As the woman and the two girls with her walked through the gates into the station as a whole, Vivian paused and looked to the side as she noted a bag sitting off on its own near one of the other entry gates.
Still smacking her gum, she walked over to it, reached down and picked it up. Clearly, an image of a tall, bearded man in a distinguished suit standing next to a Minbari woman with, strangely enough, long black hair.
Vivian looked about, blinking, trying to find either the man or the woman she'd seen. She almost missed him.
He was clean-shaven and was wearing a military uniform, but it was definitely the same man. And he was also clearly looking for something.
That was weird, usually when she saw things after picking something up, it was what the owner looked like at the time. She didn't usually get much from the past.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw her sister and Rally on the other end of the chamber and quick-stepped over to the man as he looked around the various pieces of furniture in the waiting area.
"Here's your bag," she said, pulling out her gum as it lost flavor and throwing it in the trash-can nearby.
"Oh, thank you," the man said, turning toward her. "I was wondering where I'd left that. How'd you know it was mine?"
"I saw you," Vivian said, shrugging. "You know, I didn't think Minbari grew hair."
"What?" the military man said with a sudden laugh. "That's an odd thing to say."
"Yeah, Rally doesn't like it when I say odd things," Vivian said, rolling her eyes.
"I didn't say I didn't like it," the man said with a smile. "I just said it was odd. Who's Rally?"
"She's my foster mother," Vivian said, looking around the room for a bit. "I'm Vivian Vincent. You can call me Vivi."
"Well, I'm Captain John Sheridan," the man said with an obliging tone. "Pleased to meet you, Vivi."
Sheridan held out his hand to shake with her and Vivian hesitantly took it as she rolled her eyes at the man's somewhat overly cheerful tone of voice. She could almost hear the baby-speak forming in the back of his mind now.
"Vivi! What are you doing over here?" a voice demanded firmly, drawing the teenager's and the Captain's attention to the speaker.
Rally's mouth under her sunglasses had that hard, worried line that Sheridan had seen on parents many times before. He immediately acted to put her at ease, reaching out his hand toward her and smiling broadly.
"Captain John Sheridan," he said in a chipper and inviting tone. "I'm guessing you're Rally?"
He looked behind Rally to see another fifteen year old girl with the same tall and slender build and vaguely dusky skin that Vivian had.
"And I'm guessing you're her sister," he said.
"That's right, Rally Vincent," the woman said in a slightly careful tone that caught Sheridan's interest.
"And I'm Shanti," the sister in the rather more feminine attire said brightly. "We're new here."
"So am I, as a matter of fact," Sheridan said with a smile before turning again toward Vivian. "And thank you for finding my bag for me. But I need to be going, first day on the job. Pleasure meeting you, and if I see any minbari with hair, I'll remember to tell you about it."
"Thanks," Vivian said as she hunched her shoulders and looked toward Rally's suddenly rigid face.
"Quite an imagination she's got," Sheridan said, his curious mind sensing the possibility of another secret to collect.
"You have no idea," Rally said with a motherly shake of her head. "Say, you wouldn't know if there's a civilian firing range on board."
"Not yet I wouldn't," he said, recognizing the attempt to change the subject and distract him. "But I'll look into it. I think I see my welcoming committee."
"Thanks for that," Rally said, grabbing Vivian sharply but not tightly and quickly moving off with both girls.
As they were out of earshot of the very friendly new commanding officer, she bent down to whisper into the girl's ears.
"Don't talk to people about what you see when you hold things," she warned quietly. "It isn't safe."
Vivian nodded and grumbled. She wanted to ask if that's why they kept moving, because of things she or Shanti saw, but, at the same time, she didn't want to confirm it.
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(Posted Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:14)
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