That gets an aggravated noise and a dirty look. She keeps using that word. How he'd love to throw her own words back at her -- she thinks her opinion matters -- but he can't bring himself to sink that low. Having their own words shoved back in their face might make a more reasonable person realize their hypocrisy, but he gets the feeling that's a lost cause here; his refusal to kowtow has soured her opinion of him too much.

So instead he continues to pet Pidgey, teeth silently grit behind his lips as he takes deep breaths through his nose. It takes the arrival of one of the Pidgey-chimeras, curious about this new creature that looks so similar yet different from itself, to begin to bring his mood up.

While the two creatures, Pidgey and the chimera, squawk a conversation and examine each other, he realizes he recognizes this one.

"Hello there, little one! I haven't seen you in a while." And for the first time since she arrived here, he sounds genuinely happy. "Is your wing feeling better? Let me take a look." He reaches over to gently stretch out the wing in question, examining it. It doesn't seem to be the first time he's manhandled this particular individual, as it seems pretty calm about him grabbing its wing.