I try to be a historical simmer, but I know my gaps in knowledge, so, no absolute perfection in the realism department. In the future, I do plan on doing stories outside of the historical context, but that is then and this is now!
Mainly, this is the home of the Dixon decades legacy challenge!
Updates on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and sometimes Saturday!
Current decade: 1910s
Past Decade(s): 1890s 1900s
There will be sensitive topics! Such as, war, abuse, mild sexual themes, period typical homophobia, minor period typical racism, death, mental illness, ableism, and use of illicit substances. If any of this makes you uncomfortable, I urge you to know your limits and proceed with caution. If a post heavily contains the above content, !WARNING! will be posted at the top of the post, and the content will not show above the cut, along with the available settings tumblr already provides!
I hope to just document and write a story alongside this challenge, this is purely for fun!
I am still in school, so updates might get sporadic come august.
Thank you to anyone who checks out this blog! It means the world to me. 🥳
!WARNING! TW: Abuse, partial nudity, use of offensive language, and period typical homophobia
PLEASE proceed with appropriate caution, here is a link to the next post HERE if you choose to skip.
Winter, 1909
Hayes: NO SON OF MINE WILL BE ONE THOSE QUEERS! YOU HEAR ME!? NONE! I'M NOT A FAGGOT! SAY IT BENJAMEN!
Ben: I'M NOT A FAGGOT! I'M NOT A FAGGOT! I'M NOT A FAGGOT! I'M NOT A FAGGOT! I'M NOT A FAGGOT! I'M NOT A FAGGOT! *punches land after each exclamation*
Ben: *Sobbing* Daddy please! Please, I'll change! I'll get better! I'll get better! I won't be sick anymore! Promise! Promise! I PROMISE!
Hayes: You aren't my son. You aren't yourself. You aren't...anyone I know anymore. You are nothing. An embarrassment to me and your mother. You are a disgrace.
Ben: *Body wrenching sobs, gasping breaths*
start previous next
!If you or anyone you know is suffering don't be afraid to reach out to: 800-799-7233 (National Domestic Abuse Hotline)
800-547-7433 ( Pride Institute)
or
988 (National Crisis Hotline) - ps not the quickest method, just from personal experince-
!WARNING! TW: Talk of abuse, and period typical homophobia
Ben: It's not your fault, you know. My dad...he's just been that way for as long as I can remember.
Marshall Lee: It's not even fair! We didn't even do anything! If he wants to yell at you, fine! I would have punched his teeth out, but still! *Lee held Benny's face between his hands* But Benny...he...he just stripped you...and he...he...
Ben: *Tears welling in his eyes* Hey, look at m-me Lee. I'm okay. Promise-
Marshall Lee: Happy New Years, Benny.
!This post takes place AFTER the post with the maturity rating timeline wise! The contents of that post is only implied here! Stay safe everyone❤️🩹
Daniel: -And then Olivia was telling Al that he shouldn't be so pretentious, but then Al pushed her into the lake! It was unbelievable!-so then Al's sister Cassie went to meet Olivia's mom and-now Ms. Selena has to deal with Goths.
*Ben just smiled at his younger brother, totally uninterested*
Ben: Hey, what's going on with you and Olivia~ *Danny blushed, then sighed*
Daniel: She's just, how do I say this? Ben, she just lights up my day. When she doesn't come to lessons, my days are a little duller. She makes me stumble over myself, ha, most days I just make a fool of myself. *Ben sits back, his eyebrows pinched in thought*
Ben: Hm, so what you're telling me, is a girl is supposed to light up your world? Huh. *Danny leaned closer to his older brother, grinning*
Daniel: Soooo, you have your eye on any fine lady? *Ben blushes and rubs the back of neck*
Ben: Uh-m-maybe. Gabriella? She shares her lunch with me sometimes. *He mumbles the last sentence*
Daniel: Oh come on! *He pushed his brother's shoulder* What does she make you feel? Don't be Pigeon-livered. *Ben sighed, looking upwards, wringing his hands*
Ben: Well...she makes me laugh. And...she listens to me, like really listens. Um, he-she, she knows how to push me so I can be my best self, you know?
Daniel: Hahaha, now that wasn't so hard was it, huh?
*Ben gave Danny a strained smile*
Ms. Selena: Children! Break is over! It is time for writing! Come! Yes, that includes you Mr. Rodriguez!
The brothers break off into a sprint, pushing each other as they beeline for the school house entrence.
It was mid afternoon during not long after the week of Thanksgiving, 1895, when his sister wrote to him about the death of her husband, Matthew.
Tómas had briefly met the man during the beginning of him and his sister's courtship, and he had seemed like a good man. He had had a good taste in liquor, which, unfortunately , was one of the only non physical facts he remembered about the man. Nonetheless, he and Marshal journeyed out towards Nevada.
Ah, Tómas completely forgot about how young Marshall Lee still was, though at a respectable four years of age, still, Marshall Lee longed to see his aunt and cousin further west. And who was Tómas to deny his son?
So, that was how the two Dixon men ended up outside a crumbling cemetery, where the Ramirez family plots were planted.
Hesitantly, he walked up to his sister.
For what seemed like hours, the siblings grieved.
Silence enveloped the two, much like it did in other instances. Silence was an old friend to the Dixons.
Eventually, Sophia grabbed Tómas's hand, just like she used to do when she needed unspoken comfort.
Tómas glanced down, his eyes welling. He frowned, his eyebrows pinching. He looked away from the grave, the voices-
No. No, he will not do this.
Tómas forced himself to face the grave, he traced his brother's name with his eyes, forcing himself to remember the specific groves of the stone, the swirl of the engravings. The mirth that danced around his eyes, the uptick of his smiles, the echoes of his booming laughs.
He will not be forgotten. So long as Marshall Lee lives, Tómas vows to himself he will not let his brother be forgotten.
Not long after Tómas and Marshal Lee returned from Nevada, Marigold brought three healthy baby girls into the Dixon home.
Marie, the oldest. Elizabeth, the middle. And Lola, the youngest.
As time moved on, the kids grew older. Knees bruised, teeth grew in, all the kids started to cause trouble around town.
Yet, the girls were growing in to be quite the young ladies, of course under the guidance of their mother.
Soon enough, the kids changed as the seasons passed, the triplets aging into toddlers, and Marshall Lee into a child.
The girls were just starting to show their personalities. Marie was ever the angle, loving everyone in town, and having the adults wrapped around her finger. On the other hand, Lizzie was prone to quickly hit or bite anyone who dared get in her space, including her family. Ouch! However, Lola's favorite thing was "help" her dad cook whenever he was home. When she wasn't helping her dad, she was forcing her sisters to eat mud pies and acorns, and whatever else she could find outside around the cabin.
Now, as Marshall Lee grew, so did his temper. He also started taking lessons at the local schoolhouse, which is where he met his first friend, Ben Davila. The boys would wrestle with one another during breaks, swap stories about their siblings, and even tip cows over on Ben's family farm. They truly were inseparable. The boys have also been known to sneak around the school house and an abandoned farm that's barley on the outskirts of Chestnut Ridge. Here, the boys would spend their days cloud gazing and playing soldier. It was Marshal's home away from home, though things with his parents had been steady leading up to the end of the decade, Marshall just grew restless. He knew things were brewing at home, he and his siblings had spent increased time at their grandparents farm. What Marshall didn't know, was that his parents were soon expecting a new member of the family...
Bonus Undercut! Fall, 1898
Ben: Lee, do you-do you think we'll be friends when we get old? Will we still do this? *Ben gestures between them*
Marshall Lee: What? Talk?
Ben looks away, chewing on his lip.
Ben: Y-yeah. Talk.
Marshal Lee: I'd hope so. Here
*Marshall Lee holds his hands out in front of himself, palms up* *Ben meets Lee's eyes*
Marshall Lee: I promise, to always, always, be your friend. Forever and ever, Benny. No getting rid of me. *Lee smiled warmly* Now your turn.
Ben: Oh-uh, well, I, I promise...to always be your friend too, Lee. Promise. No matter what. *Ben places his hands in Lee's, conscious of how right they feel in his*
Lee looks at their joined hands, and his stomach flutters. *He lets go, mourning the absence of Benny's hands.*
For a moment the boys only watch the other.
*Abruptly, Benny springs up.*
Ben: Uh, I think we should meet back up with Danny and Alex, uh you know? Ha, well I'm gonna go on ahead. T-thanks Lee.
Marshall Lee took a moment, he thinks then, that Ben looks...cute when he's nervous.
A few weeks after Marshall Lee was born, and weeks of avoiding Tómas, Marigold bought a bed one of her brother's had made, and installed it outside of Marshall Lee's bedroom.
Of course this change in sleeping arrangements angered Tómas, causing even more avoidance on both ends. Which predicticlly led to a quickly souring relationship.
One evening or early morning, Tómas couldn't recall, he stumbled upstairs and heard low murmurs coming from his son's room. He quietly propped the door open and stepped in the room.
Marigold: Hey, my little love, shush, no need to cry, no no shush, mama is here. Everything will be alright with me an' da, see? Things are just rough now, because your daddy is sick in his soul. But I forgive him, I forgive him.
She inhales a sharp breath. She goes quiet.
Reaching into the crib, she places her hand across Marshall Lee's chest. She loosely grips his skin, looking down at her son.
Tómas couldn't see, but tears welled in her eyes.
Tómas felt he had overstayed his welcome, so he silently slipped back downstairs to their bed. And in the morning, he just held his tounge.
And that was the first day in a long while with no argument to be uttered.
It was crisp autumn in the mid afternoon when Marshall Lee Dixon was born. He was a solid 6 lbs, with wisps of amber hair like his mother's, paired with cloudy blue eyes.
Leading up to Marshall Lee's birth, it had been months of constant fighting, about anything really. Tómas couldn't really recall. He thought it was better that way. Though, he did abstain from the alcohol for probably the longest three weeks in his entire life. So, at least the final weeks of pregnancy were somewhat more tolerable for his wife.
Tómas: Hi little one, I'm your dad. Heh. I never thought I'd ever get to say that.
Marshall Lee: Buh
Tómas: Right? And people called me crazy.
Tómas's gaze softened, bringing his finger down to his son's face, tracing the soft curve of it. Marshal fussed for a moment, before looking up and baring his gums up at his dad.
Tómas decided to take that as a positive sign.
Tómas: I promise to do everything and anything for you little one. Anything.
He sat in silence with his son in his arms, a welcome weight. Like a light in a storm, when he looked at Marshal, the storm in his mind finally lessened.
It was a beautiful morning in Chestnut Ridge, Texas. It just so happened to be the early summer of the year of our lord, 1890. The sun rose just over the swollen hills, the chickens were just waking, and something new and good was bound to happen today. At least, that's what Tómas would like to think, what with all the weddings and newborns the joined family had experienced in the last year or so.
*Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp* *CRASH*
Marigold: I'm alright!
Tómas laughs under his breath, used to his wife's clumsyness.
Marigold: Tómmy! Tómmy!
Tómas tares his focus away from his chess game catching his wife careen into the lounge, worry clouding his gaze as his brows furrow.
Tómas: Yes darlin'? Is everything alright?
Marigold: Everything is better than alright dear! Here, here, feel my belly.
Tómas held his hand against Mari's stomach in disbelief. Then in fear. Then in joy. Finally he pulled his hand back.
For a moment the couple only beamed at each other, both terrified of what could happen to this baby.
A little over a week after the initial news, Tómas started to spiral. It had been about two years since their miscarriage, and yet Tómas just couldn't shake his despair and lingering guilt. In distress, he opted to wander around until he could clear his head.
Unfortunately, like so many times before, his walks always end with a drink in hand and a bruised body
Tómas was feeling tense, he had just come straight from work and needed to blow off from steam, and he didn't dare go anywhere near the workers house with a baby on the way, so if you ask him it was a completely reasonable to get piss drunk and brawl with one of the traveling musicans.
Tómas limped home and collapsed in the shoe room. He barely even registered when someone sat down next to him.
Marigold: I cannot believe ya! Ya absolute piss for brains dickhead! What the hell did you even fight for this time! An' don' give me your usual, Miguel wasna even out today!
Tómas: I-ugh, I, He was looking at me weird, giving me eyes like he was fond of me or sum shit. Never even, ugh, thought, jus' started swingin'.
Marigold: Ugh! Your such a brute! If only you neve'r shaked me up ya utter bastard!
Marigold huffed and stormed out of the room.
Tómas just slid down the bench, knocking his head against the window.
I finally have the founders of this decades challenge! This is going to be a messy ride...
I am proud to introduce the patriarch, Tómas Dixon! He is a proud 22 year old Mexican native, and his family has lived in Chestnut Ridge, Texas for at least four generations. He is quite the playboy around the town, before he married, he spent a good amount of his evenings holed up in the worker houses or in the local saloon. He is quite aquatinted with The Bottle™, often leading to him being unable to hold a steady job, yet is looking to start his own restaurant in a vacant spot in town. He grew up without a male role model, due to the war with the US, which killed over 50% of the male population in Chestnut Ridge. He hopes he can save his future kids from ending up criminals, or worse.
His mother worked at the kitchen at the local hotel, Tómas would often skip school just to help his mother make the various dishes. He also would get into a fair amount of fights on behalf of his younger brother, Miguel, who had down syndrome and who was often ridiculed.
Tómas, Miguel, and their little sister Sophia, would often sneak onto the Fraser farm and play amongst the crop fields, which would end up more often then not with Mrs. Fraser shooing the three of them away.
On the other hand, the matriarch of this legacy is Marigold Dixon! She is 20 years old and well known for her air headedness around town. Marigold is originally from a small town deep in the highlands of Scotland, from the Fraser clan, though her and her family immigrated to the US in the summer of 1884. After a few years in New York City, the Frasers decided to travel out west, eventually ending in Chestnut Ridge. Along the journey, Mari's younger brother, Marshall, didn't make the trip.
Growing up in Chestnut Ridge was steady, she was relatively well liked around town, she and her siblings helped their parents run the family farm. Marigold was engaged to young man named Edward Gomez before her marriage to Tómas, his death was ruled to be caused by natural causes according to the town's sheriff.
It was the summer of 1888 when Tómas began courting Mari, it wasn't long after that Mari fell pregnant, leading Tómas to propose. Mr and Mrs Fraser were furious when they learned of the engagement, unlike Ms. Dixon, who was just relieved that her son knocked up a somewhat sensible young women.
Now, Miguel, Sofia, and Marigold's siblings, James, Shelia, Conner, and Gary were all ecstatic to have a future wedding to look forward to. Eventually, the Frasers came around and Mr. Fraser and his sons all took to their workshop and took to crafting things for the upcoming baby.
