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Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4) QUOTES

Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4) QUOTES

1 " This resembled hedgehog fur so precisely that Percy, who rarely noticed fashion, was struck momentarily speechless by the shocking similarity between this hat and his mother's Erinaceinae nature. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

2 " ...You may call me Rue, or if you insist, Captain Rue."
"Rue?"
"Exactly, as in you will come to rue the day you met me. Most do. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

3 " Oh, Percy, I hate it when you’re right.” He patted her shoulder. “I know, Rue, apologies. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

4 " The fact that he'd become withdrawn and insular was no surprise to Percy. He'd few examples of affection to call upon. Aunt Alexia and Lord Maccon being the singular exception. Their marriage, to his outside eye, had always been combative but never lacking warmth. Percy could admit to himself, if not to Arsenic, that he was attracted by their model of a profound and loving relationship, if perhaps hoping for a little less rushing about and banging of heads together. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

5 " Please come sit in a chair with me in my library and don't talk too much and when you do speak, say something smart? If we're lucky the cat will sit on top of us. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

6 " Also, I ken you have a good heart. ’Tis thoroughly hidden, but ’tis good.” “For pity’s sake, don’t tell anyone. My reputation will be in ruins. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

7 " Percy was struck by a flight of fancy, imagining Arsenic in his lap, with Footnote on top of both of them. A tangle of limbs and books and cat and comfort. He was startled by the depth of his own yearning. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

8 " Silence descended while they all analysed her words for hidden meaning. They were lost because there was none. Simplicity of truth and purpose was rare in their world. Arsenic wanted her mark of existence to be kind. She didn't think there was anything wrong or less powerful about that choice. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

9 " Homo sum humani a me nihil alienum puto?" suggested Arsenic.
"Exactly!" beamed Percy. He did so admire a sagacious woman. Admittedly, Arsenic was the first to match him Latin-to-Latin, but he'd always suspected such females must exist. He was seized by the horrifying suspicion that she may be the only one. She must be protected, he decided. A unique specimen among humans. Should I write a paper?
Rue looked at Quesnel and then Primrose. "Are they flirting?"
"It's like watching dirigibles crash midair, filled with hot air, slow and horrible yet inevitable," said Quesnel.
"I don't think it can be flirting when it's done so badly, can it?" Primrose finished her coffee, eyes wide with wonder.
Percy glared at them all. It was all very well for them to pick on him, but they shouldn't pick on Arsenic. She hadn't the appropriate defences in place. "We are having a perfectly respectable intellectual conversation. Just because you lot are too dim to follow the nuances."
"Definitely flirting." Rue grinned at them. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

10 " Tea is her answer to everything. I once broke my arm and she tried to give me Lapsang Souchong "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

11 " Not darling. Darling is what my mother calls my father when she's cross with him."
..."I did ask what form of endearment you'd prefer."
"Dinna think endearments ought to come along naturally?"
"Arsenic, I hate to say it, but endearments, as a general rule, may come naturally to some stout gentlemen of fine moral fibre, but certainly not to me. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

12 " Percy was, by upbringing and inclination, inclined to let ladies lead where matters of adventure were concerned (and this was definitely one of those unfortunate adventure situations). If Arsenic want to relocate, he would relocate. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

13 " . . . that the chair smelled faintly of honeysuckle, and he wished for it to remain so always. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

14 " practicality is the enemy of wonder. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

15 " I didn't know." Professor Lyall was usually so inscrutable. Yet his eyes were suddenly swimming with emotion. Sad? Happy? Bewildered? Lost?
Percy wished he were better at reading people, but he was only good at reading books so he said nothing. This was beyond him. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

16 " Leap first, everything else later was her motto. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

17 " The prof would come over all sniffy." Spoo nodded at Professor Tunstell, who was attempting to assist an elderly matron to climb up onto Bob, without anyone noticing he was being nice. "He'd say a wood louse is an intransigent terrestrial isopod crustacean inclined to consume deceased flora."
Arsenic didn't really know Professor Tunstell that well and yet, "That seems like something he'd say."
"Well, it's also an accurate description of The Spotted Custard's sainted head greaser, Miss Aggie Phinkerlington. Only imagine the deceased flora is basically all human joy."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. She's upset with me and Lady Captain, most of the time.'
"Why?"
"Presumably because we continue to exist and she'd prefer we didn't."
Arsenic gave the greaser an assessing look. "She looks like she has indigestion. " Arsenic wondered if the woman's mean spirit was the result of severe dyspepsia. Perhaps there was a medicinal solution to her ill-temper?
"That's the human joy she keeps swallowing. Disagrees with her. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

18 " Why's that?" Arsenic pried. She'd some of Aunt Softy in her - that enforced curiosity, a need to understand in order to better control outcome.
Percy would prefer not to understand people. Humans were irrational and unpredictable. Books were better. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

19 " And she continued to steal scones for him.
Definitely courting behavior.
Only Percy didn't know how to really do it. (Peahen, he eventually decided, was not a good name for one's beloved. He'd have to do better. What did the ancients use? Time to research.)
Percy understood the mechanics of courting, of course. One ought to write a lady sonnets, send her flowers, and purchase the dd trinket or two. But the only flowers aboard the Custard were the potted sunflowers to help cleanse the aether of malignant humours. They ought not to be cut and presented to doctors. Besides, Percy had never understood the notion of gifting the dead sexual organs of a plant to females. It seemed oddly threatening. "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)

20 " He shuddered at the notion, and wanted badly to court Arsenic with nothing more than a companionable silence while reading. But presumably one had to state one's intent in matters of affection, if one wished to move beyond reading.
She'd said she was a rebel. Wasn't a silent courtship terribly rebellious? "

― Gail Carriger , Reticence (The Custard Protocol #4)