IBEX

Going by the recent chapter titles, Mick has become quite the ARTful dodger! Dodging responsibility, and feelings….

Most tragic. It seems Kyle has learned more in the last chapter than Mickey in his hole life. it’s nice to learn about yellow, the fox head, Wren…. A lot of sad backstory. Explaining much about Mick. Not excusing. There’s a difference.

The anal fixation of folks fantasising about Alien abduction always got me! But then, the whole theme is more or less an US Obsession. No where else in the world are people thinking about UFOs, abduction with mandatory probing fantasies, and the like. Congressional hearings! -about the possibility, or better reality of Alien visits… give me a break! Ok, Kyles actually HAS been abducted, but still!

ROFL! has Tripp started his ballroom yet?

It seems that D is NOT compromised in any way. That should also apply to D10, right? And D20 should be able to communicate with D10 on an internal level / they are basically one entity, are they not? Which will be of great help one can imagine…

I knew it! My training as xenomechanologist paid off, ”… a judgmental little gremlin in a giant robot body.“

If you are interested in this topic, you want to read John Boswell, Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe, (NewYork: Villard, 1994) and possibly follow up with Alan Bray, The Friend

If Rashid were logical, he’d have killed Khalid then. But not his father and Ishan…

It feels this March had 8 weeks, at least! Wasn’t an earlier chapter already dated April 15th or such?

If I can’t get a Gremlin, a sassy drone is the next best thing!

Gremlin made my day. Daily. Miss him already!

Now Ashot starts sounding like Hughie. Not like a Gremlin / there’s a distinction!

Why is a Ferry coming in the next day though- when Nate only found one the day after?

Gianluca’s choice becomes deeply unsettling

While Matteo struggles with reason and his conscience, Gianluca quickly departs painful reasoning, and replaces it with unproven, imported security, by invoking faith as reason. Reason enough to judge, to justify. Made up compliance with imaginary requests by a supposed authority. Preemptive obedience. A most dangerous condition. Easily melded into murderous complicity.

Snippets: the Dominicans had been founded to purify the faith and fight “heresy”; from about 1250 on inquisitors were drafted from their ranks, and then also from the jesuits. During the time of this story there existed a few small republics, and city states in (northern) Italy. A few united in a League. The papacy tried to gain influence, establish more Papal States - hence the quarrel about Imola, mentioned earlier in this story. Since these states were mostly small, they relied on mercenaries for their infighting and defence. Read up on Federico Montefeltro in this connection here. The yet unborn, illegitimate son of Giuliano de Medici (Giulio) will eventually become pope Clemens VII. Arguably one of the most challenging papal reigns… The church of course never fought fair; Sixtus encouraged the Pazzi plot, his own relatives engaged in it. But when things turn sour it wasn’t a matter of a political, a power dispute, but was transcended into the realm of religious parlance. Sin, heresy, blasphemy, and such was the wielded as a powerful cudgel - one that left no viable response in earthly terms. It was less than 50 years later that Luther protested this church. And a century till Henry VIII split from Rome, because he was done with the church meddling in worldly matters, politics…

Pah, that’s so Neapolitan!

The poison that is religion; the slow corrosive drip, the torrent - the colour is forever the same. Blood.

There seems to be an early scent of Savonarola in the air,

Two Medici, and one Pazzi - guess it’s in the year of the Lord of 1478 (due Medici e un pazzo…😇😜)

Loretta, pesce morto e gelida….

Haskal appears surprisingly informed, before even learning what had taken place…

they didn’t visit “family” though?

I liked Lynix better with his Mohawk, in chaps… if I do say so myself!

Oh, how I love them all! Even Haskill didn’t seem a bad lot.