#neighborhood historian

[padawan-historian]

as black folk, womenfolk, and queer folk put on their Sunday best and ankh up their respectability politics for kamala harris I look around this lovecraft country of ours where blackness is policed, queerness is criminalized, reconstruction is collapsing (for a third time) and people think replacing a colonizer with a cop is an improvement.

the sun is setting on this empire, but doesn't mean white supremacy and fascism are going anywhere.

[msculper]

i think my ideal physical form is just as close to a corpse as i can get. i would’ve done numbers in the 1840s.

[wonder-worker]

Elizabeth Woodville and her daughters being harassed by “repeated intercessions and dire threats” to leave sanctuary and submit to Richard III should be talked about a lot more than it is, tbh.

[soon-palestine]

In a statement that was shared with The Nation, a group of 25 HLR editors expressed their concerns about the decision. “At a time when the Law Review was facing a public intimidation and harassment campaign, the journal’s leadership intervened to stop publication,” they wrote. “The body of editors—none of whom are Palestinian—voted to sustain that decision. We are unaware of any other solicited piece that has been revoked by the Law Review in this way. “ When asked for comment, the leadership of the Harvard Law Review referred The Nation to a message posted on the journal’s website. “Like every academic journal, the Harvard Law Review has rigorous editorial processes governing how it solicits, evaluates, and determines when and whether to publish a piece…” the note began. ”Last week, the full body met and deliberated over whether to publish a particular Blog piece that had been solicited by two editors. A substantial majority voted not to proceed with publication.” Today, The Nation is sharing the piece that the Harvard Law Review refused to run. Some may claim that the invocation of genocide, especially in Gaza, is fraught. But does one have to wait for a genocide to be successfully completed to name it? This logic contributes to the politics of denial. When it comes to Gaza, there is a sense of moral hypocrisy that undergirds Western epistemological approaches, one which mutes the ability to name the violence inflicted upon Palestinians. But naming injustice is crucial to claiming justice. If the international community takes its crimes seriously, then the discussion about the unfolding genocide in Gaza is not a matter of mere semantics. The UN Genocide Convention defines the crime of genocide as certain acts “committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” These acts include “killing members of a protected group” or “causing serious bodily or mental harm” or “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” Numerous statements made by top Israeli politicians affirm their intentions. There is a forming consensus among leading scholars in the field of genocide studies that “these statements could easily be construed as indicating a genocidal intent,” as Omer Bartov, an authority in the field, writes. More importantly, genocide is the material reality of Palestinians in Gaza: an entrapped, displaced, starved, water-deprived population of 2.3 million facing massive bombardments and a carnage in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Over 11,000 people have already been killed. That is one person out of every 200 people in Gaza. Tens of thousands are injured, and over 45% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed. The United Nations Secretary General said that Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children,” but a cessation of the carnage—a ceasefire—remains elusive. Israel continues to blatantly violate international law: dropping white phosphorus from the sky, dispersing death in all directions, shedding blood, shelling neighborhoods, striking schools, hospitals, and universities, bombing churches and mosques, wiping out families, and ethnically cleansing an entire region in both callous and systemic manner. What do you call this? The Center for Constitutional Rights issued a thorough, 44-page, factual and legal analysis, asserting that “there is a plausible and credible case that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza.” Raz Segal, a historian of the Holocaust and genocide studies, calls the situation in Gaza “a textbook case of Genocide unfolding in front of our eyes.”

[jewish-sideblog]

I think people forget that the Nazis never said they were the bad guys. If someone says, hey, I’m evil! You don’t let them take over your country. They presented themselves as scientific, not hateful. By their own account, they were progressives, and the superiority of White Europe over the other races was a proven and immutable fact. They had scientists and archaeologists and historians to prove it. They didn’t tell people they wanted to kill the Jews because they were hateful. They manufactured evidence to frame us for very real tragedies, and they had methodological research to prove that we were genetically predisposed to misconduct. Wouldn’t you believe that?

Hollywood has spent the last 80 years portraying the Nazis as an obvious and intimidating evil. That’s a good thing in some ways, because we want general audiences to recognize that they were evil. But we also want them to be able to recognize how and why they came to power. Not by self-describing themselves as an evil empire, but by convincing people that they were the good guys and the saviors. They hosted the Olympics. Several European countries capitulated and volunteered themselves to the Empire. There were American and British Fascist Parties. They had broad public support. Hollywood never shows that part, so general audiences never learn to recognize the actual signs of antisemitism.

People today think they can’t possibly be antisemitic, because they’re leftist! They abhor bigotry! They could never comprehend Nazi ideology coming from the mouth of a bisexual college student wearing a graphic tee and jeans. How could they? The only depiction of antisemites they’ve ever seen have been gaunt, pale, middle-aged men in black leather trench coats with skulls on their caps.

If the Nazis time-travelled from the 1930s and wanted to take power now, they’d change their original tactics, but not by much. They would target countries suffering from an identity crisis and an economic collapse. They would portray themselves as the pinnacle of what that society considers progressive. Back then, it was race science. These days it’s performative wokeness. Once they’d garnered enough respect and reputation, they’d begin manufacturing propaganda and lies to manipulate people’s anger and fears at a single target— Jews.

If the Nazis made an actual return, they wouldn’t look like neo-Nazis. They wouldn’t be nearly as obvious about their hatred. Their evil wouldn’t give them yellow eyes, and no suspenseful music would play when they walked in the room. They’d be friendly. They’d look like you. They would learn what things your community fears and what things you already hate. They would lie and fabricate evidence to connect the rich elites and the imperialists you revile to a single source of unequivocal Jewish evil. It wouldn’t be hard— they already have two-thousand years of institutional antisemitism they can rely on to paint their picture.

If you’re curious why antisemitism today is coming from grassroots organizations, young, liberal college campuses, suburban neighborhoods with pride flags and All Are Welcome Here signs? That’s why. It’s because, as a global society, we’ve forgotten that the world didn’t used to see the Nazis as bad guys. And what is forgotten about history is doomed to be repeated.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

As a Holocaust historian I have to say that I am deeply disturbed by how much everyone hates Jews. It’s like they waited for Israel to do something real bad until they felt like it was ok to pull out their latent desire to yell that “Hitler was right.”

Deeply. And some of those responses to my now deleted post will live rent free in my head.

If your first impulse upon seeing this is to scream at me about how I’m making atrocities in Gaza about my feelings, you hate Jews. You fucking hate Jews and you should at least have the grace to own it.

Now go show your ass and unfollow me.

ps: I’m not playing Nice Neighborhood Public Historian rn. I’m angry and scared and frankly traumatized. Shitty responses will be publicly shamed and then deleted and the user blocked.

[contemplatingoutlander]

Trump continues having rallies in historic all-White "Sundown Towns," where Blacks had to leave by sunset.

Ayman Mohyeldin discusses the implications of Trump's having held rallies in Aug. and Sept. in four "Sundown Towns," where in the past Blacks had to leave/be off the streets by sundown. The rallies were held in Howell, MI, La Crosse, WI, and Johnstown, PA., and Mosinee, WI. Below is the video that Ayman posted on X.

AYMAN: "When your slogan is the nostalgic phrase Make America Great Again, a campaign tour of 'sundown towns' helps us all understand the America that Donald Trump is yearning for."

Trump keeps sending out his racist "dog whistles," while at the same time claiming that it is really "Whites" who are being discriminated against, and campaigning that he will ban the discussion in schools of "divisive" topics, like critical race theory, and instead promote a "patriotic" educational curriculum, like the whitewashed one developed by the 1776 Project in his last administration.

BlackPast: Sundown Towns:

Sundown Towns are all-white communities, neighborhoods, or counties that exclude Blacks and other minorities through the use of discriminatory laws, harassment, and threats or use of violence. The name derives from the posted and verbal warnings issued to Blacks that although they might be allowed to work or travel in a community during the daytime, they must leave by sundown. Although the term most often refers to the forced exclusion of Blacks, the history of sundown towns also includes prohibitions against Jews, Native Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and other minority groups. Although it is difficult to make an accurate count, historians estimate there were up to 10,000 sundown towns in the United States between 1890 and 1960, mostly in the Mid-West and West.

The Green-Book

The rise of sundown towns made it difficult and dangerous for Blacks to travel long distances by car. In 1930, for instance, 44 of the 89 counties along the famed Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles featured no motels or restaurants and prohibited Blacks from entering after dark. In response, Victor H. Green, a postal worker from Harlem, compiled the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide to accommodations that served Black travelers. The guide was published from 1936 to 1966, and at its height of popularity was used by two million people.

[edited]

[ancientcharm]

 'I am no king, but Caesar'

Gaius Julius Caesar was born on July 12, 100 BC in the Suburra, a populous neighborhood of Rome, to a patrician family although in economic decline. In Gens Iulia, those who had the surname Caesar descended, according to the account of Pliny the Elder, from a man who was born after a Caesarean section (from the Latin verb "to cut", caedo, -ĕre, caesus sum). He was born in a Republic in crisis and the aristocracy divided into two warring factions: The optimates and populares. He lost his father when he was about 14 years old; he was greatly influenced by his maternal uncle Gaius Marius. Caesar had an older sister, Julia Major, and a younger sister Julia Minor (maternal grandmother of Emperor Augustus). His uncle, Gaius Marius, was the leader of the Populares ("supporters of the people") and rival of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, leader of the Optimates ( "best ones")

In 84 BC Lucius Cornelius Cinna, an ally of Gaius Marius, chose the 16 year old Caesar to be flamen Dialis (priest of Jupiter) and married him to his 13 year old daughter Cornelia with whom Caesar had a daughter named Julia. It is not certain whether the girl was born a few months before or after the teen Caesar had fled Rome or, more likely according to historians, she was born when he returned years later and was reunited with his wife who died giving birth to Julia.

Following the suicide of Gaius Marius in 86 BC, Cinna, one of the leaders of the Populares, became sole ruler of Rome and most of the provinces while persecuting Sulla's followers. In 84 Cinna was assassinated and populares defeated. Because of Caesar's alliance with Cinna's family he was targeted for revenge by the dictator Sulla who attempted to force him to repudiate Cornelia, but Caesar refused and fled Rome to the East.

In addition to being a politician and a soldier, Julius Caesar was a writer. Among others, his works were a treatise on astronomy, another on Roman religion, a study on Latin and his comments on the war in Gaul and the Civil War; only his writings on those two wars have not been lost.

Sulla served the six months that Roman law allowed him to be dictator and became a private citizen again. After Sulla's death from natural causes, Caesar decided to return to Rome around 74 BC. He was reunited with his wife Cornelia, who had waited faithfully for him. After the death of Cornelia, he suffered a great mourning that some Roman historians describe as "excessively affectionate".

After serving as quaestor in the Hispania Ulterior province where he increased his network of clients - patronage was key to success in Roman politics - Caesar returned to Rome in 69 BC where he served as Aedile; he carried out building programs and offered the largest gladiatorial games seen until then. This left him almost bankrupt. In 60 BC he decided to make a private agreement with the prestigious general Pompey the Great and one of the richest man, Marcus Licinius Crassus. Pompey had just put an end to the pirate problem and years earlier, together with Crassus, he had defeated the slave rebellion led by Spartacus.

Pompey and Crassus were hampered in many of their ambitions by the Optimates in the Senate. Caesar, knowing this, approached them to put together an unofficial coalition - known to history as the Triumvirate - if they made him Consul, he would see to it that laws were passed that would benefit them. To further consolidate this alliance, Caesar married Pompey to his only daughter, Julia. Although this was a typical political marriage, classical sources state that Julia truly loved Pompey and he loved her.

Pompey and Crassus decided to ally themselves with Caesar and the populares in order to gain more offices and wealth. In this way, the three took full control of Rome. In 59 Caesar was appointed consul.

Laws were passed granting the province of Syria to Crassus. Laws were passed distributing lands among Pompey's veterans. And at his own request, the Gallic provinces-both the pacified and the "wild" ones- were handed over to Caesar. Cicero, a true defender of the Republic, was exiled due his bold speeches against the Triumvirate, which he called a "three-headed monster" but was allowed to return the following year. The passage of the laws favoring the triumvirs was ensured by introducing veteran legionaries of Pompey into the meetings of the Senate.

Also in 59 BC Caesar established a military camp in the Arno valley, on the Via Cassi, the main communication route between Rome and the north of the country. He called the camp Florentia, which means "flowering." The camp quickly became an important commercial town. Today it is the beautiful Italian city Florence.

In Gaul with his legions, he defeated and subdued several peoples in just a few years. Caesar wrote in detail about this conquest in his Bellum Gallicum (Gallic War). Believing that everything was under control, he headed to the mysterious land that the Romans called Britannia and where they believed the world ended. The Gallic War was between 58-52 BC

Caesar finally arrived in Britain for the first time in the summer of 55 landing with two legions. The following year he arrived with 800 ships, five legions and 2,000 cavalry. Caesar's comments on this war constitute the first written descriptions of the people, culture and geography of the island.

Although Caesar not conquered Britania (it was conquered under the Emperor Claudius) this campaign it established Rome's first allied peoples in Britain.

While in Britania, Caesar received the news that his daughter and the baby she was expecting had died in childbirth.

At the same time he had no idea that a genuine leader named Vercingetorix, chief of the Arverni tribe, had managed to unite all the Gallic peoples under his authority, determined to expel the Romans

Caesar himself called him "King of all Gauls"

The most famous and final battle was that of Alesia. Although Vercingetorix was a great warrior, he could do nothing against the genius (sometimes bordering on madness) of Caesar and his legionaries. According to Caesar, Vercingetorix, seeing that if he continued he would starve his entire people to death due to the siege, rode towards the Roman camp, dismounted, took off his sword and sat on the ground without saying a word. He decided to surrender in exchange for his people living. And so it happened, Vercingetorix was taken prisoner but his men were not executed. But Caesar had to wait years for his triumph -and Vercingetorix had to wait as a prisoner in Rome, before his execution- because while Caesar was fighting against the Gauls, many Roman senators were plotting his downfall.

Everything Caesar wrote about his battles and conquests, written in the third person, was copied and sent to be read publicly in Rome, which was celebrated by the plebs and Caesar 's supporters. True republicans such as Cato, Cicero, Cassius, and Brutus perceived a real danger to the Republic. The Triumvir Crassus was killed by Parthians in his failed attempt to conquer Parthia: The triumvirate was over and Pompey, who had become Sole Consul saw in Caesar a dangerous rival, and allied himself with the Optimates again.

They created a new law that prohibited running for public office in absentia. Thus, Caesar, who was away from Rome, lost the protection of the law that granted him a magistracy and could not run for consulship in order to return to Rome as consul. If he returned as a private citizen he would be lost everything. So in January 49 BC he decided returned to Rome with the force of his legionaries who followed him with devotion.

No legion could cross the Rubicon River, that meant civil war. Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his XIII legion and proclaimed a very popular phrase in Ancient Rome that players always said before throwing the dice: "Alea Iacta Est" (the die is cast). This is known thanks to Roman historians who took as a source the writings of Gaius Asinius Pollio, who was close to Caesar and could have heard him.

Pompey and his legionaries left Rome and prepared for the war in Greece. In September of 48 Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus. But he did not surrender and went to Egypt to seek the support of the young king Ptolemy XIII, while Cato the Younger and his men went to the province of Africa to continue the resistance, and Pompey's sons did the same in Hispania. Caesar went looking for Pompey to try to come to an agreement.

'Julius Caesar’s Dismay Upon Seeing The Head Of Pompey' (detail) By Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée (18th century)

King Ptolemy XIII, who was engaged in his own war with his sister Cleopatra over the throne, believed that by killing Pompey and giving his head as a gift, he would win Caesar's favor. Caesar was enraged by the undignified manner in which a Roman general and consul was murdered.

The meeting between Cleopatra VII and Caesar at night and she entered hidden inside a huge rolled-up carpet carried by his slaves. Cleopatra was one of the many lovers that he had, they lived together and had a son, nicknamed Caesarion (little Caesar) whom he recognized but not legally. While some Republican Roman forces continued to resist, Caesar was immersed in the war between Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra and the other sister, Arsinoe IV. Caesar's troops, together with those of Cleopatra plus Caesar's allies such as Mithridates of Pergamon and his army and a Jewish armed force led by Antipater finally won that war in January 47 and Cleopatra kept the throne of Egypt.

'The Death of Cato of Utica' , By Jean-Paul Laurens.

In early 46 BC, Caesar defeated the army of Cato the Younger . The 49-year-old Cato did not take part in the battle and being in Utica, Africa, after receiving the news that Caesar had won and pardoned his adversaries, decided to take his own life for refusing to "live a life spared by a tyrant." Cato had a republican soul but was stubborn man, and was convinced that Caesar wanted to be king. He was the half-brother of Brutus's mother, Servilla (Caesar's long-time lover)

It was in this same year that Caesar, with the advice of the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, reformed the calendar, leaving each month with the same number of days as it has today and creating the leap year.

The final battle of Munda, in Hispania, was on March 17, 45 BC, thus ending the civil war. Caesar returned to Rome and an intimidated Senate legitimized his victory by appointing him dictator for a ten-year term.

The position of Dictator was created by the Republic itself; he was a magistrate, elected by the Senate, with absolute powers to resolve military emergencies or exceptional tasks for a period of six months. He had to leave after that period or before if he managed to resolve the problem. This 10-year dictatorship was unprecedented.

In February 44 BC, Caesar succeeded in having the people of Rome proclaim him dictator for life. Cicero resigned from political life in protest.

Cassius persuaded Brutus that the only way to save the Republic was to kill Caesar. They needed Brutus to lead the conspiracy because of his prestige; he was not only Cato's nephew but also the direct descendant of the Republic's founding father.

On 15 March 44 BC the group of conspirators intercepted Caesar just as he was passing the Theatre of Pompey, where the Roman Curia was meeting, and led him into a room off the portico. Lucius Tillius Cimber, under the pretext of presenting a petition, grabbed Caesar's toga with both hands and pulled him so tha Publius Servilius Casca could stab him, causing Caesar to exclaim "Ista quidem vis est?" "What kind of violence is this?" (Caesar, being Pontifex Maximus, was legally untouchable). Senator Casca, drawing a dagger, slashed him across the neck. "What are you doing, Casca, you villain?" were perhaps his last words; They stabbed him twenty-three times, Gaius Julius Caesar had 54 years old.

Mark Antony with other colleagues carefully collected the body and carried it before the people. Then he made a memorable speech.

The month then called Quintilis, the month of Caesar's birth, was renamed Iulius (July) in his honour on the initiative of Mark Antony. Julius Caesar was the last dictator of Rome; the office was abolished after his death.

Caesar named his grandnephew Gaius Octavius ​​Thurinus as sole heir and adopted son thus taking the same name as Gaius Julius Caesar. To differentiate them, historians refer to him as Octavius ​​(or Octavian). But nowhere in his will did he say that his nephew should be his successor in office. It was very common in Roman aristocratic men who had no male children, adopted a nephew, the son of a sister or niece, or the grandson they had through a daughter, so that he could carry on his family name.

Octavius ​​(Augustus) became the first Emperor of Rome after being part of a triumvirate that, unlike the first, was official, after years of several civil wars, and thanks to his iron will, his extraordinary cunning and political skill.

After his death, Caesar was proclaimed Divus Iulius, or the Divine Julius. He was the first Roman ruler to be deified. Mark Antony was the first to serve as Flamen Divi Julii, priest of the Caesar cult.

The name CAESAR would become the Title of Imperial Power, even many centuries later translated into other languages, such as the German Kaiser or the Russian Tsar.

In front of the theatre, an altar was erected where the pyre was placed so that Julius Caesar's body could be cremated in great mourning. Part of this altar is still preserved in the ruins; more than two thousand years after the assassination, every 15th of March, people come to leave flowers there.

Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, taken on March 15, 2008 Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

[anghraine]

Ok, I've been thinking about this question a lot and there's not enough evidence in P&P to fully support any answer, but I wanted to hear yours: What is the Gardiners' economic status/How rich are the Gardiners?

Obviously, Mr. Gardiner is a tradesman, but I'm desperately curious to know the extent of his wealth. Does he have a similar income to Mr. Bennet but is just more frugal? Would he have been able to take in his niece(s)/sister when Mr. Bennet died? Does he have Bingley-level tradesman wealth without the massive lump sum Bingley inherited from his father? Darcy assumes that Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are gentry - but like, Bennet gentry or Woodhouse gentry or Lucas gentry. JANE SKIMPED ON THE GARDINER INFORMATION AND NOW WE'LL NEVER KNOW. So what are your headcanons surrounding the Gardiners' wealth?

Really, the most important Gardiner headcanon that the Gardiner children are immediately charmed by Darcy and think he's like ~the coolest~

thanks queen <3

Six months later: hi!

My opinion is that the Gardiners are very well-off in terms of the usual incomes of the gentry. It's difficult to pin down an exact income range because I'm not a historian or economist, but the literary evidence is pretty suggestive IMO.

For one, Mr Bennet has no trouble believing that Mr Gardiner could have shelled out ten thousand pounds for Lydia; the problem is the struggle of repaying him, as Mr Bennet would feel morally obligated to do. The impression I get is that this would be a lot of money for Mr Gardiner to come up with, but everyone accepts that he could quickly do it, where Mr Bennet could not. And Mrs Gardiner does insist that Mr Gardiner would have paid the money if Darcy had let him, which again suggests that it was reasonably doable for him.

When Elizabeth and Jane first pass the news to Mrs Bennet and try to express the debt of gratitude they all owe Mr Gardiner, Mrs Bennet's response is a bitter remark about how if her brother had not married and had children of his own, "I and my children must have had all his money, you know; and it is the first time we have ever had anything from him except a few presents."

Aside from what this reveals about her character (especially given the remarkable understatement of "a few presents" given everything they've done for Jane and Elizabeth), I think "all his money" suggests an awareness that there would have been quite a bit to inherit if Mr Gardiner hadn't had the temerity to, uh, have children.

The summer tourism journey also doesn't seem to represent a severe expense for the Gardiners, though it would be outside the realm of possibility for some. They're not super frugal, but they're also not going to pull a Sir William Lucas and abandon the source of their income, or take an estate or something to distance themselves from trade, and end up unable to provide security for their children or any significant luxuries for their loved ones and themselves. So the Gardiners do make practical decisions like living near Mr Gardiner's warehouses and continuing his business in town.

Darcy (in Elizabeth's opinion) mistakes the Gardiners for "people of fashion" rather than gentry per se. This is interesting because Darcy originally considered the entire Meryton neighborhood, including the local gentry, as people noticeably not of fashion. This concept of people of fashion is typically more about fashionable high society than trade vs gentry IMO.

For instance, Mr Hurst is described as "a man of more fashion than fortune"—i.e. someone with high society credentials from his family, but not a lot of money, though he has enough to maintain a house in Grosvenor Street. (I think the implication is that the Hursts considered their status and Louisa Bingley's 20,000 l. from trade a fair exchange.) So likely, Darcy is not confusing the Gardiners for minor rural gentry, but even higher-status people if Elizabeth is analyzing his reaction correctly, based on their appearance, apparel, demeanor, etc.

This is definitely a time when wealthy people in trade could pass for people of fashion, but I think it would ordinarily take some doing, and though the Gardiners are stylish and relatively young, they aren't trying hard in the way that the Bingleys are. Yet Darcy, who went on a whole tangent about trade cooties during his proposal, can't even identify the Gardiners as people in trade upon meeting them—that's important.

(It's also significant, of course, that he's surprised to discover their exact connection aka that they're Mrs Bennet's relatives, which is honestly pretty fair. In any case, he evaluates Mr and Mrs Gardiner on their own considerable merits by this point.)

So again, I get the sense that the Gardiners are quite well-off people who spend their money on nice enough things that they can be mistaken for a completely different class than their own, but are not specifically aiming for that or super extravagant, either. Their habits seem rather similar to Darcy's, actually—I don't think they're anywhere near as wealthy, but they're wealthy enough that they can approach major expenditures fairly casually, as he does. But unlike Darcy, it will always be contingent on Mr Gardiner's business success and they have to plan around his work and the possibility of sudden changes in terms of his work.

I personally think that Mr Gardiner would undoubtedly have been able to take care of his sister and nieces in the worst case scenario. Six women used to a high standard of living (we know Mrs Bennet is extravagant; it's only Mr Bennet's frugality that keeps the Bennets out of debt as it is) would probably be a strain, but I don't think beyond the income level indicated, even accounting for the needs of his immediate family.

When Mrs Bennet is dramatizing herself during the Lydia disaster, she tells Mr Gardiner, "if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we shall do," and he assures her of his affection for both her and her entire family. This could be seen as a sort of empty redirection that avoids promising anything, especially given that her catastrophizing fantasy scenarios are extremely unlikely, but I think that's a misread of his character.

I see his reply as a tactful assurance that, in the (improbable) event of Mr Bennet dying in a duel, his affection for her and her daughters would indeed ensure his protection of her and her daughters. There's no doubt from anyone that he's capable of doing this, though it would certainly mean a change in their style of living that Mrs Bennet would vocally resent.

So while this isn't super-specific, I hope it helped!

Normally I don't need to do this, but I would like to add a sort of credit/disclaimer: I didn't initially notice all these signs and my understanding of the Gardiners' standard of living and general circumstances was, I believe, strongly influenced by JulieW of the Life and Times board at Republic of Pemberley back in the earlyish 2000s (maybe about 2006?).

The L&T board is sadly gone (or was the last few times I checked), though ROP clings to life, but she knew a lot more about Georgian history and culture than I ever will, and these references to the Gardiners' prosperity seemed really glaring once she pointed them out.

(Her analysis of Pemberley's age, architecture, and general class significance was also really influential and I'm still really sad that I have to rely on the perfidy of memory about it.)

[supremacyproject]

On this day 103 years ago “a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Okla., perished at the hands of a violent white mob.

The mob indiscriminately shot black people in the streets. Members of the mob ransacked homes and stole money and jewelry. They set fires, ‘house by house, block by block,’ according to the commission report.

Terror came from the sky, too. White pilots flew airplanes that dropped dynamite over the neighborhood, the report stated, making the Tulsa aerial attack what historians call among the first of an American city.

The numbers presented a staggering portrait of loss: 35 blocks burned to the ground; as many as 300 dead; hundreds injured; 8,000 to 10,000 left homeless; more than 1,70 homes burned or looted; and eventually, 6,000 detained in internment camps.” Via The New York Times circa 2021.

The losses recounted represent black victims. Over time the event, initially called the Tulsa Race Riot has been accurately renamed the Tulsa Race Massacre. A riot, by definition, is a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets. A massacre is the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder.

More than one hundred years after this act of terrorism, the last three survivors continue fighting to have their case for reparations heard by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. In October of 2023, one of them, Hughes Van “Uncle Redd” Ellis, Sr., passed away.

[archangeldyke-all]

MORE RANDOM SEVIKA HEADCANONS PLS!! i love how you think

more?!!?? okay!!!! :D

men and minors dni

she'd only get on social media to follow you. she'd have to have you help her set up her profiles and stuff, never posts anything (unless she's reposting your pictures with a bunch of heart and flame emojis) and never logs on (unless she gets a notification that you've posted, because of course she has notifs on for you.)

old people LOVE her. she's like catnip to them. some of it is because she's an old grump already, but most of it's just 'cause she's quiet enough to listen to them yammer on about 'the good old days.'

she acts like she hates it-- but you always catch her shoveling your elderly neighbor's driveways during the winter and helping little old ladies cross the road. (she's part of the neighborhood book club too-- just a bunch of elderly ladies and sevika reading trashy smutty novels and laughing over spiked tea once a week. when it's your turn to host, sevika blushes bright red every time you bring her and her friends cookies and snacks: they're all cooing about how sweet of a couple you are, asking sevika when they can expect to have little feet running around the neighborhood)

she quits smoking when you get pregnant with little fucker.

one of her favorite ways to dodge a craving for a cig is to use her mouth for something much more satisfying-- like kissing you, or eating you out, or sucking hickeys into your skin...

every once in a while she'll still sneak a cigarette-- not because she misses it, but because she knows if she goes home smelling like tobacco you'll start peppering kisses on her mouth every ten minutes to make sure she's too distracted to smoke again.

she's sooo frugal. i think the reason she's wearing the same outfit for the whole show is she's just the type of person to be like "it still works?" while talking about her boxers that have a quarter sized hole near the crotch.

it's cute in some ways. she never throws out an old glass or jar-- most of your cups and storage is old pasta sauce and jam jars. each empty bottle of whiskey becomes a vase on a shelf or windowsill-- for little flowers, leaves, and weeds you and sevika always bring home to brighten up your space.

it's annoying in other ways. you have to secretly throw out her old socks and underwear once or twice a year, slowly replacing them with new socks-- but not too quick, or else she'll get suspicious as to why all her socks are hole-less.

she gets a little bit better at spending when little fucker comes around. she just can't say no to her own baby.

taglist!

@fyeahnix @lavendersgirl @half-of-a-gay @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner

@shimtarofstupidity @chuucanchuucan @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther

@ellsss @sevikaspillowprincess @emiliabby @sevikasbeloved @hellorai

@glass-apothecary @macaroni676 @artinvain @realgreeniebeanie @k3n-dyll

@sevsdollette

[padawan-historian]

In the United States (and queer spaces and places around the world), June marks Pride Month, a time of crossing horizons and transcending rainbows a la community bridge building, restorative justice and healing, good music, good fellowship, and good trouble made manifest through organized divestment, radical resistance, and, of course, upRooting our shared (and very segregated) miseducation about this world’s queer past.

Within the folds of the archives and inbetween the texts and textures of our histories, memories, and lived experiences, aid a story about the human condition that disrupt and dismantle the (hu)manmade binaries that plague and pollute our worldviews (and systems of reality).

This mini-series is a prelude to a future project I hope to add to our growing community garden. Supporting these public history learnings and upRootings through @patreon helps feed and fund this labor of love and liberation. Come join our garden community at www.patreon.com/antiracistliberation (like floating above in the bio)

[whereserpentswalk]

There's a door somewhere that's been closed forever. As long as people can remember, the first records of its existence, it's been closed. And even in the first records of its existence, people were watching it, waiting for it to be opened.

It's a massive door, in an underground chamber, the room its in is the largest room on earth. It's beautiful and ornate, and so strangely alien. After the initial hallway the room with the door is the only room in the chamber, like it's the entrance to a massive complex that humanity will never see. It's architecture is like no known culture, there are carvings on the walls of animals that don't exist, and writing in a language nobody knows. Some think that it's the work of aliens, some think it's the work of an advanced ancient culture, others that it's the work of beings from another dimension. Scientists and historians find all of those possibilities disturbingly possible.

There are tons of theories as to what's beyond the door. Every single religion that has come in contact with the door has managed to tie it into its mythology, especially ideas about the end of the world. And secular conspiracy theorists love it just as much. There are theories that the door will lead to hell, and that the rapture will start when it opens, theories that the door is where the messiah waits, or where God's body on earth is. There are theories that behind the door lies the secret of eternal life. Theories that aliens will open the door when they're ready to contact humanity. Theories that behind the door are the secrets to the universe, that it'll usher in a new age of humanity when opened. Theories that there's treasure behind the door, or technology that will change the way humanity lives. But there is one throughline amoung almost all theories, at least those belived by those invested in it, which is that they believe the door will open soon, and that those who see it opened will benefit the most. And there's been theories like this for thousands of years.

People of all religions will save up to make holy pilgrimages to the door, skipping meals, depriving their children of toys, so they can sit in front of the door for a few days, hoping to be the ones to see it open, returning home disappointed. There are conmen who'll sell the smallest things from the door, from water thats touched it, to pebbles that have fallen off of it, and people will believe it'll heal the sick, or work miracles. In ancient times conquerors would go to the door, making such a big deal out of it being in their lands. In modern times a small republic of a few thousand people, as old as the first world war, controls the territory of the door, they do their best to let people of all walks of life come to it, and try to stop any single group from dominating the space.

And of course there are people who live near the door. The entrance to the chamber is now surrounded by a modern city, and the room the door is in, and the hallway before it, are so large that they basically contain an entire town/neighborhood. The people who live in the room of the door are all those who are waiting for it to open (and a small population of people making good money off of them). They all have their own sections within the giant room, from evangelicals waiting to see Jesus behind the door, to alien theorists waiting to see the secrets of the stars, to new agers waiting for the opening of the doors to enter earth into a new era. The underground town is one of the most crowded places on earth, and as long as you're outside you can see the doors. Basically everyone who lives there thinks it's the only place they can ever be, as dark as it is down there they need to live where the doors will soon open. Some even go so far as to never leave the room even temporarily, many people living and dying in this one underground room, never being anywhere else, never seeing the sun. When those who where born in the room grow up to move somewhere else, abandoning their hopes of seeing the door open, their parents grieve as if they've lost their chance at salvation, and mourn them as if they were dead oftentimes.

Trying to get very close to the door is nearly impossible. It gets more and more crowded the closer you get to the door. And the space where it's close enough to actually touch the door is constantly covered with people, you have to sift through the thickest crowds on earth to get close enough to touch it, and people, thinking it has mystical properties, will. People have been trampled to death trying to touch that door. The entire underground town is unreasonable crowded, but nothing comes close to that small sliver of space where the door can be touched.

Science has had a rough relationship with the door. In older times people have tried to open it. The last time it was tried was when it was under British rule in the 19th century. It didn't go well. They might be able to do more now, but most of the people the door is important to don't want them to. There was a scientist who was beaten to death by an angry mob in the 1970s for suggesting there might he nothing more then an empty room behind the door, not even that it was likely, juet that it was possible. Science has spoken little on the door since then. And the government that has the territory of the door now does not allow any door based science to occur.

The reason why I bring all of this up, is that a few days ago the doors opened just the slightest amount. Not enough for anyone to step through, but enough to be noticeable. It's so hard to see through, but reports are starting to come in. They say that behind the door is a short hallway, and at the end of the hallway is another set of doors, of similar size and shape, waiting just as patiently to open.

[riewritten]

so i went to a remote area this weekend for a field work and i cant help but imagine erwin during the ride... like in an interview he said that if given the chance, he would like to live in a remote cabin, right?

LIVING IN THE CABINS OF TROST

ERWIN SMITH X GENDER NEUTRAL READER

TAGS: post-canon, erwin lives agenda, fluff, age-gap (lol rie tell us what we don't know!), love confessions, basically jus wholesome stuff

WORDS: 2k

Trost District’s advanced practice had saved their economy from titan invasion years ago, but sadly not every district in Paradis would like to apply it in consideration to the nobilities. In principle, you’d like to have it implemented in the rest of the island whose pride has long belonged in its rich agricultural resources. To know the bounties of Trost to the fullest, you’ll have to live with them for a month!

Lo and behold, you’ll come across the Erwin Smith as one of the residents. You see, he doesn’t talk much to people, let alone from outsiders, but the villagers love him because of his kindness and intelligence; they’re confident that if there’s someone who could help you the most, it’ll be no other than this man. And, strangely so, Erwin welcomed you with open arms the moment he knew of your research.

He doesn’t want the residents to treat you as an inconvenience so as soon as he learns your university isn’t funding student researchers—which makes you lack the resources to rent a dorm in Trost—he gladly opens the spare room he had built inside his cabin at your disposal.

However, amidst the neat and swift arrangement, you can’t help but be bothered because not only is he so kind for reasons you’re yet to unveil, but you are to live with him! A very handsome middle-aged man who is unreasonably single, especially in a period where people as young as sixteen are already bearing children!

Maybe the sheer change the Paradis had become since the walls collapsed has something to do with it?

However, it isn’t long until you’ve learned that he is none but the very commander who had contributed the most for the freedom of Paradis. He suddenly blurts out over breakfast that he was the 13th Commander back in his prime. The 13th commander of the Scout Regiment. You took history classes really well so you know what the 13th commander has done; it’s just that you never remembered his name because as far as you are concerned, the former commander opted not to publish his name in books and told the historians to ensure every contribution of his comrades would be noted instead. Your teachers spoke of him so highly–indeed, an amalgamation of what a real leader must be. 

The way you started shaking over the coffee and bread Erwin had prepared made him panic, “Oh no, was the coffee too strong for your liking? I'm so sorry.”

And when you eventually cry and utter praises and gratitude for serving the country well, he starts laughing—boisterously so. That was sure a laugh he had never done during his prime. 

He then pats your head, “Well, our efforts have never gone to waste because of smart students like you, no?”

To integrate more with the Trost community, Erwin fetches you to other neighbors using his old car every morning (he bought it for a discounted price at an auction—scratch that, the merchant almost gave it to him because he was a huge fan. Had Erwin been a boastful bastard, he wouldn’t even bother paying for it). He says the ride to another farm takes around half an hour, so you two take your time talking about a lot of things. He turns gloomy whenever the topic of being a commander is talked upon, so you’re always sure to stay with the menial—his favorite areas on his lawn, the things he’d like to do in the future to make his little paradise even better to live in, and more. 

Oh, how badly you yearn for a life like his.

And when late afternoon comes, Erwin would pick you up from the neighborhood so you can accompany him to the wet market approximately an hour away. Erwin usually takes this chance to talk to the merchants because he supplies them his harvest at a low price for extra income (what a strategic and simple man he is!) then you two would restock condiments and other needs in the house that his small farm couldn’t provide. The life Erwin has is surely tiring for you who’s basically raised in a highly urbanized area, but that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy it especially with his company.

One of the best things he has ever shown you is the tiny river surrounded by giant trees where he takes a bath. The scenery makes you feel like some sort of deity in an urban legend; sun would peak behind the leaves and onto the water, then the water would bounce back its light towards your glimmering eyes—full of adoration at god’s creation. The river is quite cold and sometimes the breeze these trees exude freezes your skin, yet it feels so fresh, so pleasing to look at, and you wouldn’t mind if you’re not accustomed to taking a bath in an open area. No reason to be scared, too, as the singing birds and cicadas keep you company. Not far from here, you could also hear Erwin’s daily wood chopping. Of course, he’s just there, ready to rescue you if you slip on the rocks or some intruder tries to come at you.

One of the best tasks he had entrusted you with (which you asserted to be tasked because you couldn’t fathom not paying him rent) is plucking ripe fruits from his farm. In your hometown, every need comes with money, but here, one could survive with just the gifts of land ripened by their hard work.

“It makes your research more valuable, doesn’t it?” Erwin affirms. “Imagine every citizen in Paradis being able to live a life not based on money once the government appreciates agrarian reforms more, given how rich our country is with natural resources.”

The distance you had with him as he intricately teaches you how to cut fruit from its stem, his appreciation for your principles (which students from the urban area often laugh about), and the way his hands brush against yours while he’s correcting your posture because the way of cutting needs to be precise so the stem could still be capable of bearing another fruit—it all fills your heart with sheer warmth. When night comes and you’re alone in your room, you finally deduce what you feel for him—it’s not just mentorship that you want, or his kindness, or even his farm.

You want him as he is. You want to give back all the help he has given you by loving him with all your heart.

As the research is about to end, you realize that you soon will be bidding him farewell to go back to your hometown, to live a boring university life, to take a bath in the constricted bathroom of your dormitory, and to worry about filling money up your sleeves so you could eat instead of just plucking out leaves and straight up cooking it. It fills your heart with sorrow; you hope you can just stay with him.

On one of your final days in Erwin’s house, you wake up with rain so strong tip taps of water can be heard from the roof towards the wooden floor. Erwin knocks and asks if he could fix it as you eat breakfast but as soon as you open the door for him, you start crying.

“I'm sorry, it happens a lot during rainy days. I should've warned you.” Perhaps he’s thinking that an urban girl like you would deem living in this wooden cabin overwhelming, but it’s rather far from it. “I’m thinking of replacing the roof with cement instead of mere iron strips, but I can only do that when summer comes. you might not be here anymore by that time, though.”

“Can I just live here for good? I don’t want to go,” you wail, the attachment and adoration you have for this new friend flowing through your tears. “I want to live here for good!”

“Because you want to witness the renovation of my roof…?”

“No!”

Erwin is surprised at your sudden rise in tone, but eventually he smiles—he smiles despite not understanding it all, “I’ll consider, but only after you let me fix the hole in your room.”

It took you five minutes of wailing (and Erwin’s gentle taps on your shoulder) before you stepped away from the door and let him in, with which he whispered a small praise, “Good girl. Now come on, eat your breakfast and drink your coffee. We’ll talk after I'm done here.”

His voice sounded so warm, deep, and gentle in that particular remark.

You manage to do what he asked of you, albeit with little hiccups. To be honest, had Erwin lacked the academic knowledge to help you finish your research, your stay in his home would’ve lasted longer. but he’s such a smart man—even on par with your actual research professor—that it even makes you wonder if his parents were formerly part of the academy, too.

When Erwin learns of that fact, he laughs in guilt, “I'm sorry! I admit I got too caught up with your research. You should’ve shooed me away when I got too invasive! Is that why you were crying?”

“No! It’s because I want to stay with you longer!” you cry, albeit impulsively, because you are drenched in cold water as soon as you see Erwin’s surprised face.

Nonetheless, he’s able to compose himself, “Seems like you loved living in Trost, hm? It’s okay, you could visit us here even after your research is—”

“I meant you! I want to stay with you specifically!” 

Oh god, did bathing in the river give you a bravado as strong as Erwin’s? You’re not usually this blunt.

“Why, if it’s fine to ask?” Erwin starts, his face more serious this time around, albeit there’s a tinge of expression you couldn’t quite decipher.

You wouldn’t be able to take this back. You wouldn’t be able to take this back. You wouldn’t be able to take this ba— “Because I like you!”

You wouldn’t be able to take that back!

“Oh god,” you covered your face in embarrassment. “I-I’ll be back! I’m sorry!” then you stand up from your seat and hurry towards the door.

You run to the secluded river to wash your face from embarrassment (or perhaps drown in it for good), but after a throaty scream of shame, you notice a presence behind you.

“E-Erwin!” you screech in surprise. “I told you I’ll be back soon!”

“Repeat what you just said.”

“The what?”

“What you said before running off. Repeat it.” 

“Are you angry?” you weakly mutter.

“What? No! I mean—” the unusual stuttering made Erwin chuckle in defeat. “Please, I just want to hear it again.” 

His soft eyes on the ground, one you couldn’t quite decipher earlier, is much more understandable now. It gave you more courage to admit more, “I said I like you.”

“As a host or…?”

The question almost ruins the mood, and yet you think that’s the most adorable Erwin has been since you’ve known him. All this time you thought of him as someone who knew everything astutely.

“What do you mean ‘as a host?’ I know we have a bit of a generational gap but I’m certain what I said was clear enough!”

He walks closer until you’re centimeters apart, eventually he smiles in realization. Then he cups your cheeks and says, “Finish your research and come back here. you’ll hear my answer by then.”

“Huh?” you scorn, “Why don’t you answer now while I’m still—”

A kiss on your forehead cuts you off. It lasts for ten seconds or so—you know because you started counting it out of fluster. While on it, he rubs his thumb on your cheeks in circular motions. The sensations render you in a haze. As soon as he withdraws, you bury your head on his chest, taking his scent in even though you don’t understand what’s happening.

“What I could offer to you is nothing in comparison to the life ahead of you in Stohess. Do what you must there—submit your research, advocate for your principles until your voice reaches more people, and if by then you still can’t stop thinking of me, by all means, stay by my side for good.”

“How can I be sure that you’re not married the moment I come back?!”

He chuckles, then places your hand on his chest. His forehead bumps on yours, a knowing smile plastered on his lips, and his eyes reeking of adoration. “Because my heart has been yours the moment you set your foot here.”

p lease i encourage everyone to continue this fic for me because as much as i love the prompt i donT HAVE THE TIME TO TURN IT INTO AN ACTUAL THING 😭😭😭 PLEASEDKDKSED

also here's a majestic fan art of idrawr16yt that helped me visualize what a retired-commander-living-in-the-countryside erwin smith would look like

🔖 @xiaotopia @cadenza-damour @rinamars @grimistheangerinmystares @suntizme @onasvigo @inkofteyvat @aeanya @watyousayin @collinnmckinley @frenchdyer | SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE TO MY STORIES

[stari-hun]

No Storm: Time Traveler AU

Isokania (and their horrible no good bad college situationship that forces them both to become separate people)

In my first Ramble, I mentioned how Kakania and Isolde grew up together in a boarding school. Both of their parents are historians, but the Dittarsdorfs have an actual connection to nobility and are still technically noble. Just like the original story, they met through Theopil during the time he was free to introduce the two, and just like the original story, they became instant best friends. Inevitably they were sent to the same catholic school boarding school together. The two of them were very isolated to one another too, as Kakania would struggle to make friends from her quick reputation as a troublemaker, and Isolde held no interest in others outside of Kakania. Since Isolde and her were already close, Kakania didn’t even notice the way she lacked other friends or human interaction. Later after they graduated, Kakania had already heard of the concepts of mental health resources from others, and decided to become a psychiatrist. From there, Kakania heard about Laplace’s education programs, and as an arcanist who would already have ties to the Foundation in the future, she decided to go to them. Isolde, who wanted to stay with Kakania, convinced Mr Dittarsdorf to send her as well for a degree in fine arts when Kakania got a scholarship. (After her first semester, Isolde was also given a full-ride scholarship for her talent).

✰.

Kakania began to struggle in college after seeing the community in Laplace between students and the staff. (Laplace has a separate building for college and the actual research center.) Kakania would struggle because she was friends with Isolde and only Isolde for years, and Isolde never held Kakania to the expectations of a healthy friendship. Isolde had been in love with Kakania since they first locked eyes, so she never held her to the same expectation of care or consideration that Isolde would show her. Isolde saw everything Kakania did under rose tinted glasses to the point that she didn’t care about her being pushy or careless with her. Meanwhile Kakania didn’t even know what area of the campus Isolde took classes in until she had offered to meet her so Kakania could do a mock therapy session for class. Kakania would remember people's birthdays, but she'd never ask about their hobbies or their experiences in life until it was something she was personally interested in. If Isolde got a cat, Kakania wouldn't know until she went into Isolde’s part of the house because she was doing an interview for her psych class. Despite living together, their friendship also matched the way it did when they were kids at opposite ends of the neighborhood. 

Kakania began to struggle more and more socially when people would cut her off from seemingly nowhere according to her. Meanwhile Isolde formed a small group of friends with Tooth Fairy, Jiu, and Windsong before she met Tooth Fairy’s juniors from the SPDM’s Guidance Program: Medicine Pocket and Mesmer Jr. Isolde would always keep a level of distance between them which Tooth Fairy would notice.

✰.

In their second year, Kakania and Isolde began to get closer than ever because of Kakania’s isolation in her program. No person in her classes or even program would consider Kakania a friend, and the inability to keep a friend began to wear on her. She was able to get through her first year while burying her head into her coursework, but by the start of the second it became too much. It all accumulated into the midterm of their first semester when Isolde suggested they celebrate passing midterms together with a platonic date night in their living room. After ordering takeout using Kakania’s accounts so Mr Dittarsdorf wouldn’t catch Isolde having junk foods, they end up making out. Isolde, who had known she was a lesbian since she was a child, was having her dream relationship with the girl she loved since they met at 15. Meanwhile Kakania, upon her first kiss being a woman, had to reevaluate her entire sexuality and outlook on life, or if she even loved Isolde. By the time the break between semesters was about to start, Kakania realized she didn’t love Isolde and decided to break it off before things got too serious. Naturally, Isolde melts down because unlike Kakania thought, she had loved her, and for a while she had resolved herself to simply be friends with Kakania until she could “fix” her. But after their kiss and dating for months before the semester ended, Isolde realized she couldn’t stay friends anymore. 

✰.

Kakania ended up moving into the student dorms while Isolde stayed with Tooth Fairy for a few weeks while ignoring everything from her phone. Her ignoring calls got to the point that Theopil visited her after class one day because she hadn’t contact anyone since the breakup. (He left only after giving her a gift box she later opened to see full of pounds for when she couldn’t use her credit card without Mr Dittarsdorf finding out). Isolde being forced to actually open up to others after showing up at Tooth Fairy’s apartment the evening of the breakup because she couldn’t go home to Kakania. Even though she’s still in a daze during her time at school, she has the talent to match her grades without trying. Isolde starts to form an outer circle of friends, and Tooth Fairy reassured her that people can be safe while helping her not just switch dependencies from Kakania to her. She starts becoming better friends with Jiu and Windsong, and even Mesmer Jr and Medicine Pocket now that she’s not masking over enjoyment whenever they meet. 

✰.

Kakania starts to feel the absence of Isolde in her life even more as she’s left alone. Now that she’s thinking about Isolde actively, she realizes all the unhealthy things she did with her while Kakania didn’t notice. She starts to reflect on the way that she was also dependent on Isolde as her rock to reassure her that her actions were right. Without her, and the way things were going in her social life, Kakania was at a total loss of how to move forward. 

Kakania started the new semester in a daze, but can’t keep up with schoolwork just off of groundbreaking talent. Eventually, her counselor meets with her to tell her how she’s in danger of losing her scholarship and it manages to snap her out of it just enough to go to a tutoring club. With her delusions of grandeur shattered, she meets Blonney, Horropedia, and An-An Lee. Three film majors with two as double majors for mechanical engineering and cultural studies. Kakania, who is quick to make friends but never keeps them, makes fast friends with the study group. But with Blonney, she started getting actual feedback about her treatment of others. Kakania is a lot of things, but she sees the way Blonney is never mean to anyone who hasn’t deserved it. So when Blonney starts checking her for the careless way she treats people, she has no choice but to listen. Even worse, Kakania starts to realize how little she knew about Isolde, despite the decade they knew one another, or the fact the entire campus thought they were the ideal couple during their 2 months of dating.

✰.

After their last semester starts, Kakania wants to see Isolde but realizes she didn’t know where her main classes would be. The only class she does know the location of was a prerequisite from a year ago. As Kakania starts spiraling farther, she realizes how much she didn't know about Isolde. But Tooth Fairy and Jiu are like Medicine Pocket, once they’ve made a friend they know need extra security, they’re a guard dog. Medicine Pocket is the type to bite on sight to harass someone to go away, but Tooth’s disappointment is like a knife to those who upset her. So to someone like Kakania who brushes off aggressive people as without sense meets their match with someone like Tooth Fairy. Kakania can brush off someone like Medicine Pocket even if they have good points purely off of being aggressive out of the gate, but for Tooth Fairy she can’t help but deflate while trying to ask about Isolde’s schedule to meet her. Tooth Fairy barely holding back a fist when she tells Kakania that she needs to reevaluate how good a friend she even was to Isolde because people like Kakania need to heal on their own through feedback from others, but people like Isolde need community support to assure her she isn’t alone in her struggle.

✰.

By the time they graduated, Kakania went back up to full honors, but she knew that while she was smart she had to get there from her own efforts instead of believing she was a genius. One of Kakania’s teacher gives her a recommendation letter for a counselor position in the SPDM, and she accepts. Meanwhile, Isolde was cutting off the Dittarsdorf name. After she opened up to others, one of the first things Windsong recommended was to change her home address to Tooth Fairy’s long before diplomas were sent out.

✰.

Kakania spends the next 5 years working as a counselor for the SPDM and learning how to work with the mental health of teens. While working together with Tooth Fairy for long enough to gain a friendly understanding with, she doesn’t learn about Isolde’s whereabouts even though she knows Blonney and Horropedia are friends with Tooth. Most of the time she gets to know Isolde is ok, and very rarely she’ll learn a tidbit about what she’s doing. When she sees of the Dittarsdorfs’ death in the newspapers, Kakania considers going, but she decides against it because Isolde had never reached out to her to reconnect. Luckily for her, Kakania stayed back just in time to receive a job offer from a famous institute for the research of mental health. 

Isolde was busy with her music and career as a singer. During her time in school she found she enjoyed jazz over opera, so she’d work gigs around town with both, and after Windsong showed her how she started uploading songs online too. 

Then Isolde received news of her father and mother’s death and the date for the funeral alongside it. After talking with her friends she decided to go if only to see Theopil again. She arrived a month before the funeral began to help and sort her business with the house. The month went by quickly as the funeral proceeded with Theopil alongside a few close family friends (Mr Karl barred from entering). Theopil was driving her to the train station home before the crash happened, and Isolde had another funeral to plan. As the last person with the Dittarsdorf name along with being in an accident, Isolde was forced to stay even longer, and with the legal rights to the house she stayed in her childhood home. After Theopil’s funeral ended Isolde still stayed in the house to figure out what to do with it, and before she knew it a year had passed. By then she had sold everything in the house that wasn’t of sentimental value or furniture before turning it over to the city as a historical museum following the Dittarsdorf line. Despite her hiatus from singing in person consistently, Isolde got an invitation to the US to become a singer in a well-respected jazz club, so she decided to begin her story of tomorrow in the States.

✰.

Over the next decade, Kakania worked her way up the corporate ladder in the research institute in the same way Isolde worked her way up to be a household name. While working at the research institute, as people try to get to know her, Kakania begins to have gender and sexuality crisis number two when they try to set her up with other people. Kakania never knew about Isolde’s shift into jazz because she couldn’t bear listening to her songs after realizing how much she had hurt her alongside how she realized she had loved her all this time. By the time she had turned 32, Kakania decided to focus more on children's mental health so that someone like Isolde would never go without help again. She especially focused on getting rid of the stigma that therapy meant there was a problem in order to have more children of affluent families sent to therapy. Before she knew it, Kakania was 35 and considered one of the top therapists in Europe for teens. Then she was invited to a national summit for her expertise in New York planned for right after her 36th birthday.

✰.

When she arrived for the week long convention, Kakania couldn't help but feel homesick. Despite not going home to Vienna for years, there was a difference between being a day’s trip away and being an entire ocean away. After hearing about the chance to find different cultures she could find in New York, she asked around if anyone had heard of a place to get Viennese food. From there she found out about a certain jazz bar nearby that had a live band during dinners, food from all over Austria, and a live singer on weekends who was supposedly the reason many people stayed in the hotel in the first place. The first time Kakania goes she ends up crying the first time she has dinner there after her conference panels from a mix of stress building up and homesickness. Kakania begins to eat there every day for the entire week the summit lasts, even ordering lunch from the bar when she has the chance between meetings. She even decided to stay later in the US, and catch a Saturday morning flight instead of pushing herself by leaving the second the convention ended. As she was enjoying dinner the lights went off as the stage crew announced the jazz club’s performer would be coming on shortly, and as Kakania readied herself to see her first performance in America, she saw someone she never stopped thinking about for the first time in years.

✰.

Fun Facts about them in the story:

Kakania got through the first year and a half of college through her good memory, but she learned in her last semester while struggling that it only works when she’s tuned in. If she doesn’t pay attention to someone’s words, her good memory with them means nothing.

Tooth is in college in order to get another certification, her degree only took 2 years because she was only a part time student in order to continue working at the SPDM.

The entire Dittarsdorf family showed up to Isolde’s graduation, but Evangeline praised her as Trista in front of Windsong and Vila, and Mr Dittarsdorf quickly left early to escort Evangeline out. Theopil stayed for an hour meeting her friends before handing her another chunk of cash “just in case.”

Isolde spent 2 months out of the year she spent back home transcribing Trista and Theopil’s lullaby into music sheets and online recordings of it so they could be played in the house even though they had passed.

Kakania’s therapist scolds her frequently for ignoring her own signs of stress, and the way she pushes herself too far to help others.

[dcdreamblog]

So, I have heard that the name "Vandal Savage" is a corruption of his original name back in prehistoric times, which was supposedly "Vandar Adg".

I have also heard that "Adg" means "Stone/the Stone/of the Stone". Is this considered plausible by modern historians? Do we have any idea what "Vandar" means?

The name "Vandal Savage" or etymological variations of it occur in a truly staggering amount of archeological contexts all over the old world.

You are correct in that the first name we find that we can connect to that man is "Vandar Adg" which was discovered in texts dating back to ancient Mesopotamia speaking of a mythical founder of Atlantis before it sunk beneath the waves.

(An ivory artifact discovered in the ruins of ancient Ur excavated 1853, considered by some to be the first artistic depiction of a metahuman act. Beneath the image is an inscription where the name Vandar Adg is first written)

We do not know if this was Vandal's "birth name", how long he had been alive before the invention of writing or if either of those questions even truly apply.

As best we can tell though, the answer to your question is some variation on "Blood/of Blood/from Blood" meaning his name translates to something in the neighborhood of "Blood from the Stone/Stone Blood/Stone of the Blood Tribe"