#evanora the duesenburg (oc)

[anonymousboxcar]

TTTE/RWS Headcanon: Caroline’s Pen Pal

I don’t have any in-universe justification for my thought processes here. All I can say is that I like the idea of Caroline being a long-term pen pal of a 1920s American car.

The car in question is a Duesenberg Model A named Evanora, who worked for a Hollywood starlet. Evanora accompanied said starlet on a vacation to Sodor. There, she was offloaded from a ship so the actress could drive her favorite car around the Sudrian countryside.

It was on these drives that Evanora and Caroline met. Caroline was initially wary; the starlet’s speedy driving and Evanora’s opulent design soured her first impression. But later, Evanora apologized for the recklessness. She proved to be soft-spoken, genuine, and graceful. This disarmed and even charmed Caroline.

Over several conversations, Caroline liked hearing about Hollywood and its big personalities, and grew to respect Evanora’s patience and adaptability. Evanora in turn enjoyed the perspective of a slower, quieter life. And she appreciated Caroline’s willingness to speak her (opinionated) mind.

When the vacation ended, the two agreed to keep in touch. They sent letters to each other for decades. Caroline told Evanora how she was slowing down, how she came to be the cricket club’s car. Evanora told her about the ever-changing Hollywood and the other actors she drove over the years.

They helped each other out, too. When Caroline needed repairs the cricket club couldn’t afford — even after pooling their funds and taking donations — Evanora’s next letter showed up with a check enclosed.

Caroline, embarrassed, tried to refuse the money. Evanora wouldn’t have it.

( “This may be terribly selfish of me,” she wrote, “but I don’t want to lose my friend. Your cricket club doesn’t want to lose you either. Consider the impact losing you would have on us, darling. Consider accepting the money for our sakes if not your own.

“Also, I can’t take the money back even if I wanted to. My driver signed that check. I wish you the best of luck at reaching him on his indefinite vacation in Alaska, at my recommendation.”)

Touched and humbled, Caroline accepted the check, but not without vowing to one day repay Evanora.

That day came in the 1980s. By then, Evanora’s current driver was too old to drive anymore. And any potential new drivers didn’t want her to be a daily driver anymore; they saw her as a collector’s item to hoard in a sterile garage.

Evanora developed a taste for the quiet life in her correspondence with Caroline, but she wanted to be outside, to move. So she took another page out of Caroline’s book and advocated for herself.

Unfortunately, nobody would listen in Hollywood. She considered the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum in Indiana, but she would be on static display, fawned over by hundreds of people. And she was tired of the celebrity lifestyle.

Caroline stayed appraised of all these things through their letters. As it happened, she’d appeared by this point in The Railway Series and Thomas the Tank Engine. These were opportunities she took on with Evanora’s advice and industry knowledge in mind — a small taste of the “fast lane” that she found enjoyable. There were also royalties and paychecks in the hands of her generous, loyal cricket club.

In her next letter to Evanora, Caroline enclosed an ocean liner ticket for Sodor.

Thrilled, Evanora beat back the last aggressive offers from collectors before her voyage across the Atlantic. By the time she arrived, Caroline also set her up with an assisted living home, where older folks going into town could get there in nostalgic comfort and style. It was a slower-paced life in a place where she wasn’t known as a rare car, but would still be appreciated and fulfilled.

(“Are you sure this is what—”

“It’s what she wants. I know it,” Caroline told the cricket player.)

When they reunited, Caroline could’ve fussed about the things that didn’t go right — delayed timetables, muddy roads, etc. — but she didn’t. She only expressed her delight and gratitude at seeing her dear friend again. And Evanora did the same, deciding to take this new phase of friendship and life one wheel-turn at a time.

(Bonus: Elizabeth is intensely jealous of Evanora. Evanora is oblivious and thinks it’s all friendly rivalry. Caroline fluctuates between scolding and reassuring Elizabeth that she isn’t trying to replace her.)

#ttte #rws #ttte headcanon #rws headcanon #ttte oc #rws oc #evanora the duesenburg (oc) #my oc #my headcanons #ttte caroline #ttte elizabeth #apologies if I don’t have Caroline’s character quite right yet