In the Company of Spirits

by Starhawk

Chapter 21: Seeing the Future

There was nothing quite like the sound of children shrieking at the top of their lungs.

Well, RJ amended silently, one child actually sounded a lot like multiple children shrieking at the top of their lungs. And one child in a small space could sound like a whole pack of children. He had a lot of experience with the phenomenon.

Today, though, the children were outside. They also had plenty of entertainment, which meant that the shrieks were mostly screams of joy and excitement. The fact that they weren't human didn't bother any of their babysitters, and the fact that one of their babysitters was Casey made RJ's day unfathomably better. More amusing. More touching. More... something.

Casey wasn't just good with children; he was as good with children as he was with everyone else, and that was saying something. Children were a different animal, no matter what species they were, and they frankly confused RJ. He tried to treat them the way he treated everyone else, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. They were unpredictable.

They're not little adults, Casey had tried to tell him again and again. Their brains are different. You have to talk to them differently. But "differently" seemed to be some sort of euphemism for "secret code you will never understand," so RJ had mostly given up.

Instead, he watched Casey and Lily running around after Kirlian, Chichi, and Janecha. He still wasn't totally sure how many children Kat had: some of them seemed to have different nicknames at different ages, and he was sure he'd met Janecha at least three different times now. The others he couldn't match up with each other at all. But they all seemed to be relatively good-natured... and they loved Casey.

"Hey, twinkletoes!" Casey scooped up the littlest sable-haired child, who immediately shrieked again. In protest or in delight, it was hard to tell. "Watch where you're going, or I'll turn you into a kitten!"

"Chichi!" the child shouted, and Casey just laughed.

"Okay, you can be Chichitoes the kitten!" he declared, swinging the child up on his shoulders with a strength that only Rangers had. Chichi had to be five or six years old, lack of language skills notwithstanding. There was no way someone like that was easy to throw around.

"Hey." A word from the person approaching made RJ glance over his shoulder: he'd assumed it was Tommy coming to tell him he and Theo were done, or maybe Cam wanting Casey to try his morpher again. It wasn't, though: it was someone who instantly reminded him of Fran's teammate T, though he couldn't say exactly why.

"Jack," the man said, offering his hand. "Jack Landors. You helping keep an eye on the kids?"

RJ took his hand and shook it, but he had to admit, "Only insofar as I have my eyes focused in their general direction. I'm afraid I possess little in the way of... youth supervision capabilities."

"Well, every pair of eyes helps," Jack said. "There's just so many of them when they start bouncing around the timeline to visit themselves. And when they start impersonating each other? Forget it. I told Kat, tattoos, but she says she can tell them apart."

"Ah," RJ said, eyeing him again. "You're Kat's Jack, then. From the future."

"Kind of," Jack said with a grin. "I'm Kat's Jack. But I'm actually from my own past. We had kind of a revolution in my time, and some of my friends gave me a way to keep up. Turns out it works in reverse, too. So here I am."

RJ considered that. "You're from my future, then, but you're not a native time traveler?"

"Nope." Jack leaned back to study him, the city stamp much heavier on his body language than it was on Casey's. "You followed that, though. Ranger?"

"Call me RJ," he said with a smile. "One of Casey's," he added, nodding toward the pile of kids and Rangers. Casey was helping stack the kids on top of Lily, who seemed to be practicing her... balance.

"Casey Rhodes?" Jack sounded surprised. He followed RJ's gaze. "This is 2008, isn't it?"

"Last time I checked," RJ agreed, frowning a little. He was pretty sure that was right.

"Huh." Jack folded his arms. "He's younger than I expected."

RJ had two choices: get annoyed or be amused. Since he was aware that the annoyance would be directed more at himself than at anyone else, and also that it wouldn't help anything, he went with amused. "Yes," he told Jack. "That's his disguise."

Jack laughed, which he appreciated, and he agreed, which RJ hadn't expected. "I guess it would be," he said. "We're all too something, aren't we?"

"Maybe that's what makes us different people," RJ offered. "If no one was too anything, would there be anything to be?"

An odd look crossed Jack's face, and his smile looked thoughtful. "RJ, you said? You don't do any work with autistic kids, do you?"

RJ tilted his head. "Did I mention my lack of youth supervision capability?" he wondered aloud.

"Right." Jack shook his head. "Never mind. So, how's T doing? Cause any major disasters yet?"

RJ held up his hands, trying to reframe that. "Were you... expecting him to?"

"I might have a bet on with someone about it," Jack admitted. "I bet no, if that makes it sound any better."

"Not really," RJ said. "He's currently helping out in my pizza store."

"Great!" Jack sounded unexpectedly pleased about this. "It was either send him back to do community service or let them throw him in juvey, so. I personally think this works out better for everyone."

RJ wasn't sure how he felt about that. "The past as... rehab?"

"Worked for me," Jack said flippantly. Then he caught RJ's eye. "I'm not trying to dump him on you," he added, sobering. "That's why Kat agreed to come. I just figured, some responsibility and a fresh start? It can do a lot for a guy."

RJ inclined his head.

Jack cleared his throat. "So, uh, what's Kat helping you with? Or did you just kidnap her children for the cuteness factor?"

"Ah." RJ considered that. "Difficult to say."

"The help, or the kidnapping?" Jack asked with a grin.

"In fairness," RJ said, "both. But Casey does have a tendency to... attract children. I haven't been able to determine whether they gravitate to him of their own accord, or if their parents recognize his affinity for them and--" He wiggled his fingers in Casey's direction. "Sneak them into his supervision when we're not looking."

Jack was still grinning. "You really remind me of a friend of mine," he said. "You might want to reconsider your stand on the supervision of autistic youth."

RJ blinked. "I'll... bear that in mind," he said at last. "Are you looking for Kat, by chance?"

"That depends," Jack said. "Do you know where she is?"

RJ frowned. "No," he admitted. "But I could make an educated guess."

"If it involves computers, morpher programming, or any technology that's past the design stage but not yet under construction?" Jack said. "I'll pass. I might be able to free up one or both of your babysitters, though."

He might not be able to help it. Chichi had caught sight of him--possibly because Casey was watching their conversation, sporadically and from a distance, but with obvious interest nonetheless--and the kids clearly knew Jack. RJ supposed that boded well for the idea that Jack was telling the truth. Not that he was in the habit of distrusting people, but there were children involved and he didn't actually know anything about Kat's time or former team.

"Hey Cheech!" Jack yelled, and the child finally detached itself from Casey to make a beeline for Jack. RJ found himself looking at Casey--he didn't even realize why until he saw Casey flash him a thumbs-up, and he relaxed. Casey didn't let kids go unless he knew where they were going.

Kirlian was following Chichi, but Janecha had vanished and Casey and Lily didn't look too worried about it. RJ assumed that meant everything was fine. He further assumed that taking care of time-traveling children required massive amounts of... something. Some mysterious quality that Casey, Lily, and Jack all apparently possessed.

Figuring out what that was should occupy him for a while.

"Hey, Lian," Jack said, laughing as a second child attached itself to his leg. "You guys picked the coolest kids on campus to hang out with!"

"Hi Jack," Casey said, lifting a hand over the kids' heads. "Kat told us you were coming."

"Oh yeah?" Jack sounded more amused than anything. "Too bad she didn't tell me. I had a big fight with someone just before I left over whether it was a good idea or not."

"I take it you won?" Lily said lightly.

Jack's smile turned rueful. "No. I definitely lost. I'm planning to stay here until I get over it or he does, whichever comes first. Which should be easy," he added, his tone rising again as he looked down at the kids, "with my best buds here to help me out!"

"Hey," Lily said to the kids, "do either of you like really big cats?"

This produced a generally positive response, although it was still hard to say that they were using actual... English.

"Progress," Lily said, still smiling even though she was clearly talking to RJ now. "Check this out." She held out her left hand--and after a brief pause, the cheetah appeared beside her. Bright, textured, and very real-looking.

The kids shrieked. They threw themselves at the cat, which made RJ wince, but Lily just laughed and the cheetah took it with good grace. And... solidity. "It's really there, huh?" RJ asked.

"Yup," Lily said proudly. "And watch this." She turned around and started walking. She made it halfway across the clearing before Hypericum even looked up. And when that big head swung to follow Lily, she just waved, and the cheetah settled where it was. Hypericum continued to let the kids maul her, even as Lily walked all the way to the other side of the clearing before coming back.

"You're learning to work together," RJ said, inordinately pleased with her progress. "That's great, Lily. And--can you...?"

"Make her invisible again?" Lily suggested. "Absolutely."

"Well," RJ said, beaming at her. "Let's hope Theo's making similar progress with Tommy."

"If the jaguar we saw lurking around earlier is any indication?" Casey said with a grin. "He is."

"Lurking alone," Lily added. "Theo can get way farther away from his spirit than I can."

"Not for long," Casey said.

"That's right!" Lily agreed with a smirk. "He thinks he's so good. Just wait 'til he finds a cheetah under his bed tonight."

"Ah," RJ said. "The old 'frog in the bed' trick?"

"Only funnier," Lily said smugly.

"Frogs don't have teeth," Casey added.

"Grr," Lily said, pretending to growl at him while Casey laughed at her.

When both of the kids echoed her growl, Lily looked down to ruffle their hair and Casey glanced at RJ. Brown eyes, untouched by tiger--and hopefully they'd stay that way, after whatever Cam had done to his morpher--the only suggestion of his animal spirit was the hand he half-lifted in RJ's direction. His fingers curled as he mimed a playful scratch.

RJ couldn't completely suppress a smile. He tried to hide it by looking down as he folded his arms over each other, but he was only partly successful. His best effort would have to be good enough.

Some things were meant to be shared.