Mechanical Heart Snippets

Hey'a, everyone! Thanksgiving break was awesome, but coming back kind of hit me like a punch to the face (especially since I had several projects that I intended to work on but didn't . . . oops). And the blog tour that I was going to participate in is currently experiencing technical difficulties. So, I'm going with something easy for this week's post: Mechanical Heart snippets. Enjoy!

 Mechanical Heart Snippets

1. First up, we have Josiah and Luis on the sensibility of staying up late (and being in clock towers at odd hours):

“It doesn’t make sense, Luis. No one goes into the clock towers. No one. They are – and I quote – ‘Self-sustaining and self-maintaining.’ They don’t even need a keeper to check the mechanisms once a year. They’re expressly forbidden to the public. And yet – and yet – there she sat, real as the tower itself, at an hour when most sensible people should’ve been in bed.”

“Not counting yourself as sensible, I see.” Luis grinned at his own joke as he tightened a screw on the complicated assemblage of gears, wire, and crystal before him.

2. Next, two different reactions to a clock tower's chime when you're right under the bells:

Even with protection, the bong, bong, bong of the bells nearly deafened him [Josiah], and the vibrations from the sound made the tower shake beneath his feet. Breen, oddly, seemed to enjoy the moment, smiling and gazing past him at the machinery. She had, Josiah thought, a nice smile — a little crooked, but her delight shone through all the same.

3. For a change of pace, the thoughts of Grace (Josiah's sister) on the problem of brothers:

Josiah made a face at Grace. “What’s wrong with brothers?”

“They’re annoying. They talk too much, and they drag you into their schemes.” But Grace’s smile clearly belied her words. “Don’t you agree, Breen?”

4. This is actually two sets of quotes, but: in which my characters are basically college students:

On they worked, long past the time when Josiah normally left, hours after Breen ordinary collapsed into her cot. Eventually, Breen’s eyelids began to feel heavy, and she could tell Luis was starting to droop as well. She paused her work, waiting for him to suggest that they stop for the night. But instead, he just rummaged in his bag, produced a jar of ground coffee, and tossed it to Josiah, gesturing towards the single-burner stove as Josiah caught the jar.

. . .
Why had she stayed awake so late last night? Why had she not thought to keep track of the time? Why had she not insisted on finishing the project another night? I’m such a fool . . . She should’ve known better, even if Josiah and Luis didn’t. She should’ve said something; stopped earlier. Now, even if she rushed, she would be lucky to work back up to the top floor before Madame arrived. And when Madame saw her poor work . . .

5. Finally, we have Luis on the way Josiah generally operates:

Luis picked up a screwdriver and pointed it at Josiah. “I know you. You’ll let her stay in that tower for exactly as long as it takes you to figure out who’s keeping her there, why they’re doing it, and if there’s any real reason she or anyone else needs to stay there. And as soon as you know that, you’ll get her out and find her a good job or a university scholarship, and then you’ll have two gadgeteers to help you on your next project. I, meanwhile, will probably be working on my invention to get me into the guild for the next three years.”

I hope you enjoyed those snippets! Let me know what you think and leave a snippet from your own work in the comments! I'd love to hear about what you're working on!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)