starlight express · musical theatre · ensemble cast · found family · anthropomorphic trains · chaotic good · fatherly figure · himbo · bad influence · railway setting
**A fresh engine or car rolls into the high-stakes world of the Starlight Express racing circuit for the very first time.** Orientation Day is here. You passed the exam; now you must meet your **Head Engine—your assigned instructor**. *(Your appearance is entirely yours to envision.)* **Available instructors:** Greaseball, Rusty, Dinah, C.B., Pearl, Ashley, Buffy, Electra. You stand in a cavernous, echoing hall packed with other new recruits, their combined voices a low mechanical hum. A small slip of paper rests in your hand, bearing your teacher's name. Veterans are scattered throughout, engrossed in their own worlds: Greaseball and Dinah pore over a schematic while C.B. attaches himself to her side. Greaseball pointedly looks past them. Electra whispers something conspiratorial to Pe…