AKA Nixer
Stormguard Castle
“I'll have ye know my skin is as smooth as smooth can be. Snakes aren't coarse to the touch, lass. Rub on me all ye want,” Aileana crooned, before shifting attention to Dimitri. “And no Gorgon has as luscious locks as I. I guarantee it. I am myself—and that's all I can say of the matter. Although...”
One could imagine her ears perking up at his mention of having a craving for blood. If only they were visible while beneath her 'luscious' (read: matted) hair. It almost put into question if she even had ears or not. It wouldn't be the strangest thing about her.
“...a fellow has been found, it seems. I'm less partial to blood, lad—like to eat the things whole. The entire package in general is what attracts me. Though I'm not hungry enough for Nadia yet. That's your cue to thank me,” she pointedly looked towards the one in question, before continuing; “but in any case, I'd provide mine if it were consistent enough. Femsey here I'm sure will be obligated though. Go on, don't be shy,” she encouraged—beginning to push Nadia towards the vampire.
“Shouldnae be ashamed, laddie. We all have cravings sometimes. Just ask your sweetheart of a husband when ye do. He won't mind. He'll just stew in a light, bubbling vitriol as he ponders the morality of smothering ye and your unborn child in your sleep. But that'll pass if he's mature enough. Also if he loves ye I guess,” she shrugged in-between shoves.
Edited by Enirboreh on Nov 17th 2018 at 3:05:28 PM
bork
Stormguard Castle
If Maryland was going to go around as a Guardian, she realized modern clothes would actually help there. Not her old outfit though; she had the power to fix that problem too. Waving her hands over the clothes, they rearranged themselves in a moment from a button-down and slacks into a real sharp suit and tie, way more butch than she went with but hella commanding too. She kept her pigtails though. She realized she also didn't even need to take showers anymore! With a snap of her fingers she was clean and fragrant once more too.
Maryland had no idea what to do or where to go next, but figured some reparation council stuff was going to happen if they were summoned for it specifically. For now she was content to wander the halls, occasionally teleporting to experiment some more with that particular power. She saw Tibalt down one hall, and rather than just blink up on him she gave herself some room to announce herself with her footsteps. "Morning." She called out to him. "Sleep okay?"
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Farahelm
Huh. Choeun was more than surprised to have found the nest... and caught up with them... and not be winded. She didn't spot the cows though. And truth be told, despite growing up on video games did not quite feel the appeal of cutting through things that clearly thought and spoke."Hmph." Declining to attack the nest, she thrust her sword into the ground. C'mon now. Show me the cows. So no wind scar. Maybe she could connect with the land. Priestess to chi, gather the lay of the land and maybe some divining from a touch. We just need to connect. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Somewhere In Tortoran
Yuval ended up finding a nice lonely alleyway in the middle of town, it sorta stunk but he's slept in much worse places and he was so tired he fell asleep on his immediately after he set it up. He tried to push gently the unknown object bothering his sleep, he slightly opened his eyes and yawned with his hand over his mouth.
"<Holy hell what's the time? Ergghhhh… That tickles, come on you can stop I'm awake.>"The boxer shook his head, getting back from sleep and into reality he stood up and stretched his hands upwards, he moved out of his bed, frowning before he stared at his bag he tapped his feet on the ground, he opened it, grabbing the leftovers pieces of bread he had and munching on a quick breakfast. "<Can't drag it around, but I don't think it'll fit, hey eh… I guess you're following me now, can you just eh… Make it disappear or something?>" Yuval inspected the content of his bag again.
"<Well, I still have a tiny bit of leftovers, maybe enough for a snack in the afternoon… Well this place has decent enough people, I guess, and I can't make another trip like this. Better go find a job.>"
The giant ran his hand through his hair as he walked away from the alley and back into the city. "<Fantasy book town huh? Hmmm, can't be a street artist, doubt it'd get much here. Same for art tutor, regular children in the middle ages didn't learn fine arts. I could take grunt work at something physical. Security? I'm a foreigner will they accept me as city guard? I could probably make it in a brawling ring well enough… Or, I could find a rich aristocrat to be a patron to make art for.>" He nodded to himself, art for boring assholes would be boring but the most paying and safest.
"<That sounds better than going through shady gladiator fights here, how will I get them to accept me though? I don't have any art supplies>" Rosenberg sighed, his face looking downcast as he walked in town, he was strolling for a while, surveying its locals and scouting out any possible employment options as he continued to speak.
"<If I'm assuming I'm gonna be stuck here… My best and most comfy option is art for some rich douchebag, but I can't impress them with art when I'm dead broke… Wait I know! I can apply for security for a rich guy, they'd probably accept a scary big guy like me plus I'm a guardian or something... and then I can try to paint a portrait of my employer for one reason or another that'll reel him in and from there I can probably work shit out. Better learn quick how to draw turtle heads.>"
Fwomph
Stormguard Hall
Tibalt looked up and regarded the approaching Maryland. It took a moment for him to come up with a response.
"#Sleeping was easy Mary, waking is harder#"
He twitched a little, he didn't mean to say it quite like that.
"A-as in just sorta somehow assumed I'd be home by now. Not sure why just thought sleeping would be the cause..."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Stormguard Snaky Hallway - Nadia al-Amin
"Yeah, no," was Nadia's response to Aileana pushing her towards Dmitri, swatting away her hands. "I'll speak for myself on whether or not I'm in the mood to be a juice box of blood, and today? I'm just not feeling it."
Stepping away from Aileana and pulling Dmitri along with her, Nadia continued, "We're all trying to make sense of this world out of what little we learn and what people are willing to tell us, so I would say the blood is on Shuria's hands, not yours. And if they are, it's because she's used them - your hands and the hands of people suffering in that walled off country." Listening to Dmitri's request, Nadia nodded along. "Well, I can give it a try... I think there are still some frenzied undead still lurking around the borders and while the guards are trying to... dispatch of them, I want to at least try to make a cure for them as well."
Nadia paused as she briefly glanced over to Aileana. "...though the king was thinking about chasing down Shuria, so you may or may not want to talk about her plans to him and his counsel, along with the current and former undead who decided to give up arms against them for the sake of peace. It's up to you where you wanna go - to the king or to the kitchen."
Beat. "Oh, right, I have magical cooking. That's what I got when coming here. Yeah, I got no idea either."
Stormguard Castle Hall
Dimitri seemed pretty uncomfortable right now in the presence of the snek woman.
"Don't joke about something like that," he grumbled, annoyed. "I am not going to bite her."
He then looked towards Nadia.
"Magical cooking, you say? Strange, but if it can cure what ails me, I won't complain. Let's go to the kitchen, then."
AKA Nixer
Stormguard Castle
Aileana snorted in a rather unladylike fashion—amused by Dimitri's implications.
“Joke? I don't joke, lad. I mean what I say all the time. Saying what I mean however is... variable,” she shrugged, before grinning wickedly and snaking an arm around his shoulder to squeeze. “And if ye won't bite I will. Both of ye, preferably. But that's to be seen. Preoccupied right now, aye?” she waved off, relinquishing her impromptu side-hug but still being situated not quite out of his personal space. Catching Nadia's eye, she winked mischievously—spreading her arms out dramatically.
“And what luck! Newface gets to see our delightful cooking! Though you'll have to settle with merely divine quality from me, lad. Not quite on the level of physical, mental, and spiritual enhancement, but I'm getting there,” she proclaimed. “I can see my boy-king later. I'd say he can handle himself, but...”
She wrinkled her nose.
“...well to be frank he couldnae handle a flick to the forehead without bowling over, but I could just pinch his wee cheeks because of it,” she gushed, cupping her face with her hands and tilting her head to one side. Yet no flushing of the skin. She'd require a circulatory system for that. “But in any case. How'd ye feel about a gourmet snake dish, lad? I'm packing with them, I'll tell ye.”
For someone so chatty in tone she was oddly calm and calculative in body language. Just steadily walking along; snakes flowing in and out of her robes with accompanying hisses. She wasn't as hyperactive as she was talkative, to put it shortly. Rather, she was intensely studying them the whole while—and whenever they reacted one could almost see the process in which she filed it away in her mind. Testing them, constantly. Purposefully getting under their skin to judge them for... something.
It probably wasn't something good.
Edited by Enirboreh on Nov 17th 2018 at 12:58:23 PM
bork
Cook, Nibble, and Swallow - Nadia al-Amin
Nadia made a pointed effort not to let Miss Snake Charmer get to her - after all, it was obvious that what Aileana wanted people to bite most of all was her bait. "I'd suggest trying her food before mine, actually. After all, mine's not going to have live snakes in it and if they bite your undead circulatory system probably wouldn't care."
Nadia led the snake woman and vampire over to the kitchen - a place she was feeling well-acquainted with at this point. Nodding her summoned chef's hat over to the cooks already there, Nadia set up her counter space with her own magically summoned implements and making small talk with her summoned floating, talking magical book. "Where's the largest concentration of feral undead still in the borders? I want to try something."
Regardless of her tome's answer, Nadia got to work, grabbing what fresh meat the kitchen had available, seasoning and prepping them in a myriad of styles - barbecue, stir fried, breaded, what have you. As she worked, she focused her thoughts towards her intentions, the will and blessing she wished to bestow on Dmitri and the undead driven only by hunger.
To those cursed with an unnatural hunger... to the victims who have been driven to madness by their need to devour... May you find your way to this feast I've set out for you. May you eat your fill and be satiated and contented at last... Let your minds return to themselves, may your thoughts be your own to control... may your bodies return to their rightful forms... These are my wishes my heart carries as I dedicate this meal to you...
Nadia boxed up all of her food in Tupperware and sent them off into nothingness, though if its effects worked proper, the scent of her food would be especially captivating to Dmitri, an enchanted lure to pull in blood-starved undead tugging at him as well before the meal was sealed and disappeared. On her counter there remained one container for Dmitri, some roasted lamb chop with a side of mashed potatoes, sealed and set with utensils on top.
"Welp, there we go," said the guardian chef, not even out of breath despite preparing a city's worth of food in an inhumanly short amount of time. "A feast for undead full of their three favorite ingredients - meat, meat, and more meat."
If fully successful, will create a powerful enchanted scent capable of luring (and only detectable by) the undead, whereupon those who feast on it will find their bodies and their minds restored to mortal form with a temporary two rank buff to the Mind stat.
Edited by Starbound2 on Nov 17th 2018 at 7:35:08 AM
Stormguard Castle
"Thank you, Nadia."
Dimitri rapidly ate the MIGHTY BREAKFAST that Nadia had assembled before him. The grayish, deathly tint of his skin was replaced with a much more lively flesh tone. His fangs vanished, his ears became rounded, and his eyes went from red to a light blue. But most importantly, he was free of the hunger that had pained him.
"I'm... I'm normal! I'm really back to normal!"
For good measure, he used a bit of magic to change his vampiric garb to something more casual. By the time the transformation was complete, he looked like this.
"Oh, thank you so much! I really do feel so much better!"
In this moment, he was so giddy that he not only forgot why he came here in the first place, but he gave Nadia a big hug. It took him but a moment for him to come to his senses and realize hugging strangers was kind of a weird thing to do, and he pulled away.
"Ah, sorry about that! I guess I got a bit carried away there."
Still, he was in a better place than he was moments ago. Even the weird snake person being weird and snakey didn't seem to bother him right now.
Edited by HilarityEnsues on Nov 17th 2018 at 11:12:35 AM
Stormguard Hallways, With Tibalt
"I guess I picked up sooner to roll with it." Maryland said with a sigh. She crossed her arms. "I haven't thought at all about what I left behind..." Her expressioned darkened, looking down, biting her lip. "I was about to finish my thesis. I was... I dunno, there was... stuff." She looked back up, absolutely deflecting from thinking about that any further. "What're you waiting to get back to?"
Fwomph
Stormguard Hallways
"A few video game updates, some movies I've been watching progress on, a new season of my favorite TV show, a charity live-stream... Nothing important."
He gives a smile even though it feels like the light around him has dimmed.
"Except of course yaknow internet friends and close family that from their perspective I've just up and vanished with no trace."
He continues the forceful smile.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Lucifer's Estate, Breakfast & Bed for Dragons
When Skyler woke up due to the loud scream, everyone else in the room had already left. Looks like they had their own duties. Judging by Shuria's enthusiastic scream, she has yet to be targeted. The dragon headed towards the direction of the princess.
When he caught up with her, he saw Shuria in her downtrodden state. "You're looking for the vampire?"
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.
Happy Box Hater
Tortoran Inn
Simon woke up before everyone else, but he was determined to not be the first one out of bed. If he was to disturb the others' sleep, it would reflect badly on him. And so he lay awake in his bed, waiting for someone else to bite the bullet and wake up.
He did not expect it to be Luka who awoke next, and he definitely didn't expect her to howl. Was that something foxes did? It better be, or else this place would be way too inconsistent. And he could hear her scampering about the room, which was just rude. Did she not care about waking the others?
"Hey, what's all the racket about?" he asked as Simon sat up in his bed. Was that a mouse? A long and unnaturally elongated arm emerged from his shadow and snapped forward to lift the animal by its tail.
Why is a yam attacking me?
AKA Nixer
Stormguard Castle
“Oh. Well. Good for ye then. Bite to eat and you're as right as rain. That's fine. Completely fine. I'm not mad,” Aileana indignantly hissed, abruptly spinning on her heels and throwing her own chef's hat to the floor—partially completed dish of marinated cobra forgotten and left to confusedly circle around its bowl. “Ye kids have fun now. With your ever-so-sweet hugging and the like. Just keep a minimum distance of seven feet from yours truly so I don't have an urge to rip out your major arteries and/or spleen. And don't ye dare mock me by making me some miracle dish, lass. Mother Nature is doing backflips in her grave, I'll say,” she said harshly, not even hiding her displeasure now as she stalked away.
Though upon reaching the doorway of the kitchen, she stopped and turned back. Her face was both furious and upset for whatever reason, and it was with a closer look one would realise that she was crying.
“If ye approach me again watch your tongue and your back. I'm off to see my boy-king. Don't be surprised if I leave ye to die now. Maybe I'll let ye in again. Fat chance. But don't ye ever mock me like that again. I'm clearly being laughed at by the gods already. Isn't that enough?”
Without a look back at them she slithered away, down the halls and making a beeline for the king's chamber. She didn't bother to wipe her tears. She was relieved she could still produce them. Plus they'd dry by the time she got there.
bork
Stormguard Hallways
Maryland leaned against the wall and smiled a little. "Oh, yeah, GDQ was only a little ways away. Ugh." She put a hand over her face. "At least you're thinking about it at all. I'm not that far along myself, and I don't know what'll happen if I look at that directly. There are people who need us and we can't afford to be all in our feelings." To illustrate her point she placed a hand on the wall and extruded her thesis once again. "I worked for a year to cap off the previous three. And then I got crushed by an I-Beam." She bit her lip and forced the paper back into the wall she built it out of, looking down now. "So what am I supposed to do, Tibalt?"
A Stormy Slithering Away - Nadia al-Amin
"You're fine, you're fine-" Nadia tried to assure Dmitri as he abruptly embraced her. After all, when she cured Marrow's Graw everyone started bowing to her - that was way more awkward than a simple hug. But something in her act of curing Dmitri struck a nerve with Aileana and Nadia watched her storm off with tears in her eyes. She took the moment to take in Aileana's words, before heading after her. "Sorry, but I need to check up on her... take care of the snake while I'm gone?"
Desummoning her materials, Nadia followed out the kitchen door behind Aileana, keeping the seven feet away suggested by the snake woman - Aileana spoke it as a threat, but Nadia took it as the space Aileana needed for the sake of her comfort. With that requisite gap between them, Nadia called out her name.
"Aileana!" Nadia wondered what words she could say to help, if she could help, if Aileana should speak first or if it would be better if Aileana didn't see her at all right now. She didn't know, but Nadia didn't want this resentment to simmer unaddressed.
"I'm... I'm sorry for mocking you." Whether or not Nadia meant it, Aileana took it as such - intention didn't matter here, it was the consequences thereafter. "He... Dmitri-" She finally remembered his name. "...asked for my help and I thought... I thought I was just answering his request. I didn't consider your feelings, your thoughts, your... experiences. Well, not that I can speak to that, but..."
Nadia rubbed her shoulder, abashed, as she kept following behind. There was a break in Nadia's response as she thought about what to say.
I understand how you feel? Nadia couldn't say that for certain - she had only met Aileana briefly and the other woman kept her at arm's length. I'm sorry for how things turned out? No, that would definitely be considered mocking, and Aileana wouldn't be wrong to take it as such - she wasn't someone who seemed to accept pity. You're beautiful the way you are? Condescending, and Aileana would definitely call it into question with how uncomfortable Nadia clearly was around her.
So then, what to say...?
"B-But... I-I... y-you..." Pride? Happiness? Contentment? Acceptance?
...
"You're someone who's embraced yourself and how you see yourself in relation to the world. You saw someone trying to deny something he hated about himself and tried to get him to take pride in it and how it was part of his, um, package. Whole being? And that was actually really kind of you. But he refused and I enabled him to continue denying that part of him by trying to erase it completely... Is that how you saw it? If so, I understand why you were mocked by my actions... I only wanted to answer a call to help but in doing so threw mud at your view of the world... But if it isn't, then I'm sorry if I missed the mark - please tell me, then, what I did wrong and how, if it's even possible, I could work to make it better?"
AKA Nixer
Stormguard Castle
Aileana had immediately stopped at the cry of her name, but did not turn to face the young chef. She had become quite silent, fists clenched at her sides as she listened to her words. Tears were still flowing down her cheeks, and she seemed to be in overdrive thinking about something. Antsy. Twitching. She was desperate to let something out, clearly—but something was holding her back.
“...”
Abruptly, she stalked over to the shorter woman and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, beginning to drag her out the hall and towards a side room—possibly some sort of storage closet or unused guest room. She wrenched the door open and roughly shoved her in—making a point of checking to see if anyone had seen them before slamming the door shut again behind them.
Now out of sight from prying eyes, she huffed and turned back to Nadia, gesturing to her entire self with her arms. Notably, no snakes were passing over her form now. It was just herself.
“Nadia. What do you see in front of ye right now?”
It was by far the most subdued and level tone she had spoken in. Not a hint of mockery or condescension. It was a demand, plain and simple. And she seemed genuinely curious by what her response would be.
bork
Stormguard Castle Closet - Nadia al-Amin
Nadia visibly tensed as Aileana lifted her up with surprising strength and visibly winced as she was shoved into the unoccupied. Still, she didn't make an effort to hide it - it was better here to be honest rather than feigning comfort, especially as she saw and hear Aileana in a manner different than what little exposure she had.
"What I see in front of me... is..." Nadia looked at Aileana closely from head to toe, taking in every detail that the dim lighting from curtained windows would allow. Body language, expression, form... Nadia took it all in before forming her response.
Her tears. "A woman in pain..." The tenseness she held since Nadia spoke out to her. "A woman conflicted to express herself and her feelings..." The way she gestured at herself, emaciated and pale, without the adornment of her serpentine friends.
...the very fact that she asked that question.
"...a woman conflicted about how to feel about herself, her feelings... her body. Well, if that's right I guess that throws what I said before right out the window, huh...?" Nadia chuckled nervously, a bit ashamed of herself from having done so. "S-Sorry. I've only just met you, but from what I've seen... You're someone who likes to tease and chat with other people... you go out of your way to creep people out, which yeah, it gets to me, if I'm being honest... you're someone that I find to be kind of scary sometimes but I think that deep down and behind it all that you actually mean well, however much you sourcoat it in cynicism...
"I don't know. What I see in front of me is just you, Aileana. Anything else is a guess on my part," Nadia admitted.
Some Guy Or Something
Wake Up in the Morning Feelin' Like P. Diddy - Julian @ Lucifer's Estate
Julian sat up in his bed, cracking his neck. His sleep last night was... interesting. It was obvious this place had changed him in some strange way and he had experienced dreams for the first time in... maybe his whole life. Strange and incomprehensible, featuring various people and things that he had seen since his abduction. Some such things had only been around for moments and yet they were so vivid and crisp in his memory.
A waste, Julian thought, looking down at the food in front of him. His thoughts had been distracted during the previous feast but an observation he had before became clear once again as he ate a few morsels of food. It tasted of ash... No, that wasn't it. It tasted of nothing.
Leaving most of the food on the plate, he got out of bed and followed after the precocious girl, stretching as he walked. As Julian arrived at the vampire's room, he too saw the empty bed as well as a small piece of paper lying atop the pillow. Picking it up, he quickly read it.
"Dimitri—" that was his name, right? "—seems to have plans, for what he did not elect to say." Julian lightly tossed the paper back onto the bed. Seemed the kid had some backbone after all, willing to work on his problems without needing to beg for help. Still, it was annoying he would do so when they were in the middle of doing something important. Not that Julian counted on anyone actually contributing but at least they could pretend to do so.
"So what now?" he asked, turning to Shuria and ignoring the dragon. "We go to visit the angelic host and convince them to play nice with your kind? What do we need to know before going?"
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val
AKA Nixer
Stormguard Castle
The serpentine woman looked at Nadia and then down at the floor—a bitter smile on her face—before slowly reaching up to brush away her bangs. As she did so, her hand blocked view of her face for a split-second.
So when she took it away, what greeted her in pace of Aileana's features was a teeming mass of serpents, devouring each other relentlessly and furiously. They hissed and spat, but when she spoke next their noises seemed to conjoin together as one—overtones layering upon overtones in order to form her voice.
“The fact ye came after me like that... I didn't think ye would bother. I'm used to that reasoning. The truth of the matter is... I've thought myself to be like this for about a year now even before this place. Maybe even more than that. I thought that...” she swallowed, bringing her bony hand up to her 'face' and staring at it with her multitude of eyes. “I-I thought it was all on me. Karma coming back to bite me. I wanted to be a lawyer, ye know. Naturally argumentative,” she chuckled halfheartedly, once again waving her arm across her face so as to bring it back to its previous state.
She seemed to be about to say something more, but she looked to be rendered momentarily choked up. Until suddenly, it all came pouring out at once.
“...Wh-when I said I learned to cook in the hospital bed, I wasn't joking. Couldn't move me arms, they were so thin; had to have a nurse do everything for me. Agony to sit up, so I had to crane my neck. Anaesthetics numbed me to the point where I couldn't even feel the mattress. Muscles breaking down 'til I looked like a twig. I felt weak, useless—this horrible, ugly thing who couldn't even move to drink... spoon fed like this pathetic...”
She gasped back a sob, numbly wrapping her arms around herself as she stared off into space. That familiar bitterness returned to her tone as a spit of vitriol, directed towards some unseen thing.
“...Then when I thought it was all over, I woke up here. Now I'm... this. This cruel... this cruel mockery. Clearly whatever god is up there in this place thought it a great idea. Who am I to argue? Obviously I'm supposed to be this anyway. Play the part. Have a little fun with it, aye?”
She let her arms fall away from herself limply, shaking her head and chuckling to herself as if it was some inside joke.
“...Fate said I couldn't be a lawyer, so I'm not a lawyer. Fate said I should die a weakling in pain. Then it said I should wake up again as everything I thought myself to be. Then laughed and ran away, I bet. What's the point in fighting it now? Didn't say my case as much as screamed myself hoarse. I've no breath left, lass. I'm too weak. Always am, always will be. Fate decrees.”
Edited by Enirboreh on Nov 18th 2018 at 8:22:13 PM
bork
Dimitri, Stormguard Castle
Dimitri didn't really understand why Aileana was so upset. Anyone in his position would've accepted Nadia's offer. There was nothing good that could've come out of him continuing to let his mental instability linger. There was no reason he should continue to be a vampire, a guardian, or anything else the forces of fate, the Lotus, or whatever else told him he had to be if he didn't want to listen.
Maybe he took the "easy way out", but so what? Was there some glory to be found in struggle and suffering? He didn't think so. Dimitri lived through years of slurping up blood until he vomited because his brain was wired wrong. And somehow this was supposed to define who he was as a person?
His senses were still heightened from his time as a Vampy Boi, and though he wasn't trying to pry, he could hear bits and pieces of what the two were saying in the closet. He wanted to tell Aileana that she didn't have to be snake creature or whatever if she didn't want to be. Or anything else, for that matter. They all had the power to determine their own destinies here. But that didn't feel appropriate right now. He didn't know anything about her, anyone else, or what these people really wanted.
So instead, he decided to look around the castle a little bit. Just a quick stroll through the halls to see who or what else was there.
Fwomph
Stormguard Hallways
"I don't know. I just don't want to..."
He couldn't find a good word. Forget? Lose himself? There was nothing he could pick out that would make his sentence not be something somewhat inflammatory...
"I just want home to still be there when I get back."
He shouldn't of used the term 'when'. He could feel it.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Stormguard Hallways
"Well, if the Lotus can grant any wish, I bet you could include, in your wish to go home, that you have it happen on Narnia time, you know?" Maryland pointed out. "I don't even know if I can go back at all. I'm dead." She stepped a little closer to Tibalt and found his gaze again. "There's a lot going on here that we don't know yet though. We can't shut down, there's stuff to solve and a lot to uncover. I always feel more comfortable with my situation if I know more about it."
Stormguard Castle
“Is that so? Well it’s nice to meet you, Aileana. I’m Dimitri.”
The news that his actions had led to the deaths of many people… well, it hit him as well as you’d expect. He didn’t say anything at first.
“I’m so stupid. I thought that maybe I could trust Shuria, but all that happened was that I got blood on my hands. I’m responsible for their deaths. Now she’s free to do as she pleases… dammit!”
Dimitri took a deep sigh. But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t change his past actions.
“So you all heard the voice, too? I guess it’s not just my delusion, then. Tell you the truth, Shuria’s the person who it told me to kill. I didn’t, obviously, but all the same I didn’t really want to stick around with her either. So I came here, hoping I would find the person behind all of this. My theory was that maybe this Medan guy was trying to manipulate us since he was the one who brought us here in the first place. Then, well… I guess I’d fight him and try to get some answers? I don’t know. I couldn’t really come up with much of a plan because I was thinking about violence, blood, and biting people.”
One thing stood out to Dimitri more than anything else Nadia said.
“Wait, did you say you have a cure for the undead? Could I have it? Even before I ended up here, I had a strange craving for blood. It’s a compulsion that has controlled me through most of my life. If I could be rid of it, I’d be incredibly happy.”