Broom Handle Ticks

Chore Tallies

A habit that practically every couple has actually started doing, the couple will take a knife and carefully mark the top of the boom handle whenever they complete a chore or task. With horizontal marks normally for the man, and the vertical marks being the woman. It's also a secret display of just how the relationship is going. An equal quantity of marks being a show of a healthy couple. However, if the marks are uneven in terms of either vertical or horizontal marks it can be a sign that the couple has hit a rough patch in their relationship.

History

The actual history of these markings is still widely up to debate as the people who originally started doing this are long gone. However, here is a bit of that history as I understand it.
Sometime after around 100 AE the tradition was started by Fields Union as a way to try and improve relationship dynamics. Specifically in boring tasks such as sweeping, cleaning out garbage, and doing laundry which is always a major pain for me. Originally a secret symbol that became so ubiquitous that the other side of the war they were having with We of the Sand, took notice and incorporate it into their relationship dynamics. This is despite the fact that their culture deemphasizes long term relationships.
As time went on, the habit was carried on by the people who left We of the Sand and would one day become my ancestors. All coming to today, that lets me look over to my parent's broom now which has equal marks.

Related ethnicities

• Awoken