He's really got a habit of reading-while-they-write, in the same way someone does if they've never been told not to hover. (Maybe he has, and just paid no notice. Equally likely.)

"I know about him," he says, pointing at 'Elderbug'. "No adventurous spirit, that one-" backtracks one line, hands fly to his hips "- what do you mean rips off worse than me! You ungrateful little grub, Geo doesn't grow on trees! You've a fine mouth on you indeed, now that you're talkative!"

Urgh. And he's enabling them with the paper thing. Might as well have painted 'open season' on his own shell.

"...I'll have you back for that one, mark my words," he mutters poisonously, but he's already moving on. "Ah, now, that is a surprise. I'd not bothered with the Stagways on account of thinking they'd be empty by now. Even walked one or two myself! That does change things. I won't be walking on the roads if there's still a Stag hurtling about." Doesn't change things enough to go and run his own errands, though. He follows the rest of the writing and sits back a little.

"Sounds like it's gotten busy up there. This Zote fellow sounds unpleasant." He tries to make it sound innocuous: "No one else?"