So far so good.

I'm still on track at 27,253. I wish I had written more, but I'm tired and need to sleep. Icarus' opening went far better than The Man Upstairs did, which I attribute to my familiarity to the characters and all that practice narration in my head.

In fact, the opening scene was decent enough that I'll post it here (do mind my grammar and such, I don't feel like editing at all right now):

That morning in the sleepy town of Northport, a young woman crouched in a alley and wondered how she had gotten where she was. She was not wondering how she had gotten to that particular spot, of course, as she was quite aware that she that the reason she was in that spot was to wait for a friend, who by the clock in the town square, was running incredibly late. No, that girl, who when asked would tell you her name was Olivia and nothing more, was pondering how she had come to the incredibly dull port town which was currently her home. Her mind often went back to this question when she had spare time on her hands, as she did now, although her actual hands were quite full with a bunch of wrapped parcels containing laundry.

“Where is she?” The girl muttered bitterly as she shifted the packages and leaned out of the alley to search for her friend. Her incredibly late friend, who was generally never this late as far back as she could remember. Which was not very far at all.

You see, Olivia could only remember the last year of her life. And that life began waking up battered and bruised in the Northport hospital Sacred Heart to a bunch of strangers. The strangers had frightened her a great deal until she had realized they were doctors--that early period of her life had been quite confusing. Until she recovered. And then she was full of questions, which much to her chagrin they had no answer to give. It seemed that they knew as little about her past life and identity as she did, except that her name was Olivia because it was inscribed on the locket she wore around her neck. The only remnant of her past besides a horrible scar on her back. With no one to claim her and little more than vague dreams to guide her search, the poor girl was shipped off to a nearby orphanage, where she spent exactly three days before being sent back off into the town to earn her keep. And that, is what thrust her into the wonderful life of a delivery girl for the only wash house in town.
This had become her life, a life of obedience, repetition and errands.

At the moment she was not doing the errand she was expected to do. Instead, the girl who deemed her life boring (although if she was capable of remembering her past she would think it was quite the interesting life for one so young) was trying to make the dreary days more worthwhile by breaking the rules. But she would be unable to break them until her friend arrived and covered for her disobedience. Olivia was about to give up waiting and merely hide the package she was supposed to be delivering under a nearby barrel when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder,

“Boo!”

Olivia jumped and turned around, brandishing the package like some sort of floppy weapon. The person on the other end of what could only be called a “sword” in jest was the very girl she had been waiting for. The girl was more red in the face than usual and breathing heavily.

“You’re late.” Olivia said dryly as she thrust her packaged at the other girl so she had no other choice but to take it. Then she began to walk in the other direction, determined to make use of what little time she had left.

“Of course I’m late!” The girl exclaimed, quickly shoving the bundle under her arm and charging after Olivia. Her face still flustered and pink. “I ran the whole way here!”
Olivia laughed but immediately regretted it when she was smacked over the head with what she had the suspicion was the laundry she had just handed off.

“Ouch!”

“I owe you that and much more.” The panting girl said between breaths.

“Calm down, Virginia.” The girl said as she rubbed her head, but did not stop walking.

“I’ll make it up to you I promise. Just deliver that package and meet me at the shop when you’re done.”

Then before her friend could say anything else, Olivia took off in a run towards the town square.


That's all for now. G'night folks.

Oh my...things are steaming up.

So a couple of things.

1. I reached 30k!
Not as nice as the desired 35k, but it still puts me in the lead, which is good because I have a feeling that this story will run about 80-100K and I'd like to pretty much finish by end of NaNo.

2. Olivia and Artemus are fogging up my goggles.
Yes indeed, it seems love is blossoming between the pair. I had not intended to get so romantic, but you know how characters like to do what they want. It's very clear to me that Olivia has a crush on Artemus, but I don't know if he feels the same way yet. You know how oblivious boys can be. :)

3. Excerpt of steamy goodness!
After all that writing, I figure I should share some of it. Not much editing was done, so be gentle. Anyway, here it is:

Olivia did not feel fine as she found herself alone and clinging to a bit of railing numerous miles above the ground below. In fact, all she could think about how and when she might fall out of the airship and tumble to her death.
You won't fall out. She thought to herself as she stared at her hands instead of the view below. People don't fall out of airships.
This thought would have been comforting if she did not remember that she had, in fact, fallen out of one herself. And that her falling out of an airship was the very reason she was standing on that balcony this very moment. The girl suddenly felt a knot tighten in her chest, making it incredibly hard to breathe. So she closed her eyes.
"I promise you won't fall." A voice said in her ear and she opened her eyes. Another set of hands rested upon her own, which had relaxed their death grip on the railing a bit. Her heart beat began kicking up again, but not because she was afraid to fall. Her heart was responding, as it often did, to the presence of Artemus Doyle who was standing behind her.
"Artemus." She said softly, but did not turn to look at him.
“Just look down,” he said and reluctantly the girl did as she was told. She allowed her eyes to look away from the railing to the ground below. Below the airship was something that looked like an intricate design etched into the land. The circular form rippled outward and branched out with intricate twists and turns. At the edge of the pattern was a field of green and yellow.
“Is that the city?” She asked, turning to look at Artemus.
“Yes.” He smiled, his eyes unreadable behind his goggles. “That is your father’s design. He and the Orvilles built this city as a mecca for innovation. And the city itself is its own masterpiece.”
“It’s amazing.” She said, still looking at it in awe. Her fear of falling a distant memory.
“You see that structure over there?” He asked, pointing towards something in the distance. Olivia shook her head. “One second.” The boy took one of his hands off of hers and leaned forward, moving her body with him. Surprised, Olivia straightened her arms and stopped him from leaning forward any further.
Artemus laughed and he wrapped one of his arms around her waist.
“Still scared?” He whispered in her ear. Olivia’s heart fluttered. “I promised you that nothing will happen. Just trust me, for once.”
“Okay.” Olivia swallowed hard and relaxed her arms. Artemus leaned both of them forward slightly over the railing and pointed down to something that was much closer to their view.
“See that structure?” He asked again.
“Yes.” The girl could clearly see the large domed structure. Now that they were closer, she noticed that the roof was made of a prism of glass. Everything in the intricate pattern that mad up the city seemed to spill out from there.
“That is the heart of the city. The factory your father and the Orvilles started. It was once one of the most important places in this country.”
“And now?”
“Now it’s not doing so well.” George said as he approached the pair. He glanced down where they were looking and then back at the two of them. Olivia suddenly felt very conscious of how close she and Artemus were that moment.
“Oh, really?” She said, taking a step towards George and out of Artemus’ arms. She didn’t look behind her to see how her actions had affected her companion, if at all.
“Yes...” George said with a brief glance over in Artemus’ direction. “Was I interrupting anything?”
“No.” Artemus said, his voice blank.
“Artemus was showing me the city,” Olivia said, turning back to look at Artemus, who was still looking down at the city below. She gently touched his shoulder, but didn’t get a response. So she placed her hands on the railing next to him and then turned back to address George.
“So what happened to the factory?”