Phear the Bible.
Nov. 15th, 2007 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keire_keTomorrow we have the much feared Bible test. We're gonna get several random quotes from the book (Genesis to Ruth) and we will have to locate it. GAH. I am currently looking for a good synopsis and listening to Exodus online. -_____-'
I spent much of psychology and introduction to philosophy writing the story I planned on doing for NaNo. I must start writing it out for real. XDD
“How ridiculous can it get?” Sanzo griped when the frightened page ran, leaving the horse in his care.
The boy, mad with guilt after leaving one of the fine steeds of the residence in the care of a someone who never heard of smiling, had to quell the violent pangs of conscience with drinking ale in the kitchen. The rumours he heard about his Grace there did nothing to settle his wildly beating heart.
“It’s a traditional hunt, Sanzo,” Hakkai told him, feeding his mount a sugar cube.
“Meaning there’s fifteen of us and three rabbits in the whole damn forest to mutilate.” Hunting was not Sanzo’s choice of a sport. Unless his prey was big and dangerous. He’d ignore stags, scoff at wolves, maybe a bear would get an eyebrow raised in interest. A rabbit he’d kill only if he was to step on it by accident.
“It is pretty ridiculous when you put it like that.”
Sanzo rolled his eyes. He could suggest a trip to the seers to see their future in the guts of a freshly eviscerated newborn and Hakkai would politely enquire whether the evening would be a suitable time, because he had an urgent afternoon tea to attend. Such was the magic of his closest friend. “What’s the point?”
“As I understand the tradition, the New Year’s hunt was necessary so that the king and his closest friends could learn of the country’s – and their – future from a rabbit’s entrails.”
“Guts. Wonderful. Which explains why you are here. What about me?”
“You are here to keep me company,” Hakkai said, not the least offended. He wouldn’t be keeping Sanzo company if insults had much effect on him. “Me and Gojyo.”
“What?” This just might give him the reason he needed to storm back home. It just might. “I thought Kanan was coming?”
“She is.”
“Hakkai!”
Sanzo froze. The weather assisted as best as it could, sending whirls of snow and frosty wind his way. Sanzo turned around and, sure enough, there was Goku, whose most annoying voice failed to fade from memory, even after all this time. Sanzo, blaming the whining he claimed he heard constantly, spent his days stuffing himself up to his ears with the cook’s misguided attempts to make him eat better. Where did the silly woman get the idea he’d like plum rolls with honey was beyond him. And now he had to eat the damn things all day long, because she kept sending him trays upon trays. That was when she wasn’t coming up with other, supposedly edible, stuff.
The duke watched the companion – this time clad in proper clothes, fur, leather and linen appropriate for a hunting game – as he stood on his tiptoes to press a kiss to Hakkai’s cheek. He hadn’t changed much. Still as annoying as ever. His mouth was still all too keen to smile and his lips were just as tempting, with warm puffs of steam escaping with every breath. Sanzo felt instantly warmer.
“Sanzo- I didn’t know you’re going to be here,” Goku said, turning to face him. It was a good thing his hair was so messy, because Hakkai’s mouth acquired a positively devilish curve, which would do nothing to alleviate Sanzo’s mood.
“I didn’t want to.”
“Shame. I’m not a fan of hunting, but the whole game thing is nice.” He offered a courteous bow to Sanzo, same as he did at their first meeting, and when he straightened he was smiling.
The most peculiar thing, Sanzo felt, was that the longer Goku stood there, looking at him with that warm glow in his eyes, the less annoying the whole concept of the annual hunting party became. Of course, it was still ridiculous, and no amount of whores would make that better. But it wasn’t quite so annoying anymore, now that a new, greater annoyance had come to take its place.
And then Hakkai ruined it. “Kanan,” he said with warmth in his voice that was, despite his disposition, uncharacteristic. The gentle smile he usually wore was anything but warm.
Sanzo looked away from Goku to greet his friend’s sister.
“Good day my lord,” she said curtsying. She smiled at Sanzo, a little shyly but with underlying confidence, and he felt his eyebrows rise. The last time he saw her, she was too scared to look at a man, beside her brother.
Sanzo laid a hand against his heart and bowed. “My lady.” This was probably the most respect a living being would get out of his Grace, the Duke of Ri.
“Goku.” She turned and, to Sanzo’s surprise, kissed Goku. On the mouth.
“Did you have a good trip?” he asked.
“A little boring. Hakkai finds reading on the move a lot easier than myself.”
Goku grinned. “I can’t read unless I’m really bored. And even then I get distracted.”
Kanan laughed and tucked her hand under the proffered elbow. “I usually have no problem. Unless I’m in a coach. Thank you for the book, by the way. I liked it very much.”
Goku smiled and Sanzo muttered something between “I didn’t know you could read,” and “I wasn’t aware this was a readership gathering.”
“I knew something was amiss,” Kanan said once the mumble filtered through the air and her ears. “You said you didn’t like hunting.”
“I don’t. Your brother dragged me here.”
“I used considerable force too, may I add.” Hakkai was standing a little to the side, observing the situation with an unreadable expression on his face. To a casual observer he would seem amused by the antics, yet something lurked beneath the indulgent smile. Something that Sanzo didn’t like at all.
A single, high-pitched horn sounded in the distance and the four of them turned.
“It’s almost time, I see.” Hakkai signalled one of the pages, who were attending the horses on the side of the yard. Five mounts were led towards them, followed by more people still.
Sanzo rolled his eyes, but didn’t mount until he could greet His Royal Highness, his consort and the supporting party. Hakkai’s annoying redheaded whore didn’t get much of a greeting, but both Sanzo and Gojyo were used to the strange form of mutual respect they had, that manifested itself as complete lack of respect. Sanzo knew the man, not through choice, obviously, well enough to know the difference.
“Your Grace,” the prince’s consort curtsied and Sanzo rolled his eyes.
“I have a name,” he told her.
Her cheeks coloured with the faintest hint of pink, but she repeated her greeting, on a personal note this time. “That’s the problem with bringing commoners into the court,” Sanzo heard Hakkai mutter one time. “They can’t get their heads around us being people too.”
Lastly, there was the prince’s guard whom Sanzo was dimly aware of as getting the post on account of being the prince’s best friend. Or the other way round, he wasn’t sure. They rarely talked, since they didn’t have much to talk about, but considering Sanzo’s prowess at social interaction they were close friends. Since familial relationships tended to complicate themselves around Hakkai, Jien was also Gojyo’s older brother.
Sanzo snorted and without looking back at the group mounted his horse. “Hurry the hell up. I don’t want this farce to take any longer than necessary.”
He watched, the mildly amused snickers as everyone climbed atop their steeds. Goku assisted Kanan – how did women handle all these skirts, Sanzo would never understand – and although he didn’t have problems with vaulting himself on top of his horse, which he did with a considerable amount of grace, he seemed to be uncomfortable.
Should have given himself moment’s pause between jobs, Sanzo thought uncharitably. Which wasn’t fair, but he was only fair when his job required fairness. He was fairly fair with chopping heads off. Always between shoulders and chin.
Goku looked up, as if sensing his stare, and caught Sanzo’s gaze. He smiled and Sanzo lost the train of thought.
Then the horns sounded once again, and the hunt begun.
Sanzo thought, once again, that this whole business was a conception of a frustrated and inept hunter. Who in their right mind would hunt for something as pathetic as a bunny rabbit with horses and dogs? Really, it was a wonder they caught the damn thing before Sanzo’s toes froze off, they were so loud. The snow squeaked beneath the hoofs, the dogs yapped and the people really were no better.
All in all, Sanzo sighed in relief when the prince finally shot the pathetic scrap of fur and bones on string. He tired of games only too soon.
Since the future insights were nothing more than a superstition, no one was keen on gutting the poor creature on the spot. Of course, a tradition was a tradition – the rabbit would end up on the table that night, so that the royal family could have a taste of the future.
Sanzo snorted when Hakkai related that particular piece of tradition. The only good thing about the celebration that he was prepared to acknowledge were the hot springs. The hunting games were cold. The prince and his escort were only too happy to leave their frost-stiffened garments in the changing rooms and step into one of the halls hiding the pools of hot water.
Sanzo sunk into the water with a sigh.
“You are actually enjoying something. I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Hakkai teased.
“Why did you give me that whore then?” Sanoz regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He was stupid to admit he still thought about Goku.
“Oh, you still remember him? It’s been a while, wasn’t it, since your birthday.”
Sanzo gritted his teeth. With Hakkai he could never be certain when he was taunted, teased or tested. Especially when it was usually all three. “Whatever you’re trying to do here,” he said, “stop.”
“Stop what?” Gojyo asked, sliding into the shallow pool next to Hakkai. “Are we teasing his grace?”
“No, you aren’t.”
“Oh, come on! You need someone to tease you once in a while, else you’d pickle yourself in no time at all.”
“Do you want me to kill you?”
“Why would you kill Gojyo?”
Sanzo paused in his attempts to drown the idiotic redheaded whore and looked up. Goku was standing on the edge of the pool, clad, like the rest of them, in nothing but a small towel around his hips. Despite the season his skin had the same warm golden hue he’d remembered, the one that was best complimented by droplets of water. Standing next to him was Kanan, a little uncomfortable with being half naked, but not enough to let it hinder her enjoyment.
Sanzo looked away when Goku followed her into the pool. He had half a mind to go and look for another pool, but something of a gentleman remained in him. That part, tiny and much abused, clinging to existence by the barest of threads, reminded him it’s impolite to leave friends’ company without a very good reason.
The rest of Sanzo scoffed and asked who were these friends it spoke of.
I spent much of psychology and introduction to philosophy writing the story I planned on doing for NaNo. I must start writing it out for real. XDD
“How ridiculous can it get?” Sanzo griped when the frightened page ran, leaving the horse in his care.
The boy, mad with guilt after leaving one of the fine steeds of the residence in the care of a someone who never heard of smiling, had to quell the violent pangs of conscience with drinking ale in the kitchen. The rumours he heard about his Grace there did nothing to settle his wildly beating heart.
“It’s a traditional hunt, Sanzo,” Hakkai told him, feeding his mount a sugar cube.
“Meaning there’s fifteen of us and three rabbits in the whole damn forest to mutilate.” Hunting was not Sanzo’s choice of a sport. Unless his prey was big and dangerous. He’d ignore stags, scoff at wolves, maybe a bear would get an eyebrow raised in interest. A rabbit he’d kill only if he was to step on it by accident.
“It is pretty ridiculous when you put it like that.”
Sanzo rolled his eyes. He could suggest a trip to the seers to see their future in the guts of a freshly eviscerated newborn and Hakkai would politely enquire whether the evening would be a suitable time, because he had an urgent afternoon tea to attend. Such was the magic of his closest friend. “What’s the point?”
“As I understand the tradition, the New Year’s hunt was necessary so that the king and his closest friends could learn of the country’s – and their – future from a rabbit’s entrails.”
“Guts. Wonderful. Which explains why you are here. What about me?”
“You are here to keep me company,” Hakkai said, not the least offended. He wouldn’t be keeping Sanzo company if insults had much effect on him. “Me and Gojyo.”
“What?” This just might give him the reason he needed to storm back home. It just might. “I thought Kanan was coming?”
“She is.”
“Hakkai!”
Sanzo froze. The weather assisted as best as it could, sending whirls of snow and frosty wind his way. Sanzo turned around and, sure enough, there was Goku, whose most annoying voice failed to fade from memory, even after all this time. Sanzo, blaming the whining he claimed he heard constantly, spent his days stuffing himself up to his ears with the cook’s misguided attempts to make him eat better. Where did the silly woman get the idea he’d like plum rolls with honey was beyond him. And now he had to eat the damn things all day long, because she kept sending him trays upon trays. That was when she wasn’t coming up with other, supposedly edible, stuff.
The duke watched the companion – this time clad in proper clothes, fur, leather and linen appropriate for a hunting game – as he stood on his tiptoes to press a kiss to Hakkai’s cheek. He hadn’t changed much. Still as annoying as ever. His mouth was still all too keen to smile and his lips were just as tempting, with warm puffs of steam escaping with every breath. Sanzo felt instantly warmer.
“Sanzo- I didn’t know you’re going to be here,” Goku said, turning to face him. It was a good thing his hair was so messy, because Hakkai’s mouth acquired a positively devilish curve, which would do nothing to alleviate Sanzo’s mood.
“I didn’t want to.”
“Shame. I’m not a fan of hunting, but the whole game thing is nice.” He offered a courteous bow to Sanzo, same as he did at their first meeting, and when he straightened he was smiling.
The most peculiar thing, Sanzo felt, was that the longer Goku stood there, looking at him with that warm glow in his eyes, the less annoying the whole concept of the annual hunting party became. Of course, it was still ridiculous, and no amount of whores would make that better. But it wasn’t quite so annoying anymore, now that a new, greater annoyance had come to take its place.
And then Hakkai ruined it. “Kanan,” he said with warmth in his voice that was, despite his disposition, uncharacteristic. The gentle smile he usually wore was anything but warm.
Sanzo looked away from Goku to greet his friend’s sister.
“Good day my lord,” she said curtsying. She smiled at Sanzo, a little shyly but with underlying confidence, and he felt his eyebrows rise. The last time he saw her, she was too scared to look at a man, beside her brother.
Sanzo laid a hand against his heart and bowed. “My lady.” This was probably the most respect a living being would get out of his Grace, the Duke of Ri.
“Goku.” She turned and, to Sanzo’s surprise, kissed Goku. On the mouth.
“Did you have a good trip?” he asked.
“A little boring. Hakkai finds reading on the move a lot easier than myself.”
Goku grinned. “I can’t read unless I’m really bored. And even then I get distracted.”
Kanan laughed and tucked her hand under the proffered elbow. “I usually have no problem. Unless I’m in a coach. Thank you for the book, by the way. I liked it very much.”
Goku smiled and Sanzo muttered something between “I didn’t know you could read,” and “I wasn’t aware this was a readership gathering.”
“I knew something was amiss,” Kanan said once the mumble filtered through the air and her ears. “You said you didn’t like hunting.”
“I don’t. Your brother dragged me here.”
“I used considerable force too, may I add.” Hakkai was standing a little to the side, observing the situation with an unreadable expression on his face. To a casual observer he would seem amused by the antics, yet something lurked beneath the indulgent smile. Something that Sanzo didn’t like at all.
A single, high-pitched horn sounded in the distance and the four of them turned.
“It’s almost time, I see.” Hakkai signalled one of the pages, who were attending the horses on the side of the yard. Five mounts were led towards them, followed by more people still.
Sanzo rolled his eyes, but didn’t mount until he could greet His Royal Highness, his consort and the supporting party. Hakkai’s annoying redheaded whore didn’t get much of a greeting, but both Sanzo and Gojyo were used to the strange form of mutual respect they had, that manifested itself as complete lack of respect. Sanzo knew the man, not through choice, obviously, well enough to know the difference.
“Your Grace,” the prince’s consort curtsied and Sanzo rolled his eyes.
“I have a name,” he told her.
Her cheeks coloured with the faintest hint of pink, but she repeated her greeting, on a personal note this time. “That’s the problem with bringing commoners into the court,” Sanzo heard Hakkai mutter one time. “They can’t get their heads around us being people too.”
Lastly, there was the prince’s guard whom Sanzo was dimly aware of as getting the post on account of being the prince’s best friend. Or the other way round, he wasn’t sure. They rarely talked, since they didn’t have much to talk about, but considering Sanzo’s prowess at social interaction they were close friends. Since familial relationships tended to complicate themselves around Hakkai, Jien was also Gojyo’s older brother.
Sanzo snorted and without looking back at the group mounted his horse. “Hurry the hell up. I don’t want this farce to take any longer than necessary.”
He watched, the mildly amused snickers as everyone climbed atop their steeds. Goku assisted Kanan – how did women handle all these skirts, Sanzo would never understand – and although he didn’t have problems with vaulting himself on top of his horse, which he did with a considerable amount of grace, he seemed to be uncomfortable.
Should have given himself moment’s pause between jobs, Sanzo thought uncharitably. Which wasn’t fair, but he was only fair when his job required fairness. He was fairly fair with chopping heads off. Always between shoulders and chin.
Goku looked up, as if sensing his stare, and caught Sanzo’s gaze. He smiled and Sanzo lost the train of thought.
Then the horns sounded once again, and the hunt begun.
Sanzo thought, once again, that this whole business was a conception of a frustrated and inept hunter. Who in their right mind would hunt for something as pathetic as a bunny rabbit with horses and dogs? Really, it was a wonder they caught the damn thing before Sanzo’s toes froze off, they were so loud. The snow squeaked beneath the hoofs, the dogs yapped and the people really were no better.
All in all, Sanzo sighed in relief when the prince finally shot the pathetic scrap of fur and bones on string. He tired of games only too soon.
Since the future insights were nothing more than a superstition, no one was keen on gutting the poor creature on the spot. Of course, a tradition was a tradition – the rabbit would end up on the table that night, so that the royal family could have a taste of the future.
Sanzo snorted when Hakkai related that particular piece of tradition. The only good thing about the celebration that he was prepared to acknowledge were the hot springs. The hunting games were cold. The prince and his escort were only too happy to leave their frost-stiffened garments in the changing rooms and step into one of the halls hiding the pools of hot water.
Sanzo sunk into the water with a sigh.
“You are actually enjoying something. I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Hakkai teased.
“Why did you give me that whore then?” Sanoz regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He was stupid to admit he still thought about Goku.
“Oh, you still remember him? It’s been a while, wasn’t it, since your birthday.”
Sanzo gritted his teeth. With Hakkai he could never be certain when he was taunted, teased or tested. Especially when it was usually all three. “Whatever you’re trying to do here,” he said, “stop.”
“Stop what?” Gojyo asked, sliding into the shallow pool next to Hakkai. “Are we teasing his grace?”
“No, you aren’t.”
“Oh, come on! You need someone to tease you once in a while, else you’d pickle yourself in no time at all.”
“Do you want me to kill you?”
“Why would you kill Gojyo?”
Sanzo paused in his attempts to drown the idiotic redheaded whore and looked up. Goku was standing on the edge of the pool, clad, like the rest of them, in nothing but a small towel around his hips. Despite the season his skin had the same warm golden hue he’d remembered, the one that was best complimented by droplets of water. Standing next to him was Kanan, a little uncomfortable with being half naked, but not enough to let it hinder her enjoyment.
Sanzo looked away when Goku followed her into the pool. He had half a mind to go and look for another pool, but something of a gentleman remained in him. That part, tiny and much abused, clinging to existence by the barest of threads, reminded him it’s impolite to leave friends’ company without a very good reason.
The rest of Sanzo scoffed and asked who were these friends it spoke of.
