Skulduggery's temper was legendary. Ordinarily, Anton would consider that to be an unhelpful comparison, simply because peace removed the heat from anger so effectively; but this was Skulduggery, and Skulduggery knew him too well to mistake what made him wary.

So Anton stopped, and while he wasn't quite able to assuage the tension completely, he was able to regard the turtle with a touch less caution. "What is your name?" he asked, and then added, "I am Anton Shudder."

The turtle trilled and squeezed past Skulduggery into the Hotel proper. "I am Ryder," he announced, bobbing his head in a bow. "I need a new parent. My person I have now is all alone, and all my siblings have two and sometimes THREE people to care for them. Will you, please?"

Turtles in need of foster-care. Whyever not? If the city was on the back of a giant turtle, it stood to reason they came from somewhere. Perhaps they needed human interaction to properly serve as bearers of worlds. "If you would like," Anton agreed, and slid his foot back to keep his balance when the turtle trilled and rubbed his head against Anton's chest. Anton put his free hand on Ryder's head, half amazed and half unnerved by the lack of responding heat from the gist.

"Have you a foster-child?" Anton asked Skulduggery.