"Sure. Might help him bulk a bit, anyway." The poor thing looked a bit scrawny, but maybe that was just the sort of owl it was. In any case, it didn't have to be a real heavyweight to carry the mail. John didn't get an awful lot of parcels. He let the side of his calf rest against Rolf's foot as he ate, giving him his hand almost absently, as a matter of course, and attending to his coffee as he enjoyed the quiet - punctuated not unpleasantly by the sound of the bird clattering around the rungs of its cage, exploring. He'd never minded the noise any of the animals made, and probably would have found it comforting, really, if he hadn't had Rolf around to shatter the solitude even more firmly.
There were certain limits to his hospitality, though. "Market, then. I'll just get dressed. We're not keeping bees, you know." He gave him an admonishing little smile as he reached in for another piece of toast. "I'm allergic. - Might be allergic. My sister is. I don't know. Anyway, they're bloody loud." Rolf could kill all the time he liked talking to beekeepers, though; John had lately discovered the pleasures of browsing open-air markets with other people's money, and was cultivating a new appreciation for local cheeses and the apparently quite numerous producers of clotted cream that probably wasn't going to do his heart much good in the long term. He didn't mind being left to his own devices.