Whatever he'd said or done, he was happy to be fodder for her silent amusement as long as it summoned the spark back to her eye. "Me? A dare?" Nikolaos chuffed, feigning insult that she'd think so lowly of him, then pulled a face.
It was most certainly a dare.
His thoughts went to the days ahead, of how best to maximize their time in Angkor Wat hours before the waxing moon, now nearing fullness, would push the cirque's shifters to restlessness and anxiety. He felt it already; prodding at his baser nature, dulling human manners and inhibitions. He assumed Lu did as well, and wondered how she would handle her first moon with a dozen of their kind so close.
It was with this thought in mind that he refocused to the sight of her slipping out from beneath her quilt. Her habit of borrowing his clothes was long established, but his undershirts were rather thin and deeply cut, as undershirts were wont to be. The long hem nearly covered her shorts, painting a strange, more suggestive picture than was expected from a standard morning stretch. The window behind the couch cut her figure in morning light. His thoughts were white noise. The moon did strange things, he told himself.
"You handled 'em like a champ. But the look on your face..." He grinned and pushed himself upright from the couch, collecting both empty coffee mugs on his way to the kitchen. "Welcome. I'll call one of those rickshaw cabs and wait up front. No rush."
They did their standard dance around one another in their small shared space while he grabbed his wallet and other necessities, then shoved feet into his boots at the door and waved over his shoulder on the way out, pulling up the number for transport as he went.
The cabby was prompt, pulling up outside the gates moments after Nik arrived in a serviceable but careworn vehicle, half-painted a horrendous shade of goldenrod yellow. He spoke broken English. Nik only knew a few courtesy phrases in the local tongue. However, by the time Lucia joined them, Nik had decided he liked Nuon, and the pair were chatting happily, helped by animated hand gestures.