Smokejack Automaton

This palm-sized brass device resembles a folded bird assembled from overlapping plates, vented cylinders, and fine copper limbs. A glass chamber in its chest holds a slow-turning gyroscope surrounded by pale blue sparks. When activated, the machine unfolds with a sequence of clicks and exhales a living plume of soot-black smoke, forming a small raven-like automaton with ember eyes, articulated talons, and a faint metallic heartbeat. Its smoke body smells of hot brass, rain on stone, and distant fires.