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ye-olde-sodor · 3 months

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Dream Canon Mallard Headcanons!

Mallard is an LNER Class A4 built in 1938, making him one of the youngest members of the Gresley Family. (Aged 62 in this au)

He holds the world record for the Fastest Steam Locomotive in the world. On July 3rd, 1938, he reached 126 mph at just a few months old!

Mallard can be arrogant and mean, but he’s generally well mannered and generous with humans and engines alike…unless an engine dares to defy the hierarchy, then it’s an entirely different case. He's also quite the Optimist, which plays into how he views serious situations.

No one tell him that Henry "Stanier" was built with stolen Gresley blueprints, he'll have a stroke. A merge of the two families would create a nation wide scandal!

He’s in charge of his own Engine Correctional Facility on the Mainland, and has 17 other facilities just like it across the UK!

This idea of correctional facilities came to him sometime after he learned of the scrapping of most of his siblings (save for Spencer and a few others). He was grief stricken, and clung to the first thing that brought him any feelings that weren’t grief and dread.

He noticed that him and a select few of his siblings were preserved because they either performed better than the rest, broke a record, had some major historic significance, or were purchased by foreign railways. It’s the first example that became Mallard’s obsession.

He wanted to give all engines another chance at life. He wanted to see if he could mold an engine to be better than their other siblings, and have them preserved. When the trial of this idea succeeded with Ryan (who was unaware of the trial and assumed he was preserved due to his ties with the other Gresleys), Mallard found his new purpose in life, his spiritual awakening one might say. He’s been operating his correctional facilities ever since.

While he has the best intentions in mind, he’s oblivious to the harm his methods of teaching may cause. He can also be full of himself when he’s convicted he’s right.

His main goal is to expand his facilities to Sodor, the bane of British Rail and to the Engine Hierarchy. He wishes to purchase it and reshape it in his own image. Mallard won’t modernize it, but he wants to bring order and essentially remove what makes Sodor stand out from other heritage lines…it’s numerous accidents and ties to the Reverend Awdry.

He's extremely close to Ryan, who he views as a son. Spencer is a close second, however. While he cares for Scott and Gordon as well, he can't let Scott's "death" get in the way of progress. He'll mourn in secret, not in public. It's the professional way to do it.

As one can probably tell, Mallard sees opportunity in everything, even in death and depression. He's an optimist by nature, and always tries to see the good in everything. Case in point, now that Mallard has part of Scott's inheritance and Gordon doesn't want to work anymore, Mallard has the perfect opportunity to go through with his Sodor Renovation plan!

When Mallard learned that Gordon was struggling to cope with the loss, he offered to take him to the Mainland to get him closer to professionals who can help him.

Spencer became roped into Mallard's scheme, but Spencer isn't too keen on the idea just like everyone else.

Thomas quickly became Mallard's "moral enemy" due to his Anti-hierarchy views. Once Mallard has control over the island's engines, Thomas will be the first one admitted to Mallard's Correctional facility. He's hoping that Ryan can whip him into shape, as he plans to have Ryan run the Sodor facility in the future.

Quotes:

Mallard: "Gordon, my dear brother-"

Gordon: "We're cousins."

Mallard: "Gordon, my dear cousin-" ____________________________________________

Mallard: "So Spencer, how's the island?"

Spencer: "Depressed, demoralized...on the brink of collapse now that Gordon got replaced by those three diesels!"

Mallard: "Oh is it now?~"

Spencer: "Please don't talk like that again-"

Mallard: "Do tell me more about Sodor's, eh...run of bad luck."

____________________________________________

Mallard: “Well look on the bright side…once you feel ready, we can return to Sodor and I get to introduce you to all the new changes I’ve made! :)”

Gordon, half listening: I suppose you’re right-wait WHAT ALL DID YOU CHANGE???”

Mallard: “Secret :3”

____________________________________________

Mallard: "So we're going to put the new Correction Facility over...Oh I don't know where to place it! Spencer, you know the island well, where would be the most optimal location for it?"

Spencer: "I wouldn't say I know it well...but if you're serious about this facility of yours, I'd place it somewhere along the Express route. There's some land near Vicarstown that's unoccupied. It'll be right next to a large yard and station for engines to train. Plus it'll be in close proximity to the Dieselworks."

Mallard: "There's a Dieselworks?! On Sodor?"

Spencer: "Calling it a Works is a bit of a stretch but yes, there is one. It's in complete disrepair though. It's any wonder those diesels despise Topham and our fellow steam engines"

Mallard: "Hmm. Good to know..."

____________________________________________

Mallard: "Y'know, I've been digging into your class lately in order to-"

Thomas: "The Hell?! What are you doing that for, you creep!"

Mallard: "...To better accommodate my courses and lessons to your class, since I've been told you're quite the water hog."

Thomas: "Oh you miserable-"

Mallard: "I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU, YOU TWIT."

____________________________________________

Edward: "We'll lose everything! Sodor's culture, it's heritage, and it's railways. You'll destroy everything that Sodor stands for if you go through with your plan!"

Mallard: "Ah, so my plan will work! What wonderful news! Now we can get started on making a new Sodor!"

Edward: ಠ_ಠ

Mallard: "One with our beloved hierarchy, no confusion or delay, and more attention to the poor and neglected diesels!"

Diesel 10: "Hell yeah! Finally, a Steamer who gets it!"

Edward: "He's using you to push his own agenda you twit! He'll forget about you once he-"

Mallard: "Step right up then, my fellow machine! Show me around the Diesel Works so I can make arrangements to give it a complete overhaul!"

Diesel 10: "Gladly Mr. eh...Mallard was it?"

Edward, under his breath: "Oh you can fuck right off..."

#ttte #ttte au #ttte dc au #ttte mallard #ttte diesel 10 #ttte edward #ttte thomas #ttte spencer #ttte ryan #ttte scotsman #ttte gordon

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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 5 months

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How would Nobby react to Gordon? I could either see Nobby trying to impart wisdom onto the young engine only for Gordon to blow him off because “I’m the best engine ever” Or Nobby doing a double take because how did they get another pacific???? This backwater island that was begging to buy any locomotives just bought 2 large steam engines?? How???

Yeah, that pretty well nails it. Well, that nails everyone’s reaction ("How did they get another Pacific????" — and remember that the N.W.R. is acquiring more large engines circa 1922-3 than just Henry and Gordon. Somehow they got a whole shed full of 'em.) But Nobby in particular has some experience with Topham Hatt’s method of procuring engines… so his reaction might be more specifically "What is the catch with this one?" and "Wonder if Hatt actually went to inspect this one first or if this is yet another deal he struck sight unseen and just… hoped for the best." You know. Questions for the ages.

As for Gordon’s reaction to Nobby trying to boss him around impart pearls of wisdom, well, yeah, I think you’ve pretty much called it. I’d say for the most part Nobby, especially at first, would like to very much ignore Gordon. Nobby’s got not only the Furness engines but now all sorts of newcomers into their territory to keep track of (also they keep renumbering everyone so that’s a headache right there), the N.W.R. is not his responsibility and, as of the year Gordon comes, those engines come and go too quickly to bother with them anyhow. It’s not like the new Pacific doesn’t seem to be able to garner all the attention he wants from his own railway.

BUT sometimes Gordon’s… high-spirited behavior must be checked for the sake of station decorum and when Nobby does intervene the tension is HIGH. Coz usually Nobby is only telling him something that a long string of people and engines have told him already, and Gordon would LOVE to loftily sweep his objections aside right along with everyone else’s. But… Nobby has two advantages that no one else around does:

1) Gordon comes installed with respect for preserved engines, they’re the only engines further up the hierarchy than, well, you know. Him. Hierarchy is very important in G.N.R. culture, it’s rigid, and at first no one Over Here thinks Gordon knows anything about etiquette, but it’s just that G.N.R. hierarchy is… different. Unlike, say, the Furnessians, Gordon doesn’t have to defer to humans in general, no not even drivers, or at least drivers-who-didn’t-distinguish-themselves-during-the-Great-Races (oh God, Gordon’s first Sodor driver had nerves of steel, raise a glass); he also doesn't have to respect older engines who are not his direct forbears; hell, at first Gordon manages to even rationalise away nearly half of Topham Hatt I’s authority (Gordon is great at rationalisation, he’s a genius at it). HOWEVER. Preserved engines do outrank him. Unequivocally. So when Coppernob reproves him, Gordon is FURIOUS but… he can’t talk back. But this is also 1920s Gordon, who WILL burst a safety valve before taking anything he doesn’t like. BUT this is a PRESERVED ENGINE. #$%^&@!!!!

So Gordon would fall lividly silent and glare at Nobby in a way that would unsettle or provoke any other engine (Nobby doesn’t give a shit) and just sail into a fuming bout of mental trigonometry, furiously trying to work out some sort of excuse by which he can decide Coppernob is an illegitimate member of what he regards as one of the most respectable clubs in the world. Unfortunately... he can’t do it. (Maybe if Gordon had known Edward Bury had been sacked as loco supe from the GNR after cheating the company, lmao. But I don’t think Gordon does know this.) SO HE’S JUST SO PISSED OFF. How did he get exiled to the middle of nowhere, AND SOMEHOW THERE’S A BOSSY ENGINE FROM THE RAILWAY BOOM ERA kept here in immaculate condition to purely for the purpose of annoying him??! It's — it's — 'disgraceful' doesn't even seem to cover it, somehow. It's like you need more words than that. Hmmm.

Anyway, somehow — even with his resentment topping out at 10000% — Gordon keeps his mouth shut.

Which is stunning. I think the first time it happens, Gordon’s poor driver nearly falls off the footplate. Silence is golden, man.

Nobby himself is a little surprised at how easy it is to check Gordon — unless his temper is maxed out (which is not in fact an everyday occurrence), most of the Seagulls give him WAY more lip, and 133 is currently running him ragged at every opportunity. He’s already observed that Gordon’s temper is equal to his own so was expecting one hell of an argument, not instant submission.

Now, it would take a heart of stone to not be tempted to use this unexpected superpower to fuck with the temperamental young thoroughbred...

... and Nobby ain’t exactly a saint, so he goes right on ahead fully enjoying the ability to yank Gordon’s chain.

2) But after a year this is starting to wear off — like most new engines, Gordon’s "programming" is not impervious to environment and experience, and, when you chuck him to a railway clear on the other side of the country, it’s gonna start crumbling even sooner. As far as Gordon is concerned, he’s been exiled to the WILDERNESS, he had to put up with all manner of indignities (a goods train! a goods train!), the social contract is already in cinders so he does NOT have to put up with Nobby giving him unreasonable orders like "pronounce the 'r' in 'Furness'" and "don’t call your fireman a blasted fool in the middle of my station" and "say 'thank you' to our station pilot or I’ll have you sent back to Doncaster on five separate flatbeds" and "if I’ve told you once then this makes it twice, 'Furness' requires an 'r' sound in the middle, don’t make me say it again."

So things might have changed, but Nobby gets a second trump card up his sleeve after going to the Wembley Exhibition. Coz now he’s acquainted with the Flying Scotsman. And he can not-so-subtly remind Gordon, if Gordon is being especially absurd, that he may well be in a position in the future to tell tales about him to his famous little brother. Maybe even tells Gordon that Gordon can let him know if he has a message for Scotsman, next time he writes… (It’s only Columbine that Nobby exchanges letters with but Gordon doesn’t need to know that.)

At the same time, Nobby kept Scotsman in line during all the months of the Wembley Exhibition by pointedly talking up what a responsible and respectable and restrained engine Scot’s older brother Gordon is, what a fine young engine, I see him every day back home, he’s the epitome of grace (or whatever other quality Scotsman is failing to demonstrate on that particular day).

I expect in ’68 Gordon and Scotsman realized that the wily old crafter had bludgeoned them both by talking each other up behind their tenders to each other, instilling them with low-key inferiority complexes that lasted until roughly that minute. While never once saying anything nice about either of them to their own faces.

(They laughed, but only Scotsman really let it go. Gordon would still get Nobby back for it if he ever saw an opportunity. Not like this consumes him, not at all, but he just, like, listen. He’s aware that there is a score to settle… and Gordon believes in revenge served cold.)

#chatter #coppernob things #ttte gordon

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dlrconlicense · 6 months

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Louise Brealey On Starring In BBC Three’s Upcoming Comedy Such Brave Girls

Such Brave Girls will arrive on BBC iPlayer on 22 November

By Olivia Emily | 3 days ago

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Louise Brealey is perhaps best known for her witty portrayal of lovelorn morgue technician Molly Hooper in Sherlock – but we’re loving her recent comedy work even more. She’ll next be seen in the BBC‘s hotly anticipated comedy Such Brave Girls, coming later this month. Written by Kate Sadler, Louise plays Deb, the matriarch of a dysfunctional family, trying and failing to keep her kamikaze daughters from disaster. We sat down with Louise to hear all about it.

Interview: Louise Brealey

Hi Louise, how’s life going at the moment?

Hello! It’s been a busy summer – my new film has been doing the festival circuit so there have been a lot of planes, trains and automobiles.

You’re about to star in BBC’s new series Such Brave Girls – can you give us an elevator pitch for the show?

Two messed-up twenty-something (real-life) sisters [Kat Sadler and Lizzie Davidson] and their total car crash of a mother attempt to navigate their way out of disaster and into love.

You play Deb – can you describe her?

Deb is amazing. She’s a shockingly bad mum who has completely messed up her two Gen Z daughters. I think of her as one of those vending machines at railway stations and swimming pools where you can get a Twix, but all that’s on her shelves is Tough Love.

What was it like playing her?

A terrifying hoot – she has a lot of lines.

How did you get into character/prepare for the role?

I based Deb on a little girl I used to know. You could see every emotion on her face. Guile, rage, confusion, fear. When she was cross, she scowled. When she was delighted, she beamed.

I used my real accent: Northamptonshire. It has softened over the years, so I sound a lot posher now, but it’s how my family speak and I’ve never had the chance to work using it.

Any funny stories from rehearsals or filming?

The scenes requiring our amazing intimacy coordinator, Elle McAlpine, were hysterically funny and genuinely not at all awkward. Poor Paul Bazely who plays Dev may have experienced some chafing.

What is the cast dynamic? Who was your favourite person to work with?

We are like a little family when we are filming. I feel very protective of Kat and Lizzie. And Paul is a wonderful human being and a phenomenal actor.

Are you still in touch with any of your co-stars?

Yes, we message all the time.

Josie (KAT SADLER), Deb (LOUISE BREALEY), Billie (LIZZIE DAVIDSON) in Such Brave Girls. © BBC/Various Artists Limited/James Stack

You’re perhaps best known for your role as Molly in Sherlock. What is that like to look back on?

Bittersweet because I don’t feel we finished it, and we have lost Una Stubbs. But it was incredible to be a part of what was really a phenomenon. It couldn’t happen now with streaming.

Any special memories from the show?

Too many. Having a candle in an egg custard tart (my favourite) on my birthday in Benedict’s trailer… Laughing and laughing with darling Una and Rupert Graves, who is a dreamboat.

You’ve also starred in the likes of Lockwood & Co, Brian and Charles and Back recently. But what has been your favourite project to date?

I loved working on Clique for the BBC a few years back. I got to play a hard-ass Queen Bee university lecturer in power suits who was afraid of no one, and then to completely fall apart. In an Edinburgh accent.

I loved Lockwood & Co. How does it feel for the show to be cancelled after just one series?

I felt so bad for the young cast, the crew, the fans and everyone whose livelihoods depended on the show coming back. It got such fantastic reviews and great viewing figures. I feel like the hoop it had to jump through for the streamer was just too impossibly small.

Any roles in the pipeline that you’re excited about? (If you’re allowed to tell us!)

I’m the lead in a lesbian chicken factory musical film called Chuck Chuck Baby.

Who has been your favourite actor to work with in the past?

This is much too hard. There have been so many that I admired, and some I now call dear friends. But my buddy Jeff Rawle I’ve worked with three times now, and we are trying to make it a fourth.

Which co-star did you learn the most from?

Antonia Pemberton, who played Nanny in Peter Hall’s Uncle Vanya when I was Sonya. She told me not to keep tomatoes in the fridge.

What’s your dream role?

I’m desperate to get back on stage. I’ve been doing film and television for the past seven years, but theatre is my heart and my home.

What’s a genre you’d like to do more of?

I’d like a good horror. I can’t watch them because I’m a scaredy-cat, but I’d love to be in one.

Do you get to spend much time at home?

Not enough. I’ve been gadding about.

Do you live in the town or the country? Which do you prefer?

I’ve lived in London since I left university. I live on a hill next to an oak tree, so it feels like we are in the branches. I can never leave London because I’d miss the culture stuff, but I am a woodland creature.

What’s your interior design style?

A mish-mash of old things I’ve found in auctions. Too many books.

How do you find balance in your personal and work lives?

I don’t.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

An astronaut.

If you could give advice to your 15-year-old self, what would it be?

Don’t sleep with that guy’s flatmate when you are 21.

How can we all live a little bit better?

Choose love.

Anything fun in the pipeline – professionally or personally?

I’m going to run away to a southern European city for January and February to write.

Quick Fire

I’m currently watching… Only Murders in the Building

What I’m reading… We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The last thing I watched (and loved) was… Silo. I love Rebecca Ferguson.

What I’m most looking forward to seeing… The Motive and the Cue with Mark Gatiss in the West End because I was away for its National Theatre run.

Favourite film of all time… Don’t Look Now

Favourite song of all time… ‘Disco 2000’ by Pulp

Band/singer I always have on repeat… Leonard Cohen

My ultimate cultural recommendation… Join all the museums and galleries

Cultural guilty pleasure… Overcooked 2. It’s computer game where you run around and try to make kebabs.

What’s next for me is… Walking my dog in Beckenham Place Park – it’s south London’s secret mini Hampstead Heath.

Watch

Louise Brealey stars in Such Brave Girls, on BBC iPlayer from 22 November. bbc.co.uk

#Louise Brealey #Such Brave Girls #BBC3 #A24 #I'm loving all the Loo-tent recently #She has a little shout out to Mark Gatiss in the quick fire section #I share her sentiment on Sherlock ending

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tornadoyoungiron · 8 months

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Traintober | Day 5 - It’s Only Me

Blue Peter breaks down when he realises that he’s the only one of the A2 Peppercorns left and that his best friend and cousin Saint Mungo, never made it to preservation.

TW for suggestions of self-harm, suicide and depression

~~~

The sound of metal grinding against metal rattled in his smokebox as the daylight from outside pierced through the dark musty interior of the shed making him wince in pain and squint against the blinding light. He could hear the voices of men talking as his eyes adjusted to the light.

“Is this the one?” A man’s voice asked nearby and Blue Peter looked down to find a man staring up at him.

“Yes sir, a LNER A2 Peppercorn, the last one,” another man came up behind him with a British Railway pin on his lapel. “He’ll make a fine companion to Bittern.”

The man snorted and shook his head.

“I would have preferred an A1 Peppercorn but they’ve all been cut up,” the man dismissively waved at Blue Peter.

A chill ran through Blue Peter’s boiler. His cousins… the A1s, no they couldn’t have.

“My cousins are gone?” Blue Peter suddenly croaked out weakly. “But I thought… Saint Mungo.”

The men looked towards him and a look of sympathy passed on their faces.

“There was an incident regarding Saint Mungo,” the British Railways man frowned. “He was cut up despite being slated for preservation.”

“A true shame, I would have very much liked to own such a magnificent engine!” The other man declared but then looked at Blue Peter with a critical gaze. “I suppose an A2 will have to do.”

Blue Peter said nothing, still reeling from the news that Saint Mungo was gone.

Blue Peter didn't know quite how long he had been kept in storage. He wasn't even sure if they remembered him. After all, his last crew had simply parked him in storage and left without even cleaning out his firebox or doing proper procedures to maintain him.

The thought of maybe seeing Saint Mungo once, even if it was a final goodbye as he was sent for scrap had kept him hopeful, been the one thing that had helped him hang on to hope.

He was startled from his thoughts as the BR mam snapped his fingers at him to get his attention.

"Pay attention!" The man barked but Blue Peter barely heard him. "Mr. Drury has agreed to purchase you, you should show him thanks and not be rude! Do you want to be sent for scrap, engine?"

"I-" Blue Peter quickly returned his attention to the threat and quickly masked his despair. "Yes sir! I apologise for my rudeness, sir. If you purchase me I shall serve you well!"

The man, Mr Drury, nodded at him.

"Still seems to have its wits about it, no sign of Cold Iron," he examined before eyeing the nameplate on his smoke deflector. "Blue Peter eh?"

"Yes sir, I am Blue Peter, at your service!" The Peppercorn chirped.

Mr Drury looked thoughtful for a moment before a wide grin appeared across his face.

"Yes, yes actually that would be perfect!" The man was delighted now. "I have the best idea for how to restore this one!"

"You're going to use the Blue Peter show?" The BR man pointed out and Drury nodded excitedly.

"It's the perfect way to teach younger generations about an obsolete technology!"

Blue Peter almost guffawed at that.

Obsolete? Obsolete!

He was most certainly not obsolete, no matter how much these humans clung to their disgusting, smelly diesel. Steam engines were one of a kind! They were charming and full of personality!

He kept quiet though and did not voice his displeasure. He kept his face straight, his tender aligned and his attitude proper. He would rather not be left to rust in this storage shed any longer.

"How about that? You could be a part of the children's television show, Blue Peter, isn't that exciting?" Mr. Drury enthusiastically implored.

It sounded appalling and Blue Peter wanted no part in it. If anyone would have loved it, it would have been Saint Mungo.

But Blue Peter didn’t want to be scrapped and so he put on his best and most amicable face.

“Yes sir, that sounds incredibly exciting sir, I cannot wait to do my part!”

Mr. Drury clapped his hands together.

“Excellent! What a fortunate turn of events, instead of getting A1 I’ve been blessed with an engine that could pay for its own restoration with its name alone,” he exclaimed.

“So you’ll take him?” The BR asked excitedly and Mr Drury nodded enthusiastically.

“I most certainly will my good man!”

“Right! This way sir! I’ll have you fill out the paperwork and then we can organise to get him out of our storage sheds!”

“Excellent, excellent!” Mr. Drury turned back to Blue Peter as he and the man began to leave.

“I trust that you’ll be a good addition, Blue Peter, so rejoice in the fact that you won’t be scrapped!” He told him and Blue Peter managed to muster a pained smile.

“Yes sir, thank you sir!” He gratefully retorted.

Without another word, the two men left and shut him in darkness once again.

The painful smile Blue Peter had kept up vanished the second that the shed doors closed and he felt tears flow down his face, unable to stop them.

All his siblings, his cousins, they were all gone. They had all left him.

For however many years he had spent wasting away in this shed had only ever been tolerable due to the fact that he may once again see Saint Mungo. Only now, he was to find that something had happened, that Saint Mungo had found himself at the cutter’s torch.

Blue Peter felt empty, his boiler felt like there was rust creeping into his tubes, his frames felt heavy with grief and aching that he couldn’t quite describe.

Maybe it would have been more of a relief to be finally hauled out to the scrapyard knowing that his entire family was gone.

That it was only him left in this cruel dark world.

~~~

#traintober #traintober 2023 #ttte fanfic #ttte blue peter #ttte young iron #tw suicide #tw self harm #tw depression

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master-of-the-railway · 3 months

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I've been thinking a lot on Yong Bao in my own personal little Monster Engine Au.

He doesn't hate it. It's scary and new and the transformation still causes pain and discomfort, but once adjusted he finds himself pretty okay with it. His monster body underneath his engine parts looks like a tiger! And he can go off of the rails now! He can see and hear and smell so much more!

But he has his moments of longing for the past, and one night while he and Hong-Mei were settling in for the night, he burst into tears and cried out to her asking if she hated what he was now. Hong-Mei was pretty surprised and she very gently told him that she could never hate him, they're best friends, and his new form isn't as much of a curse as it is a blessing. He's so much more than an engine now and the people of their home don't hate him either. They're mystified by him. This makes him feel a bit better.

The railway discovers that Yong Bao's monster instincts make him a MASSIVE cuddle bug. Especially after his fellow engines turn. He chuffs and rumbles while snuggling another engine, and sometimes even humans! He's not particularly aggressive either, unless you try to take his possessions or hurt his friends. He WILL whine and pull a sad puppy face if you attempt to escape his snuggles. He's just trying to be friendly, he swears!

Out of all the engines, Hiro and Yong Bao are the most accepting of their instincts. While others try to push it down out of fear they'll be seen as wild animals and not the sentient engines they still are, these two take things in stride and don't deny their urges. They're still themselves and they are still in control, they just don't mask their new desires.

#ttte #thomas and friends #ttte au #my au #thomas & friends #thomas and friends au #thomas & friends au #monster engines #Beasts of Sodor AU #Yong Bao is one of the few who's based on an exact animal #And yeah I do flip flop between aus. I post whatever I feel like. Sometimes I post abt multiple at once.#I accept asks for any of them at any time btw!! I'm just making this post bc he's on the brain rn

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weirdowithaquill · 1 year

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Who's the Best Mentor for Ivo Hugh?

Seeing as I just finished my ERS 'Ivo Hugh the Young Engine' fic, I think it's about time I ask the serious question of who exactly would be the best mentor for Ivo Hugh.

This will focus only on the Skarloey Railway engines - I am not going to consider the mainline engines because I both don't have the patience or the mental strength to try and figure out just how bad that would go. I will also only be considering Railway Series characters; I don't think Mighty Mac would even have a chance! Please note that this is all entirely my opinion, and while you are free to add your own suggestions, please do not hate me for favouring one character over another.

Skarloey:

Initially, I thought Skarloey would be an ideal candidate. He's got a wealth of experience, and he acts like the stern, elder leader of the fleet. He also knows how to handle wayward engines, as seen in 'Gallant Old Engine' when he teaches Duncan a lesson.

However, Skarloey has had no actual experience teaching a new engine. Rusty arrived before Skarloey returned, so Skarloey had no hand in their education. In fact, every engine prior to Ivo Hugh has already been taught in some capacity how to do the basics of handling trucks and coaches and listening to their driver, if not much more. Ivo Hugh very much hasn't. Furthermore, Skarloey has a temper that would severely limit his ability to mentor. His role in the series - if you look close enough - is often just scolding the others. He scolds Nancy for cleaning him, Duncan for stopping with his passengers on the viaduct, Sir Handel a number of times, the coaches for being difficult - the list goes on!

And that's before mentioning young Skarloey! Skarloey has blown smoke at his manager and insulted Rheneas and bounced his manager into a bush - and that was before the railway even opened! As a mentor, Skarloey just doesn't sit right with me. Skarloey certainly has his part to play - but he's just not quite right.

Rheneas:

So, if Skarloey isn't ideal, how about Rheneas? He's very similar to Skarloey, only not quite as stern and certainly a lot more mature from the get-go. He's persistent, as seen by his determination in Speedkiller. He quite literally is the 'Gallant Old Engine' who is very much a hero of the railway! So far, a much better fit.

Unfortunately, much like Skarloey, Rheneas has also never taught a brand-new engine before. Rheneas arrived back from his overhaul after Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty and Duncan had all settled into life on the SKR - Rheneas himself just slotted into his spot. We also don't see much of Rheneas in the series at all. For an engine with a book named after him, he doesn't do an awful lot in said book. He appears in one of the four stories, and that's mostly told in flashback!

And that particular story also points to my one major concern about Rheneas: he pushes himself too far. Rheneas jams his cylinder trying to take on the work of two engines. Rheneas takes on a herculean effort to try and keep the railway running, but doesn't seem to have the ability to stop pushing himself. It is strongly implied that his breakdown in 'Gallant Old Engine' was not a one-off event. My worry is that he'll manage to teach that sort of mentality to Ivo Hugh. It's unlikely - but not impossible. Add this to the fact that he's never taught an engine before, and while he's definitely a better choice than Skarloey, he is not the best candidate to mentor Ivo Hugh.

Sir Handel:

No. Just no. Sir Handel has insulted the coaches, damaged himself, purposefully derailed himself, knocked his firebars loose, gotten into a fight with a steamroller and insulted Skarloey - just to name a few incidents!

Sir Handel hasn't shown many signs of maturing by the time Ivo Hugh was built either, seeing as that firebar story comes from the same book Ivo Hugh was introduced in. Sir Handel is probably the second worst candidate on the entire railway.

Peter Sam:

Now, Peter Sam is an interesting choice. He's by no means the same engine he was when he started on the SKR, and he may have had a hand in teaching Rusty - though that's unlikely, seeing as Rusty just sort of arrives and knows what to do - but he has also shown that he may not be the right candidate.

He's naive for one thing - Henry managed to trick Peter Sam into panicking about being late, causing Peter Sam to forget the refreshment lady; which suggests that he can also be forgetful. He's also shown to be cheeky in 'You Can't Win!' and both over-confident and stubborn in 'Peter Sam's Prickly Problem'. Now, none of this is to the detriment of Peter Sam, just as none of this is to the detriment of any of the characters - but it's also not the best base for a mentor.

I wouldn't say he's a bad choice - Peter Sam is a good candidate. He may be stubborn, but he's also persistent and determined, as well as kind and polite. But I think there are better candidates, and he has no experience with teaching other engines.

Rusty:

Rusty also shows a lot of the strengths that Peter Sam, Skarloey and Rheneas show - Rusty's intelligent, hard-working, kind and level-headed, going as far as to warn Duncan about some bad track in 'Rock 'n' Roll'. However, it's that same story that might just be Rusty's undoing.

Rusty leaves Duncan to find his own coaches - furthering Duncan's animosity towards Rusty and making him late, and then Rusty refuses to go to Duncan's aid until Skarloey scolds him. While this may be a biproduct of Rusty's young age, the fact we don't see much of the little diesel in the series either before or after this really doesn't help us get an idea of their character. It's the same issue that I have with Rheneas: we just don't know enough about them to make a judgement.

And one final thought: Rusty grumbles about Fred not doing his job in 'Speedkiller'; and Fred is the other track maintenance diesel on the railway. When Fred arrived, Rusty was most likely the engine who taught him how things worked... and didn't manage to succeed.

Duncan:

Duncan matures a lot over the series. When introduced, he's rude, loud, brash, dismissive - the list goes on. However, by the time we reach 'Pop-Special', he's changed drastically. Duncan is a very different engine in this story, going out of his way to help the scouts during the hot weather. He's grown a substantial amount!

However, I wouldn't say he's changed entirely. He is seen being abrasive and brash as late as 'Bulldog', arguing with Peter Sam over his interpretation of a 'Duke'. His change may also have been spurred on more by vaguely disguised threats than anything, seeing his reaction to Culdee's story in 'Bad Lookout':

Duncan is not the worst candidate for a mentor figure for Ivo Hugh - however he is quite low on the list, as his bad language, biting remarks and abrasive personality would not make for the most ideal learning environment.

Fred:

Look, we know nothing about Fred. He does not appear in any illustrations, have any speaking roles or even have an effect on the series. All we do know about him is that he shirks off his job as the weedkilling engine and Rusty is forced to do it. So I'd say based on this single incident, Fred is the worst candidate for a mentor for Ivo Hugh.

Duke:

And after all of them, there is only one left. Duke. Now, old Granpuff does have his faults - but he also is the only one of this entire group to have experience teaching engines. He raised Peter Sam (Stuart) and Sir Handel (Falcon) on his own - and by all accounts, while they were on the MSR they were really useful, polite, friendly and helpful. It isn't until their stint at the Aluminium Works that they gain their current personalities.

So, Duke has the experience - which suggests that he probably has a decent temperament for teaching and a wealth of knowledge to pass down, all tested on previous students. He's also surprisingly relaxed about his role. In 'You Can't Win!', Duke actively plans and takes part in a prank against Stuart as retaliation for rude comments. His ability to roll with the punches and also have fun is extremely useful in a teaching environment.

Duke also has the same determination and drive as Rheneas, handling his entire railway alone successfully for generations. Unlike Rheneas however, Duke doesn't drive himself to failure.

Duke also has the instincts. In 'Bulldog', Duke double-heads a train with Falcon - who spends the entire journey belittling and taunting the old engine. However, when Falcon derails and dangles over a cliff, Duke does not hesitate for even a moment, going into parental instinct instantly and not stopping until Falcon is safe, going so far as to bark orders at his crew and the passengers. This is an actual human reaction too, known as maternal instinct - this is an instantaneous reaction a mother will have if their child is in danger.

He acts more like Stanley is a problem than an opportunity, which could be due to Stanley's attitude or Duke's stubbornness - either way, the depiction of Stanley in 'Granpuff' is both very disturbing and very open-ended. Was Stanley that bad? Was Duke negligent? Was it actually the fault of management, and Duke is desperately trying to ensure that Stuart and Falcon don't go the same way? If it is the last one, then that's another positive for Duke as a mentor. Otherwise, not such a great sign. Duke can also be a bit... boring. He drones on about 'His Grace' so often that Stuart and Falcon get sick of it. Duke is also remarkably stubborn, being unable to deviate from his own beliefs in several cases. He also has a temper of his own, snapping back at Stuart and Falcon several times - though this was after considerably more provocation than Skarloey.

Despite these flaws, Duke does manage to balance them out far better than the others in a parental aspect. What really sets him apart is that parental instinct - it's a real game-changer, and he's one of only two engines in the entire series to be explicitly shown as having it. The other is Edward, who put himself in massive danger to save a runaway James, but even then, it's not quite the same. Edward's said to be the only other engine in the yard, and James is in nowhere near as much danger as Falcon was. Falcon is in perhaps the most danger any engine has ever been in the entire railway series in this moment:

Based on all this, I think Duke is the best choice to be the primary mentor for Ivo Hugh. There is just more instances of him being a proper mentor in the series, which makes it easier to spot how good he is at this role. Were we to see Rusty's early days, or even that Ivo Hugh book we all wanted, we'd probably have a much better idea of who is the actual best candidate. As it is, I stand by my choice of Duke, with Rheneas, Peter Sam, Rusty and Skarloey also having a large influence. After all, it takes a village to raise a child and a railway to raise an engine!

As usual, none of these images belong to me, and are the property of their respective owners.

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frary-us · 6 months

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“i’ve never done a ghost story before...”

Till death do us part: Matt and Lisa are torn apart – but why?

3 MIN READ

PLATFORM 7 | ITVX THURSDAY

This supernatural thriller – based on Louise Doughty’s 2019 novel of the same name – follows Lisa Evans, a young woman who frequents platform seven of a railway station. After witnessing a tragic event at the depot, Lisa’s blurred memories come into focus, unearthing a connection between that moment and her own life – and death. The four-parter stars Jasmine Jobson (Top Boy) as Lisa; Toby Regbo (A Discovery Of Witches) as her boyfriend Matt; Rhiannon Clements (Hollyoaks’ Summer Ranger) as Lisa’s best friend Izzy, and telly veteran Phil Davis as Edward – a man with an unearthly connection to Lisa. Here, Jasmine, and Toby tell Inside TV more…

Hi, both! What appealed to you about this series?

Jasmine It has to be the supernatural thing. There’s something about being a spirit and being around people without their knowledge, and playing about with them when they’ve irritated you! And I hadn’t played anybody like Lisa before, so it was also about trying something new.

Toby This is the first modern piece I’ve done in ages. I seem to just do period dramas! So to make the switch towards psychological realism, I feel as though you can get away with more. And I’ve never done a ghost story before.

The doctor will see you now: Matt and Lisa feel the chemistry

It must feel strange not acknowledging that the other actor is there?

Jasmine Yeah, it definitely felt weird being in scenes yet not really being involved. I had to get used to not having anything to say!

Toby Trying to pretend that somebody isn’t there is surprisingly difficult. It’s interesting how your body just responds to somebody being there, like trying to pass right beside someone without making any little movements that you naturally do to accommodate another human being.

How was it playing those moments where Lisa walks through walls?

Jasmine So that took a while to figure out. I’d walk through open doors, and I accidentally pushed a door open once! But once we knew what we were doing, it was wicked.

Toby, do you think that Matt believes in ghosts?

Toby No – I think, as a doctor, he’s a man of science. I don’t think he has any inkling that Lisa is standing behind him, nor that he has a sense thatt there’s life after death. Which is interesting in terms of where the story goes…

There’s also an important relationship between Edward and Lisa – Jasmine, what was it like working with Phil Davis?

Jasmine Oh, Phil was absolutely amazing. He’s such a phenomenal actor. Our scenes together were very special. It was a delight to have him at the station playing Edward – who has quite an interesting secret of his own…

Do you believe in ghosts?

Jasmine I sometimes see spirits and I can tell if there’s a presence around me. One thing that I’ve always been aware of is you must never say hello to them if they’re in your home. You need sage and frankincense, and you need to bless your house.

Toby I haven’t had any first-hand experiences with the supernatural and I’ve always tended to err on the side of the material. However, that doesn’t mean to say that when I’m staying at my friend’s place in the Dorset countryside, when the moon’s out and there are owls, that I don’t sprint across the lawn to get back inside the house!

CHIEF in-spectre

RHIANNON CLEMENTS TELLS US HOW HER ALTER EGO TURNS AMATEUR SLEUTH…

When it comes to her best friend’s untimely passing, Rhiannon’s character is fixed on finding the truth…

“The big thing for Izzy is that she doesn’t believe Lisa’s death was suicide,” she says. “She thinks that there’s something else to be uncovered – and won’t let it lie till she knows what.”

As for believing in the supernatural, making the series led to a spooky coincidence for the star...

“Phil’s character has a dog, and in some scenes, it barks at what’s seemingly an empty space,” shares Rhiannon. “I recently moved into a Victorian house, and my dog has now started barking at empty spaces. It does leave me with chills!”

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addaxus · 4 months

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New Fortune My Ass! Part 3

Mucci returned in the late morning to retrieve Campbell's body. He wasn't alone this time: Four others rode into town with him. They all gave Clarence a filthy look as they passed. Some spat at his feet with a warning, but they only took their departed comrade up to the church cemetery—not to cause a fuss... Yet anyway.

The priest and undertaker were waiting for them with a calm disposition as if nothing were to go awry.

Clarence had watched the entire ceremony from his saloon's second-floor balcony. The burial was brief, as the kid had little history to go on about his life. After the priest delivered the final rites, Mucci and his buddies saddled horses and rode off the way past the church.

That was hours ago.

Night had long since fallen and business had been dead for the whole day. Folks in town were too frightened to even approach the front steps after what had happened there. Last night's incident had them all spooked, so no occasions were arranged it seemed. Seeing Mucci riding in with his buddies this morning probably didn't help. They all knew what it meant—Them cowboys were wanting something… Something that Campbell had spilt the moment he got a knife stuck in his gut.

Old mercenary instinct had been telling Clarence to give it all up. The fact it took him this long to finally acknowledge it didn't sit well with him. He knew things like this were bound to happen in a place for these kinds of individuals to gather at, however he'd been stubborn.

Like Rosemary always told him, “You can’t cling onto that business when there ain’t nothing good coming out of it no more!”

Just like he'd clung onto every dollar he got without giving a damn who paid the price for it, her empty words had followed.

He stopped drying off glasses for the next day because what was the point really? No use moping about all that now. Right now, Bruno was still in his room, sleeping off the liquor and anguish of the previous night. The quicker he could get upstairs, wake the kid, and get them both a horse each the quicker they could—

Mucci’s outburst shook the foundation from outside, his voice all too familiar around these rundown walls.

“LEROY!

‘Goddamnit...’

“I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE OLD MAN! YOU AIN’T ASLEEP!”

Cautiously, Clarence dropped what he was doing and approached the front swinging doors. Peeking out over the top, he could make out five figures standing out front. He furrowed his brows and cocked back the hammer on his holstered Remington Revolver before grabbing one of the few lit lanterns off the wall and stepping through the doors.

Clarence didn’t directly look at them until he’d made himself clear that he was willing to stand his ground unfazed by their return.

“We're closed, boys. Best find somewhere else to drink for tonight. Heard the town down east by the railway has a saloon, so long as you don't mind all the folks with cholera.” He growled at the end of the sentence.

Mucci didn’t move an inch away and sneered back with a flick of his cigar butt. He smashed it beneath his boot, still glaring up at Clarence.

“Can it, old man! You know why we're here. That runt of yours has a debt to pay. Blood for Blood.”

Though his Remington Revolver was cocked and holstered, Clarence hoped he wouldn't have to use it. Things didn't need to go like how these boys were wanting it to go. Oh yes, he knew exactly what their thoughts were.

Clarence spoke up as calmly as he could.

“He's just a kid. What happened last night weren't his fault. If anything, it's my fault leaving him alone in the first place. Kid wasn't ready to handle your type of company, Mucci. So whatever grievances you boys have with Bruno should be taken up with me.”

Mucci wasn’t having any of his empty words.

“We ain't interested in you, you stubborn old bastard. Doubt you got much time left anyways. A lot less if ya don't git while ya still can!

Clarence held fast and steady. “...Is that a threat?”

Impatient, and not liking the old man's response one bit, Mucci slowly levelled a worn looking double-barrel directly at his frame.

“It's a fact, you son of a bitch. There's five of us. Now move it.”

Clarence carefully eyed each of them.

“You boys all firm on this?”

The other cowboys looked at one another and back to Clarence, unchanging in their stances. Clearly their numbers gave them confidence.

With Mucci aiming that shotgun at him, they probably figured there was nothing for them to worry about. Mucci then cocked back the hammer on one barrel.

Mucci lowly gave Clarence another word, head lowering as his eyes kept narrowed at him under the brim of his hat.

“Last chance, old man.”

With a defeated sigh, Clarence lowered his lantern and half-turned away in a feeble manner. The sight seemed to amuse the cowboys. Guess the old man had finally come to his senses… or so they thought.

“Very well...”

In a quick flash, Clarence dropped his lantern and drew out his revolver as he turned, firing a round straight at Mucci's face. The cowboy squeezed the trigger in reaction as he fell to the sand below in a heap, the gunshot echoing throughout the night.

Dead silence soon followed.

Clarence had just enough time to shoot another cowboy square in the chest as the others fled for cover. They began returning fire as Clarence moved sideways across the front, fanning his remaining shots for covering fire before diving through the window behind him. He’d fallen right back through the saloon and ducked below the boards of wood.

Once inside, Clarence took cover against the wall as he began changing out his empty cylinder with another quick refill in his belt. He fumbled with the mechanisms a few times.

’Come on, come on, sum bitch…’

That was already too much than what he was comfortable with given the situation. Still, seemed them cowboys were too spooked by his sudden shooting of their leader and fellow comrade to risk leaving their cover. Clarence gained his focus back after getting all the parts back into place.

He heard one of the cowboys shout in aggravation.

“Son of a bitch! Light the place up, boys!”

A fire bottle flew through the broken window and set the wooden floor aflame upon impact. Clarence grunted in surprise and was forced to leave his spot as the flames spread out. Another one came through the front door, blocking it with fire. He heard another one crashing through a window up top... On the second floor.

“SHIT! BOY!”

Clarence scrambled to his feet, hoping the smoke and fire would cover his movements. It was all happening quickly, especially since this old building was so dry.

Right now his main priority was getting upstairs and getting Bruno out. It would be a damn miracle if the boy had managed to sleep through all this crap. So many thoughts were running through his mind all together in this moment that he was basically running on autopilot.

Just as he started moving up the stairs, a gunshot narrowly missed Clarence, forcing him to duck. He looked out to see one of them cowboys was firing from the side window close to the bar. Clarence responded by aiming his Remington at the same time as the cowboy did. Both fired their guns and—

“AH!”

The old man managed to hit the fire bottle in the cowboy’s left hand, setting him aflame. Lucky bastard still managed to plug him in the shoulder, though, sending Clarence tumbling backwards down the stairs and out the back door. When he landed hard he clutched the wound as the hot red liquid gushed over his hand. He dipped his head to just catch his breath for one damn second.

“Shit…”

“Gawd Fawkin Dawmnit!”

Mucci was fussing, messing with his wounded jaw.

Inside the town outhouse, Mucci groaned in pain. That dirty cheating old bastard shot and mangled his right cheek. He'd managed to drag his ass into the outhouse once shit started to heat up. Gunfire continued to echo outside. Each shot made Mucci flinch, now traumatized by the impact of one.

One final shot was heard then everything went quiet. Mucci tried to keep quiet, struggling to slow his breathing. It was his only chance of getting out of this mess alive. All he had to do was wait for LeRoy to come close and then he'd—

The outhouse door opened suddenly, bursting the wood from itself on one side. Mucci instinctively reached for his revolver... Only to feel nothing there. His holster was empty. The cowboy’s blood went cold as he realized he was staring at the business end of his own revolver.

Mucci cried in disbelief. “No!”

A thumb pulled back the hammer.

“NOOO!”

The cowboy could only stare in horror as two vacant eyes stared back before flashing green in a split second.

BLAM!

The next two shots rang on dead ears.

BLAM! BLAM!

Hearing the shots, Clarence, still clutching at the wound in his left shoulder, ran towards the source, leaving the last two cowboys where they laid. Seeing the outhouse door open, he looked inside to find a dead Mucci sitting upon the shitter. He was slumped over with eyes as wide as saucers like he’d seen the devil himself.

Seems his first shot only mangled the cowboy’s cheek, allowing him to sneak off into the outhouse unnoticed. Closer inspection revealed three fresh bullet wounds in his midsection. But who...

The sound of ragged quick breathing caught his attention. Clarence closed the door and looked around the side to see Bruno leaning against the outhouse wall. Quickly, Clarence holstered his Remington before kneeling down in front of the kid, who simply stared off into nothing, head low and trembling. What the hell happened?

Clarence extended his hand to his shoulder to try and gently snap him out of his trance.

“Bruno! You okay? Say something!”

Bruno didn't respond, but he looked up slowly. His eyes simply stared at the bullet wound in Clarence's left shoulder before drifting down. Following the boy’s gaze, Clarence saw the revolver clutched tightly within his right hand. That hand was shaking like someone had taken it and shocked him. The smell of gunpowder along with the fresh corpse inside the outhouse told him everything.

“FIRE!”

“GET THE WELL WATER, QUICK!”

“WE GOTTA PUT IT OUT BEFORE THAT INFERNO SPREADS!”

Clarence's gaze turned towards the townsfolk frantically trying to put the flames out. He finally was able to see the entire scene from his place by the outhouse. The whole saloon was completely up in flames. Place may as well have been built with kindling.

Their panic was well warranted, though he personally had no more attachment to the place. A fire like that could indeed spread. They would need all the help they could get to save what little Nuevo Fortuna had.

“Stay here, Bruno. I have to go help.”

The kid only gave a slight nod. It would have to do. Clarence stood up and looked back once, then caught up with the townsfolk. Despite the current condition of his shoulder, he still managed to fill and carry a bucket of water towards the fire at the nearest trough.

It was on his third or fourth run that Clarence looked back towards the outhouse again. What he saw caused the old man to drop his full bucket right there as it splashed everywhere.

Bruno wasn't there.

“BRUNO!”

Some distance away, the town stable doors were opened sloppily. Inside, a frantic, muttering mess of a kid saddled up the first dark horse he saw and rode off. He didn't realize the revolver was still in his hand until he ended up far off into desert wastes. By morning, the boy was still nowhere to be found.

#encanto #unforeseen: the fable of el ojos diablos #writing sample #see if y’all can spot the parallel ;)

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mikimeiko · 1 year

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Day 3 - Ljubljana>Rijeka

Had a minor heart attack on my way to the station when I thought I forgotten at the hotel/lost my id but luckily I had just misplaced it so all is well.

The train is very pretty (I love the cyan/teal-ish blue of Slovenian railways) and it has compartments! (Is this the right word? I have no idea, but Google says it is the translation of scompartimenti so...)

I haven't traveled in a train with compartments in years, the seats are very spacious and comfy <3 also the train is not very busy and I got a 6 seats compartment all to myself :D

The weather is looking promising when I leave Ljubljana but gets greyer and greyer along the way. It's still a very pretty journey though.

(that's a picture of the sea. If you squint and look at the lightest part of the image you can kind of guess a reflection of the cloud in the water XD)

I love that many of the station we're passing through have a steam locomotive on the premise (this is actually something I also noticed in Italy this summer and I have to say I love this trend, put those locomotives on display!)

They checked my id twice on the train, once in the last station in Slovenia and once in the first in Croatia (now that I think about it this also happened when I was travelling in the other direction five years ago, the only border crossing where they checked our passports twice instead of just once - at least I think it was this one, I might be wrong).

I did not get the best start in Rijeka. My hotel never answered my question about leaving luggage early, so I decided to go grab a coffee and then maybe lunch waiting for check in time. Only the currency here is kuna and every ATM I check seems out of order? D: then it starts raining and for a bit everything seems very bleak. But then of course I did find an ATM, and a way to change the big bills the ATM gave me, and a nice coffee place where I can finally have a coffee and relax a bit (I've been in Rijeka for more than an hour. As I said, not the best start) (later I found out that the problem with the ATMs is that Croatia is actually switching to the euro on January 1st... Good job Maddalena for choosing the actual worst time for coming here XD)

Also I really wish I was one of those people that are not particularly affected by the weather, but I am! All this grey and white and fog and rain is really bumming me out. I can see that Rijeka is a pretty place, I can, but I can't feel it right now. Let's hope the sky will open up just a tiny bit, just to see some sun!

I ate lunch sitting outside because they didn't have seats inside and the temperature seemed bearable but I don't know if it got colder or if it was just sitting/digestion but by the end of the meal I was freezing XD

My new room is quite cute, it also has a small kitchen inside! But it's pretty cold D: luckily there a kettle in the hall and I can make tea! (also it's not that cold, I was just really frozen from lunch)

I take a walk along the harbour around sunset. The light is quite magical, but the sky is so cloudy you cannot really tell it's sunset XD

I also go back to the centre and especially the old town, but it keeps raining, then stopping, then raining... And every bench is wet, and it's stupidly warm, and my feet hurt because the two pair of shoes I brought with me (my two pairs of very warm shoes) are not the comfiest, and also I got my period today and I keep trying to make it work, to turn this feeling around, but maybe tonight is just not the right night.*

So I grab some yummy looking things at the supermarket, plus a tea I never tried before, and head back to my room.

**I wasn't sure about adding this part, I never am. On one hand this is like... personal and maybe not that interesting for others. On the other, I distinctly remember the relief I felt on my first solo trip when, after days of rollercoasting from sheer delight to abject bleakness, another traveller told me "these past days, before my friends got here, were really hard on me, I was crying at least once a day". That moment of "oh, this is normal, this doesn't mean that I'm not meant to be doing this, I can cry and then keep going anyway if I like it enough!". And so I'd rather share the hard parts too, just in case someone reads this before they try it or while they're doing it.

#travel #croatia #rijeka #winter break 2022 #mag travels from time to time #i just want a tag for the things i personally put out into the world

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andreajingling · 8 months

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Howdy. ~ | I'm Andrea, a Trans Female, I run this ship that is this blog, so let's get some introductions out of the way: | ~ ~ | If you're looking for RP intros and such, scroll down it should be there, but it would be much appreciated and valued if you would read the entire intro. | ~ ~ | Asks are, of course, open when labeled to be. Please try not to bring anything absolutely heinous in there that isn't in character of some sort. | ~

~ | Primary Interests { ones you'll see the most of around here } Include: | ~ Five Nights at Freddy's { This includes Fangames } Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Trains/Locomotives in General Model Railroading Cars Planes/Aviation Team Fortress 2, Valve Games in General Pokémon

The Christmas Season { hence the branding practically year round }.

~ | Secondary Interests {ones you'll see every once and a while, the odd like and such} Include: | ~ MLP Minecraft The Nightmare Before Christmas

~ | I have a Youtube Channel of the same username which also posts stuff relating to interests, linked here: | ~

~ | And if you choose to support me in any way, be it Kofi, Patreon {both linked below}, or just simply interacting with posts/videos on my channel, it is extremely appreciated and valued. | ~

~ | Roleplay Info Below the Cut! | ~

~ | Now, onto another side of this account, the 'Semi-Character' Aspect. | ~

~ | I've been performing characters in online spaces for over 10 years now, starting in 2013! | ~ ~ | Let's start with the most important piece of any RP related account, the timeline they live in: | ~ ~ | The Andreaplex | ~

~ | To try to explain the entirety of the Andreaplex is to try to explain the entire history of the world I guess. There just isn't enough time, so let's go over some bullet points of the basics:

Multiple Franchises are present in the same universe, each corelating with one of my largest interests. It's basically the crossover episode of the multiverse, except they don't interact very often.

Most of the locations and popular places regarding events in the series are placed in the region of the Pacific Northwest, mainly Oregon however as it's my own home state.

The Timeline is made up of 3 others, each with different franchises present within, Timeline A holding 'Real Life', Timeline B holding FNAF, MLP, TF2, and others, and Timeline C holding TTTE and Pokémon. This is an event that occurred in the past, though does still haunt the present in multiple ways, including the way the three merged in an event called 'The Collision'. Three Into One, A Grand New Creation.

A LOT has changed from the norms of the franchises present, such as my own headcanons, major events IN my own AU Headcanons {such as the North Western Railway closing and eventual relocation to Oregon, again it's wild}, and changes to different elements of the franchises present {such as the added element of spiritual and physical aging in ghosts and spirits who choose to remain down on Earth. Example of this can be if someone dies when they're 5, and choose to remain down on Earth for 5 years, they would be 10 by the time those 5 years passed. Physical aging can go however the spirit wishes to present themselves, unless they have a body that more tangible than their spirit.}.

There are sort of, omnipotent beings that can sometimes be at the head of things called 'Writers'. Mainly it's just me and my friends personifications of ourselves, though most have chosen to allow their characters free will. Speaking of which:

Each Character is of their own free will in this Timeline, disconnected from 'Strings' that once held them in control of the Writer. Andrea being a part of this world said it best, 'I've seen their perspective. And I'm going to fix this.'

There are characters of varying power levels within the world, each harnessing a different brand of it. Speaking of that though:

One of the most common groups of power is Magic, though it has several subvarients, such as 'Equestrian', 'The Knowledge of the Fourth', 'Gold Dust', 'Witchcraft', 'The Black Arts', and other such examples that exist. Anyone can harness some types of magic with enough training, while others are only genetic or given to a select few.

The biggest fact by far is, since Timeline A was 'Real Life', and merged into the Timeline that is The Andreaplex due to the collision, by proxy, Y O U are canon to the Andreaplex Y O U exist!

~ | Next, let's take a look at the colorful world of characters that make the world what it is, specifically the ones that have this account's login info, starting with the Brunette herself, | ~

~ | Andrea 'Goldsmith Shores' Bliss { She/Her } | ~

{ Massive credit to @kilusion2011 for the ref sheets, and Kennith Stoker on Twitter for the other assorted pieces, check them out here: https://thegamefanatic.carrd.co . Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Andrea is a sort of, self insert in a sense. A being of practically unlimited power and energy due to one of the timelines merging to form her being one of a Writer {self insert moment i know}, as well as many other sources of power being pumped into her in the other 2 timelines that collided. And yet, she just owns a massive rail company, delivering promise to all in Oregon via the Pacific North Western Railroad Company. | ~ ~ | Andrea's presence is represented by a 🎄 on the top of posts. Her brackets of choice are { }, and preferred color is Red. | ~ ~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for her include: | ~

Andrea is 30 years old, born on April 30th. Due to timeframes getting absolutely FUCKED in the Collision, the year is uncertain but they put it down as 2003 as that's the one date that Andrea remembers as her birthday.

Andrea's 6 foot 1 inches.

Andrea is canonically a trans female. During her time she had to have breast reduction surgery due to their size being too painful in combo with Pectus Excavatum.

Andrea is pansexual, and happily married to Cassidy, told about below. Though in recent times the two have gone through some issues regarding their relationship due to both of them kinda not knowing how love works sometimes. They struggle but they're important to one another.

'Shores' was originally her selected last name {as she had several due to several of herself colliding into one another}, but eventually she settled on Bliss when adopting her second child.

Andrea's childhood {at least for her} is a blur. She doesn't remember much of it thanks to The Collision messing with things regarding her long term memory.

She holds near infinite amounts of power, being able to twist a timeline to nothing but red code if she wanted to, but after several events, have led her to not use it a lot, if even at all.

Most uses of her power is out of desperation, or extreme measures that would cause harm to those around/very close to her, such as family, and innocent bystanders.

Holding all of the cards at once for her is extremely overwhelming, and has resulted in her already present feelings of depression, anxiety, and extreme emotional tendencies to rise at extreme rates at times. Time has helped her slowly cope but it, it's a very slow process.

Andrea was gutted at one point by some very hostile robot bear spaghetti, a burnt clown, a burnt rabbit, and a burnt black bear, leaving the large scar on her torso. Like I said before, it's wild.

Andrea's only wish, if she were to get one that is guaranteed to come true, is to possibly experience what Death feels like, as she could never achieve it herself in any manner.

Andrea has adopted two children, ones you'll be seeing later in this thread.

Andrea's bond with her locomotives is like family, she grew up hearing their stories, and now she gets to make new ones with them. It's an honor to her.

Andrea's favorite season is Christmas. I mean, why else would the branding exist? Regardless, she loves the warmth, happiness, and above all, Hope that it gives the world. Hope for a brighter tomorrow. Hope that there is still good on this Earth. Hope that will last for eternity.

One of Andrea's first true friends in her younger days was the fourth in command of Mr. Kris Kringle himself, Vixen. The two are still best friends to this day, and often have one or the other come to their home to celebrate the holidays, at least up until Christmas Eve, then Vixen's got work. Maybe she'll pop in every now and again year round, but most of the time she appears during the holiday season.

If you were to give Andrea a theme, it would be the Rapture Rising Remastered piece from J.T. Music.

~ | Now that's my girl. My little woman. Now onto her beloved spooky ghost woman. | ~

~ | Cassidy Dani Goldsmith { She/Her/They } | ~

{ Credit to PalaKeda on Twitter for the ref sheet, and Kennith Stoker for the large piece of Andrea and Cassidy together being the women lovers they are. Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Ah Cassidy, the vengeful spirit turned business owner turned, back to vengeful spirit for a while, turned back to business owner with the addition of being a mother of two. Girly has been through a L O T , from her own death, to the entirety of the FNAF Timeline, to the shenanigans that brought her here, to even a near divorce with the woman she wanted to spend eternity with. Let's get to it. | ~

~ | Cassidy's presence is represented by a 👻 on the top of posts. Her brackets of choice are { }, and preferred color is Yellow. . | ~

~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for her include: | ~

Cassidy, much like her wife, is 30 years old, however she was born at some point during the mid 1970s, meeting her unfortunate death at around the age of 11. This is a reminder here that souls can age in this timeline, hence her appearances on her ref sheet including a teenage and child version.

Cassidy has genetic origins in Asia, specifically Japan and Korea. And yet her family chose to live in Utah. Curious. /lh

Cassidy stands at 6 foot 3 inches, around two inches taller than her wife.

One of her greatest hobbies is ironically dancing to her own music. She often pulls Andrea in for dances when she wants to, or when a situation is perfect for one.

As hinted at in the opener piece above, yes, this is THE Cassidy from the FNAF timeline, but my own rendition of her, as well as the timeline itself. Maybe one day I'll go into that can of worms.

Yes, Cassidy is dead. Not Andrea type dead no, she's just. Dead. She's a ghost. Can phase through walls, haunt things, possess her broken up Fredbear animatronic to scare people, that stuff.

Cassidy is a full on Lesbian and is currently in a loving marriage with Andrea, lasting from December 25th of 2021 { I believe the year's right can't remember exact dates } until now. Sure there's been scares and possibilities of divorce here and there, but hey when does that not happen.

Cassidy owns and manages 'Fredbear and Friend's', a restaurant literally right next door to the house she and Andrea own that both provides good old fashioned animatronic entertainment, but preserves vintage equipment and creating replicas of said equipment from Freddy Fazbear's Past, from Fredbear's all the way to the most recent restaurant, the Mega Pizzaplex. Each era of Freddy's has it's own gallery as well as subsections for different historical sections { such as an exhibit showcasing both the Security Breach and Ruin elements in full context }, so for example in one you can see Roxanne wolf, then walk to another and see the Toy Animatronics. This is ALSO another huge can of worms. Currently, this restaurant is Post-Ruin, so The Mimic's in a glass case, and the Ruined's are around on static display.

One other element about the Restaurant she has a more close connection with is 'Cassidy's Game'. Basically, take Ultimate Custom Night, and put every single animatronic from every single game in there { with a few exceptions ofc we ain't letting the mimic hunt people, that's just, no. }.

Cassidy is the backup vocalist { though does get some main vocalist chances } and lead bassist of 'The Missing Ones', an indie band comprised of the original five spirits involved in the Missing Children Incident back in 1985. They mostly do covers, but recently did a rock/metal cover of 'The Northwest Passage' sea shanty, heavily inspired by Johnathan Young's own cover. This was for a special celebration Andrea asked them to attend, as well as providing her own vocals as a special guest.

Cassidy's favorite holiday is, of course, Halloween. Her idol is Jack Skellington, for his expertise in scares and how to get them out of people in the best of ways.

Speaking of Halloween, Cassidy also goes a bit scare crazy around that time of year, due to the Mortal Plain being closest to the Spiritual Realms of Heaven and Hell, as well as Limbo and The Land Between. At this time of year, she opens the Restaurant later, as a sort of Haunted House experience, like that one FNAF Haunted House down in Vegas. Fun Fact I went to that. Was a WILD time. She also pops out and scares anyone she can for that sweet feeling of scaring someone.

Cassidy sort of dislikes the Christmas season for it's overwhelming forcing into your home type attitude. She wants to be spooky but then as soon as November comes around, Mariah Carey is free. She isn't a full on Grinch though. Yet. That arc's coming later. In the past when the two were just dating, Cassidy went out of her way to buy Andrea a full on sleigh for Christmas. Like. Full Sleigh. Full stop no additions. She just bought her a sleigh cause she noticed Andrea loved the season so much.

~ | Well ain't that lovely. Now let's move onto someone with a LOT less info about them, then to someone else small, but first let's get, | ~

~ | Maddie 'Shores' Bliss { She/Her } | ~

{ Used a Picrew for her, will eventually figure out WHICH this was from but honestly i might never cause i'm kinda lazy, and Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Maddie, a close relative of the Brunette known as Andrea, was originally part of another side of the family before being thrown to the curb due to a demonic possession. Eventually she found herself in the state of Oregon, and finding the Residences Andrea calls home. | ~ ~ | Maddie's presence is represented by a 🔪 on the top of posts. Her brackets of choice are [ ], and preferred color is Green. | ~

~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for her include: | ~

Maddie is an Asexual Biromantic.

Maddie stands at around 6 foot.

Maddie is 23 years old at the time of this original post {September 20th 2023 PST}. Her birthday is November 16th, 2000, one of the few birthdays in the family with a direct year confirmed.

Maddie is one of the few members of the Bliss Family that isn't immortal.

The results of Maddie's Possession gave her a demonic form she can shift into and out of whenever she wishes.

It also, however, gave her a specific Iron Intake she needs to meet with each thing she eats, which cannot be met with any supplements on the market at the moment, rather with human blood and flesh {think something like something from Tokyo Ghoul, except she CAN eat other stuff, just has to have that flesh and blood/iron intake factor} .

Maddie's Possession is a family curse, her mother held it before her, and her grandmother before her, and, well you get the drift. Blame her Great-Great-Great Grandmother {who may pop into this account every so often as a cameo} .

~ | Ain't she a gem. Now, onto our {currently} last individual that can access this account, | ~

~ | Mary Bliss { She/They } | ~

{ Again made with another picrew I can't remember the link too i am sorry, and Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Mary, the youngest of the Bliss Family, was adopted after she was tagging along with the embodiment of Death {one that tries to get the ghostly residents to ascend}, yet chose to stay behind with the family rather than moving on, gaining an approving family they never got. | ~ ~ | Mary's presence is represented by a ❄ on the top of posts. Their brackets of choice are ( ), and preferred color is Purple. | ~

~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for them include: | ~

Mary is 14 years old as of writing this original post {September 20th, 2023 PST}. Their birthday is March 17th, 2009.

Mary stands at about 5 foot 7 inches.

Mary is NonBinary and AroAce.

Mary is a Freshman in High School.

Mary's has a gunshot scar on her skin where her heart is, which she keeps hidden under her clothing as best as she can. It brings up bad memories of her former family.

Mary's father killed her in cold blood for her own choices of who she was. I will not be going into detail, as honestly it makes even me upset to recall that bit of her. Might retcon it honestly. Who knows.

Mary is the character with the least amount of story built up for her, so she is very experimental at the moment.

~ | Well that was fun! Got to know each of the funnies on here! Now onto the last bit of the matter, their current status! This is just a way for people to know WHO is able to access the account at a given moment. This WILL be edited over time. | ~

~ | Characters that have Access: | ~ ~ | Andrea | ~ ~ | Status: Home. | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~ ~ | Cassidy | ~ ~ | Status: Home. | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~ ~ | Maddie | ~ ~ | Status: Home. | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~ ~ | Mary | ~ ~ | Status: Home | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~

~ | And with that, at LONG ass last, this post is OVER!! Thank you to anyone who read this far down, and hopefully I can both enjoy some fun moments on here regarding roleplay, as well as spread a bit of positivity regarding other topics! Might even bring in some actual like, accounts dedicated to stuff in the future, who knows! | ~ ~ | With that, time for me to go have a rest god this took way too long. Andrea, out! | ~

#introduction #intro post #pokeblog intro #rp intro #this took way longer than it should have #my ah is lazy #but this feels so good to get done #here's to this

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u-ntitled-s-eries · 2 years

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Subway Bosses + Detective!Reader - General Headcanons Part 1

Both Ingo and Emmet are quite curious about what it’s like to be a detective. Ingo frequently asks about the route you took to become a detective, what the experience was like, and how you feel now that you’ve become a detective. Emmet wants to hear about the skills you’ve learned, the cases you’ve solved, and the strangest mysteries you’ve faced so far.

They’re both devastated when you explain that a lot of your job is composed of paperwork and that detective work isn’t nearly as glamorous as it is on TV. Surprisingly, Ingo’s more disheartened by this revelation than his brother. You’ve begun to suspect that he either used to or still has an interest in crime thrillers. No, you’ve never had to kick someone’s door down, or chase after a suspect through an alley. Sorry Ingo.

However, one of the few upside of your job is the amount of free range you have over where you work. So, if you’re not pursuing an investigation or at the police station, you’re more than likely pouring over papers at the Gear Station. Whether it’s reading a police report, filling out forms, or just waiting for the judge’s verdict on your latest warrant, you try to schedule your “free” time so it lines up with theirs and all three of you can share a much needed break together.

“It’s fine. The department doesn’t really mind where I go, just as long as I do my job and check in with the station every now and then.”

One time you told Emmet about the amount of training you had to go through just to become a police officer, plus the extra training required to become a detective. Emmet then proceeded to spend the rest of the week asking you to teach him some of what you learned. Self-defense, forensic skills, criminal justice, anything; you just make it all sound so exciting! At the end of the week, you suggested teaching him the skill of patience. When that joke fell flat, you showed him how to analyze blood spatter. A few days later, you overheard Ingo complaining about how difficult it is to get berry stains out of white clothes.

You and Ingo share a kindred spirit in the fact that both of you are workaholic night-owls. The two of you have jokingly argued about where to get the best coffee in Nimbasa and how it should be brewed, all while ribbing each other for not getting enough sleep. There have been a couple of evenings where the two of you stayed cooped up in his and Emmet’s office, silently working side by side on your respective assignments. Every half-an-hour or so, one of you will pull the other away from their work. For something to eat, drink, or to “borrow” each other’s help for a second. The amount of times the two of you have fallen asleep in the office is more than zero. Emmet is very disappointed in both of you.

Even though you still haven’t made space in your schedule to try the Battle Subway, Ingo and Emmet have offered and even asked you to ride the lines with them as a spectator. After witnessing several battles with your own eyes and listening to them talk about their battle strategies, you can safely state that The Subway Bosses have earned their reputation as a pair of trainers with strength and skills that rival even the Elite Four. That being said, the first impression could best be described as awkward. You merely sat in the final car with the Subway Bosses, all three of you silently waiting for the first challenger to arrive. And when she did, the poor girl mistook you for a trainer and thought she was going to have to battle three people at once.

But, as with all things, you got used to your new role as a familiar face on the railways. You pass the time between challengers by talking or playing games; even though Ingo and Emmet understand the importance of your work, you try to avoid bringing it to battles out of pure decorum. Some of the trainers have begun to recognize you from previous attempts at the battle lines, offering a quick “Oh, nice to see you again!” before going right back to battle, but there are still times where you have to clarify that you’re just a spectator.

When Ingo and Emmet first wanted to introduce you to Elesa, you were more than a little skeptical. The Subway Bosses are one thing, you met them by pure coincidence and had been practically working together for several months at that point, but being introduced to a supermodel and Gym Leader? Surely someone like that has more important things to do than meet with a simple officer. But, if Ingo and Emmet really wanted you to get to know Elesa, the least you could do was put in the effort and meet them halfway.

“You must be the great detective,” she said upon introducing herself, “Ingo and Emmet have told me so much about you!” “All good things, I hope.” If these two dorks somehow manage to embarrass you in front of a Gym Leader, you are relinquishing your title as ‘Railway Detective’. “So, where’s your Krookodile?” What? “E-Excuse me?” “Krookodile. Surely a great detective must have a great investi-gator Pokemon!” You blink. “I’m sorry, can you give me a second? I’m looking for reasonable grounds to arrest you for that joke.” She laughed, and you never would’ve expected that the figureheads of Nimbasa were also such goobers. Or maybe you’re the odd one out.

After that first impression, you quickly realized that Elesa isn’t nearly as standoffish as you had feared she would be.

“When we’re up on stage, me and my Pokemon can be something people can look up to for inspiration. A reminder to never give up on their dreams.” “Inspiration, huh? Yeah, I can see how that works; embodying what you believe in.” “Exactly! It’s a lot of work, but this way I can freely express my true self.”

There was one case that required the help of an entomologist; the only problem was it would take a couple of days for her to arrive, and by then the suspect could have already fled Nimbasa. Your response? To call Emmet and bring him on as a consultant. To no one’s surprise, the department was not happy about the idea that you were wasting resources with nepotism. After all, what could a Pokemon trainer really bring to a criminal investigation? You stood back and watched as Emmet lectured the whole department on the behavior and anatomy of various bug-type Pokemon. The only times you weren’t smirking were when Emmet looked at you. Every time he looked at you with that shining smile, you couldn’t help but smile back.

If any of you have ideas or suggestions for what kind of Pokemon our dear Detective should have, feel free to leave a suggestion. I’m thinking a Watchog for their keen eyes and ability to stun people, and a Herdier because of their loyalty.

#Pokemon #Ingo #Emmet #Elesa #Subway Boss Ingo #Subway Boss Emmet #Submas #Reader

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aidanchaser · 1 year

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Title: Roots Rating: M for Mature (its just a hasty, not-quite-explicit-but-more-than-implicit railway blow) Tags: Wolfstar, Hurt/Comfort, Modern AU, Non-Magical AU, Sirius struggles with his trauma response Word Count: 5.2K Summary: Sirius isn’t angry that Evans knows he and Remus are together, not really. But James had no right to out them like that, and he doesn’t know how they’ll overcome this.

Technically a sequel to Accidental Reindeer, but only in that this is the direct consequences of James accidentally outing Sirius in that fic.

Read Roots on Ao3 or below.

Sirius has always loved watching Remus sleep. He’s not entirely sure why he loves it. Maybe it's because it feels like glimpsing a secret. While Sirius is content to nap on couches, trains, or even park benches, Remus almost never sleeps where people can see him.

But he’s sleeping now as they make their way back to London, and Sirius stares at him with the barest hint of a smile across his lips. Sirius’ smiles are as rare as Remus’ naps but this is just how they are in each other’s company. They trade secrets the way other lovers exchange flowers or chocolates.

Sirius tears his eyes away from Remus’ delicate, pale lashes tucked against a cheek decorated in a thin silver slash of a scar to check his phone.

There are no new notifications, but he stares, not for the first time, at James’ unanswered texts. Beneath a lengthy apology, there’s a wary olive branch of, Happy Christmas followed by an overly enthusiastic and probably desperate Happy New Year! one week later, but Sirius has answered neither.

He can’t avoid James forever. James will most likely be waiting for them at the flat when they get back. Hell, knowing James, he might even be waiting on the platform for them.

But Sirius is still angry with James for the incident with Evans.

If he thinks about it—if he really sits down and thinks about his relationship with Evans, whatever that is exactly—he doesn’t mind that she knows he and Remus are together. He doesn’t mind that she knows he’s gay. But it wasn’t James’ secret to share, and Sirius is so protective of his secrets.

He’s not embarrassed or ashamed; it’s the opposite, really. Sirius has, ever since he was a child, intentionally hidden all the best parts of himself. He buries a tender heart under the roar of a motorcycle. He buries his unshakeable loyalty under harsh, cutting swears. He buries his love for his friends and Remus under layers of thick skin and carefully sharpened barbs.

James, Remus, and Peter have all, in intonations ranging from tender to desperate, asked him why he’s such an arsehole all the time, and he doesn’t really have an answer. At least, not a real answer. He’s buried that truth so deeply that even he can’t reach it.

Remus stirs and Sirius tucks his phone away.

“Good morning, princess,” Sirius teases.

Remus blanches at the endearment and rubs his eyes. “How long was I asleep?”

“About an hour. We’re nearly to Swansea.”

“You shouldn’t have let me sleep that long.”

Sirius allows himself another rare, tender smile. “You needed it.”

Remus looks out the window at the early, winter sunset, but he doesn’t argue. For what should have been a relaxing holiday, Remus did not get the rest that he deserved.

But they both knew it would be a hard and uncomfortable trip. They’ve been putting off introducing Sirius to Remus’ father for a long time, and finally, they couldn’t keep ignoring it.

The holiday was not nearly as awful as Sirius could have imagined. Sirius had more experience in the yelling and throwing things department of terrible coming out stories. Lyall Lupin wasn’t that at all. But Lupin also wasn’t the Potters, who embraced him with open arms and bought him condoms and books on safe sex.

Lupin was, like Remus, a quiet man who grew deeply uncomfortable when confronted with something new. His son bringing home his boyfriend for Christmas certainly wasn’t something he had familiarity with. There were several long, silent meals, and very stilted questions about university and what it was like living in London. Lupin offered Sirius the sofa on the first night and Remus said, with a weariness built on a lifetime of unsaid arguments, “Sirius and I will fit in my room just fine.”

Except they didn’t fit just fine. After one night fighting for space in the same twin-sized bed Remus has been using since childhood, Sirius opted for the floor. He and Remus don’t have much in common, but they share a stubborn streak, and the sofa was never going to be an option for either of them.

The holiday wasn’t unpleasant, all things considered. It was just so much quieter than Sirius was used to. And he knows very well how the pressure of tiptoeing around arguments and double-checking before stealing kisses wears a person down. He knows that Lupin wouldn’t swing at Remus like Sirius’ father might have, if he had caught Sirius buried in another boy’s neck, but Remus still wanted to avoid any discomfort all the same, because that’s just who Remus is, and Sirius could understand that.

Sirius could also understand—though he couldn’t share in it—that being home for Christmas would have opened up Remus’ buried grief, and that had to be exhausting.

While Sirius buries all the better parts of himself and flaunts his bad habits like the final sale items in a shuttering shop, Remus displays only his very best habits on carefully dusted shelves and buries his anger, his grief, and even his desire in the coldest, darkest of cellars.

Sirius pulls Remus’ hand up to his lips and kisses it gently.

Remus finally turns away from the window and back to Sirius. His cheeks are flushed and warm. “What’s that for?” he asks, a tiny smile just barely tugging on his thin, pink lips.

“Nothing.” But Sirius is thinking of how that smile looks so much like the woman in the picture frames that decorate Lupin’s mantlepiece.

He doesn’t know the details of how Remus’ mother passed away, but he knows it was full of lengthy hospital stays and untested treatments. He knows that her illness is one of several reasons Remus hates hospitals. Remus’ own medical history is another.

Remus’ hazel eyes are still cloudy with sleep as Sirius pulls him in for a proper kiss. Sirius knows he can’t kiss away either of their bad memories, but he’s willing to try. Diving into endeavours he knows will be fruitless and kicking desperately against a current that will always carry him out to sea are two of Sirius’ favourite flaws that he likes to polish and pin to the collar of his leather jacket.

They’re the flaws that both pushed him into Remus and forced them apart. Sirius and Remus were happy to flirt, to tease, until one day, after a brief and unexpected kiss, they both realised that it wasn’t teasing and it never had been the joke they pretended it was. Things could have been easy after that, but neither Remus nor Sirius knew how to make things easy. They fell apart instantly, terrified of what the reality of their feelings meant for vastly different reasons.

Sirius ran because he was too afraid to ruin Remus. Sirius was the sort who kicked down the towers that people like Remus built, and he loved Remus too much to risk that. Remus fled from his feelings because Remus believed he deserved to be alone and could not admit that love was an option for him.

They might never have spoken a word to each other again if James and Peter hadn’t sat them down one cold November night and insisted that they sort it out, because they were tired of living with flatmates as frigid as the goddamn Arctic circle.

The same deadly combination of recklessness and fear that kept Sirius from Remus is what keeps him from texting James.

Sirius surges into Remus with new ferocity, like this kiss might clear his head and make the pain of James’ breach of trust go away, and Remus, as if he knows what Sirius is trying to do, pulls back against the window. His eyes are no longer clouded with sleep.

“What’s wrong?” Remus asks.

“Nothing,” Sirius says, but lies are another of his flaws that he brandishes like the bruises he used to wear to school each morning, as if surviving his mother was a badge of honour.

Remus looks down his angular nose at Sirius’ dark, needy gaze. Sirius watches indecision flicker in Remus’ dark green eyes before Remus goes back in for another kiss. Sirius wonders if it’s a good sign or a bad sign that Remus doesn’t press him. Is it good because he allows Sirius this peace? Or is it bad, because he knows Sirius is lying and he chooses to avoid conflict and take the path of least resistance, like he would with his father?

But Sirius doesn’t worry about it for long. It’s hard to worry about much of anything when Remus’ fingers slide across the thin cotton of his t-shirt, towards his belt, and brush the barest scrap of skin along his hips. Warmth blooms in Sirius’ chest, and he doesn’t have enough foresight to think that they’re on a train, and they’re in public, and this is all highly inappropriate. Those aren’t the sorts of things Sirius thinks about.

Remus, however, thinks about them plenty. When Sirius slides his hands to Remus’ jumper and tries to pull it over Remus’ head, Remus pulls away. His face is red, much like Sirius’ must be, and the smile on his face looks a little impish. It’s Sirius’ favourite smile of Remus’ wide range, from the intensely sarcastic to the soft and tender.

Sirius gets to his feet and tugs at Remus’ hand. “Come on.”

Remus leans back into his seat. “Don’t be silly. We’ll get thrown off the train.”

“I’ll see you in three minutes,” Sirius says, and hurries down the aisle.

Remus shakes his head, but Sirius goes anyway. He knows Remus will follow. Maybe not in three minutes. Maybe five or ten or maybe even twelve just to really make Sirius wait for it, but Remus will come. The reckless part of Remus is never buried very deep, as much as Remus might try to hide it. It was the first flaw James and Sirius were able to tease out of him when they all moved in together. Remus may be quiet, but it's Peter who’s really the cautious one. Not that it mattered; after a few months, James and Sirius wore Peter down, too.

It’s seven minutes before the door to the train’s small bathroom slides open and Remus presses himself against Sirius. And it’s only two more minutes before Sirius has, despite the cramped quarters, manoeuvred Remus against the tiny sink and unzipped his trousers.

Remus breaks away from the increasingly desperate kisses and tips his head back against the flimsy mirror. The reflection of his ashen hair shudders. “That better not be from your trousers pocket,” he says, as Sirius tears open a condom.

“You know me better than that by now.” Sirius pats the inside pocket of his leather jacket, where he always keeps a few condoms on hand, especially for moments like this.

Sirius was not always safe when it came to sex. He knew he was bent by the time he turned thirteen and he took just the same stupid risks with meeting those needs as he did with anything else in his life. He had certainly never given a blowjob with a condom on until he met Remus, who insisted on caution like it was the bread and butter of getting off.

But reckless as Sirius is, he understands Remus’ need for care, and no longer protests or pushes.

Remus cards his fingers through Sirius’ long, dark hair as Sirius lowers his lips. There’s nothing possessive in it today. Remus’ touch is tender and gentle, and once upon a time, Sirius might have flinched. This time, he leans into Remus’ hand and slides Remus’ pants down just far enough.

There is not much room to kneel, but Sirius slots himself between Remus’ legs with the efficiency of an eager hound in search of a bone. He considers teasing it out, making Remus beg for it, but he knows that, desperate as they both are after a fairly celibate week, this offer of a blow in a train bathroom is about all Remus has to give him.

So Sirius is quick, leans on years of practice, and thinks he has set a new record for Remus. He almost wishes he had timed it, just to have something to tease Remus with for the rest of their trip.

As Sirius discards the condom behind the flimsy metal rubbish lid, Remus eyes him with a rather disappointed expression.

“I expected a bit of flare,” Remus mutters as he slides off the sink and rezips his trousers.

“You can return the favour on our next train,” Sirius offers with a wolfish grin.

Remus cocks one pale eyebrow and there’s a challenge in his eyes that makes Sirius’ heart flutter in a feverish pitch.

But Remus says nothing. He slips out of the bathroom and hurries back to their empty seats. Sirius waits for a few moments, probably not as long as he ought to wait, before hurrying after Remus.

He sinks into the seat beside Remus and watches Remus check his notifications. James’ texts nag at the back of Sirius’ mind, but he sets it aside. He isn’t going to bother with it just yet.

He leans his head against Remus’ shoulder, sinking into the scratchy wool of Remus’ jumper. Remus sighs, and carefully adjusts to put his arm around Sirius’ shoulder. He runs his long, pale fingers over Sirius’ shoulder, soft pads of his hands creaking against the worn, black leather of Sirius’ jacket.

“James is worried about you,” Remus says.

All the thrill of what they’ve done and the excitement that he might tease it out of Remus one more time leaves Sirius at once. He feels cold, as if Remus had stripped him suddenly and his shoulders stiffen under Remus’ arm.

“Are you texting him?”

“No.”

Remus is a good liar. He says he doesn’t lie to Sirius—not anymore, anyway—and Sirius trusts him, most days. Right now, though, doubt claws its way up Sirius’ throat. His hand twitches with the desire to snatch Remus’ phone and read through his conversations.

“Then why do you think he’s worried?”

“Evans said so. She’s worried too.”

“You and Evans talk now?”

“Sometimes. Mostly about murder.”

Sirius isn’t sure what to do with that statement. He knows that it’s supposed to be witty, but he also knows it’s a joke he’s on the outside of, and it makes his skin prickle.

“You should talk to James,” Remus says.

“I’ll see him when we get home.”

“But will you talk to him?”

The dreary Welsh coastline confronts Sirius’ suddenly sour mood. All orange slivers of sunset have faded, and soon the coast will be nothing but darkness, with no distinction between land, sea, and sky. They could’ve had a grand trip back, making up for lost time and lost kisses, but Remus has decided to ruin it by bringing up James.

“Yeah, we’ll talk,” Sirius grumbles, but it doesn't feel honest, and Remus’ sharp, almost scolding look doesn't fade. His pale green eyes are still hard as he evaluates Sirius.

“We will,” Sirius repeats, attempting to be earnest and eager, but it falls flat.

“I know you like to hold grudges. Don't hold this one, please,” Remus says. “You and James won’t survive that.”

Sirius isn't quite sure what Remus means by that, so he ignores it. He closes his eyes and settles heavily against Remus until they have to disembark. Sirius gallantly offers to take Remus’ bags, mostly because Remus’ arm is filled to the breaking point with pins and needles and is little more than dead weight for about the next half hour. But once they’ve boarded their next train and are on their way to London, Sirius’ gallantry gives way to recklessness once again.

“You owe me,” Sirius says.

Remus does not look up from his phone. “I thought it was a gift.”

“But you promised to return the favour.”

“I promised nothing. In fact, I think I offered to take care of it right then and there, but you refused.”

“Please?” Sirius is so rarely polite and this finally gets Remus to look up from his phone.

“All right,” Remus says, but doesn’t put his phone down nor move towards the bathroom. “You can have a blow now, if you like, or you can wait until we get home and I’ll promise you a full hour of attention.”

Sirius has never been good with delayed gratification. “Why can’t I have both?”

“Because my time is a valuable thing. I only have so much to give you.”

Sirius considered the choices. “Two hours tonight.”

“One.”

“Three hours?”

Though it was the opposite of a compromise, Remus tapped his phone against his chin thoughtfully. “Two and a half hours if you talk to James.”

“Remus, I am not a toddler you can bribe into behaving with sex like it’s sweets.”

“Three hours if you talk to James.”

Three hours is a bit much; one of them will likely fall asleep before Remus’ valuable time runs out, but Sirius at least appreciates the principle of the promise. “Fine.”

Sirius leans heavily against Remus’ shoulder and props his boots up near the carriage window. There’s not enough room for him to stretch out properly, but he makes himself fit anyway, even if it pushes against Remus a bit. Remus doesn��t seem to mind.

He opens up his messages to James again. He doesn’t know what he’s going to say. Ask for an apology? He thinks he’s owed one, but an apology can’t undo what’s been said and done. Evans can’t unknow what she knows.

“Please don’t,” Remus sighs, and Sirius realises he’s been bouncing his leg against the wall.

“Sorry.” Sirius tucks his phone back into his pocket and sits up. His leg keeps bouncing, moving to the rhythm of some internal force that Sirius cannot name nor control. He taps his fingers against the armrest. He slouches and puts his feet up on of the chair in front of him. That, too, is dissatisfying and he sits up again.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he says abruptly. “I’ll take the blow now.”

Remus does not even look at him. “Walk. You’ll feel better.”

“It’s three hours to London. I’d pace this car a million times before we get there.”

“So walk slow.”

Sirius falls back against the seat with an exasperated sigh. He knows he’s being difficult. He can feel it in his chest, but the reckless animal that lives inside him is too loud, like a disobedient dog, who would like nothing more than to root through the trash in search of something exciting to play with.

It’s not even a blow job that he wants. He just wants a distraction.

“What are you reading?” he asks Remus, and leans against him as if Remus’ shoulder were the new back of his seat.

Remus, to Sirius’ disappointment, remains unperturbed. “Call James,” he says, and Sirius slides so far down into his seat he is practically on the floor.

He looks up at Remus, hoping Remus at least has the sense to be embarrassed by Sirius’ tantrum, but Remus isn’t even looking at him.

Sirius pulls his phone out of his pocket with an agony akin to tearing his own nails from their beds. He doesn’t want to do this. He needs to do this. Remus is right, as always, but Sirius loves being wrong.

He skims back to the initial blow up. The texts that contained James’ profuse apology, that it had all been an accident, that he’s sorry, that he knows how much and why this hurts Sirius, and he’s so sorry. It doesn’t feel like enough.

“Why can’t I just take the blow now?” Sirius asks.

Remus does not look up from his phone.

With a groan like a dying animal, Sirius calls James.

James answers on the first ring. “Everything all right?” His voice is breathless almost, full of an energy that might be excitement or nerves. Maybe it’s both.

“Remus has promised me three hours of his undivided attention if I call you,” Sirius says. He watches Remus for a reaction, but Remus doesn’t so much as twitch with a frown or a smile.

“Ah,” James says. “And we both know how valuable Remus’ time is.”

Sirius slides fully onto the floor and turns so that his feet are up against the seat and he has a clear view of Remus’ face. “I suppose he wants me to tell you that it’s fine and all and we’re still friends.”

James hesitates. “It’s okay that it’s not fine,” he finally says. “I mean, it is fine, really. Lily doesn’t mind. You know, she even helped me realise that I’m bi.”

Sirius freezes like a dog catching a scent, but it’s not James’ bisexual awakening that interests him. “Sorry, do you mean Evans?”

“Er—yeah, Evans doesn’t mind. So it’s fine, but it’s also okay that it’s not fine with me, you know. You’ve every right to be mad at me, but I am sorry. I would never have done it on purpose.”

“Why are you calling her Lily?”

This catches Remus’ attention. He glances over his phone and down to Sirius. His thin brow creases ever so slightly and he leans forward in an attempt to listen in.

Sirius doesn’t put the phone on speaker. He’s cavalier and rude, but he knows better than to have a loud conversation on a train. He does, though, turn the volume up and tip the phone away from his ear so Remus can have a better listen.

“We spent the week together and became better friends,” James said. “I mean, she’s been calling my parents by their first names all week. It felt wrong that she and I weren’t on the same terms.”

But James sounds flustered and Sirius can’t help but laugh. “You shagged Evans?”

Remus tries to shush him, but Remus is laughing, too, albeit not quite so loudly.

“Well—there was some mistletoe,” James manages, and Sirius breaks into a new fit of laughter.

“Brilliant. Absolutely fucking brilliant. No wonder you’ve hardly bothered to text.”

“Remus said you needed space! I would’ve texted—I wanted to text. I am sorry, Sirius, please, don’t be upset with me or Mum.”

“What’s your Mum got to do with it?”

“Mum was lamenting about you growing up and finding your own family. I was only building on her joke and that’s how Lil—Evans found out.”

All of Sirius anger seems to compress in his chest until its nothing but a tiny spot behind his ribcage. “Well I can’t be mad at your mum,” he grunts. If Euphemia Potter outed him to Lily Evans, that’s entirely different than James. He doesn’t know why it’s different, exactly.

“Mum would understand if you were.”

Sirius doesn’t say anything. He stares up at the ceiling of the train car, struggling to parse what exactly he is feeling. He’s not sure what’s changed, suddenly, but it’s like all the anger and agitation he had been consumed by has been dumped out the moving train.

“You all right?” James asks.

“Yeah,” Sirius says, but he feels a million miles away.

“I am sorry. And you’ve got every right to be mad at me.”

“I know.” But Sirius isn’t quite sure what to say. He’s rather grateful when Remus pulls the phone from his hand and puts it to his own ear.

“James?” Remus says. “We’ll see you when we get home.”

Sirius can’t hear James’ reply, and he doesn’t want to, exactly. He’s having a hard enough time parsing his own thoughts and doesn’t have the capacity to parse James’ thoughts, too.

Remus sets the phone aside and reaches down to pull Sirius back up into his seat. He doesn’t complain, though, when Sirius slouches so that his head is in Remus’ lap and his feet are propped against the window.

“Are you mad at Mrs Potter?” Remus asks.

“I don’t think so,” Sirius says. He’s not sure there is a name for what he’s feeling. It’s not bad, exactly, it’s just unfamiliar.

“You’re upset that James would just tell Evans that we’re together, but you’re not upset that his mum would?”

“I dunno. It’s the way she said it, isn’t it? Like she called you my family. I…” Sirius drums his fingers against his chest, like they can press down whatever is trying to push its way out. He and Remus haven’t been together all that long, and meeting Remus’ father had been a big step for them. But even then, he’s not sure that’s the part that’s giving him this strange feeling.

The feeling in his chest wells up into tears before he can quite understand why. But he realises, quite suddenly, that of course he’s not upset with Euphemia Potter. For her to casually mention that she misses him like he was her own son, for her to casually include Remus as his new family without any hesitation nor criticism—he’s not angry with her. He’s overwhelmed by how much she loves him and every time he is overwhelmed by how much Euphemia loves him he is also stung by how much his own mother doesn’t.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, and sits up before Remus can tell him not to. He presses the heels of his hands into his eyes in an attempt to control his tears. He wants to bury them down again. He wants to just be grateful for what he has rather than hurt by what he can’t.

It’s been ten years since he left home and longer than that since he realised his parents would never love him. But it still hurts. It’s still the thing that pushes him into every stupid, reckless decision he’s ever made.

Remus leans against him. His weight helps, like it can push out everything that aches inside Sirius.

“Do you remember when you accidentally outed me to Severus?” Remus murmurs and Sirius tenses.

Of course he remembers. He’s replayed that moment a thousand times, regretting every second of it.

It was only a little cut on Remus’ hand, hardly bigger than a paper cut, but Severus was just so rude about it and Sirius wasn’t able to help himself. He knew, even as he said it, he shouldn’t have, but Sirius always tumbled headfirst into bad decisions. There was nothing to stop him as he blithely suggested that Severus was welcome to a bit of Remus’ blood and all the consequences that came with it.

Remus had hit Sirius to shut him up. It’s the only time Sirius has ever seen Remus come close to violence, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that Sirius immediately wished he could unsay what he had said. It didn’t matter that, honestly, after so many years of his life on medication, Remus’ HIV wasn’t even transmissible. The damage had been done.

“James is the one who encouraged me to forgive you,” Remus said. “He loves you, a lot, and he convinced me to love you, too. I want you to forgive James because James is good for you. I don’t want you to let this take him from you.”

“I’m not mad at James,” Sirius mutters. “And I wasn’t, not really.” He should have been able to trust James, to trust Evans from the beginning. This fight wasn’t because they had done something wrong, not really. This fight was, as every stupid thing he’s ever done has always been, because of how Sirius’ parents had hurt him years ago. It’s always his anger with his mother that roils in his core, like a fire that refuses to be extinguished. It’s always the hurt in his heart because she couldn’t love him that pushes him to do something stupid, something rash, in an attempt to forget just how much he hurts. And he hates that he can’t seem to move on from it.

He hates the way it lingered at the edges of his trip to visit Remus’ father, a lingering fear that won’t abate. He hates the way it has torn this rift between him and his best friend. He hates the way it won’t even allow him to accept Euphemia’s love and grace.

It doesn’t matter how far he runs, he’s never quite going to be free of his mother.

“Can you tell me what hurts?” Remus asks, like Sirius can point to a bruise or a broken bone.

And Sirius can’t, but Remus has known him long enough that he doesn’t have to say much. “It’s the same thing that always hurts,” he says.

He and Remus don’t have much in common, but they share this: a single fear that hangs in their blood and bones like a curse. Remus’ fear is more intimately tied to his blood than Sirius’ is, but Sirius does not think he could wrench his pain out of his chest anymore easily than Remus could bleed his veins dry.

Remus pulls one of Sirius’ hands away from his face and laces their fingers together. He squeezes, like the pressure can take off some of the edge of Sirius’ pain and it does, at least a bit.

“I’m sorry,” Remus murmurs. “I should’ve known.”

Sirius should have known, too. He should’ve been able to identify it when it had first flared up during his exchange with Evans before Christmas Eve. It shouldn’t have taken him over a week to draw out the roots of his hurt. He’d just been living with them for so long and the roots went so deep it was easy to forget they were there until he tripped over them.

And the worst part of it all is that there is nothing he can do about it except pray that someday it won’t hurt so much.

He bites down on his lip and looks at Remus’ fingers intertwined with his own. Maybe the best way to get rid of old roots is to plant new growth.

He squeezes Remus’ hand.

“So, Evans and James?” he asks with a shaky laugh.

Remus hesitates, gauging how helpful a distraction would be in this moment. Then he gives in with a smile. “I can’t believe it took them this long.”

“Wait, are you serious?”

“You didn’t notice?”

“They snipe at each other constantly.”

“They’ve been flirting like kindergarteners since they met.”

“How can you tell the difference?”

“Because you flirted with me the same way for a while.”

Sirius buries his face in his hand again, this time to hide a blush. He’s never been good at displaying the best parts of himself, but Remus is so good at teasing it out of him anyway.

Remus presses a kiss to his cheek then gropes for his phone with his free hand. Sirius can hear the soft click of the touch-keypad and glances at Remus’ screen just before he sends the message clicks the screen dark again.

To: Prongs You might want to stay with Evans tonight. I think we’ll be a bit more than the three hours I promised.

New growth, Sirius reminds himself, and turns his head to kiss Remus. He’ll text James again before they get home, to assure him that this won’t tear them apart. He’ll text Evans, too, to let her know it’s all right, and to tease her about sleeping with James.

Right now, though, he’s content to sit with Remus. It still hurts, all of it, but it hurts a little less knowing Remus will sit through it with him.

#wolfstar #wolfstar fic #harry potter modern au #remus lupin #sirius black #yeah im not out to my parents and some shit went down yesterday and im processing that through sirius black so forgive me my hubris #thanks

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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 1 year

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Ohh 55 or 58?

@shinygoku already requested 55 (it's coming sometime soon!) so I'll talk about 58: the gays can have some gordon!angst. as a treat

This is one I shared the first chapter of — where a pre-NWR Gordon has a brother named Nestor!

(Why can't I resist giving the engines twins as a backstory? It's because of my addiction to character foils.)

I've put this on the backburner because I already have three separate prequel universes at this point (QLIR, Nobby/Bird-'verse, and the 124/125 one) so I really don't need a fourth.

This one is sooooo fun though. (And by fun I mean horribly depressing!)

It ricochets between Gordon's early days on the NWR and flashbacks to his trials with the GNR. I'm keeping the second part close to the vest, but here is the cast as I get to play with them on the NWR side of things:

Gordon: Arrives on the NWR after several years as a testbed for the GNR, showing every sign of wariness, even trauma. However, his resting bitch face prevents virtually anyone from noticing. For a while he's private and aloof and only thing he takes joy in is speeding along with the express. Gradually, he decides he can let down his guard and bask in his increasing press attention.

The Coffee Pots: Very minor characters (as Gordon barely allows himself to be aware of their existence), but worth discussing so I can unveil how, in this universe, the NWR was experimenting with a more formal naming system. Before their railway was absorbed into the NWR, they were No. 1 'Tidmouth', No. 2 'Knapford', No. 3 'Elsbridge', and No. 4 (no dice... although informally called 'Hackenback' by the workers). There was every anticipation that, when the line was extended and a tank engine was fitted with push-pull apparatus to run it, said engine would be named 'Ffarquhar.'

The Big Blue Bastards: These are also "Eastern prototypes." They were on Sodor about a year before Gordon and have already made themselves quite at home as the self-appointed Most Important Engines On This Railway (Also The Most Insufferable). Right now they are No. 9 and No. 10, but they expect to soon be renumbered and officially christened 'Harwick' and 'Wellsworth.'

Wellsworth, like Gordon, is GNR and they ran into each other in their testing days (neither was a fan of the other!) He's a 2-8-0 with the world's most irritating snigger. 'Worthie has a petty, competitive streak but you really can't hold that against him too much, that's just the baggage with which everyone on the Eastern prototype circuit was saddled from day 1...

Harwick is not GNR but from another Eastern pre-Grouping railway that had made him because they were flirting with the idea of compound engines. The Designer (he does some shady shit so I am declining to identify him as Gresley) pointedly made it clear that he had no interest in pursuing compound steam so Harwick's home railway sold him to the NWR ahead of Grouping to avoid seeing him scrapped. If only Harwick had been worth such trouble — he never acknowledges his previous railway at all. He's snobby and self-absorbed and runs his mouth so much that you might not notice right away that he actually fails quite a lot.

The BBBs, however, realize pretty quickly that the newcomer, Gordon, has twice as much ego as both of them put together, that he is more reliable than both of them put together... and that there just might be a new alpha bitch in town.

They certainly are not going to be able to deal with him the way they dealt with the other baby Pacific...

The Other Pacific: Henry arrived the less than a year before Gordon. Like Gordon, he was purchased for express passenger services and, although he wasn't the Atlantic that Hatt thought he had paid for, he caused a great stir—he was officially the first Pacific ever in service on a British railway.

Obviously, it didn't last long. The BBBs were... hang on, I think I already had Edward explain it the best: "The other big engines hated him beyond all reason, out of jealousy I suppose. They acted like they were all friends, but they gossiped behind his tender viciously, and gave him the most terrible advice. And they thought it the greatest joke in the world, when Mr Hatt had Henry bricked up in the tunnel." Said terrible advice included telling an untested, baby Henry to avoid running in a downpour, as a heavy rain would be sure to spoil his paintwork. Yep, this is how the BBBs roll.

Henry is still in the tunnel when Gordon arrives and stays there for most of the fic, a pathetic solitary cipher that Gordon spends more time than he would admit trying to solve. He also serves as an object lesson in What Happens to Engines Who Defy the Fat Director (which again, Gordon won't admit it but the moral was deeply impressed upon him... for a time, anyhow).

The Little Red Engines: There are several of these chuffing about in the background — the NWR owns two (Edward, still in Furness livery, and 'the Yank'), and the LMS still sends engines over to run the Norramby services and occasionally loans a couple to the NWR when their big new engines are all being particularly useless.

The BBBs are aware that the little red engines are there to pick up the slack for them until they are finally made reliable. In return they give this 'Midland riffraff' their eternal gratitude disdain.

The Yank is a Midland 2501 that was offloaded to the NWR along with some other MR engines for war service. Since the Yank arrived on Sodor already badly in need of overhaul, and Crovan's Gate had in fact gone ahead and overhauled him, the MR let them keep him. The NWR replaced his red paint after they mended his boiler, although it is minimally lined out and even before they purchased him they had not bothered to replace his MR lettering.

He was (originally—a few have been replaced!) made of Baldwin parts but was assembled at Derby. He still has an American accent, though, and when the U.S. "finally" entered the war in '17, joyous workmen at Tidmouth named the Yank after the president (though whether they actually call him Woodrow or Wilson is something I'm still deciding—opinions welcome. I did consider John or Pershing but neither of them really fit the character.)

Woodrow is a placid workhorse. He's pleased to be left on Sodor; once the MR's own "locomotive crisis" had passed, they had always rather overworked and neglected the 2501 class, and had been ready to scrap all of them at their first boiler expiry. As a result he's willing to work very hard for his new home. And — since they have shared the experience of building and running the railway through the war and beyond — he's good friends with Thomas and Edward. (Everyone who knows what I inevitably do with likable OCs in my prequels: Jobey... nooo! Me: Jobey yes 😈)

Next to Woodrow, Thomas and Edward are notably very type-A. Woodrow is a hard worker, but he's also not one to waste steam. And, unlike the other two, he saw very quickly that there is no point in giving the big new engines advice (Edward), trying to order them about (Thomas), or complaining about them (literally everyone else). So—he doesn't. Everyone underestimates Wilson's intellect coz he's not an engine of many words but he's also the only one around who is during this era living an even vaguely peaceful life. ;)

Meanwhile, Edward has the reputation among the big new engines of being "a bossy know-it-all." (Certainly Henry is spending a lot of time in the tunnel realizing that he completely misjudged which engines he should have been listening to!) There is considerable smug satisfaction among the BBBs when Gordon's success soon leaves Edward completely sidelined. They figure it'll finally take him down a peg or two. (They're... they're not wrong.)

The Stirling: Speaking of sidelined bossy know-it-alls! I would be remiss if I didn't reveal that Emily is a one-chapter wonder. In a flashback Gordon and Nestor discover her deep in storage at Doncaster. It's a darkly comedic moment of characterization for the two younger engines, showing that they may be dicks but their dickishness is pretty shallow—everyone starts off just boasting and criticizing, in classic express engine style, but when Gordon and Nestor so unsportingly bring up the patent fact that Emily is now just gathering dust in storage the older engine crumples. As her eyes fill with tears, both the new Pacifics are horrified and fall over each other trying to take back their words. This is not how it's supposed to go! She's supposed to grudgingly and enviously acknowledge their superiority—but she's not supposed to cry! They cannot handle the idea of dealing with a miserable engine falling to pieces in front of them.

Luckily, Emily even at her lowest point is a proud, spirited sort of racehorse, and she manages to recover her dignity... and to spend the rest of the scene again matching them boast for boast. <3 (Still afraid she might burst into tears, the Pacifics accordingly fawn over her lightest word!)

Heartwarming moments, truly. Y'all know how much I love the uncomplicated, unproblematic fluff.

#ttte #the railway series #chatter #fic concept #the gays can have some gordon!angst #ttte gordon #ttte henry #ttte oc #ttte edward #ttte emily #oh crap i forgot to cover thomas #past my bedtime tho #up this goes

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myrnadalgleish · 1 year

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Thomas Barrow & Richard Ellis, and eclipses as a harbringer of change

Everything related to the moon is automatically related to Richard Ellis, right?

Eclipse is defined as an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer or between it and its source of illumination. Here we will discuss lunar and solar eclipses with astrological meanings and real-life eclipses that happened closely to canon.

An eclipse of the sun happens when the moon moves between sun and earth, blocking out the sun's rays and casting a shadow on parts of earth. Total eclipse happens when the moon covers the sun completely. Lunar eclipses happen when earth positions itself between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow across the moon's surface.

For Barris Winter Fest's this week's theme, change and new beginnings ✨️ @barris-event-blog

The Sun & The Moon 🌙

Sun's path is the unifying symbol in astrology, since the other planets orbit around it. The sun is therefore related to what is ideal, fixed, relatively permanent and unchanging. It's also related to power, to kings and queens, to powerful or famous people, to rulership and governance. It also has been associated with ambition and purpose, and it represents clarity and direction.

In contrast to the symbolism of the sun, the moon has traditionally been more closely related to the realm of impermanence, as it is constantly waxing and waning. As servants, Thomas and Richard work in an industry of the past, but the world around them is changing constantly. Like Richard says it, "Fifty years ago, who'd have thought man could fly?".

The moon's method of illumination is more subtle, relying on reflected light. Indeed, the moon symbolizes things such as our inner feelings and desires, our shadow self, and things that we are yet to discover about ourselves. "When you're like me, Mr Carson, you have to read the signs as best you can because no one dares speak out" & "You just need to be a bit more circumspect in future, Mr Barrow".

Solar Eclipse 🌝

With all of this in mind – in an eclipse, the moon covers the sun. The moon, within all of its own symbolism, represents Thomas and Richard's relationship (the crescent fob as a promise of seeing each other again). The sun represents the status quo: Richard having a stable position requiring some kind of ambition to acquire and Thomas having his life center around serving the ruling class. But when they met, the moon covered the rational sun. Richard helped to sabotage the royal visit and Thomas slammed the door on an earl's face, both betraying the rich and famous. "It feels good to be two ordinary blokes".

The sun is also sometimes seen as a ruler judging us from above, and shadows (outside their many negative meanings) are seen as protection. What happens in the shadows is Turton's and kisses hidden in plain sight.

Eclipses are known for being major harbingers of change and often align with exciting new beginnings and twists of fate. Total solar eclipses are a rare event, but sometimes all the celestial bodies are aligned for true love to happen, perhaps?

June 29th, 1927 🌌

On June 29th, 1927, a total solar eclipse was visible from the British mainland soil for the first time in 203 years. R.A. Marriott describes: It caused nationwide excitement which included mass population movement to the towns, villages, moorlands and offshore waters of Wales and the North of England, and severely tested the country’s transport and communication systems.

Blue line displays maximum eclipse path. In York, 99.40% of the sun was covered at 5:24 in the morning. Downton Abbey would have experienced almost a total eclipse.

Railway companies encouraged people to travel to experience the eclipse. Though anyone who travelled might have ended disappointed. Totality only lasted 23 seconds, and very few were lucky too see it because of the cloudy weather. Sylvia Seeley writes:

The narrow belt of totality, only about 28 miles wide, swept accross England in a line to include parts of North Wales, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Thousands upon thousands of spectators were gathered at various centres in the line of totality, from one side of England to another, only to be greeted on the great day with a drenching and hopeless dawn of impenetrable clouds.

The royal visit is set on July 20th–22nd, 1927*. So around a month before Thomas and Richard met, a rare cosmic event symbolising change and new beginnings took place. 💖 I would assume at least some of the residents of Downton Abbey got out of bed early enough to stand outside in dark and rain. Did Thomas bother, I don't know. Richard probably was still in London, experiencing much the same. Or maybe he was already on the Yorkshire tour, with some Giggleswick luck? The summer of 1927 is one of the rainiest on the record, by the way. Since it was perfectly sunny for the parade in Downton, I'd expect the clouds cleared everywhere the king step foot in.

Wet and depressing athmosphere also mentioned in the final page of Dorothy L. Sayers' 1927 novel Unnatural Death:

As the gate clanged open to let them out, they stepped into a wan and awful darkness. The June day had risen long ago, but only a pale and yellowish gleam lit the half-deserted streets. And it was bitterly cold and raining.

“What is the matter with the day?” said Wimsey. “Is the world coming to an end?”

“No,” said Parker, “it is the eclipse.”

*This is debatable, I think! The month July as far as I know comes from Edith's line about giving birth in March. It wouldn't be a big stretch to think the movie was actually set in June. I do like the eclipse better as an omen for a twist of fate, but if you'd like to think them going eclipse gazing right after the visit, it's technically possible!

Dancing Partners 🌔

If you had asked me just a few days ago, which one, Thomas or Richard, I would associate with the sun, I would've said Richard. But I've got it all wrong! Obviously the guy standing in a dark street talking about moonbeam fairies is the moon.

Some of the the Sun's traits, like positivity and confidence, I would hand over to Richard. But other than that, he reminds me of the moon. The moon is hidden, and then it isn't. Slowly we see more of it, one part coming out of the shadow after another, but then it starts disappearing again, and we doubt if we ever knew him at all. He can quite literally fool you with his voice, and seems different every time you look at him, adapting into every moment gracefully. As said before, the sun represents clarity. I wouldn't call Richard a lunatic, but his actions may seem... more on the side of the moon, sometimes.

Thomas might not always be the sense of reason either, but he has some of the sun's traits. (And he likes the sun!). In the movie, unlike the subtle moon, he says openly what he means with an expressive face. Mr Ellis – the Moon – is certainly more circumspect (or so he says!). The sun is symbolic of action and intesity, while the moon is of passivity and thought. Our Sun's slamming doors and dancing and getting upset about it, but both times Richard's been there to listen and mysteriously solve things.

Sun and moon being in love relies on the concept of opposites attracting, and I actually see Thomas and Richard as quite similar. And I do keep seeing Richard as the sun too. (With many moon-like qualities in Thomas as well). I'd love to hear your insights if you have them!

The sun and the moon being romantic partners is not my idea. Legend says that they have always been in love, but that they could never be together, because the moon rises at sunset and the sun just at dawn. Eclipse was created as proof that there is no impossible love. In 1844, Jean Jacques Grandville published a drawing of the sun and the moon kissing during an eclipse. A french film from 1907 with sexual themes shows a romantic encounter between the sun and the moon during an eclipse. Some have seen it as an early example as homosexuality in film.

And not to get too meta, but! The most important thing when we think of the relationship of sun and moon is that the moon reflects the light of the sun. We know only very little of Richard, and so many of our own headcanons rely on what we think would be fitting or interesting for Thomas. Thus we only see the moon in the sun's light.

Lunar Eclipse 🌚

In astrology, the moon is the banner bearer for things that come to be and pass away. Canonically speaking, Thomas' and Richard's relationship didn't last a very long time. It is sad, but I think something positive I got from the break-up it's maybe the thought that good things don't have to be forever. Like a total eclipse happens rarely and doesn't last a long time, it can be a life-changing moment.

While solar eclipses often bring new beginnings, lunar eclipses are more likely to bring about sudden endings, conclusions, or powerful changes of heart. That way we could think solar eclipse as a symbol for the start and a lunar eclipse as the end (or an unpermanent distruption) of their relationship.

Lunar eclipse is less of a spectacular event too. The moon either darkens or turns reddish or brown colour. They can be viewed by anyone on the night side of the earth and they can last nearly two hours, so they aren't as rare as solar eclipses. On average, a total lunar eclipse can be seen from any given location every 2.5 years.

Total lunar eclipses happened four times in a row on June 15th, 1927; December 8th, 1927; June 3rd, 1928 and November 27th, 1928. (Total lunar eclipses often happen in a row. Before this group, the latest was in 1924 and the next in 1931). Only the second one, December 8th, was visible from the UK, and it was a blood moon (the moon turns red).

Assuming The New Era takes place in '28, these happened around the start and end of Richard and Thomas' relationship. Eclipses are always about change. June 1927 – November 1928 is a period of huge change in Thomas' life, all about self-discovery and finding himself, which the moon is related to.

Until We Meet Again 🌜

A large partial solar eclipse was visible from Los Angeles in 1930. This newspaper article from California which I thought was funnily fitting.

And if that prompted to change his mind or if he never went, there were plenty of chances to go eclipse-gazing with Richard later. In York, June 30th, 1954, 80% of the sun was covered, October 2nd, 1959, 20% of the sun was covered, and February 15th, 1961, 90% of the sun was covered.

Thank you for reading! 🌟

Links 🌠

1. astronomy: more about solar eclipses, more about lunar eclipses, june 29 1927 in york, june 30 1954, october 2 1959, february 15 1961, april 28 1930

2. astrology: solar eclipse symbolism, eclipse meanings, sun symbolism, solar eclipse meanings

3. eclipses in art, solar eclipses in the uk, lunar eclipses in the 20th century, seeley's text (would recommend this), vintage photos of people eclipse-gazing

4. couldn't find where the newspaper article is from but i got it here

5. unnatural death & l'eclipse du soleil en pleine lune (watch here)

#when i turn this into a fic format then you will see #it ought to be haunted #i cherrypicked a lot of stuff with symbolisms etc bc this isnt That serious. just so you know if youre interested in this stuff #used some sketchy websites so yeah. if you read the whole thing and didnt think its stupid thanks sm 💓 used a lot of time with this #and theres some things i didnt even look up #anybody interested in the june 29th eclipse i have a lot of stuff i couldnt include! lots of links to send hmu

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