Monthly Minekura Appreciation

Monthly prompts! Special Christmas edition coming right up.

[monthlyminekura]

Prompt list is here!!!

Fanarts, fanfics, covers, mood boards, and everything else. We'll be glad to celebrate Christmas with any of your work around Minekura's works! Not only limited to Saiyuki, but also Araiso, Wild Adapter, Bus Gamer, and any of her works are welcomed.

Remember to use the hashtags #monthlyminekura and #minekura kazuya

Also a big THANK YOU to @adagiospace for making the promotion art!

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Sharak/Winter

The winter breeze slices through her plain cotton saree, the white fabric fluttering out. It was nice to be able to relax in the height of the winter months especially during the afternoon. She placed the straw mat on the roof top and then dragged a quilt over it. She then dropped down on the quilt as the warmth of the winter sun heated up the blanket. After a few moments in the sun, she got up and laid out the rest of the paraphernalia. The tea in its bone china teapot, some oranges and a slice of cake. Here among the winter roses in full bloom she enjoyed a quiet moment.

The winter chill cuts through her plain priest robes. It would be nice to be able to relax in the height of the winter months especially during the night. She placed another piece of firewood in the blazing fire place and then dragged a quilt over herself. She then wrapped herself in the quilt as the warmth of the fireplace heated up the blanket. She watched as Hasan laid out the paraphernalia. Several rifles, along with ammunitions. Here in the quiet before the blizzard, she laid out plans as she waited for the sun.

------

Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 25: Winter

A/N: Past and present of our Sharak Sanzo.

A/N: winter for me meant flower shows, fruits like apples, oranges and grapes and sunning oneself. It also meant drinking coffee and eating cake. So I wanted to write a bit about how I spent my winters being from tropical India.

[monthlyminekura]

Thank you for writing such a gentle writing for Sharak! Love how you differentiate Sharak in the past and in the present, and how you incorporate your custom here. Would love to enjoy winter like this <3 So grateful you submit so much for the prompts! Thank you so so much!

[tnasketching]

Day 25 : Santa (Free)

OM OM OOOOM ! Merry belated Christmas!

Being late has been a credo of mine this month. :P

First time drawing one of my favorite female characters of all time, and it just had to be Christmas-related? Oh well, Genjo had it worse dressed as a reindeer against his will in a certain scene. 😁

Some youkai children put rope on their own clothes to imitate Sharak's "tail", human children also do that. This trend makes Sharak and her army smile. Kids are all the same, no matter which species they are from. They all need special celebrations to help them forget the dangerous situation they're living from both sides. Protecting their future starts with protecting their smile.

Anyhow, i do hope some of my pics made several Saiyuki fans smile as well. I sure enjoyed drawing them, it was quite inspiring.

Thank you for the prompts, the likes and the kind comments in the reblogs. I read them and it made my month !

Happy holidays! Take care ! ❤️

[monthlyminekura]

Santa Sharak!!! I'm so very happy to see this. Merriest Christmas to you!

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 25 “Swapped” (FREE)

Final piece of this cool and amazing monthly event that helped me to boost my self-confidence in digital painting especially when it comes to backgrounds. Since the prompt of this day is free, I decided to digitalize an old piece made in 2014 when I first started to draw Saiyuki characters for the first time. This draw is pure non-sense XD I would shit bricks if I saw a Ukoku-headed jungle crow but I wouldn't mind a jungle crow-headed Ukoku, lol. The whole subject doesn't have any particular meaning, the only notable thing is the Buddhist temple in the background which is Dafo Temple in Xinchang County, a county in the east-central part of Zhejiang province. This is the photo reference I used and I discovered that I love drawing and painting traditional Chinese architecture, plus I discovered several temples I want to visit when I plan to visit China.

The temple has a long history of more than 1600 years. Dafo Temple is constructed with five levels with several halls like the Heavenly King Hall, the Big Buddha Hall and the Scripture Hall. The Big Buddha is almost 15 meters in height, its nose alone is 1.5 meters and ears are 2.7 meters in size. There is also a grotto, several Buddha statues, a waterfall and a petrified forest. I was unsure if drawing the petrified forest instead of the temple entrance for the background but I couldn't resist to paint those vivid colours.

Fun fact: during the Cultural Revolution, locals covered the giant Buddha statues in the temple with pictures of Mao Zedong that managed to prevent the fanatic red guards from destroying the sacred statues, because they believed that all old traditions should be destroyed.

I deeply thank you locals for preserving such gem from human stupidity, thank you!

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[monthlyminekura]

Lmaoo this is such an awesome interesting idea!! Thank you so so much for submitting for, I think, all of the prompts?? Amazing!!! Glad that you like this event!! Hope to see you again in the future events~

[saykamachuhirik]

day 12 | free |

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!🎄🎄

[monthlyminekura]

Cutee!!!

[tnasketching]

Day 23 : North Pole

Alright, it was difficult to find inspiration, and this one seems long and waaaay too far-fetched, but that's how my headcanons sometimes get, so bare with me.

Imagine working in a highly sophisticated scientific station in a place where coldness equals North Pole, and so, you know you'll be isolated for along time. If you were in Saiyuki universe, you know that science and technology is the humans speciality, thus you're not likely to see a yokai among the scientific group, even though some yokai try to improve in this field instead of relying on magic and strength only.

Now imagine that, being one of those rare yokai, and due to some circumstances, you're not just the only one of your species in this group of very skilled humans, but also the only woman, and a pretty one. To make matters worse, most of the chosen scientists for this place are arrogant and conceited. Soon, not only are you looked down by the majority of them and slowly treated like trash despite your proven skills, but you're also ending up being the subject of fantasy of some scientists being isolated for too long from the outside.

Even after leaving this place, you hold a grudge against those who made you feel so awfully bad. Later, a powerful woman sees your talent and offers the help and recognition you needed all this time, while openly admitting she has no problem with murder, as long as it serves her plan, especially if the victims are humans. Morality aside, how tempting would it be to return to that nightmarish station with her growing army?

Oh, she sure is conceited too, but at least, she sees you as the prodigy you always felt you were. And it's not like you even trusted men before, right professor?

Though... why do you keep the habit of hiding your ears now that you work in a safe place?

[monthlyminekura]

I like this headcanon of Hwang! Thank you for submitting the art and the headcanon~

[honmyoseagull]

(My shoulder is still killing me when I type, so, late and probably only offer for the Monthly Minekura Christmas challenge. Too bad, Seemed like such a nice challenge @monthlyminekura was offering. I loved when it crossed my dash.)

Obviously late for Day 1: Bells

Fanfic - Saiyuki Gaiden.

Jingle in Paradise

Sekai, down below, is a messy place, a chaotic place. This is why dreams exist, some divinities surmise, to allow the pathetic creatures living there to try and make sense of their absurd world and meaningless lives in their sleep…

Whereas Tenkai? Beautiful. Quiet. Orderly and perfect. Souls are blessed and untroubled, there.

Therefore, kamis don’t dream.

(Usually.)

For a while, Kenren-taishou hadn’t even had the words for this fake reality invading his sleep and leaving behind a strange taste to his waking hours…

Always the same images.

The overpowering sound of the falling rain, its cold hitting his bare shoulders as he walks. Darkness, the road, the man on the ground. Lying there, face down. Bleeding. He knows who it is. At once. Kenren just… knows. And when the wounded man reveals his face, and smiles… It’s even worse to be proven right.

Waking up, heart pounding, breathing hard. Reaching for the pack of cigarettes to chase the smell of wet earth and metallic blood still very present in his nostrils… It’s his morning routine, now…

Yume. He’s found the word in one of Tenpou’s beloved books. Dream.

But having a name to put on the phenomena doesn’t really help. So he distracts himself some other ways, accepts to run ridiculous errands for Tenpou on Earth below to fill his days between military missions and duties. So he forgets to sleep. (After all, kamis don’t really need to.)

That day, when he comes back home, with a small stock of Tenpou’s favourite cigarette’s brand, he’s in a reasonably high mood. Doesn’t even knock before making his way into Tenpou’s library. Still stops dead, though.

Obviously a tree standing in Tenpou’s office is not the weirdest thing Kenren-taishou has seen in his superior officer’s place. Plus he’s the one who got ropped into dragging it in here a few days ago, so, there’s that. (Yes, Tenpou had tried to explain. No, Kenren is still not sure he gets this Sekai “Chrissmass” thing and the point of it. Though he kinda liked the way the word had curled the marshal’s lips, so unfamiliar on his tongue, and the twinkle of delight it created in the man’s green eyes.) What’s more incongruous is the treatment Goku is inflicting on it. He must have zoned out when Tenpou explained, because he can’t fathom why the gaki is basically dressing the poor piece of vegetation in tinsel and adorning it with shiny stuff…

While the kid, back to him and still unaware of his presence, chatters his heart out to his Ten-chaaaaan!, asking of him his thoughts on his efforts, Tenpou stands right there, a faint contented smile floating on his lips and curling around an unlit cigarette.

Kenren sighs indulgently (he sometimes suspects Tenpou would forget his head weren’t it attached to his body), drops his package on a low table and draws closer to his superior officer in order to offer him his lighter.

Tenpou, after bending his neck a little to meet the flame, smiles his thanks, expression for once uncomplicated and somewhat almost blinding for it.

Kenren reflexively smiles back.

“Tadaima,” the general says, a tad too soft.

“Okaeri,” Tenpou replies, oddly solemn, and oh-so warm…

And sometimes, they just don’t need more words. Both lapse into silence, watching Goku have his fun.

There’s a soft sound, then, that comes from a corner of the room. The one of a page turned.

Oh, the blond grouch his there, too.

Curled on Tenpou’s office chair, his long legs tucked under him in a slightly bizarre way, at Tenpou’s desk, nose deep in one of Tenpou’s books. Kenren can’t help but think he’s out of place here. But where would Konzen-douji be if not far from his little charge, right?

Must have felt the weight of the general’s gaze, too, because the blond sourpuss raises his eyes after a few seconds.

His nose does this frowning thing, and Konzen glares a bit, too, as if he objected to the just lit cigarettes: he has a vague gesture of the hand as if to chase the delicate smoke that hasn’t even reached him yet, Kenren is sure.

Heaven forbid Konzen would look like he was enjoying himself being here, right, once he’d noticed he was watched…

But Kenren had seen.

For once there’d been this inabitual bubble of calm around Kanzeon-bosatsu’s nephew, very unlike this ever present buzz of irritation surrounding the man at any given time that often gets under Kenren’s skin.

The general could go at it, needle the man a bit. Changes his mind, though, and turns his attention back to Tenpou.

“Hey,” he simply calls, reaching for something tiny in his leather coat’s pocket and throwing it in the marshal’s direction.

He brings back little odd things from down below Tenpou hasn’t asked for, sometimes. Can’t help it, the marshal is so easily delighted…

The marshal snatches it from mid-air without much effort, in spite of his sloppy appearance. People forget, sometimes, that Tenpou is a soldier, a very good fighter at that, with the good reflexes it entails.

In his palm, a little sphere, something golden and delicately inlaid, with only a tiny slit on the metal and a tiny little ring to hang it, probably. Tenpou grabs it with two fingers to raise it closer to his eyes.

And they have drawn the kid’s attention too, now :

“A new christmas ornament? How did you know!” Goku exclaims, already reaching for the little thing.

But Kenren grabs him by the scruff of his scrawny neck. He loves the kid. To pieces. Still… and it feels ridiculous to say it out loud, but :

“It was for you,” he tells the marshal who was about to let the itan child have the gift. “It sings,” he awkwardly adds, then.

With his chibi saru-free hand, the general sends a finger nudge the thing in Tenpou’s grasp, and as he knew it would, the little ball hidden inside the golden shell moves, eliciting a delicate little sound.

“Yes, it would be wasted, just hanging still on a branch,” the marshal eventually acquiesces, brows already furrowed in reflexion, eyes invisible behind the harsh reflexion off his glasses. And without warning, he’s a flurry of activity. In three strides, he’s near a startled Konzen, reaching over him for a drawer, fishing into it, of all things, for a little ball of thin but solid wire and a little pincer.

It takes him hardly three seconds to figure out a way to fasten the sphere on the wire and create a little hook at the other end. Then, the marshal’s hands fly to the side of his head.

Not even a hint of hesitation, and he’s piercing skin and flesh pushing the metal through the little round part, till the gold orb hangs at his ear.

Kenren stays stunned for a full second. He hadn’t seen this one coming. But in the little things like the big, Tenpou is sometimes reckless to a point that could scare a lesser man than the general. (Who he is he kidding? Totally and indubitably scares him when he ventures to think about it.)

“What do you think? You said it was for me, right?” Tenpou says, smiling a bit like a proud loon around this cigarette he has managed to keep between his lips all along. He turns his head a little on his slender neck to show off, and a little ringing sound comes out the little sphere as if to gently underline the gesture.

It allows for Kenren’s hand to find the side of this face, on the pretence of angling it for a better sight.

A pearl of redness gathers at the puncture wound and collapses on itself, truly miniscule rivulet down the abused lobe.

It’s  nothing, but it’s like a jolt to Kenren…

And the familiar images come, unbidden, while he’s still wide awake this time.

The overpowering sound of the falling rain, its cold hitting his bare shoulders—

Gravity makes its office, and the scarlet drop hits the shoulder of Tenpou’s labcoat. (Shocking) little flower.

“Chi.” Goku says, his little face raised to them. Tone odd.

There’s something in the way the kid’s nostril flare. Something flinty, for a second, obscures his golden gaze, suddenly metallic instead of warm. He’s like a different being for a second, one who could could inspire terror.

But the flash on the gaki’s features is so brief it feels like Kenren has just imagined this, that he can blame his already frayed nerves…

And the general doesn’t know what takes over him. He gathers the marshal to him by way of grabbing his labcoat, and leans in, on an impulse, towards the man. Till his lips are on Tenpou’s earlobe. The iron-y salt of blood and the tiniest hint of a real metal’s taste mingle on his tongue. He feels his officer still. And tense. Tenpou’s hand is suddenly on his arm, its message unclear. Stop. Or… Don’t you dare stop. Kenren wouldn’t know. Maybe Tenpou doesn’t either.

Goku, oblivious anew, saves them from public awkwardness, dragging his Ten-chan back to their tree… Since they are not conversing anymore, it must be alright for him to get back his friend to keep him to himself.

Kenren decides not to acknowledge how suddenly bereft he feels.

Also, now it’s on his tongue that the taste of blood lingers.

The overpowering sound of the falling rain, its cold hitting his bare shoulders, the darkness the road and the dying man, bleeding and smi—

Stop, the general tells himself, feeling uneasy. Now the dark thoughts hunt him even awake… What the hell is happening to him?

He feels a gaze on him and, whip-sharp, his head turns on his neck, catching Konzen’s eyes.

It’s a frown subtly different from the usual scowl, on the blond’s face. More considering. Almost… worried. And directed at him.

How odd, Kenren thinks.

But already the divine bureaucrat is averting his eyes. He has surprised Konzen’s eyes on him, and the blond god is probably as embarrassed at having been caught looking as Kenren himself is by his own lapse of attention, by how he has let his own discomfort show…

But he’s a soldier. He knows tactics. He knows… diversion.

He pastes his patented shit-eating grin on his face, and with a jerk of his chin, indicates Tenpou.

“Ever told you how I met him, Goldie?” And Konzen frowns a little, not entirely duped but curious nonetheless. “Came into his office and found him buried under piles of his own books.”

The great Konzen-douji can’t help a particularly unelegant snort.

“That would have been such a stupid way to lose him,” Konzen manages to offer. His book is definitively forgotten on his crossed legs.

“Heh. There an intelligent way?” Kenren needles.

It’s a just glance, that’s thrown his way. A flash of violet. But with a might and a steel you wouldn’t be used to, thinking of the spoiled nephew of the great Kanzeon-bosatsu. Surpringly, it cows Kenren the tiniest little bit.

“Yeah, no way we’re losing Tenpou,” the general weakly agrees, hardly above a whisper. Because the alternative is unthinkable. “Not that this itan kid of yours is better anyway at staying out of trouble,” he still feels the need to retaliate.

Over there near the tree, the marshal is giving a boost to the heretic child in question so he can reach the higher branches. Tenpou’s move makes the little sphere at his ear tinkle again.

It derails them both a little:

“Like a bell on a cat,” Konzen unexpectedly comments, and there’s something speculative in his gaze as it then flies to his charge, like it gives him an idea, and in a way, Kenren gets why. How tempting it would be to be able to always know where the kid is, be sure to be able not to lose him.

Kenren has spoken about this with Tenpou more than once. They’re just like Konzen. The three of them feel it, that unclear menace gathering around this kid. Even in this perfect place Heaven is supposed to be.

When has Paradise stopped being Paradise?

But then Goku says something that unexpectedly wrenches a surprised laugh out of Tenpou, and as the marshal’s body shakes in delighted mirth and he throws his head back, the little bell once again jingles.

And for a second, Kenren is able to forget the disturbing thoughts. He just drinks the sight.

Tenkai is paradise once again. A place where souls are supposed to be blessed and untroubled.

The End

[monthlyminekura]

This is sooo good! Love the 10K and how Kenren keeps having glimpse of Hakkai. Loving the Christmas tree, the earring, the interaction. Love it all! Thank you for writing this fic, and no worries about it being the only one you can write! We just host this for fun. If you ever want to use the prompt anytime feel free~

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Hassan/North Pole

Hassan struck a pinky finger in his ear and obnoxiously rotated it. He and the other acolytes had gathered for their first ‘real’ physical training together. Currently, however he was valiantly attempting to infuriate one of the biggest braggarts he has ever encountered.

Naveen Thakur.

“The training is so unbelievably easy. Of course, it must be very difficult for the rest of you, but for me, it has been a breeze!” The man proclaimed.

“Is that so… how cool…,” said Hassan.

Hassan winced as the man’s voice rose an octave higher, “Of course, for fairness of competition, you all must be allowed to participate! None of you should be disheartened, as one’s best competitor is oneself. Of course, many of you would benefit from understanding your capabilities. Such as you, my dear lady…”

Hassan and the other acolytes glanced at her. The only woman in the group.

He did not know what to make of her. Like them, she was dressed in monk robes. But her head was shaved completely with burn scars on her face.

Her dark eyes bored into Naveen, her face stoic. She did not reply.

Naveen paused, unnerved by her silence.

The clapping sound from their instructor attracted their attention to him.

“Introduce yourself!” He commanded.

One by one, each acolyte introduced themself. Most struck to their name and age, with a few details of where they were from.

At Hassan’s turn, like the other he said his name and age followed by the name of his village and his previous occupation as a merchant.

Following him came Naveen’s turn. “I am Naveen Thakur, 3rd son of Prince Dwarka Thakur, fifth-in-line for the province of Nalanda. Of course, I am also a master’s graduate of Nalanda University, in Electronic Engineering no less. I am also an avid skier and mountaineer. I have scaled the Mt. Everest of course. Also Annapurna and Kanchenjunga. I have also climbed…,” he bragged.

Everyone stared as Naveen went on and on, listing more and more improbable feats before finally ending with, “And I have even been to the North Pole!” He finished and looked around, expecting a round of applause. Instead, he was only greeted by silence.

“That’s incredible.” The instructor said flatly. He then gestured at the stark granite cliff in front of the acolytes.”You will have to climb this.”

Hassan stared at the cliff, all granite.

“One-handed and without ropes. Try not to fall, as nothing will catch you,” the instructor continued before chanting a spell.

Hassan lurched forward as his right arm was forced back by magic and held there.

“Now climb.” He said.

As nervous mumbles rose, Hassan pushed Naveen (who had turned a pale grey) forward. “Well, Mr Prince! Why don’t you show us plebs how it's done,” he said. Naveen turned around, eyes wide. 

The man looked back at the cliff, than at Hassan, and then at the instructor. “Yes — yes, I will — I will show how it's done,” he said, trembling.

The snow around them scrunched as the lone woman stepped forward, both her arms behind her back.

The instructor blinked as she explained, “I’m ambidextrous.”

With a wave of the instructor’s hand, her right arm was released. 

“Thank you,” she said.

She then walked backwards before running forwards and then using her momentum to run up the cliff by a few meters. As her momentum slowed, she grabbed hold of a handhold, propelling herself up another meter or so. She whispered a spell. Her knees and palm started to glow. She then crawled up the cliffside on her one hand and knees. 

Hassan stared along with the others as slowly but surely she reached the clifftop.

Beneath her, the crowd started to go wild, cheering.

Standing at the top, she looked down and yelled, “Call me Sanzo.”

-----

Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 23: North Pole

A/N: What happened to Naveen? He ran back home. LMAO.

[monthlyminekura]

What a pleasant read!! Sharak is such a badass I love her! Naveen? Well... I do have an interest of what happened next lol

[bijectiveandinvertible]

@monthlyminekura

I kind of struggled with whether there should be more women acolytes or not; considering Buddhist nuns are 1000% a thing particularly in Tibetean culture.

In the end I went only with Sharak.

My H/C is that Sharak is not the first woman to become a Sanzo priest but she is the first woman to become a Sanzo priest in a few generations. Which is why most of the ikkou is surprised as they don't know the history (Considering Sanzo's complete lack of surprise he knows there have been priests who are not men before). Considering there has been on average 25 priests per sutra there have been 125 sanzos in approx. At least a few have to have been female.

I do have a continuation for this fic! Probably for Christmas! :D

[monthlyminekura]

A great hc! Hmm, I'm not quite sure if there's other female Sanzo beside Sharak, even with approx 125 sanzos so far. It would be awesome if there was though. What about a female youkai sanzo? :o I'd die for that!

Oh, so exciting to know there's a continuation to this fic. Rooting for you!

[tnasketching]

Day 19 : candle

Oh man do I struggle with drawing Nii's haitcut. And his lab coat doesn't event look like it. But he might be the type to like specific aesthetics while working on his projects.

[monthlyminekura]

Dr. Nii with candles! This is good, you nailed his hair~

[tnasketching]

Day 21 : Mistletoe

Again, sorry for the late ! 😅

Oh, this won't end well... I read that Zakuro's favourite type was a woman with beautiful smile, small stature and big breasts. With such a description, i should have actually chosen Lirin instead of Yaone, but... This somehow would feel wrong, even if drawn comically. :/ And yet i would LOVE to see an interraction with these two goofs ! 😂

Oh well, who wouldn't have a crush on sweet Yaone anyways ?

[monthlyminekura]

OMG Zakuro Yaone!! Poor Yaone lol. Nice art!!

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 23 “North Pole”

Another prompt, another composition. First time I ever drew a vehicle but since I wanted to be as accurate as possible I had to heavily reference Hakuryuu in jeep form and some parts were traced in order to get proportions right. Shading was purely done in soft shading technique this time because I wanted to speed up the process since I am busy with exams. Others were quite fun to draw especially because I wanted to highlight each character's behaviour, yes the map was very simple because I drained my energies on Hakuryuu XD but let's just image they simply get lost and their journey turned into Journey to the North. The bear chase was inspired by Saiyuki Reload Gunlock episode 3 XD

Poor Gojyo XD someone help him, but the real question is: how do they manage to resist polar cold with those clothes? XD

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[monthlyminekura]

Aww the ikkou is here! Loving the Jeep, you're doing so well! Gojyo... good luck to him XD

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Hassan/North Pole

Hassan struck a pinky finger in his ear and obnoxiously rotated it. He and the other acolytes had gathered for their first ‘real’ physical training together. Currently, however he was valiantly attempting to infuriate one of the biggest braggarts he has ever encountered.

Naveen Thakur.

“The training is so unbelievably easy. Of course, it must be very difficult for the rest of you, but for me, it has been a breeze!” The man proclaimed.

“Is that so… how cool…,” said Hassan.

Hassan winced as the man’s voice rose an octave higher, “Of course, for fairness of competition, you all must be allowed to participate! None of you should be disheartened, as one’s best competitor is oneself. Of course, many of you would benefit from understanding your capabilities. Such as you, my dear lady…”

Hassan and the other acolytes glanced at her. The only woman in the group.

He did not know what to make of her. Like them, she was dressed in monk robes. But her head was shaved completely with burn scars on her face.

Her dark eyes bored into Naveen, her face stoic. She did not reply.

Naveen paused, unnerved by her silence.

The clapping sound from their instructor attracted their attention to him.

“Introduce yourself!” He commanded.

One by one, each acolyte introduced themself. Most struck to their name and age, with a few details of where they were from.

At Hassan’s turn, like the other he said his name and age followed by the name of his village and his previous occupation as a merchant.

Following him came Naveen’s turn. “I am Naveen Thakur, 3rd son of Prince Dwarka Thakur, fifth-in-line for the province of Nalanda. Of course, I am also a master’s graduate of Nalanda University, in Electronic Engineering no less. I am also an avid skier and mountaineer. I have scaled the Mt. Everest of course. Also Annapurna and Kanchenjunga. I have also climbed…,” he bragged.

Everyone stared as Naveen went on and on, listing more and more improbable feats before finally ending with, “And I have even been to the North Pole!” He finished and looked around, expecting a round of applause. Instead, he was only greeted by silence.

“That’s incredible.” The instructor said flatly. He then gestured at the stark granite cliff in front of the acolytes.”You will have to climb this.”

Hassan stared at the cliff, all granite.

“One-handed and without ropes. Try not to fall, as nothing will catch you,” the instructor continued before chanting a spell.

Hassan lurched forward as his right arm was forced back by magic and held there.

“Now climb.” He said.

As nervous mumbles rose, Hassan pushed Naveen (who had turned a pale grey) forward. “Well, Mr Prince! Why don’t you show us plebs how it's done,” he said. Naveen turned around, eyes wide. 

The man looked back at the cliff, than at Hassan, and then at the instructor. “Yes — yes, I will — I will show how it's done,” he said, trembling.

The snow around them scrunched as the lone woman stepped forward, both her arms behind her back.

The instructor blinked as she explained, “I’m ambidextrous.”

With a wave of the instructor’s hand, her right arm was released. 

“Thank you,” she said.

She then walked backwards before running forwards and then using her momentum to run up the cliff by a few meters. As her momentum slowed, she grabbed hold of a handhold, propelling herself up another meter or so. She whispered a spell. Her knees and palm started to glow. She then crawled up the cliffside on her one hand and knees. 

Hassan stared along with the others as slowly but surely she reached the clifftop.

Beneath her, the crowd started to go wild, cheering.

Standing at the top, she looked down and yelled, “Call me Sanzo.”

-----

Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 23: North Pole

A/N: What happened to Naveen? He ran back home. LMAO.

[monthlyminekura]

What a pleasant read!! Sharak is such a badass I love her! Naveen? Well... I do have an interest of what happened next lol

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 21 “Mistletoe”

I couldn't think about anything Christmas-related to a character linked to Chinese culture, so the only thing that inspired me to use mistletoe in the composition were Arcimboldo's paintings. I always loved his imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. Arcimboldo was a conventional court painter of portraits for three Holy Roman Emperors in Vienna and Prague; he also produced religious subjects and specialized in grotesque symbolical compositions of fruits, animals, landscapes, or various inanimate objects arranged into human forms. At a distance, his portraits look like normal human portraits. However, individual objects in each portrait actually overlap together to make various human anatomical shapes. They were carefully constructed by his imagination. The assembled objects in each portrait were not random: each was related by characterization

For example The Librarian is made of objects that signifies the book culture at that time, such as the curtain that created individual study rooms in a library. Keeping this in mind I wanted to paint Goku with different types of foods from Chinese cuisine more precisely mooncake for the cheek, gāo diǎn for the eye, bread for the nose, then we have zhajiangmian, Peking duck, baozi, lou mei, dāoxiāomiàn, lamian, prawn crackers and knife-sliced noodles. Only non-Chinese-related stuff is the mistletoe which fits perfectly his hair. Unlike The Librarian which is meant to criticize rich people's misbehavior specifically that behaviour to collect books only to own them, rather than to read them, here I just wanted to symbolize Goku with food and because he's rooted in Chinese culture, Chinese foods were the best to represent him. Maybe in future I might draw other Sanzo Ikkou in the style of Arcimboldo (Sanzo a mix of sutras and weapons, Gojyo made of cigarettes, alcohol and women and Hakkai might be done with a mix of books of different genres).

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[monthlyminekura]

Amazing! Could have never thought anywhere near this. We're getting so many creative submissions thank you so much!

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Instructor Wang/Mistletoe

Instructor Wang stretched his limbs. His stiff shoulders cracked, and he let out a sigh of relief. With a deep sigh, he started to solder several electronic components under the eerie basement light. Behind him the tank containing Gyomaoh’s corpse bubbled intermittently.

“Instructor Wang.”

Cursing, he turned towards Professor Hwang. The human woman stood tall in her spiffy labcoat. 

“How far are you on Component Series US?” She asked.

“Another three weeks.”

“Let me see…,” she said, leaning into his space.

He shifted away, annoyed.

Suddenly, something touched his head. Flailing, he looked up. It was a bundle of mistletoe that had been lowered from the rafter’s on a string by Dr. Ni.

“You have to kiss~” the singsong tone of Dr Ni washed over him and Professor Hwang.

“No!” She screeched, leaping away when Wang swept an arm towards her, attempting to grab her waist.

He cackled along with Dr Ni as she ran off, labcoat fluttering behind her.

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Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 21: Mistletoe

A/N: Can't believe this is my only actually Christmas themed story.

[monthlyminekura]

Hilarious! Instructor Wang and Dr Ni combo is always the best! Also don't worry about the theme at all, you're doing soo good!

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Gat/Candle

Gat presses himself against his mother as she bundles the sage into smudge sticks. He closes his eyes as she stops and runs her fingers through his hair, face pressed against her hip.

As more moments pass, he picks up more scents: juniper, sweetgrass, clover, beeswax, blueberry, cloves, nutmeg, and so much more…

He listens to her voice as she starts to speak.

The bright warmth of candles scented by herbs that both of them had picked together.

“Tomorrow —,” she says, “— The chief wants to speak to you.”

Gatty Nenehawk hums in assent and hugs her tighter.

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Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 19: Candle

A/N: Did some reserach on popular scents traditionally used among Native Americans.

[monthlyminekura]

Gat lore!! Loving this so much~

[saiyuki-ing]

Monthly Minekura Christmas Edition

Day 17 - Cookies

Featuring fun-shaped cookies and cookie casualties, the latter being something that has happened to my cookies more often than I'd like to admit ^^;

Remember to use plenty of flour on your baking sheets folks!

[monthlyminekura]

Oh my I had a good laugh!!! This is so cute and wonderfully drawn!

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 19 “Candle”

It’s been said that the state of Enlightenment is not represented by the blowing out of a candle; it is that the candle can finally be extinguished because the sun has arisen and daylight has come-Rabindranath Tagore

First time I drew such perspective with the inside of a Chan temple, sorry for errors, besides this I had lots of fun experimenting with lighting and shadows.

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Burial © Kazuya Minekura, Ichijinsha, 2002-present

[monthlyminekura]

I love everything about this! The candle the lighting, Komyo's side profile and his hair, Ukoku Sanzo. Also you're take on Enlightenment! Such a masterpiece