Gina is a small, clever tank engine who lives on a railway, way out in Italy. She is a sharp little engine who has a fair resemblance to Emily, only much smaller. She is also quite famous internationally, having competed in a few Great Railway Shows, including one in which she met Sodor's contestants…and her special friend Percy. After she won the Shunting Challenge in another railway show, she paid a visit to Sodor and managed to form a special bond with Percy.
Together, they shunted trucks, had their photograph taken by the Railway Society and even managed to steel a kiss. Ever since then, Percy had been having occasional thoughts about Gina and even turned to Emily for guidance one evening for some advice. He was beginning to wonder if he was falling in love with her.
On her railway in Italy, Gina was back to her daily routine. Being the Queen of Shunting, she was mainly in the yards before she could take her own trains, arranging all the trains for her fellow engines. Some of them were friendly to her, but others looked down on her like Gina described to Emily after she broke down.
Suddenly a deep green tank engine named Stella came by. Stella was Gina's closest friend in Italy. She somewhat resembled Charlie and was nicer to Gina than most engines.
"Ahh, Ciao, Gina," she said. "Thank you for arranging my train!"
"Si, Stella," whistled Gina. "No trouble at all." Stella happily collected her train and set off for the day.
"Buona giornata, Gina! See you tonight!" called Stella as she set off down the line. She really said "Good day," in Italian.
Gina whistled back and was about to get back to shunting, when she heard an impatient, unfriendly voice next.
"Mamma Mia, Gina, get a move-on with my coaches!" It was Giovanni. A large brown tender engine who looked down on Gina quite heavily.
"There is no need to be rude," Gina said coldly. "I'm as fast as I always am." She scurried to the siding where Giovanni's coaches were kept and quick as lightning, she had them arranged at his platform. She was able to surprise Gordon beyond speech, but unfortunately, Giovanni was used to that speed and still looked down on her.
"Hmm. Not bad, Youngster," he said. "But your Percy would not make much of an improvement!"
Most of Italy was aware of Gina's visit to Sodor and the Railway Society's visit too. As such, they knew some of what happened during that time, but Gina was not pleased with how Giovanni treated it.
"You be jealous, Giovanni! Perhaps you're just scared of me being a real queen! I shunted your train for you, and a simple thank you would suffice," said Gina. But Giovanni sniffed and as soon as his passengers had boarded, he was away too.
"See you later, our shunting toy!" he gloated. Gina wheeshed in anger as he disappeared around the bend. She suddenly remembered when she impressed Gordon with her speed.
"There, senor. What do you say now?" asked Gina. Gordon was speechless. So were all the other engines.
"Uh…I…Thank you," Gordon said quickly and feebly.
"Well!" said the Fat Controller. "That was impressive, Gina. I think you'll be really useful here! I think you'll have many engines ready for their trains with your ability to shunt."
Gina smiled a little as she recalled Gordon's response, but then felt envious when Giovanni wasn't surprised the same way. Then she remembered her own duty for the day. She had to take a goods train of oil and fuel to the diesel's yard on her railway. Then she'd be back to shunting more trains for the next day. She sighed to herself and quickly gathered her tankers together.
"Ohh," she said to herself. "It's not easy being me. Oh, my dear Percy would help me so much…"
Gina huffed smoothly and swiftly along the line, making good time, until she came to a junction with a red signal. She stopped and waited, thinking a little more about Percy.
"Hmm," she sighed. "Dear little Percy…he really is a sweet little lad." Ever since she returned to Italy, she remembered the little remark Percy made about her not being respected despite her personal title as the Queen of Shunting. Other engines on her railway denounced her abilities, particularly Giovanni, and Percy was hurt by this. So much, that he gained some courage to confess that she was very beautiful, cute, energetic and sweet.
"He's very kind too," Gina almost smiled, when she heard a whistle and a horn and looked up. Two more engines she was acquainted with were there. One was deep red diesel named Ludwig, and one other steam engine with bronze-colored paintwork named Tony.
"Ciao, Gina, Regina dello Smistamento!" called Tony. Gina liked Tony and knew he was referring to her as the Queen of Shunting.
"Hello, Tony!" she called back. "I be on my way to deliver this oil to the rest of the diesels."
"About time too," Ludwig remarked snootily. "Giovanni should be doing it, not a tiny tank engine like YOU!"
"Hey! Leave her be, Ludwig!" snapped Tony. "How's the shunting, Gina?"
"Swift as always, Tony," she replied. "But I keep finding myself thinking about my Percy."
"Oh, yes, your little friend from the Great Railway Show when Thomas and Ashima took the win," said Tony.
"Si, Tony," said Gina. "I've been thinking about him ever since I came back from my visit to Sodor."
"Ooh, does our little queen miss her little chap?" teased Ludwig.
"NO!" Gina wheeshed annoyingly. At that moment, her signal went green and she set off again.
"Never mind him, Gina!" called Tony. "Keep up your superb shunting, my queen!"
"Grazie, Tony," Gina replied as she huffed on until she finally reached the diesel yards and delivered the oil. She took no notice of any of the diesels' rude remarks, still calling her a small tank engine and nothing special. After that, she returned back to the yards to shunt more trains for the evening. Tony had a goods train full of building material to take to the town and Giovanni had another round of evening passengers to take.
Gina could see the trucks and coaches were spread out quite a ways across the yards. Even then, she saw it as easy, but she wanted more challenge beyond a Great Railway Show. She got to work arranging the coaches with her usual speed. But just as she arranged them on the platform, Giovanni came by, still in a disrespectful mood.
"How much longer, Gina?" he groaned. "Why don't you do something useful? Like actually doing work instead of pretending to be a precious queen of shunting!"
"That's rich, coming from a tender engine…who should fetch his own coaches!" huffed Gina.
"I would not dare!" Giovanni sniffed. "MY passengers would laugh at me doing such a thing…surprised they never laugh at you…"
Gina felt hurt. But then she suddenly remembered when she helped Emily and what she said…
"So Gina, you're a queen yourself? I think you deserve such a name, and don't let other engines look down on you. I saw how you surprised Gordon. I say you surprise any engine back in Italy who looks down on you."
"Oh, I certainly will, Emily!" said Gina.
Gina suddenly felt stronger and more intelligent and decided to take Emily's advice. She was not going to be victimized anymore by this engine. She suddenly stared right to Giovanni. Giovanni looked back and started rudely rebuking her but then slowly trailed off. Gina was staring at him so strongly, it was almost like she was staring right through him, as if he wasn't even there.
"What are you staring at?" he asked rudely.
"Right through you, chuck! I'm mostly kept here, busy shunting several trains, and YOU always wallow in your counterfeit glory, not caring about your passengers, you scusa intollerabile, futile e vuota per il servizio passeggeri!"
Giovanni's eyes popped and he gaped slightly, at the loss of words. No engine had ever spoke to him like that. Gina had called him an intolerable, futile and empty excuse for passenger service.
"Now get on with your train! It's all yours!" snapped Gina as she sped off to collect Tony's train. Giovanni was so shocked by what she said, he didn't move for a few seconds. Even when he went to his train, he was speechless. Then as he huffed away with his passengers, Gina held her stare at him until he was gone.
"There. Perhaps that will teach him," Gina sighed to herself. Only a minute later, she had Tony's train arranged next. It was about fifteen minutes later when Tony arrived.
"Evening, Gina," he said. "How are you?"|
Gina looked at Tony, wearing a proud smile. "Feeling divine, Tony!" she exclaimed. "Giovanni will hopefully think twice before picking on me for a while!"
"How?" asked Tony.
Gina whispered it, and Tony remained silent, looking right at Gina. He had no idea she would do such a thing, being the engine that she was.
"Please keep up that talent of yours, my little queen," he grinned. Gina smiled back and left the train so Tony could take it himself. They kept their smile on until Tony left the yard with his train. And for the rest of the afternoon, into the evening, Gina beamed happily. She was also quick to notice that after the passengers were taken care of, Giovanni made no rude or inferior remarks about shunting queens.
That evening, Gina returned to her shed where Giovanni, Tony and Stella were waiting. When Gina looked around, Tony and Stella both looked impressed.
"What is it?" asked Gina.
"Gina…" said Stella. "Tony told me something most amusing…and bold of you…"
Gina listened as Stella told what she had heard. It made her feel proud that she could be strong and independent, even without Percy there to help her.
"Well, grazie, Stella," said Gina. "It's lovely to be back here with you."
"You're more than welcome, Gina," smiled Stella. The other engines continued to talk together until they fell asleep, but Gina remained quiet and looked up at the night sky. She found herself thinking about Percy and if she'd see him again. They lived so far apart, and yet, they were forming a fair relationship together…and one day soon, Gina and Percy would have some form of communication together…but that's another story.
So this was something that came to mind at the spur of the moment, a story about Gina's average daily routine, following up on what I established in *Gina the Italian Engine*. And you know, if it wasn't obvious enough, all the engines present here besides Gina are original characters.
In other news, "Big World! Big Adventures!" has finally arrived in cinemas in the UK, and the general consensus from what I've heard from other people is it's much better than everyone expected heading into it. I haven't seen it myself yet, but I was always on the cautiously optimistic side of things since BWBA was initially announced, as I was always convinced that the current writing team would make the best of the situation they were thrown into cause of Mattel. And let me tell you, after so many months of extreme negativity and hatred among the fanbase towards the show's new direction, it is so good to hear so much positivity about it for once.
Either way, next time we meet, we're gonna be joining the Sudrian Police Department, with Detectives Daniel Phelps and Shay Gallagher, as they dig deeper into Sailor John's plan. Hope you like "L.A. Noire", cause you're getting a complete adaptation of one of that's games Vice Department cases, *The Black Caesar*. So look forward to that, though be prepared as I can most likely guarantee it'll be an M-rated story, and as always leave a review and tell us what you thought of this story. Till next time, toodles.