#ttte nancy

[pepperher]

Traintober Day 5: Failure

Nancy and Rheneas the homework helper

[galinneall-dearg]

TTTE + Textposts (Part 2)

[choc-ice-on-wheels]

Diesel: GENTLES DO NOT REPREHEND Duck: Oh oi'm gunna! Diesel: IF YOU PARDON WE WILL MEND Duck: Pardon NOT granted!

[duskstargazer]

TrainTober Day 2 - Twilight

'Those Twilight Years'

[1899]

I remember that day as though it was yesterday. A light rain had started on our way down. I’d just brought the girls to Crovan’s Gate, and we had to wait for the connecting train from Neil’s railway. Though I was still a bit of a young engine then, I had noticed many engines that had once worked the line had vanished. Of course I know now they were sold on to other railways … or worse. Now, only Neil and his two siblings ran the line.

I’d not seen Neil for quite some time. I was afraid then that he’d vanished, too.

We waited and waited for quite some time. I was growing impatient.

“Where in the dickens are they?!”

At last, we heard a clanking, wheezing, and the sound of straining metal. Beatrice gasped. She was the first to see them.

I stayed quiet as the engine pulled in - I could tell they were having a tiring time. Nothing could’ve prepared me for what limped into the station.

“Haah… haah… pfffffhh… sorry we’re… haah… late… hahhh…” Neil panted.

I gawked. His brasswork was rusted through, his paintwork was faded, and coming off in flakes - what hadn’t already run down the tanks, that was. They were using a cheaper supply of paint, and by the look of it, not mixing it well. The nameplates had been taken off, and were it not for the faded number 2, I might not’ve been able to tell that it was Neil that stood before me.

The paint on his coaches was fading as well. They didn’t carry many passengers anymore on a good day - the railway had suffered a gradual decline in clientele since the disaster in 1878 - but a rainy one like this saw them nearly empty.

As Neil struggled to catch his breath, I just stood there, staring in worry. I felt terribly sorry for him, but I think I was also afraid of ending up like that myself.

I asked if he was alright - ridiculous in hindsight, of course he wasn’t - but he claimed he was fine.

“Ack- neva’ better.” He coughed as he spoke, and sometimes, bits of ash would spray out. “Would’ja believe Alfred failed comin’ outta tha shed?” He said with a hollow sounding chuckle. “Split a piston rod - damn thing snapped like a twig. So much fer… carryin’ tha railway all oon ‘is own.”

I didn’t have a response for that. Agnes never much cared for the big railway, but even that day, when she and the others were held up something awful, even then, she stayed quiet. I think even she felt sorry for Neil. I think that was one of the last times I saw him before he was bought by the Mining Company. A few years after that, and he was gone all together.

[ / ]

Skarloey sniffled. “I haven’t seen him since.”

Nancy quietly walked up, and with a clean rag, delicately wiped a tear from the old engine’s eye.

[brownsugar-chan]

Traintober day 1: Free day This is something I've been working on for a while based on a conversation @galushanationalrailways and I had!

[imitation-steamroller]

Something Old, Something New

Skarloey has been away serving as part of a good luck package. But when he finally comes home, the other little engines are surprised to find that he wasn't just something old.

“What’s taking Skarloey so long?” Duncan groused one day. “He goes gallivanting off on holiday and leaves us to do his work!”

“Nancy already explained it,” Peter Sam said patiently. “Her cousin is getting married, and they asked for Skarloey to be part of the good luck package.”

“I know that!” Duncan snapped. “Why does he get to go up to Duck’s branch line, hmm? Why does he get to be repainted? I work hard enough to deserve a new coat of paint!”

None of the other engines mentioned that Duncan had just been repainted a month ago.

“Speaking of which,” peeped Sir Handel, “did anyone notice how secretive everybody was about Skarloey’s repaint? They even took him to the big engines’ workshop for it. The rest of us always have ours here.”

Rheneas chuckled ruefully. “I’m not sure, but I know Nancy is behind it. She was in a right state when they came to take Skarloey away. Apparently, she suggested something as a joke, and Skarloey and the bride decided to go with it.”

“Do you think they painted ‘Just married’ on the back of his cab and rode away with him and that old haulage wagon of his?” Rusty joked.

“Not quite,” came a voice.

The little engines couldn’t believe their eyes as Duck pulled into the yard. Behind him, he had a coach full of happy wedding guests, and behind that was the flatbed carrying Skarloey, who looked a very different engine indeed.

Instead of the red paint with white lining they were used to, Skarloey was painted a bright shade of blue. It wasn’t so light as Thomas, Edward, and Gordon’s paint, nor was it quite as dark as Sir Handel’s.

“Do you like it?” he asked, chuckling at their expressions.

Soon, Skarloey was loaded back on the rails, and Rusty shunted him into the shed next to Rheneas.

“What’s this about, then?” Rheneas chuckled.

“Ask Nancy,” Skarloey answered. “It was her idea, after all.”

The girl in question leaned against the shed wall, wearing a red dress with a blue ribbon around the waist.

“I meant it as a joke,” she said, fighting off a grin. “I said since Skarloey already fit as something old and something borrowed, we may as well figure out how to add something new and blue to the mix.”

“Thus the change in color,” Peter Sam surmised. “An old and borrowed engine in a new coat of blue paint!”

“A four-in-one good luck package!” Rusty laughed. “Clever thinking, Nancy! Though, I don’t think Sir Handel likes it very much!”

Sir Handel eyed Skarloey’s paint critically. “It isn’t bad, I suppose. But I had better not hear any passengers getting us mixed up!”

“Don’t worry, Sir Handel,” Skarloey said innocently. “We can just have you painted red to balance things out!”

Sir Handel’s reply was drowned out in a chorus of laughter.

[ryan1014n2]

Traintober Day 15: Maintenance

Nancy sometimes helps get the engines ready for the day by cleaning their motion. Duncan’s certainly not complaining.

[traintrainingmontage]

@astro-tram This one's for you, since I saw your kind words and figured "you know what? If someone's interested, I won't say no!"

CW: mentions of blood, injury

TTTE White Witch AU

-White witches have existed on Sodor for a very long time. It's said that they get their power from the land itself, a blessing upon those who care for it. Witches live in many, many more areas of the world, of course, but for our purposes, we will not further discuss them.

-The witch families live all over the island, and they form a coven with a long and storied history. Their individual family histories have been recorded in ancient documents. The Thin Clergyman doesn't like talking about that particular aspect of Sodor's history.

-It's said that the ancient goddess of fire and travel, who loved humans, especially favored the white witches and took pains to assist them in various ways. One such way was gold dust, which could be used to travel across great distances, and call one's familiar to their side.

-White witches have always specialized in matters of warding, protection, luck, and healing.

-Witches have always had familiars. This is to protect them from those who would covet their power. Originally, only certain animals (those who had enough intelligence that an Awakening ritual could be done to make them sapient) were used as familiars, but once humans wrought from the earth unliving creatures of fire and iron, the goddess decided, with the consent of all the lands of the world, that such creatures could also be familiars, and thus, they as a whole were Awakened.

-Skarloey was requested to be a familiar in about 1912. The Sam family had been working on the railway since 1897, and were thus quite familiar with engines by this point. With tensions high elsewhere in Europe, there was much concern over both the human and non-human threats to Sodor.

-One night, while being chased by an undead intent on getting her power, Beatrice Sam, Robert Sam's sister, ran to Skarloey and asked for his help. Creatures of fire and iron are inherently strong against those of an undead persuasion, so Beatrice hoped with all her heart that her instinct saying this sapient vehicle could be a familiar was correct. Skarloey agreed to her plea and they formed a pact.

-Beatrice gave some of her blood to the engine, cutting her palm and letting a few drops sizzle in his firebox, pleading in Old Sudric that he become her protector. With her power, Skarloey began to take on a more bipedal, humanoid appearance, although he was still very much a machine. Metal creaked and parts shifted as he stood, his frames moving to accomodate the will of his contractor, as he quickly pulled Beatrice out of where his cab suddenly wasn't and cradled her in his arm like she were a doll. At 549 cm tall, he towered above the trees. Steam began to pour from his funnel, pure and white, and with his own power, the engine began to move of his own accord. He set Beatrice down, and headed toward his foe.

-The engine pummeled the pursuer into submission. It was not a battle; it was a beating. Skarloey didn't know how to fight; he could only flail and hit aimlessly. It was enough, however; engine and witch could only stare helplessly at each other as the undead collapsed into dust, suddenly all too mindful of what this all meant. As the effect wore off and Skarloey took his engine form once again, Beatrice wordlessly got into his cab and sobbed until morning.

-It was later on that Rheneas would be enlisted as a familiar associated with the Brown family. After Sir Handel acquired the Skarloey Railway, it was thought that Jane Brown (the eventual Lady Hatt) might make the request, but she already had a familiar, and a familiar's pact cannot be broken unless it is transferred to another witch, or the previous witch dies.

-However, it would actually be Sir Handel Brown's daughter-in-law, Rachel Qualtrough Brown, who would first request Rheneas' protection.

-As it happened, the first one to approach Edward to be her familiar was Barbara Jane Hatt, Jane Hatt's daughter. She had heard tell of Skarloey and Rheneas' exploits, and felt that Edward was a good, kind, reliable engine, unlike Thomas others. With Sodor being as supernaturally-inclined as it was, and her whole family being railway enthusiasts, it really only made sense.

-Presently, the year is 1970. Nancy Rushen, Beatrice Sam's great-granddaughter, is 17, and would trust nobody but Skarloey to see her through all the troubles and tribulations she senses on the horizon. She's still quite a serious soul, but she's also loosened up quite a bit over the years.

-The same can be said of 16-year-old Rebecca Dorothy Brown, Rheneas' contractor and Nancy's best friend, who is quite good at math and hates to leave a phenomenon unexplored or unexplained. She can't shake the feeling that something very strange is happening over at Ward Fell.

-27-year-old Bridget Hatt, who thinks of Nancy and Rebecca like little sisters, would only trust Edward with her well-being as she patrols the NWR's railways. They've had a lot of strange incidents over the years, and although their magic has held, Bridget wants to try and get to the bottom of just what's trying to undermine her beloved railway.