#*chanting* VAMPIRE BAROK! VAMPIRE BAROK! VAMPIRE-

[aletheialed]

As Barok walks down the hallway to greet the guest at his door, he wonders if he should once again pray. God has never listened to him before, but if He truly is merciful... right now, Barok is certainly desperate enough to try.

The state he's in now is laughable. After ten long years, he's finally been freed of the Reaper's curse, and the truth about everything has been exposed. It's not like he expected everything to be easy after that... after all, the very truths that freed him have also been unbearably painful ones to accept, and the wounds he bears as a result - both old and new - will take a very long time to heal. He knows that well. But... he wasn't expecting to start losing his sanity after everything was already over.

It feels cruel. And in truth, maybe it's been a long time coming. It's not the first time Barok has worried he might be losing his mind, even then, but this is different to anything he's ever experienced before.

The symptoms of madness plaguing him now are too many to count, but above all else... is the infernal hunger that's consumed him. No matter how much he eats, it feels like it only gets worse by the minute, leaving him practically him a starving man, and frankly - terrified as well. It's a fear he can't even begin to express in words. The fear of dying when he finally found something to live for is already bad enough, but... this fear feels primal, like an instinct he didn't know he had, and sometimes it feels like he's being called to do something unthinkable, something he can't put in words but that fills him with a dread he can't shake off.

What a pitiable sight he must be. Luckily, the intensity of that fear seems to come and go by the moment, and right now, he's managed to make himself at least presentable enough for conversation. While the hunger still burns inside him, he has no choice but to ignore it for the time being - even if that thought alone makes him uncomfortable.

"Pray forgive the discourtesy of... my late arrival." As Barok greets the guest he's been expecting, Barok gives a slight bow, surprised at just how weary he feels already. Even finding the energy for words is strangely more difficult than it has any right to be. "I trust that there was no danger on your journey?"

@wakiizashi ( plotted starter ! )