He will only wear brown: brown cloak, brown socks, and brown shoes. He hangs on every word of Pope Francis and every word of his German Cardinal. As he listens, one of the men by his side pats his shoulder. There is a circle of six tourists surrounding him, all of them speaking German. They each wear matching colors and their hats contain images of the Pope - he escorted them here from their hometown in order to have the pleasure of being blessed by His Holiness after the service. He is a brother of the Franciscan order so he does not wear one of the tourist hats. But, he also came to Rome for a reason other than the Papal audience. His black sunglasses glimmer in the sunlight as he thinks fondly of earlier in the morning when he was on the Via Portuense.
There he had the pleasure of participating in a cosplay even for Lord of the Rings. While an observer cannot easily see the wear of the early morning in his appearance, the small remnants of makeup around his ears shows his recent attire had been altered to be more elf-like. In fact, he had dressed as an elf from the Woodland Realm, even sporting a bow and arrows that he hid in his car just before he picked up his tourist friends to come to the Vatican. He would never admit his fascination with the world of Middle Earth to his compatriots at the Papal audience but he secretly wishes someone there could share his passions for liturgy and fantasy literature.
(St. Peter's Square, May 27)
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