I want to thank Ramza Lionheart for his concerns. ^_^ I know the reviews have been sloping, probably because of my pairing... *shrug* But even if some people get fed up with it, Alica will always be a valiant supporter. I don't think she'd let me quit the series in any case. (She doesn't comment here since we talk so much on IM.) I'd also like to thank Tiger for constantly watching, and you of course, Ramza, for your kindness. The series will continue, though most likely at a slower pace. I'm kinda losing momentum here, and some of the free time needed to do this sort of thing. And, to anyone concerned about the pairing, perhaps I didn't explain this well enough... IT IS TEMPORARY! ie. Long's going to see Alica for a bit because there's no one else around except Fox... Long: Ugh... Anyway, reguardless of who you think Long ought to end up with, or even if you don't think he ought to end up with anyone at all... it's a bit unrealistic to deny that during some point in his life he's going to have a girlfriend... well, unless you think he's gay I guess. But he doesn't give a particularly gay vibe off to me. Bi, maybe... but I don't see him as being gay. Look folks, they're not getting married, they're not screwing each other... hell, they're not even feeling up. So just relax, I'm not trying to set them up for good. I just think that he deserves some sort of companion to see him through his assassin days. Poor, abused Longy needs a friend. Long: Don't call me that! Oh, hush...
The Search
Long tossed and turned quite a bit that night, though he really made an effort not to bump into his companion too much. Being unused to having company in his bed, he couldn't seem to find a single position he felt comfortable in. As a result he got very little sleep. Alica on the other hand seemed to sleep quite soundly even though she did toss and turn also, and often ended up unintentionally elbowing him in the side. He got suspicious after awhile and turned over to check on her, only to find her sound asleep. So he just rolled over and tried to get some sleep for himself. When the morning came it was all too soon, and he woke up only reluctantly after a rough landing jarred him to his senses. After that they quickly retrieved their luggage and he hailed a taxi to take them to his parent's house.
"I almost forgot how crowded it was here." Alica stated, staring out the window in astonishment. "It's been so long..."
"It's always like this." He replied adsently, his mind still a bit groggy.
"You look tired," she noticed. "Didn't you sleep well last night?"
"Not as well as you did apperently." he answered, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. "I can't seem to keep myself awake."
"How long until we get there?"
"Not long, they live in the middle of the city, so it shouldn't take more than twenty mintues or so..." he yawned again and shook his head in an effort to wake himself up. "When should we go looking for your sister? And where is the... uh... what was it?"
"You mean the halfway house I was going to look for her in?"
"Yes, that." He muttered, shaking his head. "My apologies... I'm not quite awake yet."
"I noticed." she admitted with a smile. "It's alright, as long as this taxi is headed in the right direction not much can go wrong... right?"
"Uh..." he looked out the window, and cheked a few street signs. "We're fine. We should be there shortly."
"Good." she said, smiling brightly again. "I can't wait to meet your family. I keep wondering what they're like."
"You'll find out soon enough." He replied. After that they slipped into silence, idly gazing out the windows at the world beyond. Alica spent most of the time in silent anticipation, because most of what she was about to see was a complete mystery to her. She had a rough description of what his mother and sister looked like, but not quite enough to form an accurate picture in her mind. She also wanted to know their personalities and behavior, what the inside and out side of the place he lived looked like, and everything else that might seem like an insignificant detail to Long. Finally she was going to see the place he'd come from, and the people he'd grown up with. She imagined that if she paid attention to it, it would be like seeing a part of him that she'd never seen before. Maybe even part of the reason he was the man he was. She was going to see his home.
After awhile they pulled up in front of a humble two-story building wedged between two others on either side. There was nothing particularly notable about it, since it was painted the same dull colors as the rest of the houses on the street and blended in quite well. There were steps and rails leading up to the front door with windows on either side. There was a bit of a roof before it went up to the second floor and another two windows appeared. Long got out of the taxi immediately and picked up his luggage while Alica looked the place over for a moment. She was about to tell him that the place looked nice, but by the time she got out of the car he was already up the steps. So gathered her bags and went to follow him, but he'd already gone through the door, leaving it open behind him. She crept towards it and peeked into the room, sighting his mother to the left, fixing something in the kitchen. She felt a bit akward entering the house by herself, but crept up the stairs anyway. At the end of the stairs was a narrow hall, and at the end of them a door stood open. She went up to it and found Long inside, setting his suitcase on the floor.
"Nice room." she commented, looking it over. There weren't many wall decorations, just a few hangings here and there. Some were of dragons and tigers done in a lovely oriental print, but most everything was written in Chinese characters, few of which she could remeber at all. He had a twin bed in one corner, a night stand sitting next to it, and a desk and several drawers lining the other wall. He also had a small closet, which was behind her. Some of his clothing and a few magazines were strewn about the floor in a haphazard manner. More clothing hung from open drawers and spewed from the half-open closet. His desk was littered with all kinds of papers and his bed was a mess. She was actually very surprised, since he always kept his room back at Tylon so neat and clean. He sighed and collapsed on his bed, looking as though he were about to fall asleep any minute. She walked up to the bed and poked him in the shoulder.
"What?" he mumbled.
"Shouldn't you introduce me to your family? You know, since I'm a stranger in their house and all..."
"I need a nap."
"But... I just walked into the house and your mother doesn't even know who I am or why I'm here, she might think I'm some kind of stalker or-"
"Later." he moaned, rolling over onto his stomach and cuddling his pillow.
"Alright." she said with a sigh. He curled up on his bed, shut his eyes, and was asleep in no time. She set her bags down next to his and wondered for a minute what she was going to do while he was asleep. Then she decided to explore his room a bit. She started with the closet behind her, not wanting to search anything too close to him and risk disturbing his sleep. She carefully stepped over the clothing on the ground and peered into the dimn half-light inside the closet. As her eyes came into focus she didn't see much of interest. There was more clothing of course, in fact quite a bit of it hung from the bar that ran across it. There were also little cubicles stuffed with heavier things like coats and sweaters. One also had a few sheets and blankets for his bed, and another had wrist and ankle weights of just about every color imaginable that wasn't pastel or too bright. There were a few boxes sitting on a ledge at the top which she peeked into. She found a few throwing knives in one, and a collection of chemicals in the other, most likely to be used in poisons and sleeping potions. She quickly got bored with the closet and walked over to his drawers.
She opened the top one first, and found an interesting arrangement of sleepwear, socks, and undergarments in it. She noticed that he had several undershirts, some soft, silk pajamas, and some very nice silk boxers. She took out on particular pair of boxers made of black silk with a dragon red screened across the front. She held it up in front of her and felt at it's softness, imagining how good it must feel against his bare skin, and then snickering at the thought of ever seeing him wearing them. Now I can picture him wearing nothing but these, she thought. Then she put them back and pawed through the drawer a bit more, and to her surprise, found some swimming trunks. They were very modest in style, with legs that probably reached his knees. Then again she didn't think he would be caught dead wearing anything very revealing anyway. So, you like to go swimming Long? She walked back over towards his bed and looked out the back window, wondering if there was some sort of swimming pool out there. But the backyard that she found was very small, not even big enough for a hot tub really. It was sparesly populated with pretty flowers and fresh herbs though, which looked lovely. She assumed that it was most likely his mother's doing.
She walked back over to his drawer and closed the top one, opening the next one down. A few shirts lined the sides of it, which didn't surprise her since most of his shirts were formal and required special care, such as being hung in his closet. He had very little casual wear, since he usually dressed nicely for work and didn't seem to do much else. So she checked the last drawer, to find pretty much the same thing. A few pairs of casual pants, all looking as though they hadn't been worn in ages. All work and no play, Long? she thought. So she closed the last drawer and moved on to his desk. She couldn't read most of the papers on it since they were all in Chinese, but she did recognize the Tylon symbol on many of them, and even Van's signature on a few. So it was safe to assume it was all work information, proving her earlier theory. There was one drawer under the desk, which she found to be full of pens, pencils, paper, and a few other things like a stapler and a pencil sharpener. Nothing out of the ordinary really. She was starting to get bored.
So she walked over to his night stand. There wasn't much on top, just a little lamp and a few Chinese books she couldn't read. There were even more books stashed under the stand, and a little drawer there to search as well. She opened it up and saw a few magazines in Chinese. Most of them seemed to be catalogues of some sort, selling things like weapons and clothing and other general goods. She sighed and closed the drawer, somewhat upset at having found nothing terribly out of the ordinary in his room. She cleared herself a little spot and sat down next to his bed, and then decided that she might as well search under there as well. At first the only things she dug up were socks, underwear, and more clothes. In the very back of them she found a fungus-ridden sandwitch that must've been there for ages. Ewww, Long... Disgusting! She plugged her nose and used the nearest garment to pick it up and threw it in the trash can by his door. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see anymore of what might be under his bed after that. She waited for quite awhile until her curiosity got the better of her.
Eventually it did though, so she looked under the bed one more time, and spotted something she hadn't seen before. It was a little cardboard box stuffed into the farthest corner of the space under his bed. It had been covered up by clothing, but she'd already scraped most of that out onto his floor. Now all that remained was a few more articles in her way. Now we're getting to the good stuff, she hoped, while removing the remaining clothing and dragging the box out from under the bed. She sat up on the floor as she finally got it free and saw a scantilly dressed woman on the cover of a magazine. Score! She then opened the magazine and found that it wasn't what she'd expected. She couldn't read the characters of course, but it seemed to be some sort of lingerie magazine. She looked through and found a several more of those, and then one that appeared to be some kind of men's magazine, but still had no naked women inside though, they were all just scanitlly clad. You really are pure Long. She sighed and showed the box back under the bed, paying carefull attention to putting it right back in it's designated spot and covering it up with spare clothing. Just enough evidence to prove that he's attracted to human beings and not lead pipes... I guess it could be worse. I wonder what happened to his sex drive. Will I find it buried underneath his clothing, discarded on the floor somewhere?
She uttered a melancholy sigh and sat back down on his floor, checking her clock for the time. She found it had only taken her about half an hour to search his room, which probably meant that she had more of a wait until he awoke from his nap. So she just sat on his floor and waited for awhile, occasionally playing around with some of the clothing lining the floor since she had nothing better to do. She found another pair of boxers that seemed to be clean amongst the rest of the rubbish and decided to lay down and cuddle it for a bit. She had nearly drifted off to sleep out of sheer boredom by the time she heard him stir around in his sleep. Is he finally going to wake up? she wondered. She sat up and peeked over the edge of the bed, only to find him staring down at her.
"What do you think you are doing cuddling with my underwear?" he demanded.
"Ahhh!" she cried, startled. "I... uh... Well, you see... it was just laying around here on the floor and..." he gave her a critical glance. "Hey, I'm not the one who left it lying there!" Long groaned in annoyance and sat up on his bed. "Maybe if you put your underwear away once in awhile and kept it off the floor while I have to lie on it-"
"Alright, I get the point." he interrupted. "Well, you look like you've been bored out of your mind. What have you been doing all this time?"
"I nearly was bored to sleep a few times..." she admitted. "But I did find a few interesting things in your room."
"Such as?" he inquired, taking a quick glance around his room in an effort to figure out if anything had been disturbed. Alica really didn't understand how he could tell the difference since it was so messy to begins with, but he obviously noticed that something was wrong because a slight frown appeared on his face.
"Uh, well..." she looked over at his top drawer. "You like swimming?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" he demanded.
"You just didn't seem the type-"
"Swimming is good excersize you know."
"Forget I mentioned it."
"Anything else?" he wondered, giving her that inescapable, you'd-better-tell-me-the-truth-or-else look of his.
"Um, well..." she glanced under his bed. "I found a really moldy sandwitch under your bed..."
"And...?" he pursued, seeming a bit angry.
"Oh, nothing." she replied, summoning her most innocent look.
"You found my magazines! Didn't you!?!"
"Damnit, Long! How come I always feel like you're interrogating me and I can never lie to you?"
"Because you can't!" he insisted, the tone of his voice adding that it was futile for her to evern try. He slumped over the edge of his bed and shuffled around under it bed. A dissatisfied groan soon confirmed the fact that he realized his belongings had been disturbed. "Alica, how could you!?!" he cried, pulling himself back out fom under his bed and falling down to the floor right in front of her.
"I... um... was just curious..." He sat up and mumbled something under his breath, a very embarrased look on his face. "Look, I promise not to tell anyone... besides, there's not even enough evidence in there to prove you have a sex drive."
"You've got to be joking."
"Don't you know that it's normal for men to be horny and look at naked women?"
"I'm not normal."
"Oh... well, yeah... that's true..."
"Now get out of my room."
"But, where else am I going to go? You're mother's probably about ready to kill me for invading her house."
"Oh, right..." he muttered, shaking his head. He jumped up from his bed and headed straight for the door.
"Hey, Long... wait!" she cried, geting up from her spot on the floor. While he walked out of the room and down the hallway. "What am I going to do while you're...?" she let her sentence drag off then, since he'd already gone down the stairs, and wasn't listening to her at any rate. "Really cordial welcome I get in this place." she sarcastically muttered to herself.
"I almost forgot how crowded it was here." Alica stated, staring out the window in astonishment. "It's been so long..."
"It's always like this." He replied adsently, his mind still a bit groggy.
"You look tired," she noticed. "Didn't you sleep well last night?"
"Not as well as you did apperently." he answered, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. "I can't seem to keep myself awake."
"How long until we get there?"
"Not long, they live in the middle of the city, so it shouldn't take more than twenty mintues or so..." he yawned again and shook his head in an effort to wake himself up. "When should we go looking for your sister? And where is the... uh... what was it?"
"You mean the halfway house I was going to look for her in?"
"Yes, that." He muttered, shaking his head. "My apologies... I'm not quite awake yet."
"I noticed." she admitted with a smile. "It's alright, as long as this taxi is headed in the right direction not much can go wrong... right?"
"Uh..." he looked out the window, and cheked a few street signs. "We're fine. We should be there shortly."
"Good." she said, smiling brightly again. "I can't wait to meet your family. I keep wondering what they're like."
"You'll find out soon enough." He replied. After that they slipped into silence, idly gazing out the windows at the world beyond. Alica spent most of the time in silent anticipation, because most of what she was about to see was a complete mystery to her. She had a rough description of what his mother and sister looked like, but not quite enough to form an accurate picture in her mind. She also wanted to know their personalities and behavior, what the inside and out side of the place he lived looked like, and everything else that might seem like an insignificant detail to Long. Finally she was going to see the place he'd come from, and the people he'd grown up with. She imagined that if she paid attention to it, it would be like seeing a part of him that she'd never seen before. Maybe even part of the reason he was the man he was. She was going to see his home.
After awhile they pulled up in front of a humble two-story building wedged between two others on either side. There was nothing particularly notable about it, since it was painted the same dull colors as the rest of the houses on the street and blended in quite well. There were steps and rails leading up to the front door with windows on either side. There was a bit of a roof before it went up to the second floor and another two windows appeared. Long got out of the taxi immediately and picked up his luggage while Alica looked the place over for a moment. She was about to tell him that the place looked nice, but by the time she got out of the car he was already up the steps. So gathered her bags and went to follow him, but he'd already gone through the door, leaving it open behind him. She crept towards it and peeked into the room, sighting his mother to the left, fixing something in the kitchen. She felt a bit akward entering the house by herself, but crept up the stairs anyway. At the end of the stairs was a narrow hall, and at the end of them a door stood open. She went up to it and found Long inside, setting his suitcase on the floor.
"Nice room." she commented, looking it over. There weren't many wall decorations, just a few hangings here and there. Some were of dragons and tigers done in a lovely oriental print, but most everything was written in Chinese characters, few of which she could remeber at all. He had a twin bed in one corner, a night stand sitting next to it, and a desk and several drawers lining the other wall. He also had a small closet, which was behind her. Some of his clothing and a few magazines were strewn about the floor in a haphazard manner. More clothing hung from open drawers and spewed from the half-open closet. His desk was littered with all kinds of papers and his bed was a mess. She was actually very surprised, since he always kept his room back at Tylon so neat and clean. He sighed and collapsed on his bed, looking as though he were about to fall asleep any minute. She walked up to the bed and poked him in the shoulder.
"What?" he mumbled.
"Shouldn't you introduce me to your family? You know, since I'm a stranger in their house and all..."
"I need a nap."
"But... I just walked into the house and your mother doesn't even know who I am or why I'm here, she might think I'm some kind of stalker or-"
"Later." he moaned, rolling over onto his stomach and cuddling his pillow.
"Alright." she said with a sigh. He curled up on his bed, shut his eyes, and was asleep in no time. She set her bags down next to his and wondered for a minute what she was going to do while he was asleep. Then she decided to explore his room a bit. She started with the closet behind her, not wanting to search anything too close to him and risk disturbing his sleep. She carefully stepped over the clothing on the ground and peered into the dimn half-light inside the closet. As her eyes came into focus she didn't see much of interest. There was more clothing of course, in fact quite a bit of it hung from the bar that ran across it. There were also little cubicles stuffed with heavier things like coats and sweaters. One also had a few sheets and blankets for his bed, and another had wrist and ankle weights of just about every color imaginable that wasn't pastel or too bright. There were a few boxes sitting on a ledge at the top which she peeked into. She found a few throwing knives in one, and a collection of chemicals in the other, most likely to be used in poisons and sleeping potions. She quickly got bored with the closet and walked over to his drawers.
She opened the top one first, and found an interesting arrangement of sleepwear, socks, and undergarments in it. She noticed that he had several undershirts, some soft, silk pajamas, and some very nice silk boxers. She took out on particular pair of boxers made of black silk with a dragon red screened across the front. She held it up in front of her and felt at it's softness, imagining how good it must feel against his bare skin, and then snickering at the thought of ever seeing him wearing them. Now I can picture him wearing nothing but these, she thought. Then she put them back and pawed through the drawer a bit more, and to her surprise, found some swimming trunks. They were very modest in style, with legs that probably reached his knees. Then again she didn't think he would be caught dead wearing anything very revealing anyway. So, you like to go swimming Long? She walked back over towards his bed and looked out the back window, wondering if there was some sort of swimming pool out there. But the backyard that she found was very small, not even big enough for a hot tub really. It was sparesly populated with pretty flowers and fresh herbs though, which looked lovely. She assumed that it was most likely his mother's doing.
She walked back over to his drawer and closed the top one, opening the next one down. A few shirts lined the sides of it, which didn't surprise her since most of his shirts were formal and required special care, such as being hung in his closet. He had very little casual wear, since he usually dressed nicely for work and didn't seem to do much else. So she checked the last drawer, to find pretty much the same thing. A few pairs of casual pants, all looking as though they hadn't been worn in ages. All work and no play, Long? she thought. So she closed the last drawer and moved on to his desk. She couldn't read most of the papers on it since they were all in Chinese, but she did recognize the Tylon symbol on many of them, and even Van's signature on a few. So it was safe to assume it was all work information, proving her earlier theory. There was one drawer under the desk, which she found to be full of pens, pencils, paper, and a few other things like a stapler and a pencil sharpener. Nothing out of the ordinary really. She was starting to get bored.
So she walked over to his night stand. There wasn't much on top, just a little lamp and a few Chinese books she couldn't read. There were even more books stashed under the stand, and a little drawer there to search as well. She opened it up and saw a few magazines in Chinese. Most of them seemed to be catalogues of some sort, selling things like weapons and clothing and other general goods. She sighed and closed the drawer, somewhat upset at having found nothing terribly out of the ordinary in his room. She cleared herself a little spot and sat down next to his bed, and then decided that she might as well search under there as well. At first the only things she dug up were socks, underwear, and more clothes. In the very back of them she found a fungus-ridden sandwitch that must've been there for ages. Ewww, Long... Disgusting! She plugged her nose and used the nearest garment to pick it up and threw it in the trash can by his door. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see anymore of what might be under his bed after that. She waited for quite awhile until her curiosity got the better of her.
Eventually it did though, so she looked under the bed one more time, and spotted something she hadn't seen before. It was a little cardboard box stuffed into the farthest corner of the space under his bed. It had been covered up by clothing, but she'd already scraped most of that out onto his floor. Now all that remained was a few more articles in her way. Now we're getting to the good stuff, she hoped, while removing the remaining clothing and dragging the box out from under the bed. She sat up on the floor as she finally got it free and saw a scantilly dressed woman on the cover of a magazine. Score! She then opened the magazine and found that it wasn't what she'd expected. She couldn't read the characters of course, but it seemed to be some sort of lingerie magazine. She looked through and found a several more of those, and then one that appeared to be some kind of men's magazine, but still had no naked women inside though, they were all just scanitlly clad. You really are pure Long. She sighed and showed the box back under the bed, paying carefull attention to putting it right back in it's designated spot and covering it up with spare clothing. Just enough evidence to prove that he's attracted to human beings and not lead pipes... I guess it could be worse. I wonder what happened to his sex drive. Will I find it buried underneath his clothing, discarded on the floor somewhere?
She uttered a melancholy sigh and sat back down on his floor, checking her clock for the time. She found it had only taken her about half an hour to search his room, which probably meant that she had more of a wait until he awoke from his nap. So she just sat on his floor and waited for awhile, occasionally playing around with some of the clothing lining the floor since she had nothing better to do. She found another pair of boxers that seemed to be clean amongst the rest of the rubbish and decided to lay down and cuddle it for a bit. She had nearly drifted off to sleep out of sheer boredom by the time she heard him stir around in his sleep. Is he finally going to wake up? she wondered. She sat up and peeked over the edge of the bed, only to find him staring down at her.
"What do you think you are doing cuddling with my underwear?" he demanded.
"Ahhh!" she cried, startled. "I... uh... Well, you see... it was just laying around here on the floor and..." he gave her a critical glance. "Hey, I'm not the one who left it lying there!" Long groaned in annoyance and sat up on his bed. "Maybe if you put your underwear away once in awhile and kept it off the floor while I have to lie on it-"
"Alright, I get the point." he interrupted. "Well, you look like you've been bored out of your mind. What have you been doing all this time?"
"I nearly was bored to sleep a few times..." she admitted. "But I did find a few interesting things in your room."
"Such as?" he inquired, taking a quick glance around his room in an effort to figure out if anything had been disturbed. Alica really didn't understand how he could tell the difference since it was so messy to begins with, but he obviously noticed that something was wrong because a slight frown appeared on his face.
"Uh, well..." she looked over at his top drawer. "You like swimming?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" he demanded.
"You just didn't seem the type-"
"Swimming is good excersize you know."
"Forget I mentioned it."
"Anything else?" he wondered, giving her that inescapable, you'd-better-tell-me-the-truth-or-else look of his.
"Um, well..." she glanced under his bed. "I found a really moldy sandwitch under your bed..."
"And...?" he pursued, seeming a bit angry.
"Oh, nothing." she replied, summoning her most innocent look.
"You found my magazines! Didn't you!?!"
"Damnit, Long! How come I always feel like you're interrogating me and I can never lie to you?"
"Because you can't!" he insisted, the tone of his voice adding that it was futile for her to evern try. He slumped over the edge of his bed and shuffled around under it bed. A dissatisfied groan soon confirmed the fact that he realized his belongings had been disturbed. "Alica, how could you!?!" he cried, pulling himself back out fom under his bed and falling down to the floor right in front of her.
"I... um... was just curious..." He sat up and mumbled something under his breath, a very embarrased look on his face. "Look, I promise not to tell anyone... besides, there's not even enough evidence in there to prove you have a sex drive."
"You've got to be joking."
"Don't you know that it's normal for men to be horny and look at naked women?"
"I'm not normal."
"Oh... well, yeah... that's true..."
"Now get out of my room."
"But, where else am I going to go? You're mother's probably about ready to kill me for invading her house."
"Oh, right..." he muttered, shaking his head. He jumped up from his bed and headed straight for the door.
"Hey, Long... wait!" she cried, geting up from her spot on the floor. While he walked out of the room and down the hallway. "What am I going to do while you're...?" she let her sentence drag off then, since he'd already gone down the stairs, and wasn't listening to her at any rate. "Really cordial welcome I get in this place." she sarcastically muttered to herself.