Sorry I went radio silent for, like, months. I got into other things and kinda forgot to log back into Tumblr. But I'm back now and I'm here to bring you ✨J E D✨
I've been meaning to do my own take on Jed for a while ever since Shika posted her Jed. Then Leo made his Jed and, well, better late than never I suppose.
My Jed lore below:
Okay so in my AU (TTTE: Sudrian Boys), the engines learn to shapeshift because they're curious about what human lives are like.
James and Edward are an established relationship, and they've been together for some time. James didn't like taking a human form at first. But over time, he learned how to customize it and having Edward at his side exploring human expression with him helped James regain his confidence.
So for the Jed AU within the AU, I imagine it takes place a little bit after James starts getting used to shifting. He's still adjusting to the new human form, but he's gotten really into customizing it via fashion and accessorizing. He's heard of humans going off to fun places at night, and he's curious to know what it's like.
So James and Edward catch a ride with Connor to the main land. And then they wander into a club.
The music is louder than they care for (they're not used to having the more sensitive ears that humans have). But the beats are nice, and dancing seems fun.
James and Edward dance together, and are lost in each other's company. They feel safe and loved and confident in each other's presence. Until eventually, they quite literally fuse and become one.
Jed's Personality:
As a character, Jed is the personification of how James and Edward perceive each other through their relationship. He's got double the confidence, but is a bit more calm and rational (from Edward's influence). He's also prone to sarcastic quips.
In both engine and human form, he's faster than either James or Edward would be separately.
Whenever James and Edward fuse to become Jed, Jed's outfit uses the combined parts of whatever James and Edward were wearing before.
The unfortunate thing about Jed is that when things go wrong, he's also got double the insecurities from both his parts. He's pretty good at solving other people's/engines' problems. But if he's feeling insulted in some way or is put into an uncomfortable situation that he can't logic his way out of, he's bound to break apart.
You're literally my closest TTTE mutual I care about you so much (platonic). Like, every time we stay up late and chat about our AUs and rp with our silly little mengines it's always such a treat. Getting to really befriend you was one of the highlights of 2023 going into 2024. You are such a talented artist and also such a kind and funny person. I hope you have a very, very awesome birthday!
ALSO! Congrats on reaching 500 followers!!! And happy Tumblr-versary!
I always intended to follow up my WesternAU! Edwards drawing with some WesternAU! James, especially after Shika drew her James as a cowboy. But y'all know I'm a slow cooker XD But here he is now! One of these days I wanna draw him getting lassoed by Edward, but I've got some other drawings I wanna take care of first, so it might be a while.
Hope y'all like his design though! He's very sparkly. 😊 Also yes the rainbow clouds were intentional (because he's GAY!!!!)
Of course, I had to do something Jameward for the occasion. Even though this meme is literally called "Understand my Ship in 5 Minutes", I still wanted to include some commentary/headcanons because I've been DYING to talk about them forever. So if you're interested, read on under the cut!
(Also, please note that the interpretation of the characters depicted here is specifically for my AU, TTTE: Sudrian Boys)
NAMES: For the sake of making sure their names fit in the boxes, I used the last names they picked for themselves before they got married. When they do eventually get legally married, they'll combine their last names together (a conclusion they got to after much bickering). So respectively, they will be James and Edward Hughes-Pettigrew.
GENDER + SEXUALITY:
James is GAY. GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY. Sorry not sorry, but there is not a woman-liker bone in his body.
Edward, on the other hand is bi. Part of me thinks he tends to prefer the company of men, but maybe that's just because there's significantly more male engines on Sodor. Also he is nonbinary. This will be something I explore later. But to summarize, Edward never felt entirely male in the strict sense that humans define it. However, he felt the need to be the consistent, steady, "old reliable" his peers saw him as, so he never questioned what others chose to call him. This changed when "The Great Shift" happened (aka, the engines learning to shift into a human-like form). Edward saw an opportunity to experiment with his presentation, and so he had a brief stint where he tried going in the opposite direction, presenting as a woman named Alice. As fun as it was, however, he found that it didn't feel quite right either. To him, "Edward" was where he felt most at home. He's not a man or a woman, he is just "Edward". Edward uses "he/they" pronouns because those feel the most neutral to them.
HORNY LEVEL: I will not be elaborating.
AWKWARDNESS LEVEL: I don't think Edward and James ever really had an "awkward phase". Before they got together, they always felt comfortable with each other as close friends would. They never really had that thing of "oh I want to tell him I like him but I also don't want him to know". Edward always knew he liked James, he just didn't say anything because he didn't think James was interested. And once James admitted to himself that he liked Edward, he confessed and it was all smooth sailing from there. To be honest, not much changed when they moved from "close friends" to "boyfriends". They still act like close friends, just with added kissing privileges.
JEALOUSY LEVEL: At the point where they're at in their relationship right now, both James and Edward are pretty secure, so it's rare for either of them to act jealous.
From Edward's perspective, he knows that James is young (relatively speaking) and very attractive, so it's hardly surprising to see that other people would try to flirt with him. There's a small pang of jealousy that comes from him thinking James would have preferred someone younger or stronger, but that quickly goes away once he sees James return to being on his arm and very proudly proclaiming he's already spoken for.
From James's perspective, he thinks Edward is the real catch between the two of them. Plus, it's not often that other people would try to shoot their shot with the silver fox. So when other people do try to get a little too close for comfort, James would certainly be stewing in jealousy. If the feeling gets to a certain point, he'd probably make himself known. But once they get home, the situation gets explained out, and they're cuddling on the couch with a blanket and some tea, James finds he can let go of the jealous feeling relatively quickly.
BIG SPOON/LITTLE SPOON: Majority of the time, James is the little spoon. He likes to be held and Edward LOVES holding him. James's favorite thing is when Edward keeps their hand on his chest. But occasionally, they do switch places, especially if Edward has a particularly hard day. Sometimes Old Iron wants to be cuddled too.
LENDS/BORROWS CLOTHES: Both of them tend to steal borrow clothes from each other, but under different circumstances.
At home, it's relatively commonplace to see Edward walking around in one of James's pants, shirts, or even his prized red coat. But more often than not, these are cases of Edward just picking them up of his own accord and James just letting him have it.
Outside, it's James who more actively does the borrowing and Edward who does the lending. James likes to go out ✨IN STYLE✨ without taking into consideration pesky things like the weather. So when James (inevitably) gets cold at night, Edward is the one to lend him his jacket.
PET NAMES: They don't use pet names often, but they do use some of the more basic ones on occasion. For James, Edward would sometimes call him "Jamie", "darling", "dear", or his personal favorite, "love". James usually calls Edward by his full name because Edward prefers it, but sometimes he might slip in an "Eddie", "baby", or a "kitten" in there just to make the old man flustered.
AFFECTION THROUGH WORDS/ACTIONS: This one might seem paradoxical, but let me explain.
James is more receptive to affection through words because he's used to being dismissed. In his worst moments, he can be pretty down on himself as his insecurities eat away at him. At times like these, Edward knows exactly what to say to help James pick himself back up again. It's especially meaningful because Edward absolutely means everything he says. He's not the type to lie just to make James feel better. He's honest and straightforward. If James did something wrong that needs calling out, Edward will tell him (politely of course). So when Edward tells James that he's wonderful or that he's a "really splendid engine", he 100% means it. And you can tell from just the look in his eyes that Edward loves his red boyfriend SO DAMN MUCH.
Conversely, Edward is more receptive to affection through actions. Edward is always the one out caring for everyone else and tends to forget to care for himself too. But at the same time, he's very much the type to never ask for help (even if he needs it). James knows this, so he goes the extra mile to help take some of the load off. If Edward is especially tired one day, James will step up and do Edward's share of the housekeeping without being asked. He'll volunteer to go supervise Bill and Ben so that Edward can take a day off. He'll fix up a warm bath for Edward after a hard day. Anything to make sure Edward is taken care of, James will do it. Not only that, but James is also the one planning most of their dates. ;)
CONFESSING:
Edward NEVER had any plans to confess to James. Romantic relationships are uncommon amongst engines since there's no real use for them. Plus, he didn't think James would be interested in a plain old iron like himself (as he views himself anyway). So Edward was just content to just feel his feelings and never act on them.
James, on the other hand, took several years to both realize and accept that he was in love with Edward. But once he got to that point, he confessed fairly quickly. Sure, there was a normal amount of hesitation and worry that Edward might not feel the same. But he was about 90% sure that Edward loved him back so he didn't end up worrying that much leading up to the confession.
CAN'T DRIVE LOL: Even as engines, they can't drive themselves. Plus, they know trains are the superior way to travel. So if they ever need to go somewhere while shifted into humans, they just catch one of their friends' trains. I don't think they've ever even sat in a car before.
COOKING: Edward loves to cook (especially baking). It was one of the first hobbies he picked up after learning how to shift and he would often make meals to share for the entire Steam Team. James, on the other hand, can cook, but not nearly as well as Edward. He doesn't know as many dishes as Edward. Even the ones they both know, James's, for some reason, aren't as good. The only time James would ever take over cooking is if Edward is feeling too exhausted to do so. There's a mutual acknowledgement between them (and also the rest of the Steam Team) that Edward is the superior chef (and he also enjoys it more). So if he can help it, James prefers to leave the cooking to Edward.
PDA: James absolutely LOVES PDA. He will take literally every opportunity he can to dote on Edward in public so that the entire island knows that they're together, much to Edward's embarrassment. Edward secretly loves the PDA too, and he appreciates how proud James is to be his boyfriend (and later husband). But Edward would never admit it. He tries really hard to at least appear decent in public. That said, when the opportunity arises, Edward does like getting to flip the script and fluster James in front of onlookers.
OVERPROTECTIVE/CHILL GOING: Both are more than reasonably protective over each other, but for different reasons and under different circumstances.
James gets into accidents relatively often, usually as the result of his own dumbassery. So Edward has gotten to a point where he's not too concerned if James winds up in an accident again. He'll still worry a little and warn James to be more careful next time, but Edward knows after a trip to the Steamworks that his boyfriend will be good as new again.
It's when they're shifted into humans when Edward becomes more protective of James.
Because of the way James looks, it's unfortunately not uncommon for James to get harassed while shifted as a human. When this happens, Edward goes into full protective mode to make sure his beloved stays safe. Thankfully, it doesn't happen too often. But it does happen often enough that Edward feels like he has to keep close watch of James while they're traveling after nightfall.
James, on the other hand, always has a bit of worry for Edward at the back of his mind. He knows Edward is capable of handling himself, but he also knows that Edward is old and doesn't recover from accidents as quickly or easily as he does. He worries that if the damage is too great, Edward could be scrapped. So if Edward were to end up in any sort of accident, James would go ballistic. He's puffing over right away to make sure his beloved is okay and may or may not have a fierce word with whoever caused the accident. The same thing goes when they are in human form. If Edward were to end up in some sort of fight, James would put himself in harms way to make sure Edward is protected (even though in human form, Edward is actually physically stronger than James).
RELATIONSHIP EXPERIENCE: Neither of them had any relationship experience before each other, they were each other's firsts. You can maybe argue that Edward has slightly more experience because he's had crushes on other people in the past, but fleeting attraction that is never pursued could hardly count for true experience. Their whole relationship is something that James and Edward are navigating together. It's new and at times a little scary, but there's nobody else James and Edward would rather be with than each other.
This is what happens when you loop Cotton Eye Joe for hours while thinking about this drawing by @shikariiin. XD
I originally had this planned for 2/2 but I couldn't even get the sketch done in time by then. So 2/22 it is! XD Better late than never I suppose.
Without question, I always planned to draw two Edwards for 2/2, mine and someone else's. And that someone else HAD to be Shika because, like, y'all she's such a good friend. I love her sm (platonic). I could literally stay up talking to her for hours (and I do!).
Anyway, hope y'all enjoy this silly drawing of our Edward's together. 💙💙 They're gonna wrangle some naughty red engines.
Inspired by many conversations I've had with @shikariiin , in which we are in agreement that if my James and her James ever got in a fight, my James is getting folded like a lawn chair. My James is the twinkiest twink to ever twink. Sure, he's tall. But he's scrawny, there's no meat on his bones. Meanwhile, Shika!James is BEEFY. He would break my James like the toothpick he is. So here is the result of their one-sided battle illustrated. XD
Bonus:
I was gonna include a second panel where my Edward pulls out a megaphone and shouts "Beat his ass James!" (referring to Shika!James), but I got impatient and wanted to post this quickly. I was too excited and couldn't keep the surprise in any longer. ^^; But just know, my Edward is rooting for Shika!James in this fight. Get wrecked James (affectionate)
"Cameras are flashin' while we're dirty dancin'
They keep watching (they keep watching), keep watching
Feels like the crowd is saying"
"GIMME GIMME MORE"
They don't call him the ✨Pride of the Line✨ for nothing. ;)
Anyway, whenever I feel down I draw James in a slay outfit. His splendidness helps perk me right back up. Also yes I drew him in a Jojo pose. And yes, you can expect to see plenty more James the Slay Engine from me in the future. 💅
I've updated James's reference sheet (again)! I only realized after I posted the last updated reference that I forgot to draw his earring, so I decided to go back and re-draw it. And while I was at it, I decided to move his number into a more obvious spot so that he's more recognizable. Hopefully this should be the last update I do for a while ^^;
As with the previous update, I deleted the previous version to avoid confusion. The design changes are pretty minor, so you don't have to worry about missing anything from the old version.
