I now need more info on Frank and Maisie, I love them oh my god
How did the two meet? Since Maisie can't exactly move on her own accord, does she just chill in a shed most of the time? If Frank was abandoned, who found him (if there was anyone??) What was he going to be built for? I apologize for the numerous questions hahahaha you can take your pick on which one you wanna answer
AHHH omg ur too kind, thank you <33 I'm so glad you like them!! I've loved working on these two sm and it always makes me so happy to see other ppl enjoying my OCs too!!
And ofc I am more then happy to yap some more about them! >:) And I'll do my best to answer as many questions as I can!
Firstly I'll start with the most simple question to answer; yes! Maisie chills in a shed most of the time. She's kept on a little flatbed though, so she can still get moved around if neccessary.
Frank definitely tries to move her out of the shed more often then is neccessary (he doesn't like leaving her alone), and while Maisie doesn't mind being in her shed (at least it's dry! LOL), she def enjoys getting to come out every now and then too! <3
As for your other questions, well, I'll preface by first saying that their backstories haven't been fully fleshed out yet, so some things may get changed later down the line, but I'm happy to offer what ideas I do have currently!
The basic gist for how the two first met is that they just so happened to end up in the same shed! But they each definitely had a different road to get there.
Maisie, after barely being saved from scrap, and seeing as she's unable to go anywhere or do much of anything, needed a temporary place to stay until they worked out a permanent home for her. (With the intention of maybe someday restoring her)
Thankfully, the people who rescued her were in touch with a small heritage line (which only had one other functioning engine, I might revisit this idea later hehe) that had a small maintence shed they had no current use for. And so Maisie was taken there for the time being.
And it just so happened that one of the local volunteers, Thomas, a man well-known in the area for his volunteer efforts on said heritage line, had just made a discovery of his own.
Y'see, Thomas' father was quite the railway enthusiast himself, and had instilled that love for trains (especially old steam locos) into his son. And after losing his father at a young age, Thomas had thrown himself into trains even more.
And much to his surprise, he would later come to find his dad's old notebook, which detailed an engine that he'd never heard of before. A bit of an odd old engine, one his father described as "frightening" at first, but who was also the gentlest engine he'd ever met.
The engine didn't have a name, so his father, as a young lad, had given it one:
"Frankenstein's Monster"
And though his father's life was tragically cut short, he'd left behind a small, crudely hand-drawn map of the workshed his old friend had been in. To be a memory of his youth, if nothing else.
But Thomas, determined as ever to not only help another engine, but find that long lost piece of his father, went searching for him.
It took him a good few months (the shed had long since been overgrown), but at last, he finally found it, and the engine within.
And with the help of fellow volunteers, Frank was finally recovered as well and brought to the same small heritage line as Maisie. As their other engine was struggling, and Frank was in bad but not an inoperable state, they figured they could probably get him going again!
But for the time being, he was put in the shed with Maisie. And they ended up meeting for the very first time! ^^
"Well, lookit us two, eh? A couple a' weary lookin' engines, we arre."
It was definitely a bit of an adjustment, as neither were really used to having company, but they warmed to each other relatively quickly and were soon chatting and acting like old friends hehe <3
To wrap up, I'll also address Frank's build purpose. Though he doesn't remember much of his past anymore (he's subconsciously repressed a lot of it), Frank is, in fact, an altered version of a once different engine. He wasn't built from the ground up to look how he does or anything, he was just modified to the point of practically being unrecognizable.
His original build purpose though, before everything else, was actually to be a passenger engine. He actually used to pull express trains, if you can believe that! xD
But if you're referring to why he was built the way he is now, the truth is... well it wasn't entirely intentional. The people who took him (i.e likely stole him from his original railway) clearly had much bigger plans for him, but they fell to the wayside and he was abandoned in a bit of a mangled state.
(Hence his odd shape and lack of tender when he was initially rediscovered! He was several different colours too, as he was never properly painted, and only got his red and gold livery once he was recovered and fixed up.)
It's believed they were either trying to "American"-ize him (hence the cowcatcher and headlamp, and him now being oil-fired, as a fun side fact!) or they just wanted to cover up that they'd stolen him by making him as different as possible.
Or hell, maybe he was just a personal project for them to do with whatever the hell they wanted! Who knows.
Either way, whatever their actual goal was, it never fully came to fruition. And Frank ended up eventually abandoned the way he was.
Thankfully everything turned out alright for both of them in the end, and hey, now they have each other! ^^ YIPPEE
But yeah, that's about all I have for them atm! I apologize if this took a bit to get around to, I was trying to do a little bit of research and make up a whole timeline in my head that made sense. x'D Idk if it's fully where I want it to be yet, but the core ideas are there!
At least I hope all of that makes sense anyway! ^^'
I definitely would like to explore more with them at a later date, but for now, I hope y'all can enjoy what I do have cooking for em hehe!
Thank you for the ask! <3 I hope you have an awesome day/night!
