A/N: When it comes to tiny out of the way areas-especially ones that are not located on any map that I can find-I take a few 'KOF World Liberties', whatever country I'm in. (For example, I have no idea if an underground metal store exists in a tiny village near Köln, so I decided to allow Duo Lon's desolate house to be near a tiny, unnamed village near the mountain range.) Just wanted to give a head's up that in some of these fics, a few of the tiny, un-named areas may not exactly exist in the real world(where I try to use proper, big cities.)
-Day 5, Hebei Province-
Over their dinner the night before, the four decided to make the sudden trip to Hebei Province, where Duo Lon had lived for most of his life. While they would not be anywhere near the more secretive territories of the Hizoku, which were very strictly off limits -and it wasn't like the few remaining members stayed too long in one spot, anyway-they would be visiting the assassin's own home, which he took no issue with, as he trusted them. It took no time at all to decide; as soon as he had suggested the side trip, Adel and Whip were immediately and happily on board.
Once they were done with their large and filling dinner, topping it all off with a couple of drinks, they went upstairs, packed their bags for a few nights, and booked four first-class tickets to leave early in the morning, just like that. The other three were very happy to be getting to see more of the country, and especially their friend's home. Duo Lon himself was pleased to be hosting them, almost to return the favor for all the times he had visited them the past few months.
The morning flight from Shanghai to Shijiazhuang was a little over two hours and fairly uneventful, the four of them basically snoozing for most of it. Upon landing and making their way through the airport-they had only opted for carry-ons for this trip, and just packed them full enough to last for a few days-they quickly hit the car rental counter, Adelheid picking up a nice-looking and roomy sport sedan for the trip.
"The airport's pretty crowded this morning," he mentioned.
"It's a very big tourist area-the Great Wall and the Qing Tombs are in this province after all, among other things. Many will fly here to see the mountains, or to do car trips to various places. If for some reason you wanted to come visit on your own, you'd be able to make your way around here with no problem. Or Beijing, which is next to this province." Indeed, the airport had plenty of English signage and the like. He continued: "But where I live in the countryside, the closest place is a village with one general store, so you'd probably get a bit lost," he chuckled. "Not many tourists come that way at all."
Adel nodded, knowing that it was similar everywhere-in Germany, when the three of them had gone to a couple of villages to see the varied shops, he had to do heavy translating for the other two. As he remembered that, he thought for a moment.
"Speaking of which, you can point me to your place, right?" he asked as the four headed toward the car. It was dark gray, manual transmission, and was one of their top-end models, so they'd have full access to air conditioning and all of the comforts they liked.
"Of course," the tall man replied. "I do drive, too, if you want me to."
"Wait, you drive?" Adel looked rather surprised.
Duo Lon looked at him, a dryly amused smile on his face. "Do you think that I run the whole way to my house when I come back?" he asked. "I'll just rent a car, though. I'm not here enough to bother owning one. I mean, I'm capable of traveling there on foot...but in this case, I do like to take the lazy way."
Adel laughed at this.
"How long is the drive?" Whip asked.
"Close to three hours, but we can probably speed a little going there. There's not much on the roads."
"You're near the mountains, right?" Leona asked as she slid her bag into the trunk.
"The Taihang Mountains, yes. More near the foothills. But there's plenty to explore if you want."
Before getting in, Adel looked around. While Shijiazhuang was a huge city of over ten million people, apparently Duo Lon's small area didn't even count as a village or even a neighborhood; it was literally just his house, something he essentially just had built for himself in the middle of nowhere.
"Feels different here. Still a huge city, and even a place where tourists pass through. But it's...calmer, somehow?"
"It might be we know we're right on the outskirts of the mountains," Whip replied.
"Could be," he said, before thinking of something. "By the way...should we stop by a store for a few drinks and snacks?" Adel asked.
Duo Lon smiled. "About that. We are going to have to get more than a few snacks. The closest village to me is about an hour's drive away, and that's the only general store near us. Which means anything we want to bring, we need to buy now unless you feel like making a two-hour round trip if we run out of a necessity."
"Do you have anything there?"
"Non-perishables and dry foods, yes, and things in the freezer. A fair supply of bottled water, plus I have well water which I think might be even better. Alcohol is of no issue, either. But as I'm only there about one week out of every five, anything we want in the refrigerator will need to be stocked, and I'm probably out of coffee, now that I think about it."
"So we hit the supermarket first. The car has plenty of room, and we only need a few days' worth of stuff."
Whip just smirked at him, implying that for Adel, five days' worth of food may well overflow the trunk. He pinched her side gently as she laughed.
Finishing loading the car, Adel looked over.
"So, do you mind driving? Even with you giving directions I'll probably miss an unmarked exit."
"Not at all."
Adel threw him the keys. "I could drive us back if you wanted to sleep or something. Just so I kinda know where to go." Thinking for a moment, he looked at Leona. "Want the front?" he asked.
"Sure," she replied.
Adel piled in the back behind her seat, since he had more legroom there, and Duo Lon had to push the driver's seat back somewhat. The four took off toward the supermarket, where they laid in a supply of various groceries; they managed to fill the rest of the trunk and had put a few bags in the back with Adel and Whip, as well. The visitors also got a few other odds and ends that they were curious about, with Duo Lon pointing out a few particularly tasty things, like the pickled mustard tuber, and huamei, or pickled, dried plums.
"That one you might need to get used to," he said.
Making one more stop to pick up some food to go-they opted for large meat buns and some dumplings, as they were easy to eat in the car-they finally took off on their long drive. It was the mid afternoon-around two-so they would be arriving around dinnertime.
The assassin was a fairly calm driver. The traffic didn't seem to bother him getting out of the city, and on the road he sped up to a comfortable pace. The bustle of the large city gave way to the outskirts...and soon they left its parameters, only to be greeted with some absolutely beautiful scenery of mountains and forests.
Leona smiled, looking out her window.
"This looks so nice," she said.
"I like being out here. I visit cities. I grew up in places like this, and vastly prefer them."
At one point, they turned the air off and opted for open windows; while it was still hot and humid, the air here was somewhat drier than in the city, and it felt more comfortable. Duo Lon had said that humidity was still a thing up there, but the countryside, especially near the mountains, was much more pleasant.
With the roads empty, they were able to pick up speed considerably. Duo Lon was a rather comfortable driver, and seemed to know what he was doing, so none of them felt like their lives were in danger when he pushed over 80. He drove this route every time he would return home, so he was quite used to it.
"Is there any sort of transit that comes this way?" Adel asked.
"There is a single bus that goes to that village I mentioned. But it only runs one round trip per day, and goes no further."
Putting the windows back up after a time-the wind was fairly harsh around here-Adel even leaned back and almost started to snooze. Whip grabbed her laptop and started messing around with a few things, mostly checking a few emails and seeing what they had time to go see back in Shanghai. Their plans were to stay here four or so nights.
Eventually, after a trip that was mostly done in a comfortable silence, the visitors enjoying the scenery and occasionally chatting about something here or there, they started pulling up to the village that Duo Lon had spoken of.
"If you need anything else, get it now. Another hour and we'll be at my place. Can't race the last half hour since we'll be in a forested area." He smiled over at them.
"Maybe I'll check the store," Adel said.
The four got out to stretch their legs and headed into the small market. They had been driving for about an hour and a half, having managed to cut about a half hour off of the time it normally would take to get here, thanks to the open roads and good weather.
Duo Lon greeted the man there in what sounded like a slightly different dialect; Adel guessed it was how he'd usually speak around here. The shopkeeper looked somewhat surprised to see tourists here, as while tourists would come to Shijiazhuang fairly commonly to see the mountains, they often didn't come to places this far out unless they were doing some serious hiking.
He said a few more things to Duo Lon, who turned toward the other three.
"He said he hopes you enjoy it here."
Adel nodded and smiled, as the four poked around for a few other odds and ends, mostly small sweets and the like, as they got everything they needed in the bigger market. Using the restroom first, they piled back into the car for the last hour of driving.
Leona looked over at him for a moment as he pulled out.
"Mind if we put one of your CDs on?"
He grinned at her. "Please do."
Adel and Whip didn't mind at all; they had even taken to passively enjoying it, as Adel got used to it during his times hanging out with the assassin when he stayed at the Sky Noah.
The sun had changed in the sky as they drove. While it was still light, it was starting to head toward dinnertime, as they began to pull down the last few small roads toward his house. The last road was about two miles of a forest path that eventually ended toward a clearing with a one-story house. The ride was slightly bumpier, given it was not paved.
Parking, Duo Lon looked over at the other three.
"Welcome to my home," he said.
The four got out, stretching and inhaling the clean air of the foothills; the sun was starting on its path toward sunset, and in general the weather was indeed more comfortable around here, like their friend had mentioned. It was still fairly hot, but it didn't feel as stifling.
Adel looked at the house and smiled. It was of a moderate size, though looked well kept. It had a natural wooden exterior, stained rather dark. Its windows were sparse; he could see two on the left side and one on the front. The roof held some solar panels.
"And here I thought we'd be in a cabin with a firepit."
Duo Lon actually grinned at that, wondering why his friends seemed to think he lived in a cave. Leona chuckled off to the side.
"I don't think he lives in the treetops, Adel,"
"You read my mind," he said to Leona.
Adel sheepishly scratched his head. He sometimes did live in his own world when it came to the Sky Noah, and the rest knew this; the blonde himself was actually happy to get out and about like this more often. Most of his life he had lived mostly around the wealthy, and while Duo Lon was actually quite comfortable-even more than that, given the nature of his expensive work-he didn't care to live among the upper echelons.
"I like it, though. It makes me want a place in the middle of nowhere," he finally said.
"You're welcome here anytime," Duo Lon told him. "I don't get much company these days. Shen has been here...twice, or maybe three times? But he grows too restless in any place that's not a city after more than a couple of nights."
He walked to the front door, letting everyone in. Before he did anything, he dropped his bag near the couch and adjusted the thermostat to get the central air on to get the place cool, before moving to the living room and kitchen windows to air the place out. He kicked his boots off to the side when he was done and began to make his way around, checking everything as he would. He would usually unplug everything except for his fridge, freezer, and a few other things while he was gone.
The living room was the first room one saw upon walking in; up at the far wall there was the walkway to the kitchen, and to the upper right near that, the hallway. The living room itself was decorated mostly in gray and dark stained wood, with a fairly plush carpet.
"Solar power?" Whip asked, putting her things aside.
"Solar and wind. Electricity is no problem. I have no TV, but there are three stereos and whatever books you might want to read. There's the internet, as well. It's fast enough to watch something if you want."
"Actually get it good out here?"
"Nowadays, yes. They started adding more towers, if you noticed on the way. Rather quickly, too. When I first had this place built three years ago, there weren't as many, but I think they wanted to cater to tourists and such. Not that I ever see any around here, but they visit the mountains." He chuckled. "Before the towers came, though, it was difficult to get very much beyond a weather report or something, and that was when the internet wanted to work."
"Weird question...but if you were to need maintenance for this place, how would you go about it?"
"Probably either someone from the village, or I'd simply just contact the people who built the place for me to begin with. It's a bit of a trek for them, but they know they can charge me whatever they want for it," he chuckled. "Haven't really needed them yet, though."
Leona poked around the living room as he walked out to grab the last few bags from the car to bring them into the kitchen. The living room had a plush looking, dark gray couch and two black recliners, along with two extensive bookshelves lined with books of all types. It looked spartan, but comfortable. It only had one window in the upper-left corner, which he opened for now just to air the place out, as he hadn't been back in nearly five weeks.
The three carried the rest of the bags to the kitchen. This had a bigger window at the left side near the sink, stove, and counter area, and there was a fridge and a rather large top-loading freezer. The crew loaded it up; the fridge was basically empty except for sauces and other long-lasting items, though the freezer had some more. There were a few cupboards with dry goods. A table and four chairs were in the middle.
"The spare room near the basement has other pantry stuff, if you're looking for more. I don't know why I have four chairs since I again rarely get visitors...but I suppose it finally came in handy."
Leona smiled at this as she poked down the hallway. To the left was the larger bathroom with the shower, and to the right she noticed a closed door.
"What's this?" she asked. Adel and Whip were still milling about the kitchen, getting to know the place.
"My room," he smiled, opening it and flipping the light on.
The blue-haired soldier looked around. Much like the rest of the house, the carpeting was gray and the decor all in dark wood, gray, and even black trim. A few posters and other art adorned the walls-mostly of grim looking moonlit scenes, though these were sparse. A stereo stood under the room's sole window, and there were several shelves, some of which had more books, and others had a wide collection of CDs and vinyl. A queen-size bed was in the far corner, seemingly covered with black, silk sheets. A large, black beanbag chair sat on the floor nearby.
A closet was at the left, and it was otherwise fairly spartan. A desk stood in the far corner near the shelves, which had a few odds and ends on it, papers and a laptop, mostly. Some candles adorned the shelves, as well.
In the middle of one of his shelves was a skull; this appeared to be real.
Staring at the skull, she looked at him but didn't ask...yet. She knew her curiosity might get the better of her, but for now, she wandered around the room, checking out everything.
"Silk sheets?" she smiled.
"If you want, you can have the bedroom," he said. "I don't mind sleeping on the couch." As much as they had done together, he'd understand if she felt a bit odd about sleeping so close with the other two right downstairs. It was a little different in the hotel, with locked doors and far more privacy, despite their suites being right next to each other.
Looking back at him, the soldier smiled. "I think there's enough room for both of us here," she smiled softly.
Raising his eyebrows once, he then turned to go get Adel and Whip.
"Let me show you guys where you'll be staying."
"We get our own place?"
"Yes. Figured I'd give you someplace private."
The two grinned. Taking them through the spare room-pointing out the shelves where he kept some dry pantry goods like rice, flour, sugar, sesame seeds and the like-he then took them down some stairs into the cooling, fully furnished basement.
"Okay, this is cool," Whip said, impressed.
Snapping this light on, the room turned out to be rather large. In the far corner there was a water closet with a sink, and on the left side upon getting in there was a small bar. More bookshelves adorned the walls, again mixed with both books and music, and in the middle of the room was a mahjong table. On the other side of the wall from the stairs, tucked into the corner, was an L-shaped couch that he walked over to show folded out. A couple of beanbag chairs were strewn around down here, as well. The walls were in a similar dark-stained wood, with a darker gray carpet than was upstairs.
"And here you go. You can sleep on this, and you have the entire basement to yourself. There's a window here if you want to air it out while it cools down. The door locks, too."
"Wow," Adel said. "This is cosy. I like it. Nice colors, too."
"I like darker tones, as you might guess." Taking out his pipe to fill and light it, he exhaled the smoke and leaned by the wall. "You can bring your things here. I unfortunately don't have much in the way of dressers."
"Our luggage is fine," Adel said, as he ran back up the stairs, taking them two at a time, to grab their stuff and stick it by the wall before throwing himself down on the couch to relax. They didn't unfold it yet, choosing to simply sit around.
Duo Lon pointed them toward a small closet in the back. "Any linens you might need are in there. Washer and dryer too. I don't have a ton of them, but enough for a couple of nights while another set is in the wash. This door in the back of the closet is just the boiler room." He smirked at Adel, the implications of 'He and Whip were free to use the basement for whatever the hell they wanted' hopefully clear if the remarks about the privacy-and the locking doors-hadn't been enough already.
Whip overheard this and giggled, knowing full well what he meant, and appreciated he was giving them free reign in his house.
"I only have one shower, so unlike the Sky Noah we'll have to take turns," he said. "I'm sure we'll make do."
"That's fine. I think we all wake up at different times anyway," Whip replied.
"I've been trying to push my schedule a little more to what you guys are on by sleeping somewhat in shifts," the assassin smirked. "It's sort of worked, so far."
Leona just smiled softly at that, looking around some more.
Adel poked around some more, before his stomach rumbled. "I hate to bring this up, but…"
Whip rolled her eyes, tickling his side. "Dinner, right?"
Duo Lon chuckled lightly. "We'll make something easy-probably best to stick to mostly frozen and packaged fare tonight. I'll make you all something proper for breakfast tomorrow, if you don't mind."
"I'd love that," Leona replied.
The group unloaded their food; they laid in a fairly hefty supply of buns and dumplings-all easy to heat up on the stove or the microwave that sat on the counter. They had gotten a large can of coffee-as that would grow stale over long periods so he usually just bought it for the time he was there-and set it next to the percolator, which made Adel grin.
"I haven't seen one of those in ages. I think Henrik had one when I was younger."
"I like it old fashioned," he said. "It makes it nice and strong." He took out some of his dishware he'd be using over the next few days-mostly a few pieces of cast-iron; a pan, a wok, a pot. "Also I don't care about dishes. Do them when you want. Or not. They'll just get run through the washer before we leave," he chuckled. "As far as I'm concerned, we're just here to relax."
The big blonde smiled warmly at that, giving him a pat on the shoulder as he went to start pulling red bean buns out to shove into the microwave.
"I remembered hearing something about a hot spring?" Leona asked, curiously.
"Yes. It's about a half hour walk? Maybe twenty minutes if we walk quickly. I'll take everyone there tonight, if you want. It's a path, I know my way there even in the dark. Or we could go in the morning if you're all tired."
"I think I'm going to choose to be lazy tonight," Whip said, adding her own food to the plate, having gotten some instant noodles to heat up, as well.
"Just as well, a morning hot spring soak I find to be even better." He walked over to the stereo in the living room-the three stereos were divided between his bedroom, the living room, and the basement-and put on one of his favorite albums, which most of the rest didn't know, but Leona recognized by now. He kept it low, so they could talk.
Stopping to brew some coffee in the percolator and going through his liquor cabinet to see what he had to drink, he slid a few bottles onto the counter as they all finished heating up their dinners for the night. The bar downstairs had more, he knew, but his dinner alcohol was kept in the kitchen.
By the time they were done, it wasn't a bad collection. Mostly said buns and dumplings, some packaged soup, a side of youtiao and sweet milk to dip it in as they liked it at any time of day, and some packaged, heated noodles. It was all fairly good for pre-made stuff, as the store they went to sold decent items.
"Hang on," Duo Lon said, poking around the fridge for something he had bought after most of the main dishes had been polished off. "Ever had this?"
Glancing at the package, they couldn't make it out. "Some kind of pudding?"
"Almond jelly. It's quite good." At the counter, he removed it, scooping it out and putting some into four bowls, before adding some canned fruit he had onto it. "It's much better homemade, but for tonight this will suffice."
"I can't say I had this, but…" Adel took the bowl, tasting it. "Hey, it's really good." He started chowing down.
"Yeah," Whip agreed.
The four polished off their dessert before the coffee was set down, along with some cordial alcohol he had; this was somewhat of a light cherry flavour liquor, which went rather exceptionally after the almond flavor.
Content after their long drive, the four sat around Duo Lon's kitchen table as the sky darkened. The house had cooled down, and that post-travel slight tiredness set in. While they didn't travel as long as they did flying here, it was a forty-five minute drive to the airport in the morning, an hour wait, a two hour flight, and a three hour drive, and they had started very early in the morning.
The host nodded to the rest sitting there as he packed a pipe. "Enjoy the house. Going to check the backyard and smoke. You're free to come see out there too, of course." He headed out the backdoor, putting the light on and wandering out onto the cool, slightly long grass.
The woods were close by, but they weren't particularly thick. Part of the foothills, they eventually started to elevate up the mountains, which were perhaps a half hour walk, if you walked quickly. Duo Lon missed being here; while he enjoyed travel, the week or so he would get to stay here was nice to get out of cities.
Having his new friends here was great, too. He needed time alone, but he got plenty when he was on his various jobs. He was alone more often than not, as it was; his recent couple months of having slightly more company had been pleasant.
He was even quite flattered that Adel and Whip were interested in coming here, as this was their anniversary vacation. He was pleased that they would choose to come to his eerie, almost backwoods home instead of the more exciting city.
As he wandered around the yard, checking things here and there-the man was not one for manicuring his lawn, letting natural trees, grasses and shrubs grow without much maintenance unless a branch got too close to the house-he heard the door open and saw Leona step out.
He smiled as she walked up to him as he checked one of the few things he would occasionally manicure; a thick set of shrubs in one corner.
"Welcome to the backyard. As you can see, I mostly leave it in its natural state."
"I think it looks fine like this," she said, looking around, the sound of the night insects in the air as she enjoyed the smells of the natural surroundings, mixed with his familiar, gentle tobacco. "The other two went to the basement to settle and unpack a little."
They stood in silence as he smoked, his eyes scanning the dark horizon.
"If you're up to it, I'll take you up on the mountain one of the days we're here. I know the general vicinity and how to get back."
She smiled at that, touching his arm lightly.
"Yes," she said. "I've had my fair share of time in the wilderness...it would be nice to get back."
"I imagine like me, you have had to learn your way around wild areas."
She nodded.
The two sat on a wooden bench in his yard as he sat back against it, letting the drier summer air cool him. Leona liked how it felt; he was right that it was much nicer here than in the city, in terms of summer weather.
After a few moments, she leaned against him...then put her head on his leg as his own hand gently rested on her abdomen, absently tracing it with his fingers as she sighed in contentment.
Adel was poking around the bar in their basement room as Whip set up their luggage to sort of act like a makeshift dresser for the next few days.
"Ooh," he said. "This is some high quality absinthe." Holding up the bright green bottle, he blinked. "75%, too. On the strong end."
"That's about as strong as it gets, isn't it?" she asked.
"Indeed it is." He placed it down, coming from the other side. He had brought down an array of snacks that he set on the bar-mostly dried munchies-and grabbed a handful before going to pull the couch-bed out. It was rather cosy looking, consisting of a soft and comfortable mattress with a cool cotton sheet over it. There was another sheet and a blanket off to the side, and any pillows they might need. Everything was either dark gray or black, it seemed.
Whip went to lay on it, smiling. "I can definitely do this for a few nights," she said.
Wandering around, Adel saw the water closet; it was small, but clean, and had everything they needed for being downstairs. Setting up their toiletries down there, since it would be sufficient to wash up with, he went over back to grab their laptops to keep on the small table before throwing himself back on the bed.
Whip rested her head on him. "I almost wouldn't mind just...relaxing here and turning in early after messing around online. I kind of want to go to that hot spring in the morning...and then see what else is around."
"Yeah, after four days in the big city, we can decompress for a few before our last vacation days are spent there again."
"I think we may have to meet our new friend for those hairy crabs again."
"Oh, absolutely. Maybe we'll even bring spices this time," he chuckled.
"About the fancy night," she said. "What places are there? We might want to look early."
"Hmm," he said, opening the laptop. "That is a good idea...the more expensive places can sometimes make you book quite a ways ahead of time. I can... usually bypass that in Europe, but here, I'm not so sure," he smirked. "There's one here that looks really nice. I admit, I'd be just as well to pass over the most expensive. I've eaten at them...and it's awfully stuffy. I find when you go to the ones that are just under the most expensive instead, they're a little more relaxed. You need to dress nicely, but it's not black-tie."
Adelheid was all too familiar with these, Whip knew. "It does look nice. Let's bookmark a few, and then see which one we want to hit up together."
"Any of them are fine. You guys can decide. I'm just paying," he grinned, laying back.
Sliding on top of him, she kissed him deeply, lightly stroking the side of his face, letting her fingers run through his thick, soft hair. "You take good care of us."
He returned the kisses, grinning. "Might as well spend our family's absurd money on people I kinda like."
Embracing some more, she began to trace her lips down his neck. His hands on her back grew more firm as they met in a deeper kiss.
After a time-and some fairly involved and deep kissing, Adel having slid down Whip's neck to nip-she looked at him, grinning evilly.
"He said we could have as much privacy as we wanted, right?"
"Yeah," he grinned back, kissing her again several times. "Happy anniversary."
A/N: Having to do some poking around, I had decided he basically lives in his own little place near the foothills; there are windmills around the mountains, so I imagine getting power, etc, was no issue there. Seeing some pictures, there are some visible mountains from Shijiazhuang(and they're quite nice looking too.)
So the crew gets to visit their friend's home for awhile. I had fun designing it-a mix of traditional, but with a flair of his in these stories(particularly with the music, and the like.) And the dark furnishings/carpeting, and the like.
The skull? Who knows. Yet another one of our assassin friend's mysteries.