"Toby," Elias called out, his voice a low vibration of restrained irritation. "The solvent. Is it applied?"
Elias put his forehead against the floor. Some days, the world was just one giant, persistent itch.
Elias gripped his tweezers tighter. Focus, he told himself. He lowered the hairspring into place. Wheeze-puff. Wheeze-puff. "Toby," Elias called out, his voice a low
"Toby," Elias said, turning slowly in his swivel chair. "Do you know what 'annoy' means?"
It wasn't a melody; it was a rhythmic, airy wheeze-puff that seemed to emanate from the next room where his new apprentice, Toby, was ostensibly cleaning the workbench. It was the kind of sound that didn't just reach the ears; it vibrated against the teeth. Some days, the world was just one giant, persistent itch
Toby looked at the floor, then back at Elias, his eyes wide. "I... I can help find it? I have a magnet!"
Toby stopped mid-whistle, his cleaning rag frozen. "Uh, like when my sister hides my phone?" He lowered the hairspring into place
The hairspring, a coil thinner than a human eyelash, had Ping-Ponged out of the tweezers and vanished into the shag carpet. Elias sat frozen. The annoyance he had been carefully tamping down suddenly flared into a cold, white heat.