Welcome to Gaia! ::

The moonlight paled next to the neon glow of New Hemisect’s bustling core. Swaths of trolls gathered like moths to the lights of the city, swarming to an intersection among its great network of streets. Their destination? A great vacant lot, illuminated and buzzing with energy.

The lot was, as of yet, free of construction, and its girth led to a sort of weekly tradition for the mid- and low-blooded trolls living in the city. It could accommodate a surprising number of people for many informal events – and tonight, it was filled to the brim with enthusiastic spectators.

It was amateur fight night, as seen from the few bold signs around the lot – a free-for-all set of wrestling matches for entrants of any size, shape, caste or creed, for a prize of beetles and bragging rights. Vendors who had set up shop cried out for bets to be placed for the final round. It was a sight to see, and tonight’s finale did not disappoint. The previous week’s champion had made it to the top in a repeat blow-out performance, facing off against with a never-before -seen competitor, who had had a crowd-pleasing amount of gumption.

Ganyma Callow weaved his way through the crowd, looking back with eager eyes to continuously check that his lusus was still in sight. It was a very special night for the young troll. He bit his lower lip in excitement, finally in range of the viewing area. He could just smell the sweat – the action – the vigor of the wrestlers! It was thrilling. The young troll looked back once more: his lusus had stopped in a rather empty area, away from the crowded rabble that gathered at the front of the ring.

“As long as he can see me, he shouldn’t freak out, right?” Ganyma thought to himself.

Ganyma stood on the tippy-toes of his boots to give his lusus a cheerful wave, which was reciprocated by a harsh honk and a spit. That was a good sign! Normally Strochio was pretty hesitant about his requests, but going to watch people fight seemed to be okay with him, as long as the other puny grublings stayed the hell out of his way. Ganyma beamed proudly at his lusus and turned back around, finally wedging his way into a good spot to view the action.

The makeshift dirt ring was already covered with a fair spray of multi-colored blood from the previous matches. Perfect timing – the two trolls had just stepped up to the side of the ring.

The crowd erupted, with Ganyma squealing along with it. His eyes glistened as his own yelling and the deafening shrill of the audience met his ears. He hopped up and down. He clapped his hands. He could barely feel his own body, and he certainly couldn’t hear his own little voice for a solid ten seconds. The moment felt like a sweep. What a rush.

Ganyma hopped about in his little space, cheerfully throwing air-punches as the competitors did. He cheered when the crowd cheered, flipping between rooting for the champion and the underdog. Ganyma couldn’t decide who he wanted to win more: the champ had accomplished so much, and had made a name for himself. But the underdog came from nothing, and was now competing for everything. The concoction of wrestling and Ganyma’s social aspirations was nearly overwhelming for the kid, who was already feeling dizzy from the whirling lights and sounds.

Krakk! A thin misty spray of bright blood peppered the air.

“Whoah!”he exclaimed. He’d never seen anything like that move. What a hit! He’d have to practice that one later!

"Aw, come on! Don't be a chump!"

The troll next to him seemed to know what was up. He looked up at her with excitement, absorbing her riled up energy. Ganyma quickly jumped on the bandwagon, and gave a loud holler towards the ring. He pumped his fist in the air, mirroring her.

“Yeah! Don’t be a chump…! An’… Get up an’ hit him next time!”

He wasn’t very original, but he sure did make up for it in spirit. His head bobbed in time with the ducks and weaves of the wrestlers. The kid was definitely in his element, eyes locked on the action in front of him. The troll that was down was looking worse for wear. But just when it seemed too late – a foot sweep! The other came crashing down! Ganyma roared.

“Get ‘im, chump!”

As the newly downed troll struggled to gain his bearings, the other lunged at him, and – Oh no!

What was going on? Ganyma strained to see, but a large troll (with equally large horns) stepped in front of him. This was no good. The child looked around frantically, but he was surrounded by other, bigger trolls. He could hear very clearly what was most likely a professional grade whuppin’, but without the juicy visual details what was the point? As the crowd cheered and ebbed he continued to squirm around, and finally restored a partial view of the ring by scooting closer to the yellowblood.

Fortunately, it looked like they were still at it, minus a few drops of blood and sweat.

“Whoah!” cried Ganyma. The hoarse exclamation escaped his lips as the two fought valiantly to the bitter end. This was immense. There was no way the underdog could pull it out of the bag, now. Or could he? The child had stopped breathing as the tension grew.

The sleeper hold was beginning to take full effect. Ganyma could feel the troll above him lean in above him. The pressure was immense; a physical wall closing in. His hands curled into little fists, tightly squishing into his palm until his knuckles turned pale.

Finally, the underdog was down. He’d be forgotten in the unspoken lore of the streets. It was sort of sad, actually – a potential great crushed before he even took off. However, this did mean that the Champion would gain more notoriety – and in Ganyma’s eyes, that was all that mattered. If you can’t go big, go home!

“WHOOOOOOOOO!” echoed the child, jumping up and down. He pumped the air with his fists, feeling a little lightheaded as he finally regained his breath. “THAT WAS AWESOME!”

He did a little victory dance for the champion and noticed the loser getting hauled off by his companion. He was being splashed in the face with an unsavory liquid in an attempt to wake him. Ganyma hoped he’d try again next week to redeem himself and usurp the crown. That would be so awesome and dramatic.

The ring began to become populated by trolls taking down the stake-posts and kicking the dirt to hide the blood spatters. The flow of foot-traffick soon overwhelmed the sanctity of the fighting ring, with spectators walking over the area. The troll felt the crowd around him beginning to become tangled and chaotic as a great percentage headed for the betting tables, and the others in random directions.

He could hardly see a thing – hopefully Strochio had a good sight of him, but it was a longshot: there was a sea of bright orange spikes that covered up the stature of the boy, who had spun around one two many times and immediately forgot which way was which.

Well, it looked like he’d have to stand his ground before the masses left. Maybe when the crowd dispersed, Strochio would be visible. It was more likely that he would have left the makeshift “stadium” in an attempt to get away from the droves. It did appear that way – as trolls gathered towards the general exit areas, Ganyma still couldn’t pick out his lusus from the crowd. He furrowed his brow and screwed up his mouth to the side in thought – fortunately the buzz from the match was still in his head.

“Yo, kid, you lost or something?” called a voice from above. It was the cool yellowblood from before! Ganyma looked up in recognition and absently scratched around the bandage on his nose.

“Oh! Uh, no. I mean, I don’t know where my lusus is, but he’s probably outside somewhere. I mean… Is my lusus lost, then?” He looked confused for a moment. As his brain clicked back into gear, he put an inquisitive finger to his chin. Another moment – one could practically hear the machinery in the boy’s thinkpan rattling to terminal velocity, before he put his hands back upon his hips with satisfaction.

“I think… I guess I’m lost! Yup!” he remarked, having accurately assessed the situation. He looked around her, and soon realized that by asking she probably wanted to help him out – if not kidnap a charge without a lusus, which was also a possibility. Fortunately, Strochio was probably close enough that he’d notice after a while if he hadn’t made it out-- lusi’s intuition and all of that. It was probably safe to trust the yellowblood – she liked wrestling, after all!

“Could you help me find my lusus? I think he’s… That way. Somewhere,” Ganyma swept his arm across about half of the lot, never really stopping at any definitive point. He grinned up at her.

Ganyma skipped to one foot and back with restless energy. “Great! Thanks, miss! My name’s Ganyma, what’s yours?” he announced. The troll shuffled next to her, looking down at his boots and how they clicked against the ground. He was utterly neglecting to look where they were going in his exhilaration, but to be fair, he wouldn’t have been able to see much anyway at his height.

“My lusus is a big squawkbeask – really big! Like, if I… stood on your head. I could maybe look him in the eyes, you know? He’s big, and white, obviously. And he’s got little tiny arms and big scaly legs! Like this,” he drew in his arms to stick out of his sides and curled in his pinkies and ring fingers, hunched over and walked with a lurching gait. After what he assumed was a successful show and tell, Ganyma popped back up and did a hop to get back in step with the yellowblood.

As she mentioned the match, fire reignited behind his eyes. “Oh my gog! Me too! Some day I wanna go to one of the real matches! How awesome would that be?” He bit his lip. “They have all sorts of amazing fights there, I bet. With more moves like… Like that choke hold! I bet they have real rings, too! Where you can jump off of the ropes!” He chattered adoringly, becoming more and more involved in the words he was saying as he envisioned it in his mind. He never got to talk to anyone about fun stuff like wrestling!

“Wasn’t it cool when the champ got the hold of the underdog like that? And when he just started wailing on the guy with that speed! That was so crazy! I hope that he comes back next week,” Ganyma gushed. He paused for a moment and turned to his companion conspiratorially. “What if he comes back and whups the champ? They’ll totally become rivals! Like… Black rivals and stuff! Like the stuff you see on T.V.! Woooooow. What do you think?”

Ganyma laughed as she messed with his short hair and flushed with excitement. He animatedly punched the air. “ “Aw, yeah! That’d be so cool…! Then if we had tickets for this fight then if he became famous they’d be worth… A lot of beetles! Maybe a hundred!” He gesticulated with his arms, spreading them wide to show the approximate amount of beetles. “ “And he’d really, really get big and we’d be the first people to know about him! Make lots of money on bets an’ stuff… And… I dunno...”

Ganyma suddenly got quiet as he reflected on this. His mind was working hard again, decrypting some sort of conflict that clicked in what he had just said. Finally, he spoke up, his voice a step lower and more serious than his previous gushing. His eyes held a stony sense of purpose.

“ “I wish I was the champ. I don’t wanna be the one payin’ to see the most important fights. I wanna be important— be somebody like that! Somebody in… In the big leagues,”

The two made it to the opposite end of the lot. It was the end of the line, and Strochio wasn’t in the immediate vicinity. Ganyma looked around and pawed the bottom of his nose with the back of his hand, looking back up at Minist with a shrug. He was still in good cheer: meeting a cool fighter was way better than going back to his dumpy hive and being alone in his respiteblock, after all.

“ “He’s probably just around the corner, but he’ll be here soon I bet. He doesn’t like to be around people, is all, an’ there’s not a lot of people anymore,” He started. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “ “I like you too, Minist. You’re really cool! I bet you’re really strong. Do you wrestle?”

The troll raised his bushy brows as an idea popped into his head. “If you do, can you show me some moves? I mean, if you have time,”

Ganyma couldn't help but be fired up by her encouragement. That was new. He curled his fists and made certain to cement this memory into his mind -- he'd train as hard as possible to really become someone important -- someone who people pay to even get a chance to see. Someone respected and feared! Maybe he'd lead, too! Not to get ahead of himself, of course; his goals were set as is.

He looked hopefully at Minist as she came down past his eye level, and swallowed a lump that subconsciously made its way into his throat. He didn’t think of the whipping he was about to receive – instead, he eagerly bounded aside as she echoed his request.

“Great!” He backed up a step and prepared for her to show him, but she seemed to have a more hands-on experience in mind.

“Come at me,”

Oh.

Ganyma only hesitated for a second. He kicked into a fighting mode, his enthusiasm compensating for the lack of knowledge and technique that he had. Still, he was just a kid (if not a hulking one). He charged at her with arms spread, ready to connect and start the fight right away with a grapple, all the while lacking the realization that this may not have been the most painless idea.