Biography:
Wooden Heart: Tommy emanated in 3589, the second emanation on record to be emanated by force of will instead of resulting from death or trauma. Having infiltrated Terra’s military, Mickey was aware of the real identity of Edom St. John and the behind-the-scenes manipulations of Trager and Johannon on Dalgherdia. Tommy was produced to provide back-up in an emergency; Ash violated one of the Cantor’s most inflexible rules when Tommy alchemically synthesized rubies in order to purchase the nightclub he renamed Tom O’Bedlam’s.
When Traeger attempts to kill Tara in a laboratory explosion at the science station, Mickey foresees it and leads Tara to safety. She flees into the city and is found by Tommy, who hides her in the back of his bar. In the bathroom, Tara discovers replicas of ancient skin magazines and gardening catalogs – an indication of some of Tommy’s kinks.
Tara remains with Tommy, earning money at the bar while she tries to secretly recover access to her own funds. It is during this time that she learns a panoply of barkeeping skills. Eloise, one of Tommy’s employees, tries to cue Tara in to Tommy’s adoration, but Tara refuses to see it. She is too hung up on Clive, and too comfortable in what has become a very close friendship with Tommy. Tommy is broken-hearted, but channels his emotions into the torch songs he sings every night.
When Tara returns to public life, she maintains her friendship with Tommy, and he approves of her upcoming marriage to Patrick Fitzroy. After Tara and Patrick break up, Tommy urges them to reconcile; when he fails, he tries to set Tara up with Whirljack. Tara refuses, saying she is giving up men to dedicate her life to science. In response to Tommy’s despair, Ash emanates Cuinn, the scientist.
During the Terran invasion, when the Atlas tree is felled, it is Tommy’s branch which crashes into the face of Starbright Mountain and breaks. Tara insists that the tree surgeon Kaman Rafmin graft the branch back on, thus she saves the life of her best friend without realizing it. Tommy’s emanation will bear a scar on his chin from that day forward.
A few weeks after Tara learns the truth about Ash and reconciles with Patrick, she asks to see Tommy. At the same time, she realizes that her best friend has always loved her, she also realizes that Ash has used Tommy to play her, pushing her towards the other emanations with his “objective advice.” She is hurt and angry that Tommy did not tell her the truth about Ash’s nature, yet she also realizes that she has suppressed her attraction to Tommy, and decides to forgive although she can’t quite forget. It’s on this occasion that Tommy explains to her that the branches are all continually conscious separate individuals, capable of experiencing the thoughts and sensations of the emanated one.
Eden Blues: Tommy participates little in the action although he engages in commentary. At the end of the novel, he emanates to reveal his plan to open a new casino on Dolparessa called Everybody Goes to Tommy’s. Tara asks him for advice, and points out that he never testified to the SongLuminants. Tommy confesses that it was because he had guessed what Ashtara was trying to do, and did not want to reveal it to the others. Tara asks for Tommy’s advice on how to deal with Ash, and he tells her to trust her own judgment.
The Poison Garden: Tommy is one of the major narrative voices in the main novel. He is asked by Tara to provide an insider report on activity within the pleroma – in his words, to monitor harem intrigues. Although he is not involved in most of the action, much of the story is told from his perspective. At the beginning of the story, he is opening his new club, Everybody Goes to Tommy’s. Determined to make it the most exclusive club on Dolparessa, he has become obsessed with the sport of curfling, and has a rink installed. He has a minor disagreement with Thomas, who is taking over Tom O’Bedlam’s. Thomas is turning it into a disco, which Tommy thinks is tacky; Thomas counters that curfling is stuffy. This is puzzling to the other emanations as Tommy and Thomas are twins, supposed to have an absolutely identical branch.
Everybody goes to Tommy’s is used for the opening of Driscoll’s new gallery in “The Laughing Cloud Prophecy.” Tommy is witness to a number of anomalous events concerning the General Panic droids used at the casino.
The Perpetual Rose: When Tara visits the pleroma during a crisis; she and all the “useless” emanations go to Tommy’s room. She discovers that he has piles of pornography where all the female figures are replaced with her and the males are replaced with other emanations. Tommy and Cüinn produce statistics showing how often each branch has had sex with Tara – Tommy’s plan is to make her feel guilty enough to hook up with his twin brother, Thomas, and he succeeds.
The Portable Grove: Tommy is a rather passive participant in experiment six. He is simply the subject of Tara’s first attempt at using the correspondence chart for evocation. After the attempt succeeds, he hangs around to catch up with Tara for a few days. Tommy requests Ari on the cross-pollination survey.
Tommy participates in the sixth stress-test, which is initially set in the wine cellar due to its theme of intoxication. Tommy decides that because it was the place where Rasputin was murdered, it’s a little morbid, and moves the party – along with a substantial amount of wine – upstairs. At the party, Tara and Tommy gossip. He notices Ari’s dissatisfaction, and tries to shake him out of it. He directs Ari to share several scenes in other branches with him – scenes which shock Ari. The idea is to get Ari to overcome his isolation by participating in the sharing of existence common to the Atlas branches. Evan and Quennel jump in, and they have a foursome.
Tommy accompanies Tara to the seventh stress-test. When she discovers the gifts in the gift shop, Tommy tells her to hold off on his – it isn’t his night. At the dessert buffet, Tommy brings Tara his cookie, and they have sex. During the eighth stress-test, Tommy gets concerned with Cillian’s treatment of Thomas and asks Tara to intervene. Finally, at the masque, Tommy gives the toast before the new mothman is revealed.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Thomas “Tommy” Duffy (Greek: twin; Gaelic: dark). |
| Numeration | 6th Emanation of Ashtara; 6th branch of Atlas; 4 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 36 |
| Hotness | 7/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.715 meters tall, cock size 15.54 cm when erect. |
| Description | Has the look of a handsome man who has seen better days; always looks like he’s had a rough night, but his world-weary aura adds to his charm. Medium build, solid but just starting to gain the natural weight of aging. Dark hair, stylishly cut. Wears formalwear at the club; likes ancient tuxedos. In daily life, very understated black clothing, jeans, expensive leather jackets. |
| Skills | Nightclub singer. Friendly, a good listener. World-wise charisma. As a musician, is capable of tracking the passage of time inside of the pleroma. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Porn, sex toys, showers, lingerie, spanking, cosplay – pretty much everything except hard-core bdsm. |
| Average Duration of Play | 7 minutes, 46 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Phoenix dactylifera, the date palm. |
| Fixed Star | Castor, the beaver, one of the Gemini twins (α Gem), also called Yin, feminine energy or Mumba, the black iguana twin of the Wati Kutjara. |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Platonic solid dodecahedron. |
| Function | Facilitative stabilization. |
| Official Title | Sublime Bartender to Her Eminence the Matriarch. |
| His Prophecy | The soul which longs to live within the heart. |
| Dessert | Chocumber-chili cookie with nau’gsh wine jam. |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Natural branch growth willed by Mickey; overhanging branch capable of living off-world. Used as a template for his identical twin on Goliath, Thomas. |
| Nul-history | In pursuit of Patrick when they were discovered by the Cu’enashti entity which would become Atlas. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Ardor, designated Lover. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 7 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |