#c: rome

[magebastard]

like dust settled on the world

rating: g

ship: solas x rome lavellan

description: fluff with nary a plot in sight

wc: 431

They stretch long fingers over the elegant curve of his fine jaw. His head tips back in soft, inquiring reply. Doesn’t think twice about baring his throat. He could very well be a hunted man—it would be far too late to turn back.

Instead of cruel teeth, Rome presses a kiss to the dip of his chin. They smile. Cold lips against colder skin. (Between the two of them—neither runs particularly warm.)

It’s dawn. It’s easier.

They share a tendency and propensity to ramble. Lore, principles of magic, politics, the fate of the world, a favorite snack, an anecdote, a strong opinion, nothing at all. It teems and mills about them as they travel. As they camp. As they fight their enemies. For two individuals who claim to withdraw—who claim a preference of being unobtrusive, they unfurl together.

Here, now there is nothing to say. Solas watches her eyes as she watches him. Warm, hearth brown. Earthen and arresting. He reaches for their hand.

Not—not where the mark—where his mark is. Not that—don’t think about that, now. Do not burden them. Do not burden them further than you have.

She twines their fingers. Lifts her marked hand to trace soft fingertips over his scalp. He wobbles at the careful touch. They both are only a facsimile of what they could be.

Solas takes a breath. Compose yourself.

“We should prepare to depart. I believe the situation in Emprise Du Lion will require the breadth of our focus.” They have come to retrieve him, after all. Better to be easily gotten.

It takes her a moment to reply, their fingers still moving, feather-soft and slow. “I suspect as much,” quiet, reverent.

Not the reverence of a disciple. The reverence of a lover. Starved whilst sated, wanting whilst content.

They kiss his brow. A parting thing. And they clear their throat and adjust to their full height. Assuming the mantle of Inquisitor once more.

(He knows it is a choice. Every time they slip into the ‘self’ of Rome Lavellan, it will be a choice again to become the Inquisitor. It is a transfiguration, a trick and a trapping. It will always be difficult, even when time eases the wrinkle of its newness. Solas knows this well.)

He stands to his own proud height. He smooths a wrinkle over the shoulder of her fine, silk shirt.

“I will be waiting at the gate for you.” I will be there. Fragmented and lying and wrong, you will have me.

She breathes deep. Nods once. “I’ll meet you, there.” I will have you.

[blueiscoool]

Ancient Roman Bronze Mice c.2nd century AD

[anyadarkseid]

🧎‍♀️SIR

[psykopaths]

Death of the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, altarpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1674; in the Altieri Chapel, Rome.

[delilahjcmes]

As a business owner who has multiple fire extinguishers on site - i've no bloody clue how to work them, so if you're hosting something i'd love to attend. I reckon it's better to be prepared, especially considering all the electrical/kitchen equipment we have.

I want to offer a free emergency first aid class every month, including CPR and chest compressions and how to use certain equipment like fire extinguishers and AED's. I know these classes are already available but most of them cost money and the ones that don't either far away or not super comprehensive, but there should be at least one person in every household who has this knowledge.

Is this something that would interest you? if so what would you like to see/learn? If not, what could I do to spark your interest?

[neighbourhoodtwo]

your teens are for watching your father get beheaded your 20s are for learning that your brother has been beheaded your 30s are for. being beheaded.

[ineffableclassics]

"You'll never guess what people have been saying about oysters..." Aziraphale's speech was muffled as his mouth was full.

Crowley cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. He suspected that he knew where this was going, but he wanted to play it off as if he didn't for as long as inhumanly possible. He waved his hand in a gesture of encouragement. "Go on."

"You see, they say that oysters are..." The angel lowered his voice and inhaled. "... an aphrodisiac."

Rome, 41AD: Aziraphale successfully "tempts" Crowley to go for dinner and try oysters with him. Crowley confesses during dinner that he's never hooked up with anyone before, and Aziraphale sets about putting this to rights immediately.

Words: 6,514

Status: Complete

Rating: Explicit

@ineffabildaddy

Art Credit: Ménage À Trois by Auseklis Ozols, 2019

[jeannepompadour]

Vergil's Aeneid from the Vergilius Vaticanus illuminated manuscript kept in the collection of the Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana. MS lat. 3225. fol. 33 v; by the Master of the Vergilius Vaticanus; 5th century AD

[p-clodius-pulcher]

Well I’m certain the book is good but it’s no Publius Vergilius Maro’s Aeneid so is there even a point really

[goldanthem]

Christian Yu — rapping. (old avatars)

[dprspace]

a man who can cook >>>

[magebastard]

and we will manage somehow

wc: 518

characters: inquisitor rome lavellan (they/she), ‘rook’ loua mercar (she/her)

rating: g

notes: the part of that conversation they cut for time! im ill about them!

Rome isn’t sure they see it at first. This ‘Rook’ may just be that good. That foolhardy. That hopeful.

She’s impressive. It’s not unheard of—for people like them to carry so much and to do it with a smile. Allison is like that. Was. Is. No word from her or Fenris for quite some time. Everything else has fallen apart. Hard to hope. Though they may still be… processing.

But they do see it. The squint, the trembling hands.

It’s an easy lesson to remember in the eye of the storm. When standing in the face of all of this despair, you and those beside you are all just people. Bearing an unbearable weight. Naive and eager to fight and win. For yourselves and for each other. Just people.

Loua is young.

Not a child, of course and truly not even so young for an adult but she is young. She has so far to go. She was helping here, in Tevinter. According to Morrigan, she was clinging to a Dalish upbringing after a dire estrangement from her family. She was a friend to those in this very city.

Loua Mercar had a life. A name, before Rook.

And for whatever it means to be Rook, now, she still is only one young woman.

Her hands are shaking and Rome remembers the feeling. She breaches the distance to clasp them with her own. The prosthetic offers a more clinical warmth, but the magic is there all the same.

Loua meets her eyes. Yes, Rome certainly sees it now.

“After the fall of Adamant Fortress, I fled to the Hinterlands alone. I didn’t leave my bedroll for three days.”

And goodness, it’s been a while since they’d thought about that.

“I remember making it back to Skyhold with sticks in my hair, covered in grime and still in tears. After days.”

Loua sucks in a harsh breath. A desperate, familiar pain wrinkles her brow.

“Dorian walked me around the keep, supporting me as if I had an injury. It was the first time he’d ever done such a thing.” She squeezes their hands together. Two pairs, both twitching so furiously it feels like neither of them are shaking at all.

“He does it still.”

Loua stares for a moment. What could she say? The profundity of time and duty have tied them so inexorably. The Inquisitor and the Rook, shackled to each other and to inevitability.

It was something she never could have anticipated, hearing tales of the ‘quaint Inquisitor in the south’. A hero that Tevinter would never venerate. A hero she would look up to for years, still.

And she could see it, now. How Rome did it all.

In this crowded Dock Town bar, she can see the legend hewn of steel. Straight, stately posture, hair braided and neat from her face, a fine coat and a face betraying no fear—no demons. Loua likely looked like a wet rag in comparison.

But their hands still shake.

Loua squeezes back.

“When this is over, my friend, I hope we may both rest,” she says in their shared tongue.

“When this is over, I hope we may both live.”

[blueiscoool]

Rome is Building an Eight-Story Underground Museum – But Treasures Keep Getting in the way

Rome, as it’s often said, wasn’t built in a day. And nowhere is that more evident than its state-of-the-art Metro Line C, an ambitious project meant to help relieve the Italian capital’s renowned traffic hellscape and celebrate its rich archeological history with a unique-in-the-world underground museum.

The €700 million line ($757.7 million) was originally envisioned for the Catholic Jubilee of 2000 as a vital link between Rome’s San Giovanni Cathedral and Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica, making it easier for visiting pilgrims to collect indulgences by walking through the churches’ holy doors. Rome’s major basilicas open their holy doors only during Jubilee years, allowing Catholics from all over the world to make pilgrimages to the city to walk through them, symbolizing an openness to receive mercy and reconciliation.

But the 2000 dream never happened, thanks to a series of problems ranging from a corruption scandal in the city government and the sheer number of archeological objects – 40,000 in all, from petrified peach pits to pottery and vases and even the walls and mosaics of Emperor Hadrian’s 2,000-year-old military barracks – found with each shovel full of dirt during the initial preparations.

Now the hope is to have the line’s showcase Piazza Venezia stop, featuring an eight-story underground museum, ready in 10 years, according to engineer Andrea Sciotti, who is in charge of the metro museum complex. This will allow them to open around the Jubilee of 2033, which will mark 2,000 years since the death of Jesus Christ.

“It’s true, 10 years seems like a long time, but we aren’t just dealing with the engineering issues,” Sciotti said inside the construction site. “This station will be judged as the most beautiful in the world … we don’t have to rely on museum items being brought in, the museum station is in its original context in ancient Rome.”

Displayed where they were found:

During the initial phases of work carried out in the last five years, Sciotti said all of the artifacts were removed from the site for restoration. Each will be placed exactly where it was found inside the metro museum, which is being dug some 85 meters (280 feet) deep, encompassing eight stories below the modern city of Rome.

Over the millennia the modern city has been built over covered ruins. Only around 10% of ancient Rome has been excavated, with the rest still buried some nine meters (30 feet) below the current city, according to Rome’s tourist bureau. The city dates back to the stone age and construction work is notoriously hampered by the discovery of ruins that are too plentiful to even excavate and are often reburied to preserve them. Even simple infrastructure work, like sewage repairs, have to be attended by archeologists who have the power to stop the work if something is found.

There will be 27 escalators, six elevators and 66,000 square meters of archeological exhibit space. Ancient walls found during excavations will be placed “in situ” in the modern station and the ancient Via Flaminia that ran through the ancient city to the nearby Roman Forum and Colosseum.

The station’s three main entrances will connect the three museums around the square: the Vittoriano, the Palazzo Venezia and the outdoor ruins of the Roman Forum anchored by the Colosseum at the far end, which has its own metro station that will also feature museum and exhibit space.

Several of the archeological sites will have access points from inside the metro museum, meaning commuters and tourists alike can exit the station by rambling through historically significant ruins like Hadrian’s Auditorium, which was discovered when the initial archeological investigation into the project started and was meant to be the location of the station entrance. Since then, they moved the site and excavated the ruins, which are currently only visible looking down from street level.

‘Top down’ excavation system:

To secure the site as they dig, engineers are using a “top down” excavation system, which has never been used in Italy but was an integral part of the Jubilee line in London. Cross walls and diaphragms are being buried deep into the soil to form the perimeter of the underground complex, with the dirt taken out recycled and enhanced to be used in the building materials, Sciotti said.

The train tunnels themselves are not the issue since they will be more than 100 feet below ground.

The Venezia station museum stop is not the only treasure on the new line. In 2016, archeologists working on the site of the Porta Metronia (previously known as the Ambra Aradam) station found a 39-room complex that spanned more than 9,700 square feet that has been incorporated into the underground station, which will open by the end of 2024. In 2025, the new Colosseo-Fori station, complete with a four-level underground museum to showcase artifacts including 25 archaic wells unearthed when it was built, will also open after activation tests, meant to begin in October, are completed.

The entire 26-kilometer C-line will be Italy’s first fully automated driver-less subway system and will reduce road traffic by 400,000 vehicles a day, meaning CO2 emissions will be reduced by some 310,000 tonnes a year, according to the WeBuild group, which is the main contractor for the project.

The original plans from the 2000 Jubilee have been modified to eliminate several stations in the historical center that would have simply been too difficult to excavate.

By Barbie Nadeau.

[anyadarkseid]

231003 Christian Yu IG live ♡

[psykopaths]

Church of St. Ignatius, Rome

[chmerkovskiyvalentin]