“One-handed? Well, I guess I could if I had to,” Verdox said, glancing back at the ladder, “but usually I can just grab a bag and put it on my back. If I squish everything in enough, it usually fits.” Even he wasn’t so sure about clambering up the side of his hive with only his legs and a single arm to support him.
Taking a step back, Verdox made some room for Cintil to get his bearings, aware that the edge of the roof may not have been his favorite place to stand. Still, he could only hope that the impressive view would take the other troll’s mind off of the steep drop. Now that he had both of his feet on solid ground, he seemed to be taking things much better. It looked like some of the color he had lost during the climb was starting to come back. The yellowblood took a breath and then let out a sharp “hello” of his own, letting the last part linger slightly before breaking down into a sudden coughing fit.
“Whoops! You okay?” Verdox asked, briefly considering giving him a pat on the back before remembering where they were and how Cintil would probably react to it. He was hesitant enough to come up here in the first place, no point in making him even more nervous. The poor guy must really not have been used to heights. “That’ll happen!” he laughed. “Gotta warm up the vocal cords first sometimes. Deep breaths, you know? Sing a song or something. Do some spoken word. Rap or whatever! ‘Course, I’m a champion of yelling at nothing by now, so no need for me to bother with that.” Laughing, Verdox stepped back from the edge of the roof and glanced around. Still no sign of his lusus. He’d need to call him up here, most likely. It wasn’t as though he was a woofbeast, though, and Verdox’s calls to him often fell on deaf tympanal organs. Hopefully tonight he would feel cooperative. “Now, let’s see if we can't get Mr. Anxious Abdomen up here.” Putting his fingers to his mouth, Verdox blew a single piercing note, and then cocked his head to one side.
There was silence for a moment, and then a soft scuttling noise for underneath his hive, so faint it was almost inaudible, but still distinct enough for Verdox to recognize it. Grinning, he turned to Cintil. “Here he comes! Sorry, he’s a bit shy around other trolls.” A long, slender leg appeared at the edge of the roof, feeling around inquisitively. It was followed somewhat hesitantly by the rest of Verdox’s lusus. His antennae twitching, he made his way over to Verdox and Cintil, gazing down at both of them with large compound eyes. He was quite large for a midblood lusus, although Verdox rarely thought about such things since he had little to compare himself to. Now that he thought about it, though, flydad was neither particularly ferocious nor very good at defending himself (unless fleeing counted as a means of defense), so it probably balanced out in the cosmic scheme of things. “Will you look at that! Record time.” Verdox exclaimed, giving flydad an affectionate rub on his head. “He must like you! ...Or maybe he was just sick of being under the hive. It’s kind of hard to tell with him sometimes!” If flydad was uncomfortable with the attention, he gave little sign, other than a small flutter of his wings. “So, this is my lusus. And this is Cintil.” he said, gesturing back and forth between the two of them.
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