I'M YOUR PUPPET; invincible

chapter 2

[act two; chapter two     -     don't ask questions (wait a minute)]

    "Lolly, baby, come here."

    A little girl, only five, crosses the yard, the light blue of her dress brushing her legs. The fabric was just slightly too long for her, nearly tripping her with every step. But she did not care. Not even in the slightest. Not with the reach of her hands to her mother or the smile on her face. Not with her laughter in the air, entrapping their world in this moment, even if only for a brief, fleeting moment.

    To any onlookers, they would see a mother and daughter. Two people who looked so alike. So similar. With brown hair and tan, warm-toned skin. With the same smile and furrow of their brow. A copy of one to the other.

    Twin pillars crafted of marble.

    (I'm not my mother.)

    The girl crashed into her mother's open arms, tucking her body as close as she could. As if she ached to crawl inside the warmth that she had come from; to find the safety she had first known. As if her body was an empty cavity, vulnerable to the harshities of the living, breathing world.

    Thea Mason brought her daughter close to her chest, hand cradling her head against her shoulder. She sat on the grass, legs crossed, pulling Loren into her lap.

    She ran her hand down the back of Loren's head, quietly humming a song. "Two drifters, off to see the world," she sang, rocking them back and forth. Back and forth.

    Loren's hands, small and soft, clutched onto the red fabric of her mother's shirt, tucking her head under her chin. Here, she was safe. She was warm. Here, she would be nothing but this. A child seeking the warmth and comfort of arms that had only ever provided her that.

    "Mommy," the girl said quietly, tipping her head up. Chin resting on Thea's collarbone, their gazes meeting. "Did you go into space again?"

    "Mhm," Thea muttered. Ran a hand along the bridge of the girl's nose—the same nose as her own; as her own father's. "I did. I had to visit someone from Viltrum."

    "Oh." Her eyes lit up. "Was it my grandpa?"

    "No. Remember, kiddo, I haven't seen your grandpa in a long time? He's very busy with his work."

    "Yeah. He's the boss."

    "He is."

    Thea leaned back slightly, grasping Loren's face in the palms of her hands. Looking at her, at her face. At all that she was. The faces that had made up hers. She had Thea's face, but so many of her features came from Elliot's face. The arch of her brows and her green eyes. Her face was crafted perfectly—a mural of two species come together. One of a kind.