"Friend, friend, please. No need for such harsh accusations!" The vulture raised from where he crouched and turned to face Marlock's new spot. He waived his hands in a clear hand motion of no, or negative. "You have my mistaken, pal oh pal. I'm a scavenger. A rummager, grubbager, and connoisseur of dead things, things that have already died. As skinny and washed up as you are, friend, you're still breathing and lickin'. And as cute and handsome for sea refuse as you are, you're just not my taste. Not to offend you, of course, I know rejection can be hard, we've all been fish in the sea."
The bird cackled again. He had a weird way of turning his head to the side and peering a single eye at Marlock when he laughed, exaggerated to a cartoonish degree. Course, though the bone vulture looked like a bundle of bad jokes on the outside, the bird felt his heart skip a beat. As skilled of a bluffer as he was, the book Marlock held had a creeping stare to it's... eye. Well, eyes certainly weren't normal for books, the vulture could deduce that. Still, for someone who spent most of their time watching others, the aspect of being watched back was unsettling. Especially by a book. Ooo, a book watching you could, in no way, be good.
"Look, I think, personally, educated opinion of mine, take or leave it, just something for our consideration, that the both of us, perhaps, maybe got off on the wrong foot." The bird's red rimmed eyes twitched between Marlock and the artifact the other held. He kept his voice forcefully chipper. "I think our main issue in starting this social interaction is we never introduced ourselves. That's meeting strangers 101. And I'll take the blame on that one. Whole heartedly. Rookie mistake. Let's start over, blank sheet, forget it all, aye? Deep breath in. Through the nostrils, out the mouth. Hello there, nice to meet you, my name is Thane, my friends call me Watcher because my favorite hobby is to sit and stare at people, I like to smuggle baked goods and jellyfish for a living, and my favorite color is tinfoil. How about you, kind, friendly, non-violent friend?"