#rion discussion!! love that guy

[the-galerians-club]

Hai ^⁠_⁠^! Happy to see fellow fans and welcome to tumbrk!!! What are you thoughts on rion?

HI!!! Thank you! And yes, it’s nice to discover that there’s a bunch of insane people (Galerians fans) hiding out there in the wilderness :)

Anyway, you guys can refer to me as Moth, hi!!

Here’s my answer to your question, and thank u for asking! :3

He's (unsurprisingly) my favorite character of the series but I’ll try to be brief. Basically, I REALLY feel bad for him. If you think about it, the Rion we play as isn’t the original human Rion, cuz he died before the first game even begins, so the player version of Rion has lived for what, a total of just a few days? He woke up in that test room without remembering anything about his past, since he literally didn’t have one, then he begins his search for Lilia and almost immediately after finding her he kills Dorothy… and then he dies. His existence was so brief and yet so full of suffering. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think he smiles even once throughout the entirety of the first game. But it doesn’t end here! He’s brought back to life in the second game, but only to experience even more suffering. That’s why I think his last moments with Ash are so heartwarming.. as he says himself, he finally gets to do something by his own will, and they both die but it doesn’t feel as brutal as Rion’s first death. His smile after he destroys Ash so they’re both stuck in the peaceful data dimension is everything to me!! So yeah, I really feel bad for him and think he deserves the whole world. I could go on and on about each specific aspect of his character but I won’t do it rn, if anyone is somehow interested they can simply send us an ask tho! <3

[catsteinbooks]

Sneak Peek of Earth Earls Are Easy today!

I love, love, love writing these four guys interacting.

PROLOGUE

Wyatt Hartford had left Earth only seven minutes ago, and already he was homesick. Or maybe real sick. The smaller the blue-green orb outside the window became, the more his stomach churned. He was going to hurl. Puke. Cast up his accounts.

“What if we never see grass again? Or water? Are there even animals on Mars? What if I never see another squirrel?”

 A sniffle and a snort sounded behind him, and Wyatt glanced down at his companions. The little boy—the sniffler—sat on the beige carpet, clutching a faded red plush rabbit to his chest. The two older boys occupied the utilitarian gray chairs that took up most of the space in the utilitarian gray room. Everything on the ship was beige or gray. He was never going to see colors again.

His gaze flew back to the window, locking on Earth’s brilliant blue oceans and islands of green.

“Come down from there, Windborne.” The duke’s voice had already dropped to a commanding baritone that made Wyatt cringe at his own thirteen-year-old squeaks. “We have business to discuss.”

Wyatt ignored him. It was bad form to ignore a duke. Especially his duke, the head of Earth’s Chamber of Parliament. Of which Wyatt was now a member. He really should have paid more attention in his Politics and Policies of the Empire class.

“Fuck off, Morland,” growled a surly, but still boyish voice.

Wyatt grimaced. At least he hadn’t sworn at the duke. Rion Brandt—Martial House golden boy and all-around arse—had no such restraint.

“Don’t speak to my cousin like that!” cried the little boy.

Wyatt again turned away from his view of Earth, this time to see the boy’s pale, tear-streaked face glowering up at Brandt. His blue eyes flashed with fury, and he brandished his bunny plushie like a weapon. The kid had spirit. Maybe they weren’t doomed after all.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rion sneered. “I should have said, ‘Fuck off, Your Grace.’”

The little boy hopped up and swung his toy, smacking Brandt right between the eyes. Before Brandt could retaliate, the boy scrambled up into the duke’s lap.

Morland’s usually rigid expression softened, and he hugged his cousin. “Easy, Aubrey. He’s one of us now. Starting today, we’re all brothers.”

“He’s mean.” Aubrey began to sniffle again. “I hate space. I want to go home.”

There was no home anymore. Nothing but a mess of wars and natural disasters. Eton was the only place Wyatt could remember, but it had never really been home. He had no family, no friends. As heir to the Earl of Windborne, he’d been isolated, even from the other boys in Innovation House. He’d had extra training, extra work, and little time for socializing with anyone other than the peers who came to teach him.

Those men were all dead now. He was Windborne.

It felt strange, more than sad. Confusing. Another wave of nausea swept over him. They were rocketing away from everything he knew.

“See here,” Morland said sternly. “We’re all unhappy. None of us asked for this. But we have twenty-five thousand people aboard this ship that are counting on us. We are their leaders. We own the territory on Mars where they will build new lives. We might be young, but we’ve been trained for this. We have money and titles, where others have nothing. It will be up to us to lift our voices for our people. The only way to do that is to work together. Vote together. We must forge connections with the members of the other Chambers so when the time comes to convince them our ideas have merit, they won’t disregard us.”

Rion tipped his chair to balance on the back two legs. “And the way we do that is to obey all Your Grace’s orders, eh?”

“No. The way we do it is to support each other. For example, when you topple over, I’ll offer you a hand up, even though you’ve been nothing but a twat since entering this room.”

Rion raised both middle fingers. “Just because you’re—” His chair slipped, sending him crashing to the floor.

“I tried that earlier,” the duke explained. “These chairs aren’t very stable.”

Wyatt laughed. Maybe the stuffy young duke wasn’t the automaton people compared him to.

Aubrey scrambled from his cousin’s lap and ran to Brandt’s side, extending a hand. “I’m sorry I said you were mean. Do you want to be my brother?”

Rion stared back in silence for several seconds, before accepting Aubrey’s assistance. “Okay. I like you, kid.”

“My name’s not ‘kid.’ I’m Aubrey Balister, twenty-first Marquess of Wells.”

“I’m Rion. You’ve got good aim with that rabbit. Think you can knock space-boy down from that window ledge?”

“My name is Wyatt, and I’m watching Earth disappear. It’s better than listening to you lot bicker.”

“Can I see?” Aubrey asked.

Rion boosted the smaller boy up to the ledge, where he squeezed in beside Wyatt. Then Rion dragged his chair over and stood on the seat to get a view of his own.

“Damn. It is beautiful, isn’t it?”

The duke joined them. “We and our people will always carry a part of Earth with us.”

“Is Morland always like this?” Wyatt asked Aubrey.

The boy nodded. “Leo talks like the books they teach us in school. But he’s nice. You should be our brother, too.”

Wyatt examined the faces of the other boys. Young. Troubled. But all proud and strong in their different ways.

He put an arm around Aubrey. “I think I’d like that very much.”

[seoafin]

i can see it. barou working out in a dimly lit room all huffing puffing with his earphones plug in, and when someone ask what he is listening to bc he has that one serious face on…it's lacrimosa or moonlight sonata, by next week violinist!mc and him would be sitting tgt and discuss classical music or sth.

ironically, the next person who i can imagine to somehow get along with violinist!mc would be,, shidou. (idk why but admitting to liking him is kinda embarrassing, maybe it's bc of that scene in the u20 match LMFAO). not sure how when and why but they might be on a amicable term, considering that shidou top subject next to p.e is actually art…maybe he'll understand mc's grind and it somehow fell onto his whole speech thing

i gotta get this out, but how petty is violinist!mc even tho it has been 6 years, is she still bitter to the point that even on a 50%-70% discount day for shoes brands, if she saw either nagi or reo the first thing she walked in to the store as the store's wallpaper (they're the brand ambassador or sth) will she just turn on her heels and left then and there to find another brand instead 😭 and considering that mc may or may not went big (she's in the states?? i think?? bc you wrote "Times Square").

is she still playing violin on a stage/ competition, or has she branch out her like making osts for movies/ games/ etc. and why did nagi even suddenly thought of her after all those years and become a pining wife when her husband left for the sea. ,, if that's counted as spoiler for future chaps…then it's fine to leave us in the dark!!!

your fic never failed to reel ppl in, including me,, sth abt your writing style are so HFGDHGDGHVH

pls rion is absolutely gorg…her EYELASHES!!!!, when that director guy spill the beans i never been felt gobsmack…i thought that maybe she's in a 3rd party of the assassination community or sth instead of…[redacted].

and now that you point out, i have no idea why but i immediately link nagumo and the faceless men from GoT tgt???? probs its bc they are assassins but when you broke him down i just…connected sth…and idk why. tho i rly agree, that he's not entirely a blank slate, like he does have a personality before sth in the JCC flashback arc makes him on that 404 error personality if someone try to pry + that bloodlust scene in the temple when the guy pissed him off

chrollo and nagumo before the narrative sent them into a spiral are so!!!! they are my meow meows (but if i saw someone drag them in a post i probably would be laughing along tho dhfvbhdbhd like get their ass!!), the baby phantom troupes past are so TwT… - 🐱

spoilers for my nagireo fic

help not shidou.......but honestly i feel like any character that acknowledges violinmc's commitment and passion for the violin would immediately get along with her. she's the type to backtrack once they compliment her. she would definitely think shidou is a delinquent but then he says something about how her form was beautiful and she's like well. i was mistaken about him. but yes she's petty as hell but also there's off the screen character development bc she later acknowledges that the two of them were just kids and she was (un)rightfully hurt and immature about nagi making other friends LMAO

she issss in the states <3333 well briefly. i think after high school she went to a conservatory in germany and then played in various different orchestras as first chair. haven't ironed out those details yet. i think nagi has always kept violinmc in his mind lmao and tidbit i really really wanna add to a later drabble is that nagi was watching mc's performances on his phone in bllk. i think it'd just be very nagi esque for him to one day just go. yeah. i should talk to her. no rhyme or reason. one day it hits him how much he wants to see her again.

ahhfhhwbgbwe i love rion. i want to write the gayest drabble ever featuring that line of hers about how you can learn a lot about a person by tasting their tears or smt??? is that not the gayest thing ever.

[inuyashaha]

Yokai Love

I've been happy to see some honest, critical analysis of Yashahime in the last few days. For much of the last few months, any discussion of the show tended to swing between glowing reviews that chose to gloss over the story's problems or unhinged attacks based on really flawed interpretations of characters (and/or a need to be the "winner" in the game of...shipping? watching cartoons? I don't get the drive that inspired some of the haters).

After a week's reflection, one argument that still really bothers me is that we have been told that we need to understand that Sesshomaru is a yokai, and yokais love differently. Their concept of affection is not the same as a human's concept, so we need to, in the words of Moroha, not overthink it.

I don't agree.

The story is written by humans FOR humans. It's one thing to have Sesshomaru hesitant or a little reserved, but the human audience needs to recognize what is happening on the screen as love. Besides, we were shown MANY (too many) other yokai who had fallen in love and behaved in ways a human might recognize...Zero, Homamura, the snake yokai lady, the grain god guy, even SESSHOMARU'S MOTHER had some kind of reaction to the mention of her husband, and she also was shown to be proud of her granddaughters. Apparently, Toga had deep passion and love with Inuyasha's mom. Showing love and affection has never been something yokai do not do. Sesshomaru was repressed as hell during the original, a combination of his upbringing and what he saw as his father's betrayal making him standoffish and cold. However, he was never without feeling. At the end, especially, he reacts strongly to Rin's second death, and his relief over her being brought to life was not secret. He caressed her face and "smiled" at her in front of Jaken, Kohaku, and his own mother. He is not unmoved by strong emotion, but Sesshomaru in Yashahime was stone-faced for most of the two seasons.

On the one hand, I do think Sesshomaru's devotion to Rin was more or less shown (more or less--I have other things to say about how their love in general was portrayed, but this is going to be long enough as it is), but his parental affection was shown only in stroking the twins faces when they were unconscious after he LET SETSUNA DIE to ... teach them twins a lesson, I guess? I didn't see affection when he dumped them, hours old, under a tree. I didn't see parental affection when he refused to talk to them after seeing for the first time in years. I didn't see parental affection when he let the forest get burned down...for why? Because he was working for Zero and had to let it happen? Who said that? When was that ever shown? I, as the audience member, should not have to infer that much for such a plot point. It was NEVER explained.

And at the very end, the writers have the nerve to show the twins questioning their father's motives. That was something that should have been shown at least a season and a half ago. In fact, the twins themselves are weird when it comes to "love." Setsuna loves nothing until she see Rin, and suddenly, her daughterly devotion is 100%. I almost, ALMOST, could accept it because of the butterfly connection, but even that was not really explained or shown. Towa does not give a single shit for her mother, but she shows a desperate affection for people that she does not know and has even less of a connection to -- see her tears over Rion mere minutes after knowing her, wiling to give up her LIFE for Rion after essentially taking a really long walk with her and Riku for a day or two. On the subject of Riku, she sees him die and then just brushes off the tears and goes about her business. Even her reaction to the goodbye with her beloved Papa Sota is more or less a "sorry 'bout that" when he tells her she will always be his daughter.

And Rin. Sweet dear Rin who taught Sesshomaru to have a heart, sweet Rin sees Towa die TWICE and does not touch her a single time. In fact, the second time Towa "dies," Rin stands there with a bored expression. Maybe she is bored. She's died like three times herself as she casually mentions to her kids (but never explains, no). Dear, sweet Rin LAUGHS when she tells her daughters that their "training" is for the best because they will be attacked by monsters because of who they are. Rin, who spent almost the entire two seasons weeping over her daughters, sends them on their way at the very end with a casual wave and a see you later. If that is what the writers see as human, motherly love, then they were never going to be able to pull off portraying "yokai love." Their portrayal of human love was monstrous enough already.

[gwynbleiddyn]

18, 23, 30, and 37 for Rion!

18. Do they enjoy Wicked Grace?

Oh, yeah, for sure! Rion remains a man of earthly pleasures in spite of the otherworldly forces at war, and he loves an evening of gambling to take the mind off graver pursuits. He’s developed an affinity for the cards over the years and usually claims a pot or two, but he’s definitely willing to throw it if it means Cullen losing in spectacular, armourless fashion once again. 

23. What do they think is their greatest triumph?

Rion has an ego problem, so he has a tendency to claim triumphs wherever he can find them. Inquisition-era, I’d say he’s particularly happy about the situation in Orlais as soon as he ousts Celene and Briala in favour of Gaspard, purely because it gives him military leverage and a bigger hammer to swing at people who aren’t on his side. He doesn’t quite lord it over folk, but you can tell he’s got an ulterior motive to his plays that fuels his ego.

30. How did they judge the prisoners?

I’ll just do the main quest prisoners -

Knight Captain Denam (Rion didn’t save the mages so never got Alexius) was passed to the Templars for judgement, given that he killed the Knight-Vigilant. Rion wasn’t particularly invested in his punishment, and forged most of his opinion from discussing the situation with Cullen after returning from Therinfal. He was out of the Inquisition’s jurisdiction, in Rion’s mind.

Grand Duchess Florianne... well, Rion killed her, so he did the noble thing and put her to work. Community service.

Magister Livius Erimond -- oh, this guy put himself squarely at the top of Rion’s shit list because of what he did to the Wardens, some of whom had been Rion’s charges not long ago. There was a play for revenge on this one for Rion, and he straight up executed the man -- no mercy.

Ser Ruth -- Rion understood this one from a Warden’s perspective. She wanted to die and he wasn’t in a position to argue it, so he sent her to the Deep Roads. A reminder that Wardens do not die for glory like she wanted. 

37. What was the first dragon they fought?

Honestly, Rion avoided most of them but because I’m a dumbass, we ran straight into the lair of the Western Approach dragon and spent the next 30 minutes as the last one standing. 

inquisitor asks

[herelivesahobbit]

Oh my FUCKING GOD I need to do a quick GoT rant so I'm gonna do it without names or tags to avoid ~~drama~~

This post is about Jaywashing. This is the term I'm using to describe the GOT show/fandom phenomena where every. Single. Thing. Is filtered through the lense of how it relates to a certain J*n S*ow. It's been a trend for a while now, and the show writers are the BIGGEST culprits, because every thing that happens is about JS, somehow. Every character is now defined by their relationship/value to him. They've clearly committed to the narrative of JS the Hero of this story and its wrong because

1) There are several other heros and HEROINES in this story. Their stories are being downgraded and erased for this precious snow (lol sorry) flake's Hero-ism.

2) If anybody SHOULD be the Hero it should be D*ny DUH-DOI she's not EVEN my fave and I used to hate when people would hero-wash her too but now I'm so irritated by the misogyny that it's like you know what! If you had to pick someone to be The Hero! Pick her! She's the ONE WITH THE FREAKING DRAGONS. THE MESSIAH THE SAVIOR THE LAST HOPE. WHY IS SHE NOW ONLY REDUCED TO BEING HIS GIRLFRIEND??????

And 3) it's soooooo booooorrrrrrring! Like it's so boring! It makes the story more boring when you take away the importance of other characters to prop up one!! It gets really fucking dull!!!! It's cliche as fuck

And the marketing team HAS RUN with it. Eeeeverythng is All About Him. He's the Secret Perfect Prince The King The Warrior The Savior the EVERYTHING. Everybody else is only there to lay problems at his feet to solve and/or support HIS quest for heroism.

All this makes it sound like I hate this character and I truly don't. I don't! I just...hate that he's taken over everything and is central to every discussion. I don't CARE that much what this guy will think about my favorite female (or really, any female) characters actions. I don't care what their value is to him. He's not the be-all end-all. He's not even that hot. He's an interesting, flawed hero in the books. One-dimensional and boring in the show. It's fine you know?

Fandoms blind spot about this guy is just irritating. When you consider the sheer volume of negative posts about female characters, their worth, their value, their RELATIVE importance to the story, the way they are apparently favored by the writers/fandom to the detriment of other characters (its funny how this argument is used by antis across the board - it's like everyone is watching a different show!)... When you consider that, against the fact that almost nobody has anything negative to say about JS and the way his Hero narrative has hijacked not only his siblings, but also Ds and Ts story, and compromised the complexity of the show... Its confusing as fuck. All the abelism and misogyny that people like to BLAME on one female character, typically D*ny, S*nsa or A*ya....its actually the direct result of the way the writers have restructured the complex world of GRRM to make it a Simple Hero story. B*an? He's just not relevant any more - JS is the Most Imp Male Stark! KITN! D*ny? She only exists as a means to get the dragons to JS before she sacrifices herself because of course JS is the REAL AND MOST DESERVING HEIR TO THE IT. T*rion? He's nothing but JS rival in love! But not as pure and able-bodied and therefore unsuccessful. A*ya and S*nsa? Only there to populate JS team, provide the skills his team is lacking.

I'm just... Tired.

[thesylvalining]

Time to trade Lisa’s mountain bike for… Lisa! And when she’s back from tour, it always means one thing:

So first, the girls shared aperitivo with their buddy Loic on the church steps in Faenza, with cheese from the Modena hills and wine from Loic’s latest tour in France. I enjoy this photo because somehow Lisa made Loic look like a swimsuit model with too many clothes and me look like a CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) groupie. Meanwhile, Lisa looks lovely and excited to to see her eclectic subjects come together so well.

Next stop(s), obviously, is/are our favorite bar/restaurant/beach/nightclub/obsession on in Marina Romea: Boca Barranca! Lisa’s amazing longtime friend Nico is along as well. There are refreshing dunks in the ocean, Spritz, the mouth-watering fried seafood plate we’ve eaten our weight in and the equally mouth-watering bartender… everything turns out to be just as good as we remembered :). 

This time, the journeys perpetuate the watery theme. I take to calling us sorrellas (sisters) from other fellas because — per usual — we’re hooked at the hip.  Like thirsty camels, the sorrellas swap heat for aqueous dips at every opportunity. At this juncture, it seems fitting for me to be so near tenacious water. I appreciate water’s fluidity, its propensity to literally go with the flow, to be at home everywhere in the world.

We soon find ourselves drawn, like a water droplet from a sponge, out of the penetrative heat in Faenza. We arrive in Crespino del Lamone via the train up the Lamone river valley (which, after cresting the Apenninni dumps out in Firenze). From there, it’s a blissful cruise down to our dipping spot of choice. The first is overrun by what New Girl‘s Schmidt would call “youths” (pronounced ewe-thz), predominantly the testosterone-fueled variety. The second, while still afloat in testosterone, boasts a couple of families and several tiered pools in which to disseminate the youths.

In the swelter of Italian summer, I have discovered innumerous ways to whittle away a sweaty afternoon. The time spent dipping, napping, journaling and watching the youths cannonball off an abandoned building while the occasional train grumbled by overhead was precious. Precious because it was spent with Lisa, precious because it was a beautiful day and a fantastic time to be alive. Precious because both of us were fully present and wholly content doing a lot of nothing in particular.

Being present is another gift from the Universe, stashed in my increasingly bountiful cornucopia of Neat New Tricks. It is not that I have ceased to feel angry or sad about how everything between Tyler and I turned out. No — I feel difficult emotions but I am unafraid to let them wash over me like the often murky, refreshing waters of the Adriatic. It absolutely acceptable to feel strongly because we are human — I am human. But I have learned better, more enriching ways to be, partially because I consciously live in the present moment, without (too much) lingering in the past or hoping for the future.

I’m realizing, it’s all about a comprehensive view of life — like Benjamin Hoff explains in The Tao of Pooh. I swear, every time I pick it up, there’s a little jewel of wisdom waiting for me to ponder its shiny facets. Hoff explains best what I’m getting at: our favorite moments in life often occur before a much-anticipated event. Like finally opening birthday presents, going on vacation or seeing someone especially cool after not seeing them for a couple of weeks… 😉 The moments between and before are the crusts of bread if you can’t wait to eat the soft inside — but without them, there’s not actually bread.

My Italian buddy Igor and I were discussing life and such things at his house near Bagnacavallo whilst hanging laundry and nibbling bread and chocolate. It was before a particularly quirky and wonderful concert by Devendra Banhart on Monday night (I’ll wax lyrical upon this later). I said: I feel like I’m in my 20s again. Once again, I bask in the same natural spontaneity and joyousness — but with the brain, experience and self-awareness I have now. I feel lucky but it is far beyond luck. I’ve ceased to search for happiness, but it found me anyway as I suspect it does when life flows easily.

Waterfalls are happy places.

The tan lines of a cyclist!

Let us return to the Lamone river where the The Tao of Pooh was again eerily appropriate. As the water rushed by, I pulled my tarnished bookmark and read:

“Say, Pooh, why aren’t you busy?” I asked.

“Because it’s a nice day,” said Pooh.

“Yes, but –”

“Why ruin it?” he said.

“But you could be doing something Important,” I said.

“I am,” said Pooh.

“Oh? Doing what?”

“Listening,” he said.

“Listening to what?”

“To the birds. And that squirrel over there.”

“What are they saying?” I asked.

“That it’s a nice day,” said Pooh.

“But you know that already,” I said.

“Yes, but it’s always good to hear that somebody else thinks so, too,” he replied.

I closed the book with a laugh, read the passage to Lisa (contemplating her second nap on the pale ledge above me) and we both turned back to our important nothings, listening to the birds, the squirrels and the youths now cannonballing off the waterfall.

And on the way back? Gelato! Duh!

Back in Faenza, Palio season was in full effect. For those of you who’ve dipped a toe in Italy, the word Palio may hasten forth images of titillating horse races in the medieval heart of Siena. Faenza holds its own version throughout July, a fully and ornately costumed affair between the different rioni (neighborhoods), each with their own colors and meeting places (which are boisterous and serve good, inexpensive food all month).

The Palio starts with youth (ewe-th) flag tossing and horse races (which keep Sylva up into the wee hours of the night) and culminates at month’s end with the same song and dance for adults. Lisa and I popped out to watch with the parade to the final race with the rest of Faenza… And let me just say, anyone who knew me in my awkward years knows to say I was obsessed with medieval stuff (Nini? Kelly?) is putting it mildly. So I rather enjoyed the entire affair!

Freaking knights in freaking armor, everybody!

Each rione has a competition for prettiest wench, I mean lady.

And each rione has its own spirited band.

A day later, we marched ourselves and our bicycles up to the ridge of San Mamante, beloved by cyclists for its hilly spine and idyllic views. Also beloved by watery wenches such as ourselves, because ExperiencePlus! organized us all a lovely poolside aperitivo…

After Lisa trudged off somewhat reluctantly to lead another tour with the infamous Enrico 🙂 I was left largely to my own devices. Nature put in its liquid two cents, too, cooling down scorching Faenza with much-needed rain:

Even with my sorella gone, I live a far cry from a solitary life — I have aperitivi, multiple dates in one week with my bike and actual humans (even with a guy I met on the train — you guessed it, more later). Or I travel solo, which I truly savor. Or I also linger about the castle like a friendly spirit, diligently working on my book (almost finished and ready to be sent off), this blog and corrections for the article (now finalized!) for the Italian magazine, Ossigeno.

And I have oh-so-much time to ponder. I can process how much my life has changed and absorb this delectable sense of freedom and adventure into my very bones, which were created, I believe, to absorb such things. And to celebrate them!

You guessed it: The Tao of Pooh has something to say on this matter. Hoff unearthed a quote that’s so beautifully apt I’m going to quote Hoff quoting Lu Yu.

The clouds above us join and separate,

The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns.

Life is like that, so why not relax?

Who can stop us from celebrating?

And what more says celebrate than when your morning Nutella on wholegrain tigella (imported from the recent mountain bike trip) suddenly looks exactly like the country you’re so very happy to be celebrating in!??!

So, to celebrate the celebration, I combed my fresh-out-of-bed hair and adventured. Sylvas adore a good adventure — even, and often especially, da sola (alone). I hopped aboard the same train Lisa and I rode for our river dip trip –surprisingly almost clean, not entirely packed — to Marradi. Marradi? Yes, the same spot the sorellas began their multi-day hike in the colder, windier, rainier days of late April. This time around, it was hotter than Beyonce’s sister Solange.

The hike became an all day affair, especially after I missed the nonexistent train between 1440 and 1859. Unfortunately this meant missing hamburgerata (a bi-annual hamburger cook off with their friends) with the downstairs neighbors, the same whose lovely daughter (and friend) I teach English to several times weekly. But it meant more time in the wide, wonderful outdoors where I always feel at home.

I found the forest, even in crowded Italy, largely devoid of other humans. I could hear them on distant dirt bikes and cars and early on, passed a group watching their buddy hang glide off an open, hilltop. And evidence of humanity presented sporadically with a fence, a rickety shelter or scared sheep bolting down the path ahead of me, the bells around their necks ringing a frantic tune. Otherwise, it was just me, the birds, the squirrels, the breeze…

… the trees and the ivy…

… the old cobblestones on the road to Eremo di Gamogna (the hermitage of Gamogna)…

… and quite possibly the best lunch spot around!

By the time I arrived back in Faenza it was after 1930 and of course, I was ravenous, but tired and very sated after a long sojourn in The Nature.

The beauty’s in the messy details…

Heading out of Marradi.

Lunch spot views.

Sylva = very scary.

Almost to the lunch spot!

A walk in the woods, anyone?

Heading back down.

There’s an Italian saying: Chi dorme non piglia pesci, or those who sleep don’t catch any fish. I may not have been in the business of catching fish (although some people might be able to argue that point… Lisa? 🙂 ) but recently I definitely was in the business of not sleeping… case in point why this clock…

… says 0400 (4 a.m.). Yep — more on that next time. Ciao for now!

Aqueous Transmissions Time to trade Lisa's mountain bike for... Lisa! And when she's back from tour, it always means one thing:

[very-grownup]

HERE COMES A SHARK (GOLF) BOY, HERE COMES A LARGE (GOLF) BOY

YHB: NOT ARCHERS RELATED, BUT

BFF: OUTBREAK OF WAR

YHB: GOOD FACES

YHB: SHARK STALKING SAMURAI

BFF: THIS IS THE BEST STALKER GOLF OPPONENT

YHB: MATT HOW IS THIS SERIES SO GOOD SO FAST

BFF: oh my god this whole page

YHB: HOW DO WE CHOOSE?

BFF: IMPOSSIBLE

YHB: OH. MY. GOD.

BFF: OH MY GOD

BFF: ROBOT STRAIGHTMAN REQUIRED

YHB: MATT THIS IS WHY ROBOT IS GOING TO BECOME A REGULAR OF THE GOLF CLUB. SO THEY CAN USE HIM AS A ROBOT SHIELD.

BFF: ... THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE

YHB: Oh, you want to play someone in our club, Stalker Shark? Well first you must defeat ... OUR ROBOT! (actual golfers run away)

BFF: I LIKE YOU L A R G E B O Y E

BFF: YES DO IT

YHB: COME AT ME

BFF: STOP MOVING THE CONVERSATION FORWARD

YHB: OH MY GOD, SHARK'S FACE

BFF: BATTLE OF GOOD FACES

YHB: S-sojiro?

BFF: SCRUFFBEARD

YHB: HIS SHARK EYES

BFF: GOLF STARES

BFF: Amazing, idiots. Pure amazing

YHB: TRAINING MONTAGE~

YHB: RION'S PREPARING TO EAT THAT BALL~

BFF: I'M ON TO YOU, BALL

YHB: And then it became Dingle Rompers

BFF: More attempted golf murder, perhaps?

YHB: Holy shit Shark's team looks like ... something

YHB: You see the dude I'm looking at, right?

BFF: zombie, tallboy, mister fister, shark, baldo

YHB: YES

YHB: THAT'S MY BRO

YHB: I know I can rely on you, in a different office, across the river, on the other side of the city, looking at the same page of a comic about fucking golf, to go ... yup, that one's a zombie.

BFF: This totally makes our own school guys look normal!

BFF: BRAIN LINK ACTIVE

BFF: I like these golf grandpas

YHB: They gave him a uniform because Rion described what happened when Robot was allowed to dress himself for golf

BFF: AWWW don't cramp robot's style

YHB: NO ONE MUST KNOW HE IS A ROBOT WHO IS BEING TAUGHT TO PLAY GOLF. The clothes would be a dead giveaway.

BFF: THAT'S TRUE STEALTH BOT

BFF: OH MY GOD ingrid

YHB: I KNOW RIGHT?!

BFF: RIGHT

YHB: HOW IS IT SO GOOD

BFF: ??? ROBOT WIZARDRY

YHB: IT IS SO GOOD

YHB: I MADE THE MISTAKE OF GLANCING AT A COMMENT AND THEY WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE CHARACTER DESIGN AND THE USE OF WEIRD EYES AS DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

YHB: THEY ARE WRONG

BFF: MAN IT MUST SUCK TO BE SO WRONG

BFF: GLAD WE AREN'T

YHB: SORRY YOU AREN'T IMMEDIATELY IN LOVE WITH SHARK, THE GOLF STALKER, AND HIS SPIRAL EYES

BFF: YOU ARE ALL FOOLS WHO KNOW NOT WHAT YOU ARE MISSING

YHB: I believe we discussed a chapter or two ago the concern that Rion was like the first golf boss we were encountering and he was already insane and amazing, how could future golf bosses compare?

YHB: WELL. NOW WE HAVE SHARK.

BFF: I SHOULD NEVER HAVE ASKED / DOUBTED