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Archive for February, 2024

Time awaits no one.

Let us savour the seasons of life: curious spring, passionate summer, melancholy autumn, and reflective winter.

May our paths cross before the journeys end.

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Travel Banter: Ochette’s Phrase

Ochette: Hm hm hmm! …! Hey, Aggie! I just thought of a great phrase!

Agnea: Oh really? Do tell!

Ochette: Everyday I’m dying for something tasty to eat. Then what should appear but meat, meat, meat!

Agnea: I-is that for one of Giselle’s plays…?

Ochette: Heh heh, nope! It’s for “Song of Hope”! Perfect fit, right?

Agnea: Y-yeah…I can feel your spirit in the words, Ochette.

Ochette:…My tummy’s empty. Too much thinking makes me hungry.

Agnea: Say, why don’t you have some jerky? I got some from the townsfolk earlier.

Ochette: Thanks! You really do bring smiles to people’s faces!

Travel Banter: The Case of the Missing Jelly

Ochette: I need a detective!

Temenos: What’s the matter, Ochette?

Ochette: The jerky I was saving for later…has vanished! That’s a mystery, right, Temenos?

Temenos: Indeed, and the stakes could not be higher. We must investigate. This jerky…When did you see it last?

Ochette: Hmm…This morning maybe?

Temenos: And when did you realise it was gone?

Ochette: Just now!

Temenos: …When your stomach was rumbling very loudly, I see. Just one more thing…How did the jerky taste?

Ochette: Oh, it was delicious!

Temenos: …The truth…lies in your stomach.

Ochette: Nice work, Mr. Detective!

Travel Banter: Solving a Mystery

Temenos: Throne, Ochette… Look at that.

Ochette: Look at what?

Temenos: The dark mark on the ceiling. I think they might be bloodstains. I can smell a mystery, and I need your help solving it.

Throne: Playing detective, are you? Count me in.

Ochette: If it’s a scent you’re after, I’m your girl! Awoo!

Temenos: Why, thank you. Haha. We might find the one who shed that blood upstairs.

Throne: Does this tavern have a second floor?

Temenos: If it doesn’t, then perhaps they’re in the attic. In any case, let us begin the search.

Throne: I wonder what we’ll find…Perhaps something we wish we hadn’t.

Ochette: Is that even blood up there?

Temenos: A fair question. What does your nose say, Ochette?

Ochette: Let’s ask it! *sniff sniff*

Ochette: It says…this isn’t blood. Actually, it smell pretty good…

Temenos: Not blood, you say? What sweet-smelling red liquid might one find in a tavern…?

Throne: …Red wine?

Ochette: …!

Temenos: Speaking of red wine…I can’t seem to find the bottle I bought not long ago.

Ochette: I know who the culprit is, Temenos…It’s me.

Temenos: !

Throne: !

Temenos: Could you tell me what happened, Ochette?

Ochette: It smell so good, I thought I’d have a sip. But I didn’t know how to open the bottle. So I shot an arrow at it…

Throne: …An arrow?

Temenos: Oh dear…And I was looking forward to that wine, too.

Ochette: I’m so sorry…But I’ll make it up to you with some tasty meat! Promise!

Temenos: That’s quite all right, Ochette. I’m satisfied just knowing that this case has been closed.

Throne: Nothing sates you quite like solving a good mystery, does it?

Temenos: Haha. Certainty not.

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Travel Banter: Falling in Love

Ochette: Aggie! The man over there asked me to give this to you.

Agnea: A letter? I wonder what it says…

“I never believed in love at first sight until I saw you.” “Would you have dinner with me? I know where they serve the finest meat in town.”

Castti: Why, this is…

Throne: A love letter!

Ochette: The finest meat in town…You’re going right, Aggie?

Castti: You’re drooling, Ochette…

Throne: Everything is an experience, Agnea.

Castti: But not every experience needs to be had. Men can be wolves, but you’re no sheep.

Ochette: Awoooo!

Agnea: H-hold on just a moment! I am flattered, but…I think I need to refuse. We’re in the middle of a journey. I doubt I’ll have much time for romance.

Castti: A wise decision. You have a good head on your shoulder, Agnea.

Agnea: I…I didn’t know people actually sent love letters…

Castti: I’m surprised. I would’ve thought you’d have gotten piles of them back in your hometown.

Throne: You mentioned you were close with a certain tavern keep, didn’t you?

Agnea: G-G-Gus!? But he’s just a friend!

Throne: Perhaps to you. But are you sure he feels the same? You’ve fallen in love before, haven’t you, Agnea?

Agnea: L-love, huh…

Ochette: Huh? How do you fall into love?

Castti: It’s hard to explain, but…you’ll know when your heart starts to flutter.

Ochette: Hmm…I don’t get it…

Throne: By the by, what is romance like for beastlings?

Ochette: Well, my ma and pa bonded over their love of meat!

Throne: I…I see.

Agnea: If we’re talking about when our hearts flutter, mine certainly has! In fact, it just won’t stop whenever I make someone laugh or smile with my dancing.

Throne: Hah, you truly were born for the stage, Agnea.

Agnea: What makes your heart flutter, Castti?

Castti: Hmm…I suppose whenever someone shows me their vulnerable side. It makes me want to protect them.

Ochette: You’re a real mother hen, Castti!

Throne: I can’t stand weaklings.

Castti: Oh? Then what makes your heart flutter, Throne?

Throne: …When they wag their tail.

Agnea: Are you talking about…dogs?

Throne: Hah, of course I am. They’re so adorable and they love me, too.

Ochette: Ohhh, I get it now!

Throne: You do…?

Ochette: Feeling in love is like…when you see someone you like and your tail won’t stop wagging! Heh heh. It’s pretty embarrassing, isn’t it?

Castti: ! Could it be…

Agnea: …Ochette’s fallen in love, too?

Travel Banter: Memories of Youth

Partitio: Comin’ to a tavern never fails to remind me that I’m a man grown now. Feels like my childhood was a lifetime ‘n’ a half ago.

Temenos: Haha. Might I ask what you were like in your youth, Partitio?

Partitio: Me? I was trying’ to be a merchant, just like Pops. I spent my days learnin’ everything I could from sunup to sundown. Not much has changed, now that I think about it.

Temenos: I see. You’ve always been dedicated to mastering your craft, then.

Partitio: Heh, guess so. Say, Osvald, what were you like as a kid?

Osvald: My days were spent reading. I thought I had all the time in the world back then. But now I realise how naive I was. Time is finite. One must choose wisely how to spend it.

Temenos: I know precisely how you feel. Life was much simpler when we were children. Wasn’t it?

Partitio: And you, Temenos?

Temenos: Well…Long ago, my friend Ron was bedridden with a high fever. At the time, I could do nothing but pray for him. I begged the gods to save his life.

Partitio: So you were a stand-up fella even back then, huh.

Temenos: Haha…If I could speak to my younger self now, I would say thus: “Rely not on the gods, but your own power to save him.”

Osvald: …

Partitio: I guess as time goes by…we all change, just like the seasons.

Temenos: We cannot remain children forever.

Osvald: Indeed. Our youth is gone…and shall not return.

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Happy Year of the Dragon

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I thought one of the saddest things in the world is feeling a vast distance despite being physically close to someone (or someone we’d known for years). But perhaps this doesn’t have to be the case:

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

Rainer Maria Rilke 

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The Journey Begins (lyric)

I must be on my way.

But goodbye I shall not say.

For you and I will meet again someday.

No matter how far away…

My song will forever be with you.

So think of me whenever you feel blue.

I await the day we are reunited with glee.

Let’s sing together now, you and me.

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

I must be on my way.

But there will be no tears today.

Hope is in our hearts and there to stay.

No matter how far away…

My song will forever be with you.

So think of me whenever you feel blue.

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