the animation style of the show had been shamelessly copied from the production company's equivalent on Earth Aleph; the original was some weird show involving aliens. Rip-off or not, the show was still one of Theo's favorites, not that the teen had much time to watch it in the first place.

Really, it wasn't very often that Theo Anders found himself in front of a TV, especially not with any sense of freedom to watch what he wanted. His father made very sure of that. After all, why rot your brain with pointless entertainment when he could be bettering himself, 'proving himself worthy of the Anders name'? Theo took a moment to think, idly wondering how many times he heard that same phrase till he finally realized that would never happen, at least as far as his father was concerned.

The chubby boy fought back a scowl, expression blank as he tried very hard not to glance over at his violin case propped up in the far corner of the living room. The television screen faded back in after yet another pointless advertisement and a title screen of neon green and gleaming metal zoomed into view to fill as much space as possible. Upbeat rock music played as the opening began, the images on screen bringing another small smile to his face once again.

The opening soon neared its end and Theo found himself singing along to the last of it in a rather low tone of voice, his head moving slightly in time with the music. "... Armed with powers, he's on the case, fighting off evil, he'll make the chase, he'll never stop till he makes them pay, 'cause he's the baddest kid to ever save the d-"

Theo found the words dying on his lips at the sound of a closing door and the tap-tap-tap of nearing footsteps, smile dying away as his face shifted into something that looked more at home on a marble sculpture than a fifteen-year-old boy. It was with this expression that he muted the television and looked up into the face of his once-stepmother as Kayden made her way into the living room, dressed in nothing but a white bathrobe. Her steps rang of a slightly hurried pace and Theo caught sight of an expression giving off an air of slight nerves on her face.

That changed as she stepped into the living room proper, her face brightening with the beatific bliss that only mothers could have. Kayden bent at the waist, crouching as she paused in front of Aster, the baby's cooing and giggling ratcheting up in volume as she caught sight of her mother. Those drool-covered hands reached out insistently and Kayden obliged, Theo watching placidly as the brunette cooed back at the blonde infant now in her hands.

A few long seconds of baby-talk between mother and daughter passed that way, Kayden delivering kisses all over Aster's face as she did so, before she gently lowered the baby back into her bouncer-walker, the hesitation in her actions almost screaming of reluctance.

As Aster began bouncing again, her mouth now occupied with a rubber toy, Kayden finally glanced back up at the other person in the room, shooting him a smile that Theo doubted was as earnest as she wanted it to be.

"Theo?"

He blinked once, mouth remaining in a thin, inexpressive line as he replied with a simple "Yes," the word obviously not a question.

"Well, I'm going to be heading out soon. Are you okay?" She tightened her arms around her chest as she spoke, Theo's expression dimming as he noticed that the white fabric didn't seem to end at her bathrobe, the snowy color becoming skin-tight as it left the confines of the robe all the way from her neck down to her fingers and toes.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes, sinking further back into the couch instead. It's not like I didn't expect it. Deciding to answer the vague question, Theo gave her a slight nod, replying with the usual and well-practiced, "I'm fine."

Her smile seemed to tighten as he said that, the pudgy blond not even bothering to raise an eyebrow in confusion as he cast a quick glance back at the television. Kayden was never as good at hiding her emotions as she thought she was, leaving no surprise as to why she and his father's marriage lasted for so little time.

The brunette was clearly doubtful of Theo's words, obviously hoping that he would say more. "Well, um…" she began again, "Hopefully, I'll be back before it gets dark but…" Kayden gave a light shrug, almost as if unsure where to go from there.

Theo raised an eyebrow as he waited for her to continue, her smile tightening for a moment before she began to speak again. "In case I don't get back before… Well, before midnight, I left some money on the kitchen table. You know what for. I don't know if anyone's delivering right now but if not, there's plenty of food in the fridge." Theo could only blink in response as her smile brightened in an obviously forced action, the expression only making him uncomfortable.

"Okay," he answered back, voice as slow and measured as he could make it. Silence followed his one-word reply, the lengthening quiet only broken by the sound of Aster's babbling and the energetic sounds of her walker.

"Is there anything you want to ask me?" Kayden asked, an attempt to break the tension that she had repeated several times in the past week. He never bothered to answer though, well aware that the entire point of the question was simply to bait Theo to say something… anything.

So, he simply stayed quiet, shaking his head. Kayden tended to do this often, far too often in his opinion; attempting to connect with him despite his many polite attempts to avoid any such thing. They were never close during the short period that she was legally Mrs. Maxwell Anders and with her having been married to his father for so little time before their, to him at least, expected divorce, Theo had never even gotten around to thinking of her as anything more than another girlfriend of his father's, even if she was more public than the others.

A girlfriend that happened to be the mother to his sister, but still, for Kayden to assume they had been closer than they were or for her to feel she could build such a bridge when Theo knew very well what kind of person she was…

Well, it said a lot about what kind of person she thought he was.

Despite all that, the idea of asking her where she was going did occur to him, if only to be polite, but both of them were well aware he already knew. Anyone with a TV or internet connection in the city knew that Purity had been making a lot of appearances against the ABB for the past week, after all. And now with Empire back-up once more: that little note in the news spoke volumes to Theo. He supposed he could ask the question simply to be polite, an attempt to keep up the appearance that their situation possessed even a semblance of normality… but that would just be pointless.

"Okay, then," she spoke up after a few moments of silence between them, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." It was only through force of will that he didn't stumble over the words as they passed his lips. Every single time, she asked him to say that when they both knew. Although, he was the only one that cared. The false emotion he placed into just those two syllables was enough to make him sick with how dead they made him feel.

Judging from Kayden's expression before she turned around to leave, he very much doubted his insincerity went unnoticed. As the door closed behind her, Theo took it upon himself to sink back into the couch, a finger finding the mute button without so much as a glance.

"-me on, Lee! We've got to stop Alexa before she takes out the wrong bad guy!"

An excited squeak burst from Aster's mouth as the return of sound drew her attention back to the colorful moving pictures on the TV, the ten-month-old waving her hands excitedly at the sight of it. Gray eyes brightened ever so slightly as a blank expression turned upwards at both ends.