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“Fire & Ink in Rio” 🇧🇷✨ Reflections

Rio carries a rhythm of its own, one that seeps into your bones no matter how quietly you try to sit still. Tonight I found myself at a long table, Cecil across from me with fire in his hands as he cooked dish after dish meats kissed by flame, tofu golden at the edges, seafood arranged like paint on a palette. RM, JK, and Raven were there too, their laughter threading through the steam, the warmth of family stretching wider than the plates between us. The crew and staff joined in before long, helping us finish the feast Cecil had crafted, the meal turning into something more like celebration than dinner.

Yet even with the brightness around us, Cecil carried a different kind of weight. Between bites he admitted, almost offhand, that he had thought of politics. A mayor, maybe. Of a city big enough to hold his silence and his strength. I watched him speak, chopsticks paused, wondering if this was only a passing thought or a road he had already begun walking. His voice was calm, deliberate like someone rehearsing speeches to an audience that wasn’t yet there.

I answered with something softer. A thought of a dragon tattoo before my next show. A mark of fire to carry with me, though I still don’t know where it belongs. On my shoulder? My back? Or somewhere hidden, for only the closest to know? The idea made me laugh quietly, even as I saw the shadows still in Cecil’s gaze.

Rio held us in its warmth tonight music humming from the streets, family and friends circling around the table, dreams being spoken out loud. Cecil imagined power in politics, I imagined dragons inked into skin, and RM, JK, and Raven reminded me that sometimes the most extraordinary thing is simply being together.

— AURÆL 🐉✨