Second Prince: I Mean, Youve Threatened To Kill Me A Bunch Of Times. You Once Told Me You Were Going

Second Prince: I mean, you’ve threatened to kill me a bunch of times. You once told me you were going to drown me in a river like a kangaroo.

Callisto: *warm laugh of fond reminiscence* I did do that.

So a while back I won a cheap eBay auction listing for a collection of love letters from the first world war.

They arrived today, and…the listing was WAY more than I expected for the price I won it for. There’s over 100, and they’re not just from WWI, but from 1906 (earliest I’ve found so far) through to 1915.

Charlie writes to his girlfriend, Gertrude. This is the most beautiful, lovesick stuff I’ve ever read. He sends her so many letters, sometimes twice a day, and lots of poems. He seems to have been an artist, as he talks a lot about small exhibitions of his stuff, and included a flyer for one. He also talks about how her parents don’t approve of them and how he’s desperately awaiting the day they’ll be married.

I haven’t found the latest of the letters, but the fact it’s up until 1915 and then stops…doesn’t give me hope for a happy ending.

This man continuously refers to his precious beloved Gertie as his queen and goddess, and whilst most of it is sickly sweet, there’s some raunchy stuff too, with him talking about how he can’t wait until they have a little house together and can ‘please each other all day’…

There’s. So many.

I’m going to put them in order by date, read them through, and then maybe even transcribe them so we can find out a bit about Charlie and Gertie’s love story.

"I suddenly knew instinctively—Penelope was dead...

I froze, pale. The realization made my hair stand on end. If I escape, what will happen to Penelope? Even if this game was rife with magic and other fantastical things, the dead couldn't come back to life."

VADTD — 166-167

Found it! Chapter 67:

Investigating the indirect connection between Ludovika and Nora's abuse.

Spoilers for ch 136

Johannes mentions in the chapter that Shuri is a gem surrounded by the dirt around her. Also how she resembles Ludovika in this sense.

I wonder if this is what was the roots for the Nurembergs being so anti-common folk.

Think about it. The duke had two children, Albrecht and Elisabeth. Elisabeth was supposed to marry the Emperor Maximillian, but he was swept away by Ludovika, a commoner. This was seen as a disgrace to the Nuremberg name. Not to mention, Ludovika and Albrecht were close friends.

In the end, Ludovika would eventually die to an illness and Max would return and marry Elisabeth.

I can't help but see this from Albrecht's perspective. Your abusive dad already has a bigoted view on commonfolk, your first bff dumped your sister for a commoner who also happens to be your friend (only to come crawling back), she dies, but her last words were to protect her son, your other bff is obsessively hallucinating said commoner turned empress, bff b dies and pulls in an innocent commoner girl into this mess, now your son can't stop hanging out with commoners after you chose to respect your commoner friend's last words, and your dad won't shut up about the choices you've made.

Telling Nora that their (the noble) world is not one that should intertwine with the common world makes so much sense. He said "Son, it's just not worth the trouble."

He's still a POS for beating Nora, but it's interesting to see a potential reason behind his actions that isn't just "i'm evil and i hate poor people."

enough toxic masculinity I'm ready for salubrious mexicanity. I'm ready for a social movement that encourages (esp straight, cis) men to indulge in things that make them more joyful, emotionally healthy, and help them strengthen not core muscles but core compassionate communication skills.