#if only in the background

[hazel-of-sodor]

Day 15-Destination:34090

Day 15-destination

Other Stories

34090

August 1967

34090 pulled into the station wearily. She had almost been asleep when she was pulled out to pull an express for a failed warship. Had she had enough sleep, or been better maintained, it would have been easy. As it was, the run had been a slog. Even worse, her manager was waiting at the platform.

"Sir Eustace Missenden," 34090 gritted her teeth. She didn't hate her manager, but at times she really wanted to. He was simply an idiot, following control's orders because it never occurred to him that he was able to think, much less actually attempt to do it. Which was probably why management chose him in the first place. Nevertheless, he treated his engines and crews fairly and without needless cruelty, which was far more than most engines could say these days. She knew calling her by her official name was him trying to be kind, but she hated being called a man's name. Nonetheless she knew better than to show it.

"Sir what a pleasant surprise," she said, putting on a fake smile. "Have another revolutionary engine that can't pull their train?"

The 42 across from her at the other platform glared.

"No, I'm glad to say that's not it. You've been sold early."

Oh. The diesel across from her lost the glare and instead looked sympathetic.

"I see, sir" she said with a fake smile. "Shall I wait in the siding, or shall I save you the trouble and drive to the scrapyard myself."

The shockingly dense man failed to notice the ice in her tone. "No need for that my dear, you haven't been sold for scrap after all. Just uncouple from your train and be ready to double head with one of their engines"

Both 34090 and the 42 starred. Several of her siblings had been passed over for preservation because they were in too bad of shape to restore, and she was in worse shape than they were!

"A preservation line bought her?" The 42 asked incredulously. 34090 glared at the engine which balked. 

 "No. Another region bought her."

"She's in horrible shape! I'll admit she's a good worker, but you could build a new diesel for the cost it took to repair her!"

"And yet I was needed to pull the train today. Perhaps they prefer fixing engines that actually work instead."

"Or they need you for spare parts."

A deep ringing whistle echoed in the distance and 34090 froze before she could respond. She slowly turned to her manager, who was smiling broadly. "They asked for you specifically, hounded Sir Raymond himself until he signed the transfer orders himself. I don't know what you did to impress the North Western Region, but they wouldn't take no for an answer."

The 42's face was nearly as green as his paint with envy.

A deep puffing echoed along the length of the platform as an excursion special rolled into the station. No less than fifteen gleaming tan coaches trailed behind a massive engine. His blue paint was shined to the point you could see her grungy reflection in it. His well oiled motion moved silently, and he puffed effortlessly into the station.

'No! I don't want him to see me like this!' She thought desperately, but it was far too late for that as he pulled alongside with a joyful whistle.

North Western number 4 Gordon towered over the scene, not only in size, but in spirit. Children and adults alike were flocking to see the famous pacific, but he ignored them, focusing on her. "Rebecca," he said with relief, "I am so glad to see you alright."

34090 forced herself to meet the eyes of the engine who taught her everything. The only one besides her classmates who knew the name she'd chosen for herself. "I'm sorry I'm not up to standard." She said quietly. Of all engines to see her like this, it would be the engine who taught her to be an express engine.

"Little sister," he said surprisingly gently, "I couldn't care less if you were painted back, covered in soot, and missing both cab and tender. I just want you safe on Sodor."

She focused on the rails in front of her, "I'm not the same little engine you knew." She barked a bitter laugh, "The nicest thing I've been called lately is caustic."

"Good," he said simply as he was uncoupled and ran forward. "All the better to put up with the idiots at home."

He rolled back onto her line and gently buffered up in front of her. "I didn't come here to get a meek and biddable engine. I came here to save my sister."

On the platform a larger man in a suit and tophat was exchanging paperwork with her former manager. "I just...I just don't want to disappoint you."

"The only way you could disappoint me is if you didn't come home." He said simply as he pulled them forward past the switch, "and I have no plans of allowing that to happen."

 The points were flipped and he backed them down onto the train. "You don't have to do or be anything, little sister. I've put up with my shed mates for fifty years, and somehow none of us hate each other. And we didn't have the advantage of being family. I will happily deal with anything you do as long as you come home."

Rebecca was quiet for a long moment, "You've changed a lot."

"It turns out I still had a lot to learn while I was teaching you."

"I like it." She was quiet for a long moment. "I don't think I'll be much help on the way home."

"Worry not little sister," she could hear the smile in his voice as they were coupled up to the special. "Just rest and I'll get us to our destination. I may be older but I'm still strong enough to pull you and the express."

Rebecca chuckled, "there's the gresley bravado I was expecting."

"It's not arrogance if it's true."

The flag dropped and the whistle blew, and with a mighty heave from the big blue engine started the train. Rebecca smiled and let the puffing of her big brother lull her to sleep as they raced towards Sodor and safety.

#ttte #RWS #ttte fanfic #rws fanfic #TTTE Gordon #ttte rebecca #ttte charles hatt #if only in the background #adopted siblings #Br 34090 #traintober #traintober22 #by this point rebecca is truama on wheels #bc British Rail #Prompt:destination #traintober 2022

[livingmeatloaf]

There is only one way to make a truly wonderful Avatar adaptation, not matter how bad it turns out to be:

A professionally shot, full length stage production of the Ember Island Players' Fire Nation propaganda version of the events

#avatar the last airbender #Atla #Think about it! It has no downsides! #There's only a few scenes that are fleshed out in the show so they can reference or fully do those and expand elsewhere #Even if the scenes are done poorly of course they are #Bad casting choices? Typical of the EIP! #The only casting choice that matters is the biggest buffest dude for Toph #There could be a behind the scenes feature during the intermission to show all the special effects #And there could be character cameos but not anywhere close to the camera so they are vague figures in the background

[zivazivc]

first night alone

#i love them your honor #trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls 3 #trolls band together #brozone #trolls john dory #trolls spruce #trolls clay #trolls floyd #trolls branch #as the egg #my art #they just lost their mom and they lost their dad only a couple of months prior #this is before grandma moves in with them #young brozone #floyd is 11 here and jd is 18 #so you know why floyd looks so baby #group hug #i had a reaction to the film orphan on in the other window for background noise while drawing... #so i titled the file trolls_orphan before i even fully knew what i was going to draw 🙃

[civetcider]

making new OCs to cope with how bad i wanna be fishing right now (she/her for both)

#butch oc #butch4butch #anthro #safe fur work #furryart #civetworks #i dont have names for them yet #but im thinking ill just name them classic dude bro names or something like that #im so bad at making comics please be no typos ill die if there are #i had to not only do more then one background but also draw a car my hand will never recover #oakley and traver

[honkygay]

“Statement regarding… [sigh] a barbie doll sighted entering the real world and becoming a human to face the horrors of patriarchy and the epic highs and lows of womanhood. Statement begins.”

#tma #the magnus archives #honkygaytalks #jonathan sims #back on my tma shit but only in the background #barbie movie impacted me greatly

[hiding-under-the-willow]

anyways. What

#atlas.art #artists on tumblr #mcyt #hermitcraft #hc s10 #docm77 #joehills #joe hills #juppet #vintagebeef #doc beef and joe just slowly fucking loosing it throughout this interaction is one of my favorite things that's ever happened on hermitcraf #also. watching his fucking gigantic hour glass slowly grow in the background of other peoples videos for the last week #why did he do that to himself so early in the season omg 😭 #it literally is so ridiculously large it is insane. it looks insane next to everything else around it. it takes up the entire skyline #im thinking about keralis. who built his lake facing the shopping district so he could avoid looking at iskall's monolith while fishing #or mumbo and grian joking about making the biggest mega build in the shopping district for their wart shop. good luck with that now lmao #seriously if you haven't already y'all should go watch Wels' last video if only to see that thing grow in the background throughout the vid #wels built an entire castle on accident in that video and i still spent the entire duration going 'DOC WHAT THE HELL' it was so distracting

[ckducky]

Bi-Pure Coincidence

#hazbin hotel #Charlie Morningstar #charlie x vaggie #chaggie #vaggie #fan comic #gay girls #hazbin charlie #bisexual #Lesbian #pre season 1 #comic #not me making a whole comic out of a minor background detail #finding out the girl you been crushing only has that pride sticker because she lives in the pride ring 😥 #Finding out the girl you been crushing on is also Bi 😍

[angelteethinr0t]

Some quick screenshot redraws of @cholvoq ‘s redesigns :D

They are quite messy and kinda shit looking so I apologise for that

#hazbin art #hazbin hotel #redesign #alastor #vaggie #or vihuela(I think that’s how it’s spelt?) #charlie morningstar #be gay do crimes #I don’t know how to clean up the background #I’m shit at drawing scenery #aspec #I rewatched buzzfeed unsolved while doing this #only Shane and Ryan though

[radiance1]

The Ghost Prince does not, under any circumstances, answer a summoning after it was made aware he existed. None know why he doesn't, some are bitter and hateful of it while others are thankful that it's one less bloodthirsty manic to deal with.

The Ghost King meanwhile hasn't been seen in multiple eons, so the magical community who wanted to use his power just, stopped, trying to summon him for a long time.

Most magic users knew that the Ghost Prince never answered a summons, and that the Ghost King just dropped off the radar.

So could you really blame Constantine for not taking it that seriously when some wannabe hotshot cultists try to summon both of them in the middle of a city to wreak havoc?

He'll give them some credit though. Points for doing it in broad daylight and actually being somewhat of a threat with not relying on just summoning the Ghost royalty and figuring out what to do from there.

The area they were in was somewhat destroyed, then the cultists manage to complete the summoning circle to summon both of them and Constantine, well he just light up a smoke.

It isn't going to work anyways so what does it matter?

...

Is that a fucking Ice cream truck he hears? Who the fuck is driving an Ice cream truck while their city is being under attacked with cultists trying to summon eldritch ghost royalty?

He'll give them some points for dedication, though.

Then he looked at the cultists and nearly had a goddamn heart attack to see that the summoning circle is actually fucking lighting up and working.

The Bat is so gonna give him a headache over this.

----

Danny Phantom, crown prince of the Infinite Realms. Does not answer summons.

For one, it is annoying as shit, whenever someone interrupts his day just to ask for infinite power (that he can't give), world domination (that he won't do) or infinite riches (which he also can't do).

It just got annoying being summoned all the time so. One day he just, well, no. And hey, it worked out well enough for him to not continue doing it.

Then he also learned that Pariah Dark is basically the same, after he got out the coffin and stopped trying to take over the world for whatever reason. He was actually a pretty swell guy!

He was just with him too, with him being not so swell at the time for making him go through lessons about Ghost etiquette, rules, stuff that's expected of him as the crown prince.

And don't even get him started on the engagement and marriage proposals.

Overall, he just wanted to find an excuse to leave. Then he felt the familiar suggestive pull of a summoning and, instead of rejection as he usually does in a second. He thought for a bit if he wanted to go with that or crown prince duties.

It was tempting, but dealing with cultists seemed worse than this so he was about to reject.

At least, before he heard an Ice cream truck playing in the background. He doesn't even know how the hell that popped up through the pull but by the gods has it been a while since he's had Ice cream.

So he answers and is gone with a pop.

Pariah Dark just stares for a good second or two, before breathing out and deciding to also answer. Fright Knight is just there, off to side, questioning what he should do now.

Danny wastes no time with the cultists on the other side and in fact, he pushes them out of the way and goes diving for that Ice cream truck he hears. Only to realize he doesn't, have any money on him.

Fuck.

Pariah Dark is less inclined to follow the rules imposed by humans like money, but he does know it can be important. Once in a while. Not that often, but it has its times.

So when he sees his adopted son being sad over being unable to pay for some kind of human delicacy, he digs around in his hair (yes, his hair.) and pulls out some money and puts it on the counter as payment.

The man inside the tiny vehicle had shrieked before getting what they wanted. Which is good. Fear is a good motivator, Pariah thinks.

Unknown to him, it wasn't out of fear (Well, mostly) but because the Ghost King placed down a coin made of pure, solid gold on his counter.

The two then go about their business in the human realm, completely forgetting about the fact that they were summoned here for something.

Constantine is both relieved and about to have an aneurysm at seeing Infinite Realm royalty only answering a summon because of Ice cream.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #pariah dark #john constantine #The Ghost King and Prince are known to not answer summons #both for different reasons #But Danny instantly answers one because he heard an Ice cream truck in the background #Pariah followed because he at first wanted to get Danny back to Crown Prince lessons #Only to be swayed by his puppies eyes and the absolute delicacy that is Ice cream #Pariah Dark is stuck in the medieval times in terms of money #He would literally pull out gold coins and pay for shit that way #He is rich rich #Like basically a neigh infinite supply of gold coins he keeps in his hair #Don't ask him how just ghost logic #They then spent the day going around to Ice cream shops and taste testing them #Poor Fright Knight is left alone wondering what he should do #Word spreads in the magical community about this and everyone tries it out #It does work #But if there isn't actually Ice cream you'll have an angry Ghost Prince to deal with #And an angry Ghost Prince leads to a less than cordial Ghost King

[cuterrguy]

He can only Watch.

.

Drew this based off of this post here. Idk about you guys I went insane over session 7

(turning off reblogs cause i hate this now)

#i never draw backgrounds go easy on me #secret life #secret life spoilers #trafficblr #traffic life smp #watcher grian #grian #geminitay #smallishbeans #goodtimeswithscar #smajor1995 #zombiecleo #ethoslab #pearlescentmoon #bdubbleo100 #tony’s art #digital art #also i really only differentiate between hostile and peaceful players #so i don’t always make characters look yellow on yellow lives or green on green lives #saying this cause scott is on yellow life here but not drawn yellow

[lazer-meme]

love love love steddie + supportive wanye

thinking about wayne and eddie going on an annual fishing trip (like thee Munson Men Annual Fishing Trip™️) just like a little weekend away. and the first one is coming up after eddie and steve starts dating. over breakfast eddie jokingly complains about having to go and tries to get out of it. but wayne is used to his dramatics so he just gives hmms when appropriate because eddie’s whole spiel never got him out of it before and he tells eddie that.

steve watches the whole exchange with amusement when wayne asks if he’s looking forward to it. and he’s like ??? because he assumed it was just a wayne and eddie thing. and wayne is like i just told eddie all munsons must go can’t get out of it kid.

steve gets flustered and is internally is like oh??? all munsons,,,

or like after the trip a neighbor asks wayne if they caught anything and he pulls out his wallet to show a picture they took on the trip. wayne passes it with ‘here’s a picture of my boys’ and to steve’s surprise it’s a picture of both him and eddie with their biggest catch.

and just idk wayne casually accepting steve into their family and throwing steve off guard with it.

#wayne actually keeps that picture in his wallet for the fish only he stares at it lovingly #i just love the thought of wayne ‘women love me fish fear me’ munson he doesn’t play around about his fish #which makes him inviting steve to the trip even more meaningful #also the steddie picture has them BIG CHEESEING in it like imagine their smiles the equivalent of those toddlers smiles #idk i like the idea of a cute steddie fishing picture because when i think of fishing pictures #i think of those unfortunate ones on straight men’s dating profiles so like #BAM! im making that cute and gay instead #also with these lil earnest moments eddie is always in the background like damn the old man is practically proposing for me #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #wayne munson

[magnusbae]

Star Wars: Republic #59 || Darth Vader (2017) #01

#I found it greatly ironic and so wished to cross those two together :) #anakin skywalker #anakinskywalkeredit #darthvaderedit #userjasmine #Starwarsedit #swedit #Star Wars #Star Wars Comics #Star Wars Republic #Darth Vader 2017 #Republic 59 #buns.edits #buns.all #sw comics #Anakin #not me‚ dutifully removing everything from the background and recreating new smooth sand background #only to crop 90% of it off in order to make Anakin bigger on tumblr... classic. XD #Darth Vader

[wiltkingart]

date night

#spideypool #once again. i only wanted to draw the silly tshirts and before i knew it i was drawing my One yearly background #the grip these two have on me.... #deadpool #spiderman #wade wilson #peter parker #marvel #digital #fanart #original art

[its-just-fern]

continuation of this (au)

and ill love my brother forever, and ever, and ever

#doodles #fern the human #jake the dog #bmo #prismo #i hate drawing backgrounds so much man this is probably the most ive done in a while #i know i said id wait to post this but i was very motivated last night #i dont know what to call this au.. ive been calling it “wish au” in my files #'just finn'? lol #only finn au

[hedgehog-moss]

My phone's pictures don't do justice to the enchanting goldpink mist that settled over the horizon tonight, but the mountains looked like some ephemeral fairytale place that only appears once a century if you wish for it the right way

#i have 40 photos of the mountains 80 photos of pandolf frolicking #but that's only because the mountains know how to pose for photographs while pandolf does not #half of the pan pics are just a white background with a gleeful dark blur zooming across

[tubbytarchia]

Sorry, last one, swear!! I'll try and finish this by the 10th and then I will leave you all alone. I'm experiencing some long missed joy in creating this, please forgive my impatient excitement

#Just need this to be done already but its not so I just need to share one last bit of it to keep myself motivated. Please understand #Mercy... Thank you for all the support though but I'll express more of that at the end of this #scarian #desert duo #trafficshipping #trafficblr #those pink forest backgrounds are like the only ones I remotely like in this entire animation #but I'll try to redo and improve some of the others before I dare show them to the public eye. My backgrounds suck ass #seriously though wahhh I am so miserable but alas... the joy of creation #sorry for speaking like this is my magnum opus and everyone needs to look at it. I just dont know when I'll ever create smth like this agai #to me this means a lot #too many tags #tubby art