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Hey everyone!

As I said in my earlier journal, here it is a chapter of Roman Life! Woot I guess. It is also to celebrate the fourth anniversary since I began this series with what I thought at the time would be just a one-shot, and my first true story too. Then, four years later... I hope you will like it and sorry for taking so long!

This is proudly edited by my Editor in Watertank, Gritou.!

"It's so good to be back!" Sara exclaimed as she throw her arms in the air, stretching her nibble limbs as much as possible.

"It's not like you have been gone for such a long time." The lupo on the other side of the table replied, lazily looking at his fingernails.

"It is if you have to bear with mia madre1." The squirrel sniffed while she sipped her coffee. Their shared room at the university was pleasantly air conditioned, and a good change from the slightly moldy air of the basilica.

"But you got to spend some time away AND with someone cooking for you!" Ale exclaimed from where he was twirling in boredom, the buff restorer sporting a respectful shirt and pants today.

"You clearly don't know my mom! She isn't una cuoca2." She grimaced, remembering the very few times when her mother had tried to cook something. She looked at her clock, sighing at seeing how early it still was.

"Then how did you survive and become such a fabulous lady?" The black canine asked, opening flaunting his co-worker. Which totally worked, since Sara always liked this in the rottie, that he took care of appreciating his friend.

"Mio papà3 knows how to cook, he was the one feeding us when little." She explained, smiling a bit at the memories of her much masculine dad working in the kitchen and preparing a cake, as she often saw him do.

"Why didn't he cook then?" Ale asked, still swinging on his chair. His lupine friend stayed strangely quiet today, slumped on the table and looking very tired, as if something had drained his energies... O qualcuno4....

"Unfortunately he is visiting my brother in London... So I had to cook else die of starvation." The rodent loudly complained, throwing her head and raising her paw to her forehead in a dramatic gesture. She left out that she actually didn't mind, since she enjoyed cooking for her mom.

"How unconsidered of him." Luca finally managed to croak from where he was lying, putting his chin on his folded arms to regard the other two.

"It's not like he could know in advance..." Sara immediately defended her dad, even if it wasn't really the case. But she was a true daddy's girl, and she couldn't fight her nature after all.

"Would have been nice if the professore have told you of the convegno5 before Friday, eh?" The chattier of the two roommates said, speaking up her mind as well, his ears flicking a bit in shared annoyance.

"I agree. Sometimes he can be very... unthinking ..." The feminine restorer agreed: the professor was a marvelous man, but sometimes the badger could be rather forgetful. Which always ended up causing troubles for those under him.

"Well, it still shows how much he regards you:" The lupo rebuked half seriously, still with a sleepy voice and stiflingly a monumental yawn. She just wondered what he had been doing... Though she might just guess it. Probably some cougar-related activity....

"And he sure does if he sent you to be the relatore6 in his stead!" The rottie added, grinning widely with pride. While the lupine looked tired, he was positively beaming with energy in comparison, which might mean he had a long and resting night.

"Yeah, I must say it was flattering." The petite rodent admitted, deep down knowing that the old professor was slowly molding her in being his successor. Or so she was hoping, though there were so many years before the mantle could be passed on. "He does look after all of us."

"Certamente7! Still can't believe he recommended us for that position." The Rottweiler exclaimed loudly, his friends shifting a bit in his seat. Probably he didn't still make out his mind about going or not... The poor dog.

"I do. Your work is astonishing, and you deserve to advance in the career." She spoke the truth and basked in the delight to see the crimson blossoming on both dogs' cheeks. Might be easier with the lighter colored canine, but she knew them well and knew when they were blushing as they did at that moment.

"S-so how did the convegno go?" Ale asked, trying to avert attention on their display of manly embarrassment, eliciting a giggle from the squirrel.

"You know this kind of stuff, lots of talking, furs showing what they are working on, the new incredible method they developed blablabla." She summed up rather quickly, since she knew the other two weren't that interested in the details. "All in all, it was actually a nice long week-end for me."

"Did you fall asleep at any moment? Maybe during a digression on how to revitalize old wood?" The lupo inquired, finally managing to sound a bit more awake. Blushing had done its work on him, it seemed to her.

"That one was actually pretty interesting." Sara replied with a serious tone, her severe façade broken almost immediately by a smile. "But no, I kept listening the whole time with attention. After all, they all deserved that."

"Even the boring ones!?" The rottie expressed his surprise, probably not seeing himself in managing such a great feat.

"Yes, persino i noiosi8." The rodent nodded to him, feeling pride for her behavior. If she wanted people to listen to her, she had to do the same for others, or so was her reasoning.

"So you are ready for this Riunione di Dipartimento9. You exercised for four days!" The taller restorer quipped, remembering them the reason why they were at the university instead of working at the Basilica.

"Oh yes, I think I can endure professor Rossi's usual dissertation on how he used to be the biggest name in the restoration of mosaics..." She joked back, playing on the certainty on such a speech happening. The old fart was still part of the department out of pity, since she didn't have anything else outside of teaching.

"Urgh, non capisco10, why are we forced to go through such a meeting BEFORE the interruption of the university's activities." Ale bemoaned, pointing out the fallacy of such a thing done at such a time.

"Nominally, there is a need to coordinate for the future semester and sum up what was done." The lupo salted the wound by stating what should happen in the meeting.

"Instead it's just a big ego boost for the old farts." The squirrel sadly stated the reality, shaking her head. The whole coordination of the department was done by the assistants, with synchronization of the respective professor's demands and hours to achieve a begrudged harmony.

"Wouldn't be so bad if only they were quick with it!" The rottie rumbled, showing how much he hated wasting times.

"The professor is forced to have us present, it's all a matter of their inner politics." Sara said, though the other two should know that. "He needs to show his jewels."

"Yeah, yeah he would prefer us to be back at the Basilica or dealing with the students. I'm not mad at him." The muscled restorer replied, waving his paw to chase away any accusation of the contrary.

"Wish he was on time though." The lupo added as he fished his phone to answer a recently received message on the apparecchio11. She could smell the cougar in it, even more so considering the small happy body gesture the canine exhibited as he typed; which, of course, made her swoon inside to this little secret display.

"Not like it would change things." Ale rebuked in an irritated tone, his triangular downward ears flicking, though it wasn't clear the cause of that. Maybe the rodent was reading too much, but it looked like the glare of the dark dog was more pointed to his roommate than to their inevitable fate for the day.

"Eh." She sighed, still focused on the rottie and his sudden strange behavior. "We would need to wait for the others after all."

"And they are always so late... 'li mortacci loro12..." The buffer canine cursed under his breath, sinking a bit in his seat. He WAS staring at his friend with a maybe not angry expression... more like annoyed, as the lupine immersed himself completely in his text conversation with a young American, oblivious of the other two.

"At least this might be the last you have to attend." The petite squirrel smiled, varying the conversation to safer and lighter subjects. "You might be in Milan by the next meeting!"

"I surely won't miss this mess, for sure." The only talking dog rumbled, silence following his words. Too much silence. Unexpected silence, especially considering l'argomento13. Sara knew that they hadn't been officially proposed, let alone accepted, but the occasion they were getting should have made the both of them much more excited than this.

"You won't be worried about finding a place up there, the tenant of my flat is going to leave this autumn." She carefully said, hoping to jump start the conversation again. One tall ear flicked in interest, which was a good sign after all, and the rottie looked interested all of sudden... Another good thing.

"You have a flat in Milan?" Luca asked, finally averting his brown eyes from the small monitor in his paw.

"Yep, my grandpa gifted it to me when I finished university!" She explained, glad that the glacial atmosphere was going away now and they were back to chatting.

"Ricca da far schifo14, you are." The Rottweiller sneered, but his smile made it clear that he wasn't saying that out of spite. This didn't stop her from rebuking properly.

"Won't apologize for being born beautiful, rich and smart!" She exclaimed, shaking her lustrous hair just to emphasis the beauty part of her statement.

"Who said anything about your look?" The rottie grinned, ducking just in time as a book flew over his head, propelled in the air by a small but skilful brown paw. That had launched the thing high on purpose, since it was a warning.

"Still, it is about as big as your current place and I won't ask..." The combined stares of the two dogs made her choke on the word she was about to utter, changing it as she kept speaking."... much, something you can afford."

"Would be nice of you, thank you Sara!" The tan and black restorer chimed in a tone that promised they would discuss about the actual number, making it closer to the usual if she knew the rottie. Why were Romans so damn hard to accept friendly help?

"You're welcome, I won't have to worry about searching for new tenants and I trust you!" She added, telling the truth. It was a pity her current affituario15 was moving out, he had been a very good one after all: and if his favorite dogs were going to move there, she would be spared in months and months of searching for someone reliable.

"Thank you Sara.... Though I'm not sure if I will go or not..." The lupine trailed off, looking uncomfortable. He hadn't made his mind yet, it seemed, though for Sara the foregone conclusion was already know. However the things were going with Edward, her friend couldn't waste such an occasion... And she would make sure of that.

"You have enough time to make up your mind Luca." The rodent assured him, mentally noting down she needed to have a serious talk with a certain mountain lion. Not that she was going to chew him out... Just gently inspect his intentions, and in turn make clear what the future was holding for Luca.

"I know I have." The lupine said, mercifully oblivious of what his friend was planning for his own good. Silence once again filled the room, though this time was a natural lull of the conversation rather than a chill. Both canines were busy with their phones now, and the minutes were passing buy, slowly making her bored as they waited and waited and waited...

"Soooooo I told you my week-end in all its boring details. Now it's your turn." Sara suddenly spoke, wanting to do anything other than just sitting there without anything to do. Plus, her curiosità16 was rising, she knew that Luca had a date, or at least she suspected so... And Ale should have seen Clara... All the potential drama gossiping was making her giddy.

If only her forwardness in telling had been shared by the other two furs, that was. She wasn't so naïve to believe they would gust over what they did, being men and all, but at least she expected some reaction, and maybe the lupine starting to speak of himself.

Instead a deafening silence filled the room, the squirrel looking at each canine in turn and waiting for any response. They both sported similar yet different expression, both seemingly embarrassed or, maybe, frustrated over something, what with the flicking ears and worming brows. They were differently expressing that though, Luca seemed angrier in some way, shooting glances to his friend, while the rottie's ear tended to stay lower in what looked like shame.

"Qualcosa è successo17." She thought, her feminine insight telling her that something was on with those two, even more than before. Something obviously connected to the week-end, surely, and something that had made them fight... While they had different personalities, Sara couldn't imagine what could be the cause of infighting between the two friends.

Sharply looking at them, her brain worked madly, irked by such a mystery. The new Milanese job was out of the question, since they didn't have the exact same reaction when talking about Milan... The rodent had to work with what she had, and by how Luca seemed slightly angry and the other was ashamed...

"Sooooooooo have you seen Edward this week end?" The older fur asked to the lanky canine, following a sudden hunch. Probably even the correct one, since ears jumped and eyes darted and all the kind of gestures that linked the fur to the mayhem that had befallen the two friends.

"Yeah, we went out Venerdì sera18." He answered her, his expression lightening a bit, while Ale's got darker.

"Did anything fun?" Sara continued, noting down the fact for further inspection in the future. The cougar had done something, or something was off related to him, though it seemed only the rottie was affected by that.

"Only going to the pub and such..." The slight blush told her that they did much more than drinking, forcing her to suppress a giggle. "Saturday I had some guiding to do, so we met again only Sunday for a walk."

"That sounds nice!" She concurred, glad that the lupine hadn't stop and added a bit more to that. It sounded like things were doing fine with the two of them, the young forbidden international love blossoming wonderfully. But it seemed that the rottie didn't share her enthusiasm as he stayed silent and with a foul look on his muzzle...

"What about you and Clara?" The squirrel switched to the other restorer, who seemed surprised to be talked to. Probably he had expected her to go all girly and ask lots of details to Luca... which wouldn't be far from the truth, but she was suppressing that urge.

"Cosa19?" The darker dog rumbled, taken off guard by being questioned all of sudden.

"Did you two do something special?" The feminine restorer asked, very attentively looking at the rottie.

"Dunno... We hanged around our place and such... Just relaxed after all..." The Rottweiler rolled his shoulders in a significant way. That kind of answer meant that either they just did that, probably doing recreational adult activities too, or that something was on with them too... But he seemed more relaxed while talking about the sheppie, so maybe it wasn't the case.

"Lazy week-ends are my favorites for sure!" She exclaimed, expressing her love for doing nothing "Especially watching TV and reading books. With Franco in the same room, of course!"

"Well yeah, we did the same kind. Guess we are getting as accustomed to each other as you guys are ahahahah-" Ale laughed genuinely, his funk being lifted. The fact the sheppie was making him so happy warmed her heart greatly, the rottie needed someone like that in his life.

"That is so cute of you two!" Sara told him, expressing her thoughts and resisting the urge to squeeze the big teddy rottie tight.

"Though, we are not always like that! Planning to go to the beach for a week-end!" He continued, his eyes sparkling in excitement at the prospect of the small vacation.

"Where are you two going?" The squirrel asked, being the curious rodent she was.

"Sabaudia!" The other answered, eliciting a knowing "ohhhh" from the female restorer. "And we are not going along, Luca and... Edward are coming too!"

"Umft, he really isn't happy about the Americano." The petite rodent thought to herself as she noticed the small pause and the movement of those triangular black ears. "Well, that sounds like a fun week-end with friends!"

"Yeah! Do you wanna come?" The rottie offered, all excited on the prospect of a week-end at the beach. "And Franco too! Clara told me that there is lots of room in her house!"

The squirrel turned to exchange a look with Luca, who by his expression was thinking exactly what she was thinking. It was something in how his eyes were set, and the small smirk, but they both knew that their friend was overlooking a tiny, little detail.

"Wouldn't be better to ask Clara before making such an offer?" Sara poked at him, and his suddenly mortified reaction was too hilarious not to laugh at, as the other two burst in chuckles and giggles.

"Y-you are right, will talk with her about it..." He said, head slummed in his shoulders and ears flat on his skull.

"Don't worry, if she is okay with it, we will gladly come with you! It's been too long since last time." The rodent assured him, and only the distance stopped her from patting his arm in a comforting gesture. Luckily, it wasn't needed since the Rottweiler visibly brightened up at such words.

"Yeah! Plus she did say something about inviting you..." The muscled fur rumbled, more to convince himself than nothing else. Sara would have asked for details, many of which probably the other two couldn't answer, as a light knock came from the door, followed by the bespectacled face of the professor.

"Oh, good, you are all here! Veloci20, let's go to the meeting room, want to beat that snobby Rossi and get the most comfortable seats!" The elderly badger announced with a smile, rallying his troops.

Translation:

1) My mother.

2) A cook.

3) My dad.

4) Or someone...

5) Convention.

6) Spokesman/woman.

7) Sure!

8) Even the boring ones.

9) Department meeting

10) (I) don't understand.

11) Device.

12) Very Roman type of cursing, used in various situation and roughly meaning "your bad dead relatives".

13) The subject/argument.

14) Italian equivalent of "filthy rich".

15) Tenant.

16) Curiosity.

17) Something has happened.

18) Friday evening.

19) What?

20) Quick.