Optimism, perhaps under.

2020.03.06, by Nova

It is a good thing we did not finish the profiles in our cookbook before [Giovanni’s death]. We are behind on many projects and we place most of the blame on interpersonal difficulties and the distraction of social media. Anatolij has eliminated the former and largely eliminated the latter. I am concerned that this newfound interest in practising HEMA will distract him from his creative endeavours. But as long as it brings him closer to Bithisarea…

…I think back to what first drew him to Bithisarea. It was superficial at first, a passing resemblance to [Radi]. The beard, the height… That was it, then he became interested in his character, him as a person. Though in truth this “wish” has existed for longer than the man lets on, though neither him nor anyone else was aware of that until fairly recently. It is not my place to say who he was, but they were the same type of man… Bithisarea is now in a position to recount his old family. He does not seem to be in distress, but I wonder about him sometimes.

Anatolij is made up of so many wishes.

He made the remark, recently, that he would probably not get tested for COVID-19. We do not want to pay $3,200 USD just to confirm we cannot work for two weeks, we will just stay off work for two weeks and suffer the pay cut for that alone. —Instead of paying for the privilege of being out of work…