#normal british archives

[strange-creature-222]

RIP Hezekiah Wakely you would have absolutely loved Buried Alive by Creature Feature

[ratsin0rbit]

never would I have ever thought Jonathan sims would make a magnus protocol episode dedicated to mr blobby

[yumaisbored]

Mr. Spider just did not understand the concept of British hospitality, and that is the real problem here.

[deancaspinefest]

One Drop, when What You Need is the Ocean   |  Mature  |   47,442 

Author: Baileys | Artist: sidewinder

Cas disappears after leaving once again to help the angels.  With God gone, Mary defected to the British men of letters, and the other major players all on their best behaviour, Dean tries to carry on as normal, hunt the things and save the people.  But the longer time goes by without so much as a text, the more his worry spirals.

Then, just when all hope is lost, like the supernatural yo-yo he is Cas is back.  Only something or someone has siphoned off grace he didn’t have to spare.  As they embark on yet another case together, it’s a race against time to stop whoever it is from finishing the job and removing Cas from Dean’s life for good.

Link to fic  |  Link to art 

Pairings: Dean/Cas, (Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

Warnings: No Archive Warnings ApplyTags: Alternative Season 12, Hurt/Comfort, Case Fic, Hurt Castiel

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

For the anon who asked--

The Charlatan Duchess (TCD) was a blog back in the early Harkle/Sussex days that really focused on the contradictions and inconsistencies, if you will, that Meghan presented. Among their information, they had:

Receipts of edited articles and photographs.

Tea and gossip about the Sussexes from people in their circles.

Reports from people who were actually in/at/around where the Sussexes were doing engagements that contradicted their PR.

Meghan's old Tig articles and Instagram photos/posts that contradicted her Duchess narrative.

CopyKates and Diana 2.0 behaviors/outfits.

A running list of Meghan's fashion don'ts and royal mistakes.

TCD also had a pretty big compilation/collection of photographs and videos from Meghan's first pregnancy that pointed out things like varying bump sizes (bigger one day, smaller the next) and behaviors that were incongruent with normal pregnancy (like squatting down at 8 months pregnant with a huge belly and keeping her knees and ankles together).

They had a pretty big following here on Tumblr and there was a companion Facebook group. (It's not really clear if Tumblr was first or if FB was first.) You had to be a member of the Facebook group to see the FB comments, but the tumblr was wide open and anyone could see/send asks. I think the FB group and the tumblr blog were being run by two different people, or two different groups of people, because the FB and the tumblr didn't sound the same and didn't have the same tone in their coverage.

(I was on the FB group for a hot minute and it was so disgusting there that I noped out of it a couple days later. It was a very different place than the tumblr blog.)

At some point, the administrators of the TCD FB group began asking members for money/donations for charity, which people would send them, and they used relationships built within the TCD FB community to scam the members for more money, including selling their data (obtained from "friendships" and the membership questionnaire you had to complete to be added to the group). In April 2020ish, the TCD FB admins were doxxed. That information didn't match up to the information the FB group were told, and people started asking questions about the charity donations they had been sending to the admins.

I don't remember who the admins were pretending to be - maybe they were pretending to be British aristos?, but they ended up being an Air Force dependa and her mother, basically running a huge grift and scamming a lot of people out of money and data privacy.

Anyway, once the TCD FB fraud was uncovered, FB members turned on the admins. The admins turned on the group members and the FB drama spilled over to the TCD Tumblr group. The TCD Tumblr admin also got doxxed, began getting the same harassment as the FB admins - everyone thought they were the same person - and in early May 2020, the TCD tumblr admin deleted the blog to stop the harassment and doxxing.

So that's what happened to The Charlatan Duchess and that's why this side of tumblr (in general) gets nostalgic for her - a lot of us found each other through TCD and a lot of us had our own theories and opinions about the Sussexes validated through the receipts on TCD's blog.

You can still find some of the TCD posts floating around here on tumblr in the reblogs. Pretty much everyone who was around in 2017-2020 will have some TCD in their archives.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Meghan Markle's ancestors owned slaves by u/PolishedWoodTable

First of all I have to clarify that I've never commented on here before, but I've been approved to post because of the research I have to share.

So it's been well established that Meghan Markle is descended from Captain Christopher Hussey through her dad's side (https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a13810014/prince-harry-meghan-markle-ancestor-execution-study/). Captain Christopher Hussey was a rich colonialist. I was talking about it to my mom and she wondered if they owned slaves, because most rich colonialists did.

Genealogy is my hobby and I decided to do some digging. Guess what? They did!

Here's a quick family tree to show you how these people relate to Meghan:

And now some info about her ancestors:

Establishing that Stephen is the son of Christopher Hussey (Source: Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire)

Stephen was a powerful man, huge landowner, slaveholder, and by most accounts an all-round-jerk.

Stephen probably got his slaves from the West Indies. (Source: A Branch of the Hussey Family in America)

Stephen was the biggest landowner of his day. (3 houses!! No wonder he wanted slaves...) (Source: Nantucket Lands and Land Owners)

And here's the part proving Stephen was a slaveholder:

Stephen Hussey's will, leaving his slaves like property to his family (Source: Quaint Nantucket)

I don't have any ultra strong feelings on Meghan but considering like everything that she and Harry have said and done this really shocked me. I know Stephen isn't her direct ancestor, but still ultra weird.

And that's not even the part that shocked me the most...Meghan's director ancestors sold their land to Stephen and so directly profited from his landholding, slaveholding empire. Like...what?? Here are the images:

This ones shows that Huldah Hussey, Meghan's direct ancestor, married John Smith (Source: History of the Town of Hampton of New Hampshire)

And here is John Smith, Huldah's husband, selling his land to Stephen Hussey... (Source: The Pioneers of Maine & New Hampshire)

Aaaaand her director ancestor Christopher Hussey did the same. (Source: Nantucket Lands and Landowners)

I found all this in local New England history books. I can upload all the books somewhere so people can read them for themselves, and on top of the link at the beginning of the post, I also have all the records showing that Meghan IS descended from Christopher Hussey, but there are so many records I'm not sure where to start...whatever anyone wants me to upload just ask.

So...the big question is, does Meghan know this? It seems like a really big deal to me considering the HUGE conversation that's surrounded Meghan's background since she joined the Royal Family.

EDIT to say 2 things:

1. I don't think that your ancestry should have any bearing on who you are and how you're judged. In any normal honest context, it shouldn't ever be considered relevant and every human being should be judged by who they are and what they do, not by what their ancestors did. I for one know that some of my ancestors had slaves. That doesn't make me a racist, and any implication that it did would be totally unfair.

And that's exactly why I created this post -- because that's exactly what Meghan did about the British nation. She has implied from the start that she was rejected by the British ppl -- not just the RF, but everyone -- because of her race. She crafted a narrative that said the British ppl weren't ready to accept a black princess because of post-colonial feeling. She branded an entire nation as being racist simply because of who their ancestors are.

So I created this post to show just how hypocritical that narrative is.

2. Thanks so much for all the compliments from everybody for the work I put into this post, it means a lot!

📌 post link

📌 Post archive link

📌Link to digital format files for referencing

author: PolishedWoodTable

submitted: May 10, 2024 at 12:41PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[emeryhall]

🔥 🔥 🔥

“Smoking is the great romance of my lifetime. If I could find someone I wanted forty-five times a day, perhaps I could stop.” — Fran Lebowitz

* * *

Simon: why are there so many dicks, Penny?

Simon: I mean this is a lot of dick pics

Simon: is this normal?

OR: New York City firefighter Simon Snow mistakenly downloads Grindr instead of Tinder and falls for British arsonist Baz Pitch.

for @carryon-countdown day 16: smoke

chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5

[mobiuslab]

Reverse: 1999 seems unreal; too good to be true.

The reason I even took notice of it in the first place was its soundtrack. I hate jazz, but they made a jazz song that I actually like, and then there's ReReReRegulus!, what a banger. And then I watched the trailer, to get a feel of what the game is even about. First of all, the accents! Hello? I normally always play games in JP, but this game seems to be set not in some fictional world, but in our real world, in the real London, so the British English dub would be so much more immersive (but of course there are a lot of familiar JP seiyuu, I'm very conflicted.) If this game, unlike Genshin, has a good voice director, who actually does their work and tells the VA's how the character is supposed to sound, I might play in English tbh. As a former FGO player, traveling to the past isn't an entirely novel concept to me, however, we are going to the 20th century, which is quite interesting. I mean, think about it, the 20th century of our real world, there are so many fascinating historical events. And it seems that they are putting in much more effort in portraying the zeitgeist of the era than FGO ever did. The artistic direction seems to be on point for this game. Apparently there is a main character, with a canon personality and fully voiced dialogue. Hoyo making Honkai Impact 2.0's new MC a self-insert was the stupidest move, and I'm so glad that this game understands how much better a canon protagonist is. It really convinces me that they care about storytelling and characterization. The general artistic direction is so impressive, but the game itself also surprises me. The base rate of 6-stars is 1.5% (compared to Genshin and Star Rail's 0.6%) AND the soft pity starts at 60, with hard pity being at 70. There doesn't seem to be a weapon gacha and the dupes only increase skill multipliers instead of completely changing how a character can be played. At first, I thought it was unfortunate that pick-up rate was only 50%, but every character joins the standard pool, so losing the 50/50 won't be nearly as bad. Unless the gacha currency economy is completely fucked, this seems extremely generous. The combat is thankfully not one of those god-awful auto-fights like Blue Archive or PriConne, but it's turn-based, which is much more engaging, allowing for challenging battles that actually pick your brain and require some skill.

However, there is an auto-mode for the mundane stuff, and get this, you can record your actions, rather than having an AI do everything wrong. And thankfully, there is no PvP, so you don't need to compete with whales. Knowing all this, I really have to wonder, where is the catch? There must be some huge flaw, right? It is as if the devs of Reverse: 1999 looked at all the complaints and criticism of all other gacha games, and just decided to address all of them. As long as the game doesn't have a huge reliance on meta characters to clear endgame content and event-limited content and the writing doesn't absolutely suck, then this game might be the perfect gacha game. I'm so excited to give it a try!

[laurolive]

Paul and Linda, a collection of PDAs: Part 1 - Kisses

In our walk down the memory lane of Paul and Linda’s love story, which still captivates the romantics and the expressive artists out there, we start with an excerpt of an interview.

Rolling Stone cover June 17, 1976: “Yesterday, Today, and Paul.” In this interview, Paul says something interesting:

I mean, I kissed Linda onstage the other night, and for me, that’s kind of, ‘Wow, I must be getting real relaxed,’ ’cause I can’t do that in public, normally. I’m a bit kinda shy.

Paul McCartney shy about showing affection? Well, artists are certainly a different breed. He can sing a heartfelt love song in a venue full of people, but has to work up the courage to give his wife a little kiss? As photos will tell, he soon got over that quirk.

And even before this RS interview, he could certainly be demonstrative when a photographer or videographer was around, whereas the average person would be more guarded knowing that their tender moment would soon be out there as a picture in a magazine or a video clip on TV (we’re talking pre-internet days here).

RS Interview from The Paul McCartney Project

The 1970s: Not Exactly in Public, but There Must Be Someone Holding The Camera

1970 or 1971. Aww, so sweet.

June 1971 The video for the song “Heart of The Country” was made in Scotland. Is that a kiss? We might have to examine the still pic below. 

June 1971 A still image from the “Heart of The Country” video. I’ll count this as a kiss.

1974 In the garden of their house with baby Stella between them. It’s a published pic, so I’m counting it as a public kiss. (An “almost-kiss” but close enough.)

1974 Photoshoot for the Apr. 7, 1974, issue of New York News magazine. The cover story was "Just an Old Fashioned Beatle: An Exclusive Visit with Linda and Paul McCartney." Aww, lips softly touching the cheek is something I’m going to classify as a kiss.

Magazine article: @johnflyons.beatles on instagram

Post-1970s: Now We’re Really in Public

Sept. 21, 1982, at Linda's first photography exhibition in London. Photo © Robert Rosen. Rosen talks about the snap in this excerpt from an interview with I-D magazine:

What's one photo you're really proud of? Robert Rosen: I love the shot of Paul and Linda McCartney kissing. As soon as I had it developed I just thought, wow, I did that. I sent them a print but didn't hear anything more until a few months later, when, Paul and Linda turned up to a gallery event I happened to be at. At one point, Linda tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Are you ignoring us?' She gave me a big hug and told me they loved the photo. That obviously meant a great deal to me.

From The Guardian archive, 21 September 1982: First London exhibition for Linda McCartney

I-D Interview with Robert Rosen Sept. 20, 2017

November 26, 1982, in Paris, France during photography month. An exhibition of Linda’s photographs was part of the event. Okay, his lips are just grazing her hair, so I’m going to call this a “hair kiss.”

Feb. 8, 1983 The 1983 British Record Industry Awards. Paul gets a congratulatory kiss from Linda after winning the 1982 British Male Solo Artist award and the Sony Trophy Award For Technical Excellence. The Beatles won the Outstanding Contribution to Music award.

More pics: The Paul McCartney Project

The same 1983 British Record Industry Awards. Two kisses in one night! Paul can’t hide his surprise.

Nov. 28, 1984 Another congratulatory kiss from Linda as Paul is presented with the Roll of Honorary Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

October 16, 1986 British Video Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

Rupert and The Frog Song awarded the Best Selling Video of 1985

April 4, 1989 Ivor Novello Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel. Paul wins, Linda gets a kiss (so they both win 😊).

July 29, 1990 Backstage during the Paul McCartney World Tour 89/90 at Soldier Field Chicago. Linda is bidding farewell to Paul as she heads for the dressing room and he to the press tent.

From I Saw Him Standing There, Jorie B. Gracen, 2000. @thebeatlesofoz2 on Instagram

April 27, 1994 Press Conference for Linda's Home Style Cooking at Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Paul comes out to endorse Linda’s book, and greets her with a kiss.

Video clip of Paul’s entrance from CelebrityFootage.com

1997 from the video for the song “The World Tonight”

1997 A kiss in the studio, from the documentary In The World Tonight.

Let’s see the whole sequence of that kiss, right from the beginning:

Bonus: Wedding Kisses March 12, 1969

You go Linda! Give your groom a kiss like the cameras aren’t around.

Everyone’s relationship dream: Get someone to look at you the way Linda looks at Paul here.

[codebianchi]

The Sons of Sisyphus Pt. 2

summary: alex, george, and lando all entered formula one as rookies in 2019. with their own individual struggles, the trio has managed to morph themselves into their own versions of sisyphus

Lando was glad to step into the spotlight of Formula One with his friends. Not being the only rookie on the grid gave him a sense of friendship that he so desperately searched for. He craved the friendships that he knew he could never have as a child - a normal school experience being robbed from him in exchange for an immense talent in a sport he more than willingly devoted himself to. Because of this, the Brit found himself to be fiercely loyal to his trio of rookies that he had come up with. He was loyal like a dog, through and through.

The British boy was excited to be welcomed onto the McLaren team. He found comfort in the loudness of the orange that adorned every article of his clothing. Maybe it was comforting to finally not be the loudest thing in a room, or maybe it was nice to have something similar to him that it could mimic a false delusion of being home. Whichever one it was, it didn’t truly matter. It’s not that it didn’t matter to the boy, but it didn’t affect his performance so it was pushed aside to focus on what kept him in the bright color. He still wrapped his fingers around the wheel. His foot still reached the pedal.

Not only was the boy fervently loyal to his team and trio, but he was to his teammate as well. He would lay it all down on the line for his teammates, teammates who would be swept away with the tides of each season. He was left chasing them out into the ocean, praying that each step he took would be on stable enough ground so that he wouldn’t be washed away and forgotten under the waves. It came easy for him to run after a while. The sand stopped shifting from under his feet as if to let him plummet and rather sucked his feet into stability as he chased the stability he desired the most. It was always fleeting. He craved the wet sand which stuck him in his place, but whenever he touched the shoulders of his teammates, they would crumble and fade like a weak, dry sandcastle, leaving him with nothing more than handfuls of sand to wish upon as if it was stardust.

[rubydubydoo122]

Jason gets de-aged because I've seen fics of Tim or Dick being de-aged, and Bruce losing his memory, but no one has realized the potential for angst if you de-age Jason.

Zatanna had something come up. So of all people she could have sent to replace her, she sent Constantine. Bruce really didn’t know if his luck could get any worse. At least 15 year old Jason liked his accent. 

Constantine was a really capable sorcerer, he was just really hard to work with. Worse than Hal Jordan. Though, if they wanted to get Jason back to normal, they would have to accept Constantine. 

“Hey, Batman! Go back down into the cave, and send Bruce up. I want him instead of Brood and Gloom.”

Bruce was suddenly brought back to the breakfast table. In all of his 41 years of living, he had never seen Alfred smile this big, “That’s my boy.”

Jason beamed at that.

Bruce’s phone pinged. He didn’t even have to look to know it was Dick sending him a ‘Rule #2’ . That’s all his messages with Dick consisted of. Mostly rule #2’s, some rule #3’s, and the occasional rule #1. All in all, Bruce was doing relatively good. He was definitely avoiding Jason more, but if he was around him too much, the only thought that started to fill his brain was his cooling body in his arms. So he toed the line. And he doesn’t think Jason noticed all that much, because whenever Bruce wasn’t with him, one of his children was.

“Constantine’s coming instead of Zatanna.” Bruce finally said, “I think I should be allowed to brood a little bit.”

“ Don’t get your knickers in a twist , old man.” Jason actually had a really good Liverpool British accent, “Mr. Constantine’s not that bad.”

“I just hate magic.” Bruce didn’t grumble. He was too old to grumble like a toddler.

Jason looked himself over and then put a hand to his chest in fake offense.

Bruce’s phone pinged again, “Dick, will you stop that!” 

But it wasn’t Dick, because Dick was holding a fork and knife in his hands and mid-bite.

Bruce dug out his phone.

“ Is the bloke with the sparkly fingas here? ”

That earned a snicker from Duke, Dick and Tim.

Bruce stood up at the same time Tim said, “I’ll give you five dollars if you say that to his face.”

“Oh! Abso–”

“..Lutely not, Jason. To the cave. Let's go.”

Jason slid out of his chair without noise and followed.

Constantine was already in the cave, and smoking a cigarette. 

“Hi, Mr. Constantine!” Jason practically glided down the stairs, as Bruce strode down at a normal pace.

“Hello there, Jason. I reckon you were a bit taller the last time I saw you. Bruce.”

“Constantine. I’m assuming Zatanna filled you in?”

“Yeah yeah yeah. I’m offended you didn’t call me first. I thought we were mates.”

Bruce just raised an eyebrow. Constantine squirmed a bit, and Jason shot Bruce a grin. A grin that was so reminiscent of the way Jason used to look at him after he cuffed a bad guy. Before Fellipe Garzona had fallen off that roof. Before Gloria Stanson had hung herself.

“Alrighty! Let's check out what kinda curse you’ve got going on. Brucie, would you mind taking a couple steps back, love?”

He did, and as soon as Bruce was out of range, Jason was surrounded in a dome of golden runes. Bruce didn’t miss the way Constantine frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“The little birdie here has a lot of magic knotted all up together.” Constantine started searching through the runes, “Was it you or the Demon child that– Aha, knew it was you. Your soul’s got dimensional ripples.”

Jason frowned, “Heh?”

Bruce blinked, Dimensional ripples? Clark, Lois, and Jonathan had somehow been transported to this dimension before their souls had merged with their counterparts… who had died. Was that what happened with Jason? Maybe he should talk to Barry when all of this is over.

“And you’ve got some leftover Lazaru– Blimey! You have access to the All-Blade?”

Jason shrugged, “I don’t really like beyblades.”

“That’s not what the All-Blade is. It’s–” A set of runes began to glow, and the borderline fangirl look on Constantine’s face immediately dropped. “Jesus...”

“I have access to Jesus?” Jason touched his forehead, then his left shoulder and then his right, “Thank you, father, son, and the holy spirit. Amen.”

Bruce ignored Jason’s prayer, “What’s wrong?”

The dome of runes disappeared, “...I’ve got good news and bad news?”

He gave Constantine a look.

“Um, good news is, the spell looks like it’ll wear off on its own…” Constantine tried for a sheepish smile, but immediately dropped it, “bad news is, it isn’t supposed to? The magic is interacting with the dimensional ripples, and I can’t touch any of it because it’d be like…”

“Disarming a bomb?” Jason supplied. And Bruce had to suppress the urge to flinch at that analogy.

“Yes. Yes exactly, but one wrong move–”

“Boom.” He mimicked an explosion with his hands. ”But you said it’ll wear off on its own, so it’s fine. Right?”

Constantine winced and a ringing was starting to form in Bruce’s ears as he grabbed Constantine by the tie and started dragging him up the stairs.

“Stay here, Jason.”

“Bruce–”

“I said stay !” Jason flinched at his tone, but Bruce and Constantine were already in the study. “Explain.”

Constantine fixed his tie, “Whatever magic he got hit with didn’t just affect him physically, it also affected his soul. I think, if we’re going off of what happened to Clark and Lois, his soul merged together with his soul from an alternate dimension, causing it to be all… rippley. I can’t fully tell what it’s going to do, but in a couple of days, it looks like it’ll in about two or three days? There’s a 50/50 chance– or I guess, a 25/25/50 chance– that he’s going to either go back to normal, stay this way or…”

It was the 25th. two days from today would make it…

The 27th of April.

It suddenly felt like the ground underneath them was turning or tilting, or hell, both.

Bruce had gotten him back. He’d gotten him back, he can’t leave again. He can’t lose him again, he can’t die again.

Jason found it very rude that Bruce and Constantine were obviously leaving him out of the conversation about him. It completely baffles him how Bruce was raised by Alfred, yet had no manners. He wasn’t even subtle about it. 

Constantine said the spell would wear off. So why did he look like he was about to say something was wrong. Like really wrong. Sure, trying to tamper with whatever was going on would be… bad, but they weren’t gonna mess with it. They would just wait for it to wear off.

Would he physically go back to normal, but he would never remember the past five years? Or was he slowly going to become younger and younger until he was just a literal fetus flopping around on a table? 

Why won’t anyone tell him anything? It would be so much easier if they did. 

Jason eyed the Batcomputer and then the stairs. There was no one else here, no one to stop him from learning by himself.

He opened up the batcomputer, and the first thing he noticed was that everything was filed differently. Instead of being alphabetical, the missions were sorted into who had the mission and the date. For some reason, Jason’s folder had the least amount of missions under it, even though the folder itself was older than Duke’s. 

Still, he clicked on it, only to find that the oldest mission was less than a year ago. Not helpful.

Maybe if these were sorted recently, some of the older mission reports that he did with Bruce would be in Bruce’s folder.

Bruce’s most recent mission was called “Fun Sized Jason”. Guess that would be him. Jason clicked on it and… Bruce is a much sadder man than Jason had given him credit for. And Jason was currently upset at Bruce for snapping at him, and Bruce had obviously snapped because he was being broody. This man. Couldn’t even follow his own rules.

Rule #3 Don’t let Jason know something’s up between your relationship with him 

What was ‘up’ between him and Bruce? If anything, Bruce has been a lot more patient with him.

Unless Bruce was acting. And Bruce could act, Jason had seen him at Galas.

No. He couldn’t have been. Bruce had said he’d give him the world. And he said it in the way that made Jason know he was telling nothing but the truth. 

But that first night Bruce wouldn’t even look at him.

No. Bruce had to have been telling the truth.

But the longing and the guilt and regret… Maybe Jason had done something to Bruce, the same way he did something to Tim and Damian. Jason still didn’t know what exactly that was, just that he felt bad about it.

Jason exited out of that mission statement and started scrolling down to April of 2018. And there were a lot of cases. A part of Jason was glad they were re-organised by date because it would’ve taken a lot more work to try to figure out the name of the file, and then find the file.

Ethiopia: Sheila Haywood, the Joker, and Jason Todd – 4/24/2018- 4/27/2018

Bingo. The first date lined up with the last date in his notebook. He double clicked on it, when a locked symbol came up followed by a space for a password.

Great. Just perfect. 

He tried the password Bruce used on most things.

Wrong.

Bruce’s birthday?

Wrong again.

Jason’s Birthday. Since the file seemed to be about him.

Oh yeah! Who has the best guessing skills? Jason does. He did a little victory spin in the chair, but when he went to look back at the computer, there was a Tim shaped wall blocking his view.

He tried to look around him, but Tim shifted to block him again.

“Timmy, Timbooo, my favorite brother-o. You’re blocking my view, Hermano.”

Tim gave him a look that was scarily similar to Bruce’s bat-glare. 

Jason tried to look around him again, but suddenly, he was being tossed over Tim’s shoulder, and they were moving farther and farther from the computer.

“Hey! I was obviously in the middle of something!”

Tim snorted, as he started up the stairs. “I could bring up a spreadsheet of all the times you’ve done this to me. We’d be here for hours.”

Jason licked his finger and twisted so that he could stick it in his ear. Good news was, it made Tim let Jason go. Bad news was, it made Tim let Jason go, and sent Jason tumbling down the cave’s stairs.

“Jason!”

Lucky for Jason, he was a fast recoverer, and made an immediate beeline to the computer. 

After escaping Arkham Asylum, The Joker had made his way to Ethiopia. Jason had come across the information that Sheila Haywood was his birth mother. Haywood had been a doctor who was working at a refugee camp, also located in Ethiopia. Without my knowledge or Alfred’s, Jason traveled to meet up with his mother. 

Jason and I had managed to cross paths in Ethiopia, when we soon learned that Haywood was being held ‘hostage’ by the Joker. I went to go check on some other thing that had come up, and I had told Jason to stay put, but instead he had gone to attempt to save Haywood. Which led to Jason getting hurt by the Joker.

Jason started to scroll down more, the screen went black.

Tim was standing next to the outlet with the power cord in his hand.

Suddenly all the scars on his hand looked interesting, “Is.. Are most of my scars from the Joker?”

Jason heard Tim’s feet shuffle across the flood of the batcave, “I don’t think I’m the person you should be having this conversation with.”

“But it was bad enough to the point where I needed a Lazarus pit to get better. It was bad enough to the point where I had to stop being Robin.” Because why else would Tim start hanging around the manor when he was 13? Why else would Bruce adopt him? “And you were Robin after me?”

A beat, “Yes.”

He thought back to the conversation he had in the bathroom with Tim, “So, I didn’t grow out of being Robin. I was… forced into retirement. By the Joker.”

“That’s… the easy way of putting it.” Tim took one of Jason’s hands, “I want to show you something.”

They both went over to the locker area and Tim opened his locker and pulled out a shoe box from the top. “I guess since you knew I was a little stalker back in the day, there should be no reason for me to feel embarrassed for showing you these.” He moved to the bench and opened the lid. 

Inside the box were a bunch of photos of Batman and Robin. Of Bruce and Jason. Tim handed him a couple. The first one was of Jason when he had just become Robin. He was talking animatedly while walking with a teenage girl. He remembers that night.  Her name was Angela, and she had been followed for a couple of blocks by a bunch of older guys, and Jason couldn’t let her go home alone. Not with how cruel the streets could be. 

The next one was of Jason cradling a baby. The mom had been separated from the baby during an Ivy attack. 

The last one Tim had handed to him was of Batman and Robin in an Alley. They had just taken down a bunch of thugs, and Jason was talking with the two kids, Gavin and Evan, while Batman was farther off, with a fond smile on his face, looking at Jason. 

“Robin is the light to Batman’s darkness. Hope to his fear. Every Robin gave light, but out of all of us, you shined the brightest. You were the people’s Robin, you cared about them so much, like each and every one of them are your brothers and sisters.” Tim pointed at the picture in Jason’s hand, “Your light was so bright, you made Batman smile. And that isn’t the only picture I have like that.” He put his hand on Jason’s elbow, “I could never come close to the Robin you were, but I always tried. You were like the Sun. And I could never take your place. Not really, but I tried my best to do what I thought you would. To make you proud. Even though… you didn’t really like me when you found out.”

“No. I like you. It’s just…” Jason could feel his eyes burn, “If I got hurt, really bad, bad enough to the point where I couldn’t be Robin anymore, why would Bruce let there be another one? When- When it could happen again? Or even worse. ”

Tim closed his eyes, “When the Joker did what he did to you, it sent him down a dark path. He was barely holding back his punches and he was barely dodging them either. Batman needed a Robin and—“

“I wasn’t there.”

“No! Jason, it wasn’t your fault. You were going through some of the worst moments of your life, it wasn’t your job at that time to be Robin, or emotionally babysit Bruce while he fought crime to deal with his trauma.”

“But you were, what? 13 at the time with no legal obligations to him. It shouldn’t have been your job either.”

Tim blinked, “ah, fuck.” He sat criss cross on the bench and turned so he was fully facing Jason, “point is, it was just a bad time. Bruce kicked Dick out of the Manor, The Joker had diplomatic immunity, which still does not make sense to me, but then he was sent back to Arkham. Bane broke Bruce’s back, some psycho took over being Batman and would not let Dick and I in the cave, but then Bruce got better and became Batman again. Superman died, but then he came back. Then Bruce got framed for murder, and then the riddler and clayface teamed up with this whole convoluted plot which involved Clayface showing up as you and trying to kill us and Bruce probably needed therapy, but he was too much of a stubborn ass to ever actually go.” Tim finally took a breath. 

Jason blinked, “That’s a really rough five years.”

Tim groaned and leaned his head on Jason’s shoulder, “That was only two.” 

“Then it was probably a… shittier five years.” Jason patted his head, “Thanks, Tim.”

Tim glanced at Jason, “For what? I literally just trauma dumped on you.”

Jason shrugged, “Yeah, but you also gave me more information about what the hell is going on around here than anyone has in the past two days. Maybe a lot of the things that happened sound horrible, but it’s better than not knowing. Ya know?”

Jason felt Tim nod, “I’m sorry we’ve been keeping it all from you. It’s not something Bruce likes to talk about, and for Dick being the next adult who isn’t emotionally constipated, he evades certain topics like the plague.”

Jason snorted, “Wanna know something I’ve been completely baffled by?”

Tim sat up, “What?”

“Dick isn’t… wallowed up in angst. Him and Bruce haven’t had a single argument, and Dick…he’s a lot different. So is Bruce.” Jason thought about it for a moment, “Am I different too?”

Tim smirked and dug out his phone, “Mentally, Emotionally, or Physically?” Tim angled the phone so Jason could see, and it was a picture of a man, kneeling and talking to a little girl. There was a red helmet on the floor, but the man had a domino that covered his eyes. Tim swiped to the next one, of older Jason helping an old lady across the street. He swiped again to a photo of him holding Damian in a firefighter’s hold. “You might be a lot rougher around the edges, but everyone changes with time, especially with the things you’ve gone through. Yeah, you might be different, but I think you’re still the same in the ways that it counts.”

Jason looked at the photo. Without the domino, or the helmet he could really see how he had grown into his features, “I look a lot like my papi,” He looked back at Tim, and then pointed upwards to where Bruce had gone, “But I think I learned how to help from my dad.”

[murderandcoffee]

I'm sorry I sent the ask too early-

Can i get some of your tma character design hcs

👉👈

well of course you can! sorry it's taken me a bit to get to this ask, I'm uh. bad at keeping up with messages lmao

okay so quick disclaimer: I didn't have solid visual ideas of all the tma characters--details would change or shift or whatever, so I'll only list some major ones/the ones I really imagined well

jon:

I see jon as a japanese-british guy who's like 5'6"/5'7" (168-170cm) with a bit of a dad bod. stern-looking, with short black hair that's graying around the temples, and some well-kept facial hair. I imagine him growing his hair out over the course of the show. he's also got glasses. I've drawn my interpretation of jon a couple of times--check out my bs.art tag if you wanna see it!

martin:

uh oh this is the one that could get me in trouble with the fandom. now listen: I had NO contact with fandom interpretations of the characters when I listened, so there was no influence from fanon designs. the martin in my head is a very tall, very lanky, awkward trans guy with blue eyes, shaggy blond hair, and a crooked smile. he's got freckles and glasses, and moves kind of like he's still a teenager getting used to how long his limbs are after a growth spurt.

sasha:

okay so the way I imagined sasha is actually pretty close to a lot of fan interpretations! I see her as a tall-ish, well-put-together, academic-looking black woman with glasses and a natural hair. I picture her wearing a lot of skirts and sweater vests. she's definitely the most professional-looking of the archival staff in my mind.

tim:

I'm not gonna lie I really pictured tim for longest time as tim wright from marble hornets. I kinda still do. tall white guy with dark hair, sideburns, and expressive eyebrows. goofy and expressive. not much else I can say for him lmao.

michael distortion:

this is another one where the picture in my mind is waaaaay different from popular fanon. the distortion, to me, was not psychedelic-eyestrain-tie-dye-colorful. it was more of a black and white, reality but a little to the left, slenderman-/cryptid-esque vibe. definitely inspired by the visual auras I get from migraines. the distortion looks completely normal until you see its reflection/see it through a warped pane of glass, then it's all sorts of fucked up! but fucked up in a take too much nyquil and see the hat man sort of way, instead of a take too much acid and see god sort of way.

gerry:

I believe in natural redhead gerry

basira:

okay okay another one that people are gonna disagree with. the basira in my head does not wear a hijab. she's got her hair slicked back into a tight, military-style bun. brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin, some moles and freckles, some scars, no-nonsense, take-no-shit attitude.

daisy:

the daisy I picture is a small firecracker of a woman. she's dangerous the way brass knuckles are dangerous--sure they fit in the palm of your hand, but they will deliver blows that you won't ever recover from, if you're lucky enough to survive. she's covered in scars, muscular, very pale (I see her mostly as a redhead), and with some tattoos, too. sometimes I picture her as blonde, but I like ginger daisy.

melanie:

I've drawn my version of melanie! I see her as desi/south asian, with wavy brown hair and brown-green eyes. I hc that she dyes her hair red, but once she's infected with the slaughter it starts staying that way (un)naturally. she's short in my mind, probably a few inches shorter than jon.

I don't have much for elias, georgie, or helen, really. their designs kind of shift around in my head. I feel like I'm forgetting characters, but oh well!

I've drawn a few not listed here (annabelle, agnes)

if there are any characters in particular that you're curious to see how I envision them, lemme know!

[wisteria-lodge]

Assorted historical notes for the first chapter of my jedtavius fic (happy pride everybody...)

~ Romans took their public baths extremely seriously, and setting one up would be high priority for a garrison stationed out in the territories (basically the situation in these movies?) Nudity in the context of baths was just normal.

~ For some reason, Octavius wears his cape slung across his chest

instead of pinned to his shoulder(s) like a Roman cape.

If anything, this seems to be riffing on the 1600s half-cape, which is often strung cross-body like that in a sort of Renaissance *costume.*

Note: these are both modern historical costumes. It seems in the actual 1600s it was more normal to just sort of balance your capelet on one arm, or wear it over both shoulders (like when you wear a big coat without putting your arms through the sleeves.)

1600s capes are especially annoying to study, because basically all of them were tailored into 1700s coats, but WHATEVER.

(diegetically, since Octavius the tiny Roman lives in a museum, I guess he could be influenced by the 1600s cape costume, and just decide to wear his cape like that.)

~ “Sinister” is just Latin for “on the left side.” Couldn’t resist a latin joke.

~ Roman orgies and sex parties were not really all that common. Like sure, they're brought up in the context of Caligula, Nero, Tiberus - the classics. But, your Roman writers historians and archivists were extremely political, and when you hear about this stuff there is always a political motive behind it, and almost certainly some exaggeration. Roman writers loved their gossip.

However, as a literary trope 'the Roman orgy' is extremely important. Most people in the buttoned-up 1800s saw Rome as this fascinating but immoral free-for-all, and we haven't totally shaken that off. And since Octavius is written as a slightly comic version of our current cultural idea of ‘Roman’... orgies are absolutely part of that.

(It’s the same reason I threw in the two-handed ‘Roman Handshake,’ even though as far as I can figure out, it was invented for a production of Julius Caesar in 1898. Romans seemed to just - shake hands.)

~ One of the interesting thing about the The Night at the Museum franchise is its interest in exploring the 21st century Idea of a Roman, the Idea of a Cowboy, the Idea of Theodore Roosevelt (even more than the historical reality.) It's a plot point that Museum Exhibit!Teddy knows that he's not Teddy Roosevelt, and kind of struggles with the symbolic importance people give to him. Octavius is very much a Movie!Roman, not a History!Roman. Even the fact that he's played by a British actor with a very British accent makes him seem like a background Roman General in Ben-Hur, here to deliver a letter, say "Yes sir, the rebels have returned from the provinces with new allies," and then die half an hour from the end to raise the stakes.

The exception to this is Ahkmenrah, who as a mummy that comes to life, is not a museum exhibit, he's just A Guy. He's not engaging with, or symbolic of 21st century tropes and stereotypes surrounding the idea of "pharaoh." He's just a person doing his own thing. Compare this to Kahmunrah from the sequel, who IS both a pharaoh and an exhibit come to life. So of course he's all about the literary tropes historically attached to the linked ideas "pharaoh, desert, villain." He's sadistic, he's camp, he's super queer coded, he's got a lisp, and he's putting our hero in a hour-glass death trap just like Jafar.

[stephensmithuk]

The Sign of Four: In Quest of a Solution

You could find the back issues of most papers just by visiting a local library. Today, the British Newspaper Archive will, for a monthly subscription, allow you to look at a whole slew of vintage papers, including The Illustrated Police News for all your Victorian "true crime" reportage.

As mentioned before, a four-wheeler was a four-wheeled carriage with a driving seat on the top front and a luggage rack on the top; they costed more than the hansoms.

Doyle isn't very good with coming up with convincing Indian names, is he? Singh is the name used by a baptised male Sikh (Kaur is the female equivalent) i.e. a turban-wearing, dagger carrying one. Mahomet is a version of Mohammed.

The gas lights of London weren't hugely bright compared with modern street lights; you'd be able to find your way, but there's probably a decent chance you'd step in horse exhaust if you weren't careful.

The Lyceum Theatre, located on Wellington Street, dates back to 1765, but the current building is from 1834, rebuilt after a fire. It contains a balcony over the dress circle, a unique theatre.

GhostApple on Tumblr pointed out that Bram Stoker was the manager at that theatre at the time SIGN was released. The theatre at the time was run by Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, two of the biggest stars of their days, becoming Sir Henry and Dame Ellen later in life. Stoker based Dracula on Irving, but sadly Irving never actually played the Count on stage.

After a further rebuild, time as a ballroom, a demoliton threat and two closures, the Lyceum reopened in 1996 and is a Grade II* listed building, the second highest grade. Since 1999, it is the London home of The Lion King.

The normal garb of a coachman would be a top hat and a heavy double-breasted overcoat; they would be driving their vehicle in a vast array of weather conditions, sometimes on the same day as anyone who has lived in Britain can tell you.

The coach is going rather fast at this point, possibly dangerously so. The Offences against the Person Act 1861 created an offence of "causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving"; which could mean that if a horse-drawn vehicle hit another vehicle or a person, the driver could get up to two years in prison. The offence remains on the books, being used against horse-drawn carriage drivers (still a thing, particularly in the Traveller community), motorists when not on a road or public land and cyclists, as the Road Traffic Act 1988 is not available in these cases - it is a Crown Court-only offence. In 2017, a cyclist riding at speed in East London with no front brakes hit and killed a woman; the jury found him not guilty of manslaughter, but convicted him of this offence, with the result he got a 18-month sentence.

Tiger attacks were very common in British India; tigers are known to attack humans when feeling threatened (human encroachment on their territory is a big problem)), injuries prevent them from going after other prey or they mistake a human for something else, or if one is riding a bike, their chase instinct may kick in. 33,247 people were killed by tigers between 1876 and 1912. In 2022, the Indian government recorded 112 tiger-caused deaths, up from 59 in 2021. Some tigers have ended up killing over 100 people before being shot dead.

For those having a go at Watson for shooting at a tiger cub, we don't know how old or how big the tiger cub was. A newborn tiger maybe less than 10 pounds and look adorable, but a ten month male could easily be over 100 pounds and looks rather like a full-grown adult. Especially in the dark.

This said, humans are a good deal worse than tigers. The British cleared vast amounts of their habitat for the timber to build their railways. Hunting tigers for "sport" had been a common practice for the Indian nobility and the British ruling classes liked doing it just as much, bringing modern firearms along. Remember Dr. Sterndale from DEVI? There's a chance Watson might have gone hunting himself, sadly.

The tiger hunting got worse post-independence as improved air travel made it easier for game hunters to get to India. The Indian government banned tiger hunting in 1972 and the Bengal tiger population is slowly recovering. The size of reserves have not kept up with the population and so some tigers have gone into human areas for food, usually livestock but sometimes humans. If a tiger starts killing people and attempts to tranquilise it fail, then lethal force will be authorised. In 2022, T-104, a three-year-old dubbed the "man-eater of Champaran", killed nine people before he was shot dead by the police, who conducted their search riding elephants.

The "Surrey side" refers to the southern bank of the river, the other being the "Middlesex side" referring to the now defunct county. Those terms remain in use for the Boat Races; with the Middlesex side being on the right as the crews row upstream. The two "stations" have various advantages and disadvantages; Middlesex helps at the start end, Surrey in the middle.

Vauxhall Bridge was in rather a bad shape by this point and would be replaced in 1906, five years late due to various construction and design issues. The modern bridge is notable for having the very distinctive headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service next to its southern end.

"Hindoo" was a contemporary spelling of Hindu, today considered derogatory.

"Sahib" is the Indian equivalent of "sir" or "master"; "Mem-Sahib" is the female version. The Indians used it when speaking to white people (or about them, possibly sarcastically) and the British officers would use it with their Indian counterparts. It is less common now, but still widely used in the Indian Army and about people in positions of power.

"Khitmutgar" was a term for a male butler or underservant who would set the table for dinner etc.; during the Bengal Presidency, these would typically as opposed to Hindus.

[houseofbrat]

Oh, look, a medical doctor in the US questioning the party line regarding KP’s timeline regarding Kate's health updates!

And the Daily Mail oh so conveniently lobbed his comments in with Christopher Bouzy of all people.

Jonathan Reiner, a medical doctor with internal medicine and cardiology certifications, who teaches at George Washington University is no slouch and no dummy. He also has no skin in the game regarding the British royal family and any of their fandoms!

And what was it that Rebecca quoted him as saying?

He was among conspiracy theorists who spread a CNN clip, which has now been viewed millions of times, in which a doctor claimed that Kate's statement did not make 'medical sense'. Asked how cancer could be found after surgery, Jonathan Reiner said: 'With all respect to the Royal Family, that kind of press release doesn't make a lot of medical sense.' The professor of medicine at George Washington University said such operations are preceded by extensive CAT scans and MRIs, adding it was 'very likely' the surgical team knew of the cancer prior to operating.

Ah, yes, only "conspiracy theorists" would listen to a doctor saying that Kensington Palace's timeline makes no sense. Because apparently in the world according to KP, Kate had "planned abdominal surgery" on 16 January 2024, but the doctors would not know about non-cancerous fistulas or bowel obstructions before they cut her open? Kate had "planned abdominal surgery" and all the normal planning such as CT scan or MRIs were never completed in the planning stages??

According to Rebecca's article, we should ALL dismiss the critiques of KP/Kate's timeline because there is no way they would have suspected cancer until weeks later.

That's what Kensington Palace apparently wants everyone to think.

Did you miss CNN's segment with Jonathan Reiner, MD? Do you want to see it yourself? Well you can, courtesy of the TV archive.

Part A

Part B

Part C

Part D ~ this is the part that gets quoted in Rebecca's piece

Part E

Part F

Part G

This is the part of Kate's statement that Dr. Reiner is critiquing:

In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment. “This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.

Doctors would have briefed Kate about the possibility of any cancer prior to any "planned abdominal surgery." Saying it was "a huge shock" to a cardiologist--who says that "doesn't make a lot of medical sense"--as Kate's statement reads to other medical doctors as if proper planning wasn't done. Kate's medical team would have informed her about the possibility of finding cancer not just before anything was sent to the pathology lab but before the surgery even took place. So...is it really that Kate was not informed by her medical team about this possibility or was Kate's surgery not planned?

KP keeps being real cagey about that surgery, and it doesn't make them look good. It's already known amongst the media that Kate has known about this cancer diagnosis since January, even though they didn't tell the public about it. Kate is using the excuse that she could only tell the public now due to the alleged possibility of mean kids at Lambrook, which I sincerely doubt because the world heard about their grandfather having cancer just a few weeks ago and I have yet to see a story with accusations about mean kids at Lambrook bullying George, Charlotte, and Louis over this.

Someone ain't being truthful about this situation, and I don't think it's Jonathan Reiner.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

British Vogue: Reads like Ms clap back to all the negativity around ARO includes the word "snarkiness" at 'people comparing her to 'Goop' and 'Martha Stewart' by u/Plants2552

British Vogue: Reads like Ms clap back to all the negativity around ARO, includes the word "snarkiness" at 'people comparing her to 'Goop' and 'Martha Stewart' This is behind a pay wall so I've only read half but it's sugar on toast.. can any one with a subscription share an archived link?Article Title:The Royal Family Have Been Lifestyle Influencers For Centuries, So Why Is The Duchess Of Sussex Being Criticised For American Riviera Orchard?Link:https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/meghan-markle-american-riviera-orchard-lifestyle-brand-historyBY REBECCA COPE16 March 2024From what I've read it's one big un-informed clap back for Meghan and a big shot fired at the British Royal Family. It also PROVES that Meghan is not interesting unless she is trashing the British Royal Family! And its not that she's commercialising off a pot of jam or using what looks like a Royal Cypher as her logo... she's also posting articles that trash the institution from whence her coveted titles came from. All while Kate is still in recovery.. but then she talks about being bullied when she was Megnant... I hope it comes out that she was never pregnant and she would look like such a fraud for that comment.There's another recent article in The Mirror about Anna Wintour practically salivating over M, albeit quotes from 4 years ago but this was posted yesterday:"She’s a normal California girl who gets up early and does yoga and meditates. She also sent a lot of text messages. I mean, what did they expect? That she was going to send messages via pigeon? I think she’s amazing."With a tie in to ARO (obvs): 'This comes after Meghan announced that she will soon hard-launch her new brand, American Riviera Orchard, following a soft launch on Instagram last week.'And you guessed it.. a cheap shot at the BRF: 'Back in 2020, she wrote that she thought Meghan was "amazing", with her also critiquing some members of the Royal Family at the same time. In Vogue's web series, Go Ask Anna, she said: "I read somewhere that there were members of the royal household that were confused and upset that she woke up so early, at 5am."'Also... this is a contradiction.. did Anna critique members of the Royal family specifically??? Or did Anna question that her staff were upset because they were forced to answer emails at 5am.. those two things are very different...https://ift.tt/qLu7QjK anyone archive?ETA: Please forgive the occassional bad spelling, grammar and punctuation 😅🙏 post link: https://ift.tt/vmeLY9Q author: Plants2552 submitted: March 19, 2024 at 10:44PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.