Day 15-Compromises in Colour
Day 15-Star
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Abbey sat outside the works, resting after the mid-day express, waiting for Screech to emerge. It had taken several weeks, but the Night Owl and the works had finally come to an agreement on her paint. They had even bought books with different railway liveries in it for inspiration.
Screech's whistle sounded from the works, twisting and curling through the air, chilling Abbey’s frames.
Screech emerged from the works in a cloud of steam and tendrils, her new paint gleaming beneath the afternoon sun. The main colour, a shade of green so dark it was nearly black, had been found in a book on American locomotives, Brunswick Green of the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the Uman and Din contacted the Pennsylvania’s Altoona works for permission to use the paint, the PRR gifted the recipe to the U&DR for use on Screech.
Abbey had to admit she was impressed, the dark shade suited Screech very well. Regal, yet understated, the dark tones contrasting nicely with the Great Western style lining and letter. She was also more than a little smugly satisfied at the words Uman and Din properly painted on Screech’s tender, marking Screech as theirs.
Screech looked up, meeting her eyes.
“You look wonderful.” Abbey said warmly. She noticed in the year since Screech arrived that the eldritch engine's opinion of herself was nearly as poor as her opinion of the other railway. Abbey was never going to let that stand, so took every chance to let her opinion of the wonderful engine before her be known.
Screech shifted uncomfortably, her tendrils moving closer to the ground in a way that Abbey was growing more and more certain was her partner's form of blushing.
“It was unnecessarily complicated.” The Night Owl said. “My old paintwork was fine”
Abbey fixed an unimpressed look upon the 2-8-0, “Would you have considered it fine for me?”
Screech blinked at her in the way that Abbey knew meant the engine had been caught off guard
“No, I…”
“Then it was not good enough for you.”
Screech paused, reassessing. Abbey waited patiently.
“You're a passenger engine,” she rumbled uncertainly, “you're held to a higher…”
“No.” Abbey said firmly, “you know we don't treat any engines differently here.”
Abbey waited patiently for Screech's next rebuttal.
“I do not see the point.” Screech finally admitted with a sigh, “I am a goods engine. I will be covered in soot and dust by the end of the day. It's a lot of effort that will be undone on the first day.”
Abbey rolled her eyes fondly, “One would think you didn't know what a wash down is.”
She gently rolled forward and buffered up to Screech, “the effort is because they care for you. That's why it's worth it. They know you’ll be dirty again in minutes, but you are worth the effort.”
Screech gave her the monster in the headlights look she always had when someone declared they cared for her.
Abbey sighed fondly, “Come on, let's show Miss Morgan their hard work before you go play with trucks.”
“Very well.”
Abbey rolled back towards the station, reminding herself a railway isn't built in a day. She couldn't help but smile when a tendril tentatively hooked around her coupled as Screech followed. One wheel at a time, they’d have Screech believing in herself again.