Duo blinked. Ah, shit... He'd wanted to rip Zephyrus into small pieces and stomp on the pieces, until he realised what he was doing... He looked around, hoping he was at the beach again, but the scenery this time was totally different. For one thing, it was early morning, the sun just barely clearing the buildings. For another, he was in a city or town; the buildings were bare concrete and close together with metal doors; the street was narrow with several small cars parked on one side, and exposed pipes, conduits and overhead wires everywhere... Along with heavy clouds and a feeling of impending rain. And the hills visible between the buildings were really, really... green.
Damn. Not only did this not look like California, it didn’t look like Kansas either. He swallowed; where had he ended up this time? And how long before someone came to get him? They would; he was sure of that. Q didn't like these impromptu vanishments and always wanted to know exactly what was in Duo's mind at the moment. He snorted to himself; this time Q was on the spot, he probably didn't need to ask that question.
Oh shit. Heero. He could sense when Duo ported, now that he'd gotten attuned to it. He'd be back as soon as possible and in a fury. Much as Duo would have liked to smack the crap out of Zephyrus for being so cruel to Farquahar, he didn't want the fox demon disemboweled when he couldn't be there to watch.
He glanced around again, realizing that people were appearing on the street, some walking, some getting into cars. All of them dressed as if going off to work. All of them watching him curiously. And some children in school uniforms, not stopping, but staring at him all the same.
He wished whomever was coming for him would hurry up; he felt uncomfortably exposed and unprotected here. The rattle of a metal door from down the street caught his attention. He saw a small knot of people streaming into a newly-opened shop, and then the scent of fresh coffee wafted past him. Coffee. Coffee would help; caffeine could fix anything.
He had money; he reached for his bag, and realised that he'd left it sitting on the ground. With his cellphone. Well, crap. And he was wearing Banshee drag today; no pockets, which meant no money for coffee. Dammit. Maybe he could at least find out where he was...?
He approached the shop hesitantly and waited until the line of customers had been served and sent on their way. A couple of men seated themselves after a glance at a clock on the wall. Duo sidled up to the counter where a thirty-something woman smiled at him and bobbed a small bow.
"Ohayo gozaimasu," she said expectantly.
Duo smiled automatically as he frantically tried to identify the language. Not Spanish or French; he recognised those by the accent. Maybe Chinese? Wufei's Were-Dragon Chinese was nothing like the modern Human dialects, according to Heero... Oh. Duh. Maybe it was Japanese? The Wyvern language that Heero spoke was a strange mixture of several European tongues haphazardly mingled with Japanese and some other, even older, Asian languages. If it was Japanese, then he at least had a clue where he was.
"Um... Hello..." he began hesitantly. "Do you speak English?" She frowned; obviously not.
But she looked past him to the two men and called to them. One of the men got to his feet. "May I help?" he said slowly. "I have some English; very poor," he said apologetically.
Duo sagged against the counter in relief. "I'm... lost, I think," he said slowly. "Can you tell me where I am?"
The man looked him up and down curiously and said something to the woman. She replied in a doubtful tone and he gestured to Duo. Her face lit up then and she chattered back. The man returned to Duo.
"You visit the Dragon?" he asked carefully.
"Clan Torii; yes," Duo responded hopefully. If they knew Heero's Clan, then maybe it was close by.
"I call," said the man firmly and gestured for Duo to sit down.
"Thank you!" he sighed in relief and sank into the indicated chair. A moment later the man was speaking into a cell phone and the woman had set a cup of something very black in front of the Banshee. "I don't have any money," he began.
"Ryu," she said with a snort. "Wyberunu. Kohi."
He understood that plain enough; if he was attached in some way to the Wyvern Dragons he needed coffee. "Thank you!" he said again. The coffee was espresso, he discovered, and set his head to buzzing almost immediately.
Then a phone was pressed into his hand. He blinked and said "Hello?" not expecting to understand.
"Duo!" came the cry from the tiny speaker. "What are you doing here?!"
"Faiesa?" It certainly sounded like the Clan's stern security coordinator.
"Of course," she snorted. "Tanaka-san says you are in a coffee shop in Kin-cho."
"Got me," he babbled. "I have no clue at all where I am! I just want to get home or let Heero know where I am; he's probably freaking out."
"How did you get there?"
"I... um... Do you know about my... um... accidental porting?"
"I've heard about it, but it brought you all this way?"
"Apparently..."
She snickered. "All right; stay put and I will send someone. Giniro is holding morning court."
"Great!" he cried in relief. "Thanks and I'm really sorry to cause a problem."
"Pish," she said. "You are not a problem; you are family." The line went dead then and he closed the phone, handing it back to the man.
"Thank you so much. I got... lost," he admitted in embarrassment.
The man bowed. "It is... not a problem," he smiled. He opened the collar of his raincoat to show the police officer's badge. "We are here to help." He pointed to the espresso. "The coffee is... on me...?" he offered.
Duo grinned. "Thank you very much." He gestured to his clothing ruefully. "No pockets. No money with me."
The man snickered. "Ah so. Sayonara."
Duo bounced to his feet to bow deeply. "Sayonara!"
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