#vatican garden
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"Me and Jeremy had great fun playing together. We both trained at the same drama school which part of me likes to think might be the reason that we approach characters in the same way. We quite often do big things. I think if you compare my and Jeremy’s style of acting to Francois’ acting (Francois is always quite still and contained, sort of brooding and moody) whereas Jeremy and I do quite large things. The challenge then is to make them seem truthful which we may not always do, but we try to make it quite dynamic." — DAVID OAKES
#god their dynamic was rich and twisted it's always makes me sad when i see rodrigo in s3 grieving juanalone outside the vatican garden :/#but yeah david and jeremy were so amazing together. it's also impressive how david as a new young actor managed to go toe to toe with him#david oakes#jeremy irons#juan borgia#rodrigo borgia#the borgias#perioddramaedit#onlyperioddramas#weloveperioddrama#perioddramasource#dailyflicks#tvedit#smallscreensource#mensource#cinemapix#tvarchive#userpcultures#tvfilmsource#by jen
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Roman Emperor Caligula's 2,000-Year-Old Garden Unearthed Near the Vatican
The gardens overlooking the Tiber river in Italy once belonged to an infamous Roman emperor.
Construction workers in Italy have discovered a 2,000-year-old garden that once belonged to a Roman emperor.
The travertine walls of the garden overlook the banks of the Tiber, a river that cuts through Rome and sits east of Vatican City. The ruins were unearthed as workers constructed a new overpass at Piazza Pia, according to a translated statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture.
As archaeologists removed debris, they found a lead water pipe with the following inscription: "C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici." Researchers determined that the engraving referred to Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula (aka "little boot," a childhood nickname given to him by his father's soldiers).
Based on the inscription, researchers think the garden likely belonged to the infamous Roman emperor. Not only was Caligula known for being a tyrannical and ruthless leader, he was also a sadist who humiliated his senate. Caligula assumed the throne in A.D. 37, and in A.D. 41 the Praetorian Guard — the officials who were supposed to protect him — assassinated the emperor.
This conclusion is supported by a passage in the ancient text "On the Embassy to Gaius," penned by Egyptian philosopher Philo of Alexandria. It describes how Caligula had met with a representative of Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, at a large garden along the Tiber, according to the statement.
At that time, Jewish Alexandrians and the Greek-Alexandrian population were in a "crisis that had manifested itself with violence, brawls and episodes of religious intolerance." However, Caligula rejected the Jews' requests for religious autonomy, instead siding with the Greeks.
Alessio De Cristofaro, an archaeologist at the Special Superintendency for Archaeology, Fine Art and Landscape, a government agency in Rome, said the find is significant because Piazza Pia is in the same area as the "Horti Agrippinae," the garden of Agrippina the Elder, who was Caligula's mother.
The pipe is also similar to another one, found in the early 1900s, that's inscribed with the name Iulia (Julia) Augusta, the second wife of Augustus and the grandmother of Germanicus. Researchers speculate that the property was inherited by Germanicus and later passed down to his wife, Agrippina the Elder, before going to Caligula.
In addition to the pipe, archaeologists found slabs of Roman-era pottery and terra-cotta figures of mythological scenes that would have decorated rooftops.
By Jennifer Nalewicki.
#Roman Emperor Caligula's 2000-Year-Old Garden Unearthed Near the Vatican#Tiber river#Piazza Pia#ancient artifacts#archeology#archeolgst#history#history news#ancient history#ancient culture#ancient civilizations#ancient rome#roman history#roman empire#roman art#ancient art
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i know that new rome/san fransico bay has like a demigod safe area where people have houses, and live like normal lives, even up till their old age, but I wish they established some estates like that in ACTUAL rome, like I don't see why not? I know rick only did this because the story has to take place in america, but it would be so cool if some of the roman demigods, lived in actual rome, and went to college there (instead of 'new rome university' it could be old rome university)
I know according to the pjo logic, living in greece/rome or even going there, is extremely dangerous because that's a target for monsters, but it's not as though they are safe elsewhere. especially if they're a big three kid, they'd be tracked no matter what. if new rome had instilled a safety border in america, then why can't they do the same in rome?
all they need to do is worship the roman gods, and ask them to enchant a safety protection charm in a slightly deserted land of rome (which isn't even necessary because mortals can't see demigod stuff unless they have clearsight, this is just for extra safety).
Like there's no way you could tell me that jason if he didn't die wouldn't want to settle down in rome. He was THRILLED when they visited, and he's a roman history freak, he would love it there.
#maybe I'm just projecting my own desire to visit vatican city onto the post but idc#I know everyone's like “no jason felt disconnected to rome after the events of hoo he would hate rome”#no he didn't. he felt disconnected by camp jupiter aka NEW rome. he absolutely loved the real rome#rip jason grace you would've loved living in vatican city. visiting roman museums and looking at statues in gardens. he's just a lil guy ok#pjo#pjo fandom#percy jackson#pjo series#pjo hoo#pjo hoo toa#jason grace#camp jupiter
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Waking up at 5:30 to ponder and cry about annunciation imagery (I’m not a religious person) #justdayoffthings
#idk it just kills me…I remember walking through one of the Vatican museum galleries and crying because there were so many annunciations#mixed with so many lamentations and pietas. it was just too sad#I’m just saying if I was Mary I’d make the agony in the garden stuff look like a joke like I will kill us alllll
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VATICAN / VATICANO / WATYKAN => pope walking in the garden with security guards.
#postkarte#litografia#post card#kartka#Watykan#papiez#pope#ansichtskarte#lithograph#guards#ochrona#garden#Vatican#Vaticano#Włochy#walking#litho#bazylika#basilica#clothes
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VATICAN GARDENS
#vatican gardens#jardines del vaticano#vatican city#ciudad del vaticano#città del vaticano#giardini vaticani#rome italy#roma italia#europe#europa
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group of retired folks visiting the garden had a lot of interesting things to say about art + made fun of trumpers. I love you old southern people ❤️
#one guy said this this place represents something that is lacking today#and that is the ability to dedicate your whole life and all your energy to something#and I was like damn. you’re so right#and then he said that the only difference between this garden and the Vatican is patrons#like. yeah that’s kind of true isn’t it.
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I don't typically make OCs cause with the media I join the fandoms for I tend to be happy with the characters I have and consider the main role slots already taken but Marina's girlfriends and maybe a potential crush is such an unexplored topic in the game (reasonably enough) that I can't help but wonder and imagine things, even though, again, I'm normally not the kind of person to create fan- or really any OCs.
#Funger2bpt#I feel like the thing that makes this different from a normal ''not but fr why Wouldn't I make an OC for this piece of media''#Is that I really want to know what Marina's life in Vatican City was like#As opposed to like. What if this one character was put into the context of this piece of media#I wonder if my approach would change if I thought this way about other media I was into back in the day#Cause I always thought of this like create a pretty girl and put it into the world of xyz. And then she withers and dies#because I'm a bad gardener and she doesn't belong there :(#Fandom meta#Now that I think about it especially in the tags
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Knights Templar and Freemasons - linked or not?
TV historian Tony McMahon sets out to discover the truth behind claims the Knights Templar and Freemasons are connected
If the Knights Templar and Freemasons are connected in some way then how to explain it? We need to get to the bottom of this mystery and discover the truth. Is there any link between the Templars and Masons or is it entirely a myth? Regardless of your own view, the story is fascinating. Let me regale you with the facts and evidence below – then form your own opinion. Who came first – Freemasons…
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#dead sea scrolls#freemason templar#garden of eden#hiram abiff#history#hyram#knight templar freemason#knights templar freemason#masonic history#Medieval#Noah freemason#Pope Clement#Roman Catholic freemason#Templar#templar masonic#templars#Vatican freemason
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Unveiling the Marvels of Rome: Exploring Attractions, Shopping, Food & Unique Experiences
Unveiling The Marvels Of Rome Rome, the Eternal City, is a captivating destination that seamlessly blends ancient history with modern charm. From its iconic landmarks to its vibrant culture, Rome offers a plethora of experiences that will leave you spellbound. In this article, we will embark on a virtual journey through Rome, highlighting its top attractions, shopping hotspots, culinary…
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#attractions in Rome#Castel Sant&039;Angelo#Catacombs of Rome#Colosseum#food in Rome#Pantheon#Piazza Navona#Roman Forum#Rome#shopping in Rome#Spanish Steps#travel guide#Trevi Fountain#unique experiences#Unveiling The Marvels Of Rome#Vatican City#Villa Borghese Gardens
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MODULAR ACCIDENTS, 2023
Artist Tampering of Two books: Greek Sculpture & Michelangelo
Punlisher
L E S E D I T I O N B R A U N & C. - P A R I S
Photographing variables
When recently I was looking at the theatre space in Culín, Dingle, Kerry with Rachel Holstead, arts administrator for our Gaeltacht ahead of an install, she pointed out boxes of books left by the late Daryl Broe in an adjacent corridor, hoping I might find a use for them, urging me to take some [what do we do with what is left behind]. Daryl had worked as a cameraman, reporter, editor among other things in the theatre space. He died last year at home alone, somewhat sadly; it was a number of days before someone found his body. And now some of his books lay waiting …many of which were art and politically related. One particular book grabbed my attention.
It was a small old, dog eared French book on ‘la Sculpture Grecque’ a volume of a collection of books on art ‘les maitres’. I was initially attracted to the rough matt printed pages, thick. I flicked through it and put in my car where it sat for a couple of weeks until one morning while waiting for my daughters at the Kerry School of music I picked it up and poured over the images of the figurative sculptures housed I might add in the various museums around the world, separated, fragmented, a colonial legacy; the various photographers forgotten. I liked how the type was set and how the photographs were framed and laid out by the picture editor and/or designer.
Absentmindedly, instinctively and perhaps playfully I started folding the pages in on themselves. I was dividing the images in half vertically, presenting only half the image to juxtapose it to the next page and subsequent pages. I liked the accidental contrasts. It made me think about the original designer and their design decisions; the geometry of the images and how they proportionally suited the page. I began to think about the book and its modular accidents sculpturally, architecturally even, that it could be picked up by anyone, thumbed through, handled and played with. Each holder having a different experience.
The book acts as a book of possibilities; a modular sculptural collage.
Later, just before install, I would come across another of Daryl’s books, this time on Michelangelo , again its texture and image quality I loved. I purposely this time folded the pages in the same manner to present new possibilities. And also with the descriptive text on the left hand page, revealing a dadaist or situationalist type of text.
#art#artists on tumblr#studio#andrew duggan#gaeltacht#internationale situationniste#modular#vatican#michalengelo#france#sistine chapel#Greece sculpture#art print#garden of eden#god#la pieta#venus#la femme
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thomas lawrence was not made for the world of conclave he’s for the girls and the gays and was supposed to use his life writing romance novels while keeping chickens in his garden and kissing a man but instead he ended up being the couples therapist for the worlds most toxic polycule (the vatican)
#he is STRESSED 😭😭😭 I think him and Benitez should kiss to calm down 🥰🥰#conclave#conclave 2024#thomas lawrence#vincent benitez#cardinal tedesco#ralph fiennes#film#my post#100*
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I think Machete should be allowed to dig a hole. For enrichment reasons.
Just stick his snout in a hole and woo woo the anxiety away
I received this ask after posting art of the dogs in their four legged forms, but imagine if we were talking of him in anthro mode. Just digging holes in the Vatican gardens, sticking his face in them and screaming.
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The Gate of Salvation [2/3]
[ young pope • Aemond x catholic • female ]
[ warnings: fingering, smut, sexual tension, angst, religious guilt, doubts related to faith, chauvinism ]
[ description: During the conclave, a new pope is elected, but to everyone's surprise, he does not intend to show himself to the crowds waiting for him. His ideas terrify the cardinals, and one of them convinces his niece, who is studying marketing, to talk to the new head of the Catholic Church in his presence. Main theme: sexual tension & holy touch. ]
A mini-series created as a thank you and celebration of my 2'500 followers. I initially plan that it will have about 3 chapters.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
The Song of Songs (Oneshot) Death and Ressurection (Oneshot)
Aemond as a Pope Edit Series Characters Moodboard Aemond NSFW Alphabet
* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *
Next chapters: Masterlist
_____
After her meeting with the Pope, she had been writhing around all night, terrified and humiliated, unable to sleep. She couldn't forgive herself for her stupidity, for not seeing in time that it was obvious her uncle was trying to slip her over to the head of the Catholic Church like a snack he might be tempted to focus on.
The worst part was that he had hired her and she didn't know how she could take it back, defy the Pope himself, communicate that she was rejecting his proposal.
She got up before dawn, recognising that she would not get any rest anyway, and decided to take a warm shower. She thought while standing under the stream of hot water that she would try to distance herself, be professional and not give satisfaction to either her uncle or the Pope himself.
She hoped that when he finally decided to give any sort of interview the commotion around him would quiet down and she could quickly offer her resignation.
She sighed heavily, running her hand over her wet face, wondering how she was supposed to reconcile this madness with her classes at the University.
A car with the same driver as the day before arrived outside her townhouse again and took her straight to the Vatican; driving through its streets, she noticed that many people had pitched tents in and around St Peter's Square, waiting for any new information about their Pope.
She sighed quietly, resignedly thinking about how unnecessary his stubbornness actually was.
This time it was not her uncle waiting for her in the square, but a middle-aged priest who could have been her father, dressed in a plain black cassock. He smiled at her in a way that seemed genuine to her and she reciprocated the gesture when he indicated with a movement of his hand that she should move to follow him.
"The Pope is just having breakfast in the garden and he will receive you there." He said as they walked along the marble corridors filled with works of art; she looked at him surprised and sighed quietly, glancing out of the window, finding that it was indeed pleasant warm weather, the sky was cloudless.
They walked out one of the back exits to the cloisters into a small garden consisting of a maze formed of walls of shrubbery, which, however, easily led them to its centre, on which stood a large arbour styled in antique manner, with a dome and Corinthian-style columns.
She grinned with some kind of disbelief when she spotted his figure seated at an ornate small white table, his cassock also white, he held in his hands a newspaper he had just been looking through.
She thought with amusement that he was reading about himself.
Only when they got closer did she notice that other gazettes from different countries lay folded on the table top; the front pages of each asking who the new pope was, why he wasn't showing himself, why he was silent.
"Your Holiness." Said the priest standing next to her and nodded; the young pope, however, did not even bestow a single glance on them.
She pressed her lips together as she saw his thumb go to his mouth, he licked it and then used it to flip the page of the newspaper.
The priest who had brought her left them alone, as if he had already become accustomed to the lack of reaction and any culture on his part. She stared at him in silence for a moment, standing in front of him in the same dress as the day before, not having time to buy anything else.
"Holy Father." She said softly, wanting to get it over with, standing a few steps beside him.
He did not look at her, instead lifting his hand and extending it towards her, a signet ring of pure gold on his heart finger.
She looked at him for a moment in disbelief, then swallowed hard and walked towards him, grasping his warm hand in hers.
She leaned in, placing a quick, brief kiss on his ring and let him go immediately; he took his hand without even giving her a glance and went back to reading the newspaper.
She pressed her lips together feeling his intense, pleasant-smelling male perfume again.
"What do you think of what they write about me?" He asked, carelessly tossing the newspaper he had just read onto a pile of others, the discouragement on his face bordering on disgust, as if what he had read made him sick. "They are already reaching my family. Day and night they chat outside my mother's house."
She felt a tightness in her throat at his words and some kind of sympathy, because although he must have known what his decision entailed and what the consequences would be, some journalists crossed all possible boundaries, recognising no sanctity.
She shifted from foot to foot, looking at the French croissants that lay on one of the porcelain plates and a jar of strawberry jam, and reminded herself that she hadn't eaten breakfast. She grunted quietly, looking away, staring at the field flowers that grew around them – she spotted a gardener in the distance who was cutting the shrubs with his big steel shears.
"They won't stop until you give them something, Holy Father." She replied truthfully, hearing him snort under his breath.
"They will always want more." He replied dryly and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye – he was staring at her sitting with his legs crossed.
She shuddered and looked at him in disbelief as he pushed the other chair in front of her with his foot clad in white elegant shoes, moving it away.
"Sit down, child. You are pale. Did you eat breakfast today?" He asked disapprovingly, like a parent expressing their discontent. She shook her head and he sighed heavily, indicating with his hand gesture to the seat next to him.
She thought that this certainly had nothing to do with behaving according to protocol, but decided that it probably didn't matter much to him. She sat down next to him, smelling the intense scent of his perfume again, adjusting her dress, remembering not to sit with her legs crossed.
"Eat." He said dispassionately; she wasn't going to argue, figuring that since she was being forced to be at his every beck and call now, she could get something in return.
Therefore, she reached for the croissant and jam, which immediately drew the attention of her stomach – she casted him a wordless surprised glance as she heard the sound of the lighter being lit and the hiss of the cigarette he held in his mouth.
He took a deep drag and spread out comfortably in his chair, looking at her thoughtfully, letting the smoke out through his nose. He smirked, as if something in her gaze amused him.
"My chancellery contacted your University. They were happy to hear that you will be doing a sort of…internship here. You don't have to worry about your exams or classes." He hummed as if he was talking about something trivial and uninteresting, an irrelevant piece of information he had to convey to her, and took another drag, the tip of his cigarette igniting red.
"− what − but −" She started, but decided it made no sense; whoever he was, this man had clearly already planned everything for himself and had no intention of changing anything, much less asking her opinion.
"I thought you'd be pleased. Your uncle arranges for you accommodation and studies, the Pope makes sure you pass your exams without your personal involvement. Isn't that beautiful?" He asked with a sneer, and she felt a tightening in her throat, a cold sweat on her back; she stared wide-eyed at the half-cut croissant on which she had just spread jam, but lost the urge to eat.
He knew everything about her and thought she and her uncle were the same.
She pressed her lips together and leaned back against the backrest, placing her hands on the armrests even though she shouldn't be doing so and crossed her legs. She saw his gaze drop involuntarily to her bare knees, his cigarette burning slowly between his fingers.
"My uncle wants you to take me to your bed, Holy Father." She said quietly, recognising that she didn't have the strength for this, for their games, their hookups, the secrets they obviously adored, of which the entire Vatican was made.
She blinked when he chuckled, his pointing finger hitting his cigarette so that the ash from it fell to the stone floor beneath him.
"Tell me something I don't know. Eat. We have a lot of work ahead of us." He muttered, taking one last drag on his cigarette, letting the smoke out through his nose, extinguishing the remnants of it on his plate.
She stared at him with her heart pounding fast, thinking in disbelief that he really was a few steps ahead of everyone else.
He was perfectly informed, and although his words and actions seemed chaotic, there was purpose in them.
"What do you want, Holy Father?" She asked lightly, taking a piece of croissant into her mouth. He threw her an amused look and raised an eyebrow.
She had the impression that he took satisfaction in teasing her, his gaze fixed on her lips, which she involuntarily licked.
"Many things. Above all, holy peace and quiet, but I am not afforded it. Get up, let's take a walk." He said matter-of-factly and rose abruptly, putting his hands behind him, moving ahead without looking at her towards the corridors made of tall, evenly trimmed bushes.
She quickly swallowed the piece she just had in her mouth and stood up, following him, levelling her step with his, sunshine and birdsong all around them.
"We're being watched. It's harder for them to eavesdrop on me as I walk." He said coolly; she turned behind her and saw the gardener she noticed before, who was apparently just pretending to water the flowers around the arbour.
She looked at him in horror, realising that he must have been spied on all the time.
That they all wanted to know what he was going to do, surely he must have kept them in an iron grip since no picture of him had leaked to the press yet.
"What's going to make the atmosphere calm down and the journalists back off?" He asked discouraged, and she sighed quietly, looking up at the cloudless sky.
"Your private invitation."
She was surprised that her idea that he would hold a press conference where he would be invisible and only his voice could be heard appealed to him. He felt that, in fact, his faithful should hear his words and what he has to share with them, and this did not require his image to be revealed at all.
He decided to receive the TV and newspaper envoys in the Sistine Chapel, recognising that this was some kind of milestone moment that required a special place, a black veil was placed in front of his papal throne.
Although on the one hand it looked comical, on the other it added a sort of solemnity and impression of holiness, something tangible and yet inaccessible.
The cardinals and his office workers had prepared a script for him, which he tore in front of her eyes before the speech itself, handing her the shreds that remained of the pages, staring blankly at the black fabric in front of him. She took it from him, not knowing what else she could do; he demanded she be by his side in case someone asked an uncomfortable question.
Her heart was pounding like mad, she could feel the cold sweat on her back and wondered if he felt a similar anxiety.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and although his face was stony, he seemed even paler to her than usual, his large hands on which she could clearly see the outline of his veins clenched on his armrests – he sat comfortably on his throne with his legs crossed.
"Holy Father, why don't you want to show your face to your faithful? Is this some new kind of Vatican policy, a way of getting the whole world's attention?" They heard the question echoed by the first journalist on the other side of the curtain; she saw him press his lips together and swallow loudly before his cold, matter-of-fact, dispassionate voice began to spread around them.
"My face is not useful to my faithful for anything. They need my action. My causality. They need my intervention in matters of urgency, in the problems of paedophilia in the church, in the embezzlement and misuse of church assets, in the restoration of law and order, in the opening up of the church to young people who feel forgotten and unwanted. My face, my history, my personal views will distract them from all these things."
He said without stammering. She looked at him in disbelief, realising that he couldn't have prepared this answer beforehand.
He was saying straight from his heart what he was thinking and there was something touching about it.
Somehow she understood what he meant.
"What about the pilgrimages, what about the Sunday masses celebrated by the Pope?" Asked another journalist. She heard him sigh heavily, noticed that his hand trembled as he raised it to his face, tightening his fingers on the base of his nose.
"The Pope is not alone, he has his cardinals who can assist him in his missions around the world. As for the masses, I will attend them as a guest, but I will not be visible. The Pope is not unique. The Pope is chosen as first among equals. As Pope, I still remain a cardinal, one of the apostles. I am not Christ. I am not God."
She looked at him in pain, breathing unevenly through slightly parted lips, remembering what she had told him a few days earlier.
They need a guide, not another invisible God.
She couldn't believe that after what she had heard she had begun to feel sympathy for him – his answers seemed thoughtful and sensible, and she wondered if she had just seen his true nature, or if he was as perfect a manipulator as any of the cardinals.
She wondered how he had convinced them.
How he became Pope.
When it was all over he left without a word; the journalists were led away, and she prayed that it would help, that public opinion would calm down a little.
She watched all the news editions that evening with bated breath – the whole world quoted his statements and his decision, to her relief, most of the experts spoke warmly of him. The newspaper headlines also left her under no illusions.
The Pope has spoken. He doesn't want to show his face, only his actions.
The Pope who chooses the fight against paedophilia over the glamour of glory.
The Pope without a face − a new beginning.
The end of splendour − the Pope retreats to work like any of us.
The end of the church as we know it. The Pope at last again the voice of the weakest.
The next day she arrived in the Vatican with a stack of newspapers, eager to show him the result of their work, hoping it would satisfy him and allow her to return to normality.
"The Pope is exercising, but he said he would receive you." Said the priest, who was called Father Lenz, and who was apparently his private secretary, always waiting for her to lead her wherever he just happened to be.
"He's exercising?" She asked with amusement, and he just raised his eyebrows, himself clearly not knowing what he thought about it.
He opened the door for her and she stepped into a large room, with a beautiful baroque vaulted ceiling and hundreds of paintings on one side, rows of tall windows on the other, illuminating an exercise machine consisting of a small bench with a mattress on which he placed his back as he pulled on the railing at the end of which the weights hung, his legs braced on either side of the machine for balance.
He was dressed in white tracksuits.
She stared at the sight in disbelief, waiting for him to notice her; it only happened after a while when he took a break and sat down, reaching for a bottle of water standing on the old wooden floor. She lifted up a bundle of newspapers and he nodded, running his fingers through his hair, trying to calm his breathing after his exertion.
She walked over to him and handed him the magazines she held in her hand; she felt a pleasant throbbing between her thighs feeling the smell of his sweat mixed with the scent of his perfume, his lips slightly swollen and pink from the blood that pulsed faster through his body.
He flipped through the front pages of the papers one by one and sighed quietly; she thought with surprise that there was a sort of expression of relief painted on his face, as if what was happening frightened him somewhere deep inside and filled him with anxiety.
He put them down at last, looking ahead, grabbing the white towel that hung over the railing at the other end of the machine.
"I prayed to God after I was elected. I prayed that he would show me the way, and although he usually answered me in some way, that evening he was silent. It was a silence full of rejection, as if the heavens did not agree with the decision of the conclave. How was I to go out to the crowds in such a situation, to convince them that Our Father in the heavens was sending me to them?"
He asked, rising with a quiet creak from the metal bench, surprising her completely with his words; because of his clothes and the way he spoke she had cognitive dissonance and had to remind herself that he was the Pope and not just a young man close to her age.
His confession touched her in some way – she was able to imagine his despair on the evening he was elected as people chanted his name, but it was the voice of God that he wanted to hear.
He stood a few steps away from her, drinking the contents of his small water bottle to the end, and stared ahead, as if he had returned with his mind to that time, as if he needed to get it out of himself.
"That's why I asked my faithful to pray from me. And what did they do? They despaired. They despaired that they could not see my face, that they could not touch me, tear me apart, dissect my private life and my past. I have never felt so lonely." He said with a regret from which she felt a squeeze in her throat and lowered her gaze, not knowing what to say, reminding herself with shame that she had thought the same thing about him as all those people.
"Perhaps it was also the will of the heavens. In the end, when the time comes everyone will face God alone. Maybe it was his words: don't follow the crowd, don't conform, that's not why I sent you." She said softly, but immediately regretted her words, recognising that she had no right to interpret anyone's spiritual experiences, much less those of the Head of the Church.
She heard him snort with amusement; he pulled a lighter and cigarettes from his pocket and for a moment she thought he would want to smoke in this beautiful baroque chamber, however, he moved ahead towards a small door other than the one she had entered through.
"Come." He hummed, so she moved after him, knowing that it was pointless to resist.
For the rest, the more she got to know him, the more she liked him.
They passed through a narrow corridor and began to climb up a stone staircase that spiraled around a large pillar – it seemed to her that they were in some older part of this great complex. They reached a small wooden door, and when he opened it they emerged onto the roof of one of the buildings located to the right of St Peter's Square.
The view in front of her struck her –the sun was rising over the Vatican, lazily leaning out from above the church standing in the centre of the square like a nimbus, the air around them pleasantly cool and crisp.
She watched as he moved ahead and walked closer to the stone wall, firing up his lighter and leaning forward with a cigarette in his mouth – there was something so obscene about the sight that she smiled involuntarily.
He looked at her over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow, taking a drag, then slid his cigarette out of his mouth with a motion of his hand and let the smoke out silently through his nose, shaking the ash to the ground with a flick of his finger.
"It has been reported to me that journalists are slowly making their way into my past. Don't worry, I don't think it's your fault. I knew it would happen, but I thought I had more time." He murmured lowly seeing her surprised, horrified face, suddenly as if tired and discouraged, taking another drag with a quiet hiss of fire.
She thought looking at his silhouette illuminated by the first rays of the sun, that he looked like a saint.
"I want you to hear it from me. Will you listen to what I have to say?" He asked calmly and she nodded, feeling her heart pounding fast, looking at him with her lips slightly parted, terrified of what he wanted to tell her.
"My mother I told you about is a nun. She adopted me a few years after I was placed in a convent orphanage." He said calmly, looking away, staring at the crowds of people walking around St Peter's Square.
"They took me from the woman who gave birth to me because she liked to inject various stimulants into her veins. She was asleep when one of her men decided he didn't like the way I looked at him, that I was complaining about being hungry. He decided that he would gouge my eyes out, but he only succeeded with one, my screaming would wake even the dead."
He muttered, not looking at her but somewhere in the distance, letting out a puff of smoke with a deep breath; she looked at him with her eyebrows arched in pain feeling the squeeze in her throat, her cheeks red with emotion.
She wanted to say something but was afraid to interrupt him, she knew that what he was telling her was of the utmost importance and she wondered if anyone else knew about all this, if he had confided in anyone.
"Sister Alicent after I was brought in wouldn't let me call her my mother. So I called every woman I saw that, cooks, cleaners, teachers. She adopted me in the end, unable to look at it anymore. She got a dispensation from the Pope." He said lowly, throwing the cigarette butt on the ground, crushing it with his completely white Adidas.
"Some trashy, cheap magazines are already writing about the fact that I am the son of a nun and the Pope, others with mockery recognise that I am certainly her immaculate conception. That they mock me doesn't bother me, but it fills me with sadness that journalists stand outside her house all day. She can't even go out shopping or gardening. I guess you think the only way out of this situation would be an interview where I would tell my story?"
He asked disapprovingly, looking at her finally; she was shocked and horrified that he was asking her opinion on such an important matter. She shook her head helplessly, shrugging her shoulders.
"You cannot allow them to make your mother a hostage, Holy Father. You must show strength. Call press conferences where you talk about what decisions you make, but don't answer questions about your family. In the Vatican, you are Pius XIII, not Aemond Targaryen. When they see that they cannot blackmail you, they will let go. In my opinion, you both have to bear it." She said what she thought, thinking in the back of her mind that journalists would always want more and the matter would only get worse.
He looked at her silently as if analysing her words and sighed finally, kicking a stone that lay under his feet with his shoe.
"Have you ever kissed?" He asked lightly and she looked at him with shock written all over her face, feeling her heart pounding like crazy, her cheeks burning with heat.
She couldn't believe such a question had come out of his mouth.
"You don't have to answer. I'm just curious. I've never kissed anyone." He replied after a moment, seeing her embarrassed reaction, as if he wanted to clarify and elaborate that his interest was purely scientific and theoretical.
She swallowed loudly, pressing her lips together, thinking that he had told her about himself, about the most private aspects of his life, and decided that nothing bad would happen if she answered him.
"Once, in high school." She muttered, stroking her arm in a gesture of uncertainty and embarrassment, looking away. She heard him hum under his breath, intrigued.
"Did it feel good?" He asked softly, standing a few steps away from her with his hands tucked into his snow-white tracksuit bottoms, cocking his head.
She looked up at him in disbelief, breathing erratically, clasping her hands tighter, involuntarily her gaze escaped to his full, glistening lips.
"It was a very moist, soft and warm sensation." She muttered feeling a tightness in her throat, her gaze fleeing from his eyes to his lips, unable to stop herself from imagining how wonderful it would be to feel how they tasted.
"Hm." He murmured, looking away thoughtfully.
They stood like that for a moment in silence – she could feel the wordless tension around them, as if electricity flowed through the air with their every word and movement.
"Did you confess this deed?"
She blinked and felt her heart stop. She shook her head, looking at him with slightly parted lips.
"Pardon?" She asked in disbelief, feeling discomfort in her lower abdomen and a cold sweat on her back, not believing that he was suggesting such a thing.
"Failure to maintain chastity before marriage is a sin." He replied indifferently; she pressed her lips together, feeling tears of shame and humiliation under her eyelids, her eyebrows arched in pain.
"So I am a sinner, Holy Father." She said coldly, and turned away, leaving without any pleasantries or even a simple goodbye.
She burst out sobbing as she ran down the narrow stairs.
It was only a kiss.
She just wanted to see what it was like.
In fact, she felt bad afterwards, but not because she thought it was a sin, but because she was not in love with this boy.
She asked Father Lenz for any of the drivers to take her home; seeing her face red from tears he asked what had happened, but she did not answer him.
She opened up to him, spoke about an intimate part of her life, and he could only judge her, make her another Eve, a fallen woman.
It was only a kiss.
She returned to her flat filled with regret and disappointment – she angrily pulled off her long dress she had bought and chosen specially to be able to present herself as expected, to keep herself humble, but for what?
She decided that she would never appear there again.
There was no kind of real contract between the two of them, she had only signed documents regarding her collaboration with the Pope's secretaries and a confidentiality clause.
She changed into her pyjamas, undid her hair, took the box of leftover cakes from the cupboard and lay in bed, browsing social media platforms on her phone, trying not to think about what had happened.
She tilted her head back and groaned in frustration when she saw that her uncle had started to call her. She muted her phone and flipped the screen down, sighing.
She lay back on her bedding, staring blankly at the window, and thought with pain that the man who should be giving her the strength to be a better person had made her doubt herself, made her feel sinful and dirty.
She started to think that maybe she should go to confession after all, that maybe he was right, that she was only making excuses for herself without wanting to admit that she was wrong, but she felt even worse at that thought and just burst out crying.
Exhausted by sobbing and remorse, she finally fell asleep, seeing only through her closed eyelids that the phone display lying next to her glowed again and again.
She shuddered, rising quickly to sit up in complete darkness when she heard someone's loud knock on her door; she looked around with a pounding heart, not knowing where she was, whether it was evening or morning.
She glanced at her phone and saw that she had slept for several long hours and the sun had set, on her screen 20 missed calls from her uncle and a plethora of text messages that she didn't have the energy to read.
She sighed heavily and got up, walking reluctantly to the door, knowing her uncle would now make a litany for her; she turned on the night light on the way so she wouldn't trip over anything and she turned the lock, opening it.
"Oh God."
She muttered, seeing the figure of the young Pope in front of her, still in the same white tracksuit and sneakers.
He had his hood up over his head.
He pulled the white earphones out of his ears with a soft flick of his hand – she could hear the heavy metal music playing from them.
"Will you let me in?" He asked indifferently; she looked at him in disbelief, thinking he was risking a lot by going outside just to see her.
She sighed quietly and stepped back, allowing him to go inside. She leaned out wanting to check if anyone had seen him and closed the door quickly.
She glanced at him over her shoulder and saw that he had turned off the music on his player and put it back in his pocket.
They stood for a moment in silence, his gaze focused on her naked thighs; she swallowed loudly with shame at the thought that she was standing before the Head of the Catholic Church in nothing but pyjamas consisting of cream shorts and a shirt buttoned up the front, under which she didn't even have a bra.
She turned her head, running her trembling hand over her face, her heart pounding like mad.
"I made a mistake." She heard his voice full of regret. "I wanted your uncle to pass it on to you, but you didn't answer."
"I didn't and don't feel like talking to anyone, Holy Father." She muttered, feeling a tightening in her chest, fiddling restlessly with the cross hanging on her neck.
She heard him swallow loudly and look to the side, pulling the hood off his head.
"I made you doubt in yourself. In your purity and your value in the eyes of God." He said lowly, and she felt tears gathering in the corners of her eyes for the umpteenth time that day. She closed her eyelids and tilted her head back, trying to control herself, not letting them flow out.
She did not reply.
"My words arise from my depravity, which I fight unsuccessfully. From my vanity and jealousy. I would rather have you locked up in a convent. You could then be by my side and no one would ever touch you again. You could be mine." He said softly, thoughtfully, looking at some point on the floor, as if he had drifted off completely in his musings – she felt her lips part in disbelief, her brow arching in pain.
I would rather have you locked up in a convent.
You could be mine.
What was she to reply to such a shocking confession?
She shuddered when he finally turned his attention to her, the gaze of his healthy eye sharp and piercing, while his artificial one was empty, white, lifeless.
"Though never before have my members reacted to the sight and thought of a woman, when I see you, I long to touch you, to taste you, to smell you. I have become addicted to your scent and try to recall it after evening prayer before I fall asleep." He spoke calmly, as if it was not an emotionally driven statement but something thought out, something that had been going on in his head for a very long time.
She felt with fear how her body reacted to his words with a greedy throbbing between her thighs and a moisture from which the material of her underwear was getting wet, her nipples hardened, more clearly visible from under her shirt.
She froze when she saw his gaze flee to her breasts, seeing exactly what she feared, his full lips parted slightly; she could hear his breathing clearly, fingers of his hands rubbing against each other in an anxious, nervous gesture.
"What do you feel now?" He whispered and she drew in the air loudly, feeling a tightness in her throat. She licked her lips dry from stress, taking a step backwards, hitting her back against the wall, feeling that she had nowhere to run. She helplessly clenched her thighs together, wanting to stop what was happening, seeing that his pupil widened at the sight.
"I'm wet." She confessed in shame, recognising that there was no point in pretending that there was something innocent in what was happening – her body was twitching with desire, begging for his touch and relief, her heart pounding like mad.
She heard him draw in a loud breath at her words while looking straight into her eyes, she saw fire in them, heavenly or hellish.
"Does it feel good?" He asked softly, gazing shamelessly at the spot between her thighs – she felt a wonderful heat in her lower abdomen and a tickling inside her, her walls were clenching around nothing at his question.
She thought helplessly that she had never felt anything like this before in her life.
"Yes." She whispered in a trembling voice, feeling her whole body quiver and pulsate, feeling desire in her fingertips, in her lips and down there, deep, deep inside her.
She shuddered as he approached her with a slow step and lifted her terrified gaze to him. His lips were parted in an anxious, hitched breath, in his eyes heat and darkness from which she felt a squeeze in her throat and between her thighs.
He stood over her, for a moment just looking at her – his trembling hands finally raised, reaching for the buttons of her shirt. They looked at each other with some kind of pain and suffering from which she felt a sting in her heart as a coldness enveloped her naked skin.
It seemed to her that it lasted an eternity – he took his time, his gaze fixed on the line of her bare body as he unbuttoned her shirt fully; he didn't expose her breasts, he just looked at her.
She gasped when he lifted his hand and ran his fingertips slowly over her sternum down to her stomach – she closed her eyes and sighed quietly, feeling her lips pulsate with desire, swollen and thirsty.
"− so soft − so warm −" He whispered; her quivering palm rose and touched his fingers, his hand larger and more massive than hers, she could feel the outline of his veins clearly under her skin.
She pressed his hand to her heart, heard him draw in the air hard as he felt it beat beneath his fingertips.
He looked at her, remaining still, as if frozen, knowing that one word from him, one expression of hesitation and they would be left with only shame, only regret, only disappointment.
She felt the tears under her eyelids, which involuntarily one by one ran down her face; he noticed it and shook his head, his breathing shaky, uneven, despairing.
"− you're so pure −" He whispered, nuzzling the tip of his nose into her cheek as if seeking refuge. She clenched her eyelids in shock at how intimate and desired this closeness was, his scent filled her entire lungs, his warm breath enveloped her cheek.
"− looking at you I feel terror because I regret − I regret that I will never feel you − that I will never give you what I want −" He muttered in a trembling voice; she felt his warm tears running down her skin.
They both gasped when his shaking hand tentatively began to slide lower and sobbed in pleasure as his fingers slipped hesitantly under the material of her shorts, deep between her thighs.
They were panting and quivering with desire, her trembling hands clenched on his arms as his fingertips pushed the material of her underwear aside with a shy gesture full of shame, she heard his low, helpless groan as he felt how wet she was.
"− God, help me −" He mumbled in a broken voice full of guilt – she tried but was unable to stop the moans of pleasure that left her mouth with each tentative movement of his fingers that brushed her swollen, throbbing womanhood, her body was so tense she felt she was on the edge.
"− please −" She whimpered pleadingly, placing her hand on his with a gesture full of desperation, wanting to feel him harder, deeper.
She tilted her head back as she finally felt him the way she wanted to, his fingertips digging into her fleshy, hot, moist folds with intense, circular strokes – she could feel his hot, ragged breath on her skin, his face pressed against her cheek, her hands clenched in a helpless gesture on the material of his sweatshirt.
Tears of despair and delight streamed down their faces, tired of pretending and fleeing, shivers ran down her spine every time the tips of his fingers teased again that tender bud from which her sobriety of mind was taken away; it seemed to her that their bodies were moving on their own, something hard and throbbing under his trousers rubbing against her thigh with desperate strokes.
"− forgive me − say you forgive me −" He mumbled pleadingly in a breaking voice.
She felt him trembling all over just like her, unable to stop now, knowing there was no way back, her face wet with her and his tears.
She reached her palm into his hair and combed through it with her fingers, letting out her breath with a loud sob, moving involuntarily to the rhythm of his hand as it pressed harder and harder against her fleshy skin with the lewd click of her moisture.
"− I forgive you − I forgive you and ask for forgiveness −" She gasped as she felt something approaching, moaning louder and louder.
She thought that despite the fact that he was touching her in this forbidden, sinful place, some incomprehensible kind of intimacy and innocence was added to what was happening by the fact that he hadn't exposed her naked body, that he hadn't wanted to possess her, only to experience something with her and in her presence.
"− good God, you're leaking − so sticky − I'll lick it off my fingers −" He whispered with a kind of awe, as if he were talking about something sacred and mysterious.
She felt that his words had done something to her – she cried out loudly, parting her lips in disbelief when suddenly a wave of warm pleasure surged through her body like a lightning bolt.
She felt wonderful tickling in her lips, in the tips of her fingers, in her breasts, in her chest, her inside's clenching greedily around nothing, her moisture trickled down onto his hand, she heard his low, surprised groan.
Her body suddenly became numb; she would have fallen if he hadn't put his arm around her in time, his hand ran over her cheek heated from the exertion.
"− you look like Bernini's Saint Teresa − so beautiful −" He mumbled in a trembling voice, panting hard along with her, looking at her dreamily. She sighed sweetly, laying her head on his chest, letting him embrace her tightly.
She could feel his manhood throbbing under the damp material of his sweatpants.
He came.
She stayed in his embrace not daring to look at him, not daring to think about what they had done, wanting to push back the moment when they would feel remorse, pain and regret, sinking only into this wonderful relief.
You look like Bernini's Saint Teresa.
A sculpture in which a holy woman curves in ecstasy after an angel pierces her with an arrow of Divine Love.
God's Delight.
______
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It supposedly lights up red, green and white for the Italian flag
Do not have time to see it at night though sadly
Is it an actual aid to navigation? No
But still
Lighthouse!
#most ppl go to rome and see the coliseum or vatican#i go to rome and see the Italians of argentina memorial lighthouse and the botanical gardens#yeah yeah i also saw the vatican and coliseum#this was much more fun though
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