Stone makes a mildly annoyed-sounding rumble, and shakes his head. It's impossible to tell what his expression is, because there's some strange blurring effect making his face hard to see. Really, though, it's not that he doesn't want to tell Julien, it's that he can't actually speak in this form. It's annoying. Maybe once he's been here longer and worked out more of the jewel thing, he can figure out a way to communicate, but he's not there yet.

Instead, he does gather Julien up to his chest once he's on his hands, holding him close and safe, then crouches, spreads his wings, and springs into the air. That, at the very least, is quite different from how a bird would take off. There's no running start, and while there's flapping, the first launch is propelled by his legs rather than his wings. Julien will get an up close and personal idea of how his wing muscles work, though, since he's being held right up against them.