Welcome to Gaia! ::

[ Continuing from our warm-up here! ]

Ganyma Callow stumbled down the street, nearly tripping over his boots again and again and swinging his legs in the hopes of finding solid ground. He swung like a ragdoll, groaning quietly and blushing bright teal as he traveled down the sidewalk. A few trolls passing by stopped and stared incredulously and with sneering delight. A great avian lusus dragging his charge by his shirt collar was quite the sight to see, after all.

For a block or so the troll seemed compliant enough, clearly having been physically bested, but after a while he grew tired of avoiding his lusus Strochio’s immense talons. Ganyma began to fidget and whine.

“Put me down! Please! I don’t wanna be carried anymore!”

His cries were of no avail. With a heave of his flexible neck, Strochio lifted him up further off of the ground, emitting a screech in the process. Ganyma’s complaints amplified as he realized the implications of this evening walk. He didn’t want to walk home alone again – especially because he didn’t recognize this part of town.

“No! I don’t wanna be in the city! I wanna go home! Put me down! Put me—!”

His flailing arm had accidentally struck his lusus on the side of the neck with a severe ‘thunk’. Oops.

“Aack!” Ganyma was released, and abruptly hit the ground butt-first. He rubbed his sore rear, sniffling from the sudden drop, and quickly snapped out of the pain to realize that Strochio’s great shadow loomed silently over him.

He turned around and looked the creature straight in the eye. The hairs on the back of his neck rose with the rigid silence of his lusus – if an ostrich could frown, Strochio was doing just that. Unfortunately frowning wasn’t the only way that Strochio showed his discontent with his charge. Ganyma rose to his feet just in time for the bird to rear, his feathers utterly ruffled.

“Shrawk!”

“Ack! No! Stop it!” Strochio’s beak came down near Ganyma’s head, snapping threateningly at his scalp. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It was an accident!” There was nothing to do but turn and run. Ganyma turned on his heel, arms up to cover his head, and started as fast as he could down the sidewalk.

Ganyma had the lead, but his tiny legs were no match for the saurian legs of his lusus. He was shaking in his boots – where to go? Where to go? Most shops had just opened or wouldn’t for a while longer… He turned a corner, and spied an alleyway. Across the street was a shop that… he couldn’t tell exactly, but it looked like it was open! There was a troll his age and her lusus outside, anyway. That was a good sign.

Ganyma dodged into the alley and wedged himself between two piles of refuse. He flinched as his lusus thumped past, thankfully barely hesitating near the entrance of his hideaway. Phew. That was close.

Strochio bounded down the road and out of sight, barreling into a few adolescent trolls on his way. His honking and squawking faded into the distance, as the troll in the alley stayed perfectly still.

Ganyma tried to still the pumping and thumping that he felt in his chest. He couldn’t be sure he was gone just yet. He’d probably get tired and then come back for him later, less eager to pummel him. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Either way, he’d be patrolling the block for his charge. He had to keep his eye out.

"HEEEEEY!”

Ganyma felt like the thick pulsing was going to burst out of his chest at any moment. He emitted a peep and quickly clutched his hand to his mouth. Was it Strochio? What was it? He peeked out from behind a rubbery refuse sack.

“Kid without a lusus, heeeeey!"

A troll – a green-blooded female, about his age. It was the one in front of the shop!

Uh oh. Ganyma immediately pieced the information together in his head. She must be trying to show Strochio where he is! Why would she do that? Maybe she’s a part of his plan to get him lost in the city! Wait, how would she be…? He took another glance. Wait – where did she go?

"FWHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!"

Ganyma flattened himself against the wall, realizing she had him cornered. This was it! He could see her shadow in the evening moonlight. Any more noise and she’d blow his cover for sure. This was probably her plan all along. The young troll knew just what to do.

“GRAAWWWRR!” Ganyma leapt from his hiding spot in an attempt to tackle the infiltrator soundly to the ground.

Ganyma’s focus shifted from the surroundings to his technique. He clumsily toppled into his opponent, but made up for it with sheer force. He supported himself on one knee and dug his other boot into the ground, straddling his opponent in a skillful pin. He had the upper hand. The alley seemed to reappear in Ganyma’s vision as his mind shifted back to the present. Surely the young rogue’s plans were foiled now! This was the best plan. Ganyma’s smugness about his physical prowess was just barely overshadowed by the volume of the young girl’s screams.

Wait a minute.

Maybe her screaming and alerting his lusus wasn’t the best idea. Ganyma mentally kicked himself for not realizing this sooner. New plan! New plan!

“Uhhh! Shhh, shh shh shooooosh!” Ganyma tried to put his hands over her mouth, repositioning himself to try and achieve more comforting grappling position. It wasn’t very effective. He was getting pretty flustered. This was the worst plan ever!

“Stop that! N-no! I won’t get off! You stop screamin'!” He frowned. If she was trying to alert his lusus, there was something about this situation that didn’t seem quite right-- something that Ganyma knew he probably should think about while subduing his victim. He couldn’t put his finger on it, though. He scrunched up his face and looked intently at hers. Perhaps... She was clearly panicked (as a bested infiltrator would be, of course), but there was a twinkling of olive brimming in her eyes. Maybe she was just in so much anguish about being thwarted that she was making with the sad face? How odd. Ganyma was perplexed.

“Why are you cryin'? Stop that!” His attempts to cover her mouth were redirected to wiping her welling eyes at the same time, which mostly resulted in him plopping his hands on her face as she thrashed around.

Finally, the child had ceased screaming. Ganyma’s brain was rushing to try and catch up, leaving his expression half self-satisfied and half simply confused. Whatever he did, it worked. Ganyma blinked and slowly took stock of his surroundings. It had gotten dark all of a sudden. Suddenly, the sneaking feeling of being in another hostile creature’s shadow ran up Ganyma’s spine. It was too late. The tealblood looked up, expecting to see the great white form of Strochio towering above him. It wasn’t.

Ganyma took a great gulp. He had no idea what was to come – the monstrous lusus was the same that he’d seen with the greenblood before, meaning that more likely than not she was its charge, and that it might possibly eat him. Strochio would surely punish him for striking him in the street, but he left Ganyma alone in the city so often it wasn’t out of the ordinary. Suddenly, this situation seemed more dangerous than running into his irate lusus.

His confusion about the situation dissolved. There was nowhere to run, and no way to fight back. Instantly disarmed, Ganyma released the girl and stared dumbly at the huge billed creature.

He attempted a reasonable, strong tone to assuage the situation, but his fear betrayed him. “Ummmm… I’m sorry?” he croaked.

Ganyma fidgeted uncomfortably. He finally lowered his gaze from the great creature, peering at his boots forlornly. They had been scuffed in his escape…

Ganyma’s attention darted back to the lusus its thick tail sent a shockwave through the alley. He decided that it was probably not going to eat him – just yet, anyway. At least not until the girl said the word. He probably didn’t do himself any favors by manhandling her. Ugh! Where did he go wrong? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Taking a brief glance up at the girl (who was heaving with breath and in the process of getting to her feet), he realized that she was probably pretty mad. He frowned.

“I…”

His gaze kept shifting – first at the lusus, then at the troll girl, and back and forth. He found himself unable to say anything, and felt heat rise in his cheeks. This was so embarrassing!

“You big jerk! Jerk-face!”

Ouch! A deep dig.

Ganyma kneaded his jersey in his hands, anxiously drying them of her tears. To be honest, he didn’t even know what his problem was. He started to backtrack.

Last, he stifled her because she was making too much noise. Before that, he tackled her because she was going to alert his lusus. Then before that he was hiding, and before that he was chased down the street by his lusus.

"Well?!"

Aha! She was going to alert his lusus! That was his problem. He regained his (rather poor) posture and looked down at her, in the eyes.

“You were gonna tell Strochio where I was!” He blurted loudly. Ganyma put a finger up to his lips to denote how to be quiet. He looked down at his tear-stained jersey and remembered that he had tackled her bodily to the ground.

“Oh… Umm… Are you okay? Because I tackled you.”

“Mm fine,”

Ganyma scratched the back of his head, cheering up immensely. A smile spread across his face.

His plan was perfect all along! The girl pretty much just admitted that he was right, anyway. He was away from Strochio, had stopped an attempt to out him, and was feeling pretty good about himself.

Ganyma was the man in charge. He balled his hands and stuck them firmly on his hips.

“Yuuuup!” Ganyma dipped forward and swayed on his toes. He let the suspense rise before continuing his exposition.

“He likes to take me on walks but he doesn’t come with me most of the time. You know, like he says, it’s like training for stuff? I dunno. It’s not really fun at all,” His smile didn’t seem to falter, though his eyes did dart hesitantly out the entrance of the alleyway before returning to the other kid. He shrugged.

“Anyway, he got real angry ‘cause I hit him on accident so I ran away. I think he’ll probably be okay later,”

The child seemed to remember something and enthusiastically hopped up to Rasali, bowing and pointing at his scalp, near the base of his skull in the back. There were two small areas where his hair had thinned – minute wounds that were invisible from a distance were apparent up close.

“He’s not very nice when he’s angry—it’s pretty rough,” his deep lean was beginning to make him feel dizzy. He whipped his head back up and scrunched up his nose.

“That’s why I’m hiding. I don’t wanna hide here any more, though. It’s pretty smelly….” Ganyma hesitated, and then a lightbulb went on. “I gotta get a new hiding spot… Over there!”

He pointed directly through Rasali and at the ‘quaint’ consignment store across the way.

"Oh yeah!! That's like, one of my favorite stores around here--it's like--so cool! You don't even know."

Ganyma brightened. A new store to put on his ever expanding map of the city! He leaned in cheerfully as she chatted away, and let himself be taken by the arm in the direction of the store. He stumbled along, his clumsy gait amplified by the quick pace of the girl’s little legs. The two troll children scampered across the street – it was an incredibly conspicuous sight to see.

Two blocks away, the great ostrich Strochio tensed his small reptilian fingers. His head swiveled on its flexible neck; it turned all around, like a probe searching for a sound. His senses weren’t what they used to be. It was fortunate that his charge made so much noise, or else he might have lost him this time. The creature’s huge eyes flashed in recognition. There it was. His talons clacked on the ground. Sounded like two loud children. One of them was probably his.

“Consonant store…? Old weird stuff! Wow…! No way, highbloods? That’s a-MAZIN’!” Occasionally, Ganyma would pop in with an exclamation as they raced to the store. The child couldn’t help but fantasize what could be in this fantastical store. He listened to every word intently, each phrase bubbling a different wondrous image in his mind’s eye.

The way Rasali was making this store out to be, it seemed like it would probably be the highlight of the sweep. He imagined suits of Imperial armor, strange curiosities in jars, weapons from the exotic deserts and the deep seas. There must be legendary stuff in this shop, just waiting to be bought. He’d be the most prominent troll on the streets with a used trident – or, no. That wasn’t his style. Maybe a fancy hat?

Ganyma refocused his now shining eyes on the sale sign gleefully. He had some spending money in his pants pockets. Whenever he and Strochio went out, Strochio would give him his allowance to get supplies and food. He felt in his pockets. It felt like fresh beetles! He even had a few left from his previous day trip.

He looked in anticipation at Rasali.

"...It's also kind of smelly though..."

“I bet the smelly places mean I won’t get found there!” he blurted. He put his balled fists on his hips again.

Suddenly, the girl stuck out her hand. Ganyma tensed a second, and then relaxed. He matched her volume after she introduced herself and dwarfed her little hand in his, giving a mighty shake.

“My name is Ganyma! Ganyma Callow!”

Whoa.

Ganyma stopped momentarily in the door frame. He didn’t expect the store to be so much bigger on the inside! It was everything he imagined and more. He took a deep, noisy sniff through his crooked nose, lifting onto his toes. It was a familiar smell, somewhat like his stuffy hive during the hotter periods of the sweep – before building upwards, and before cleaning. Dust, dander, mildew and lots of junk. Only this time, he had no idea what kind of junk was in here. It was an exciting prospect.

He skedaddled to a pile of shoes on the far wall and lifted a pair up to a shaft of light, squinting at the leatherworking details through specks of illuminated dust. It really was a beautiful shoe, carefully crafted and with only a few scuff marks. With a solid shine and a grub-wax, it would probably shine like new. He plopped down on the ground and strained to pull off a boot, gently placing it next to him like a cherished toy. Slipping the shoe on, the young troll found in dismay that the shoe was immense on his small feet.

“Hmm…” He mused, screwing his lips up to the side. “Oh well!”

He promptly regained his cheery smile and kicked the shoe off, nearly falling over as he tried to step back into his boots and walk towards another pile of treasures simultaneously.

He picked up something that glinted from across the room, in the appliances section: a strange bright red egg beater, similar to the Imperial colors. It was probably some sort of weapon as well, because he couldn’t quite figure out where to put his hands without stabbing himself.

“This is so weird!” he whispered in wonderment to no one in particular. His ears pricked up and he stood up, quickly putting the device back on the shelf. It was Rasali.

“Yeah?” Ganyma asked. He poked his head out from the aisle to look at her directly as she asked her question.

“Ummmm! I dunno! I didn’t plan for buyin’ anythin’ today that wasn’t food and stuff. I can’t carry anythin’ with me when I go walkin’ and on adventures usually, ‘cause I only got these two pockets that I put beetles in so there’s no room for cool stuff,”

He nearly emptied the contents of his pockets by accident as he went to gesture to the full contents of his sweatpants.