Thursday, May 13, 2010
Grim and Lue stepped out of the airport and headed to a taxi. The clock said 10:00, it was pitch dark and more humid than he's ever been in. They had spent most of Thursday on a cramped plane. The ride to Hamburg wasn't bad, but he hated Bangkok Airways; even though the stewardesses were cute, that didn't detract from the constant up-and-down motion of the plane all the way to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos.

Lue greased the palm of a guard at customs who questioned the syringe of milky liquid in the luggage, and there were no other questions after that. Grim fingered the blue tourmaline translation necklace, one of four he had packed. He was tempted that maybe, after they got home, he would actually get a translation tattoo.

Lue told him the destination, his cousin's house in Phonmouang, about half an hour away. Grim sighed, sliding into the air-conditioned taxi. "Why didn't you tell me the air was going to be chewy?"

Lue laughed. "I did forget about that," he said.

"I'm going to melt, Lue."

"I will summon some breezes for you, love."

Grim chuckled and watched the scenery go by. There were a lot of wood pagoda-like houses; but it was an intense city, not quite as modernized and congested as Bangkok, but there was an undercurrent of darkness beneath. Grim reached and found a ley line, but it was tainted and felt like he was putting his hand in a pool of oil.

The house they were dropped off at was cute, but tiny. Lue found the key in some secret place and opened the door. He switched on the light, and it was even smaller on the inside, cluttered with furniture of all different sizes and styles. Some were obviously of French design and antiques, others were more modernized. Grim looked around, but the translation necklace didn't extend to writing, so all the curvy lines on things meant nothing to him.

"Well, you have a packrat for a cousin."

Lue also looked around. "I never knew he had a taste for antiques."

They went into the bedroom where a lone futon sat on stilts. Grim looked under it. "This doesn't look too sturdy."

"Then we must use it only for sleep." Lue grinned at Grim.

Grim advanced on Lue, smiling. "Well, there's always the floor..."


Grim woke up in the futon, cursing tweeting birds, his arms around Lue. The clock on the wall said 5:30, and the light around the windows was a dull gray. He moved, and Lue stirred with him. "Hm?" he asked, opening his eyes to look at Grim.

"The jet lag is gonna kick our ass, love," Grim said, and kissed Lue. "It's 4:30 on Friday afternoon back home."

"I will take a few extra days off," Lue said after returning the kiss.

Both men rose from the futon and Grim looked outside as Lue performed morning libations. "It's raining," Grim said.

"It is the rainy season. It will probably rain the entire time we're here."

"Wonderful," he grumbled. When he exited the bathroom, Lue was already getting dressed. He wore a tank top that showed off his tattoos, and Grim pulled out the same from his luggage. They both wore shorts and sandals, Grim staring at Lue's powerful, muscular legs. Grim, however, was paler but no less muscular from his running around King's Row doing modified calisthenics that Kal had trained him with, and beating up the occasional Lost. The blue tourmaline necklace on the simple leather thong around Grim's neck caught the light and sparkled slightly.

Lue opened the fridge and peeked inside. "Looks like he didn't expect visitors. There's nothing in here." He closed the fridge. "We'll have to go out."

"Fine with me."

The house wasn't exactly set away from anything - Grim now noticed that it was nestled among other houses of its type. They walked a couple of blocks in the rain and turned a corner, where there were cooking kiosks of every sort. Grim took a whiff of the air and smelled everything from frying fish to a sickeningly sweet burnt honey. Lue grinned and started walking - Grim followed dutifully.

People yelled at him from all sides, demanding that he come and taste their wares. Then someone got too close to him, and Grim grabbed the man's wrist that had wandered to his hip. He looked into the man's dark eyes and sent at him a vision of destruction, and the man backed off in fear. Lue had stopped and looked back at Grim. "What is wrong, love?"

"He touched me," Grim said angrily.

"That will happen a lot around here, Grim. The city teems with people. There's no such thing as personal space."

"Sorry." Grim looked over to see french fries with green specks in a box. "Hey, those look good."

Lue turned and smiled. "Want some?"

"Sure."

Lue bought a box and took a couple. Grim took one and popped it in his mouth. He wasn't expecting the slight crunch and something like paper on his tongue. It was a little spicy, but not bad. Grim watched as the man also rolled something white into a ball and handed it to Lue. Lue gave it to Grim. "Rice." Grim bit into it - it was slightly sweet and chewy, like someone had overcooked it, not at all like the white rice he was used to.

They walked a little further and Lue got some other things, and then they found a place to sit on a set of stairs under a church. Lue dipped some of his rice in a sauce, and Grim did also, being rewarded with something that tasted like wasabi with chili peppers. "Holy Christ..." He blinked as his eyes watered.

"I got this one for you," Lue said, handing over a small cup of brown liquid. "That's sweet and sour." The two men sat, and some people came by, panhandling. They approached Grim, avoiding Lue until he would look at them, and then they'd scatter. This happened over and over.

Grim finished the last of the french fries and dusted his hands on his pants. Lue said, "Do you want to know what those were?"

"They weren't french fries?"

"No. They were deep fried moths."

Grim stared at the box. "Uh..." Lue watched Grim almost turn green.

"Don't get sick on me!" Lue cried, and drew a rune at his chest. It expanded even while it glowed green and covered his throat and stomach.

Grim took a few gulping breaths. "Lue, tell me next time!"

"You were enjoying them," Lue said with a smile. "I didn't want to stop you."

"I ate...wings. Blech!" Grim spat a few times.

Lue chuckled and got up with their trash. "Let's go see my cousins now. It should be a reasonable time to go there."

"Do they live around here?"

"A half a mile."

Grim looked around. "Do we..?"

Lue nodded. The two men went into an alleyway, and, after glancing around to see no one was looking, both bounded up into the air, Lue with a mighty leap, and Grim taking to the air.

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