#or anyone who isn’t a hetman

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova’s Notes - Dracula Daily - June 17

The Droughtula is broken!!! Finally!!! Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean Jonathan is having a good time.

“I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty sheepskin, and high boot. They had also their long staves in hand.”

Wow, so we already have a lot here. Notice how Jonathan is so alert to anything that can aid his escape, he hears exactly what is happening outside the window and where it is as well.

“With joy” — oh Jonathan 🥺🥺🥺 he still has hope. As he should but AHHH

Again, Jonathan takes the time to describe the Slovaks, transcribing every last detail in case it might be important later. Also, this is what a leiter-wagon looks like and I find that interesting because I assumed it would just look like any other wagon, and it’s cool that Jonathan notates that. I was confused by what staves meant so here’s what I found — they are long narrow sticks of wood/iron which can be linings on a barrel, but I think in this context, means the plural of walking staff!

“Again a shock: my door was fastened on the outside.”

Noooo, he locked him in again but this time, it’s in his room! He must have done it while Jonathan was sleeping, or I’ve no doubt he would have heard it. It’s so sad to see him not be able to get closer to these people who are like a liveline to him right now.

“Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away.”

So, obviously, this is not good for Jonathan and I have a theory now about what Szgany said. So, we all assume that either Dracula persuaded the Szgany by using brute force or mind control to get his way, but this kind of reaction leads me to believe a different theory. What if Dracula told the Szgany that Jonathan was a mentally ill relative/friend and he was keeping him in his castle while he was being treated? There’s no reason that he has to do this, but he knows that this is a good way to help spread the word and discredit Jonathan’s name. He could’ve even said it in a “between you and me” way to act as if it’s an eccentric rich person secret. Yes, he looks down on anyone that isn’t him, but he does know these people, and he knows they talk.

Why do I think this? Well, them laughing at him and immediately turning back to their work is an indicator. If the Szgany had been brute forced or mind controlled, they likely would’ve said something that would’ve made the Slovaks somber, not laugh. There are other reasons they could’ve done laughed, but it does make a lot of sense that if they’re told he has mental problems, they would probably just laugh him off (which isn’t very nice, of course, but unfortunately this is how people with mental illnesses/neurodivergences/etc. were treated in that time and still are today) until they get back to work. They were also probably told by Dracula (through the Szgany) to ignore him as if he doesn’t exist, which they do.

“The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance.”

I can’t say what these boxes are used for without giving away spoilers, but I want you to remember that they’re giving boxes — presumably empty — to Dracula’s castle. I believe it will be important later.

That’s it. I assume Jonathan doesn’t have any more to write because, well, what else can he say? It was another failed escape attempt and likely in an effort to save paper and because he’s feeling numb, he probably doesn’t want to write more than he has to. It likely hurts for him to write anything, but he needs to note this down, because it could be important later.

[shubblelive]

i think we can all agree that items marketed towards straight men are cringe when straight men own them, yet they’re infinitely funnier when lesbians buy them