#W. Duke Sons and Co

[treasuresfromthearchives]

St. Patrick's Day, Ireland, from the Holidays series (N80) for Duke brand cigarettes

Issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. American Lithography by George S. Harris & Sons American 1890

"Trade cards from the 'Holidays' series (N88), issued in a set of 50 cards in 1890 to promote W. Duke Sons & Co. brand cigarettes. The series depicts citizens from various countries in traditional dress celebrating local holidays. Each card verso contains the title of the series, a description of the particular holiday and its history, as well as an ad for W. Duke, Sons & Co. Tobacco producers Goodwin & Co. also published this series with brand advertising for Old Judge and Dog's Head Cigarettes."

[aha-chuu]

I'm writing an AU rn and like

So Wriothesley woke up in hospital after (correctly) killing his foster parents and Arlecchino is just There. So Wrio doesn't know who tf she is but he's a lil broody and very "yes I deserve prison, yes I'm 13 what about it"

Arlecchino meanwhile has only just taken over the House of the Hearth and killed her own abuser so they're kinda vibing in a dysfunctional way. She really wanted to kill all the child traffickers in Fontaine but she couldn't find them yet (she's only just come back from Fatui stuffs and since she's only just taken over the HoH she doesn't have an information network to rely on).

HOWEVER by killing his foster parents (who were part of the same trafficking ring) Wriothesley unintentionally picked a thread that Arlecchino can now follow go deal with all the shitty nobles in Fontaine and save a bunch of children. She's pretty much come to see Wriothesley to tell him this and legit thank him because she genuinely really cares about the children of Fontaine and this all Sucks.

So now Wriothesley is still going to prison but Arlecchino has her eye on him. She basically sees him as her first 'child' even though he doesn't know her as 'Father' like the rest of the kids do.

(which: in this AU the reason Arlecchino was there to save Lynette was because she uncovered the nobleman involved through the info chain Wriothesley set off so there's layers here).

Wriothesley is in prison and Arlecchino sends him fun little letters (and he replies (honestly feel bad for the poor Fatuus who was stuck in Meropide as their go-between)). Importantly she never sends him anything more than morale boosts - no bribing the guards for special treatment, no rigged pankration fights, no extra credit coupons. Arlecchino loves all her children but Tough Love is as important as any other form.

So Wrio had a ten year prison sentence and everything pretty much goes as canon: he learns to thrive, garners everyone's respect and, eventually, takes control of Meropide by duelling the administrator on the day he should have been released. Arlecchino's getting all these updates and she's so so pleased at how well he's doing. He's given the 'duke' title and she's ready to give him all the desdert, he's a great son and he deserves a treat.

But there is a whole layer to this that, though Wrio & Arlecchino have been in communication for a decade, he's never learned that she's Fatui and, when he eventually does learn, he doesn't confer those two identities. Same with Arlecchino - where Lyney, Lynette and Freminet are Fatui agents, Wrio is her First child and he's disconnected from that. That's why Lyney is her heir - Wrio's almost like a pet project she took on outside of her Fatui responsibilities.

Obviously it's then funny when Lyney & co clash against Wriothesley because like. They've never met but Arlecchino definitely considers them all part of the same family. Lyney has too much of a big brother complex to have to deal with his 'Father' introducing a much bigger big brother into the fold who has also managed to do like,, everything.

Like poor Lyney cos Wrio literally went to prison at 13 and still became the third most politically powerful and richest person in Fontaine before he was 25. Forget Forbes Under Thirty, Lyney has to contend with whatever this shit is without developing issues

(Lyney is actually very cool and better suited to all the Fatui stuffs but you know. He's gotta compare himself).

So anyway the concept of the AU (Arlecchino Adoption AU???) mostly centers on all the letters Arlecchino & Wriothesley sent to each other, and then navigating the dynamic later on when the Fatui are crawling all over Fontaine and The Prophecy. Bonus points for Neuvillette's most trusted Wriothesley having this weird Arlecchino connection, and if he can be convinced to side with her, Wriothesley could fuck up all of Fontaine by having Meropide go on strike and halting all of construction. So messy.

Everyone gets to bribe Wriothesley with tea to be on their side but in reality Wriothesley is on his own side (Arlecchino's like: yes this is how to raise an independent child, Lyney: he literally shot me and convinced me he would murder my family, Arlecchino: yeah they really don't make em like they used to huh).

Also all of the letters with Arlecchino were 100% like,,, philosophical debates and historical discussion from whatever prison book Wrio just read. No parental guidance here. He met this woman once, she is not his dad - she's his pen pal. Arlecchino finds labels unimportant in this instance.

[love-for-carnation]

Trade cards from the 'Floral Beauties and Language of Flowers' series (N75), issued in a set of 50 cards in 1892 to promote the W. Duke Sons and Co. - branch of the American Tobacco Company, Lithography by Donaldson Brothers (American), 1892

[denimbex1986]

'Cillian Murphy had just spent the day filming what felt like 30 scenes on “Oppenheimer” with the desert sand kicking up and blasting into his eyes when his co-star Robert Downey Jr. greeted him, trying to boost his spirits. And — this is how Downey remembers it, and when the legend becomes fact, print the legend — Murphy launched into a lament about how, when he had returned to his “18-dollar-a-night hotel room” the previous evening, he found his bags in the hallway and thought, “F—! I haven’t checked out yet. I have to sleep!”

“Every indignity that could befall someone who’s trying to do something .... It was like the tears of Job,” Downey related after a recent screening of the Christopher Nolan blockbuster. “Forget the call sheet and the job. It was everything else. It was the most Irish experience I’ve ever witnessed.”

Nearly two years later, Murphy and I are talking on a late-autumn day in L.A. He’s removing his coat and pulling his chair into the sun because, yes, he’s Irish, and part of the Irish experience is to soak up as much sun as possible when the opportunity presents itself. As to what Downey is ascribing to his native land, Murphy can do nothing but laugh.

“I don’t know if that means that Irish people are more predisposed to suffering,” Murphy says, smiling. “I think he’s being very sweet and saying we were like a troupe, moving at quite a pace. We were just staying at motels by the freeway and moving around. It was not glamorous. The way Chris works is that everything is equitable. No one has trailers or personal makeup. Everyone gets in a bus. It feels like independent filmmaking, but on a f—ing grand scale. And that’s the way I enjoy working.”

Murphy, 47, also enjoys not working, and he’s had a successful enough career in the two decades since his film breakthrough in Danny Boyle’s 2002 classic zombie film “28 Days Later” that he can describe such periods as being “happily unemployed.” That was where he was at a couple of years ago. He’d finished shooting the sixth (and final) season of the entertaining BBC crime drama “Peaky Blinders” and was in the midst of a glorious six months enjoying the company of his wife, Irish visual artist Yvonne McGuinness, and their two teenage sons. Then Nolan called out of the blue.

Actually, it wasn’t Nolan, but his wife and producing partner, Emma Thomas. It couldn’t be Nolan, because Nolan doesn’t have a phone, an eccentricity that’s either endearing or infuriating depending on the context. Thomas handed the phone to her husband, who told Murphy — in what the actor calls an “unbelievably understated British way” — “I’m making a film about Oppenheimer.” Pause. “I’d like you to play Oppenheimer.”

And just like that, Murphy was no longer happily unemployed. He was playing the title character in Nolan’s sprawling drama about the physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb.”

“A big moment,” Murphy calls it, no stranger to restraint himself. Pause. “A biggie.”

In conversation, Murphy is pleasant and reflective when talking about his native country (he could and should write a book on the Ring of Kerry or at least narrate a self-guided tour) and the arts. I’d read that Nolan sent him photos of David Bowie wearing high-waisted, voluminous trousers from the singer’s Thin White Duke era as a visual reference for the gaunt silhouette he imagined for Oppenheimer, a man who possessed such a manic work ethic that he forgot to eat, subsisting on martinis and Chesterfield cigarettes. I pull up a photo of Bowie taken shortly before his death, wearing a sharp suit, black fedora and beaming smile.

“He looks a little alien, which is what we were going for with Oppenheimer, I think,” Murphy says. He holds onto my phone, looking at Bowie. “One of the greats. That last album [“Blackstar”] was f—ing extraordinary. What a gift to leave us with. Nobody else could have gone out like that.”

Murphy’s most striking feature — his piercing blue eyes — have been noted at length, for good reason. “Oppenheimer” co-star Matt Damon notes how he’d find himself distracted working with Murphy. “It’s a real problem when you’re doing scene work with Cillian [because] sometimes you find yourself just swimming in his eyes,” he told People.

Those eyes are what first attracted Nolan to him. The filmmaker was leafing through a newspaper while writing “Batman Begins” and came across a photo of Murphy from “28 Days Later.” He couldn’t shake the image of this actor with a shaved head and “crazy eyes” and made a note to meet with Murphy for Batman, a role that eventually went to Christian Bale.

They’ve now made six movies together, with Murphy playing the menacing Scarecrow in the “Dark Knight” trilogy, a petulant business heir in “Inception” and a character known simply — and quite accurately — as “Shivering Soldier” in “Dunkirk.” They share a mutual interest in conveying a character’s emotional conflict through close-ups that linger on an actor’s face and allow the audience to feel inner turmoil. In Oppenheimer’s case, it was the searing anguish of a man a bit late to realize and appreciate the consequences of what he’d created.

“To me, great screen acting is all about ‘show, don’t tell,’” Murphy says, “and being able to transmit emotion and energy just by force or presence or charisma.”

I ask him about influences in that regard, but Murphy demurs, saying that if he starts listing actors, he’ll wake up in the middle of the night, thinking, “F—, I left that person out.” He reiterates that his favorite movie moments aren’t big set pieces but watching actors in reflection, inactive, doing nothing, but revealing everything. “I find that compelling in the highest order,” he says.

Murphy had ample opportunity to do just that in “Oppenheimer,” portraying a character caught in a moral dilemma of his own making.

“I knew it would have to be a quiet, small performance, because the themes are f—ing huge,” Murphy says. “What’s happening inside his heart and his mind can’t be painted big, particularly when it’s captured on an Imax camera and it’s going to be shown on a f—ing 80-foot screen. I knew it would have to be delicate and tiny, most of it.”

Murphy doesn’t like to dwell on what he did once call the “monastic experience” of the film’s 57-day shoot or on the months it took to decompress afterward. Such talk would be a little too close to the “Irish experience” Downey had mentioned. But all of these efforts did make me think about something that Emily Blunt, who plays Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty, in the film and worked with Murphy in “A Quiet Place Part II,” noted about him.

“She said that off set, you’re a hoot,” I tell him, fishing for an example or two. Murphy does not oblige, but he does express how his friendship with Blunt created a trust that informed their portrayal of lifelong partners.

“She’s also one of the funniest people, and I have a rule that I can’t work unless there’s a lightness around the set,” Murphy says. “There has to be some levity. A lot of the films I do are quite heavy and go to some dark, challenging places, and you have to be relaxed to do that. So I don’t walk around in a state of f—ing angst. I need to feel at ease. I can’t be in that dark place all the time. I don’t have the stamina for it.”

Murphy saw “Oppenheimer” at the film’s July world premiere in Paris. Two days later, he and the rest of the cast left the London premiere to show their support for the impending SAG-AFTRA strike. By the time he returned home to Dublin, his wife and sons had already seen “Barbie,” so Murphy went to the cinema by himself to complete the “Barbenheimer” experience.

How do you go incognito to the multiplex, I ask.

“I time going to movies very well now,” Murphy says. “With the ads and trailers, I always arrive a half hour late, slip in and then slip out.”

I grouse how that half hour feels like it’s getting longer by the year. Murphy agrees. And yet ...

“The greatest democratic collective art form is sitting in a darkened space with strangers,” he says. “To be part of a movie that people went to see multiple times and part of a great moment for cinema, that frenzy for those two films, was just lovely. I don’t know if we’ll ever see it again, but I’d like to hope so.”

[the-firebird69]

David Guetta - Titanium ft. Sia (Official Video)

mac daddy sent the order to pay our son and needed it so he had it done. trump was angry.  and the firm wiated.  and held it.  and then trump arrived sent it.  and to get him to storm and ruined mayer luce and permacs.  mac proper  yes.  and he went there...so they think.  looked like him scanned out as him.

mannerisms matched. nd all.  and he did not release it..and wont he says. need it and it is macs money they need it out.  a wr will strart shortly between them.

and he loses badly he said to alicia.  badly.  ad as venom and she venom caught up w him. and odd dna on the door.  they chceked it.  this is it they say we see it he mvoes them yeh hahahh what do yoiu think you do stop them by consternating them aangering them. spitting.  outrageous.

and off to Frank Castle Hardcastle ok

Thor Freya

and he sucks and is worse. this good. not huge but ok will be.

trump saw it no. will see the video and mac says it i hv or had a copy. not i.  and then this. why.  hahahah code by macs.  you knw aobut it saw it.  sid it is you no it wasnt it was trump and he is stupidll.....no.  was not him.  nor us.  nope. was his boddy and not tommyf.  he is a bud ok a mac yo pick on.  hated you badly still does.  owned the hawthorne mall.  sunk you  a lot an you kept coing so he issued the order. and they helped.

iside your body

Frank Castle Hardcastle

and fun he says it i have  sore  neck and doing some work

Duke Nukem Blcokbuster watch out idiots hahah lol wew hat you too ok

Olympus

[corahawkinsdarrahblr]

1893 in Durham

The year is 1893 in Durham, North Carolina. Julian Shakespeare Carr is the president of the William T. Blackwell Company. This company, with its playful bull painted on the sides of buildings all over the United States, has dominated the industry since the early 1870’s. But there is shift in the winds. Just across the street, the W. Duke Sons & Co. has found a way to stomp on the bull and put it…

[saphrxn]

how do you feel about batman?

my favorite version of bruce is an elsewords one that ppl meme on but. he is very special to me u just dont understand him

canon bruce is a jackass who treats the sidekicks like shit. but im of the opinion that only cass jason and tim he sees as his kids? steph is basically 'tims ex who works w us' and damien is 'kid that lives in my house' emotionally but he logically knows damien is his son. dick is his brother cos it makes the whole ward thing better to me, and this was there old relationship anyways . i hate batfam shit tho so i just dont look into what they all do 🤷🏽‍♂️ but truly only like Bruce when he's doing solo detective shit cos as soon as he's with other ppl it's like... Someone shut this rich bitch upp

[frogteethblogteeth]

ADA REHAN, “ The Water Lily.“ Issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. Lithography by Knapp & Company, 1889 

[bigskydreaming]

Which Super do you think it’d be fun to see Duke partner with for an adventure? I’m thinking Cir-El, cuz she’d be messy and ridiculous. Or Kenan, for similar reasons.

Assuming this is Jax (heh, sorry if its not, I just associate @co-superman with all Super fam asks), I'm not familiar enough with all the Super characters to have a strong opinion on this one over all....though I DO like Cir-El and think she could be a fun choice and just deserves more spotlight in general. She's a total drama queen and proud of it, and in general I don't think nearly enough of the Superfam lean into their potential as messy, dramatic disasters. Whereas Cir-El is like oh, the Batfamily did WHAT now? Hold my beer. I'll show them 'messy.'

That said, my love of Chris Kent must be noted, as well as my ire that the New 52 basically erased the version of Chris that was Clark and Lois' doted-upon adopted son.....and also worth mentioning is the fact that the key difference between pre-Flashpoint Chris and the New 52 version of Lor-Zod....is that Zod and his son Lor are now black. And villainous. (I mean obviously Zod was always a villain I'm just saying his son never had a villainous bone in his body until they reintroduced a black version of him and were like no heroism detected. That was definitely A Choice).

Soooooo I would not mind them revisiting Lor-Zod and giving him some much-needed nuance and perhaps blending the two versions of Chris/Lor in various ways....and I think Duke and any version of Chris could be a really interesting friendship.

I've actually written drabbles about Duke being friends with the pre-Flashpoint version of Chris Kent and I think the same basis could apply to him and a more heroic version of Lor being friends, so its not like its 'who are the black members of the Superfam, for Duke to be friends with' - I think that's a totally valid parameter for picking what characters to explore Duke's dynamics with, for the record, but it is one of those things that's gonna look different depending on WHO is using that as their parameter. Like me as a white person using that parameter is different from black fans going 'I just want Duke to have dynamics with characters who aren't white,' so I just want to note that distinction. For instance, I think Natasha Irons and Duke would totally respect each other, but I don't necessarily think they'd seek each other out as friends (but gimme a Natasha and Cass friendship omg I'd be so there.)

Sidebar, I have this headcanon that Cass just has a 'thing' for characters who are so passionate about a subject or hobby they hyper-fixate and it like, consumes every ounce of their attention and interest so basically all their body language is saying is different 'phrases' that are all just variations of 'omg this is so cool how can I express how much this is literally just the coolest thing ever let me count the ways.' Like I just think that's the sort of Mood that Cass is just like "I just think that's neat" in regards to, so I can totally see Natasha nerding out about some new invention or discovery of hers, and meanwhile Cass is just perched somewhere, watching intently with her head propped in her hands and making affirming noises at the appropriate intervals like no, tell me more, you're so right bestie and also pay no attention to the Giant Crush coming from my corner of the room, shhh, we're talking about your Invention, please continue.

Now, back to Duke, and with all THAT said, I do also want to note that one of the least explored but most interesting aspects of Duke's POWERS, specifically, is that thing he does where he's inherently like a Blue Lantern power ring (callback to my 'one of Duke's ancestors is the Blue Lantern version of Alan Scott, someone embodying the power of one of the emotional spectrum hues without being a ring-bearer' theory). But Duke's established as having an amplifier effect on the power of any and all superhumans in his vicinity....but to the best of my knowledge, we've only seen this with people with DC's metagene, so far? So I am curious to know if Duke's presence and aura could supercharge a Kryptonian's powers, but again, this is the kind of story beat that would come across VERY differently if Duke were just being utilized as a passive power-up for a white Kryptonian character, versus another black character being the one to benefit from this aspect of his powers in their version of a Superbat friendship.

Anyway, that's my long and rambling sorta-answer, thanks for the question!

[the-empress-7]

W C stands on a 400-acre (160 ha) estate in South-East England, near Reading and Sandhurst. The grounds of the college include a 9-hole golf course, extensive woodland, and many playing fields, particularly those for cricket and rugby. The woodland area of the college is listed as a local nature reserve called Edgbarrow Woods. The grounds also contain a Site of Special Scientific Interest, W C Bog.

Originally, the school educated sons of deceased officers who had held commissions in the Army. In 1952 a Supplementary Royal Charter extended the privilege of eligibility to the orphan sons of deceased officers of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force.

By the 1960s, the school was considering becoming co-educational, but for some years the lack of financial resources prevented it from doing so. The first girls were admitted into the Sixth Form in the 1970s, and the school became fully co-educational in 2005.

A recent change to the scheme of reduced fees early in 2006 extended the privilege to the orphan children of deceased servicemen or servicewomen of Her Majesty's Armed Forces irrespective of rank, and to the orphan children of persons who, in the sole opinion of the Governors, have died in acts of selfless bravery. However, only a minority of the children at the school now come from military families.

-------

The college was built as a national monument to the first Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), in whose honour it is named.

Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone in 1856 and inaugurated the School's public opening on 29 January 1859.

-----

Prep school is different in the UK to the US.

Christopher went to Summer Fields which is a prep school aka a feeder school to the likes of Eton, Marlborough etc.

Christopher went from Summer Fields and then onto Wellington.

-----

-----

I have combined the asks on this topic and am tabling the discussion for the time being.

[met-drawings-prints]

Card Number 16, Edith Kingdon, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes, W. Duke, Sons & Co., 1880s, Metropolitan Museum of Art: Drawings and Prints

The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick Size: Sheet: 2 5/8 × 1 7/16 in. (6.6 × 3.7 cm) Medium: Albumen photograph

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/645059

[petsincollections]

Wild Boar.

W. Duke, Sons & Co. Advertising Materials, 1880-1910

Digital Repositories at Duke

[victorianchap]

🔸 Card Number 16, Edith Kingdon, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes, W. Duke, Sons & Co., 1880s, Metropolitan Museum of Art: Drawings and Prints. #victorianchaps #vintage #advertising #celebrity #actress #edithkingdon #cigarette #retro #victorian #cabinetcard #1880s #fashion #goodolddays #history #portrait #beauty #nostalgia https://www.instagram.com/p/CRVponyArP9/?utm_medium=tumblr

[not404error1]

Humor

These are just little nuggets of gold that make me smile, some are Crack posts, Some are Crack treated seriously, Others just have lots of Sokka. 

Volatile  By  squirrellysemantics (AO3, E, 38658 w, crack treated seriously, secret relationship but the gang knows)                                                          Zuko can't quite handle the gift that the Firebending Masters have given him. Sokka lends a hand. Follows within canon up to a point from after the Firebending Masters. Much sex and silliness as well.

gone fishin' by lesmiserablol (AO3, G, 2531w, betrothal necklace, miscommunication, beto/hakoda, Hakoda POV, Iroh POV, Zuko POV, zuko goes icefishing, humor, fluff) 

“I would like to learn how to make a betrothal necklace.”

Hakoda nearly drops his fishing pole in surprise. Under normal circumstances, this would be a cause for celebration. He would take the lures out of Zuko’s hands and wrap him in a tight embrace. 

But under normal circumstances, he would know which of his children Zuko wants to propose to.

*a three part story of how Zukko and Sokka end up engaged*

Gossip Lord Zuko By RejectsCanon  @rejectscanon (AO3, M, 9757, Matchmaker!Zuko, humor, fluff, coming out, secret relationship)

Zuko was probably more involved in the gossip around the palace than he had any right to be.

It’s not his fault, it’s really not. It’s just that sometimes he’s sitting in the kitchens (the best place to get the gossip) drinking tea and trying to relax for once, and some of the kitchen staff will start gossiping where he can still hear them. He doesn’t really try to listen in; it’s not his place and he won’t judge the staff based on whatever rumors are running around, but Spirits is it interesting. He tries not to listen too much, or get too invested in it though. Gossip is gossip after all, and rumors hardly ever turn out to be true.

But Zuko absolutely needs to know if Maya from the laundry room broke up with her piece of shit boyfriend.

Or, 5 times Zuko got invested in/meddled in palace gossip, and 1 time he was the subject of the gossip.

*I love this so much it’s just sweet turtleduck zuko and him making peoples lives better*

Friends Don't Let Friends Fake Date Each Other By  naggeluide  (AO3, G, 5349w, Crack treated seriously, Fake relationships, coming out)

Toph demands that Zuko fake date her. This goes just about as well as can be expected. Sokka steps in to show them how it's done, and this goes a bit better than expected.

Baby Hotline, please hold (me close to you) by  crosspin  (AO3, T, 6546 w,  Modern AU, Zukko is an FBI Agent, Engineer Sokka, Humor, Fluff)

“And could you please verify your current relationship status? We need it for, um…” Zuko scrambled for an explanation and, unable to come up with anything halfway convincing, finished weakly, “tax purposes.” 

“Oh, me? I’m single. Very single. Single as a Pringle. But not like a Pringle in a thing full of other Pringles. I’m like, the last lonely Pringle at the bottom of the can.”

 Zuko is just a simple FBI agent trying to run a background check on Sokka, an engineer who's applied to work for the government, but Sokka's chaotic past is making the process...complicated. Still, Zuko doesn't mind too much as long as it means he can talk to the weirdly charming stranger

Wishful Thinking by mindbending  (AO3, T, Getting together, pining zuko, pining, sokka, oblivious zuko, humor, post canon)

Right after Boiling Rock, Zuko found Sokka sprawled in his tent with a bouquet of red roses, and a ring of romantic candles, and one final rose set between his teeth. With the littlest twinge of envy, Zuko realized the entire display was for Suki.

The point is Sokka's flirting is about as subtle as a buffalo yak. To miss it, you’d have to be a complete and utter airhead.

*one if my faves so cute and funny*

A Simple Lie and A Simple Misunderstanding by Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation (AO3, T, 6387, Secret relationship, pretend relationship, humor, Hakoda Pov (kinda) )

Hakoda thought he knew what the situation was with his children and their friends. Specifically, he thought he understood the situation between Katara and Zuko. Watching Zuko and Sokka interact now, however, and he's not so sure anymore.

What was Firelord Zuko playing at?

Based on the Tumblr post where Hakoda doesn't know which of his kids Zuko is dating.

Like father like son by AlyssiaInWonderland  (AO3, T, 2051w, angst, humor, coming out)

In which Zuko and Sokka are in a loving but secret relationship, Zuko mistakes Hakoda for Sokka, and it is Angsty as well as Humourous, because I, the author, have No Chill Whatsoever.

Based on the tumblr prompt: Zukka have just started courting when Hakoda makes an appearance (you can choose the setting). Zuko has forbade Sokka from PDA until they tell him. After a long day, Zuko confuses Hakoda for Sokka and horror sets in - on whose side, you decide lol

*one of my faves*

self-fulfilling prophecy by  agentandromeda (AO3, G, 1911w, fluff, crack treated seriously, pinning Zuko, humor)

Sokka thinks fortune-telling is bullshit, until Aunt Wu tells him he's going to marry the Firelord. Then he knows fortune-telling is bullshit

in other words by agentandromeda (AO3, G, 1267w, fluff, crack treated seriously, pinning Zuko, humor, katara pretends to be yue)

Zuko needs to talk to someone about his crush on Sokka. He decides to talk to the moon.

He doesn't expect the moon to talk back.

i don't think that man's ever been to therapy school by  agentandromeda (AO3, G, 1425w, fluff, crack treated seriously, pinning Zuko, humor, identity porn)

Zuko just needs someone to talk about his feelings with. Aang recommends definitely real therapist Wang Fire.

my condolences and congratulations by  jetlikelignite (AO3, G, 1628w, wang fire, humor)

Right before Fire Lord Zuko's wedding, Sokka completely unexpectedly and definitely actually dies. Probably. The Gaang makes their way to the Fire Nation for the wedding amidst this completely heartbreaking and legitimate tragedy that they're all handling suspiciously well.

*one of my faves*

The Duke's a Hazard by naggeluide  (AO3, T, 50868w, crack, kidfic)

Everything changed when the feral child attacked. Sokka and Zuko are stuck co-parenting the Duke, and the last half of Book 3 suddenly becomes a lot more chaotic.

marriage ceremonies by solemnlyremy ( AO3, G, 1873w, Humor, misunderstandings)

Hakoda was even more confused. He thought Fire Lord Zuko had been dating Sokka. Now, he couldn’t tell. Zuko was equally affectionate with both of them.

Open Arms by acezukos (purplefennels7) (AO3, G, 2264w, Crack, humor,  coming out)

Sokka tries to come out to his dad. It doesn't go exactly as planned.

or: sokka, panicking: you like guys!

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Lillian Randolph

Lillian Randolph (1914/1915) – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radio shows, motion pictures, short subjects, and television shows.

Randolph is most recognized for appearing in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Magic (1978), and her final onscreen project, The Onion Field (1979). She prominently contributed her voice to the character Mammy Two Shoes in nineteen Tom and Jerry cartoons released between 1940 and 1952.

Born Castello Randolph in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was the younger sister of actress Amanda Randolph. The daughter of a Methodist minister and a teacher, she began her professional career singing on local radio in Cleveland and Detroit.

At Detroit's WXYZ, she was noticed by George W. Trendle, station owner and developer of The Lone Ranger. He got her into radio training courses, which paid off in roles for local radio shows.

Randolph was tutored by a Caucasian actor for three months on "racial dialect" before getting any radio roles. She moved on to Los Angeles in 1936 to work on Al Jolson's radio show, on Big Town, on the Al Pearce show, and to sing at the Club Alabam there.

Lillian and her sister Amanda were continually looking for roles to make ends meet. In 1938, she opened her home to Lena Horne, who was in California for her first movie role in The Duke Is Tops (1938); the film was so tightly budgeted, Horne had no money for a hotel. Randolph opened her home during World War II with weekly dinners and entertainment for service people in the Los Angeles area through American Women's Voluntary Services.

Randolph is best known as the maid Birdie Lee Coggins from The Great Gildersleeve radio comedy and subsequent films, and as Madame Queen on the Amos 'n' Andy radio show and television show from 1937 to 1953.She was cast in the "Gildersleeve" job on the basis of her wonderful laugh. Upon hearing the Gildersleeve program was beginning, Randolph made a dash to NBC. She tore down the halls; when she opened the door for the program, she fell on her face. Randolph was not hurt and she laughed—this got her the job. She also portrayed Birdie in the television version of The Great Gildersleeve.

In 1955, Lillian was asked to perform the Gospel song, "Were You There" on the television version of the Gildersleeve show. The positive response from viewers resulted in a Gospel album by Randolph on Dootone Records.  She found the time for the role of Mrs. Watson on The Baby Snooks Show and Daisy on The Billie Burke Show.

Her best known film roles were those of Annie in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Bessie in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947).

The West Adams district of Los Angeles was once home to lawyers and tycoons, but during the 1930s, many residents were either forced to sell their homes or take in boarders because of the economic times. The bulk of the residents who were earlier members of the entertainment community had already moved to places such as Beverly Hills and Hollywood. In the 1940s, members of the African-American entertainment community discovered the charms of the district and began purchasing homes there, giving the area the nickname "Sugar Hill". Hattie McDaniel was one of the first African-American residents. In an attempt to discourage African-Americans from making their homes in the area, some residents resorted to adding covenants to the contracts when their homes were sold, either restricting African-Americans from purchasing them or prohibiting them from occupying the houses after purchase.  Lillian and her husband, boxer Jack Chase,  were victims of this type of discrimination.  In 1946, the couple purchased a home on West Adams Boulevard with a restrictive covenant that barred them from moving into it. The US Supreme Court declared the practice unconstitutional in 1948.  After divorcing Chase, Randolph married railroad dining car server Edward Sanders, in August 1951. The couple divorced in December 1953. 

Like her sister, Amanda, Lillian was also one of the actresses to play the part of Beulah on radio. Randolph assumed the role in 1952 when Hattie McDaniel became ill; that same year, she received an "Angel" award from the Caballeros, an African-American businessmen's association, for her work in radio and television for 1951. She played Beulah until 1953, when Amanda took over for her.

In 1954, Randolph had her own daily radio show in Hollywood, where those involved in acting were featured. In the same year, she became the first African American on the board of directors for the Hollywood chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

In William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoons at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio during the 1940s and early 1950s, she was uncredited for voicing the maid character, Mammy Two Shoes. She voiced Jerry Mouse in The Milky Waif (1946, uncensored version), in the scene where Jerry and Nibbles hide in the closet and disguise themselves as a pair of black people. The character's last appearance in the cartoons was in Push-Button Kitty in September 1952. MGM, Hanna-Barbera and Randolph had been under fire from the NAACP, which called the role a stereotype. Activists had been complaining about the maid character since 1949. The character was written out entirely. Many of these had a white actress (June Foray) redubbing the character in American TV broadcasts and in the DVD collections.

This was not the only time Randolph received criticism. In 1946, Ebony published a story critical of her role of Birdie on The Great Gildersleeve radio show.  Randolph and a scriptwriter provided a rebuttal to them in the magazine. Lillian Randolph believed these roles were not harmful to the image or opportunities of African Americans. Her reasoning was that the roles themselves would not be discontinued, but the ethnicity of those in them would change.

In 1956, Randolph and her choir, along with fellow Amos 'n' Andy television show cast members Tim Moore, Alvin Childress, and Spencer Williams set off on a tour of the US as "The TV Stars of Amos 'n' Andy". However, CBS claimed it was an infringement of its rights to the show and its characters. The tour soon came to an end.

Lillian was selected to play Bill Cosby's character's mother in his 1969 television series, The Bill Cosby Show.[8] She later appeared in several featured roles on Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons in the 1970s. She also taught acting, singing and public speaking.

Randolph made a guest appearance on a 1972 episode of the sitcom Sanford and Son, entitled "Here Comes the Bride, There Goes the Bride" as Aunt Hazel, an in-law of the Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) character who humorously gets a cake thrown in her face, after which Fred replies "Hazel, you never looked sweeter!". Her Amos 'n' Andy co-star, Alvin Childress, also had a role in this episode. She played Mabel in Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975) and also appeared in the television miniseries, Roots (1977), Magic (1978) and The Onion Field (1979).

In March 1980, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Lillian's daughter, Barbara, grew up watching her mother perform. At age eight, Barbara had already made her debut in Bright Road (1953) with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge.

Choosing to adopt her mother's maiden name, Barbara Randolph appeared in her mother's nightclub acts (including that with Steve Gibson and the Red Caps) and had a role in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). She decided to follow a singing career.

Randolph died of cancer at Arcadia Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, California on September 12, 1980, at the age of 65. She was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). Her sister, Amanda, is buried beside her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Randolph