#i draw train conductor ocs...........

[fish-daily]

Trout flavor fish,,, pleasd,,,/nf

fish 306 - california golden trout

[nailbats]

struck down

[yuckzzzzzz]

[nattravn-art]

My scoliosis is at it again, so I've been playing Locomoto to distract myself from the pain. The game is really cute and fun, I can only recommend it! You can find it here on Steam!

I just had to draw my train conductor, Soot~

[doodlecat19]

Drew an OC in like, an hour or 2 in Ibis Paint while listening to The Toybox by Stupendium

[treezxu]

what were the euuhhm .friends fighting about !! Will there be any rivalry between people in the train

The friends!! Rhea and Ivan my beloveds. I'm thinking it was something petty. "you've been avoiding me" type thing bc erm. well. yknow. simplest way put is theres romantic tension between them. thats one sided. and they both know abt it and choose to ignore it but without addressing it it becomes complicated and hard to think about. they both really care about each other, but theyre not sure how to express it bc they havent explored boundaries ever.

also YES! Specifically between Rhea and Jessie, since they have conflicting opinions on the conductor. as suspicious as she is, rhea likes her a lot (🏳‍🌈) and Jessie wants to just be done with her. realistically, they could overpower her, but she looks young, and they hardly want to resort to violence so soon. so it ends up splitting the group in a way.

ivan, jessi, and rene at least want the conductor gone.

i think most of the older adults+rhea would defend her tho.

[flower-do0dles-dump]

How do yah' do, Stanley! My favorite scarecrow!

This was a lotta fun to do! Using Krita and giving him a few minor changed plus a fun pose to pull it together! (click for quality)

[snugg-slugg]

Welcome home!

About a year ago, I had an idea for some Welcome Home ocs. They started as a doodle in my math book, and now they have a fully fledged ref!

Say hello to the conductors of The Train of Thought, Martie and Artie Mind!

Artie was the first one I drew, but I drew his brother soon after realizing that Artie wasn’t really a conductor. They are based off the left and right side of the brain while their train is obviously based off thought.

Their first digital drawing is below. I had to change some stuff because it didn’t scream “welcome home” to me, especially their colors.

Below are some doodles I made before their ref (which is why Artie doesn’t have his bandana)

I wouldn’t expect much of them on this page, I have ideas for certain drawings but there’s so much I have to do that I probably won’t have time :/

[rindragon-from-twewy]

Swap au character intros part 4!!!

Spoilers for specifically Raincode Chapter 0 ahead!

Let's start with Zilch! In this au his forte becomes Audial Aptitude - thanks in part to his animal ears. If you've seen my art of Zilch before, you'll probably have noticed I like drawing him with his animal ears as his actual ears and not on top of his hat. It's cuz I generally just hate the ambiguity of it. Are the animal ears real? Are they just on his hat? Why do they move? Why does he have 4 ears? So I just like making his animal ears his only set of ears. That being said, apparently they're fox ears??? I always assumed wolf??? But I digress- His uniform has been changed up to be reminiscent of an orchestra conductor cuz hahah audio. His face tattoos are meant to be those spotify code scanners - the right cheek leading to It's All So Incredibly Loud by Glass Animals and We Own The Night by Chandler Kinney on the left (cuz I think it's funny!) As for his last name change, "Allegro" in musical terms means "to be played very quickly" which I thought would suit him quite well as someone who can solve cases really fast. His personality is basically the same, the only alteration being that he carries around a notepad and pen in order to help keep track of all the hundreds of things he's constantly hearing all the time.

Next is Pucci. She's received Spectal Projection from Melami and if you thought being good at hearing made her existential then BOY HOWDY does being able to use her body as a vessel for spirits fuck her up even more! Originally I was going for a classic "fortune teller" look for her but I instead went with a cute seamstress-y sort of look instead cuz I couldn't really get what I had in mind initially to look good. She wears a tape measure like a scarf and a thimble as a necklace charm. Her eyes, while cute, have a sort of dead look in them that make others wonder if she's even alive at all. Her last name has been changed from Lavmin to Lavender because in flower language, they're representive of purity, serenity, grace and calmness - all traits she seems to exhibit until she actually starts talking and you realise she's just sort of awkward and shy. She finds it easier to talk to ghosts/spirits then living creatures and honestly probably gets along reeeaaally well with this AU's version of Vivia.

Now, you may be looking at Aphex and going "Rindude! You changed fuck all about him!" And yeah, you're right... The only major changes I made was switching out his coat, boots and like doubling his muscle mass. He's strong. He could beat you up, no questions asked and it definitely shows! His forte is now Thoughtography but he's just as angry as ever - originating from the "front lines" that canon Zange mentioned in his own backstory. For that reason, his coat is inspired by WW2 trenchcoats and while my art doesn't show it very well, everything he's wearing looks and smells like he's crawled straight out of a dumpster. Originally I was going to change his last name to Harkness as an homage to Captain Jack Harkness, a WW2 soldier inspired character from (surprise, surprise) Doctor Who but considering the fact I did that exact same thing with an oc of mine for my A levels earlier this year... I instead went with Tyler; an homage to another Doctor Who character called Rose Tyler who is also a badass blonde <3

And that's all the details I'm sharing for now! It's a little strange considering I've written the Storm Cypher fanfic about half way through its chapter 0 already so I have a lot more to say about the train gang then I did anyone else - since they've already had stuff actually written for them. Melami and Zange's swap au designs will drop like... as soon as I figure out how to draw elderly people. So soon, hopefully! But yeah, I'm cooking super good atm I just can't really share much due to the nature of writing lol. I've been loving getting asks about it though! Deadass, it makes me kick my legs and giggle to know people are crazy enough to care about this AU- >w<

[creatingnonsense]

Throwing together the ‘Double battle Subway Boss Kieran’ from pokemonblack3white3 with my ‘Single battle Subway Boss Sylas’ for some ideas (technically they also thought of Sylas doing the single battles)

-Sylas and Kieran just chatting away casually on a lunch break, both on their fourth energy drink of the day. (Back when they first started and the two were still young)

-The two teasing each other and playing pranks. The two have a playful rivalry.

-Emmet watching the two recreate his and Ingo’s pose, to varying degrees of pride and sadness.

-Kieran awkwardly being dragged into family events during the holidays because even if he doesn’t go back to Kitakami, Sylas himself won’t let Kieran continue working alone. And Drayden is also 1000% willing to bring in another member to the family.

-Emmet watching over the two and often dealing with the horrible passengers around.

Since I’m in a writing mood.. have another fic based off that last prompt.

This is more of a Kieran as a subway boss in training fic so @pokemonblack3white3 hope you don’t mind me stealing your ideas again. (Also hope I got Kieran’s character right, this was when he was recently starting off as a subway boss)

Learning to Ignore

Words: 1,329 OC: Sylas

Summary: Kieran encounters a rude customer, and gets talked through how to handle it in the future.

—————————————————————————

“You’re gonna regret not letting me on there, you punk! This station was run a thousand times better when you two little shits weren’t running it! Where are the actual subway bosses!?” The words of anger and hatred spewed from the passengers mouth after having wrongfully used their Ducklett to soak another passenger who had sat in ‘their’ seat.

Kieran was fuming. He’d been sitting and listening to the woman yell at him for nearly seven minutes now. The bright highlights in his eyes had vanished and he was minutes away from saying ‘screw it’ and sending out his Hydrapple that had some pent up fighting energy in it and hurting the Karen badly.

“Ma’am.. we have regulations specifically to protect our passengers. If you could please calm down and listen-“ His forced ‘customer service voice’ was cut off by the lady beginning to throw an absolute tantrum. The screaming and shouting drawing in the attention of other passengers previously aiming to be on their way.. but now enticed at the drama occurring.

Kieran’s ears throbbed at the ladies shouting. You would’ve assumed an Exploud was in the room with her decibel count. His hands clenched and slowly, carefully to not draw attention to it, wrapped around his Hydrapple’s pokéball.

She was gonna get it.

Before he could click the button however, the sound of someone clearing their throat broke the tension. Silencing the woman and commanding all attention to them as a white glove gripped onto Kieran’s jacket. When his wide yellow eyes glanced up, he was met with gray ones accompanied by a small smile. Subway Boss Emmet.. or atleast ex-Subway boss, now that he was busy training him and his own son.

The lady shut up as Emmet stepped forward, his appearance different without the typical white and rust striped Conductor’s jacket and hat he was typically depicted in. His smile was a bit wider and his eyes expressed both tiredness and an anger formed from a place of experience with these kinds of people.

“I am Emmet.” He spoke up, the room silent as Kieran watched him look down at the lady, his hands tucked behind his back. “That is Kieran. He is the Subway boss now. I would advise you to apologize, as I am not amused, nor tied down on the tracks of being a Subway boss any longer.”

His voice was blank, but it was a clear threat. The ominous customer service smile only serving to make the woman stammer in both embarrassment and anxiety. “I’m.. I’m sorry..” “To him.” “I am sorry, Kieran.”

Emmet gave a huff, his tone still lacking any amusement as he leaned down over the lady. Kieran watched in surprise that he was so patient.

“Now, you will never show your face in this subway again. If I hear that you give either of my boys a hard time, I will set my tracks to only stop at you. Got it?” His voice left no argument, leaving the lady to quickly nod and turn on her heels to vanish from sight.

Emmet gave a glance at the crowd, who all quickly seemed to now have something to do besides stare, and returned to Kieran’s side. Kieran looked at him standing beside him, his stature straight and no hint of violence in his demeanor.. only a subtle expression of care as he glanced at Kieran.

The two stood side by side, Kieran facing forward, and Emmet back. The paths the two were set to take in their lives now. Emmet began to speak once again, seeing the highlights had returned in Kieran’s gaze.

“I am Emmet. Do not be afraid to call me when those type of passengers arrive. They will only run you off your tracks. Understood?” He spoke, the smile on his face seeming both genuine and coming from a place of teaching a lesson.

“Understood.. thank you.” Kieran grumbled, still a bit embarrassed from the entirety of the situation. He was snapped out of it as Emmet spoke again. “Verrry good. Now your next stop is at 3:40. Do not miss it, this will be your first battle alone.”

With that, the old subway boss walked off towards the stairs to Nimbasa city, likely leaving to visit Elesa as he had told Kieran and Sylas earlier. Kieran didn’t get much time to think about it before the ticking of the clock caught his eye, signaling his upcoming departure.

—————————————————————————

Later that day, when the sun had set and Sylas and Kieran were doing their rounds, Kieran had spilled the story. He expected to be mocked for not standing up for himself, getting too aggressive, almost starting a fight.. but the white haired boy just chuckled and made Kieran stop. The Chandelure that had been following the two, reminiscing its past moments, stopped alongside.

“Kieran, it’s customer service. People are absolute dicks.” He hummed, as if the situation meant little or nothing to him. The way he spoke reminded the shorter of Drayton, who he hadn’t spoken to in months now..

“You’re gonna get people who are terrible. Who wish to ruin your day and try to prove to both you and themselves that they are the center of the universe. You can’t let them get to you.” Sylas’ words came with clarity. With resolution Kieran hadn’t expected from someone like him. “You know how many people I’ve had come to me.. telling me that my art was unprofessional or I was running the subway wrong and dishonoring my father?”

The yellow eyed boy paused and took a guess. “Like fifty?” The suggestion alone made Sylas snort, which contorted into a hard laugh that made the corners of Kieran’s lips turn upwards to a subtle degree. “Oh Kieran.. it’s been thousands. Even before I started working in place of my dad I faced so many people who put me down or even called me a gangster.”

The way he spoke about his art, something he loved to the ends of the earth, getting mocked or disrespected made Kieran’s blood boil. He’d been through it before, facing people telling him that his obsessions over Kitakami folktales and Ogerpon were stupid or wrong.

“It’s not dishonoring anything. The subway looks nice cause of you. And he is proud of you.” Kieran quickly spat out, his anger over the words of strangers getting to him once again. Sylas gave a softer smile, lowering the lantern in his hand and glancing at him. The way the boy’s eyes lost their focus all because of something that happened to himself made Sylas feel a pang of warmth from being cared about.

“Thank you Kieran.. but listen to the point.” Sylas reminded him, dragging Kieran back onto the rails of the conversation as they began to walk again. “Have any of those words made me quit?”

Kieran was quick to shake his head no. “No you've.. just made more.” He grumbled, his hands anxiously fidgeting with the strand of hair peeking out from under his hat and looked up at the taller boy. “What’s your point with all of this? All this rambling over some stupid Karen.”

The subway boss let out a subtle sigh, but quickly got to the point. “My point is, Kieran, you can’t let some strangers affect how you live. You can’t let someone who is trying to put you down actually put you down. Those kinds of passengers are worthless when it comes to determining your self worth. No reason to lose the job over them.”

The two boys walked in silence along the tracks as Sylas’ words hung in the air before he spoke once more.

“You and me.. we’re gonna run this subway whether the public like it or not. I’m not losing you this soon cause of some damned Karen. Got it?” He spoke firmly, his uniquely notched eyebrows furrowing in resolve. Kieran couldn’t help but let his shoulders fall and smile softly.

“Got it.”

[nailbats]

gave my ocs the ability to love and now it ruins me forever

[daiourage]

OCs!!

Hi, it's actually been a while since I drew a concept sheet in full and not have it backlogged :0

I went ham and made two, haha~~~

I can't believe I made a butch and a twink

Also either of them look very Prime-like, but here they are 👐👐

Most of the important character notes are written on the paper, but my handwriting might be hard to read, and there are some deets I came up with post-scanning so I'll write some notes under the drawings 👍

They belong in @idk-8d's OC continuum (it's in the Prime universe 🥂)! Check out their OCs (I drew them in my sketches with their permission ofc)!! Masterlist is here!

(liajdkfjakldjf thanks for waiting IDK!!! Happy late birthday I suppose 🥂)

OC lore dump ↓↓↓

One's an old train lady that fought in the war on Cybertron, and the other is a very young Decepticon that is NOT contributing to the cause!!!

The train lady's name is undecided, since I want to call her "Knickknack" but someone notable might have called their OC that?? I'm not sure. The Decepticon's name is "Reave" though!

(Also Knickknack's (temp) armor looks a little too close to Arcee's so maybe I'll change it...)

(Also also I misspelled the word "Reave" in the character sheet because I was thinking of Mass Effect when making him and there are two ways the word is written--"Reave" (ability) and "Wreav" (name) aolsdjflaksjdl there is no "W" in his name it is "Reave" 😭)

Knickknack (temp) is a weapons specialist, and is also able to make them! She used to be in charge of carrying supplies to the Autobots during the war on Cybertron, and discovered her knack (haha) for smithing there. Her shield is her weapon (think of Rosa from Bayonetta 3)!

After landing on Earth, she chose a D-51 as her alt form. She's the guardian of an elderly lady train conductor she met while [Knickknack was] working as a train. Now she's an exhibit at the train museum who is curated by said lady. The lady knows that the train she was driving is an extraterrestrial being.

She's not either an Autobot nor a Decepticon, since she was just working as an emergency supplier in the war, but she sides with the Autobots later.

She's old (probs around Ratchet's age), and she considers everyone younger than her someone that needs to be protected. She refers to those someones as "Sparklin'"s. She loves to dote on other bots--get ready for some noogies!

Also, she’s short for a Cybertronian, despite being one of the largest vehicles. Speaking of vehicles, her carriages hold weapons like Optimus’s body in the Bayverse!

(The entire reason she is a discontinued train is because I... love them. None of her anatomy makes sense physically and lore-wise but I will go through with this)

Reave is a shipkid (it's a rarepair--see if y'all can guess!) and his instinct to go against what was told was passed down from his parents. It kinda went the wrong way, though, since now he’s a Decepticon. He took the worst parts of both parents honestly—he got some good attributes, too, I prommy ;7;

He met two of IDK’s OCs—Shadowglide and Nasha (back when Nasha was still a Decepticon), and I like to imagine that Shadowglide and Reave were in a unit together before her injury. She probably had to deal with his antics, since he gets in trouble a lot. I’m not sure if they’d get along though.

He likes fighting and eavesdropping (which leads to him having deets about things he shouldn’t), and starts shit with the abundance of knowledge he has. In short, he just likes the drama.

He’s taller than both of his parents, but not by much. He uses a Honda HP-X as his alt form; he was told to not stand out as much by one of his parents, but ended up choosing a car that is NO LONGER IN CIRCULATION.

I'm not sure how either of them will meet Flux, but I hope she enjoys her new friends 👐👐👐 One's a bi mom (auntie? grandma?) and the other is a gay rapscallion.

[guppyfish77]

Another year Another summary of Art! An Entire Year of Submas lets gooooooooooo!!!! This year I feel like I really pushed myself when it comes to illustrations and I feel like I've learned a lot! But at the same time I feel a little tired, next year I think I wanna relax and experiment a bit more, I gotta learn to loosen up! Might get more art out if I do :p

I also feel the Submas grip ever so lightly relaxing (unless they decide to do Unova remakes haha XD), so I might introduce some of my numerous ocs in 2024! I'll probably start with the conductor oc ;]

Thank you for all your support! (you are all very nice! ToT), I still have a good amount of submas stuff planned in the works so look forward to that (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

If you are interested, I also have some commentary and behind the scenes for some of my submas illustrations! I wanna talk about it and now seems like a good time to do so now that the year is over! (Beware! its going to be long!)

All titles are linked to the original post

Lunch Break

hoho! This one is the sort of AU thing in which the only thing that changes is that I give Emmet a Victini friend (not a part of his team, I dubbed them the "victory duo" because Emmet likes winning and Victini is the Victory Pokemon), I planned out a few wordless comics regarding the idea, they were all very lighthearted slice of life kind of stuff, usually Victini causing some mischief and the brothers having to deal with it

and here's the thumbnails for this piece! I played around with various angles but decided to keep it simple and choose a straight on angle. It was originally a snack break and Emmet sharing a granola bar with Victini, but as I was planning it, submas unexpectedly showed up in the Pokemon Anime where they were serving ekiben, after learning about it it quickly turned into a lunch break! (how fun when new information lines up with an art piece you are working on hoho! ^ ^) After studying what foods Ekiben usually have in them (there was quite a variety!) I took what I learned and try to make the food look like the gear station logo :D

In the background there are children drawings because in the battle subway one of the trainer classes you can face off against are preschoolers, and I thought at least one of them would share their drawings with the subway bosses (and of course why wouldn't they hang it up?), there is also a trophy in which you can get in the players room if you beat the subway bosses on the super trains (one day, battling competitively is not my forte), I did my best to make Emmet's office feel lived in by adding a little bit of clutter (like adding a note) but overall very organized

(hey hey that joltik mug looks familiar in the corner there, its the same one Rei is holding in the christmas drawing)

Bonus Emmet and Victini Drawings

aw come on dude, not on the trains!

ah this one, it gave me quite a bit of frustration! This piece I used to challenge myself on perspective, and challenge me it did! The version you see now is I believe the 6th iteration of this drawing! The reason for restarting so many times is because I originally wanted it to be in 3 point perspective, but I couldn't get it to look right so its now in 2 point... Haha Some valuable lessons learned there!

This illustration was inspired by the history of New York Subway Trains and Graffiti! I read about it when I got to visit the New York Transit Museum and found it super interesting!! Then I went I gotta do something with this! Since Unova is based in New York after all!

I got so many subway surfer comments, they don’t know I forgot subway surfers existed while making this and that I am a huge nerd lmao

I had a lot of fun designing the graffiti on the train (yes it says among us) stylizing the fictional letters was so fun! I studied some graffiti to see how they do it, I could've pushed the graffiti style more but then it would be illegible! I also mixed in elements of Grafaiai graffiti, and trainer that is running away is the artist trainer class in SCVL because they are graffiti artists! And the train that got graffitied is the Wifi Train, due to BW (and the DS) servers being shut down, I doubt that train gets used much anymore, which makes it a perfect target!

Derailed!

hohoho! This was a fun one! I'm not sure how many of you guys read my tags, but in there I did state that this piece was based off the fact that model trains are powered by electrifying the rail it runs on (very low watts mind you) and the fact that Joltik eats electricity, but thats not the only inspiration, it was also inspired by those videos of cats laying on the layout and derailing the train!

Theres quite a variety of thumbnails for this idea (including a comic!), and the idea was there in 2022, but this year I decided to fully commit to it! I started rendering the top right one and almost finished it, but it felt really boring to me, so I switched it up and made some thumbnails in a new perspective and viola! thats what ended up being finished!

The train that is being derailed are Sanriku Railway Type 36s, based off a model train I have in my collection! (While sharing this fact on the original post Haiku Bot detected it as a Haiku?! and this art went out of my target audience, that certainly was a day (⊙□⊙;))

Also I straight up put a picture of Thomas the Tank Engine in the background, I'm not sure if people noticed cuz its quite blurry, the fact that nobody said anything means I probably would’ve gotten away with it before sharing this fact, so hehe :3c

Unexplained Melancholy

eyy! this one! It started out wholly different

It was originally me dropping Warden Ingo in various natural landscapes around Hisui as I didn't feel like drawing anymore linear perspective (ah, but heres the thing, all environments require a little bit of perspective lol), and it was just going to be Warden Ingo hanging out in a lush forest, specifically by the train rock that was shown in his concept art! but after sitting on it, I realized I could do something more with it! by making it a snowy environment I could make callbacks to Emmet's coat being white! hence the "SNOWY!!!" being scribbled there, that was added like weeks afterwards, Then I realized I could push it even more by making the whole environment about Emmet's colors! So the new thumbnail is in color because thats whats its about!

The moon smile thing was stumbled on by complete accident, while working on it it felt empty there and I added Emmet's smile to fill the space before going "moon!!!"

The piece is also a sort of a parallel to last years piece “I am Emmet, I wish for Ingo and I to be a two-car train once more” composition wise, sort of, I tried to at least 👍

Black Tower and Whitetree Hollow

Ah! I was quite proud of this one! Black City and White Forest are some of my favorite places in Unova mainly because the parallels are so very cool!

As the thumbnails suggest it was all going to be in complete black and white, as I was working on it though I could not help but add some values in there so yup! I quite like both compositions but the perspective won me out, plus that one focuses more on the characters than the other one (as much as I love backgrounds, it really is supposed to be about Emmet and Ingo U_U)

Being places of duality and having a battle challenge in there, it really fit them!

Emmet drops the hottest single of all time 🔥🔥🔥

Not really much to say about this one since it was very much done on a whim, but

its not the first time I drew Emmet with his hat backwards, I did this little doodle around the same time I did the train graffiti piece, been wanting to do something with this silly idea, and when I heard that audio, I went :o

Following Some Rumors of a Time Machine

the finale! I decided to choose Area Zero because its a very cool place! I am inspired by cool places! and I decided to give it my all for this one!

The thumbnail I made was more for jotting down the idea, and the landscape was going to be more eyelevel? Later I decided to make it so you were looking down into the crater and you get to see the fog blocking the crystal caverns, to show that Emmet was going deeper into Area Zero and the Deepest part is his destination (the time machine, not the underdepths, I didn't know about that yet haha!) I was always going to make Emmet encounter a Slither Wing, with it being based off Volcarona, a gen 5 pokemon :]

Anyways, That's all I have to say! I hope you found it interesting! (and enjoyed my varying quality in sketches and thumbnails XD) Thanks for listening! see you in 2024! ✌

[lylenotkyle]

Brady the smoky diesel

Finally, his story is finished! I'm sorry it took so long but I'm slower with writing than drawing. Also dentist got in the way I guess, I have a root canal on Halloween.

This oc belongs to me AND @saragaragrahra

(Praying that tumblr doesn't compress it so much)

Story is below the cut! I wrote it in google docs and pasted it here so forgive me for any formatting errors

The sun started to set and welcome the moon up in the sky. The orange hue of dawn complimented the livery of the scruffy diesel shooting down tracks right beside a busy highway. Work wasn't over for the diesel even as the sun disappeared from his view. He pulled long freight trains night and day, most times coupled rear to rear to another diesel when heading a train. He appreciated the rare times he got to head a train alone. As Brady continued on his way, he could practically feel the stares and side eyes of buses and cars passing on the highway. He’d sneer and scoff, but being tired from the long day and his faulty engine encouraged him not to. Smoke had already begun building up.

The old diesel wheezed, each cough spewed more smoke than the last. His eyes started to water and his windows fogged. His driver slowed him to a stop, the conductor letting out a long sigh when Brady's wheels screeched against the rails.

“Again?” 

Brady could only faintly hear the conductor, her voice distant as she set her feet onto the ballast.

“What'dya expect? He's an old guy”

Brady let the smallest bit of a smile set onto his lips as he heard his driver. The driver always referred to him like he was a person, not simply an old diesel made only for freight. He still had hopes and such.

He wheezed once again and accidently spewed smoke right into the face of the conductor. She coughed almost immediately after, sounding like she was hacking up both her lungs. Brady furrowed his brows in sympathy and remorse took over his expression. 

“I didn't see you!” Brady quickly exclaimed, muttering a quiet apology afterwards. 

“It's okay big guy, you didn't mean to.” The conductor shushed the diesel. Concern embedded itself into her expression as she looked up at him. The diesel was able to get a good look at her now as the smoke dissipated. 

Brown fluffy curls and eyes that he's heard the driver describe as chocolate chip cookies. The conductor was taller than most humans he's seen, even if he hasn't seen many people apart from his own crew and other workers on his railway. Maybe she was the tallest, but he didn’t have much reference for human height other than his crew.

Brady only watched as his conductor stepped up onto his footplate, her slippers barely making a sound against the metal stairs. She got up close and personal as she had to give him a quick 

look over. His lips pursed together when his conductor's expression grew uneasy. He was easy at reading his crew since he considered them the closest thing to family, second to his sisters. 

The conductor made sure to be gentle as she got Brady ready to continue, even brushing down the scruffy fur on his face. “Ready, big guy?” She asked as she stepped back, her hand gripped onto the railing. Brady only gave her a deep hum of his engine in response. She gave a quick sigh back before stepping down the metal steps to join back with Brady’s driver in his cab.

The way back to the yard wasn’t that long but it sure felt like miles. Brady huffed and grunted to keep the smoke from building once again, each sound he made seemed pained. He could hear the muffled voices of his conductor and driver in his cab above. Their voices were still filled with concern, even if Brady didn't hear what they were saying now. 

Brady didn't even try to focus on what his crew was talking about as discomfort built up in his engine. He didn't notice he had zoned out until he heard his crew step out onto the familiar gravel of the yard. He finally let a sigh of relief slip from his lips, finally in the welcoming arms of the yard.

It was a busy, loud place. In no way could Brady call it peaceful but he could call it his home.

“Brady!”

Another engine called out to the diesel and immediately stole his attention. The engine was one of his older sisters, Barbara, but as he called her..

“Babs!”

Brady spoke fondly with a smile back on his face. 

“How was yer run?” She asked him while slowing to a stop on the track next to Brady. She faced the other way as she was already ready to head out of the yard for a night run.

“Well, as my driver would put it, shitty.” He answered in his usual gruff voice, scratchy and deep from years of smoke.

She gave a sympathetic look since she was no stranger to Brady's troubles. “Think they'll send ya off for repairs? It already looks like they're considering it”

Brady paused for a long second. He glanced back at his crew, who were already talking to someone he didn't recognize. Though he could recognize what the man was wearing.

It was an engineer. 

It wasn't the first time he's seen them after so many inspections, but the engineer was here for him now. He felt a bit uneasy at the thought of being sent away. Despite his engine problems, he hadn't been sent away for repairs and they only gave his crew short term solutions. 

But even at the thought of being in such an unfamiliar place, he was relieved that his engine might finally be fixed

“I hope..” He sighed and looked back towards his sister. His bushy brows had been furrowed in thought, but softened at the sight of Babs.

“I wish the best for ya” Babs smiled at Brady, canine-like teeth bared in a strangely friendly way. “I… need to go now, see ya in the morning”

Brady was barely able to say a quick farewell before Babs’ horn blared loudly as she huffed away.

“Oh- Farewell” He sighed, unsure if Babs even heard it.

After his sister’s departure, his attention was naturally drawn back to his crew. Brady focused on the engineer that his driver was speaking with. The diesel could easily tell he was not in a good mood. The man’s eyebrows were furrowed and his cheeks wrinkled with a deep frown. He was frustrated to be working on Brady soon. The diesel could only speculate why, but he didn’t want to dwell on it. His crew was always excited to work alongside him and that was all he needed.

He saw his driver had a clipboard and it wasn’t the first time he’s seen it. Almost everytime his engine failed, his crew was always writing something down. His best guess was simply that they needed to document his issues.

Brady continued to watch the two as they seemed to be seriously discussing the diesel’s engine issues. The engineer only grew more frustrated, eyeing up the diesel occasionally. His driver, in contrast, was determined to have his issues fixed. No matter if the engineer was a stick in the mud, deeply in the mud.

“I’m not sure if it's worth fixing it if its engine fails this much.” The engineer sneered. “It’s more cost effective to send him for sc-”

“No.” Brady’s driver cut the engineer off with an assertive tone. “Your job is to fix him.”

Brady didn’t bother to listen more after he heard what was suggested. He knew his driver could handle it alone. His conductor was trying to get his attention anyway. He looked over at the familiar lady. His expression immediately softened and a smile spread across his lips once again. Her footsteps were heavy as she stepped up his footplate.

“Are you feeling alright big guy?” The same look of concern from earlier was still on her face. She reached out, offering a comforting touch as she brushed her fingers through the diesel’s fluff. He only gave a huff in response, already tired from the long day.

She sighed in conjunction with him.

“You’ll get fixed…” His conductor crouched down to be closer to his face. She spoke as she gave his fluff a pat. “I promise.”

“Are you really sure?” Brady asked, an unfamiliar fear creeping up in his mind. He was always aware he wasn’t safe from scrap, not even his sisters were. No engine was forever safe, he knew that, but now he was facing the real possibility.

“I’m sure.” His conductor was more than sure deep down. “We’re not going to work with any diesel but you for as long as we live.” 

She spoke for both herself and Brady’s driver, protective over the diesel like a mother.

“Thank you” The diesel spoke, his voice softer than it usually was. 

For once he was sure, he was safe from scrap.

[murdocs-sweetheart]

Elaborating on that last rb bc I think it’s a fun reflection,,

My verrryy first fandom was definitely Dinosaur Train I was so unbelievably autistic about it and dinosaurs in general. My first blorbo was Mr. Conductor from the show of course! Also made some sort of self insert-ish oc but I didn’t know any of the terminology at the time so I just called them ‘my character’.

Overlapping this but extending later in my life beyond my fixation with Dinosaur Train was The Muppets, specifically Gonzo the Great. I didn’t make any oc’s to my knowledge I just rotated him in my brain most moments of the day for months.

OHH OH Buck from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs made me kinda crazy too as did Shira from Ice Age: Continental Drift!!! Idk I might have made oc’s for them but I can’t remember for sure. Definitely drew them A LOT.

Ummm Mushu from Mulan made me kinda insane as well/pos

Hmm I think those were the main ones from ages like 5-11 probably something like that

Then I got Online and discovered Villainous CN in part thanks to my friend in middle school and subsequently became obsessed with Demencia!! This is the first fandom I actually made a fully fleshed out oc for that was actually a self insert but I insisted was just an original character 😭

I low-key shipped her with Dem too but got embarrassed if anyone brought it up. I think this is how my mom probably knew I was some flavor of queer before I did tho- like she would see my drawings of Demencia and my ‘original character’ that looked suspiciously like me, but decidedly more boyish, kissing and stuff and she would be like, “who’s that with you?” And I’d frantically clarify that it’s NOT meant to represent me and that’s JUST an original character + I’d always be very vague about who Dem was and what her source was bc I thought my mom would punish me for watching a show about villains 😭😭😭

And of course, I now officially still selfship with Demencia and have fully embraced my evolved self insert!!

OF COURSE one of the most pivotal moments of middle school was when my dad introduced me and my brothers to Star Trek!!! Spock was a minor blorbo for awhile but then I watched the first ep of Star Trek The Next Generation and met Data and I was smitten!!! I loved him so much from the get go and I still selfship with him to this day!! I don’t talk abt him a lot but he is a main f/o, second only to Murdoc!!

Another pivotal fandom moment was watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine and starting to ship Julian Bashir x Elim Garak and finding other ppl online who did too. I never had any accounts anywhere or anything so I didn’t actually engage with the content but I ATE UP any Garashir fanart and fanfiction I could find!! Baby’s first yaoi ship fr/lh/silly

Later in high school I watched NBC Hannibal and started to ship Hannigram religiously and just LOVED the show so much to the point where I actually applied to a fan made musical project to do art for some of the songs! They accepted me but I ended up having to dip before I finished anything tho bc I was so burnt out from school :(

(Worth noting that Will Graham (NBC Hannibal) gave me so much gender envy that it kinda cracked my egg 😂. I wanted to look like him soooo bad for the longest time! And was like ooookay maybe most cis girls don’t want beards but that could mean nothing/j/ref)

This extended through most of high school before I kinda discovered the online selfship community and started exploring that and focusing way more on my selfships as I started to accept that part of myself!!

And I think I’ve been selfshipping online officially since 2020 maybe? Sometime around then?

Anyways this kinda got out of hand so I applaud you if you read all of it haha!! Ezra lore drop !! 😋

[araksi-art]

continuing on with my character sheets, introducing Sarah Bubbles!!

my first ever oc that i made so many years ago!!! rambles under cut :D

ohhhhj i love sarah so much...

sarah is a butch lesbian, married to her lovely lovely wife elise whom she loves very much !!!! she uses she/her pronouns, but sometimes plays around with he/him and other sets.

the first ever drawing i have of her is an abstract drawing of bubbles forming the hair of a person. the second drawing of her that i have is her at 60 years old with her wife holding hands. these two pieces are her begginings and she is so so much to me.

(fun fact: both were drawn in london!)

she's one of my World 1 ocs, whose lore just recently solidifies into something comprehensible ! she lives in the better version of Czechia, so her czech name would be Sára :] and her wife would be Eliška..

also her job is a train conductor for české dráhy. her wife thinks she looks hot in he uniform hehehe

she is a gardener! she loves flowers and vegetables and trees and all the plants actually. and she does woodworking too, she built her wife the most beautiful table for their kitchen. theyre so sweet.

sarah is just great. i love her. she goes to the queer club in their city and all the young queers flock to her and her wife. they bring the best food to the picnics everytime.