It had reached a drizzly, cloudy mid-morning by the time Duncan reached the sheds to introduce himself to the others. He wasn't looking forwards to this 'meet-and-greet' but knew he'd have to introduce himself eventually and it'd be a lot easier to get it all done in one go than to go through the draining effort of introducing himself individually to each engine separately. There were 6 engines lined up in the sheds chatting amongst themselves quietly. Duncan took a deep breath and slowly pulled up, waiting for any of them to notice him.

Rusty recognized the yellow engine as he pulled up to the sheds, though this new engine certainly didn't act like he'd seen Rusty earlier; refusing to shoot even a glance at the little diesel. The chatter of the sheds puttered down and faded to silence as everyone noticed the new arrival. They all shot a glance at one another before looking at Skarloey. Skarloey cleared his throat and tried to smile at the engine, though the newcomer seemed more like he was scanning over everything rather than looking any of the other engines in the eyes.

"Welcome to our railway, care to introduce yourself?"

Duncan swallowed. He was already feeling quite uneasy, and only felt more out of place as he saw everyone staring at him. He forced himself not to allow the heat flushing over him to rush to his cheeks, and looked up at Skarloey, shifting uncomfortably.

"Duncan," He mumbled. "I'm Duncan."

Skarloey nodded a little; seemingly pleased with the fact the little engine had answered him at all.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Duncan. This is my brother Rheneas," Skarloey said. The other, slightly younger, red engine beside Skarloey nodded as his name was said.

"This is Duke," A tan engine, seemingly as old as Skarloey himself, gave a stout, authoritative nod.

"Sir Handel," A blue engine, much younger than the three prior engines, being about the same age as Duncan himself, shot Duncan a glance. He quickly looked Duncan up and down. He didn't smile. Something about him set Duncan off and Duncan was already feeling a great deal of suspicion towards him. Skarloey didn't notice any of this.

"Here's Peter Sam," A green engine, next to, and a little younger, than the blue one, gave Duncan a friendly a cheery smile. Duncan didn't smile back. This engine was far more cheerful than any engines Duncan had seen before him. Or at least, the ones Duncan had known who were that cheery didn't stay that way very long.

"And lastly is Rusty." Skarloey finished. Duncan recognized the orange diesel from before. Rusty gave a gentle smile, but almost looked a little uncomfortable himself. Duncan didn't trust him in the slightest-he was a diesel after all-but something about the engine interested Duncan and he secretly wanted to know more.

"So, Duncan, how about you tell us about yourself?" Skarloey said. Duncan cringed and shifted nervously. Oh, please not small talk, there was nothing he wanted to tell these engines about himself and nothing they'd actually want to hear. Duncan swallowed.

"W-Well…I worked at a factory in Scotland. They shipped out parts for all sorts of things," Duncan mumbled. His words were quiet and the others could hardly understand him. "It got closed to do bankruptcy and some…" Duncan looked at Rusty. "…Other things."

Skarloey nodded and Duncan continued, still barely above mumbling.

"That's when I got told I'd be coming here to, help you with the workload or something…" Duncan muttered. He could scarcely remember what he had been sent to Sodor for, and his head was in a fog at this point.

Sir Handel glanced over at his younger brother; a strange look on his face.

"Why doesn't he speak up?" Sir Handel whispered. "I can barely understand a thing he's saying, he's talking too fast and quiet." Peter Sam Shrugged.

"I don't know, but he's just been mumbling the entire time." He whispered back. Sir Handel squinted at the new engine, still muttering out frenzied nothings.

"I don't even think he's looking at us when he does talk, he's just staring at the ground." Sir Handel whispered. "He seems…"

"Distracted?

"I was gonna say out of it, but yeah. It's like he's in his own head rather than here. It's really weird. Like he doesn't even know what he's saying and it's just pouring out of his mouth, it's kind of starting to freak me out."

"Maybe he's just shy or something?" Peter Sam guessed.

"I'm not sure. He's stranger than that. He seems distracted and alert at the same time. He's giving me bad vibes, I'm not sure if I really like him."

Peter Sam hissed through his teeth a little and swayed a in thought.

"I'm not sure how I feel about him." Peter Sam whispered. "I mean, he seems really odd, and detached, but he's…I don't know…vague? It's like he knows and sees way more than he's letting on. He's just blurting out short replies as if he's desperate to retreat back to something. Away from us."

Sir Handel thought for a moment. "Maybe but I don't think I trust him. He seems shady and dodgy, like he's trying to get away with something. I think he's trying to hide himself so no one knows who he is or what his intention are. I wouldn't trust him if I were you."

Peter Sam thought for a moment, but didn't reply.

Duncan was still muttering quickly as he could, and his words were blending together as he grew a little pale. His eyes were still deadest on the ground and darting around rapidly. Duke was the first to speak up to him.

"Look sharp, chap, I can't understand a word you say when you stare at the dirt and mumble to yourself." Duke said. Duncan's eyes quickly shot up, almost a glance, but this time, he didn't look back at the ground. He felt his coupling chain gently bump against his buffer-beam and realized he'd been unconsciously swaying as he'd spoke. His face heated up instantly and he was horrified to realize that he must be blushing furiously. Duncan swallowed furiously.

"I-I-I'm sorry I-I—" Duncan was about to fall into yet another quick incomprehensible muttering fit when a man called his name.

"Oi! Duncan! Your driver's all set up and ready for you!"

Duncan fought off the urge to let out a sigh of relief and hurried off without saying goodbye.