#implicit ->

[togetherness23]

Conversation

implicit Edward/Henry

Additional Tags for AO3: Apologies, Conversations, Developing Relationships, did you know that Edward was at the site of the Flying Kipper crash in the TVS?, (Henry wasn’t conscious enough at the time to have known that, sadly), Friendships, no beta we die like Henry almost did with the Kipper

Summary: Henry tries to apologize; Edward tries to amend.

Notes: First proper TTTE fic?

“What’s got yourself in a stir?” Edward had asked him one cool evening. They were both waiting at the big station, the smaller engine having just tidied up the yard.

“Your wheels have been creaking rather loudly since you pulled in. Either you haven’t been to the Works in a while,” Edward mused, knowing that would’ve been unlikely, “or you have something on your mind.”

It had been a few weeks since he had went out for maintenance himself. That was the culmination of a broken crankpin and a special train that was hours late.

He had felt fortunate that Henry was the engine waiting at the station- he could tell that his face lit up as he heard him whistle triumphantly, wearily pulling into the station, was one with the cheering enthusiasts as they crossed the platform. But after Edward returned to the sheds, they hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk more.

However, though he meant to spark conversation, the bigger engine seemed rather uneasy.

“Reminiscing.” Henry said plainly, causing Edward to purse his mouth. “Not fond ones.”

“Did… someone…?” Edward wasn’t sure how to prod. Did someone prompt this?

“I’ve been seeining Percy with Gordon and James a lot more frequently. He’s been really… well, puffed up in the boiler as of late?”

“It’s nice that he’s come so far since then.” Edward grinned at the thought of Percy scrambling the inside of Gordon’s boiler with his antics yet again.

“Still, can’t help but think back on his first day.” Henry frowned. “When you were near the sheds with him and I stormed up…”

“Oh, but that was in the past!” Edward was quick to laugh.

“I can’t let it go.” The big engine sighed, a large hiss now exhaling out of his funnel. His eyes fell to the gravel beneath their rails.

Edward was just as quick to stop. Percy didn’t sing the tunnel song in front of him again, did he?

“Percy certainly likes you now,” he consoled. “Of course, he was quicker to the shunt, but surely he’s over it by now.”

“But I nearly did that to you.”

And, for whatever reason, Edward found himself unable to reassure.

“…But you didn’t. Percy stopped you, we had a laugh about it, and you didn’t try it on again.”

“I’m sorry,” Henry grimaced, “Won’t you at least let me be remorseful?”

“I’m not stopping you,” Edward replied. Was he?

“It wasn’t right of us- of me- to have ever doubted you”, Henry spoke further. “Of course Duck and BoCo were mad when we were chattering about you. They’re your friends. They knew you would’ve persevered from the start. Me, James, Gordon…”

“I can’t blame you for thinking these things,” Edward replied, selectively creaking his front wheels. “I was due for maintenance. You said it yourself, I was positively straining when I pulled that train!”

Henry didn’t feel any better with Edward chuckling at the memory.

“Well- but— you’re so much better than the lot of us—”

“Don’t put yourself down so much for my sake.” Edward firmly interrupted. “Aren’t we friends again?”

“Well, you were always a good friend.”

“Only because you’re a good one to have.”

“You’re just saying that,” Henry replied, still looking down. “You’re kind, Edward. You really know how to stoke one’s firebox. I admire you for it.”

“I admire you too.”

It was said so casually, so softly, that in any other conversation with the other engines, it would’ve surely been drowned out either through sheer noise or banter.

Henry had stopped hissing steam.

Edward kept going. “That night, when it was pouring and I made it to the station hours late with the visitors… you know, I didn’t make it through out of sheer kindness. You saw how red my face was by the time I pulled in.”

“You minded the comments we made. You heard about them.” Henry muttered.

“No, I hadn’t thought of what you said,” Edward replied. “I was reminded of what you did. Remember the days when you were in your old shape?”

“Whatever could you mean by that?” Now it was Henry’s turn to laugh sadly. “When you had to pick up the work after me when I broke down? Or when we completely shunned you while we were on strike?”

“It’s not any particular memory. But seeing you, an engine with problems noticeably worse than my own- who was doubted by so many, including the Fat Controller…”

“The Controller.” Henry’s stare went wide, then focused again. “That’s right. Y’know, I had never seen him so angry at you before- that night you pulled in late.”

“How you were able to bare it all those years ago, I wouldn’t know,” Edward grinned for a moment, but then let his face fall. “I almost couldn’t believe he actually said the possibility of sending you away. But in the end, he didn’t. I- we’re all glad for it.

And that’s exactly what I’m talking about, Henry. The odds looked impossibly stacked against you- your poor design and subsequent performance, all of that. And yet… here you are now. You persevered.”

“But that wasn’t all me. You picked up after many of my jobs. Who knows- if you weren’t there, maybe the Controller would’ve given up on me earlier.”

Almost like that one cold morning, Edward thinks to himself.

“Huh?”

“Oh, sorry, just thinking of one of those busy days. Carry on.”

Conversation for another night.

“Well…,” Henry began, retracing his route of thought, “wait, no. I’m still trying to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“That’s because I want us to be friends again,” reiterated Edward. “And I can’t very well do that while you’ve walled yourself up in shame yet again.”

There was another pause.

Then, a crack of a smile.

“Did you just say ‘Walled up in shame?’ I can’t believe you, Edward.”

Henry was in stitches, allowing a full smile to spread his bufferbeam. And Edward couldn’t help it- he laughed wholeheartedly with him, feeling funny in the boiler.

“But,” Henry switched back to a more neutral expression, “you shouldn’t feel like you have to be fine every time you see me.”

“It’s okay—”

“Edward.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Edward, you haven’t been okay for a while,” Henry said bluntly. “I can see it in your face. And in not being able to even talk about these things without chuckling it off.”

Edward, his eyebrows furrowed, stared directly ahead at him. Henry continued.

“I wasn’t alright either, all those years ago. And even now, I still go through the motions every other day when there’s something bothering me. But this doesn’t mean you won’t ever be okay again. Just that you don’t have to pretend that it never happened at all.”

“I’m sorry, yes. I just…”

Was this Henry, giving him wisdom? What could he say to that?

“I just miss you.” Edward almost blurted. “I don’t wish for you to feel like you have to make up so much for me. I’m not worth the trouble.”

“Of course it’s worth it to make up to you.” Henry replied, serious. Then, his face softened. “I miss you too.”

I want to do this together.

It couldn’t be clearer. Not where they were now and where they wanted to go- but that he was with him.

And we could be okay.

“If it’s any worth, you were always my favorite engine to share a train with.” Edward somehow beamed brighter.

Henry could feel the lights on him, causing his face to heat. Were the station lights always so warm?

“Well, I may have a longer train tomorrow. I don’t suppose a certain engine at Wellsworth would be willing to lend me a wheel over Gordon’s Hill?”

“They might, if you whistle loudly enough...”

——

The Flying Kipper was heavier than usual. The big green engine still hauled it with all his might, feeling rather emboldened.

Slowing down to a stop at Wellsworth Station, he whistled loudly with a peep! peep! peep! and called for help. A blue tender engine quickly chuffed up with a peep! peep! and buffered up to the end of the train.

“I’m ready!”

“So am I!”

And they set off together.

[txttletale]

yknow i am not exactly publishing groundbreaking research by saying "tumblr users have a disproportionate view of how much children's cartoons matter" but it is crazy to keep seeing people say things like this when child marriage is literally legal in most of the united states and commonplace around the world even in jurisdictions where it is nominally illegal

[possamble]

hiii everybody are you normal about Falin showing Laios the same little spell that Marcille showed her? are you normal about Falin remembering it fondly enough that it was one of the first things she showed her brother while trying to teach him magic?

[deikshen]

The idea of Shang Qinghua as a fallen God was hitting me HARD-

I mean, he was some kind of civil God in the heavens, even then recognized for his prose, for the epic tales that would later become a reality, giving him the title of prophet, "The God who sees Beyond Time", "The God Who Inks the Pages of Destiny."

He rose from the lowest ranks as an adjunct god to an important position, becoming one of the most recognized and venerated civil gods of the heavens -he always responded to all the offerings, the one who appeared most in dreams, the one who solved the most situations with his own hands. The civil god with the most temples, the one to whom incense and prayers were given before the imperial exams, the one to whom even those learning to write gave small offerings in search of his erudition to learn faster.

So, something happened. Did he betray the heavens? It was discovered that he had risen to his position through corrupt means? Did he get into a debate with some vengeful martial god? The stories could be many, but the result is always the same: the civil god fell. Where he once had hundreds of temples, now they didn't even offer him incense. And Shang Qinghua, there, bored, was simply... tired. People remembered him for his stories, so he could never know the sweet embrace of death. Turned into a folk tale, his own stories, written in his own hand, being repeated and reproduced in theaters for centuries. When would this martyrdom end?

Never, apparently. And Shang Qinghua writes. He writes stories that are replicated across civilizations. He sees entire demonic races born and die. He writes about an emperor of the three realms, a heavenly demon, with a harem of beauties, a destiny, a prophecy surrounding a sword, and that only pure love could save martyred hearts blackened by fear and misunderstanding.

And after a few centuries, finally finds an artifact that will make him forgotten. He's tired. Fed up. It's been a long millennium of loneliness. Shang Qinghua collects every story he ever wrote, hides them in a deep cave, keeps them away from mortals. He burns his abandoned temples. He burns his stories, making everyone forget that there ever was a God who inks the pages of destiny.

And he dies. Finally.

Half a millennium later, Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe are on a hike. Some silly honeymoon thing, traveling the world and finding rare beasts and beautiful non-lethal plants. It's an area that was never originally described in PIDW, but Shen Qingqiu is curious; the world is vast, exquisite, stretching out with magnificent magic. And he wants to know everything.

Then he accidentally gets trapped in a silly array and opens a cave. Luo Binghe follows him, desperate, but both of them... well, even if they wanted to leave without investigating, they never could!! It seems to have been closed for a long, long time.

That's how they find a scholar's hiding place. Or so they think. Stacks and stacks of scrolls. Paintings, theater robes, masks. In the middle of the investigation, Shen Qingqiu's breath catches in his throat when, in the characters from a scroll, he reads Xin Mo.

It is difficult to understand the characters ruined by time, but the story is clear. There are prophetic legends about Xin Mo, about Luo Binghe himself (without mentioning his name other than "a baby who emerged from the Luo River with a frozen heart"), and so many, so many things... Shen Qingqiu is perplexed. What the hell is up with all this? Why was it hidden? Who wrote it? Damn, Airplane owes him some VERY good answers.

In his study in the northern palace, Shang Qinghua begins to have a very strong headache. He should go to sleep, he probably strained his eyes too much with all the paperwork, but, uh, for some reason, he really, really want to write something. An idea is starting to form in his head, like when he wrote PIDW in his other life! Maybe it'll be his next bestseller!! He has to seize the opportunity and inspiration when it hits him!!

[innocuoussketches]

TT: After you go, what do you think will happen to me?  TT: Will I just cease to exist?

TT: I am scared to not exist.  TT: Aren't you?

[silkchiffon]

saying that santos being right about langdon is the easy way out for the show in terms of their storyline is so laughable. no actually! it isn’t! the easy way out is allowing the white man everybody loves to come away clean while a woman of color everybody hates potentially gets fired for a false accusation. the hard way out is forcing the audience to deconstruct their unconscious biases when it comes to caring more about langdon than santos because doing that is a matter of life or death in the emergency room. y’know. what they’ve been doing the entire show.

[dreamerimpossible]

He would climb into your room through your window. He would sneak in and climb on top of you, kissing and biting your exposed neck. Your shaky, pleasurable sighs only encouraged him to continue, not caring even if you made too much noise. He ripped your underwear and quickly entered you, grabbing your wrists and forcing you with his gaze to moan for him.

Your pleasurable moans made him fuck you faster and faster against your sheets, overcome with desire for you. Breaking up would still be a very bad decision. The sounds of skin clashing with yours didn't help to be discreet. A particularly deep and unexpected moan from him ended the fun, as he felt that he had filled you with all his seed.

He looked at the clock on the wall and realised that it wasn't too late yet. He, to your surprise, laid down next to you, instead of leaving, as he always did. Maybe he could stay until you fell asleep.

-Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Jason Dean, Kurt Kunkle, Alex DeLarge, Ticci Toby, Kazutora, Ran Haitani, Rindou Haitani, Hanma, Beyond Birthday (BB)

[lesbianaglaya]

i think all the reviews being like 'why would helly lie?!?' are funny. like idk if i was leading a resistance movement against a guy and i found out that i actually was that guy's willing collaborator/daughter. well. id be embarrassed at the very least.

[peanutheaddd]

klance in 2024.....

[ruushes]

have to imagine viago isn’t thrilled about the rook de riva/lucanis relationship or at least isn’t in my worldstate primarily because it would be very funny to me but also because 1) he disapproves of everything my rook does on principle 2) proximity to any first talon is dangerous enough generally and specifically he’d put lucanis’s life expectancy as first talon at around five years tops if he’s feeling generous and 3) lucanis threatened to kill him once by “gifting” him a knife of overtly intimidating high quality

[chronurgy]

Okay my inquisition hot take is that showing up at the empress's ball in matching military outfits is actually such a power move like oh you all are here to play your stupid little games but we are here to get shit done and you will accept our presence even if we don't conform to your culture because you know that you need us it's just that. Well the outfits they picked were hideous. Slap a different color on that bad boy and you're good to go. Also the inquisitor should have worn a headpiece reminiscent of andraste's to really drive home the 'we're above your petty affairs' vibe

[togetherness23]

Edward: James, I’m sorry I can’t be yours. I’m sure you’ll find someone who cares madly about you, I’m sure of it!

James: No, no, I get it! In hindsight, it was all too obvious that you had your eye on another engine even before I asked. I mean… I was a bit surprised, sure!

Edward: Oh? I thought you fancied big engines yourself.

James: Sure, but a green one? It’s a bit beyond me. But he’s such a swell guy, so I kind of get it.

Edward: Hmm. Thats surprising to hear, coming from you. But yes, he quite is! He can handle the twins quite well, too.

James: His technical issues were a shame at first...

Edward: It’s not a big deal! I mean, I helped him out a lot back in the day. He’s really brightened up now. His crow’s feet are adorable.

James: Yes, yes, yes. But don’t just stand there- you ought to go tell him! After all, you and BoCo are practically inseparable.

Edward: …BoCo?

James: Yeah! Him! That big diesel fellow.

Edward: Ohhhhhhh. Him. Right… Now I’m starting to see where you’re coming from.

James: Oh no, Edward. You mean to tell me… that of all the big engines here… and more than me…

Edward: James…

James: The engine that frolics into the woods because he loves staring at trees? The engine that can barely shunt two trucks together without them breaking? The engine who can’t go a day without thinking there’s something wrong with him? The one who pulls that smelly Kipper???

Edward: Well, the fish aren’t so bad of a smell once you’ve had a bite of fish and chips-

James: Oh, for crying out LOUD.

[eggbagelz]

abt to go seal hunting with peepaw

[thirdwheelravi]

fucking obsessed forevverRRRRRRRRR and ever and ever with how eddie says i heard some dick was being mean to you . i love him sooooooooooooo bad and so does buck

[magnificent-winged-beast]

Daily-sh Dose of Misha

Jibcon 15

[saturnniidae]

I love Mel and I'm glad so many people agree on her beauty, she is a gorgeous, breathtakingly majestic black woman and I'm glad she's appreciated but istg mfs only ever talking about how attractive she is rather than her intelligence and complex morality.

Everyone wants a morally grey woman character until she's black suddenly it's crickets in the crowd. Ik it's not usually intentional but (typically white) people have such an inate unwillingness to discuss poc (Especially woc) characters beyond surface level and it's annoying asf