[ Harold is not particularly skilled at lipreading. It's a difficult task in the first place and one he never saw much point in pursuing when he could just hack into their existing devices instead.
He actually doesn't realize at first that she's even spoken, because when he spots Shaw and her kestrel he stops short and his eyes go wide. It's easy to piece together what had happened between his own egg hatching into a tiny wren and Accelerator messaging him for advice taking care of owlets, but somehow he wasn't expecting Shaw to have one of her own. ]
Isn't a bird of prey a little too apropos? [ he says, automatically sarcastic to help conceal how fascinated he is. He actually can't place what it is immediately -- it looks like a kestrel, but American kestrels don't have black morphs...
Only then does he realize he can't hear himself, either, and a different kind of surprise -- actual alarm -- comes across his expression. ] What?
[Shaw hasn't discovered her new friend's fun little perk yet: everything sounds completely normal from inside the soundproof bubble, and this just happens to be her first time trying to interact with someone outside of it while the kestrel is close at hand. So she misreads the cause of the alarm, shaking her head.]
It's not wild, it hatched from that weird egg thing. And it didn't hurt me on purpose, it tried to land on me when--
[As she talks, she takes a step forward. It's just the one step - she's not trying to get herself or the bird all up in Harold's face. But by taking it, she ends up moving from just outside the bird's five-foot silencer radius to just inside of it - and suddenly, with no other indication or fanfare, she's perfectly audible again.]
-- I was wearing a t-shirt. Pretty sure it just didn't get how thin and puncturable human skin is.
Raptors can't retract their talons, [ he splutters, ] so it doesn't have a choice.
[ Caught off-guard and confused, Harold is still capable of spouting bird facts reflexively. He takes an unsteady step forward after Shaw does, fascinated even as he's still boggled. He's appropriately cautious around a wild animal but he absolutely won't waste an opportunity to see a kestrel (?) from this close up. ]
Some kind of kestrel, probably, [ he still answers reflexively. ] I'm sorry, can we please back up and go over the cone of silence your hawk appears to be exuding?
[ His wren is just a wren, he's pretty sure, and Accelerator hasn't told him about any odd characteristics of his owl... ]
Considering everything else that goes on here, I'd put that at a two on the weirdness scale. The fact that it hatched fully-grown from a magic egg is a four.
[But that point aside, she's definitely interested, so - slowly, she starts inching backwards away from Harold. The kestrel sits serenely on her arm, preening its wings.]
Tell me when you stop being able to h--
[Aaaaaand there it goes, the sound of her voice cutting off just as quickly and easily as it had returned.]
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He actually doesn't realize at first that she's even spoken, because when he spots Shaw and her kestrel he stops short and his eyes go wide. It's easy to piece together what had happened between his own egg hatching into a tiny wren and Accelerator messaging him for advice taking care of owlets, but somehow he wasn't expecting Shaw to have one of her own. ]
Isn't a bird of prey a little too apropos? [ he says, automatically sarcastic to help conceal how fascinated he is. He actually can't place what it is immediately -- it looks like a kestrel, but American kestrels don't have black morphs...
Only then does he realize he can't hear himself, either, and a different kind of surprise -- actual alarm -- comes across his expression. ] What?
no subject
It's not wild, it hatched from that weird egg thing. And it didn't hurt me on purpose, it tried to land on me when--
[As she talks, she takes a step forward. It's just the one step - she's not trying to get herself or the bird all up in Harold's face. But by taking it, she ends up moving from just outside the bird's five-foot silencer radius to just inside of it - and suddenly, with no other indication or fanfare, she's perfectly audible again.]
-- I was wearing a t-shirt. Pretty sure it just didn't get how thin and puncturable human skin is.
no subject
[ Caught off-guard and confused, Harold is still capable of spouting bird facts reflexively. He takes an unsteady step forward after Shaw does, fascinated even as he's still boggled. He's appropriately cautious around a wild animal but he absolutely won't waste an opportunity to see a kestrel (?) from this close up. ]
I couldn't hear you at all until a moment ago.
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[Shaw looks from him to the bird, narrowing her eyes. The pieces aren't hard to put together.]
Huh. Cool trick; that'll be useful. Anyway, you know what it is?
no subject
Some kind of kestrel, probably, [ he still answers reflexively. ] I'm sorry, can we please back up and go over the cone of silence your hawk appears to be exuding?
[ His wren is just a wren, he's pretty sure, and Accelerator hasn't told him about any odd characteristics of his owl... ]
no subject
[But that point aside, she's definitely interested, so - slowly, she starts inching backwards away from Harold. The kestrel sits serenely on her arm, preening its wings.]
Tell me when you stop being able to h--
[Aaaaaand there it goes, the sound of her voice cutting off just as quickly and easily as it had returned.]
no subject
He gives Shaw a disgruntled frown at her sudden experimentation. ]
Oh, please. Let's at least get something to measure the distance with first.
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[She pronounces, waving a hand between them as she takes a step forward back into the bubble.]
I don't need a yardstick to tell me that.