#i was not expecting her to be serving soaps over joseph of all people but she looked incredible doing it so have a gif mj lol

[rationales]

MJ ✨dramatically✨ votes to evict Joseph.

[bitletsanddrabbles]

Downton Court Hotel pt.3

I seriously wrote part three ages ago....and hated it. So I’ve been waiting for something better to come along. I’ll post it to Ao3 after I’ve chewed on it a bit, tweaked the phrasing, etc. For now, though, here it be.

(Also, I know bachlorette parties normally take place the night before the wedding. This one was done several days before to allow for everyone’s work schedules. Haven’t figured out how to work that information into the actual story yet...)

Fandom: Downton Abbey

Relationship: Baxter/Molsley, canon pairings

Characters: Thomas Barrow, Phyllis Baxter

Warnings: Sop, mentions of past bad relations of multiple sorts, cranky Thomas.

https://bitletsanddrabbles.tumblr.com/post/165776433184/downton-court-hotel-pt-2

There was still eyeliner clinging around his lashes. No matter what he tried, Thomas couldn't seem to get it all off. The rest of the makeup had come off well enough with soap and water and he'd finally been convinced the eyeliner was diminished enough to go to tea, but tea was over. The rest of the bridal party, sans bride, had already left for work. Soon he'd have to join them. Eyeliner was just the sort of thing Carson would notice if he showed up in it, and bachlorette party or no, he would not approve.

Damn Anna and Gwen for talking him into this. He was going to take his full weekend off and spend the whole time so smashed that the hangover lasted for two days. Assuming, of course, he wasn't sacked for wearing eyeliner to work.  "Phyllis?" he finally called, trying not to sound panicked. "Is there some trick to getting this crap off?"

For a moment he wasn't certain if she'd heard him. Then there were footsteps on the other side of the door and her voice, muffled slightly, saying, "I have some makeup remover in the medicine cabinet. Try that."

Dutifully he pulled open the cabinet, but was at a complete loss as to what he was looking at. Phyllis Baxter was not the sort he expected to have a medicine cabinet full of beauty products, and yet there were creams and conditioners of every sort on the shelves. "What does it look like?"

"May I come in?"

He wasn't quite certain why she'd asked. It wasn't as if he was using the loo, and it was her bathroom, after all. Still, he appreciated the thought. Without a word, he opened the door. He expected her to just come in and fetch the bottle for him, but instead she also got some cotton swabs and had him sit on the closed lid of the loo.

"Here, let me." With a somewhat strained smile, she popped open the cap on the little bottle and applied some thick cream to the swab. "Close your eyes."

"Thanks," he muttered, following her instructions. He flinched a little when the swab touched him, simply because he couldn't see and wasn't used to things that close to his eyes.

"You're welcome," Phyllis replied. "Although there's so little left, I don't know that it's necessary."

Thomas snorted at that. "If I come in wearing anything that might be considered makeup, Carson'll spot it straight away, I promise you. Then that will be that."

"Mr. Carson doesn't care that much." Her voice took on the gentle, chiding tone she used when she thought he was being silly, but didn't want to upset him.

As usual, it only served to irritate him. "Yes, actually, he does. He's almost as bad as Dad used to be, only he doesn't yell as much and..." He didn't finish the thought. "Anyway, I don't feel comfortable is all. I think about it and all I can hear is Dad yelling at Margaret for putting me in her Easter dress and Mum's heels."

"Well I think it did a lovely job of bringing out your eyes, but it's gone now. Hold still a bit more and I'll make sure there's no left over remover." The cotton swab was replaced with a warm, wet washcloth. "There."

Thomas opened his eyes, blinking a little as the wet lashes stuck together. He then immediately checked the mirror to be certain that, yes, it was all gone. "Thanks," he muttered again, then gave her a sideways glance. "I'll be sure to remember all of that if I ever want to bring out my eyes."

"The waiter at lunch seemed to agree with me." That was said in her teasing voice, the one she used when she wanted to make him smile, but wasn't certain he was ready to.

At least eight times out of ten, he wasn't ready to. This was not one of the lucky times. "The waiter was flirting with at least three different girls," he retorted with an eye roll. "At best he was bi curious and would figure out after one night that men weren't his cup of tea. At worst, he just thought I was tipping and hoped he'd get more from flirting."

"Thomas!"

"No, I've given up on romance," he insisted, leaving the bathroom for the comfort of the living room, his hostess trailing behind him. The one good thing about the other bride's people being maids (well, except for Daisy) was that they'd tidied up the debris from the gifts before they'd left. There was one chair occupied by boxes waiting to go out for pick up, but beyond that, Thomas could sit where he liked. He chose the recliner and, once seated, looked up at Phyllis with his best 'devil may care' expression. "It never goes well for me, so I'll leave it to other people and you can turn your attention to hooking Gwen up with someone."

Phyllis gave him one of those worried frowns she wore so often. Really, she fussed more about him than his own sister ever had. "Is this still about Jimmy?"

"What?" he scoffed. "Of course not. That was years ago and I'm over it. Better a best mate than a failed boyfriend any day." He paused and gave her a hard look. "And don't bring up Andy. That was never even a possibility, no matter what everyone else decided, thank you." "I wasn't going to mention it." Phyllis took a seat in the arm chair across from him, her hands folded neatly in her lap. "Really, I didn't ask you to stay so I could lecture you about your love life, I promise."

"Then why did you ask?"

"I had a question for you." She straightened and met his eye, smiling. She didn't say anything further. She didn't ask anything. The silence stretched long enough that Thomas was about to prompt her when she finally asked, "Would you like more tea?"

It was not the question Thomas had been anticipating. It was, in fact, so far from that he couldn't help a short, bewildered laugh. "What, another? I've already had six cups."

Phyllis's eyes dropped immediately to her lap. "Right. Of course."

"Is something wrong?" Thomas asked, eyebrows drawing slightly together. While he might complain about Phyllis fussing over him more than his real sister, the fact remained that he returned the favor and nothing was calculated to make him set aside his own troubles quite so quickly as signs that she was unhappy. If called out on the fact he would, of course, deny it or make some excuse, but there it was. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

The question seemed almost startling. "Oh, no!" Phyllis quickly assured him, her face lighting up with a very genuine smile. "No, I am very certain that I want to marry Joseph. It's only that the wedding is in three days and, well, I've not officially named my Maid of Honour."

Thomas frowned at that. "I thought that was going to be Anna. Or, well, I suppose she wouldn't be a maid. Not at a wedding."

"No, that would be Matron of Honour, and I think everyone's assuming it will be her. I haven't asked her, though. I've been thinking about it and..." She paused, then looked him dead in the eye. "I've realized what I truly want is a Man of Honour. Thomas, would you please stand next to me at the wedding?"

Someone else might have asked if she was joking. Thomas knew better. She wouldn't joke about something like that, not in that earnest manner. She wasn't the sort. He suddenly wished he'd paid more attention to what actually went into weddings, since the question was clearly an important one, but he had no idea why. "Well," he mulled the request over, "Would I have to wear a dress?"

This time it was Phyllis's turn to be startled into laughter. "No, no, I would never ask that of you. I promise. It's really no different than any of the other bride's maids, except you'd stand directly next to me and..."

"Catch you if you pass out from nerves?" Thomas guessed. It earned him another laugh.

"I suppose there's that although really, if I didn't pass out the first time around, I'm not going to pass out now." She paused, then shook her head with another smile. "No, the only real concern I had was that the...Person of Honour, I suppose, walks in with the Best Man."

That bit of information hit Thomas like a wet towel. "I'd have to walk in arm in arm with Bates?"

"I wouldn't insist on arm in arm."

"Good," Thomas huffed, settling back in the chair, his posture leaving no question as to his feelings on this development. "I don't need him hitting me in the shins with his cane."

"Thomas! I am certain Mr. Bates is capable of not accidentally hitting you."

"Who said it would be an accident?" Thomas protested. "Really, you all act like he loves me and if I'd just stop being stubborn, we'd be best pals!"

Phyllis gave him a disapproving look. "You do start things, most of the time."

"Most of the time isn't all of the time." Under his breath he added, "Although try telling Carson that." He picked absently at a loose thread. "Are you really certain you want me to do this?"

The disapproval softened a little. "I trust you and Mr. Bates both to behave. How's that?"

"Wasn't Margaret your Maid of Honour last time? Another Barrow might be inviting bad luck." He watched her carefully from the corner of his eye.

With a sigh, Phyllis closed her eyes for moment. "It's not Margaret's fault that Peter was a con artist and a thief. It's not her fault that I didn't get to know him very well before marrying him." She opened her eyes again and looked straight at him. "You're not bad luck, Thomas.

" "Well then," Thomas shrugged. "I suppose I'll do it then. I just hope you don't wind up regretting it, is all."

Phyllis stood and walked over to press a kiss to the top of his head. "I won't. No matter what happens, I won't."

[delwray-blog]

THE GREATEST DANGER FACING MAN TODAY IS THE JEWS

The Attitude of Communism toward Christianity The greatest danger facing the world today is the Jews! The Russian leader Vladimir Putin knows it very well. After having lived to see his country collapse and all because of a Bolshevist, Jewish Communist coup that succeeded and now controls the Soviet Union, once an Orthodox Christian nation turned into an Atheistic Dynasty by dirty money supplied by the Jews in New York City. The Jews have vowed to do it again here in America. Money speaks! The dirty money that overthrew Russia is now being used to destroy America and is behind all, and I say all the upheaval in the United States today, especially, the attacks on the current President Donald Trump and now his Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. An old philosopher once said, to know a thing well one must understand its first cause. It is unpleasant to realize that a certain element of apostate Jewry is behind the turmoil of this dark hour and the present Soviet persecution through which the Church of Jesus Christ is passing. The Jews and Communism: No informed person who is truthful denies the Jewish character of Communism! The writer recently published the names and nationalities of every leader in the Moscow dictatorship as it was set up many years ago. It was discovered that out of the 545 members of the bureaucracy, 454 were Jews and there were only 23 Russians in the group. In other words, the Russian people are governed by a gang of anti-Christian foreigners, many of whom are said to be unable to speak the language of the people they govern. Some of the principal officials of the Red government are reported to have come from the East Side of New York. It has been said on the floor of the United States Congress, and the charge has not been denied, that a certain Jewish banking concern in Wall Street sponsored Trotsky's mass meetings of rebellion in New York some years ago, sent him across the ocean secretly, and deposited millions of dollars in a Swedish bank to the credit of the destroyers, with which the Russian revolution was financed. In her remarkable book “Waters Flowing Eastward”, Mrs. L. Fry states that back in 1893 a Jewish secret order here in America appointed Jacob Schiff, a Wall Street Jew, chairman of its committee on Russian revolutionary activities. If this is true, it simply means that Mr. Schiff sat at his desk in New York and directed the destruction of the Czar's government thousands of miles away. It is impossible to separate Jewish Communism from Jewish Capitalism. Laboring men who think they can free themselves from the Money Power by embracing Communism are being betrayed by soap-box oratory. The Moscow leaders are the world's wealthiest Capitalists. They own one-sixth of the earth's surface. They control one hundred and sixty million Gentile slaves. The Russian people are not allowed to vote, own property, exercise free speech, enjoy the freedom of the press, or worship God. The masses are kept in their weakened, helpless condition by the most powerful system of secret police ever invented in the history of the world. The attitude of Communism toward Christianity was explained by Lunatcharski, one of the leading Jewish members of the Moscow dictatorship: "Why should we believe in God? We hate Christianity and Christians. Even the best of them must be regarded as our worst enemies. They preach love of one's neighbor, and pity, which is contrary to our principles. Christian love is a hindrance to the revolution. Down with love of one's neighbor; what we want is hatred. We must know how to hate, for only at this price can we conquer the universe. We have done with the kings of the earth; let us now deal with the kings of the skies. The anti-religious campaign must not be restricted to Soviet Russia: it should be carried on throughout the entire world. The fight should also be developed in the Moslem and Catholic countries, with the same ends in view and by the same means." There is no way of knowing how many millions of Russian Christians have been slain during the last one-hundred years because of their faith in Jesus Christ. The magazine, New Outlook, recently carried an article entitled, "Men of Russia." It was the author's purpose to make a critical examination of the ringleaders of international Communism. He says: "Some of the businessmen are Russians, but most of them are of other blood, and practically all of them have prison records. In considering the men of Russia, it should be remembered that it isn't often that ex-prisoners get a crack at the society which punished them, but they did in Russia." The writer in New Outlook then proceeds to discuss some of Moscow's principal Jewish fiends: "Joseph Stalin is a minor official of the Soviet Government. He is but one of the three hundred or so members of the Central Executive Committee, and yet, nevertheless, he was the first man of Russia. Although serving as secretary of the All-Russian Communist Party, Stalin was not a Russian. His every feature is commensurate with 'Stalin', the Russian word for steel." Parenthetically it should be remarked that Stalin was merely the customary "Gentile Front" for the Moscow Jewish leaders. His Gentile wife died a "mysterious" death and he immediately married a Jewess. "Lazarus M. Kaganovitch is a member of the Politbureau or arbitrary 'Brain Trust', and chief organizer of the Second Five Year Plan. This Polish Jew was Stalin's Number One Boy and was his logical successor as dictator. "Maxim Maximovich Litvinov is Commissar of Foreign Affairs. He was the super-traveling salesman of Bolshevism. This shrewd Polish Jew has fought diplomatic battles in every political arena where the gate receipts warranted his appearance. He returned from these victories from time to time to his spacious Moscow office to check up one more Red diplomatic triumph by sticking a new red glass tack in the huge map which covers the wall behind his desk. "Klementy Voroshilov (another Jew) was Commissar of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy. He is the dashing yet modest cavalry officer who was charged with preparing the Russian forces for an anticipated war. "Mikhail Kalinin, (an Armenian Jew) was President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Like all big leaders, he served his term in prison, taking an important part in the revolution of 1905 as a member of the Council of Workers' Deputies. "Karl Radek, (another Jew) was Contributing Editor of Izvestia, an official government newspaper. Radek has frequently been suppressed by radical organizations for being too radical. "Michael Borodin, Editor of the English-language Moscow Daily News. This Czechoslovakian Jew was educated at Valparaiso University in Indiana; and spent many years agitating for the International Communist Party, in Spain, in Mexico, in America, the British Isles, and China. "'Just' Podolsky, master of the Foreign Office Press-Censorship Bureau. He may have a first name, but it is doubtful that anyone in Russia, including his wife, knows it. He is a soft-spoken Jew in eight languages, not counting American slang, of which he has a thorough knowledge. Padolsky was a hundred percent Communist. "Jerry Lifschitz, Ex-Vice-Yankee Consul, ex-Second-in-Command of Moscow Amtorg. This Polish Jew had an American jail and prison record for I.W.W. activities; and an added palm for being twice tarred and feathered by irate Midwest American farmers. "Comrade Smirdovitch, (another Jew) is the 'Red Pope'. Smirdovitch, an atheist, is the official restrainer and regulator of religion in the U.S.S.R. He was a member of the important Central Executive Committee. As the official Anti-Christ of the Soviet Republics, he decided how far remaining priests of the church may go toward preaching the Word of God. Kindly, cultured, educated, tolerant in manner, Smirdovitch says religion will die out when divorced from superstitious ritual, pomp, and fear. His job was to help kill it." Toward the close of the article, the writer in the New Outlook says: "But the men who control Russia are not Russians. Members of the Jewish race from all over the world predominate. Every member of the foreign office press censor bureau is a Jew. Little men of Russia who help in responsible positions, heads of offices, trusts, are mostly Jews." Let Christians remember that the international Jewish Communists and Capitalists expect to eventually destroy all Gentile governments, rule the world, and establish throughout the earth the kind of conditions they have introduced in Soviet Russia. They expect to murder all Christian believers and blot Christianity out of existence. The struggle is between the philosophy of the Jew Karl Marx and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The manner in which the Moscow Jews have proceeded with their program of destruction is recorded in a quotation taken from the London Times dated November 14, 1919. The quotation is a letter written by a British army officer, who was stationed at the time in southern Russia, to his wife in England. It reads: "The Bolshevists are devils. I hope to send you copies of 64 official photos taken by British officers at Odessa when the town was taken by the Bolshevists. I suggest you make them widely known. Their horror may make people realize. The victim gets crucified with nails through his elbows. The hands are treated with a solution which shrivels the skin. The skin is cut out with a razor, round the wrist, and peeled off, till it hangs by the fingernails, a human glove. The victim gets terrified and goes insane. Other photos are of women. Women with their breasts cut off to the bone. Passes issued to Bolshevists by commissaries authorize holders to arrest any girl they fancy for use of the soldiery. Sixty-two girls of all classes were arrested like this and thrown to the Bolshevist troops. Those who struggled were killed. The rest when used were mutilated and thrown dead or dying into the river. Slaughter-houses were choked with corpses. Hundreds of suspects, men, women, and children, were herded in these, doors and windows manned and the struggling mass fired into until most of them were dead or dying. The doors were then locked and they were left with veritable plague spots causing widespread epidemics. The Bible, to them, is a 'counter-revolutionary' book to be stamped out. Churches are used for anything from movie shows to 'slaughterhouses.'" Let no Christian be duped into believing that we are supposed to sit supinely by and permit the Reds to create a reign of terror in America simply because this menace happens to be a "Jewocracy." True, there is a stratum of Jewry that is indeed "Chosen" and has been a blessing to humanity through the centuries, but there is another stratum that is a "curse in all places" as Jeremiah said they would be. Speaking through the lips of the prophet in Ezekiel 38:3, God said: "I am against thee, O Gog" and this is a clear reference to Communism with its seat of government in "Meshech" (Moscow). It is possible that this invisible empire has existed as a self-propagating body ever since the Jewish leaders contacted the Chaldeans while in Babylonia. Persons holding to this view agree that the organization has almost completed its course, that the time for the consummation of the plot is near at hand, that the last great attack is now being launched for the purpose of setting up an international system of Jewish government. The existence of this secret sinister organization in New Testament times is implied in 1 John 4:3, "And this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world." The entire cabal (plot) is so large and far-reaching, its motives so hellish, its plan of attack so contrary to Christian thinking, that it simply staggers the mind when it is first exposed to view. But the results of its devastating influence may be seen both in history and among the nations today. It breathes the spirit of the last great Beast-Emperor described in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation. It discloses the perverted Messianic theories of an apostate people. This anti-Christ force has apparently manifested itself from its underground sources in different ways at different periods of history, but never with the boldness and permanency that it has since it came to the surface so many years ago. There have always been two kinds of Jews. One racial division represents all that is highest and best in Jewry and regards the Jews primarily as being a system of religion. The other has little inclination toward religion but regards Jewry as a political State, the purpose of which is to conduct world conquest until the nations are brought under one head with themselves in control and all the Gentiles changed into servants. In AD 70 when the Romans turned against the designing and wicked political leaders of Israel, the Pharisees and Sadducees were driven under cover. With the dispersion that followed, their taint was taken to the ends of the earth and has grown up in every nation. No doubt Jesus had this in mind when he warned to: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." In all parts of the world, it appears that this poison "leaven" is "leavening" the whole lump of the nations. What used to be the Russian Empire is now completely "leavened." These are the subversive forces that have moved through the centuries, changing their form from time to time as governments have been made to heave, totter, cave in, and fall, but always with the same object in view, a final culmination when all nations will be leveled and a super-Jewish State set up, presided over by one man, their apostate Messiah. This is the genius behind Socialism and Communism. Let me say it again, Let Christians remember that the international Jewish Communists and Capitalists expect to eventually destroy all Gentile governments, rule the world, and establish throughout the earth the kind of conditions they have introduced in Soviet Russia. They expect to murder all Christian believers and blot Christianity out of existence. The struggle is between the philosophy of the Jew Karl Marx and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. America, you better take heed!