[ Onni's sarcastic warning is nothing short of ominous, but Nikolai takes it in stride. His brain is in crisis mode now. What's one more bit of bad news? Not only has he been brought to this place for some kind of experiment, but there are ghosts here that can claw a man's face. Great. Why not.

Then again, maybe it's only fitting that he ended up in this place. He may not be a ghost, but he is without question a monster. What is that phrase Zoya sometimes says? Like calls to like.

Nikolai is not one to dismiss a warning lightly, but the intense look on Onni's face after he stops speaking seals it. In this place, ghosts are real and tangible and not to be trifled with. ]

How long have you been here? Surely if you had brought a disease with you, you'd know fairly quickly, wouldn't you?

[ It's half a reassurance, because the fact is that Nikolai isn't all that knowledgeable about diseases even in his own world, much less a different one.

A disease that ended a whole world... such a thing is unthinkable to Nikolai. He had been to university in Ketterdam and heard local tales, horror stories about outbreaks of plague. Such events were tragedies, but the world went on regardless. ]

How did you make your living, back in Finland?

[ See, he learns! Nikolai is starting from zero information, here, but he's found that men often enjoy discussing their work, whatever it may be. ]