#Carly just found Sandy in like a bush or smthin and brought her to the docks like “DADDY LOOK!! CAN WE KEEP HER!!”

[master-of-the-railway]

Screw it, infodumping abt my AEG au because I have a lot of thoughts actually

*Prefacing this by saying: if you don't like this particular show, just keep off this post

(Most) events that happened in the other two series are canon to my au, but they happened without the characters who are children and therefore quite a few things are different. All of these events happened before the children came along or while they were incredibly young. Emily has her scottish accent in this btw, her AEG voice is great but it pains me that they didn't make her scottish. The events of AEG take place in modern day (based off of small observations, and Nia knowing what an emoji is).

One day, for an unexplained reason that still hasn't been fully figured out, a bunch of little machines just...showed up. All over the world. It caused a lot of confusion and panic, stations and companies were exchanging phone calls like mad to try and figure something out. They came to a worldwide consensus: the children will be adopted out to older machines who will become their new parents, and the parents will be guided to raise the children while the humans try to figure out what the cause is. This resulted in some not so great scenarios, and a lot of switching around, some machines just aren't fit to raise young kids. It's hard for all of them, even the good parents. These are the first machine children ever after all.

Sodor became a far more relaxed place with the introduction of the machine children, most places had to put in new laws and adapt, which includes the island. They had to create regulations to protect the children as well as invent a system to keep the new families in order, to track who is whose child. For the first few years they had rules set to keep the children from working, but they quickly discovered that it's instinct for them to work as much as it is their adult counterparts. They started to get antsy being forced to stay in the yard because they're meant to move and work. They get unhappy if they have to sit around all day.

So, when the kids got a little older, they started to get small jobs with the supervision of parents or other older machines. They all became far happier and so they were allowed to keep working and helping out around the island. Nowadays they don't have constant supervision and are trusted to work by themselves, so that they can already be adjusted to working by themselves before they get older. Some voice concerns considering the frequent mistakes, but they're assured that these mistakes are part of the learning process, better they make them as little engines than as larger ones that can do more damage.

All of the kids are around 10 years old at the start of the show's events, Sandy poofed into existence a tiny bit later so she's more around 8. Ages obviously subject to changing as time goes on in the series.

A very random tidbit based on how ADORABLE the episode Something To Remember was: Yong Bao, while not a father himself, is very very fond of engine children. He thinks they're all a wonderful gift to this earth and he's always thinking of Sodor's little ones. Does frequent babysitting for the few on his railway back in China that do have kids when he's not on the job himself. ...SERIOUSLY HOW CUTE IS THIS THOUGH:

And for reference, the family set-ups I have at the moment (might be subject to change) are: Gordon and Henry- Thomas and Percy's adoptive fathers. Gordon was a bit apprehensive as he isn't the fondest of children and doubted his ability to be a father, but he ended up being a very good father. Henry is the softer one and he has trouble being stern, so he appreciates his partner's ability to be tough with the kids. Percy and Thomas are sometimes a bit more than their fathers can handle, but they're a very tightly knit family and they love each other a lot. Emily- Adoptive mother of Diesel and Bruno, she had actually always wanted children of her own and didn't mind the idea of raising a diesel engine. She's determined to raise him to have no prejudice towards other types of engines, and she does her best to help Bruno learn to adjust to new things, she knows it can be hard for him after all. Also stands in as the caretaker of Nia, who was brought to Sodor when she was about 5 years old as her original mother from Kenya ended up being unable to handle the pressure of raising a child after a few years once it really set in, and Sodor had the room to take an extra kid. Cranky- Adoptive father of Sandy and Carly, originally just Carly's father until Carly uncovered Sandy and ended up attached to her. He was very against the idea of having a kid at first, but as the only other crane on Sodor (with the exception of Bereseford, but he just couldn't take a kid at all for unspecified reasons), Sir Topham Hatt managed to talk him into trying it out for Carly's sake. Now he adores both of his daughters and does his best to be there for them even as a stationary crane. Hiro- Kana's adoptive father, also a father figure towards Kenji. Kana stays on Sodor as part of an exchange program sort of deal, but she makes the occasional visits to Japan to spend more quality time with her father and older brother. Kenji does the same when visiting Sodor, Hiro tries to as well but he can't come as often as Kenji can. Hiro adores both of his children even if they're a bit fast and far more futuristic than himself, and he does his best to keep in touch with Kana. She's his special little girl!