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'The fastest' was a reassurance that made him laugh a little, but there was a friendly lightheartedness behind it. Ever observant, Aprife had seen the way she perked up some when Zeffer complimented her. A lot of the shakiness he'd felt before had diminished then, too. That was something he'd have to keep in mind for later. What calmed trolls down, what made them more open, was an important bit of knowledge for any secret seeking individual. If it would work as well coming from an essential stranger as it did coming from a friend, or even if it would work a second time at all, he had no way of knowing. Still, he wouldn't forget it. Her speed was obviously something she valued.

"Wow, she must be pretty fast if she can beat you, Zeffer." There was obviously more playful challenge in his voice when speaking to the taller blueblood. He'd seen how fast his friend could be before and it only gave credibility to Sarcel's skill. "Keeping up with both of you s'gonna be something."

That was when he gave the girl he'd just met another curious look. Curious, but also silently urging. Zeffer would most certainly be the driving force behind whether she came along or not, but it couldn't hurt to let her know, without being too pushy, that he thought it was a pretty decent idea, too. Come with us, his eyes said, it's gonna be fun. "What about it, Sarcel?"

With fighting at the forefront of efforts on both sides, it was hardly a surprise when phase two of the P.P.S.'s initial strategy took a blow quite similar to the first. Supplies ran low in short order and workers who made it out of their scraps with enough gusto to continue passing them out found it hard to locate a restock tent that was still functioning as one. It seemed that despite their best efforts, the looters were coming out on top in both brawling and hoarding goods, leaving the city starved. The projected end of phase two came and went, but the violence didn't stop, and trolls trapped in the fallen sectors remained displaced and without aid.

And yet, were one to ask a supposed 'looter' what they thought, many would say they had simply done the job of the P.P.S., but better. They'd saved and provided for themselves first. On a planet like Alternia, it was often difficult to do much more than that. Survival of the fittest rang quite true throughout the beaten down battlefield of New Hemisect City.

Quite a few areas within the disaster zone ended up even worse for wear than they'd been in the wake of the earthquake and its aftershocks. Any abandoned buildings that still remained standing, though precariously so, were completely gutted. Anything of use or value, if not protected by a surviving resident or lusus, was lost to the hands of those who would find a way to profit regardless of the outcome. While some intents were purer than others, it was safe to say the looters had won the night this time. When things looked especially dire, an effort was made to rally drones already in the city, and along with reinforcements, they finally took tentative control once more.

Most looters escaped with ease, however, under cover of rubble and mayhem. They took with them all they had successfully gathered, quite a bit in the grand scheme of things, and disappeared in the night the same way they'd come. It would take even more time now to recover the fallen end of the city, but in response, drone presence was increased throughout the disaster zone to discourage continued looting and aid in reconstruction efforts.

And while B.I.G.S.I.S.'s monitoring system would no long be in effect—its reinstatement would need more manpower than was available in the aftermath—a heightened imperial presence could still be felt in some areas of NHC, even outside the radius of the earthquake's destruction.