FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Bandle City was finally in sight. Leaving from the Piltover port nearly 4 hours ago, the commercial ferry to the Yordle Lands was finally nearing its destination. For some, this is a routine business commute; for others, it gives one the opportunity to see family and friends after months of no contact. Sure, there was always mail, but nothing beats the experience of seeing your loved ones in person. After a grueling school year filled with less explosions and more paperwork than the diminutive, tan-furred yordle cared for, Ziggs was finally one of those people.

As a professor at the Yordle Academy of Science & Progress, Ziggs was obligated to teach a certain number of weeks in the school year. Normally, this meant that they'd be spread out over the year, with a month break thrown in to celebrate the Bandle City Festival in the middle of the year, but Ziggs forced all his teaching time into eight months so that he could get the entire summer semester off. Of course, this meant that he was constantly busy, either in class lecturing his students or in his office marking assignments. Ugh, marking... How he loathed grading papers. It was a necessary evil to show that his teaching methods were effective tools of learning for his students. However, the requirements forced on his projects and tests by the university made it very time consuming when it came down to see just how his class fared. As his time was precious, he eventually became accustomed to managing it efficiently, handing back fully marked exams to his class within a few days (much to the delight of his students).

Ziggs steps above deck with his suitcase full of belongings. It wasn't much, just some toiletries, various clothes, his favourite bomb (he never leaves home without it!), his identification, and some photos of himself and his bestest bud, Rumble. They were a bit worn and dog-eared at the corners, but, seeing as the other yordle refuses to visit any place with humans, this was the only way Ziggs got to see his friend. They pictures themselves weren't of them at extravagant events or the like, rather, at places like the junkyard or out in the woods. There's the one of Rumble standing atop the scrap monster sculpture he made of rusting machine parts, the one where the scrap monster collapsed with the yordle barely avoiding getting his hand impaled on a nail, both of them standing atop a pile of logs at the nearby lumber mill, both of them struggling to find their footing as the logs roll away... Yes, it seems that no matter what the two friends do, danger always seems to creep its way into their activities. They wouldn't have it any other way. In fact, they often invite it!

To Rumble, the junkyard was his home away from home, even if it was a ten minute walk away from his house. It was usually where he stored and upgraded his mechanized suit, Tristy, only taking it home with him when it rains. He was super proud of it, monumentally closer to the vision of the ideal mechanized suit he dreamt about often, compared to where he started. Whenever he wasn't duking it out on the Rift, he was spending almost all his free time working on his suit. This could include buffing out any damage from previous altercations, maybe applying a waterproof coat of paint to prevent rusting, oh, of course it means attaching new weapons and trying them out! His excitement always led to him forgetting to disconnect the battery when doing so, but the electric tingle that ran through the yordle when the testing commenced far outweighed the electric shock he'd otherwise receive. It was just a shame that there wasn't anyone seemingly interested in his handiwork; the amount of effort he put into maintaining and improving his creation would be lost to everyone. Well, everyone except one person, that is.

Ziggs had made his way to the side of the ship where the passengers would exit. The animated yordle was so wound up the he let out a cackle of excitement that he tried (and failed) to suppress. Eight long months were finally over, and it was only a matter of minutes before the ferry was docked and those on board got to depart. "Come on, come on." He mumbled under his breath. The humanoid cat-like creature anxiously tapped his fingers on his suitcase, waiting for when the go-ahead would be announced. He craned his neck around so he could see the city through the railing.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of Piltover, Bandle City seemed relatively quaint. He was so used to all the noise coming from the machinery, the vehicles, even the people, that the sound of the moving water still being heard even though the ship was inches from the shoreline astounded him. That's not to say that Bandle City was developmentally lacking, it was quite the opposite, in fact. Ziggs had noticed that the forested outskirts occupied less area than when he last visited and that the city was expanding outwards. Upwards too, as he also observed that buildings were starting to get taller as well. It was plainly obvious where the older part of the city and the newer one met.

Finally! After what seemed like an eternity to Ziggs, the passengers were finally able to exit. He politely maneuvered his way through the crowd of people filing out onto the dock and hurriedly made his way to the main area of the port. He was taken aback once he got to the street, however, as he wasn't used to it being paved over. It was then that he also noticed the increased foot traffic compared to years previous. He'd chalk it up to tourists, except... there were none. Visitors to the Yordle Lands were very rare, so it made it even more amazing that everyone he saw was a yordle of a different shape or size than those around them. It was incredible; after all the time it's existed, Bandle City is finally living up to the 'city' aspect of its name. He had to smirk at that.

He found himself briskly jogging through familiar roads as he made his way into heart of the older part of the city. Everything was just like he remembered it: the schools he went to when he was younger, the restaurant district, even the world famous central marketplace in all its glory (it was really only famous to the yordles). Ziggs was eagerly anticipating visiting all these places again to relive his old memories, but right now there was only one thing on his mind. The only question was where he was supposed to go. He thought about it thoroughly, until he noticed how the parts of the street that weren't covered by any of the shop awnings were damp. Coupled with the soft, dewy aroma in the air, he came to the conclusion that it rained recently. He immediately decided where he was meant to go and booked it to the old residential district. Normally he'd notice how his suitcase was making his arms sore, but the nervous energy he accumulated while travelling here was only increasing with every 'clop' his boot made as he neared closer to his destination.

He began to count the house numbers when he reached the street he was looking for. He wasn't looking for his house, though he'd stop there too to visit his folks. "110, 112..." He muttered to himself. "Was it 134? Yeahyeahyeah, that's right, near the end of the road." He quickened his pace, clutching his suitcase to his chest. He finally reached the 134 before he stopped dead in his tracks; this was the right house, but it looked off. For one thing, the houses in the old part of the city were built there generations ago. They were all relatively uniform until their tenants began personalizing their abodes. These days it was easy to tell where you were as everyone remembered different houses as landmarks in their mental maps. The thing that was different about this house compared to those around it was that it was recently renovated, a garage was added that wasn't there last year. There was a considerable attempt to blend the old part of the house with the as a means of unifying it, but it was easy to see where the original house ended and the extension began.

Ziggs padded up to the open entrance of the garage. He already had an idea of what he'd find there, now it was a matter of verifying his prediction. Since Bandle City houses some of the smallest sentient beings in all the land, it was designed in mind to be compact. There was never a thought of any vehicles driving on any of the roads (aside from maybe a bicycle or scooter), so a garage is actually an extremely uncommon thing to come across here. This could only point to one conclusion, and Ziggs was sure of what it could be. Peering into the spacious room, he could see that it's being used as a workshop. The young yordle's face lights up as he sees his best friend Rumble welding a metal plate onto his mechanized contraption, Tristy. He smirked when he noticed that Rumble was wearing a welding mask, something he never used to do in years past. One too many incidents resulting in singed fur taught them quickly that a little safety is actually a good thing. At any other time Ziggs would rush right in and hug Rumble, but the combination of him wielding an operational welding torch and being completely focused on finishing his project mean that both of them could be at risk of getting hurt. As much as he hated the thought, he waited until Rumble was done.

Apparently that wasn't much longer as Rumble extinguished the flame and began to get up. "Hey kid, could ya move?" His voice was muffled from the welding mask that he was currently taking off. "You're standing in my-" He gasped in shock when he saw Ziggs standing there with his suitcase at his side. The other yordle took this as an opportunity and launched himself at his friend, with Rumble barely catching him while staying upright.

"Rumble! I missed you so much!" He embraced the blue-furred yordle with both arms.

"Hey, I missed you too, ya big sellout." He chuckled. "How come you're here already? I thought your boat comes in a week from now."

Ziggs lets Rumble go and faces him. "My finals happened on the first day of exam week, so I rushed to get all the grades in. Say, are your parents in? I wanna say hi while I'm here."

"Oh, they actually moved out." Rumble stated nonchalantly. Ziggs, however, was not expecting to hear this.

"They've lived here for as long as I can remember. What do you mean they moved out?"

"They always promised they'd leave me the place once I proved I was able to live on my own. I could pretty much handle any of the housework on my own, so the only thing that was left was paying bills. So I got a job a couple months back and, true to their word, they moved out. I own the place now!"

"Are you serious?!" Ziggs was overjoyed with the news of his friend's independence. "That's amazing! I have my own place in Piltover, but an apartment could never compare to having your own house! Man, we gotta party tonight. I'm just gonna head over to my parent's house and meet with them before coming back." Rumble cocked his head, Ziggs should've heard the news by now.

"Uh, dude? Your parents left for their vacation yesterday morning." Ziggs stopped mid-step and pivoted on his heel to face Rumble again.

"Vacation? I didn't know they went on vacation."

"Yeah, they're gonna be in Ionia for a month. They mentioned they wanna get away from all the excitement here."

"Ha! Excitement in Bandle? Maybe at night. When did they send their letter?"

"About a week ago, I think." Rumble brushed his hand through the bristles of his mohawk. Ziggs then began fidgeting with his hands and talking to himself. To an outsider, it might seem the slightly smaller yordle has a case of the crazies (which would be an honest assumption considering his explosive personality) but he's actually calculating how long a letter from Bandle City would take to get through the bureaucratic nightmare that is the Piltovian postal service.

"That means I'd be getting their message... Ah, tomorrow at noon... Useless!" Ziggs cursed through gritted teeth. "Out of all the services the government oversees, you'd think our one and only means of communication with all the other cities would be a higher priority than it already is."

"Yeah, I gotta say, it is a little strange seeing a Piltovian ship with sails on it still."

"It still has sails?!" Ziggs gripped the side of his goggles in frustration. "All of our other ships are run by motors, it's much more effective than waiting for the wind to pick up. I can't believe the post office is that underfunded."

"Ah well, you know now." Rumble puts his arm around his buddy's shoulders. "Your parents aren't gonna be back for a bit, so why don't you stay here?" In an instant Ziggs' smile returned to his face.

"That's a great idea! I can go crash in your parent's old room."

"Aw crap, I forgot." Rumble rubs behind one of his ears. "I converted their bedroom into a tool storage room. I don't even have their bed anymore." He shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever, you can sleep with me. My bed's big enough for the both of us. Come on." Rumble motions the tan-furred yordle to the master bedroom at the other end of the house. Once there Ziggs places his suitcase on the ground and disrobes his armour on top of it. He shakes his head back and forth after taking his helmet off; he's never fond of helmet-hair. He slides his goggles off, careful not to get it caught on his earring. This reveals his emerald coloured eyes for the rest of the world to see. He has to blink a few times as his goggle lenses are just tinted enough to make light dimmer.

"Man, it feels good to finally get this stuff off." Ziggs states while rubbing his left eye.

"Oh, feel free to use the dresser if you want. I've got all my stuff in the closet already." He helps his friend bring his armour pieces over to the dresser by the door and places them in the bottommost drawers. When all is said and done, Ziggs is clad in just a loose t-shirt and some shorts.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh." He falls backwards onto the bed. "Freedom at last. I honestly forgot how comfy your bed is."

"I actually got a new mattress. I figured I might as well treat myself since I've got some disposable income."

"Oh, that's right. I never did ask where you got your job." Ziggs pushes himself upright. "Wait, don't tell me, I know this-"

"The junkyard!" Rumble beams proudly while places his hands on his hips.

"I knew it, I didn't even have to ask." Ziggs chuckles. "I'm still having a hard time believing that you've got an honest 9-5 job."

"Well, I've got flexible hours so I wouldn't say it's as strict as you're thinking it is."

"What do you do exactly?"

"Oh man, it's great, you'd love it." One could feel the excitement emanating outwards from the yordle. "So my boss, the owner, he's got me moving the scrap parts around to appropriate piles to make it easier to recycle them, if possible of course. Though, it's gotten harder in the last little while. Since construction began not too long ago, all the waste is making its way here and turning the junkyard into an actual landfill. Some of the stuff they bring over is too heavy for me to lift on my own, so I need to use the machinery to lift and sort the debris into their piles. Oh, but the best part is that any scrap I want, I keep! There's so much cool stuff that people are just throwing away. I just put an air conditioning unit on Tristy so that I can walk around in the middle of summer and not worry about it."

"And you get paid well for all this?"

"Oh sure, it's not a job people normally want to do so I get paid more than what the standard wage is just because people weren't applying. Also all the physical labour too."

"Huh, people can afford to be picky when looking for employment?" Ziggs inquires. "I remember when we were finishing up school, neither of us could find anything because there were never any openings anywhere."

"Well, that's all changing since they started expanding the city. A lot of jobs opened up in construction, though we didn't initially have the tech necessary to accomplish what was planned. So, a lot of jobs opened up to build all the machinery required, and, well, here we are."

"Huh, doubt I'd ever see myself in construction. Making machinery, maybe."

"Heh." Rumble chortles. "Given your explosive personality, I'd doubt you'd last long in that field. Oh hey, lemme fix something up for ya. I bet you're hungry from your trip."

Roughly fifteen minutes later Rumble was frying up some scrambled eggs on his stove for the both of them to eat. While strange to some given the time of day, this was due to a lack of food in the house as Rumble rarely ate at home much these days. Ziggs didn't care, the familiar aroma of the eggs felt comforting to him. While this was going on, Ziggs was regaling Rumble with stories of all the weird stuff he got to experience this past school year.

"It was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. I didn't think it was possible for Heimerdinger to get that angry."

"I still can't believe his first name is Cecil." Rumble snickered. "That's so dorky."

"And then there's these guys, they're from 'The Church of the Glorious Evolved'," Ziggs uses his hands to emphasize their faux importance, "They keep hanging around the school, trying to get people to join their dumb cult. They keep loitering and disturbing the students just trying to get to and from the school, so we chase them away when they show up."

"Oh yeah, I remember you mentioning them last time. They're headed by that weird, metal guy."

"Viktor."

"Yeah, that's him. They haven't gotten the message yet?"

"No!" Ziggs throws his hands up in frustration. "And they've only gotten more persistent over the course of the school year. We've complained to the Board of Education and are now waiting for approval for use of Sentry Bots. We're obviously not interested, so I don't know why they don't just proselytize elsewhere."

"Not a club you'd join?" Rumble smirked.

"It may mean that I bruise, but I much prefer flesh to metal. It's like, 'Oh, okay, you can upgrade yourself? Well I can feel emotions'. Man, they've gotten real pushy about it too." Ziggs pinches the bridge of his nose. "They keep saying stuff like, 'We have the right to stand here'. Yeah? Well, we have 'No Loitering' signs. It got to the point where we had to chase them away ourselves. Usually Corki handled it." As vexed as he was talking about this subject, he couldn't help himself grin and let out a few giggles. "There was this one time though, his copter malfunctioned and he had to run after them on foot. I couldn't help but laugh seeing these guys run away from someone half their size." Ziggs involuntarily let loose some guffaws upon recalling the odd situation.

"Oh, I bet he was right sore about his copter breaking down." Rumble mentioned while he turned the burner on his stove off.

"He's in it so much that he says he feels naked without it."

"It's a good thing Bandle's small enough for me to walk everywhere or else I might feel the same way, riding around in Tristy all day." He brings the pan of scrambled eggs over to the small table where Ziggs was seated. He uses the spatula to scrape the eggs onto both of their plates, leaving a bit left in the pan. "Oh yeah, you want a drink?"

"Milk, please." Rumble sets two glasses on the table and pours each of them a tall glass, emptying the carton in the process. He's about to toss it in the trash when he notices writing on the top part of it.

"Aw jeez, this expires in a couple days, and I've still got two cartons left in there."

"You don't drink milk much?"

"Not as much as I thought I was going to." Rumble replies as he seats himself. "I don't know if you saw my fridge at all, but it's pretty bare right now. I thought that I might save some money by cooking for myself at home, but I spend so much time away from home that I just end up getting food in town."

Ziggs shrugs his shoulders. "Eh, I'm the same way. It's only rarely that I have time to actually prepare a meal for myself, so I usually head to the cafeteria if I'm hungry. A lot of people do the same thing." He scoops some of the eggs into his mouth, noticing something strange about them. "Did you put garlic in these?"

"Just a little. I wanted to give the eggs some flavour."

"Uh, I think this is more than just a little."

"Alright, I'm sorry. I happen to like garlic, and I don't have much else around here." The blue-furred yordle responds flatly.

"It's okay." Ziggs laughs. "I'll live. Though I did think they tasted a little burnt."

Rumble scrunches his face at his friend's review of the food. "Yeah, it was sticking to the pan so I kept turning the heat down." He picks a charred piece of egg off his plate. "The next thing I plan on doing is updating this kitchen. A lot of the stuff in here has been obsolete for years."

"Heh, I bet it's older than you." Rumble rolled his eyes.

"Some stuff IS older than me. My parents always told me how they got the blender as a present from my mom's parents when they moved out."

"I honestly find it hard to believe that something that disgustingly yellow actually sold at any point in time." Ziggs commented while shoveling food into his mouth.

"Dude, you're not gonna believe this," Rumble snickered, "But I found the original box downstairs when I was cleaning up the basement. The box shows that its base is supposed to be completely white." This caused Ziggs to recoil in disgust. "I know, right? I don't think I could find anything anywhere that could clean those stains."

"Well it doesn't have to be a bad thing." The tan-furred yordle cleans the crumbs off his plate. "I'm sure there's some place that would love to take in relics from the past."

"I think they'd prefer something slightly less dented."

"Oh yeah! Like from that time you put an entire peach in there without taking the pit out." Ziggs chuckles.

"Man, I was young. I didn't know any better." Rumble dismissively waves his hand at his friend. "My folks were none too pleased. I'm glad it didn't break, but we were never able to fix the bend in the blade." He finishes what's left on his plate and gathers all the dirty dishes into the sink. "Hey, I was thinking, we could walk around and visit some of the places we used to hang out at when we were younger."

"Yeah, I wanted to do that when I hopped off the boat. First, I wanna hit up the restroom."

"Oh. You're gonna wanna use the one in the basement." He motions around the nearby corner. "The one up here is having plumbing problems so I disconnected the water to it. Meet me outside when you're done."

~~~

The two of them make their way to the central marketplace. Since some residents have returned home for the summer, it's gotten a lot busier than usual. Rumble sees this happen every year so he pays it no mind, but for Ziggs, all he can reference is the memories of years past, so everything seems crowded to him. In addition, he also failed to notice that when he zipped by earlier, the shops he remembered from even a few years ago weren't where they were supposed to be. A coffee shop where there used to be a fish stand, a flower shop where there used to be a bakery, hell, even a real estate agent where there used to be a deli.

"Wow, everything's so different now." Ziggs mumbles, awe inspired. "So, is there no place where we can do groceries now?"

"Actually, if we walk one street over, there's a large building. In there is where all the farmers sell their goods."

"Huh. So what's with all the stores relocating?" Ziggs asks.

"Well, with the city expanding, people are starting to realize that we don't need to be so bunched together anymore. Everything's still here, just more spaced out. There's a lot of new shops that opened up; there's pretty much something for everyone. You wanna check any of them out?"

"Um, maybe later." The young yordle could feel his heart racing. Sure, it'll take a bit before he learns where everything is again, but he now gets to relive the exhilaration of discovering new favourite places to hang out. He's seen some of these kinds of shops back in Piltover, but he never really had the time to try something new. Now that he's on break, he might just do that. "What else has changed?"

"So far, not much else. I know there's a new restaurant that opened up about a half a year ago. The guy who runs it apparently studied in Noxus."

Ziggs crinkled his nose. "That doesn't sound good. I've heard that any yordle that comes back from Noxus ends up messed in the head."

"Well I guess he did something right because he's actually pretty friendly. Plus, the food not half bad either. Oh, and their desserts are amazing. They import them; I can't remember the brand though." Rumble crosses his arms. "I wanna say it's 'Sinful... Succulence'? I'm not entirely sure, but they're incredible. You gotta try them at some point."

"Hmm, alright. Hey, what about the new part of town? What's all there?"

"Truthfully we're not supposed to go there yet, ya know, still under construction and such. I could guarantee that wouldn't stop people, but there isn't even anything open there yet, so there's no point in going." Rumble thinks for a second. "We could drop by my work and I could show you around there."

"Hey, yeah!" Ziggs' smile returns in full force. "I haven't been there in ages."

The two yordles backtrack a bit as they make their way to the junkyard. They happen to pass by the local preschool, where Ziggs notices just how many kids there are in there. He remembers when he was that young, it was much less crowded. Thinking about how many young families there must be in the city today, it makes sense that they'd have to expand; there's simply not enough room for everyone anymore.

To pass the time on their walk, Rumble talks about some of the other places that have opened up. Bandle City finally got its first theatre. Rumble recalls how the newspaper was saying that the intention was to bring non-yordle performers to the city in an effort to boost tourism, and so far has kept to their word and booked their first human act this summer. He also mentions that it really big enough for them to perform in. He then talks about this games store that opened up not too far from his house. He stopped by and happened to notice a bunch of board games they played when they were growing up, as well as other non-board related games.

"There's these kids that go in all the time, and they're all playing this card game; it's some kinda fantasy game. They always buy these packs of cards whenever they come in hoping they can get the best ones, or whatever. And then they'll go and actually play with them. I've looked at it, but it doesn't make any sense to me."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about." Ziggs nods. "I see students playing it during their breaks. Obviously we don't allow it in class, it'd be too distracting."

"Oh wow, they're playing it too? Well shit, I thought it was just a kid's game."

"Oh yeah, it's everywhere. Apparently it's pretty strategic, though I've never played so I wouldn't know. I heard some of those cards can get pretty expensive too, easily the cost of a textbook or two."

"Are you serious?" Rumble scoffs. "I mean, I've seen kids spend several months of allowance before, but I didn't think they'd be quite that costly. That's a scam!"

"My sentiments exactly. Though, to be fair, the generation before us thought what we liked doing was a waste of time and money too."

"Well, to be fairer, what we specifically liked doing didn't cost us a dime. Plus it also got both of us jobs that we love. Speaking of which..." They rounded a corner and were greeted with a sign that read 'Bandle City Landfill'. "We're here!"

Ziggs cocked his head. "Since when did they change the sign?"

"A little bit after you left last year. The city council thought that 'landfill' sounded nicer than 'junkyard', even though we're not doing that here. But whatever Mayor Jadefellow wants, he gets, right? Anyway, let's go in." The two of them walked through the gate. Immediately Ziggs noticed how much neater everything was compared to his youth. It used to be one indiscriminate pile containing everything, but now it's all organized according to type of material. All except one mound.

"Say, what's with the one heap of junk down at the end there?" Ziggs pointed to the last pile on the right.

"Oh no..." Rumble sighs in exasperation. "That is our appropriately named 'junk pile'. It's all the stuff that doesn't belong in any other pile because it's a bunch of junk attached to other junk. The idea is that we can break the stuff down into their base components and then put them in their correct pile to be either reused or recycled, but for some reason we can't detach them. Sometimes our specialized tools just can't separate the parts from each other, so we just leave it, but also sometimes we come back to something after a while and then it decides to cooperate with us. It can be random at times, so I don't know what to tell you. It's the bane of my job because of how frustrating it can be to even get some of this stuff to come apart."

"So wait, you reuse everything here?"

"A lot of it, yeah. It's why I don't like this being called a landfill. We're not burying all the garbage and covering it with dirt. We do our best to keep this stuff in use. It doesn't always work like that though, some stuff we can't work with anymore so we have to recycle it. Like the wood for instance: those that are more magically inclined are able to bring the wood back to a state where it becomes capable of bearing a load again. If it's too far gone, then we send it to get pulped so they can use it for paper and stuff."

"Wow. Do you do that for everything?" Ziggs asked, dumbfounded.

"As much as we can. The metal can be melted down, though I do take my fair share from that pile. The clay and concrete pile can be ground down and then used again. It's weird though, some people will actually come and ask if they can take the broken and chipped bricks with them. Personally, I would never build anything with them since their structural integrity has been compromised, but they seem to like the older aesthetic."

"So what happens if something if something organic makes its way in here?"

"Mm, we have a compost for fruits and veggies, but that's off site. If we get bones from steak or fish or something, then we have to bury them. Also dairy because it smells really bad, especially if it's been in the sun for too long."

"So when does new stuff get dropped off?" Ziggs was honestly astonished that he had so many questions about the processes behind the operations at the landfill. It was never something he thought about before.

"Usually whenever. This isn't really a place that collects people's garbage; that would be the dump on the other side of town. We deal more so with industrial debris, which means that it's been steadily getting busier since the expansion started."

"Why not combine the two locations?"

"Because we genuinely try to make sure everything we get doesn't go to waste. The stuff at the dump what we can't really do anything with. It would take magic we're not capable of wielding to be able to get rid of it, let alone reuse it. Nothing we can really do about it." He turns to face the junk pile. "Hey, I think they came in and dropped stuff off this morning. Let's check it out" The two friends make their way over.

"Hey, some of this stuff looks brand new." Ziggs observes.

"Yeah..." Rumble rubs the back of his head. "The people building the new part of town aren't that great at it yet. They're clumsy and inefficient, so they break stuff often and it comes here." He then has a glance at the top of the pile and has an idea. "Race ya up there?"

"You're on." Ziggs grinned from ear to ear.

The two of them hastily began to climb the pile of junk, often losing their grip as they weren't worrying if the mound stayed sturdy or not. It didn't take long before they both got the hang of it and started ascending with ease. They were neck and neck with each other before Ziggs lost his footing and slid down to the bottom on a sheet of scrap metal, screaming 'Nooooooooooo!' along the way. Rumble, meanwhile, made it to the top.

"I am the king of Trash Mountain!" He threw both fists into the air in victory. "How's defeat taste, loser?"

"Fantastic." Ziggs replied sarcastically while helping himself up. He looked up and saw Rumble sliding down the pile to join him.

"Well that was fun. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He shook off any dirt he accumulated on his ride down. After a quick glance to his left, he happened to notice a yordle-sized full length mirror leaning against a broken cement column behind Rumble. "Hey, check this thing out."

"Hmm?" He catches his reflection in the mirror. "Oh cool! See? This is what I'm talking about when I say that people chuck perfectly good stuff." He inspects the mirror briefly. "I mean, it's not cracked, or even chipped for that matter. The frame needs a new coat of paint, and maybe some varnish, but that's about it." He pulls it away from the rest of the wreckage and brings it closer to Ziggs. "Here, help me take this home."

"What?" Ziggs asks, puzzled. "What do you want a mirror for?"

"Just cause. I get to keep whatever I want from this place, so why not keep something that's in near perfect condition?"

"Alright then." Ziggs shrugs and then lifts the other end of the mirror, the two of them walking back to Rumble's house.

~~~

Once back inside the house, they situate the mirror against the wall of Rumble's bedroom. The blue-furred yordle mentions how he'd like to build a stand for the mirror so that it's not on an angle all the time. Ziggs still isn't sure why his friend wants a full length mirror since the one in his bathroom downstairs is more than adequate for his needs. Rumble says he's thinking of selling it once it's fixed up since it's already in pretty good condition. No doubt some appearance obsessed yordle would show interest in it.

As dusk was beginning to encroach the city, the two friends decided it would be best to just relax indoors and chat until bedtime approached. Rumble was enthralled by the many tales Ziggs recalled over the school year at the Academy. He tells of all the new technology being developed, the advancements of hextech artifacts (which the smaller yordle has dabbled with, to predictable, explosive results, of course), the increase in trade with other regions, and even what's popular in the Piltovian fashion world.

"So do exciting things happen a lot in Piltover?" Rumble asked, awe-inspired.

Ziggs sighed. "Truthfully, no. Once the day ends and you go back to being a regular person it gets pretty mundane. I mean, there's always nightclubs and stuff you could go to, but that's never been my scene. I prefer being around people I already know, plus I like being able to see people face-to-face which will never happen with anyone other than a yordle."

"Mm, I get that." Rumble nodded in agreement.

"I've also noticed that some people are still kinda weird around yordles, so I try to avoid those kinds of interactions when I can." Ziggs shrugged. "They tend to be okay when I'm getting groceries and stuff, so I don't mind it too much."

"So it's relatively peaceful then?"

"Why? You thinking of moving?" Ziggs snickered.

"Not in this lifetime!" Rumble shot back. "Housing's probably way more expensive, crime's gotta be worse, and come on man... you know I think humans suck."

"I don't know the full story about the other two, but the police actually keep the peace fairly well. I mean, until Jinx decides to pay a visit, of course. Then the city goes into panic mode for a couple days." Ziggs rubbed his forehead. "There was one time she was making her way to the Academy; all staff were armed and ready to defend the building. We were all outside by the time she got to us, but when she saw us she dropped her gun, brought her hands to her face and started making weird noises. I thought she was having a stroke!" He couldn't help but chuckle when recalling the memory. "She rushed over to Heimerdinger and picked him up by his cheeks. He nearly blasted her on the spot when she kept saying how adorable he was! In the end she agreed to leave us alone, but man that was a terrifying experience. You can never predict what she's going to do."

"I'll try to remember not to be alone with her." Rumble said before yawning. "Oh man, I'm beat." He hopped off the bed and stripped down to his briefs, throwing his dirty clothes in his hamper. Ziggs was about to do the same, until he noticed his friend posing in front of his mirror. It wasn't something he ever did, so the sight of it elicited a couple laughs from the tan-furred yordle.

"What are you doing?" Ziggs asked before joining Rumble in front of the mirror.

"Eh, I don't know. My job has me pretty active, so I kinda wanted to see for myself. I wasn't really expecting anything major." He joked. "Let's see what you've got under there."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up." Ziggs removed his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror. Looking back at him was a thin yordle with a flat stomach and lanky arms and legs. He shrugged when he saw his reflection. "I'm not sure what you were expecting."

"Honestly, compared to some of the teachers we had when we were younger, you've done quite well for yourself." He pats his buddy on the shoulder.

Ziggs rolls his eyes. "I promised myself I'd never let myself go like that. That's why I walk everywhere."

"And that's good on ya for keeping active." Rumble says as he pads over to his bed. "Now let's get some shut eye. I've thought of a lot of things for us to do tomorrow, so you're gonna wanna get some sleep."

Ziggs fully disrobes except for his underwear and hops into the spot of the bed that's adjacent to the wall. He can feel how soft the mattress is- he's guessing it's stuffed with goose down or something of the sort. As he covers himself up he realizes that there's more than enough space for the both of them, meaning that either of them could toss and turn without waking the other up.

Rumble extinguishes the remaining light in the room by flicking the switch on the lamp on his night stand. "Good night buddy."

"Good night Rumble."