Ghost Diner
Danny hears a low grumble, and the others turn to him. "What?"
"You, uh... you hungry, little guy?" Adult Danny asks.
"Do not call me little." He glares at the others, one by one.
They don't seem very bothered, but the oldest mutters an "okay".
"And yeah, I haven't exactly eaten today. Went downstairs looking for Mom and Dad, actually." He almost pointed out that the only food in the fridge was most likely inedible, but he decided against it. If they really were future versions of himself, they'd already know.
"Ah. Well, uh. There's gotta be something around here we can eat, right? Ghosts don't really need to, but some probably like to, so..."
"I know a place!" Danny turned to Elle, only a little surprised. This was the first time anyone but he and Adult Danny had spoken in a while. Weird.
"You do?" Tall Danny asked.
"Yeah! I used to spend a lot of time in the Zone, so I know where there are some good restaurants! There's this one modeled after- oh, wait, nope. Can't talk about that one; it doesn't exist yet."
"What?"
"Time stuff."
"Seriously?"
"Yup! Anyway, I think there's another good one around here, but it might've drifted a bit by our time... This way, I think?"
"You think?"
"Hey, I said it might've moved. It's this way when I'm from."
"Right. Of course." Danny rolled his eyes and shook his head. By the time he looked back at the group, they were already moving in the direction Elle had pointed out.
So they were going. At least he might get a sandwich out of this.
Some time and a reroute later, they came to what looked to be a 50s-style diner, decked out in checkerboard patterns and green neon. A sign floating near the entrance read "Stella's".
"Stella", like a star? Cool name.
As they stepped over the threshold, Danny felt a sense of relief, calming though unmistakably strong. He looked to the others, finding that even Tall Danny seemed rather zenned out. Huh.
The interior of the place was decorated somewhat differently from the retro ice cream shop back in Amity Park. There were no black-and-white photos, no newspaper clippings, no records hung on the wall. The jukebox in the corner seemed to be playing actual records instead of mp3s, and one wall was heavily laden with shelves upon shelves of novelty cookie jars. When the door closed behind him, the air from outside was cut off, and Danny noticed just how warm the diner was.
Definitely not like the ice cream place.
"Come on, kid. Tables are this way." He snapped out of his reverie to find Adult Danny a few feet away, head turned back to him at an unnatural angle.
Right.
Yeah.
Ghost guy.
Ghost diner.
He was a ghost.
He hadn't even eaten yet today.
A Welcome Addition
"Sweet, so, uh."
"Lunchtime."
"Small talk."
"With myself."
"Uhhh... Nice... weather we're having?" They were the only words he could manage, but wow. Now he understood why the others hadn't spoken much on the way here. As the Danny with the most information, the eldest had been the one to explain all the basics to him. Everyone else? Yeah, as it turned out, small talk with himself wasn't something he was super great at. Not like he could ask about their favorite colors, or favorite books, or anything. Either he already knew- it was his favorite, too- or it had changed for some reason he wasn't allowed to know. Seconds later, the waitress came back, toting more plates than humanly possible. Either this was some antigravity ghost thing, or she was a really good waitress. "Lunaburgers all 'round? Y'all must be new around here. Usually a party yer size'd have at least one order 'sides the special."
"Yeah, most of us don't eat out in this part of the Zone much," Adult Danny said, offering a shaky smile.
"Oh! Where're y'all from, if ya don't mind me askin'?" The waitress balanced her clipboard against her side, and Danny could finally see her nametag.
Oh. The owner. Taking a look around, Danny noticed that the other waitresses looked a lot like this one. Under normal circumstances, he'd think they were family of some sort. Sisters, or maybe cousins. Here and now, though, he couldn't help but wonder if they were all the same ghost.
"We're off near Walker's jurisdiction."
"Oh my! That's a long way out! Y'all headed somewhere, or are ya movin' in? We could use a few more permanent residents around here, and a family like y'all'd be a welcome addition."
"Uh, we're not-" Danny began, immediately silenced by a sense of panic. He turned to see the others glaring daggers at him, and he elected to keep his mouth shut.
"We're just passing through."
A beat. Stella's brow furrowed slightly.
"Ma'am."
The owner lit up, brow smoothing out as a grin stretched across her face. "Awww, well that's a shame. We're happy to have y'all as long as yer here! Anything else I can getcha?"
"Uh, I don't think so..." Adult Danny glanced around the table, checking to see if the others wanted to accept the offer. "No thank you, ma'am. That's all from us."
Stella smiled again, then bustled away.
"Okay, first off, don't go telling random people we're the same person. You'll freak someone out."
"But the other waitresses..."
"Duplicates," Elle said, as though that explained everything.
"Duplicates?"
"Yeah, not super common, but with a ghost like Stella, and a Lair like this, it's not all that surprising. What is surprising is five distinct versions of the same ghost. Not many ways to explain that without outright telling the truth, and we don't need to lie to strangers if we can help it."
"Why can't we tell the truth? Do most ghosts hate time travel or something? I thought you said you were sent here by a ghost."
"Yeah, but that's... complicated? Clockwork's somewhat of a local legend around here. Going around proving he's real could really mess with the timeline."
"Isn't having all five of us in the same timeline already messing with it?"
"I mean, you're not wrong, but it's definitely worse to get anyone involved who isn't, well, us."
"So no telling people you guys are from that far out of town. Gotcha."
"And for the record, no telling people we're human, either. It's bad enough some of them can already tell. We don't need rumors that there are six halfas running around."
"'Six?' There's someone else?"
"Time stuff."
"What."
Adult Danny shrugged, and Danny rolled his eyes. Whatever. At least he finally got to-
"Hey! What happened to my burger?"
"Uh, time stuff?" Jumpsuit Danny proposed.
Danny wasn't buying it. "Hand it over."
The other Danny gave his food back, and he actually managed to relax a bit.
He finally got to eat something.
The hard part was over.
A/N: Here's Stella! She's a relative of a canon character, but that's not really relevant to the phic. Now go check out cookietastic's post over on Tumblr if you haven't already, and show her some love!