Back home in the Red Ridge desert in southwestern North Attica, Lucas Brindley had known storms as these heavy, brooding, ponderous affairs that rolled in slow until the barometric pressure became unbearable -- and then it would all break loose in the most dramatically violent fashion, usually with lightning (and unsettlingly quick to follow thunder) and flash floods roaring through canyons.

The river would swell and the hydro-electric dam would work over time, and the farmers would praise the Conductor for the cloudburst.  Unless the river jumped the tracks and started pouring into the fields and orchards that kept Lucas' hometown of Sundown Valley on the map, then they would turn and curse him.

(Curse the Conductor, not Lucas personally.  Although he had left behind some who would curse him, for other reasons obviously, when he escaped halfway around the world.)

Winters in the Sun Islands get snow (!) and even snow days (!!) which seem to be the only time in the calendar year where Tetsudo City takes a breather.  Even in the summer nobody stays inside, when it feels like somebody took a cloud, microwaved it on high, plopped a million cicadas in it and then fixed it securely over your head.

At least in Red Ridge, where the winds could run flat out with nothing, absolutely nothing to stop them, it was a dry heat.

Storms here also have a way of sneaking up on a person.  It had been a clear and brisk night when Lucas had showed up at the Jordan-McMullan residence for a night of debauchery (read: video games) and even the morning had broken clear with the sun rising triumphantly over the eastern sea.

Lucas is crouched at the door with his laces in his hands, Ty hovering nearby like the indomitable host he is.  "It was nice to have you over," Ty says, "Hope we didn't keep you up.  You know.  After."

Lucas blushes only a little before squinting up at Ty.  "Went out like a light, didn't hear a thing," he lies. "LIAR!"  This is Dom hollering from the living room.  Ty turns and flicks the air in that direction, and next thing Dom gives a little yelp and then laughs.  Lucas briefly wonders just where the telekinetic hit him, but then quickly decides he probably doesn't actually want to know.

Shoes tied, he stands.  Ty's reaching up for a goodbye hug and suitably chaste kiss on the cheek when Dom calls again from the living room:  "Whoa, guys, come check this out."

Off come the shoes.  They head back into the apartment and find Dom sticking his hand out the window over the juliet balcony.  It's pretty clear from the sudden racket what the fuss is all about.

"Conductorssakes," Ty hisses, trying to shove Dom back even though he's only half his husband's size, "Shut the window!"

Dom laughs and brings his arm back inside, his hand going a splotchy red from all the hail that had pinged off it.  This is literally what happens when he's left unsupervised for two minutes.  

Ty successfully gets the window closed and then it's just the three of them looking out over the city and flinching a little at the little ice bombs pelting the glass.  It's dark enough now that the neon accents of the towers downtown are starting to flicker back on.

Slowly but surely, Lucas realizes that Dom's arm is creeping around his back.  Before he can comment (he's not even sure if he wants to comment), Dom turns to him and announces:  "Guess you're sticking around for Saturday morning cartoons!"

Between that innocent excitement and the deluge outside, Lucas supposes he doesn't really have a choice.

It's pretty obvious that he's not going to object to this supposition, and Ty breaks from the herd in the direction of the kitchen.  "Just going to put the kettle on, Sunshine.  ...er.  Sunshines?  I'll hafta come up with something else since I have two of you now."

In which I wrote an anime:

Steam Battle Galaxy:  Densha-man, Soar!! (汽戦・GALAXY: 電車マン 飛ぶ!!) is a serialized animated television show whose main cast is comprised of various rail vehicles given anthropomorphic characteristics.  (Think Gurren Laggan meets KanColle meets Transformers.)

Kurogane Denmaru (鉄 電丸) is a normal light rail engine serving a rural local loop in the northern region of the Sun Islands.  He is passed twice in the morning and evening by the more prestigious commuter train, Chika Tetsuko (地下 てつこ), on whom he has a secret crush.  His rival is the notorious Shinkan Sentarou (新幹 線太郎), the bullet train that connects this remote archipelago with the bustling metropolis Tetsudo City to the south.

While studying for the upcoming national exam for promotion from local service to local express, Denmaru comes across an old book in the library.  Thinking it might give him an edge in his studies, he opens the book only to find an old tattered train ticket wedged in its pages.  Later, by mistake, he accidentally punches this ticket on his way home, unlocking its ancient power and turning him into the titular superhero Densha-man (デンシャマン).

The old book turns out to be a journal left by an extraterrestrial who had visited Tearth a long time ago.  Punching the ticket allows him to summon the alien's Black Steam Armor (黒汽鉄), which transforms him into a powerful anthropomorphic steam locomotive with the ability to fire blasts of compressed steam from his fists.  Using the journal as a guide, Denmaru learns much about what it means to be both a good engine and a good hero.  

At first, Denmaru uses his powers to assist his local passengers and fend off rampaging Kaijuu, all the while striving to impress Tetsuko and surpass Sentarou.  This changes in the second season when more ancient aliens come to the Sun Islands to challenge the owner of the Black Steam Armor, whom they assume to have been hiding on this planet for centuries.  In repelling the threat, Denmaru learns to use his abilities to fly, explore deep space, and meet other train-themed warriors with varying armors and powers.

Ok so I’ll be the first to admit that this piece is a bit stilted, even for NaNo writing.  It probably deserves a better treatment but I’m pretty sure I wrote it train of thought for therapeutic reasons on the day; anyway, a little voice in the back of my head has been telling me for years that I’m trans af and writing this in November was one of those louder voices.  (FYI, three out of my four MetaRail self-inserts are men, and you’ve already met Daniel)

Past Imperfect

Like many people, Danny Long lived another life before coming to Tetsudo City.  

Unlike how it is for some, it’s not a life he struggles to forget.  There were things he learned in that life that shaped him, molded him, helped him become the person he is now.  He's grateful for his first life, he sees it in hindsight as a foundation atop which he’s built a fuller existence.

Back in North Attica, Danny Long was a young woman, just getting her first real foothold in the world.  She had a career, a car, a condo - the Attican Dream starter set, as it were.  She was on her own but she was happy, exploring the unfolding edges of adulthood as they came.

Allow me to introduce another two Worlds of the Rail, Tearth and Arx.  These are the sci-fi worlds!  Although Tearth is also intended to support any modern day coffee shop/college AUs, and Arx is the shadowy-galactic-threat world!  If you’d like to review/comment on more of the project, you can do so here.

Danny Long is a bit of an office mystery.  He shows up on time, says hello to people in the hallway, eats lunch alone, and sometimes leaves late.  He gets good reviews from his superiors and makes sure his mainframe is kept running smoothly.  He’s widely considered friendly, but only when approached; he generally prefers to keep his own company.

It’s not that his officemates pry, but sometimes they lapse into smalltalk out of habit.  “What are you doing this weekend?”  “Do you follow any sports?”  “We’re gonna go check out that new Veneer place that just opened up downtown, wanna come?”  “Is that a photo of your little sister?  She looks a lot like you!”

They label him a mystery by his foreshortened answers:

“Nothing much.” Playing video games in my pajamas with my online friends.  Also I’m going to finally post the story I’ve been working on all month - it’s a Star-Works AU where Varvara is revived as a gearoid and how Svetlana has to deal with her dead wife now being a steam-powered robot.

“Not really.”  Unless you mean esports.  The regional semi-finals of the North Attican LLS championship league are going on right now (I have it up on my tablet and I’d love to get back to it as soon as you get out of my cubicle).  D20 is playing TLK to seed for first and it’s 2-1 in a Bo5 and aahhhhh I need D20 to WIN THIS TIME.

“Nah.  Thanks, but I’m good.”  Trapped in an enclosed space with you and your normie friends for an hour?  Kill me now please.  Besides, if I wanted Vaneer food I’d look in my freezer.