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The wreckage was like nothing the young purpleblood had ever seen before as he stepped out of the transport ship and gazed out across the city, at the smoke that still seemed to be pouring from the sky. His eyes shimmered with the shrewd curiosity they always held as he made his way from the station, his lusus hot on his heels. The bird's eyes were narrowed to slits, and he bobbed his head this way and that, ever alert. Rather needlessly, Chigur thought, because who would bother to trouble them when chaos was so rampant otherwise?

The quail would never have allowed the trip unless Chigur had not begged to go. It was not as if he had a single friend out that way, no, it was simply morbid curiosity that drew him out. Events of this sort weren't the kind that happened very often, Chigur had reasoned, and besides, there might be something in it for them. Cooper had begrudgingly agreed, and his feathers ruffled as they grew nearer and nearer to the epicenter of the disaster. It hadn't taken long for the little purpleblood to find out about the factions - the relief and the looters. He could not help but smirk wickedly as they traversed the damaged streets, pondering over exactly what his first move would be.

Ganyma Callow was on the move again, hopping from pile to pile with his large backpack flopping undone like an extra appendage. It was half-full of glass bottles and reusable metal scraps, their clattering clearly sounding whenever he took an energetic bound. With the amount of noise he was making, it was harder to make the young troll more conspicuous – though, he had left his flashy red boots at his hive today in lieu of some more practical footwear.

There was a pause in the rhythmic clanging as the tealblood found a treasure among the rubble. Its bright, regal blue stood out from the rusty debris, a corner sticking up undeterred by the dust. A tarp! This would be a perfect donation for the relief forces.

Ganyma smiled broadly and surveyed his find. He may have been able to pull it up, but a heavy beam lay propped across it diagonally like an arm clutching a sanctuary cuddleplane. It was a good thing Strochio was nearby – and hopefully, willing to help. The child called to his lusus, and soon a head shot up from between a nearby alley. He emerged heavily towards him with a spitting hiss, spying the tarp and immediately recognizing the pleading look in his charge’s eye. Weak. If he was stronger he could do this without assistance. But he was so weak and useless. The hulking ostrich boasted satchels of donation materials strapped to his broad back and thighs, and yet made little noise compared to the troll. In a matter of moments his back was burdened with the overhanging beam – the crook of the “arm”. His saurian legs pulsed with tension and hefted the chunk of metal out of the way, giving Ganyma a disapproving stare as he finished the task. But, of course, the boy would not notice as usual.

“Hooray!” Ganyma squeaked. He scrambled to his knees, scraping them on the pavement-turned gravel. With a small but enthusiastic heft, he loosed the tarp from its half-burial and sat back as it gave way. It was a beauty. Unharmed by the disaster, and a nice size to boot. If this didn’t get him a big recognition, then what would? Maybe he’d get a medal!

The clanging of the other youngster's pack was what caught Chigur's attention initially, and he glanced up from the gaudy piece of PPS paper he'd found to try to ascertain where the racket was coming from. It had been a while since he'd actually visited the city, and with the combination of the wrecked streets, and trolls running about helterskelter, he was feeling more than a little out of focus, directionally speaking. He frowned a little as he rounded a corner, only to let loose a startled snarl as he nearly collided with a pack of older trolls, who rushed past him in the opposite direction of where he had just come.

"Ruffians..." Chigur muttered as he ignored his lusus' agitated fluffing, giving the massive quail a short shove as he tried to huddle up in a protective stance. Just as he'd figured. Everyone was too ensconced in their own interests and goals to give any notice to a little purpleblood and his seven-foot-tall quail guardian. It was a good thing, because Chigur could finally see where the tingling clank sound had been coming from; another young someone like himself, who seemed to be hard at work collecting materials.

"You there. Where are you headed with that?" He asked in a tone that dripped with bossiness, eyeing Ganyma in his little moment of triumph as he held up the tarp. It hadn't taken him but a moment to spy the other's symbol and color, and it was for that reason that Chigur felt zero intimidation of the other troll's lusus. It wasn't as if it were a nasty question anyway, but if Ganyma was for the relief then he wanted to find one of their stations. If he was looting, well...Chigur would have to do something about it, wouldn't he? As leery as he felt toward their seadwelling queen, it would be unseemly to further desecrate such a grand city, and looting was a lowly thing to do when there were still buildings on fire and lives being snuffed out in the rubble. He set a hand on his hip as he waited for a reply, unaware of how ridiculous he may or may not have looked with a large, fluffed out bird looming up behind him.

“O-oh!” Ganyma whirled to look at whoever he was addressing him with a start. The blur of purple was unmistakeable – a highblood! In this part of town? His mouth began to move before his brain could catch up, but fortunately the question was obvious.

“To the relief station! I got a bunch of stuff to donate—like this tarp!” He held it up proudly. If anything could gleam from under the dust and destruction, it was the tarp. Ganyma beamed, pausing for long enough for his train of thought to arrive at the station.

This was a purpleblood – stand up straighter, Ganyma! He had a fluffy bird lusus. Looked intimidating (…?) In any case, it was high caste, so he’d best to perk up and get the most out of the visit. Any ill will or bossiness exuding from the purpleblooded boy was lost on Ganyma, who was merely excited to see another troll near his “neighborhood”. It occurred to him, quite astutely he thought, that it was strange that the boy didn’t know what he was doing with the tarp after all! Surely he would know – there was evidence all around the city of the earthquake, obviously. Maybe he just got here and didn’t know it looked any different?

Despite any social graces or intuitions, Ganyma decided to ask the question.

“Why?”

So he was with the relief. Chigur was rather pleased that he wouldn't have to dirty his hands taking care of some filthy little thieving lowblood, and he could easily tell that the tealblood standing before him was the subservient type. Good. He nodded in an almost condescending way as the other's prize was held up, but quickly offered a little grin instead as he stepped over a badly cracked section of sidewalk to near the other child. "I'm here for the relief too. I just wasn't sure where to find the station. Do you know where it is? The devastation is just...-dreadful-." he put on a mock show of actually caring over what was going on, and the question did have some truth - the place was so chaotic that Chigur wasn't certain exactly where the government had put up their tents.

He wasn't truly sincere about helping, of course. The disaster was like a colorful distraction for his wicked little mind, a new playground to hone his skills. If there were rewards for helping out, well, all the better. He'd been meaning to work on his pickpocketing, anyway. Maybe if he was lucky, he could team up with the little tealblooded squirt and torment him for a while.

Ganyma continued to smile as the purpleblood closed the distance between them. He folded the tarp up into a thick swath and tucked it under his arm as he straightened to look at the newcomer up close. After the remark about the earthquake, he nodded gravely – grateful and solemn. The disaster hadn’t affected his part of town, fortunately, but it had been so deadly for the rest of the population. He appreciated the other boy’s clear show of sympathy towards the cause.

“Oh, yeah! I was jus’ gonna go over there now with Strochio. You wanna come with us?”

Chigur took the opporunity to give Ganyma a once over himself, rather pleased with what he'd found. A sturdy little lowblood, the kind that always seemed to inevitably lend themselves to being bossed about, save for a petulant few who still needed to be kicked into place. He nearly sneered to himself as the memory of a certain -other tealblood- entered his head, but it wouldn't do to get distracted by that unpleasantness. He offered a charming little grin, letting the somber moment pass, and nodded agreeably.

"I would like that very much. My name is Chigur Luhjan by the way. What's yours?" He nearly flinched as several rowdy teenagers went stampeding past, baring his teeth in disgust for a split second before looking back to Ganyma expectantly.

“Ganyma Callow. Good to meet you, Chigur!” The boy exclaimed simply. He collected the tarp and swung his bag around in front of him, readying himself for the challenge of fitting the thick find into his back. It was already burdened with his previous treasures, and clattered around as it was clumsily undone.

“I haven’t seen you around. Are you coming from out of town to help the relief?” he asked. His brow was as knotted in curiousity as it was in friendly anticipation. His focus wasn’t on the bag whatsoever – Ganyma fumbled uselessly with the tarp for a painfully long time before he finally looked down and stuffed it into the now especially dusty opening. He flapped the bag shut and with a smile hoisted it over his shoulder.

“Alright! Let’s get going then! I know the way. C’mon, Strochio!” He cheerily hopped into motion. His chipper pace defined the antithesis of his curmudgeonly lusus. Strochio gave a low warning hiss, but otherwise obeyed— if not to protect the child from this new whelp who had already won the stupid boy over.

"A pleasure." Chigur replied in a demeanor contrary to Ganyma's, smooth and reserved as ever, as he watched him stash his prize. His efforts were admirable, to be sure, but Chigur had better ideas on how to gather resources. It would be nice to have a little muscle (or more likely, a distraction) to help in such endeavors.

Chigur watched as the tealblood fumbled, allowing a rather pointed pause to form in the conversation. "Do you know everyone in town? I did come from Four Fronds. Very astute of you." He answered finally, sassily. It was a tease he didn't imagine would penetrate the lowblood's thick little skull, but he would feign playfulness if it managed to somehow, and stepped forth quickly to catch up with his new friend. "Lead on, then." He willingly followed, not bothering to bid his lusus to remain close.

"Has anyone given you any trouble tonight? It looks like a lot of trolls are taking advantage of the disaster." He asked curiously as they set off for the tent, glancing about with a hawk-like gaze. There were other trolls everywhere, though most of the bigger ones seemed to be ignoring them, something Chigur was rather glad for.

“I memorize a lot of where people live, but I wouldn’t say I know everyone,” said Ganyma, flattered. With every step he looked around the crumbling city, watching for cracks and other treasures to collect and donate.

“Strochio scares the older kids away. Plus, I can beat up any kid my size no problem! No one messes with the relief,” he boasted. He was on a roll. Ganyma kicked a can to gauge its relief-ability. It was empty and broken. Not as great of a prize as his tarp, of course. It certainly paled in comparison. And now he was leading a highblood to the station! If Ganyma didn’t get a badge or something at the end of this, he’d be very put out.

The boy had to quicken his pace to keep up with Strochio, who looked almost like he wanted to leave the little purpleblood and his charge behind. “Hold up!” Piped Ganyma. “Wait for me ‘n Chigur! And… Chigur’s lusus!”

Strochio swiveled his head around on his neck, eyes flashing dangerously. He kept moving at pace, barely slowing up. Ganyma seemed satisfied.

Chigur sneered at the response he got, not surprised at all at the tealblood's lack of subtlety, but at least Ganyma seemed loyal to the cause. His expression grew even sourer as Ganyma called for his ugly, hulking lusus to slow down, and immediately picked up his pace, not willing to be shown up in terms of speed. He shot a glare back at his own lusus, who fluffed out, and willed his short little legs to keep up. "We're fine! Almost there, anyway!" He said with some amount of relief as he caught sight of a crowd toward the end of the block.

Banners that matched the fliers flew, and there were the booths for donation collections, not to mention the place was crawling with drones. The sight made Chigur speed up even more, and his eyes narrowed a little bit as he eyed Ganyma. It was almost tempting to ask the kid if he wanted to stick around, but Chigur thought better of it. He had his own ideas on how he was going to help and Ganyma didn't neatly fit into any of them.

"Well, Ganyma, thank you for showing me the way. Might have wandered around for -ever- if it hadn't been for you." He said, turning to face his tealblooded acquaintance one they were near the crowd. "I need to go, uhh, sign up, yes, but perhaps we'll bump into one another again after."