Quoted By:
While they don’t exactly <span class="mu-i">melt</span> when they see how charming you can be, the neighbors don’t melt <span class="mu-i">you</span> either.
“Aye, I heard somethin’!” Begins the kindly old Mzz’goe’virr lady you speak to after getting chased away from your last two homes, “A group of mischief makers, t’was–marchin’ along like a grand parade, t’were!”
“They were trying to put out the CANDLES!” Stammers the wild-eyed Mox a few doors down, his massive, bloodshot eyes peering out from inside a room so sweltering you can feel it from the outside, “Th-they think their ice can extinguish them! B-but they can’t comprehend the power I hold! The candles are the source, you see, and once they felt my burning power they fled into the night like tottas!”
“Jus’ ‘avin’ a quiet evenin’ wit’ da’ mates, I was!” Explains the burly Gnok living at the end of the row with breath reeking of booze and some other substance you can’t quite place, “Strickly on the up an’ up, yeh? We was’ jussabout ta’ plan our jo-err, <span class="mu-i">picnic</span> later this week when they all commabout shoutin’ abou’ tradin’ fer’ eggs! Now I dunno nuffin’ about it personalike, but I knows when enuff bodies pile up the city gessinvolved, so me an’ the lads sat it out, seen?”
“If ye’ be wantin' ta’ stay safe in the Rags, me boy, stay away from the ole’ <span class="mu-b">GARMIT FACTORIES!</span>” The old lady says as she returns to brewing some foul-smelling tea in her kitchen, “No one be makin’ dresses ‘round ‘ere, no more, an’ it’s a right shame, ‘tis! Why, I used ta’ get them as presents from boys all over the neighborhood, I did–couldn’t keep ‘em away!”
“So cold… so cold, so cold, and yet they <span class="mu-i">THRIVE!</span>” You take a few nervous steps away from the Mox’s door as his volume grows! “Why do they shun the candlelight!? Why don’t they see that it’s not <span class="mu-s">LIGHT</span> we need, but <span class="mu-s">HEAT!?</span> Maybe I’ll show them… maybe I’ll visit and light some more candles, yes…”
“So really it was jus’ circumstanding evidence tha’ landed Jisco an’ I in the Clank,” Continues the hoodlum as some of his aforementioned ‘mates’ throw him a few ‘yeeah’s and ‘that’s roight’s from the safety of his home, “But while we wuzzere we ran inter anuvver Rags Lad: said ‘e was an <span class="mu-r">ICER</span>, e’ was… well now he’s not nuffin no more, haw! Followed ‘im ‘ome once we got released! Dunnede that koinder offority attention in this end, seen?”
With your only other would-be interviewees being a man who saw fit to breathe heavily at you until you left and a nest of stinging critters Volka helpfully defined as ‘Zitzers’, you opt to regroup at Mimut’s house and discuss your findings…
>CONTD.
