A/N: Long ago, I had written the fic Revolutionary Etudé, detailing a ship between Adelheid and Whip, and how it grew into a pairing. 2008 was, again, a long time back, and back then while I had a fairly strong lore grounding, there was a lot I didn't know(translations were harder to come by then!)
I dropped out of fic writing not long after(time, etc), but did a little dabbling in it over the next decade or so on and off. I stepped back into the KOF fandom with some Iori and Athena work in '17, but again stepped out.
In 2020, I had noticed someone had seen the fic and enjoyed it...and upon re-reading it, I sorta recoiled at all the writing and lore mistakes. So, in a bolt of inspiration, I decided to rewrite it into Etudé of Revolution-R2, as a sort of 'comeback', or at least just to clean up the fic since I thought it deserved better, and I knew so much more thanks to better translations! (Not to mention far more refined writing skills.) And that blossomed into an entire series.
Which then blossomed into branching out to more characters, including introducing Duo Lon into the mix, a character I have also loved for years and felt he doesn't get nearly enough screentime.
While I have tried to keep these fics fairly stand-alone, there are some series aspects to them which I tried to describe in the profile.
In any case, this fic is sort of my anniversary to my comeback to a year back in the KOF fandom, and I've stayed inspired again the whole time. Besides the shippy(sometimes downright smutty) stuff and of course some of the big fighty stuff, I love writing these characters just being people, and given this crew had been through a lot this past year, I figured a vacation was due. The two days they got in Summer Party wasn't quite enough to cut loose after all they'd been through. I'm sure they'll trip over some adventures away from it all, but I think they'll do well for themselves.
A look over the profile will give you some grounding of what led up to this, though I would like to think that this stands fairly well on its own.
So, without further ado...'The Gang Goes On Vacation?' '14 Nights in Shanghai?' (Well, not all nights are in Shanghai...erm, onward!)
"So you got two whole weeks?"
"Yes! I was surprised, too. I guess they figured we'd been through enough for a while. Technically I have a couple of days to recover, too, when we return."
Adel was messing around with his computer, poring over flights to Shanghai. Using his private account with one of the more prestigious airlines, he was busily checking the dates when Whip had come back into his room after having been on the phone with Heidern. Behind him, Duo Lon lounged on the couch, his long body stretched over it and his shirt thrown to the side; one hand was behind his head and the other held his unlit pipe. He had his headphones on with his eyes closed, no doubt listening to some of his blistering music during what seemed to be somewhat of a nap, but neither of them were exactly sure. Adel sometimes thought he just sort of forced himself into some sort of half-state of rest since he was able to wake up with an uncanny quickness.
Or he just waited.
"Well that's great news. I know our friend there will be fine since he told me just get as many days as we needed and if he needed to disappear, he would," the blonde said, sipping his coffee as he glanced over dates.
"I guess seating isn't a problem."
"Not in first class," he smirked. "Any day we want will have seats available."
After their little discussion in the hot tub a couple of weeks back, the group had started to make some vacation plans. Truth be told, after all of the bullshit they had to deal with the past several months, they really felt like they needed it. After bringing up New York, since Adel and Whip had attempted that the last time, Duo Lon had suggested Shanghai as something they may have been interested in seeing. Despite the shadowy assassin not really being into big cities as a whole, he did like to visit every so often. He knew the place well, despite its changes over the years, and had said he would be more than happy to show them around.
So after a brief discussion later that night, they had decided on that for their destination; they just had to hammer down time off and the dates. There was no telling what might happen, of course-if this vacation would be quiet or not-but they at least figured they'd take the chance of this one being sane.
Whip looked over his head as he worked at his rather high-tech station, resting her chin on his hair as her hands fell on his shoulders. She suddenly pointed at the screen.
"Those look good," she said, pointing at a rather comfy looking block of seats. "Hmm. Want to go mid August, or later August into September?" she asked.
"Are you good for any of that?"
"He said I could take whatever two weeks out of August I wanted, and I could go the first week of September as well, if it came down to it." She reached down to steal some of his coffee. She shuddered somewhat; he liked his a bit stiffer than she did, and with less sugar.
He smirked at her reaction. "Maybe the last two weeks of August, then? And don't worry about getting back-I'll have the private plane for that one."
"That could work, I think?"
At that, there was a knock at the door, and the intercom came on. Adel pressed the button near his desk.
"Yes?" he asked, wondering if he had forgotten about a prior engagement.
"Sir?" Henrik's voice came from the speaker. "Your friend is here. Miss Leona."
"Oh?" he blinked. "Let her in."
"I didn't know she was off today," Whip said.
Leona walked in a moment later, wearing her trousers and light tank top; Whip knew it was brutally hot out today. She nodded at them all, wiping her brow.
Adel waved. "Hey! Didn't expect you today."
"Hi," she said softly, walking over to the couch where the snoozing Duo Lon was. Smiling a moment, she reached a hand out toward his forehead...only to have his hand snatch hers suddenly as one of his eyes opened. A smirk appeared on his face.
This made Whip smile. "When did you get here?"
"Ralf just dropped me off. I asked him if he could while he was on his way somewhere," she said, still not having moved from her position. "But...I have good news?" She scratched her head.
"What's that?" Adel said.
"I can come."
The assassin, now having removed his headphones with his free hand, smiled, though said nothing.
"Really?" Adel blinked. "We'd love to have you. I...wasn't sure if you were interested or not."
"I wasn't sure, either," she said quietly. "I...thought a lot about it. And then someone convinced me to ask." She looked down at the lounging, tattooed man who still hadn't bothered moving. "Heidern said I could. He said he knew things would be fine with you all."
"Well I guess I'm getting four tickets, then," Adel grinned, spinning back around. "No problem, of course. We just need to figure out the dates and we're set."
Pulling up a chair next to him, Whip looked at the calendar a moment before looking back over at Duo Lon, who had given Leona some room to sit, though he was still fairly slumped on the couch. He had started to fill his pipe.
"When would you suggest?" she asked the tall man.
"In August? It'll be hot and humid there regardless. And rainy off and on, probably. But it'll be fine any way you decide."
"You know? I think I'd rather leave sooner. How's the second week of August sound?" Whip asked, looking at the rest.
"Fine by me," Adel answered.
Duo Lon nodded, lighting his pipe and blowing out a stream of soft, sweet smelling tobacco.
Leona smirked at this. "I'd love to get moving somewhere. Anywhere." They knew her desk duty had been really getting to her, though ever since the company party back in June, she had been considerably more content than they had ever seen her.
"Okay then. Setting us up to leave on a Monday afternoon...about eleven hours. We'll be in at seven in the morning." He sipped more of his coffee.
"There are plenty of places to get food as soon as we get into the city proper," Duo Lon mentioned. For a moment, the assassin wondered how Shen would react to someone who could outdo him in terms of food, if they ran into the man. "And lots of it," he added.
Adel grinned at this. Whip, of course, chuckled.
The blonde stuck his tongue out at her before continuing. "So...how many rooms am I getting in total, two or three?" he asked. He thought it would be nice to not just assume things; he knew the two behind him had their own...thing going, which even he wasn't sure what exactly it was.
Leona spoke up. "Two is fine," she said, a soft smile on her face. She looked over at the assassin, who exhaled a thin stream of smoke before glancing back at her, a small smirk forming at the corner of his mouth.
"Luxury suites, of course. We'll have them the entire two weeks. If we want to go to other places, we can just leave our stuff." He quickly punched in some numbers. "It's near the center."
Whip laughed, admitting having someone who literally did not have to think about money as her beloved partner was sort of cool sometimes.
"Yeah, that's a good place," Duo Lon said. "Great views, too, since we'll be very high up if it's the one I'm thinking of."
"Oh yeah. It's tall." He hammered down a few more buttons. "And done. We leave on the second Monday in August."
Whip grinned, going over to the table to pour herself a more sane cup of coffee, loading in more sugar as Duo Lon leaned back against the couch more after setting his now-empty pipe on the table, seemingly going to get back to his nap. Leona, too, had leaned back to relax some.
Adel stood, refilling his cup and heading to the window to look out, his mind beginning to wander.
I wonder if this one's going to be peaceful?