"It was a joke." There was not much else Shannon could do but shrug with amusement. Delacroix had a point about bringing it up to a reporter, but he wasn't one to back down so easily. "Someone so good with words should be able to tell when something is said in jest, too." There was a pause where Shannon tilted his head, considering what he knew of Delacroix so far. It wasn't much, and it was true that he didn't have a feel on the state of the younger man's ears. It usually didn't matter to Shannon, whether other people had their ears or not, so much as his own ears could cause him grief or gain him extra attention. "Like some kind of prize?"

Shannon grinned, almost sheepishly. Almost. He was never actually sheepish like that; he just told things like they were. "Guilty as charged. You're not exactly up against a Pulitzer winner here, but I do like the cut of your jibe so far."