What are Those Doing on the Ceiling? [F'ox]

[Inkwell]

Orren stood, F'ox by his side, and looked up. He'd dragged the poor Greenrider all the way from his room in the Weryling barracks just to show him this. What was it? Some beautiful phenomenon in the sky? A wild glowbug hiding in a dark corner?

No. It was a basket that up until what he assumed was the night before had been filled with glows. Said glows were now on the floor at their feet, replaced by one very pleased Gold firelizard and an as-yet uncounted number of what he was almost one-hundred percent positive were eggs. And it was just out of his reach.

"So obviously I couldn't move them on my own, but I thought I should show you, since your bronze is the father. And maybe you can help me figure out a way to move them." He peered up at the basket, over the lip of which Honey's snout peeked. "Silly little flit, what were you thinking?"

She chirped unconcernedly and hunkered a little deeper into the basket.

[S'yal]

F'ox was, to say the least, impressed. Honey was one hell of a gold. Crypt crooned a greeting to the gold from his place in F'ox's arms, wriggling in an attempt to escape the pale hands holding him. Rage was perched on his shoulder, a low hiss dragging itself out of the green as she glared up at Honey. F'ox, as always, ignored the angry green.

"Have you tried bribing her down?" F'ox asked, a frown on his face. Crypt eventually escaped his hands, flying up to Honey and chirping amiably at her. "It'll be hard to get them out without tipping over the basket." F'ox noted, frowning.

"Maybe you could lift me up and I could get them out? I don't think Snowth can fit in here..." Oh no, the poor babies! What would happen if they stayed up there? They might fall out! F'ox didn't particularly want to be touched, but he was willing to deal with it in order to help the baby firelizards. "They... they might fall out and get hurt."

Poor, poor babies.

[Inkwell]

"You know, I haven't. The eggs would still be up there if I did so it didn't immediately occur to me, but it'd probably make it a lot easier if we didn't have a broody Gold trying to bite our fingers." He snorted at the thought of Honey doing anything remotely violent. Even when she'd been at her worst state of proddiness, she'd never done more than whined and sulked.

Honey, of course, wasn't paying either of them any attention. The father of her eggs had just shown up, and since her memory was good enough to know who he was, she set about cooing at him and showing off her new shinies that he had helped to make. They were arranged carefully around the bottom of the basket, not crowding each other or piled on top of each other. The little ones were on the outside, and in the very center, the largest, the Sugar and Spice egg, gleamed. A respectable clutch, certainly, if Honey said so herself.

Meanwhile, Orren was looking F'ox up and down. The other man was certainly light enough that Orren could probably lift him without difficulty, if it was only for as long as it took to get the eggs safely down. "That's definitely a thought. Maybe you could climb onto my shoulders. And don't worry. They won't fall out. The edge of the basket is too high and Honey's watching them too closely." Poor F'ox. Orren was starting to realize that the little Greenrider worried about pretty much everything. How could he stand living like that?

[S'yal]

"Does she have a favorite food?" F'ox asked, a frown on his face. When Rage was particularly bad he would bribe the dramatic green with little sweets, which she seemed to like. "Maybe you could go get some?" He asked, not wanting to get his face eaten by a broody gold. Honey may be sweet, but a broody mother was a broody mother.

Crypt was very happy about those eggs! He crooned multiple comments to Honey, but he didn't land to inspect them further. He might tip over the basket, after all! But they were very, very pretty eggs. He had to wonder what would come out of them. Maybe a bronze, like him? Oooh.

Being looked at made F'ox shift uncomfortably. "... That... that might work." F'ox didn't make any moves, though. He might be eaten.

[Inkwell]

Orren noted how uncomfortable the suggestion seemed to make F'ox and backtracked a little. What was the best way to backtrack? A joke!

"You know, if you don't want to, that's okay. It's scary being up that high. I mean, look how tall I am, and even I get scared looking down sometimes." He smiled hopefully. Come on, F'ox. It wasn't all that funny but it was sort of funny? You see so sad all the time, even the tiniest joke would probably help.

What did Honey like to eat? That was pretty easy. Honey. It was half the reason she had her name, after all. Of course, it was reserved for very special occasions... but then, what was the birth of a clutch if not special?

"Well, look, you think about it and I'm going to go get something to try and get her to come down."

Honey didn't notice the plotting going on a scant few feet below her. She was busy showing Crypt every single egg, one by one. Who knew what would come out of them! She had high hopes, especially for the Sugar and Spice, which seemed to be her favorite (though the smaller Acid Egg was getting quite a bit of attention too). They were all just so beautiful!

[S'yal]

F'ox really wasn't bothered by heights.

But he smiled anyway, because that'd make Orren feel better. He hadn't meant to make Orren feel bad. "You are very tall." F'ox agreed, and he smiled and managed to look happy even though the thought of being lifted up terrified him.

F'ox nodded, peering up at Honey. Why had she decided to lay there? What a silly gold.

Crypt was very impressed by the eggs, and told Honey so by whistling. What pretty eggs! Crypt was very proud.

[Inkwell]

Honey had decided to lay there because the glows had looked so snug, nestled in the basket as they were, so clearly her eggs would be just as snug. Also it was high up, where any flying creature liked to be. And it would annoy Orren. She loved Hers -- he gave her the confidence she didn't have and usually was only able to muster up around close friends -- and that meant he was in for a lot of affectionate teasing.

It didn't take Orren long to obtain some honey and come back, looking a bit red in the face (more than usual, anyway) but triumphant.

"Right, okay, lets see if this does it," he said to F'ox, smiling with the expression of a man who was certain that things were about to go his way and dolloping a generous few drops of the thick stuff onto one finger. "Honeymine, I have something for you! A sort of celebratory thing, since I'm sure your eggs are very lovely, even if I can't see any of them being you decided to be obnoxious."

The golden snout poked over the edge of the basket again, and then the whole head -- and then with an excited chirp, Honey took off. Carefully, of course, so as not to shake the basket and jostle her eggs, but still as quickly as she could manage, landing heavily on Orren's outstretched arm and licking up the offered treat. Dat delicious honey for Honey.

"Alright. Phase one: success. Now we have to get the eggs down before she realizes what we're planning."

Phase two was going to be a lot more difficult.