It was strange. He wouldn't have blinked at Nataku's mannerisms and uncomfortable air a week ago - that was all he was ever used to, all the experience he had with younger Guild members. But in the short span of being here, every child he met so far prided themselves on being a blundering optimist and while Nataku was half-way there, something was off with it. The comparison made it easier for him to notice it, really.

Nataku was used to being spoken to this way. Child of a military family, maybe. Maybe something worse, something Venom was more familiar with. It didn't matter. He didn't have room to care about it right now. So long as he wasn't talking to a wall, it was fine.

He wasn't going to bother with that comment about his priorities either (the mission was all that mattered. It was all that would ever matter). Instead, the Guild Head focused on that answer, disappointed but not entirely surprised. It was the same answer everyone else had. "There is no 'only' going back home," he answered in kind, fingers trying to rub away the sudden cold in his arms to no avail. "Martin Landel brought us here and can take us back should we manage to get out. I don't plan on leaving until it's made sure he can't.

"Is that relevant to your goals?"