Night Lights and Dark Places

Chapter Thirteen - Magician

A bowl of oatmeal and three broken pairs of sunglasses later, they left the apartment.

"Do I look conspicuous to you?"

She glanced up at him over the rims of her own sunglasses and looked him up and down. He was hunched over, knees bent, and taking very tiny steps. "Why are you walking like an old man? Cut that out." He complied, standing up straighter.

"Better?"

"Better. And to answer your first question, yes, you look conspicuous as all hell," James frowned and she laughed, patting his arm gently. "It's okay, boss, you can't help it. Just look like you know where you're goin' and people won't think too hard about it."

"But I don't know where we're going."

"Well, I know where we're going and you're following, so you know by proxy. Happy?" Tolly rolled her eyes, grinning. "Just act like you live here, you know? Eyes forward, shoulders back, chin up."

James adjusted his posture as the two came to a crosswalk, straightening just enough that he hit his head on the crossing signal. "What is the purpose of this?"

"If you act like you belong, then people don't really hassle you."

A man in a passing vehicle whistled at Tolly and offered a lewd compliment. She scoffed, folded her arms over her chest. "Unless you're a lady. Then you get shit like that."

"The night we met, those men following you said similar things. Why?"

"'Cause some men are just like that. Plus I'm ridiculously attractive."

He considered this. Both statements were likely true, one more verifiably so than the other. "They could at least express their appreciation in less explicit ways."

Tolly shrugged. "I don't really care, as long as they don't touch me."

"The thought is... upsetting." His tone was suddenly very serious, and it surprised her enough to earn him a worried glance. Having taken her advice to stand up straight, his face was now too hard to see, the wide collar of his coat hiding the expression on his face.

"Don't stress, big guy, it's our big day out. Tolly and' Jamie, out on the town!" She spread her arms out wide for effect. James yawned. "Maybe just the lake. It's not too much farther. Just watch the sunrise and then you can go right back to sleep, 'kay?"

"Whatever's most convenient for you." He mumbled drowsily.

The lake was indeed close, and he could tell from the sour smell of it that it was a place he'd not previously wandered to, and upon seeing the lake, he regretted never having come before. Stretching vast across the horizon and disappearing into an early morning fog, the lake glittered golden in the dawn. The dingy little park that kissed the shoreline was an afterthought, and he walked directly into a bush and tripped over, never once taking his eyes off the water. All of his favorite colors surrounded him, in the autumn foliage and in the hazy sunrise, and it all reflected off the gentle waves in a rippling, warm ombre. A shock of crimson entered his periphery with startling speed and he flinched.

"You okay, boss? Kinda just... toppled over like a big pile of shit," Tolly said, stifling a laugh. She offered him her hand, but he returned to his feet without accepting her help. Hurt entered her expression, and he pretended not to notice. "Your hand is bleeding."

James looked down, and so it was. His threshold was so high that he'd barely noticed the enormous splinter between the knuckles of his index and middle fingers. By the time the pain had registered, she'd removed the splinter and flicked it into the grass.