Looking for a new home

[ryocker]

Nightfall had struck the island once again, the graveyard becoming less inviting than usual- not that it was inviting anyway. Lighting his way using the flame on his head, Wax- with a tightly sealed bag holding his newly bought Laptop and supplies- trudged through the silent lands, looking around.

"A human burial ground..." he muttered, looking around. "I can't say I've never seen one- heh, my whole group loves to hang around and light them up." Tensly looking down in thought, Wax said, "...This place might be a good location to finally settle down, maybe as a way to honor the deseased..."

[doctorzero]

Click.

Wilhelm grunted as he lit the lighter. Sure, it was terrible as a source of light, but he didn't have much else.

It had been several months since he had arrived on the island. After that initial mishap, he had considered leaving immediately, but he had realized that there was a pretty good chance that someone would arrive on the island with the information he needed.

Was it a huge gamble? Definitely. But it was all he had at the moment.

He gazed around the graveyard morosely. Why did he come here again? Oh, yeah--he had gone on an errand to get something called wedlock for someone. Apparently it only grew somewhere in this graveyard.

To be honest, he thought it was bull. He knew full well that wedlock was not a plant. He wondered if the person had meant hemlock instead, but had mixed it up with wedlock. He had no idea how you could mix up a plant with marriage, of all things, but since he had been bored, he figured he might as well roll with it.

He just hoped that there weren't any zombies here. He hated dealing with the undead. They were so difficult to rekill.

He pulled out his handgun and re-checked it, just to be sure, then re-holstered it. "Right, wedlock..." he muttered. "I swear to God, I take the weirdest jobs..."

[ryocker]

Wax kept looking around- man, the more graves he saw, the sorrier he felt. He'd caused a lot of grief a long time ago when he was a ruffian, but even though he was past that, seeing all of those graves... Embers were falling out of his eyes, it was so disheartening. "Man, if I keep this up I'm gonna burn my new laptop to bits," he whined, placing the sealed bag on the ground for the time being.

Still blubbering a bit, he looked up- man that was a nice moon. Pretty enough to almost make you forget the City wasn't too far away, but it didn't matter. Smiling, he suddenly twitched- and made a sneeze-like outburst with the craters on his shoulders erupting two huge shots of fire, getting anyone who was close's attention.

[doctorzero]

Wilhelm whipped out his shotgun at the explosion. The hell was that?!

The flames died down too quickly for him to see properly, but he could notice a silhouette as the light faded. It didn't seem to be humanoid--rather misshapen with two arms. There seemed to be some sort of flame on its head, but he wasn't able to clearly see it.

Normally, his first instinct would be to shoot first and examine the body later, but he had seen some of the island's more unusual denizens. He didn't want to wind up ruining someone's evening stroll by accident.

Unless of course it happened to be hostile. In which case he would be able to shoot it.

"All right, who's there?" he shouted. "If you're hostile I won't hesitate to fill you with lead!"

[ryocker]

Wax looked straight at the guy- Oh man, this human seemed miffed. "I'm only hostile once provoked!" he called, getting closer. Night vision- one of the few perks to having fireballs for eyes. Once Wax had gotten closer, he slid around the man, leaving a trail as he warped around him. "Hmm, you're an interesting one," Wax sighed, trying to be observative.

Once that was over, he just slid back in front of the man, a few fireballs ejecting from the craters on his shoulders to help illuminate things for Wilhelm. "The name's Waxevius Lantern, king of the Ignewax division on this Island." He grinned, extending his hand. "And you are?"

[doctorzero]

Wilhelm aimed his gun directly at the...thing's... eyes. A sentient candle? Now he's seen everything.

He kept his aim as the candleman circled him, ready to start pumping him with bullets if he made the wrong move, but from the way he acted, he didn't seem to be all that hostile.

He didn't put down the gun as Wax introduced himself. He had no idea what an Ignewax was, let alone the fact that they had a king.

"...Strahl. Wilhem Strahl," he said shortly. He still didn't lower the shotgun. He didn't trust this guy. He didn't trust ANYONE on this rock, come to think of it.

[ryocker]

Wax raised one of his eyes up. "Uh... alright, Wilhelm," he replied, a bit shocked. "You can put the gun down, by the way- It won't kill me."

Backing away, Wax sighed. "Didn't mean to be a bother to you- I'm just looking around anyway. Trying to find a place to stay, you see."

[doctorzero]

Wilhelm still didn't lower the gun--he'll buy that it wouldn't kill him when he tried to--but he gave Wax a look-over. Sure, he was a giant candle, but he didn't seem dangerous...at the moment, anyway.

He slowly put away the shotgun, though he kept his hand near the holster of his handgun in case he needed it. "Right. In a graveyard? Nice piece of real estate, if you don't want neighbors. Anyway, since you're here, mind if I ask you something? You know if something called wedlock grows around here?"

[ryocker]

Wax looked at him weird. "...I'm about as new to this neck of the woods as anybody else- But uh, I think they said it wrong..."

Even wax knew this much- Wedlock wasn't a plant. You don't live for hundreds of years without discovering something like that.

[doctorzero]

Wilhelm swore under his breath--he wasn't in the least bit surprised.

"Well, back to the drawing board," he grumbled, turning away. "Well, if that's all, I'll be seeing you around." He began to walk off--

Wait a minute.

He turned to Wax, puzzled. "Okay...you said you were looking for a place to stay? There's a bunch of apartments and crap at the city. Why pick this dump?"

Okay, sure, Wax was essentially a giant candle, and candles--sentient or otherwise--probably wouldn't look out of place in a graveyard, but he couldn't help but ask.

[ryocker]

Wax looked to the side. "I guess... Independence and all that jazz. Besides... I can't exactly sleep in a bed- I'd burn the apartments to a crisp if I did that." he chuckled, pointing to the flame on his head. "On top of that, it'd be too easy to set something ablaze, or activate a smoke detector and a springler system. I'm... not exactly willing for my flame to get extinguished."

He looked back up- Well, there was another reason... "That, and I just feel more at home out here. It just feels natural to me, you know?"

[doctorzero]

"Yeah, I can see what you mean," Wilhelm replied. "If I was a giant candle I wouldn't feel out of place here either."

He sighed and turned away. "Well, I'll be--"

And another thought occured to him.

"One last thing," he declared, turning on his heel to face Wax. He pulled out a worn photograph and showed it to him. "You seen this kid? Name's Luke, he's probably older than he looks in this now."

The photo showed a boy around ten or eleven, with blue eyes and yellow hair, wearing a red shirt and blue pants. He seemed to be running to somewhere.

[ryocker]

Wax looked the old photo down. Not the first time he's seen one- Photos were everywhere where he came from. "Hmm... Sorry, can't say I've seen anyone like that before. I may've, but i can't remember if i did."

He sighed rather loudly. "Man, one of my first chances to be helpful and I blow it astoundingly..." he drooped, looking Wilhelm in the eyes. "Well, sorry I couldn't be of more help to ya, Wil. Guess I better get going..."

[doctorzero]

Dammit, another dead end. Wilhelm took back the photo. "You're not the first one, pal, don't worry. Most of the schmucks on this rock are useless anyway except for that kid living next to that church, and even then..." He sighed. "Never mind. I'm gonna keep looking for this imaginary plant. You go do...whatever." He waved his hand vaguely. "Give me a shout if you find that wedlock thing."

[ryocker]

Before he turned to leave completely, Wax gave him one last look. "...Alright, what exactly is the stuff needed for? Who wanted you to get it, anyway?"