There's an anchor round my heart, dragging me down

[phantastus]

WHO: James Sunderland, Laura (Silent Hill) and Harmony Cello (OC)
WHERE: On the road.
WHEN: Gravityverse, November.
WHAT: Lost people have a way of finding each other.
RATING: Probably PG.




The first snowflakes of the year were drifting down.

There was a time in his life when he would have been excited about that-- which was a very long time ago.

More recently was the time when he would have regarded it with apathy. Aside from being reminded that he might need to put on a coat, for the past three years, snow hadn't evoked much emotion in him.

But that was gone, too.

Now the sight instilled a flutter of dread in his stomach.


"JAMES! Hurry up, I'm cold!" came Laura's impatient shout from the car door.


"I'm trying, Laura," he muttered through gritted teeth, plunging his head back into the open hood of the car and reaching for the wrench again.

It had stalled on them for the third time this week, and he was starting to get worried.

Comments

[brighteyed]

Yes, James, James, please wake up! Harmony was startled out of his groggy worry cycle by the shouting and looked at the bottom of the boxsprings. He swallowed.

Harmony had put quite a bit of trust in this tall, moose-like individual. He had to depend on the mercy (and intelligence) of this man to get him to where he needed to go in one piece.

How was James going to distract the tiny destroying angel?

[nineredsquares]

The man in the bed above let out a moan, and the mattress groaned right along with him as he started to turn over.

"All right... all right... m'up..."

"No, you're not, your eyes are still shut! You're gonna fall back asleep!"

There followed a series of thumps and a grunt from James. He sat up.

"OKAY... okay..."

A pair of feet appeared as he swung his legs off the bed.

[brighteyed]

Harmony had to do something. He had to make himself known. He might not get another chance! James might not go looking for the sock that was no longer by his bed and as a tiny person, he was painfully aware of how unobservant Big People could be. The angel rushed forward.

He gave one of James's rough heels a sort of punch-something that couldn't be shrugged off as the pins and needles of sleep or something like a fallen blanket corner.

[nineredsquares]

Saying that it hurt would be an exaggeration, but it was certainly a surprise.

He let out a quiet "Ah!" and yanked his foot up again.

8( WELLP there went his hopes of that whole thing yesterday being a really weird hallucination.

Fortunately for Harmony, either Laura didn't notice or she just didn't care when James seemed to hurt himself doing things as simple as putting his feet on the floor.

"If we don't go get breakfast soon, I'll probably starve," she said, glaring pointedly at him.

[brighteyed]

And so Harmony waited again. As the girl spoke, it was only reaffirmed that she was the one in charge. She was the one he was going to have to watch out for. He entertained the idea of some little girl trying to boss his James around and let out a dry chuckle.

Then he clapped his hands over his mouth because shit.

The angel swallowed and ducked further back into the darkness of the underbed. Thank goodness it was just an underbed and not The Underbed.

[nineredsquares]

"Okay, okay... if you wanna head out to the car, I'll just uh... be right behind you..."

"Well HURRY UP! HMPH!"

She turned and flounced off towards the door. One benefit to her loud mouth was the fact that tiny sounds didn't carry too well over her voice.

James waited until she was gone, then let out a wheezy sigh of relief and slowly leaned over to peer under the bed.

8( Oh.

"... Uh... a-are you okay under there?"

[brighteyed]

A burst of feathers hit James full in the face.

Harmony couldn't help it. He'd been sitting cool (though weary) and collected there in the darkness, but as soon as a huge human face loomed into view, his wiring took over. He was a shoulder angel. He belonged on a shoulder.

Using one of James's big jug handle ears, Harmony took his post atop the man's shoulder. Harmony tried to make as small a show as possible out of smoothing them back down--he'd surprised himself.

This was probably the longest he'd been away from his charge--and the furthest--not that he thought about it. He had to guide somebody.

"Sorry about that..."

[nineredsquares]

He couldn't help it-- he yelped again and recoiled, this time in earnest. Things flying at his face from under beds weren't exactly good news.

To his credit, though, he managed to avoid clawing Harmony off of himself and flinging him at the wall. Instead he froze and waited for the angel to get situated, although the glazed look in his eye and the rapid pulse in his neck might indicate that he was startled as hell.

"I-- ... i-it's okay..."

[brighteyed]

Alert and awake, Harmony's eyes darted constantly. His wings shifted on his back. His brows furrowed. Yes. Yes, he was the best angel. One James for another. It was totally legit. He could do this.

"So, breakfast?" The angel leaned around and peered into one of James's huge eyes with an apologetic grin.

[nineredsquares]

"Uhh... we usually, um. Just go to a diner..."

But then he mentally shook himself.

There was more to think about than whether or not to get pancakes or an omelet this morning.

"Are you... planning on staying? I mean-- if you are, we-- I can't keep you hidden from Laura forever. I'll have to tell her about you."

[brighteyed]

The angel's wings sagged. James was right. He looked at his sandals and had a short battle with himself. He was still very much a part of James Walter and it caused him great pains to think of doing anything with help...but he was just too damn small. His tiny brow knitted in frustration.

"If I plan on going south without being eaten by an owl, it looks like that's what's going to have to happen." He swallowed. "She doesn't pull the heads off dolls, does she?"

[nineredsquares]

"Nnn-no.... but she does bite the heads off of gummy bears."

... Probably not the best thing to say.

But.

Well.

It was the truth.

[brighteyed]

Harmony's grip on James's ear tightened considerably. Well. He couldn't do much about that but he could stay up here out of the girl's reach. And hope she wasn't a climber.

"So be it, then."

[nineredsquares]

James swallowed.

He didn't think that Laura would actually legitimately hurt a tiny person.

He'd never seen her hurt animals, even if she could be unspeakably violent with animal-shaped food.

The only person she didn't seem to mind hurting on a regular basis was him, and, well, he deserved it.

"Sorry..."

He rose slowly, then started to gather up what few belongings had been unpacked during the night.

[brighteyed]

And so the king of Center City prepared himself to meet with the demonchild. He stood tall on James's shoulder and set his jaw and halo while James tidied things. He wished he could help and even reached out a time or two as if he could pick up that bag or he could put away that crumpled food package.

"If there's anything I can do...ah..."

[nineredsquares]

"No... no, it's okay, you're..."

He was going to say 'small', but had an idea that might be vaguely insulting. So he trailed off meaningfully instead, which was probably also insulting.

Once everything had been stuffed back into the duffel, James took one last look around the room.

"... All right..." he mumbled, mostly to himself.

[brighteyed]

Harmony was too worried and hungry and tired to be insulted--or at least to be insulted for very long. He left James's shoulder once to do a quick once around the room. Then he took up his post again right by the man's ear.

He was impressed with how often James let him take hold without swatting him like a bug.

When James gave the signal, that was the cue for Harmony to start quietly panicking. He wanted to backpedal. He wanted to change his mind. But that couldn't happen if he was going to get home. They didn't sell bus tickets to tiny angels.

Oh, please let me come out of this with all my limbs.

[nineredsquares]

Before entering the hall, James first shot a precautionary look both ways.

He was used to people not giving him so much as a second glance these days, but he didn't usually have a tiny winged man sitting on his shoulder. If Harmony was indeed real, he had a feeling that might catch some eyes.

Fortunately, this inn wasn't exactly jam-packed with people.

Breathing lowly, James shut the door behind him and hurried down the hall as quickly as he could without dislodging his passenger.

Laura was already waiting by the car, sitting on its hood and swinging her legs impatiently.

[brighteyed]

The angel mimicked him, stretching his neck out and leaning as far as he could. The long hallway was almost dizzying to Harmony. He decided that it would be for the best if he hunkered down near James's coat collar and hid in his wings until they were outside. Maybe he'd be mistaken for some novelty accessory.

Once they were outside, he stood tall again and smoothed out his robes. He hoped that being so small would make the the pants-shitting terror on his face harder to see for a Outside Person. Being exposed to this strange, slightly dozy man for a day was one thing but a child? Children were sharp. Children were curious.

Children were terrifying.