Rats! I mean - YAY! The Other Saiyuki Fangirls Found the Auction!

[chomiji]

I was sitting pretty for several days with the top bid on emungere's fic writing offer in the livelongnmarry auction, but the rest of the usual suspects have suddenly shown up in force, and I'm teetering on the edge of what I can afford.

But it's all good for the cause! I think I'll leave it alone for a couple of days and see what happens.

> sniffles quietly <

Comments

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

I know... I've got the only bid on something but hey, who knows what will happen in ANOTHER WEEK ARGH. ;)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

People keep outbidding me, too. And what I'm not outbid on, I'm sure they're just lurking and waiting for the last minute!

(the auction)

[chomiji]

I have a feeling things will get very, very busy and tense on the 15th, as the deadline approaches ... .

[chomiji]

Ohhh, but I don't know if that would be fair! (Although I guess I could give you half what you put in, or make that much in another donation ... .) I think you want more of the vampirish one, don't you? I'd rather more of the prison AU or the Gojyo catboy thing - although I'm not sure how much more catboy there could be. A lot of my favorite louiseluxes are one-offs, like "Mutability."

[chomiji]

I'm worried about that last-minute biz myself! Also I wish I liked more of the artists. But since telophase has been sending me "in progress" shots of the thing I bought from her for the last auction, I'm worrying about that less! (I still wish someone who knew what s/he was doing would do me a couple of illustrations for my "Real Adventurer" fic.)

[chomiji]

Ohhh, yeah! The stripper story! I could go for that too! Poor, confused, frustrated Gojyo, in way over his head ... . Although there were some of the same elements in "Cupidity," like the big shopping scene.

[chomiji]

Oddly enough, I like the shopping scenes too, but it must be on another level - Cherryh seems to like them too, and the two I can think of right off in her books only have the mildest element of adorning the sex object (in one case, it also involves supplies for a space ship, as well as clothes for someone ... but there's the same feeling of abundance and generosity).

[chomiji]

Yes, there's definitely an element of "adorning the beloved" that's similar to the Mr.'s tendency to buy me jewelry! And also, once you've posited a wealthy Hakkai-type who has the money to buy fine things, he's just going to get a lot of aesthetic pleasure in dressing the pretty guy up in pretty clothes.

Yes, I think he probably is moderately tight with a dollar from day to day - he probably bargains ferociously both in the local markets when he's stocking up for himself and Gojyo, or on the road when he's spending Sanzo's money for supplies.

[chomiji]

I had it all mapped out, what pictures I wanted for "Real Adventurer":

(a) Gojyo-chan and Jien watching the movie. They should be seated in old-style folding chairs, not movie theater seats. The story specifies that they are one row from the front, so this could be between/over the shoulders of the people front of them. Li'l Gojyo should be leaning forward, watching the screen, mezmerized (I'm not sure whether laughing or looking worried or amazed would be best), clutching his battered little paper sack of candy. Jien should be leaning back, looking sleepy and a little bored, watching the show with half an eye, one arm around Gojyo's shoulders or along the back of his chair. Gojyo should be wearing a down-market Japanese/Chinese schoolboy uniform (hybrid, like so much in Saiyuki ...) - shorts, shirt, maybe even a loosened school tie, knee socks (probably falling down his skinny legs), and battered slip-on canvas shoes. His face should be bruised along one side. Jien has a work shirt partly unbuttoned over a T-shirt, work pants, and workmanlike laced shoes/boots ....

or

(b) The brothers walking home after the movie, with Gojyo-chan trotting along the top of the rail fence at the side of the road, dressed as above and with a knapsack on his back, Jien striding along on the verge of the road beside him and looking up fondly as he talks to him (again, dressed as above). Gojyo isn't quite looking back at him because of needing to keep his balance on the fence.

[chomiji]

I have at least one friend that I want to drag out to the store (or force to look through catalogs) and make her look pretty ... although I also have an uneasy feeling that you might feel somewhat that way about moi ...   XD

And yes, I think Hakkai wants to pamper Gojyo to a certain extent ... that's why he puts up with all the messiness and laziness while he does most of the cleaning. Gojyo's earning the money, and Gojyo gave him a family again. I think the equation works in Hakkai's mind. And once you add the fanon OTP into the mix, the issue of making Gojyo look good becomes even more important.

(And for some reason that's reminding me of the scene in emungere's "Home from the Sea ..." when they go shopping and Hakkai is buying eels, to Gojyo's dismay: "It's not OK with Gojyo, but Hakkai's the one doing the cooking.")

[chomiji]

I keep thinking I should just bite the bullet and try to draw ... I used to draw. I can't bear the idea of making bad drawings of Gojyo and Hakkai, but maybe if I started with the Kou-tachi, I could deal with it and see whether I could get anywhere that would satisfy me.

I could certainly do a better job than some of what I've seen online, proudly displayed, but I'm a lot picker than that.

[chomiji]

It''s really hard to tell how much Saiyuki Minekura has left ... we had significant chunks of everyone's backgrounds starting 3 volumes in, with both "sets": Be There and the equivalent Sanzo/Goku stuff, and then the Burial arcs. It doesn't feel like this confrontation with Ukoku is going to end the series, so we may get another run of books with another chunk of background - maybe the scenes where Gojyo tells his story to Hakkai will be in there.

[chomiji]

Well, see, that's the trouble. Like you, I have a specific idea in mind of what I want to be on the paper by the time I'm finished. But I used to draw well enough to impress other people and get a B and then an A (IIRC) in two semesters of college-level Life Drawing. So maybe I should try it again. (BTW, this is the cut-paper piece I did for telophase a combined birthday/Xmas gift.)