Pole dancing.
Nov. 29th, 2007 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keire_keIt's been a good week - a free Thursday is always welcome, since it means no psychology. Yay! We also had most of Tuesday free, which is also yay. And finally they managed to sort the mess with our index cards, meaning I can now borrow stuff from libraries. Double yay!
Triple yay: I found out what happened to the comicbook store that used to be on the train station. It was moved a street back and into a yard. Seriously, finding it, such a chore. On the bright side, so much stuff to drool over! Which brings me to the question: There is a picture, in the red Backgammon artbook, of Sanzo dancing with the Nyoi-bo. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It's a cell shaded pic, with Hakkai, Gojyo and Goku close-ups and Sanzo in the middle, pole-dancing.
Also: Love, Actually = best Christmas movie.
The winter solstice week ended and with it the time of relaxation and privacy. Sanzo returned to his papers with relief. At last he’d be able to get some work done, without so-called friends pestering him at every turn. That one week a year was enough for him. Companionship was not something he desired on a regular basis, although, he was forced to admit, Goku wasn’t all that bad, despite his ridiculous obsession with food and the desire to share the edibles.
Sanzo knew he wouldn’t put on weight unless he swallowed cannon balls, but some of his clothes were becoming curiously close fitting. He wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not. His body built might have been unimpressive upon a casual inspection. Most of the time he didn’t even need to exercise his physique to clear a path in front of himself, although he had to admit wasn’t particularly happy about the mechanics. People often paused to stare at him, because of his unusual beauty (and beauty it was, to his chagrin), then, luckily, they took notice of the expression on his face and the awe gave way to blind panic. Hence the clear path for Sanzo to walk through. Very few people in the history of the kingdom could boast causing widespread panic just by appearing publicly in a bad mood.
All the same, Sanzo found being in public a hassle and an inconvenience. He should have taken at least a horse, he reflected grimly striding past a vendor hiding behind her stall, and possibly a helmet. Definitely a bigger sword. To make matters worse, the man he’d set out to meet was delayed, and Sanzo would have to return to brave the marketplace again in a couple of days.
Sanzo’s glare scorched the area, forcing the more dim-witted pedestrians to take the hint and drop dead on the spot, when it stopped at an unusually sunlit face. Now that was a sight he was unaccustomed to seeing.
“Sanzo!” Goku beamed and skipped to his side. “I was just thinking about you.”
“The hell?” Sanzo was aware that people were staring and his reputation was suffering. The untouchable speak-and-die warlord was seen on the market with a cheerful boy on his arm. He’d never live it down.
“I was planning to go for a snack to this café nearby – they have awesome sweets.”
“What on earth makes you think I’d go anywhere with you?”
But Goku didn’t listen. He was already tugging him into a back alley, left and into a shaded yard. Sanzo scowled as he was pushed into one of the chairs and handed a menu. “Try the baklavas. Or anything with honey, really, they have the best honey in the city,” the companion chirped, waving enthusiastically at the waiter. “We’ll have ginger tea,” he told the man. And, to Sanzo’s faint disgust, he proceeded to order his bodyweight in sweets.
“You’ll be fired if you get fat,” Sanzo pointed out.
“Don’t be silly.” Most of the cakes were, to Sanzo’s relief, to be packed and sent directly to the House, for later. Still, what arrived on the table was more than enough.
“Are you planning on eating all that?”
“No. Half of it is for you.”
“I don’t eat sweets.”
“And it’s only one of your many faults. Luckily, it’s easily remedied.”
“Oh, go to hell.”
“Hey – a little cooperation. I’m not trying to get you to stop consuming babies or anything. Just, you know. Relax a little.”
“Consuming babies is how I relax,” Sanzo muttered, sipping his tea.
Goku beamed. “I’ll settle for a sense of humour.”
Sanzo nibbled on his pie. Later, to his utmost surprise, he realised he managed to consume an unheard of amount of sugar, through nibbling. But that discovery paled in the face of the realisation that he spent two hours sitting with opposite a monkey in a café, eating stuff he’d never think he’d care for.
Something was seriously wrong with him.
To avoid that particular train of thought, Sanzo let his mind wander. How much of a mistake it was he realised only when he caught himself studying the monkey and his surprisingly fetching “I don’t whore today” apparel. It was, colour and form-wise, not a combination a sane man would ever think of wearing. And yet Goku, made it look appealing. Then again, the fashion rules Sanzo was aware of probably didn’t apply to a man who got paid for looking good enough to eat. And Sanzo did not just think that.
Goku abandoned his spoon in favour of licking a stray drop of honey sneaking down the back of his hand and Sanzo started.
“Do you always pester people on your days off?” he asked.
Goku looked at him, his wide eyes filling Sanzo’s vision completely. “Pester?”
“I don’t recall paying you to get on my nerves today. So unless it’s one of Hakkai’s schemes, you’re here because you’re not working.”
“Oh. There is the dancing festival later tonight, but I got the morning off. I wanted cake.”
“That has what to do with me being here?”
Goku pondered the question. “You know, that’s funny, but I usually don’t spend much time with my clients socially. Even on the hunting game I was there for Kanan.” He stared off into space, finishing off a honey-infused piece of crust.
“I wonder how you get people to pay to spend time with you.”
“I’m great in bed, obviously.”
Sanzo snorted, more out of the need to reply than to express his opinion.
“Are you coming to the festival?”
“I’m busy,” Sanzo said, temporarily ignoring the fact of having sat in a cosy little café for the past two hours.
“But it’s fun!”
“For whom?”
“I have fun.”
“Strolling through the crowd in a clown outfit?”
“You’re the one who wears clown outfits for strolling. I’m allowed to dress for comfort. But no, this time there will be no strolling. And I will be wearing a clown outfit, and you don’t have to.”
“I’m considering it seriously now.”
“Great! It’s starting at sunset, the dancing I mean and I think someone said something about fireworks.”
“And I care about the pyrotechnics why?” By the look on Goku’s face the idea that someone might not care about fireworks was a cause for concern. Sanzo sighed. “I’m not staying. I have work to do.”
Goku’s beam must have been brighter than any fireworks due to illuminate the night later. Sanzo looked away drowning his insistent gaze in his teacup, which was, miraculously, full again. He should start to avoid the damned companion, Sanzo thought, licking his spoon clean of cream. He should.
xxx.XXX.xxx
Goku indeed wore a clownish outfit that night. Even from the distance Sanzo could tell it was heavy and awkward and altogether too enthusiastic about gold and brocade. It caused him less well-concealed glee than he hoped it would. Sure, there was the moment when he looked at the stage, scrutinising the dancers, and grinned in the privacy of his mind. They looked, all of them, like clowns. Unless the theme of the dance was waddling and wobbling, the costumes were pointless. Despite the opinion, however, Sanzo’s glee lasted only from the moment he discerned Goku from among his colleagues until they started dancing.
Suddenly, the outfit wasn’t quite as hilarious anymore. It was still lacking when it came to shaping a human figure, but at the same time it flowed with the dancer, moulding to his movements. All the gold shimmered in the lantern lights, making the whole stage glitter with the performer’s every move.
Sanzo stared at the spectacle for a few minutes, then he started cursing. It wasn’t fair. Goku was the one in a clown outfit for once and there was no reason to ridicule him for it.
“It’s a famous piece. Although difficult to comprehend, since most of the scenes are collective and happening on the whole stage,” Hakkai was saying to Gojyo on the other side of the table. Gojyo, as one of the few companions who found dancing a skill rather than a talent, was a part of the audience like the rest of the city. “Frankly, I’m astonished you don’t know it.”
“I’m too old to be participating in the festivities,” Gojyo replied with a shrug.
“Too old? You’re my age,” Hakkai said.
“Hell, Goku is almost too old. Most of the other dancers are in their teens. Good thing he looks so young, but he’s still going to be heartbroken in a few years, when he starts looking his age. Kanzeon is going to be heartbroken, that’s for sure – he’s really good. Or so I’m told.”
Sanzo studiously ignored the conversation. He should have expected the monkey to be good at dancing. Judging by his fighting moves, which were useless against anyone set on killing him, Goku had an impressive sense of balance and control. No wonder really, with those muscles.
Not that he cared, of course.
Triple yay: I found out what happened to the comicbook store that used to be on the train station. It was moved a street back and into a yard. Seriously, finding it, such a chore. On the bright side, so much stuff to drool over! Which brings me to the question: There is a picture, in the red Backgammon artbook, of Sanzo dancing with the Nyoi-bo. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It's a cell shaded pic, with Hakkai, Gojyo and Goku close-ups and Sanzo in the middle, pole-dancing.
Also: Love, Actually = best Christmas movie.
The winter solstice week ended and with it the time of relaxation and privacy. Sanzo returned to his papers with relief. At last he’d be able to get some work done, without so-called friends pestering him at every turn. That one week a year was enough for him. Companionship was not something he desired on a regular basis, although, he was forced to admit, Goku wasn’t all that bad, despite his ridiculous obsession with food and the desire to share the edibles.
Sanzo knew he wouldn’t put on weight unless he swallowed cannon balls, but some of his clothes were becoming curiously close fitting. He wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not. His body built might have been unimpressive upon a casual inspection. Most of the time he didn’t even need to exercise his physique to clear a path in front of himself, although he had to admit wasn’t particularly happy about the mechanics. People often paused to stare at him, because of his unusual beauty (and beauty it was, to his chagrin), then, luckily, they took notice of the expression on his face and the awe gave way to blind panic. Hence the clear path for Sanzo to walk through. Very few people in the history of the kingdom could boast causing widespread panic just by appearing publicly in a bad mood.
All the same, Sanzo found being in public a hassle and an inconvenience. He should have taken at least a horse, he reflected grimly striding past a vendor hiding behind her stall, and possibly a helmet. Definitely a bigger sword. To make matters worse, the man he’d set out to meet was delayed, and Sanzo would have to return to brave the marketplace again in a couple of days.
Sanzo’s glare scorched the area, forcing the more dim-witted pedestrians to take the hint and drop dead on the spot, when it stopped at an unusually sunlit face. Now that was a sight he was unaccustomed to seeing.
“Sanzo!” Goku beamed and skipped to his side. “I was just thinking about you.”
“The hell?” Sanzo was aware that people were staring and his reputation was suffering. The untouchable speak-and-die warlord was seen on the market with a cheerful boy on his arm. He’d never live it down.
“I was planning to go for a snack to this café nearby – they have awesome sweets.”
“What on earth makes you think I’d go anywhere with you?”
But Goku didn’t listen. He was already tugging him into a back alley, left and into a shaded yard. Sanzo scowled as he was pushed into one of the chairs and handed a menu. “Try the baklavas. Or anything with honey, really, they have the best honey in the city,” the companion chirped, waving enthusiastically at the waiter. “We’ll have ginger tea,” he told the man. And, to Sanzo’s faint disgust, he proceeded to order his bodyweight in sweets.
“You’ll be fired if you get fat,” Sanzo pointed out.
“Don’t be silly.” Most of the cakes were, to Sanzo’s relief, to be packed and sent directly to the House, for later. Still, what arrived on the table was more than enough.
“Are you planning on eating all that?”
“No. Half of it is for you.”
“I don’t eat sweets.”
“And it’s only one of your many faults. Luckily, it’s easily remedied.”
“Oh, go to hell.”
“Hey – a little cooperation. I’m not trying to get you to stop consuming babies or anything. Just, you know. Relax a little.”
“Consuming babies is how I relax,” Sanzo muttered, sipping his tea.
Goku beamed. “I’ll settle for a sense of humour.”
Sanzo nibbled on his pie. Later, to his utmost surprise, he realised he managed to consume an unheard of amount of sugar, through nibbling. But that discovery paled in the face of the realisation that he spent two hours sitting with opposite a monkey in a café, eating stuff he’d never think he’d care for.
Something was seriously wrong with him.
To avoid that particular train of thought, Sanzo let his mind wander. How much of a mistake it was he realised only when he caught himself studying the monkey and his surprisingly fetching “I don’t whore today” apparel. It was, colour and form-wise, not a combination a sane man would ever think of wearing. And yet Goku, made it look appealing. Then again, the fashion rules Sanzo was aware of probably didn’t apply to a man who got paid for looking good enough to eat. And Sanzo did not just think that.
Goku abandoned his spoon in favour of licking a stray drop of honey sneaking down the back of his hand and Sanzo started.
“Do you always pester people on your days off?” he asked.
Goku looked at him, his wide eyes filling Sanzo’s vision completely. “Pester?”
“I don’t recall paying you to get on my nerves today. So unless it’s one of Hakkai’s schemes, you’re here because you’re not working.”
“Oh. There is the dancing festival later tonight, but I got the morning off. I wanted cake.”
“That has what to do with me being here?”
Goku pondered the question. “You know, that’s funny, but I usually don’t spend much time with my clients socially. Even on the hunting game I was there for Kanan.” He stared off into space, finishing off a honey-infused piece of crust.
“I wonder how you get people to pay to spend time with you.”
“I’m great in bed, obviously.”
Sanzo snorted, more out of the need to reply than to express his opinion.
“Are you coming to the festival?”
“I’m busy,” Sanzo said, temporarily ignoring the fact of having sat in a cosy little café for the past two hours.
“But it’s fun!”
“For whom?”
“I have fun.”
“Strolling through the crowd in a clown outfit?”
“You’re the one who wears clown outfits for strolling. I’m allowed to dress for comfort. But no, this time there will be no strolling. And I will be wearing a clown outfit, and you don’t have to.”
“I’m considering it seriously now.”
“Great! It’s starting at sunset, the dancing I mean and I think someone said something about fireworks.”
“And I care about the pyrotechnics why?” By the look on Goku’s face the idea that someone might not care about fireworks was a cause for concern. Sanzo sighed. “I’m not staying. I have work to do.”
Goku’s beam must have been brighter than any fireworks due to illuminate the night later. Sanzo looked away drowning his insistent gaze in his teacup, which was, miraculously, full again. He should start to avoid the damned companion, Sanzo thought, licking his spoon clean of cream. He should.
xxx.XXX.xxx
Goku indeed wore a clownish outfit that night. Even from the distance Sanzo could tell it was heavy and awkward and altogether too enthusiastic about gold and brocade. It caused him less well-concealed glee than he hoped it would. Sure, there was the moment when he looked at the stage, scrutinising the dancers, and grinned in the privacy of his mind. They looked, all of them, like clowns. Unless the theme of the dance was waddling and wobbling, the costumes were pointless. Despite the opinion, however, Sanzo’s glee lasted only from the moment he discerned Goku from among his colleagues until they started dancing.
Suddenly, the outfit wasn’t quite as hilarious anymore. It was still lacking when it came to shaping a human figure, but at the same time it flowed with the dancer, moulding to his movements. All the gold shimmered in the lantern lights, making the whole stage glitter with the performer’s every move.
Sanzo stared at the spectacle for a few minutes, then he started cursing. It wasn’t fair. Goku was the one in a clown outfit for once and there was no reason to ridicule him for it.
“It’s a famous piece. Although difficult to comprehend, since most of the scenes are collective and happening on the whole stage,” Hakkai was saying to Gojyo on the other side of the table. Gojyo, as one of the few companions who found dancing a skill rather than a talent, was a part of the audience like the rest of the city. “Frankly, I’m astonished you don’t know it.”
“I’m too old to be participating in the festivities,” Gojyo replied with a shrug.
“Too old? You’re my age,” Hakkai said.
“Hell, Goku is almost too old. Most of the other dancers are in their teens. Good thing he looks so young, but he’s still going to be heartbroken in a few years, when he starts looking his age. Kanzeon is going to be heartbroken, that’s for sure – he’s really good. Or so I’m told.”
Sanzo studiously ignored the conversation. He should have expected the monkey to be good at dancing. Judging by his fighting moves, which were useless against anyone set on killing him, Goku had an impressive sense of balance and control. No wonder really, with those muscles.
Not that he cared, of course.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 06:53 pm (UTC)If someone does know of it, I'd love to see it too, hun ^_~!
*hmm* Baklava! Sanzo doesn't stand a chance *lol*!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 09:08 pm (UTC)He doesn't. He was lost from the start. *grins*
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 08:55 pm (UTC)I like the little tidbits you added here and there, but that's not the important part.
The important part is how a-frickin-dorable it is to think of Sanzo and Goku sitting in a cute little cafe together, eating sweets. They sounded yummy! And I love your confident Goku. You know I just love him to pieces. *squeezes the monkey*
And the dance! OH the dance! I loved the idea of Goku dancing like that, dressed in such an adorable outfit. *coughitneedsapicturecough* And the conversation between Gojyo and Hakkai? Brilliant. The plot thickens!
I still love this story so very, very much. <3
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 09:22 pm (UTC)I was thinking the outfit is something vaguely resembling the Amidala dresses of episode I. ^____^ Goku would look so cute, I agree! Of course, Sanzo misses the artistic values of the performance by staring exclusively at the monkey, but... *evil grin*
Poor Gojyo doesn't yet realise it's all a plot and he's being used in it. Hakkai is a delightful bastard. In a good way.
Thank you! *huggles*
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 04:28 pm (UTC)And could you just imagine Goku asking him later about it? XDD
Goku: Sanzo! What did you think of the dance?
Sanzo: *snaps back to reality* It was fine.
Goku: ... you weren't watching the dance, were you? *evil grin*
Sanzo: STFU!
Yeah, that was sort of what I pictured when I read the scene. And Goku could probably make anything look cute, honestly.
Ha ha! Evil!Hakkai strikes again! But you know secretly Gojyo really, really likes being used by Hakkai. 85, FTW! Your Hakkai is so delicious too.
You're welcome! <3
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 04:53 pm (UTC)Considering what Goku wears in canon, I'll say! ^_____^ Not that it isn't cute, but it's chiefly because it's Goku who wears it. :P
Evil!Hakkai is delicious to write, because he's all subtle about it. And he knows what you need better than you do. <3
no subject
Date: 2007-12-02 12:11 am (UTC)They do have some terrible fashion sense in Saiyuki, don't they? Not as bad as some fandoms (Heero's spandex and horrid yellow shoes, anyone?), but still. I mean, Gojyo got number 3 on a Top Ten Worst Dressed List in an anime magazine I read. (Heero was number 2). His Gensomaden outfit is AWFUL.
Of course he does! He wouldn't be Hakkai if he didn't know what was best for you before you did. <3
no subject
Date: 2007-12-02 12:16 am (UTC)They so do. What's up with Yaone? Goku is excused, because he makes his clothes look cute (hell, he makes an adorable cross-dressing Sailor Moon, so there), but Gojyo deserved the #3. He so did.
Are you on Y!M, perchance? I can see you.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 02:18 pm (UTC)and a whodunnit story .... agatha christie i think -
i love this chapter - so vivid for me
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 04:44 pm (UTC)I think it was Meru who put the idea of Sanzo and Goku in a 40s movie in my head, only for some reason all I could see was Casablanca. XDD
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 04:45 pm (UTC)