I identify as a threat

Jael was clearly terrified, rightly so, and that was enough for now. Whether or not she even heard what Modesty was saying was hard to gauge as she continued to tremble and lick her lips. It was starting to wear on Modesty's nerves. She was trying to be nice here, and the way dark lips tightened and pulled back to reveal the tips of her canines under her lips were an obvious tell, despite her attempts at pleasantries.

Subconsciously, quills visibly rose over Modesty's shoulders with her hackles as her muscles tensed. Her tail rose in natural response. She could feel the tension in every muscle as they followed the steps to this new dance. Yeah, she got it, she was scary... Was she going to have to grab the girl by the face as some sort of reassurance? Perhaps a firm muzzle grab to show she wasn't going to rip off her whole head off (yet) was warranted? Not that she much felt like scaling the structure the girl was perched on.

The seconds seemed to stretch out in a pregnant pause, but finally, an answer came, and she visibly relaxed, her shoulders giving a happy half-shake punctuated with the clattering of quills. Modesty smiled, pleased to hear there hadn't been any more snake incidents. It was good news for Jael's plans, and good news for her kids. “Why not come down? You've done a great job cleaning this up.” She wandered closer to the edge of the pool, ignoring the mess she had made to look down on the bird that were contained within. “How does this work? Won't they just fly away when you try to go in?”

“Speech.”