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This is actually about @arustyspork

This was 100% their dynamic

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People said the queer coded villain was tired but I ask my fellow friends, romans and countrymen to remember Thomas Barrow. No man has ever nor can they ever serve that much evil cunt swag and all for a show whose median age demographic would probably be in the 60 range. Nobody has ever or will do it like him.

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Some thoughts on Thomas Barrow's background. Yes, he's a working class lad from Manchester, but ... consider the clock shop.

Clockmaking is a rather rare and highly skilled profession. Clocks are highly sought after and expensive. Owning a clock shop would mean money. Not riches, but money. And I'm assuming Mr Barrow Senior would be the owner, considering it was said he was "a clockmaker" not "working in a clock shop" or similar and Thomas "grew up around clocks" learning his father's skills.

The Barrows would be in the upper stratum of working class, maybe even lower middle class, not industrial proletariat. A certain standard of living. Probably living in a small but nice and tidy flat above the shop, not a draughty, mouldy, vermin-infested tenement flat. The mother would be a housewife and mother, probably helping her husband with keeping the books and other shop-related tasks, not a factory worker or domestic. They might even have had a domestic themselves – not full staff of course, but a charwoman coming in to help out or something.

Does that mean he had a good childhood? Yes. Not happy and loving, that much we know from canon, but stable, in the sense of having all the basic necessities met, not struggling from day to day. Thomas would've grown up fed, clothed, shod, clean, warm. Which, for a working class kid in Victorian times, already means a lot.

Thomas is well-read, educated, even knows a bit of Latin. Unlikely that came from nothing but basic schooling in a rough part of town, or a hobby while working gruelling 14 hour days in service. I'd like to think he would've gone to grammar school eventually, maybe on a scholarship, or at least gotten a solid education while apprenticing as a clockmaker with his father, as sons of craftsmen and tradesmen used to do these days.

And that's the difference between Thomas Barrow and someone like Daisy. The Barrows wouldn't be the kind of people, not from the sort of background where it'd be normal, and an opportunity, to send a barely adolescent son away to work. So to Thomas, a position in service doesn't necessarily mean an upgrade in class and status, he's not escaping abject poverty and some Dickensian hellscape.

Whether he made the conscious choice out of his own volition – knowing he didn't get along with his father well enough to work with him long-term, knowing that service was a good option for gay men, where he wouldn't be expected to marry – or whether he had no other options – my preferred headcanon, that he got outed, disowned, kicked out, and service seemed like the only sensible option when the alternative was manual labour, factory work. Having grown up in Manchester at the time he would've been aware of the brutal working and living conditions, the industrial slums, the workhouses; even if he knew he had to compromise on the standard of living he's used to, he knew he wouldn't be able to bear that, so service it is. But it still rankled. Especially when Carson, subtle as a German tank, reminds him over and over again how much of a blessing and a magically elevated position working as a servant is.

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thomas barrow and sarah o’brien are perfect because they’ll literally stick their necks out for each other and then decide to ruin each other’s lives when they get even slightly patronized by the other and then after nearly destroying each other’s lives they’ll just be like “game recognizes game—respect 🫡” and still be rooting for each other to succeed.

like sarah who has one of the most prestigious jobs among servants, is trying to get Thomas promoted at every turn even if they screw over bates (who is he, anyway? lord grantham’s friend? who gives a fuck?) like she just seeks out his company to share gossip and banter with this estranged and looked down upon gay man, and then uses her scheming to get him out of the war and beams like a summer sun when she sees him come back home.

then Thomas tries to sabotage her ambitions for her nephew and disrespects her and she’s like “bet” and literally exploits Thomas’ sexuality to the point that he’s looking at being basically jobless AND unemployable and possibly arrested. like he’s so DESPERATE that BATES his SWORN ENEMY is like “dude please just give me ammo I can use against sarah to get her to back off you.” like bates is begging Thomas to give him a reason to let him get off easy bc Thomas is all “wow she outplayed me and my life is over I can’t believe it but props where props are due.”

but then bates manages to neutralize the threat after Thomas realizes he actually still has some ammo and then sarah is off to another house of employment where she gets to live her dream of traveling and escape the scandal that could happen if word of what she did to lady grantham got discovered. but I’m almost certain it was because she could not stand Thomas lording it over her for the rest of her career. and you just know at the bottom of his heart Thomas is smirking to himself thinking “good for her.”

they hate each other, they love each other. they’ll start a phony business together and be there when the disappointment is too much to bear. they’ll stick out their necks for each other and then try to sink each other’s boat. they’ll encourage each other’s ambitions. they’re cynics and idealists. desperate for a better more exciting life. they understand each other. they’ll give each other good advice and then try to sabotage everything the other has worked for.

no one is doing it like them I fear

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The worst thing I've ever made. Over the course of three days, I scraped together this monsterous creation using only random shit i had in my house already. I dedicated a few hours each day to working on this awful stork. Between the night between days one and two, a double homicide occurred just down the road from the friends house I was staying at, and the murderer remains at large. The storks only aliby is that it was not yet stuffed at the time.

It should also be known this was for an "its a boy!" Themed birthday party for a friend who always has costume themed birthday parties and only recently finally got his gender marker and name changed on his legal documents this year, hence the party theme. Turns out this year was not a costume party... alas.

Materials used:

Some spare muslin i had

Stuffing left over from an evil muppet shoulder mount

A wizard staff made from half of a small (~16') tree I felled using a pocket knife and finished with wax from my own bees

Worlds cronchiest table cloth

Willow rods

Luum upholstery samples

Scrap from my favourite fabric ive ever used!! Its called "bee resilient" and is a birch bark biting pattern done by local Cree artist Pat Bruderer, aka. Halfmoon Woman. Shes amazing!! Check her out!!!

Shitty paint

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"i asked chatgbt-"

cool, i asked your garden variety three year old, and i still have more faith in my source than yours

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Oliver Stark always be saying 🤨🤨🤨

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Genuine question I desperately keed to know the answer to:

Do americans truly not say washroom?? Like, none of y'all??

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So, fun fact about the skinned FurReal pony - I got the ID wrong, but only because Smores and Butterscotch's necks are semi-fixed in position, and I didn't think to google if the image I had of Butterscotch was mirrored.

The skinned horse IS Butterscotch, not Smores, but all of that's besides the point.

The reason I'm making this post is that y'all need to know that they skinned Butterscotch to turn her into a flamethrower

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dark chocolate…..the taste of a older woman with too much love to give and no one to recieve it…….a conversational flavor indeed

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sure I could become a slut. but you see, I'm scared

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persephone and adam🔮

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Ahh i was wondering whether you’re looking forward to the graphic novel!! So excited for it. Have you seen the leaks? Do you have any opinions? :)

i have seen some ARC screenshots? are the full leaks circulating? i have debilitating fomo don't PLAY with me

i'm pumped, yeah! am eternally experiencing the tension of being an older fan and seeing these characters as the teens they truly are, and from the little i've laid eyes on it seems like the adaptors have sanded off some of maggie's iconic characterization choices in favor of YAifying it further. am i still reserving a weekend in august to kvell with @flightspathfic and @or-dhuilleag? yes.

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pynch moodboard bc i miss them dearly

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You'll always catch me thanking ao3 authors for their service.

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Mary Oliver, from “Moments.” [ID in alt text]