Introduction
Timothy Anderson
There is a certain clinical satisfaction in seeing just how bad things can get.
Appearance
Notable Features
☘ Brown eyes that have been described as 'sad' or 'angry a bit too often for his liking☘ Usually dresses in good quality but plain clothing
☘ Irish (Belfast) accent that's well-hidden behind a rather generic London accent; only comes to the forefront when he's well angry
☘ Myriad small scars, mostly on his hands and showing a history of many split eyebrows and lips
☘ Several tattoos, including a often-renewed triplet of dots (⁖) on the web of his left hand, a green snake impaled upon a pike (reminiscent of a violent version of the Rod of Asclepius) on his right forearm, matching sparrows on both collarbones, and a snake that coils up his left thigh and has its head ending on his cock
Personal Style
Tim dresses neatly and conservatively, choosing plain clothing that is of as good make as he can afford, and tailored well for his body. It isn't his job to be flashy, and he very much embraces that philosophy with his appearance. Neat, always, but never pretentious or ostentatious – even if he could afford it.He does have quite the dress-up wardrobe after a few years in the Special Irish Branch, though, and is more than willing to dress the part as necessary while undercover – whatever that entails.
Circumstances
Currently
Tim has been assigned to investigate the rising tensions between the Greenstreet Gang and the Black Powder Gang. Of special interest is any connection the Greenstreet Gang may have to Irish republican interests, and any connection they might have to the 1887 Fenian plot against the Queen, and sporadic bombing that has been rocking the city for a few years now. This task has somewhat been complicated by the recent development of becoming involved with Rosie Wilkes, leader of the Black Powder Gang and notable Non-Enjoyer Of The Irish.Health & Capabilities
Though his frame is slim, Tim has a wiry strength and is overall a very hale man. Never one to shy from violence, he's extremely willing to weather blows if it means landing plenty of his own. He fights smarter than harder, though, and his frame and experiences don't lend themselves to absurd feats of strength.Socioeconomics
Though he's come a far distance from his humble beginnings, Tim only makes about £1.75 a week; not much more than the average constable's wage, on the low end of average. He doesn't spend much of it, and at his mother's insistence often still receives aid from his (adoptive) parents. What money Tim does spend, he focuses on investing in higher-quality clothing or equipment, so that it lasts him longer.Skills & Talents
☘ While he won't win any awards for his technique, Tim is an excellent fighter in the way that only experience can teach. He does not fight fair; he does not expect to fight without being injured. When he fights, it is with full intention to cause harm, and he will do so with very little hesitation and no guilt.☘ After several years with the Special Irish Branch, Tim is well-versed in the methods of espionage and counter-terrorism that the SIB uses. He knows how to lie extremely convincingly, knows how to watch his back and keep from being followed, can pick most locks... He's a regular 1888 James Bond, sans a license to kill.
☘ Can tie a cherry stem into a knot with his tongue, which he thinks is a neat party trick.
Present Relationships
☘ ADOPTIVE PARENTSHarold & Anna Franklin — Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Harold and his wife made something of a rehabilitation project of Tim, turning him into the man he is today, and in the process unofficially adopting him as a son. While this relationship is something that Tim keeps very quiet, it has undoubtedly and greatly benefited his career.
☘ Ambrose Wilkes — an unlikely illicit relationship that manifested from a misunderstanding. Extremely dangerous for them both, but that hardly seems to discourage either of them.
Identity
Hobbies
☘ Reading — particularly fiction, but he isn't too picky; reading something a bit boring is better to him than not reading at all. He does have a habit still of his lips moving as he reads, and using a finger to keep his place in sentences; a hold-over from his late coming to literacy.☘ Painting — a hobby that he's rarely had time to pursue, and one he also generally keeps private due to perceiving it as unmanly. Watercolors are his favored medium, and nature settings, but he has an interest in learning more of oils and in painting people.
☘ Boxing — an affection born from more freedom to treat it like a hobby, not his career, nowadays.
☘ Card games — Tim enjoys low-stakes gambling, usually with friends; it doesn't even have to be money that they're gambling for, but he finds it a very pleasurable way to pass the time regardless.
Habits & Routines
☘ Tim starts every day with, at the very minimum, a quick rinse of his parts and pieces. On days that he can spare the time, he will visit a bathhouse for a proper wash. Cleanliness is extremely important to him, and some form of daily cleanse is absolutely required.☘ With very few exceptions, Tim always has a book on his person. Even if it's just a penny dreadful or some other slim novel, the man simply refuses to go without.
☘ Otherwise, he tries to keep from forming habits. Habits are an excellent way to get caught and killed. He goes out of his way to vary the routes he takes to places, will pause in shops or otherwise give himself opportunities to check for a tail, and in general can be quite paranoid about his privacy (for very good reason).
Personality
Nothing describes Tim so much as a street dog who, in spite of being well-beaten, continually searches for the slightest crumb of kindness in others. He defaults to anger and defensiveness, especially with strangers, and in general carries quite a lot of anger inside of his heart. To those that show him kindness and generosity, though, he is an ardent defender and becomes slavishly devoted. He is a man whom life has wounded quite thoroughly, and while he will always carry a chip on his shoulder, he has worked to prove to himself and others that he is far more than what he appears, and has become far better than his birth ordained him to be.Background
History
The story starts not for Timothy Anderson, but Timothy MacCleary. Born in the slums of Belfast, Ireland, as the almost-youngest of far too many children to a pair of Irish Catholics, his life was ill-fated from his first breath. Most of his very young days were spent being cared for by his eldest sister, striving for the barest crumbs of his mother's affection, and generally being a bit under-foot.When he got old enough – that is, when he was five or six – he joined his family working in the near-by textile mills. It was a horrible experience for him; the loud machines, the dangerous accidents, and finally the death of his older brother because of one of those accidents, all resulted in him leaving the mills when he was about nine years old. For a few years he was a wild thing, running about Belfast, one of many young boys doing so and causing all kinds of havoc and violence.
A job opportunity in London brought the family from the tenements of Belfast to the slums of Limehouse when Tim was 11, and while things improved a bit, the bounteous fortune that Patrick MacCleary had been promised never manifested. Instead he still had many mouths to feed, a proposition made all the more difficult as he took more and more to the drink – leaving fewer and fewer pennies for food and rent.
In his search for a method to contribute that didn't include returning to the factories, Tim ended up coming upon the gang that ruled over their street. The Greenstreet Gang was a small-time group, Irish immigrants all, but they were the family that Tim had never had, even with the size of his actual family. All too soon he fell in completely with them, and was a fully blooded member within a few months of joining, at the tender age of 12.
Two years later, his younger brother Thaddeus – Tad – had become entirely enamored with the group. In spite of Tim's best efforts to keep him out of the gang, and out of danger, a street fight with another gang resulted in Tad's death. Tim was blamed for it, both by the rest of the family and himself, and as a result was disowned by his family.
Plotting
Romance
Tim is a man of contrasts and hypocrisy. While he is bisexual, he is extremely repressed and has a large amount of internalized homophobia and self-hate regarding his same-sex attractions. Additionally, he tends towards demisexuality, though conversely he is more than willing to pay a prostitute for sex when he feels the need, rather than seeking short-term company. In the past, he has had long-standing non-romantic relationships with women he trusts, but he has been single and without any non-paid avenue for release for a few years now.While Tim is involved with Rosie Wilkes (which is something extremely private and something he is extremely conflicted about), I would like to see him pursuing a woman/in a relationship with a woman to "cleanse the palate" so to speak; a way he can prove to himself that he's not a deviant, even while he continues to hook up with Rosie on the side.
Friends
Tim is not a man who trusts easily. The only 'friendships' he's likely to have are with his adoptive parents, but I would also love it if he had at least one friend with the SIB whom he trusts entirely. This is someone who might know the entire truth of who Tim is, who his adoptive father is, and why Tim is ... you know, the way Tim is.Otherwise, I think it would be fun for him to slowly develop a friendship that he can't keep; either with a gang member, or someone who otherwise is not the type of person who could befriend a cop (and/or an Irishman).
Antagonism
Tim has had to keep a stranglehold on his temper for most of his life, and though his control has improved admirably, the fact is that he is essentially still an angry man. It takes a lot to provoke him, barring certain topics, but once provoked he has a bad tendency to jump to violence. Suspicion is the default when meeting others. The worst is often assumed of others, which should not be too surprising given Tim's career and experiences.All of that to be said: He's an undercover cop, and a few options I would love to explore includes other policemen (that may or may not know he's undercover), and gang members who are suspicious of him.
