milliways_bar | (no subject)

Ah, but what if the company doesn't want to accompany? What if it's too busy staring out the window a few feet away, brooding, and wondering if it's strong enough to protect the city--and world--it holds dear?

It is an intense brooding. A powerful brooding. One sure to gain someone's attention particularly when...

The Ranger finds himself pulled out of his contemplation of the dying cosmos by something...familiar. Something he has never sensed in Milliways (and rarely sensed at home, for that matter). His senses sharpen and focus and...

There!

Child! How did you find this place?

The mind voice is laced with flavors of suprise, protectiveness and concern.

Even when Danny wasn't on edge, voices in his head would alarm him.

As he was on edge, he let out a yelp and looked around, paranoid.

"Who said that?"

Or is the stress making me finally lose it? he thought to himself.

The Ranger frowns at the reaction. It wasn't an intrusion...just a touch at the outer mind-layers as he would have done to greet any of the children.

Calm yourself. You have nothing to fear from me.

Danny kept looking around, but he calmed slightly, even if his fists were still clenching and unclenching. "Someone's poking around inside my head," he said aloud, "how am I supposed to stay calm?"

Eventually he glanced at the man at the table, and caught him looking at him.

"You...?"

I am not 'poking', comes the slightly irritated reply. I've not even past the outer veil of thought. I...

He looks puzzled. "When were you born, child?" he asks aloud since the boy takes mind-speech so poorly. "You are certainly too young for the second youngest, and the eldest of the youngest cannot be more than ten years old."

Way to confuse the kid, Anla'shok.

"Do you have a degree in Confusion or is it just a hobby?" Danny asked, deadpan.

Then he thought up another possibility: "Or are you just on drugs?"

The Ranger's frown deepens. A child without knowledge of mind-touch...who doesn't seem recognize him. Well, not him personally but that they are of a people?

He steps forward, looking hard at Danny. So familiar and yet...

His eyes widen. "You're not one of our children," he murmurs.

Impossible!

"Unless your names are Jack or Maddie Fenton, then no," he replied, crossing his arms, "I'm not."

He smiles and bows slightly.

"My apologies, then. At first glance, you look exactly like one of the children from my time."

He tilts his head to the side. "If I may be so bold...what year do you come from?"

"2006," he said. A pause. "What do you mean I look like--I look like everybody else in here."

He squirmed uncomfortably.

Was there something outwardly weird about him now? That would make it harder to hide his secret?

At the mention of the year, the Ranger feels a shock that he is hard-pressed to conceal. Yes, he was prepared for an earlier date, but not that early. Long before humans even started making their homes on other worlds.

"To the outer eyes, yes," the Ranger allows. "But then, to the outer eyes, I am not particularly remarkable myself."

He smiles reassuringly. "Would you care to join me for tea? I must admit my curiosity, but I will attempt to contain it, if you prefer."

Okay, so...outer eyes.

Which meant he had inner eyes?

Danny realized that this guy might have had some way of picking up on things about people like his ghost sense and he relaxed slightly and sat down.

"Okay, I guess," he sat down, now a little curious himself.