The very last image drawn on my old laptop with it's size restrictions. And it shows when compared to my more recent pieces. LoL
Little story excerpt written by the ever talented Lonewolf Please, go check this dude out and give him some love.
Not far off the Marceline rail yard, in a little office built onto the roundhouse, Aleutian Cherburt stared at the massive paper unfurled on her desk. The clock over the door ticked away, and her tail drifted back and forth between the slats on her chair. The only other sound was the steady, off-tempo drumming of her fingers on the desk and the occasional frustrated huff of breath that became a vapor in the flickering lamp light. One of their more reliable engines was suddenly throwing a fit and fore the life of her she could not figure out why. When one of her crew came to get her, stumped, she’d spent hours in the shed with nothing to show for it. So she’d literally gone back to the drawing board and hauled out the engine’s schematics, tracing steam lines with her fingers and mentally reciting everything she’d done, and trying to figure out what she’d missed. From then on, time seemed to fall by the wayside, and the clock became a nuisance that she wished was neither heard nor seen. She’d tried comparing with other plans, sifting through old repair notes, even turning the plans upside-down for a new perspective. Once or twice, she’d gone back out into the roundhouse looking for something else to do, but she’d trained her crews well and the engines were in as fine a shape as she could hope for. Each time she came back to her office her jaw was clenched a little tighter.
A sound somewhere outside the shed almost caught her attention, but then her eyes fastened on something just behind the firebox and she leaned closer. With a groan, she sank back into her chair when she realized it was a stain on the paper. One hand came up to pinch the bridge of her nose as the other absently brought a nearly-forgotten mug to her lips. Her ears lay flat and she grimaced, but made herself swallow. Her throat was dry, but even so cold coffee was far from her first choice. Her belly didn’t care for it either, and it nearly covered the sound of her chair scooting forward again.
She was just leaning forward when two large hands settled on her shoulders. She gave a gasp so shrill it was almost a yelp and those hands only barely kept her from leaping from her chair.
“Ea-hee-sy now, missy,” drawled a low voice, “It’s just me.”
She wanted to throw her chair back into the offender’s stomach, but all she managed was a sigh as she looked over her shoulder. “What are you doing here, Chief?”
The old wolfhound hadn’t loosened his grip on her shoulders, instead beginning to squeeze and rub his hands over them. “What’s it look like?” His lopsided grin normally made her want to roll her eyes, but they stayed fixed on him.
“Not here,” she hissed, though she couldn’t quite manage a scowl.
Chief had no trouble giving an even bigger grin as he raised his brown. “Says the gal who had no problem undressing me in my office?”
“That was one time,” she countered, sinking back against the chair and staring at the ceiling. Her throat was dry again, but she couldn’t seem to muster the power to reach for the mug.
“You said I should learn to loosen up,” he drawled, giving her shoulders a long, rolling brush of his palms. “Looks like you need to do the same.”
She quivered, clamping her mouth shut until she could trust her tongue again. "For a stubborn codger who lives on his own,” she murmured, not quite as bitter as she’d intended, “you're pretty good at this."
“Don’t mean I’ve always been on my own.” Chief’s hands froze, then he brushed her shoulders. “Anyways, I’ll take the compliment.”
When Aleu opened her eyes, he was peering down at her with an odd expression on his face. “What’s the matter, do I have something in my teeth?” She flashed him a grin, and he smiled for a moment, but back came that same odd look on his face.
“You ought to take a break.”
Aleu sighed and rolled her shoulders, nudging his hands off. “I know you don’t mean anything by it, but I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can,” he said simply, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Just can’t have the chief engineer burning the candle at both ends, is all.”
“And what about you?” Aleu hauled herself up and turned to face him with her hands on her hips. “Isn’t this past your bedtime, too?”
Chief blinked, and any trace of teasing left his expression. For a moment, she felt like her father was staring back at a misguided pup. “Aleu, what time do you think it is?”
The simple question, delivered so plainly, made her ears lie back as she looked to the window. Outside still looked to be dark, but it faced north and the lamp on her desk didn’t do her any favors.
“Why, it’s the middle of the night. Well past the bedtime of old railway men.” She smirked and started fishing in her pocket for her watch. “I appreciate you checking on me, but I don’t-”
Off somewhere not too distant, a rooster crowed.
Aleu stood stock still, her hand just grasping the little pocket watch as her ears seemed to become one with her skull and her tail fell like lead. Chief stood watching her with that same odd expression beneath the ticking menace that was her office clock. Her eyes flicked up to it, then back to Chief. Flicking her own watch open, she peered at the hand, put her ear to the glass face of it and heard the gears working steady and true. Almost mechanically, she closed the lid and pocketed the watch, then looked at Chief again. Rather than the sly grin she expected, he only gave her a small smile and slipped past her to turn down her desk lamp. That done, he opened the door and held out his hand.
“C’mon, place won’t fall apart without me. What do you say to a hot breakfast and a bath, and a bed at the Dalmatian Plantation to rest the day?”
Her ears perked and her tail gave a tentative wag. “That depends, are you joining me?”
“Course I’m joining you, I’m famished.” He paused to shut the behind them. “You eaten anything at all since lunch yesterday?”
“Don’t you dodge me, you old hound.” She stepped a little closer as they walked side by side and curled her tail around his thigh. “You know I’m not just talking about breakfast.”
He batted her tail away and glanced around. “Quit doing that, you hear?”
“Then quit teasing me,” she replied with a cheery tone. “A guy mentions a hot bath and a bed, and a girl starts to get ideas.”
Chief cast a sidelong glance that perhaps wasn’t quite as angry. “Serves me right for tryin’ to be nice.”
“Oh don’t worry, Chief, I’ll be sure to treat you right.”