#ttte wilbert

[greendreamer]

Can't believe that this little guy turned 70 this month*. Happy Build-day Wilbert! 💙

*I don't know when exactly during Dec 1953 Wilbert was built

[the-charlie-ryan-saga]

Saw your post :)

If it's cool with you, could you draw Wilbert and Sixteen?

I did your men. They be chilling.

Small detail on 16: his illustrations in the Railway Series show him kind of mucky and dirty, almost as if he's had eggs thrown at him. So I incorporated that to because he's careless, he gets dirty a lot. :)

[dieselstooyou]

Could you draw Wilbert?

Forest boi, sometimes he plants trees.

[mavibonghostexpress]

Could you draw Wilbert?

He looks friendly

Friend shaped

[imitation-steamroller]

Y'know, I'm a little surprised Wilbert was never introduced during any of the show's anniversary years. Like of all the ways to celebrate the 75th or 60th or whatever anniversary of the franchise, why not include the engine named after the man responsible for the series?

[toast-com]

Emily for that writing thing?

A Rose for Emily

Emily smiled at Wilbert, who blushed.

"I got you a rose..." Wilbert handed her the flower. She beamed, took the rose, and hugged him, causing Wilbert to blush fiercely.

[theflyingkipper]

What do you think of Wilbert the Forest Engine?

I actually know next to nothing about Wilbert 😭 I know he’s an austerity tank engine named after Awdry, but I haven’t read his story

(I do know he’s in the Roblox game Blue Train With Friends though)

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

Daisy & Mavis?

Or maybe Sir Handel & Peter Sam?

Ooooh, Sir Handel and Peter Sam have a fascinating dynamic. However, I don't really have much to say that others haven't already said, and probably said better. To the degree that I'm tempted to talk about their Trauma Responses, I have another ask about Sir Handel & Skarloey, so I think I'll fold these thoughts into that post.

So, Daisy and Mavis — love 'em — only wish they got more screen time!

("Screen" time. Do they ever have a significant interaction in the television series? I really want to be told if they do.)

Actually they only have one page in RWS where they exchange a word. But it's such a good page. Posting it here for the uninitiated:

Look at this mess. Look at this absolutely perfect bitchfest. There are a total of zero brain cells in this conversation. Venting to your work bestie and and letting loose your inner mean girl. A classic RWS dynamic! It's just the diesel (& the female) version of the Thomas and Percy relationship: They make each other worse.

But, they need each other.

But, they make each other worse...!

Despite their lack of screentime following this, you cannot convince me that these two don't remain peas in a pod, just like 1 and 6 after 6 is transferred to the branch line.

I do think it's rather sad that Mavis is holed up in the quarry. :( There's a real bummer of a line when she appears in a later Christopher story...

"Besides, she sometimes finds it dull up at the Quarry with no one to talk to but trucks." I know it's realistic, but I want better for her. LET 👏 HER 👏 OUT 👏

Once smartphones became a thing, I like to imagine that they videocalled from the quarry to the carriage shed every night. (Annie, Clarabel, and Henrietta are very understanding about this when the call lasts half an hour. If ever the workers try to indulge Daisy and Mavis with a longer call, however, the coaches start murmuring...)

One great thing about this convo is that it's the first time I feel like I'm really, genuinely looking at lasting steam/diesel coexistence on Sodor's 'big railway.' Coz this is a target Awdry has been trying to hit for at least a dozen books now, yeah? Due mostly to his publishers' pressures, he's been trying to have beloved diesel characters while keeping his 1920-cosplay steam railway too, and this is where I think he finally hits the target. Daisy's first appearance was hamstrung because the turning point where she changes her haughty new-engine attitude and where the others accept her despite all the shit she's already pulled is off-screen, we're just told "they're friends now" and have to be all "right. sure." Probably because he got negative feedback on his Daisy hash, Awdry played it suuuuper safe with BoCo and Bear — less so Bear, but that's another post; for now I will just say that in contrast to Daisy they are presented as very clean-as-a-whistle, and their acceptance by the railway is made so much of that it doesn't feel natural, they both feel like one-offs. But then, ahhh. Now we've got Mavis, and Awdry has the bright idea to let her talk to Daisy, and BANG. Now we're here. This doesn't feel Informed, or starch-and-stiff, or tokenistic. You read this and you're like oh, yeah. Even the sleepiest branch line on this railway is now part dieselised. They're acting like characters! Everybody is acting like squabbling coworkers! It's like sinking at last into a warm relaxing soak. Ahhhhh. Here's the good stuff.

Because they don't need to be Representatives of dieselkind? They can just kinda suck for a moment, without being villains? When TVS subs out Daisy for Diesel, it automatically gives this conversation a sinister air. He's the devil on Mavis's shoulder. But in the original, there's nothing sinister here; it's homey. They're just venting to each other. Their behavior is kinda crappy, but also very normal and recognisable. New work besties fr. They are both three drinks in.

Daisy: He said what to you? Omg babe. I cannot believe that old garden shed said that to youuu.

Mavis: Right?????

Daisy: raising a glass Anything steam engines do, we diesels can do BETTER!

Mavis: hauling herself a bit unsteadily to her feet so that her gesticulation can be its most dramatic and sweeping You are RIGHT and you should SAY IT!

(Narrator: mildly ... Daisy was not right and, being probably the most specialised and least versatile engine then on her railway, she definitely should not have been saying it.)

(Above: The quintessential moment. Mavis & Daisy are commiserating/carping, and Annie & Clarabel are trying so hard to not hear their shit.)

Now, I've always had a question here...

Did Toby really say that only steam engines can shunt trucks?

The text indicates only that he was annoyed that she kept re-arranging things, they had a tiff, she rejected his input and left.

Then again, the text doesn't reveal that Percy calls Mavis's shunting "a ---- ------ ------ mess!", so, y'know. We get the minimum detail necessary in these stories. ;)

We never see Toby express any such sentiment about diesel engines. I'm inclined to think he never said this — and I suspect we're not supposed to believe he said this, only that Mavis is in stroppy teen mode and exaggerating and embellishing her grievances to the point where she's straight-up making shit up.

Still, I'm not sure. Usually in the RWS if a character is lying they are slyly or explicitly called out for it in the nearby text and this time the claim is just... sitting here.

Ultimately, I don't think he ever said that to her, but (considering how salty everyone on the Ffarquhar line can get: some have quicker fuses than others but they're all so provoke-able) I don't think Mavis just made this up completely. If she were making up stories from whole cloth, that would be... well, that would be 'Devious' Diesel behavior! I suspect, however, that Toby and Percy (comparing notes on her shunting) are at least thinking it, or have said it to each other, and Mavis has picked up on these vibes. All of which would be incredibly realistic.

Anyway, I bring this up because the answer does color my read of this conversation a little. If Mavis is completely making up attitudes that Toby never dreamed of having, and Daisy just eats it up and eggs her on, that makes this conversation somehow even 10x messier (and somehow I'm still rooting for their friendship). If this is a sentiment that is real or implied when Mavis or Daisy annoy the other Ffarquhar engines (and they can both be annoying, no question) then the bond between these two characters, with their very different personalities, just becomes even more 'understandable.'

Anyway, about those differences. Mainly, Daisy is ultimately very conventional. (This reminds me I have a nearly-finished essay about Daisy lying around somewhere. For now...) Mavis is the original, creative one, the mover-and-shaker. All Daisy's initial behaviors, as Hazel observed recently, are things we've seen from proud new engines before! She wants lots of attention, she boasts, she tries her damnedest to get out of work that she thinks is beneath her. What Mavis wants is to improve things, to have more responsibility, to get to stretch her wheels. Furthermore, Daisy by nature is keen to avoid work that's too heavy (she's a railcar with limited pulling power, so, you know, understandable); Mavis doesn't mind work — she just doesn't like being told how to do it, and she doesn't like being bored!

A point where they can be contrasted is in how they accept Toby's help and friendship at the end of their initial... "arcs." (All right, Daisy's "arc" is ended so clumsily that you can barely call it that, but you get me.) I'm not saying Mavis is devious or calculating, but for her Toby's offer of friendship is just as important as a pathway to her getting out of the quarry sometimes as it is for his forgiveness. It is her ticket out. For Daisy, Toby's offer of friendship was important because she wants friends, now she's making a friend yay!! — and I think that was pretty much it. Daisy just wants positive attention; that's what all her 'modern and right-up-to-date' stuff was about, but that failed to get her the positive attention she wanted and it turned out that being a team player did, so she had little trouble re-orienting herself. She resisted the pressure of everyone on the platform for her first train because she clung to the memory of her friend the fitter, but I don't think she's one to resist peer pressure in general, and as time passed and the Ffarquhar line residents became her peers, it was completely inevitable that she start to conform to their ways.

So (although, again, annoyingly — we aren't shown) I reckon that Daisy panicked after Percy's accident when she realized that she would be in trouble too (all right, someone probably had to point it out to her). And so for the first time she pitches in and does some hard work. Toby can't help but own "you did well to get all your half cleared, Daisy" and Daisy's entire system lights up because compliment, baby!!! That's all she ever wanted. She's Toby's man now (so to speak).

I can also easily imagine that, in trying to get adjusted to Mavis, Toby remembered how thing went last time. He must have tried from the first to tell himself, through slightly gritted teeth, "Just find something to compliment the new engine on, just anything. Helps build trust." But he was stymied twice over. 1) She keeps re-arranging the trucks in some crazy-ass unapproved way and he can't find ANYTHING nice to say! 2) It wouldn't have worked, anyway. Mavis wouldn't have been satisfied with just some friendly attention. Mavis wants to do. shit.

Mavis is bright — possibly has little common sense, but she's bright. I do wonder sometimes if her shunting arrangements are actually bad, or if they're just different and Toby and Percy can't adjust. (The text does own that due to the siding arrangements it's inefficient to put the trucks where Toby expects them. She probably does optimize things — from her point of view, anyhow.) Either way, though, here is an active and creative mind at work. Plus, her ploy to slo-o-owly expand her pathway down the line in "Toby's Tightrope" shows long-term planning, which is hardly something we've ever seen any vehicle do! So yeah, she's well above-average bright for an engine.

Hilariously, in Their Own Scene she is easily impressed by Daisy's lofty confidence (another classic RWS dynamic — it's giving Duncan staring amazed at James's boasting), but she's also super young, hasn't been Toby-fied yet, and in short I expect that as the years go by Mavis is likely to see Daisy as less of a role model and more of a crony/partner-in-crime. Daisy might instigate things sometimes — but she needs Mavis and Mavis's bright ideas before she really makes much headway! And I expect Mavis is often the instigator anyway. In her literary-device role of Second Coming of Thomas (Dieselised Flavour), she probably continues to want all sorts of things that engines aren't supposed to pine for (silly stick-in-the-muds!) Daisy is quite content to grumble but put up. Mavis will find a way to make stuff happen.

(Which is the only explanation we're going to get for how Mavis is at large on every quarry and some not-remotely-a-quarry sets on the island, come TVS!)

That was a light rap on the TVS there, but not a very hard knock; at least TVS insisted (in spite of all logic) on using her character for stuff. Christopher lets me down, personally, by finding so little for Mavis to do — and never having her and Daisy interact! I want more of this shit so badly.

However, in the Author's Note of Thomas Comes Home, Daisy apparently has a bee in her bonnet about fans who think the series has no female engines and is like 'me and Mavis tho!!!!!!' Which... I like seeing Daisy mention Mavis. That's all. It assures me that they’re still a duo (although I prefer Wilbert's interpretation that they bond over being The Two Diesels On This Line vs. Christopher's implication that their bond is being The Two Girls On This Line).

[sparkarrestor]

“Holy Shit it’s Peter Sam” - Rev. W. Awdry

[duncandonuts06]

“Duncan what’s wrong why have you been so grumpy today? Can you explain yourself?” Duncan refused to comment.

I wanted to make something for Awdry Extravaganza and this was the funniest thing ever to me had to do it for the meme!! Big shoutout to terrier55stepney for his great commentary and to the talyllyn railway for providing those of us across the pond with a way to attend the event virtually! Hopefully one day I’ll get to go in person. Love the new Duncan face! It’s brilliant!

[railwayseriesbookcast]

Percy and Harold

did you miss it? Railway Series Book Club - Percy and Harold is out now! join us as we meet Harold the Helicopter and talk about one of the most iconic stories in the entire series!

[greendreamer]

One day...

[whirligig-girl]

Thomas was a tank engine, who lived at a Big Station. He had six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome.

Thomas as originally drawn by Rev. Wilbert Awdry did not resemble closely any real locomotive class (though there are a few engines with similar sloped tanks, most popularly the GNR J50 class). This is probably because of Thomas' origin as a somewhat crude toy made from a broomstick

The original wooden model of Thomas.

when Awdry sent in sketches to the publisher he still thought of the character he was telling stories about as the toy he'd built for his son, rather than as a particular locomotive. Although Awdry still had a certain attention to detail in his sketch--he remembered the axles, brakes, buffers, brake pipe, chain coupler, and connecting rods--all details that the wooden toy lacked. Let it not be said that Awdry didn’t still think of Thomas as a full-size machine.

Two of the sketches Awdry sent in to the publisher.

In this case I imagine Thomas as a freelance design. Maybe he was built in-house by the No Where Railway's motive department, maybe he's a one-off industrial locomotive; either way he's a truly unique engine in this alternate depiction. Folks--if you look at the wooden Thomas model and the sketches Awdry drew of Thomas, one thing becomes abdundantly clear: When Awdry said "short and stumpy," he MEANT "short and stumpy."

[ladychandraofthemoone]

James’s Attack Dogs/Second-In-Commands

Meet the Arcane Merchant versions of “Sonny” Bellerophon & Sheffield “Warrior” Keeling, supporting characters in James’s group that holds a vendetta against the diesels coming to Sodor & the changes during the events of the Half-Pariah. Despite their (mainly Sonny’s) rather neutral stance towards diesels, both willingly & loyally help with James’s plans,them both bonding over working & being in the scrapyard & being seen as murderers. They do the more “dirter” jobs such as acting as a mole to infiltrate & spy on Tobias and eliminating anyone..by any means necessary.

[nwreric]

As a long time Sam's Trains viewer, I can safely say that I was not expecting this to ever happen.

[joezworld]

In The End

Traintober 2022 Day 31 - The End

Hey, we made it! It's over! I don't have to stay up every night and write this! It's done! It's 3:35 AM on a Monday! I'm going to bed!

--------

Summary - In the end, it all matters.

-------

Later

He rose to wakefulness with all the grace of a drunk. He was in motion, rocking down a line that hadn’t been ballasted properly. 

“Hey you, you’re finally awake.” A voice called to him, and he opened his eyes, his vision floating and swirling for a moment as his eyes refocused to the light. 

A diesel was pulling him, facing so his “A” end was towards the 307. The engine looked most unusual, with a paint scheme that he’d never seen before. Red upper works, with a broad yellow stripe that ran along the midde. 

“Where am I?” He asked, still quite groggy. 

“The better question is when.” The diesel said simply. 

“What?” 

“You’ve been asleep a few years, old man.” The diesel said, concentrating on the world around him as he slipped past a signal. “The world’s changed.” 

The 307 looked closer at the diesel in front of him. The logo - located in between the two front windscreens - wasn’t BR, instead a trio of animal heads - what they were exactly he wasn’t certain. Down on the engine’s face, just above the left eyebrow, was the company name: ENGLISH, WELSH, & SCOTTISH - A WISCONSIN CENTRAL COMPANY. Above the right was something curious - most engines had their numbers painted on, and those bestowed with names usually had a plate mounted on each side. This diesel, however, had a stamped metal plate that proclaimed him to be 58031 - SHEBOYGAN SPIRIT just above the other eyebrow.

“I don’t recall anywhere named Sheboygan.” The multiple unit said slowly. 

“It’s in America.” The diesel replied. “New owners named us after places there.” 

“New owners? What happened?”

The diesel looked at him, expression gruff but a twinkle of mischief in the eyes. “The Tories.”

“What?”

“The Arrows. They broke 'em up - sold the pieces to the highest bidder.” The diesel looked straight up, and the 307’s gaze followed, landing on a trio of flags located above the windscreen of the diesel - Canada, America, and the Union Jack. “Americans took almost the whole pot, as far as us goods diesels go.”

“Surely you jest.”

“I don’t, and don’t call me Shirley.” The diesel actually winked, leaving the 307 in shocked silence for some time, his mind whirling. I’m free of them. 

“Where am I going?” He asked as they rolled slowly past a work train. The bad ballast had improved dramatically, no doubt the work crew’s handiwork. 

“Little preserved line in the forest - somewhere in Gloucestershire.”

“Gloucestershire? There’s no electric lines in Gloucestershire.”

 “Beats me mate.” ‘Sheboygan’ rolled his eyes. “It’s 1996, anything is possible.” 

That shut the 307 up. Five years? I’ve been asleep for five years…? He lost himself in his swirling thoughts for some time, and didn’t notice as the train came to a stop at a station. 

Sheboygan was quickly uncoupled, and left him at the curved platform. The station name was “Lyndley Junction”, and try as he might, the 307 had no idea where this place was or what railway it was. Judging from the state of the place, it was some throwback to the age of steam. 

“And with this, I take my leave.” Sheboygan called as he was driven into the station’s passing loop. A member of station staff threw the switch, and he was off with a roar of his motor. “Enjoy the future, old man! I think it’s going to be quite bright! And go Packers!” 

“What?” 

“You heard me!”

The odd diesel motored out onto the main line, and was out of sight in a moment. The 307 sat at the platform, feeling more and more overwhelmed. 

-

A short while later, men came up to him, one of them already speaking rapidly. “-cannot believe we got him for the price we did! It’d be more expensive buying actual coaches.” 

“Yes, well, s’not perfect.” Another said. “There was the accident…”

“Inspection said everything was fine.” The men reached him. “Hello! Welcome to our railway!”

The pleasantries continued for some time, during which he was informed that the railway did not have any electric wires, and intended to use him as coaches - they’d just extended the railway and were getting more guests than their current stock could handle. 

“But,” They said earnestly. “We might be able to get something for electric traction in the future, if there’s enough interest from the heritage rail community.” 

He supposed that they meant well enough - he’d learned a long time go when someone was saying truths, or if they were lying with every fibre of their being - and went along willingly when a small tank engine came along to collect him. 

The engine was a blue saddletank, with red lining. 307 paid close attention to his nameplates, and found nothing too shocking, just the name WILBERT.

Of much greater interest were the dark tinted spectacles that were perched on the engine’s nose. 

Wilbert laughed when the 307 asked him, as they were coupled up. “Oh, they’re not reading glasses, they’re sunglasses!” 

This did not clear anything up. “Forgive me for not understanding how much the world has changed while I was-” He began, before Wilbert interrupted him. 

“Oh no, I’m the one who should be sorry.” He said apologetically. “I forget how strange this must seem to others - you see, we’ve got a diesel that the men are restoring. Poor thing got shoved into the back of a building way back when, and they plum forgot about her until a year or two ago; Her eyes got so used to the dark that she can’t handle the sun anymore.”

He paused for a moment to whistle for the level crossing just outside of the station, as they set off down the line. “Anyways, one of the volunteers got the idea to give her some sunnies to help her see better, but she got a mite self-conscious about it, cause they look so strange on us engines.”

“So you wear them to make her feel better?” What is this railway?

“Oh, that was the idea at first, but let me tell you, it works a right treat when I’m working on sunny days - cuts right down on the glare!” The engine then looked at him in a vaguely conspiratorial way, and the sunglasses raised off the bridge of his nose, pivoting around a motorized hinge mounted to each side of his boiler. “And, between you and me, I quite like them. I feel quite fashionable - I can see why people wear them all the time!”

Again, the very idea that he was living in the future was almost overwhelming to the 307, and he said nothing as the lush woods gave way to a small village. The railway’s works were here, and they pulled into the station so Wilbert could run round the train before pushing the 307 into the yard. 

“Right! I’ve some work to do right now, but we’ve got an event going on later tonight, so stay sharp!” Wilbert called as he departed back up the line with a brakevan in tow. 

The 307 almost called “go Packers!” back at him, before realizing it may be something only diesels said. He instead chose to sit quietly and compose his thoughts on everything he had experienced today, and everything that had happened before. 

-

Some hours later, he had mentally “sorted” his jumbled thoughts into some semblance of order. And thus the next chapter of my life begins, He thought to himself. A forced move to the future, where steamers wear sunglasses, diesels are American, and British Rail is no more. 

As he sat there, a few people began to arrive by car, and Wilbert steamed back in, a few men in suits riding in the brakevan. 

“Hello!” Said one of the men, a stout gentleman in a top hat. “What might you be?” 

“I don’t know anymore.” 307 said after a moment. The man raised an eyebrow in amusement, but before he could reply, the controller of the railway tapped him on the shoulder and introduced him to the railway’s volunteers. 

A few minutes more, and the small group of people had been all introduced, so the railway’s controller stood in front of the closed doors of the workshop, directly in front of the 307. “All right, so we all know why we’re here, but I so rarely get to make public speeches…”

Light laughter ripped through the group. 

“Yes yes, I know.” He smiled. “We are of course here to unveil the fruit of almost three years’ worth of labour, but thanks to the speediness of EWS, we can also introduce our newest piece of rolling stock as well! We’ve managed to acquire this class 307 at an absolutely knock-down price from BREL, or whatever it is that BREL is called nowadays,” 

There was more laughter. 

“And he will be serving as our newest coaching stock, both for Wilbur and our lady in waiting.” He paused dramatically. “And, as some of you may know, now that we have electric stock, one of our longer-term projects will be to acquire the catenary and electrical equipment required to run him on his own!”

Light applause followed, and then he continued. “Now, I know you’ve all heard me talk for long enough, so let’s get to the main attraction, shall we?”

From inside the workshop, a clatter erupted as a diesel engine coughed, spluttered, and eventually turned over. A cheer rose from inside the building, and a young man holding a boombox emerged from a side door. “We’re ready!”

“Then, without further ado, we would like to present our labours of the last three years - with no small amount of help from the Hatt Trust and the North Western Railway, the Dean Forest Railway is proud to present, for the first time in thirty years, D8404!”

The young man punched a button on the boombox, and music began to play. A strange ethereal sound that quickly transformed into guitar and drum. 

I'm alive!

307 heard it barely, his hearing ringing with the last syllables. 

And the world shines for me today

The roll-up garage door was thrown open from the inside, clattering upwards.

I'm alive!

A shape was visible through the haze of diesel exhaust

Suddenly I am here today

Seems like forever (and a day)

The exhaust plume increased, and the shape began to advance towards him. 

Thought I could never (feel this way)

Is this really me? I'm alive! I’m alive!

The engine emerged into the sunshine. A pair of sunglasses hid the eyes, as Wilbert had said they would. The lips were moving in concert with the music, although they were not singing. 

 I'm alive!

Applause broke out from the crowd. 

And the dawn breaks across the sky

His breath caught in his throat as he took in features he had not seen in decades. 

I'm alive!

And the sun rises up so high

The music continued, but she stopped singing, jaw opening, seemingly in shock.

Lost in another world (far away)

Never another word ('til today)

But what can I say? I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive!

The sunglasses, on the same motorized hinges as Wilbert’s, rose up, revealing a pair of eyes that he saw only his dreams. 

“It can’t be.” He said so quietly that only the stout gentleman standing next to him heard. 

While the music still played, she no longer sang, and the men from the railway looked at her to see what was wrong. 

“It’s him!” She said, in that same voice, one that spiked down into his very soul. “How is he here?” 

The men looked at her, and then looked at him, and tried to puzzle out what she was saying. 

It seemed like a fog of confusion was about to set down upon everyone, when the stout gentleman opened his mouth. 

“Excuse me, but I feel as though we may have… inadvertently reunited some old friends.” He said magnanimously. “May we all retire to the station building? I seem to have noticed that the luncheon has already been set up.”

“Well, yes of course Charles, but, are you sure?” The controller of the railway asked as he was fairly pushed towards the station by the larger man. 

“Yes, quite sure. Come along everyone!” 

Within minutes, they were alone in the works yard - Wilbert had been pulled ahead out of sight, and even the boombox had been carried away.

He stared at her, tears welling up in his eyes. “I thought you were…”

“I was!” She said, equally emotional. “Or, I might as well have been. Should’ve been, after all I did.” 

“It wasn’t you,” He said, trying to keep it together. “It was her.”

A tear dripped from her eye, falling to the sleepers below. “It takes two to tango, and I followed her every step.” More tears followed. “I thought I could put this all behind me! But I’m just a monster, dressed up in the skin of someone more deserving!” 

She fully broke down in tears, and he did his best to comfort her. It was hard to do, being several meteres apart. Straining hard, he found his handbrake, which had been set tight against the slight downward slope of the tracks, and moved it until it was off.

Slowly, he rolled forward, until his buffers pressed against her own. She looked at him, shocked and startled. 

“I lost you once.” He said, a sudden burning intensity roaring through him like fire. “I’m never doing that again.” 

They were both crying, 

They were both living

They were both here

They kissed, for the first time in decades. 

They were both lovers. 

----------

 Unseen, in their ethereal and incomprehensible way, the Angel and the Demon watched the two lovers embrace. 

That’s a hell of a thing to do for them. The Demon said, admiration coloring its voice. Think they’ll make the most of it? 

I do. The Angel smiled. I think they’re going to be just fine. 

End