“One common abbreviation used in Roman letters was SPD, which was short for salutem plurimam dicit, or “sends many greetings.” This served as a greeting at the beginning of a letter, to indicate the sender and the receiver, as in “Marcus Sexto SPD” (“Marcus sends many greetings to Sextus”). Another popular acronym was SVBEEV, which was short for si vales, bene est, ego valeo (“if you are well, that is good, I am well”). Such abbreviations saved space and time, just as acronyms (BTW, AFAIK, IANAL) do today in Internet posts and text messages.”
—
Tom Standage,
Writing on the Wall: Social Media – The First 2,000 Years
Welp. I know it’s been so long, and when I first began posting this story, I thought I could knock the whole thing out in a few weeks. I was so wrong. Over Christmas, my mental health became an absolute dumpster fire and I just couldn’t write a word, let alone a whole sentence. Anyway, thanks for coming back to read this new, if slightly rusty and meh new chapter. I will refrain from promising another update on any particular day, but my hopes are high that I can have another one out in the next few days….but…we will see how that goes. Please don’t be mad if I totally fail!
Hope you enjoy this, and if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments. These sorts of chapters are not my favorite to write, so I never really feel I handle these well. I’d rather write major action, or some ~event~…which we’ll get to next chapter, thank goodness.
Special thanks goes to @zeya-zg for being an ever present source of support and encouragement. Couldn’t do this without you, friend!
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy this wee update!
“I didn’t understand that she was intentionally disguising her feelings with sarcasm; that was usually the last resort of people who are timid and chaste of heart, whose souls have been coarsely and impudently invaded; and who, until the last moment, refuse to yield out of pride and are afraid to express their own feelings to you.”
Tori