[ Nikolai had been most of the way to fascinated already, but Onni's casual dismissal of repayment seals the deal. He seems to genuinely mean it, too. Why would he be baffled by something so fundamental? It sounds as if Nikolai isn't the first one to offer to pay him back. Is Finland an unusually generous society not based on the idea of fair exchange? Or is this something unique to the man himself?

Nikolai isn't sure, but he's curious to find out. ]

That's...

[ He is lost for words. Onni's description of trolls - something infected by a force that mutated them, made them mindless and inclined to eat humans - caught him by surprise. It's not the same. Nikolai is sure it's not the same as what the Darkling did to him. But it still hits too close to home. It cracks his composure, and the glossy charm is gone when he finds his voice: ]

That's so. Awful. I've never heard of a disease that could-

[ Nikolai breaks off, shaking his head. It makes sense, now, how a single disease could be cataclysmic in the way Onni described. If it is a transmissible disease that turns people into monsters who seek to infect or consume other humans - that would be fairly world-ending, wouldn't it?

At least his own affliction is not contagious. One thing he'd never thought to be grateful for. ]

And they can't be cured?

[ He phrases it as a question, but something about the way Onni had spoken... Nikolai is pretty sure he already knows the answer. He feels like his stomach has turned to lead. No hope for those poor monsters, and likely no hope for him, either. But he can't afford to think about that. Not right now.

He doesn't recognize some of the words Onni uses, but context gives him a general idea. Onni's magic comes from gods, or so Onni believes. ]

So you use your magic to - to fight these trolls?

[ A seed of an idea is planting itself, somewhere in the back of Nikolai's mind. Maybe it is a piece of luck, that Onni is the one he ran into today. If Onni has experience with holding his own against monsters... maybe... ]