Chapter Text
"Hey, welcome to Copper news, everyone's favourite... news outlet." A bored, monotone voice droned out of the television.
"Today, we will be covering some absolutely exhilarating stories, such as Layla the blue whale who just turned three-hundred today, wow. Congratulations Layla, how you haven't given up on life yet truly is a mystery to all human and drone kind." The same voice continued, with about as much energy as a flat fizzy drink.
The solitary viewer of the television, Tessa James Elliot, with her emerald eyes glaring at the television. Wearing her usual black dress, laptop on her lap, head slumped onto her right hand's knuckles in boredom. A single mother of four in her early thirties, she had a rare moment of not having to do anything. All her kids were preoccupied with other things that didn't require her attention, her cat Flipflop was also busy sleeping on the couch next to her and there were no projects to immediately work on. The news host on the T.V. who goes by Mr. Vickers was considered a local celebrity in the small town of Copper, known for his deadpan delivery and cynical view on anything he covered was so boring it flipped back around into being endearing.
"In something of a similar variety, the population of Appalachian brown bears has been finally graphed, suggesting they are in the good few thousands." Vickers had to flip the page of the script he was holding, mumbling to himself about nothing in particular whilst doing so. "Despite not being endemic to the region, these wonderful animals should still be welcomed in open arms, maybe even a bear hug. Yeah." He didn't even attempt to make it sound like a joke.
Tessa sighed to herself, the news host definitely wasn't making her feel any less apathetic in her current state. She hoped J would be back from business school soon, not like Copper actually had a business school, more so J locking herself in her room while doing online courses on 'being a boss' or whatever business courses were about. She may have never gotten the appeal of something so dull but if anyone was to be interested in the field, it would be her eldest daughter. Tessa still supported her aspirations even if J's idea of a career was the equivalent of plain tofu.
Looking down at the laptop idly open, the blank search bar of a search engine standing by, she sighed and decided to see if any online news was any more interesting. 'Here goes nothin'.' she thought to herself as she typed in 'Drones & Humans' to see what it had to offer. The second she went on the website she was bombarded with visual garbage.
"Top 10 most scandalous biomechanical romances!"
"Household nuclear reactor melts down in house, leaves massive gaping hole in the middle of the residence, homeowners inconvenienced." 'Didn't one of those end up killing my parents?' Tessa thought to herself, shocked how those things weren't regulated yet.
"Pillbaby accidentally mistaken as golf ball, proceeds to get hole in one."
"Man loses checkers with a giant squid, gets sucker punched by tentacle after trying to argue with it." 'How do you even...'
"Drone says she has evidence of the 'murder drones', is the legend true?" This one came with an image of an insane looking drone with what seemed to be some version of deer antlers soldered onto her head, holding up a polaroid of a blurry figure flying through the sky. This one was local to her area, too.
Tessa closed the laptop as she asked herself why she even bothered, it was always the same silly stories. The news host on the T.V. was prattling on about something to do with the global temperature going down, something everyone at this point knew about. This stupor she found herself in was thankfully cut short thanks to the tell-tale sounds of J's door unlocking and opening, she was finally done with her work for the day. Footsteps followed as J made her way down the stairs. After a few seconds she finally reached the base of the steps, Tessa looked back to face where J was at. She still had those twin pigtails and business suit on, looking nothing like the rest of the population of where she resided. Seeing her like this made Tessa simultaneously proud seeing her all grown up and worried she was wasting her childhood trying to pursue business at the age of nineteen.
"Heya J, got ya classes done?" Tessa inquired J.
"Oh! Hey Tess, yeah all my classes are done for the day. Corporate being as annoying as ever." J responded as she let her hair loose from the confines of the hair ties, washing over her back in long, curly waves. J's inclusion of what Tessa called 'jargon' into her everyday language was of great amusement from the whole family, much to the former's chagrin.
"Why don't ya watch some of the news with me? Vickers is on!" J gave her mother a puzzled look, since she absolutely knows J hates watching the news, especially when the boring local host does it, but any excuse to be around Tessa was worth having to deal with the slight inconvenience.
"I mean... sure?" J shot back after a few seconds of genuine consideration, she was always the calculating type. She decided to make her way to the couch and plop herself down next to Tessa, deciding to give a rare glance to the television. Vickers was now rambling on about the pricing of A4 sheets of paper going up, the local weather being 'autumnal garbage' and the results of the giant cheese wheel race that some people in another part of the world decided to partake in, even though no-one knows why they even do it.
"Uh, Jay" Tessa decided to speak up after a dozen or so seconds of prolonged, awkward silence.
"What is it Tess?" J looked at her mother with slight concern, top part of her white LEDs slighting furrowing.
"I've been wanting to say this for a bit now, all this business stuff has been eating up way too much of your time, I know watching your children grow up is part of being a parent but... just don't throw away your childhood too, okay?"
"I promise I won't, just getting used to having to wear a suit!" J said to herself, proudly pointing at her attire.
"And I think you look bloody lovely in it too!" Tessa responded.
"It's just... what I've been wanting to say is that you still have a lot of youth to go through, and three siblings who all love you too. Just don't rush into things." She added on.
J would never admit it out loud but she cared deeply for V, N and Cyn, even if they often drove her up the wall with their shenanigans. There were many aspects of them she definitely didn't like, N basically being a doormat, just going along with whatever people say or do. V for her antsy, superstitious nature and Cyn for her plain ridiculous situations she constantly found herself in.
"I promise I won't" J repeated, Tessa pulled her into a hug which she gladly reciprocated.
This delicate moment was shattered as the front door was all but kicked in by the youngest of the family.
"Surprise entrance. Giggle, hello mother Tessa and big sister J!" The short, yellow-eyed drone drawled out in a monotonous, text to speech like voice.
Cyn was by all means a one of a kind drone, because of unusual software issues she had a uniquely golden LED colouring, both warm and brilliant at the same time. She was also extremely short, being the height of a young child, despite her hardware being fourteen years old. She struggled emoting and maintaining eye contact so she opted to use out loud auditory gestures to convey her intentions. Her body wasn't excluded from oddities either, she had locomotive issues that resulted in her limbs being wobbly, arms usually curled up to her body whilst resting and legs constantly under the threat of collapsing into themselves, her head also sometimes slunk down which required Cyn to manually readjust it using one of her hands. Despite these disabilities she was shockingly swift at times, and her both mental and physical setbacks didn't ever seem to deter her.
"Big sister J, would you like to play with me?" She quickly added on in clear excitement. J instinctively rolled her eyes at the request, she was about to deny the offer but a look from Tessa made her relapse on the idea.
"Ugh! Fine. Only because Tessa wants me to, and it better not being anything unprofessional!" J decided to reply with. Quick, to the point and conveyed exactly what she needed to. After Cyn managed to cake J in mud one time with her 'improvised outdoor bath' J always had to know exactly what Cyn was up to.
"I assure you it is nothing but the most professional activities, big sister, like rolling around in leaf litter!" Cyn happily responded. J's response was a palm gliding down her visor. Cyn ran back out into the garden and J was reluctantly following, only to be stopped by Tessa's voice once she reached the door way.
"Oh that reminds me, can you check on N and V? They should be inside the treehouse, they've been up there for a while."
"Sure thing bo- Tess, V is probably just going off about old folklore again and freaking out N." J cursed at herself mentally for such a silly slip-up, Tessa's giggling all but confirmed she heard.
J made her way outside, closing the door behind her, leaving the living room back into silence. Tessa looked over at Flipflop as he stirred in his sleep, getting into a better position to continue his napping. Tessa decided to set her laptop aside, getting up and reaching over to a framed picture of her and all four of her kids on the T.V. cabinet. She held it whilst smiling seeing them, all happy together, the three pearlescent LEDs of her older children, Cyn still being a pillbaby, cradled in her mother's arms with her trademark golden stare. 'My parents would've hated me for living like this. Good.' She thought to herself.