Alright. I've got a three step process here.
First, open the vial.
Second, Put the contents in the jar.
Third, Take the vial back out.
No, wait. Four steps. I need to mix them.
Five steps. I need to close the vial once I'm done.
The bird flutters around for a moment, still unsure if it's done counting or not.
Six steps. I need to find out if this is okay to begin with.
Is there a seven? No, I think that's it. Six steps.
All right. First up, how do I open it without spilling the stuff everywhere?
The vial in question has a narrow lip and the cork is tightly sealed. Not having hands, the bird can't simply hold the vial and remove the lid with its beak. At least, not vertically..
At this point, the bird is standing up, on the roof of the cheesemaker's. Fortunately there's a corner in the roof, so there's a relatively flat spot to keep the vial from rolling away. The bird slowly flips the vial, end over end, looking at all parts of it. Eventually he puts it on the roof, gently, picking it up and leaning it in every direction.
...I can hold it down with my foot if the vial is lying down. Then I can pluck away at the cork with my beak. I need another container to put it in, something I can still pick up and pour.
Another container. Truly, my worst enemy.
After canvassing the whole town, the best target is a beekeeper, who has some relatively small jars. They still look heavy, but they're small enough to carry. The problem is they're closed with small pieces of some kind of leather, strapped with a band around them. And the band is too tough to chew through.
So the bird has to climb back up the chimney, fly over to the blacksmiths, and hunt around on his floor for a sharp bit of metal. While hopefully remaining relatively unnoticed. This mostly works, but it's difficult to remain unspotted with all the actual work going on here. Still, there is only one brief encounter near the end, while leaving. Raucous can't avoid spooking a new customer's horse, and the rider gets a good look at the black bird leaving.
There. That should be good enough. Mostly clean. Although.. I still need to make sure this isn't poison or something. And if the cheesemaker's a reasonable target or not. Well.. later. Lets get the vial open first.
The cheesemaker doesn't leave any doors or windows open, and her stove exits in a small capped pipe. No rain can come in, and it's too small for the tiny bird to struggle inside, much less the glass jar. There's only one entrance.. a rain funnel. But it goes vertical, and although it can take the small glass jar, the bird can't hold it up from behind, and if it hits the water barrel below, all this is for nothing. That leaves one option.
It's a full hour of work to fly back and forth to the beekeeper's place, grabbing a beakful of honeycomb, squishing it into wax, flying down the rain tube, climbing back up the rain tube, and then sticking wax to the inside of the pipe every few inches, making ledges for the glass jar to rest on. And then, finally, go down the pipe with the glass jar, letting it stop on the first chunk of wax, turning around, removing the top wax chunk and slowly, carefully, easing it down the pipe a few inches at a time. The only catch needed is at the bottom, and fortunately, really fortunately, Raucous makes the catch on the lip of the jar, and manages to wing out over the barrel's lip onto the cheesemaker's floor.
Safe. Fuck glassware. Windows are only the start of it. And, unfortunately, the cheesemaker uses containers too big for me to pick up.
At this point Raucous realizes he has to go back up the pipe to get the vial, and to actually move the contents of the vial into the pourable jar. After investigating the cheesemaker to figure out if the job is worth doing at all.
Maybe I should have done that first. But dammit, I didn't want to get stopped by a jar. Raucous, bird from beyond the stars, World Champion. Stopped by a cork in a vial.
Alright. I've got a three step process here.
First, open the vial.
Second, Put the contents in the jar.
Third, Take the vial back out.
No, wait. Four steps. I need to mix them.
Five steps. I need to close the vial once I'm done.
The bird flutters around for a moment, still unsure if it's done counting or not.
Six steps. I need to find out if this is okay to begin with.
Is there a seven? No, I think that's it. Six steps.
All right. First up, how do I open it without spilling the stuff everywhere?
The vial in question has a narrow lip and the cork is tightly sealed. Not having hands, the bird can't simply hold the vial and remove the lid with its beak. At least, not vertically..
At this point, the bird is standing up, on the roof of the cheesemaker's. Fortunately there's a corner in the roof, so there's a relatively flat spot to keep the vial from rolling away. The bird slowly flips the vial, end over end, looking at all parts of it. Eventually he puts it on the roof, gently, picking it up and leaning it in every direction.
...I can hold it down with my foot if the vial is lying down. Then I can pluck away at the cork with my beak. I need another container to put it in, something I can still pick up and pour.
Another container. Truly, my worst enemy.
After canvassing the whole town, the best target is a beekeeper, who has some relatively small jars. They still look heavy, but they're small enough to carry. The problem is they're closed with small pieces of some kind of leather, strapped with a band around them. And the band is too tough to chew through.
So the bird has to climb back up the chimney, fly over to the blacksmiths, and hunt around on his floor for a sharp bit of metal. While hopefully remaining relatively unnoticed. This mostly works, but it's difficult to remain unspotted with all the actual work going on here. Still, there is only one brief encounter near the end, while leaving. Raucous can't avoid spooking a new customer's horse, and the rider gets a good look at the black bird leaving.
There. That should be good enough. Mostly clean. Although.. I still need to make sure this isn't poison or something. And if the cheesemaker's a reasonable target or not. Well.. later. Lets get the vial open first.
The cheesemaker doesn't leave any doors or windows open, and her stove exits in a small capped pipe. No rain can come in, and it's too small for the tiny bird to struggle inside, much less the glass jar. There's only one entrance.. a rain funnel. But it goes vertical, and although it can take the small glass jar, the bird can't hold it up from behind, and if it hits the water barrel below, all this is for nothing. That leaves one option.
It's a full hour of work to fly back and forth to the beekeeper's place, grabbing a beakful of honeycomb, squishing it into wax, flying down the rain tube, climbing back up the rain tube, and then sticking wax to the inside of the pipe every few inches, making ledges for the glass jar to rest on. And then, finally, go down the pipe with the glass jar, letting it stop on the first chunk of wax, turning around, removing the top wax chunk and slowly, carefully, easing it down the pipe a few inches at a time. The only catch needed is at the bottom, and fortunately, really fortunately, Raucous makes the catch on the lip of the jar, and manages to wing out over the barrel's lip onto the cheesemaker's floor.
Safe. Fuck glassware. Windows are only the start of it. And, unfortunately, the cheesemaker uses containers too big for me to pick up.
At this point Raucous realizes he has to go back up the pipe to get the vial, and to actually move the contents of the vial into the pourable jar. After investigating the cheesemaker to figure out if the job is worth doing at all.
Maybe I should have done that first. But dammit, I didn't want to get stopped by a jar. Raucous, bird from beyond the stars, World Champion. Stopped by a cork in a vial.
