#( HEADCANONS. ) ━ an in-depth guide to THE CONMAN.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

      I think something that would be Extremely Sampo would be madame Brughel Poisson.

      Sampo's female disguises being literally jawdropping perfect because he uses Things to enhance his appearence however he likes, nobody would be able to recognize him aside from the eyes and even then green isn't as uncommon-

      And then there's Brughel Poisson- the most basic of disguises: a long wig without ever changing the color of Sampo's hair, padding over his chest, the same bare broad shoulders, the same strong, long legs wrapped in stockings and high heels and a bit of makeup to unsharpen his features. It's speculated that he did this to see how long it would take for people to notice and call him out on it.

      The funniest thing is that it works. Sampo is better disguised as Madame Poisson than he is with his other methods that change his entire appearence.

      Nobody has ever remotely thought on the possibility of him being Poisson. Ever. People look at him in this attire and don't even bat a lash at the suspiciously identical hair color of the one of a certaint conman, or the resemblance in height or appearence. Nobody will ever find out that Sampo is Brughel Poisson, because in their mind Sampo would never be stupid enough to just put on a wig and a dress and a dab of makeup and dare to parade around like he's fully disguised, because he'd be easily recognizable since they're smart people. Problem is- this is exactly how Sampo fools them. He's right under everyone's noses but those noses think they're smarter than him.

And I think this is one of my most hilarious headcanons for him. 

      Also, Madame Poisson having a certaint follow of Belobogian girls because butch femme. I'd be one of them-

[ddazzlingblds]

Coming back in grand style with the headcanon that Sampo would 250% just rip things off The Emperor's Groove to break the fourth wall. Just like:

He's literally going to get himself in the worst situation ever, on purpose- and then, RECORD SCRATCH. The scene stops. He comes in view over the scene, looks out of the screen, at the scene, back at the audience grimacing.

Sampo: Aaaah... mmmm, that's not a good situation for poor ol' me. These tugs would be at their happiest mincing me- bet the audience is asking themselves why. Well, let me find the seven different colored markers I hid around here last time, 'cause if I need to explain how your favorite merchant got into this I'm gonna need to make some connections here and there- bingo! Got 'em! Alright, so this started several days ago-

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

      I reel everytime that I remember that Madame Poisson actually works alongside Gepard and Pela as a senior Human Resources specialist. Meaning that:

Somebody (probably the previous HR specialist) Interviewed him, performed a background check and then hired this disguised idiot without a second thought and not a single suspicion;

Him as Poisson actually does a good job if he could get promoted to the senior role. So this means that he was there for a long time, was productive and didn't messed up the job at all;

He probably has an office all on his own, and people actually respect the sweet but sometimes sassy (when needed) madame Poisson;

      Just let that sink in.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

HEADCANON 005. FIGHT OR FLIGHT

      There's never a moment when Sampo hasn't been mentally lucid.

      He'll drop it in a casual conversation, and laugh at the skepticism thrown his way. Whoever is nearby will point out that they have seen him get shitfaced drunk to the point of barely being able to walk without swaying or tripping over his own feet, singing quite loudly and cackling himself hoarse. At this point, clearly caught in a poor lie, Sampo will do his awkward ahehe chuckle and stroke the back of his head, either admitting to the lie or trying to fumble out an explanation or an offended excuse, and the topic will quickly move on.

      Truth is, that Sampo chooses to be caught in this lie quite often.

      The fight-or-flight explanation that most people believe, where the response to pain is either to fight back or flee, are bullshit. He has learned a while ago that the brain that hasn't been trained into a fight response will pick the flight over anything else- that the flight response to a massive amount of pain is a fearful response, where every other sense that doesn't push the human body to curl up in sobs against the wounded area to protect it is completely useless. it's a common human response, but it will give them something worse to cry about if they don't pick up their pieces fast. it will get them killed, that's what it'll do.

      The human brain needs rigid training to permanently choose the fight path.

      What comes out of this training is a permanent awareness of their surroundings that cannot be shut off even when relaxed, or under the use of substances. Even in the most stressful situations, a trained brain will emerge from the fumes of substances or alcohol and kick it's gears into fight mode. The fight mode will make sure to keep the mind lucid enough to identify possible objects to use as weapons, driven by relying on muscle memory and adrenaline if sight has been damaged, and will proceed to give the proper meaning to the fight response. A properly taught person will exit the carnage of a room as the sole man standing, because it has been trained into survival of the strongest being the sole option to continue being alive.

      (WARNING: MENTIONS OF TORTURE AHEAD) Two years before Sampo was to depart to reach Belobog, he was paid to execute an important figure on the planet he was staying on, and to make it look like an opposite faction was responsible for it. Of course, the faction in question wasn't particulary happy about it, and the client let Sampo take all the blame. They got him as he was preparing to depart to another city, and it's unclear if he meant for it to happen or not.

      Expert people of the faction tortured him for over four hours that night, with increasingly brutal methods that dipped into things that normal humans would find horrifying and beg their captors, screaming, crying and soiling themselves, to either end it or let them go.

      Sampo did nothing of the sort.

      He never fainted, even when the pain threshold went over what he could handle. He didn't screamed or cried once, because it would have fueled his captors into coaxing more screams out of him and warned them to keep using the same method, because it was working. if thereìs something more stupid than confirming a torture as successful, Sampo has yet to discover it.

      What he did was laugh, taunt and persistently wear a bloodied smile over his face. It didn't mattered how much he was hit, cut, slashed or poked with hot things: as per the Masked Fool's phylosophy, a good laughter heals both mental and physical wounds. Plus, the more he laughed at them, the more sloppier and angrier the lackeys became in guarding him, if at all. When Sampo understood that he was not to be killed, he pushed all the right buttons to make each of them fume and having to step outside in turns to avoid dealing a killing blow. His silver tongue worked wonders, that night.

      In a sense, he conserved his strenght until they started talking about cutting his fingers off, then he made his move- because he wanted to keep any body parts of his, thank you very much!

      He was the only person to exit the compound they holed him in, covered in blood from head to toe, mostly naked and having stolen a pack of cigarettes to smoke on the way out as a compensation. He also ransacked the corpses and took their valuables as addictional compensation for the hassle, and considered himself genuinely repaid and without a grudge.

      He still carries the scars of that, ugly little dots on his skin and little white scarred over cuts over his shoulders. It was a good lesson to never let his guard down, and even if the story surfaced- he wouldn't tell if he let himself be caught, or if they truly got him by surprise.

      It's scary, how much Sampo is consistently lucid through every single moment of his life. He can never be caught by surprise, but he's good at pretending that he was.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

      Sampo smokes, quite often for recreational purposes. Having been stationed in Belobog for a while, his best pick is a kind of tobacco that has a sweet aftertaste, quite a standard option for a price moderately wealthy people can afford without a problem. Any other brand of cigarettes has him grimacing at the sourness of a much cheaper brand.

      Also, the gesture of handing a cigarette or asking for a lighter is, very often, either a good ice-breaker that he has used quite often, or a way to de-escalate a situation in case bantering gets too heated. Just the simple mention of being offered something to de-escalate the tension is enough to placate, mellow out and bring the conversation back on a track that Sampo can control more easily. It's a peace offering as much as it is a bribe.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

      Not only Sampo is a master of disguises, but he takes the whole thing of creating a new identity as professionally as he can. After all- he doesn't like to half-ass lies: if it's going to be chaotic, it's gonna be chaotic on his own terms, not because someone found him out.

      He knows how to cook pretty well because ''Ollie'', one of the disguises he had on another planet, was the assistant of a cook who was intensely grumpy and outright mean, but that old jeezer loved food and treated every plate he made with the care and tenderness of a newborn. He taught ''Ollie'' how to make a mean stir-fry with mushrooms and was breathing down his neck the entire time while actually teaching him useful things, not imagining that ''Ollie'' was an alias of Sampo Koski, who was gathering informations over one of the patreons of the restaurant in order to assassinate him under commission.       Sampo is a jack of all trades, and he excels in anything he can get his hands on.

      He knows how to pot plants and tend to various trees and flowers due to his identity as ''Mr. Burroughs'', a gardener for the richest family of the planet, who had a garden so big one could get lost in it.              He knows how to persuade and manipulate even better than when he started off with due to his identity as ''Rachel'', a very compassionate nurse who would come in-between violent interrogations and show the prisoner some compassion and bring them food that she snuck away specifically for them, and the kindness among the terror and pain would make them open up to ''Rachel''.       He knows how to bend metal and work on blowing glass due to his identity as ''Monsieur Tremebont'', a middle-aged man with a workshop that appeared out of nowhere but felt like he had always been there.        In fact, most of the cash that comes in his pocket is from these business- it's clean money. But he enjoys the chaotic life of a mercenary, conman and merchant all in one. He also likes to learn new things that could be useful to him one day, and his disguises often have a specific expertise so he can pratice and master it.

[ddazzlingblds]

HEADCANON 007. A FOOL IS IN LOVE WITH THE MOON

“ love is the wisdom of the fool, and the folly of the wise. ”                                                                                     ━Samuel Johnson

      The topic is never tackled on enough- mostly because Sampo dances around it with his usual nonchalant manner- but love is a very, very simple topic for him:

      Love is beautiful, in many aspects. Beautiful, equalizing.

      Many people eye the Masked Fools as what they think they are: lunatics, erratic, highly illogical idiots, lost in their hedonism and unable to be reasoned with. Violent, on occasions. Completely lost in a thing most people don't understand.

      And what happens when people fall in love?

      They become erratic, highly illogical idiots, lost in their hedonism and unable to be reasoned with. Violent, on occasions. Completely lost in a thing most people don't understand.

      Hypocritical of them to criticize; nobody seems to notice that, by getting lost in love, they are as close to the Masked Fools as they can be.

      They act in the same way, they think of the same things: to feel good. Heidonism is the pursue of self-pleasure, and love is exactly that- he finds it funny how people vehemently deny the connection.

      When Sampo falls, he chases the high of love: he enjoys the daydreams- he enjoys being highly illogical, the butterflies in his stomach, the erratic thinking that makes him do something the objective of his love will be surprised for, the elated feeling it gives him- things are so simple: to love and be loved back, as him and his partner both indulge in the finest form of pleasure.

      He enjoys the violence in being loved: the bantering, the arguments that are a natural part of it- pain is also part of his self-pleasuring path, after all. Love is both happiness and pain, and he accepts any aspect of it like a starved beast.

      There's something that makes something swell in his chest, when and if he sees his partner react to his presence- to his gifts, to anything related to him. He enjoys the attentions, he enjoys being loved- and he knows thatit can end at any time, at any moment.

      Since love can be short, he enjoys the temporary pleasure that it brings. Should his partner let go of him, Sampo will accept it with a smile. There's pain in the love- it's just a natural thing to feel. 

      For Sampo, love is extremely simple: let yourself feel the good and the bad in it, be a fool for the entirety of it, and when it's gone, laugh and go your merry way.

      He thinks love is beautiful, the way it makes everyone a fool- even the smartest of geniuses, even the most cunning of conmen. 

      Love is a fool's thing- despite how many people still deny that.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

HEADCANON 006. A MERCENARY'S RULES

      When we tackle this topic about Sampo, one could summarize his morals with one word: skewered.

      Not only he's a conman, but he's a mercenary that can be hired for the right price and would do pretty much anything as long as he's paid in full. Nobody is off limits as long as the cash flow is good.

The price depends on the level of heinous his customer wants him to entertain.

      As a mercenary, he's supposed to not have a single moral to his soul- and, in fact, he doesn't, and doesn't care to have them: morals don't get you a nice stash of cash, after all. However, there are a simple set of unspoken rules to how he operates that he assumes the customer has the common sense to know already:

      001. KIDS ARE OFF THE TABLE. Sampo doesn't harm or kill kids- period. Not only kids are always innocent in every situation he has ever encountered- but if a kid seems to be the problem, usually the root is revealed to be the parent's teachings, or another influence that can be corrected and doesn't require murder. He assumes that his client will be smart enough to avoid hiring him to kill a child- but, sometimes, he has been let down.       002. MESSY ISN'T GOOD. He's willing to be a little more lenient on this rule if the customer wants him to enact the scene of the victim being murdered to connect it to another organization or person who has a modus operandi- and if the price is at least tripled due to the tools he has to buy and leave on the crime scene, the time he will have to spend both organizing a plan to ambush the victim and cleaning himself and the whole place up after, plus a little extra for the trouble they're putting him through, in case something of his gets broken or lost in the struggle. In short, he's asking for insurance that goes directly into his pocket.       003. MONEY FIRST. If somebody has hired Sampo, it means that they know of his reputation either as a conman or as a skilled mercenary- and skilled mercenaries with little morals come with an high price tag. He wants the cash coughed up front before he even moves a finger- a good compromise that can be struck with him is half the money before he starts, and the rest of it at job finished. In this way, should the customer try to scam him because he hasn't done something the way they wanted, Sampo has still gained something out of it that can pay him for the trouble.       If anybody tries trick him, the deal is off the table and can be handed over to a much less expert, far more messier cash-hungry amateur with a rifle. The results will be disastrous.

If anybody tries to make him break the first rule, you can be sure to see their home go up in smoke- perhaps with them still inside.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

      Living for Sampo having some sort of supernatural abilities. Enhanced speed to the point where he can accelerate to touch the rhythms of a leopard in mere seconds of buildup, extreme dexterity and managing to quickly climb a building like it's the simplest thing in the world- maybe eyes slighty glowing in the dark, though those would be contacts probably. Or not. C:

      None of this is explained and he isn't keen in doing that. It'll forever be a vaguely uncanny thing about him.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

HEADCANON 006. CESSATION OF EXISTENCE

      Do you ever stop and think that the world as we know it may end, and we never know when? That all of our hard-earned achievements, in the end, mean nothing to the darkness enveloping oneself, truly rendering everything meaningful to us void?

      I think that Sampo has. Multiple times.

      This phylosophy has, by now, become something he has accepted, even embraced- it must be an important thing to believe in the upcoming void, if one wants to join the Masked Fools.

      Again, referencing this post- the followers of Aha remind me of the Bacchaes, Dyonisus's followers. Less extreme- because we have yet to see one of the MFs commit heinous acts in-game, but if they ever do... ehe...

      I think that Sampo has thoughts on the concept that all life will disappear in the void, one day- and it depends on his mood, on how many personal connections he makes- on his earnings, when he's in a stellar mood because of a scam of his that just worked.

      On the good days, it puts him in a very chipper mood- that it doesn't matter how many enemies he makes and how angry they are at him: he will be enjoying himself with their hard-earned cash. He'll buy himself things that he enjoys, or perfect his disguises with it in order to keep his entertainment levels high. The funnier the scamming was, the better! The more he gains from him, the more enjoyment he can get from the spoils! That it's temporary matters none, because in the end it brought him enjoyment, was worth the trouble and gave him a good laugh.

      The ruin that he brings upon the idiots he scams is temporary, after all- there are things that he will pursue for his own delight, and he'll find these people putting actual effort into chasing him down, tearing their own hair out, funny and meaningless- the world is destined to end, one day! You can't really waste your energies on Sampo Koski playing a trick or two on you!

      For him, it's actually a degree of comforting knowing that he doesn't have to seek real redemption for his action, that he doesn't have to put effort into it. First, he doesn't want to redeem of anything- and second, he doesn't need it. The twisted comfort that he will, one day, simply cease to be- painlessly ( will it be painless? it'd be bliss if it was ) swallowed by the black tar of the universe. Nothing that he will have achieved will matter, none of his material possessions will follow him- there will be nothing left, simply nothingness. In a way, Sampo is almost tiepid about it: he doesn't anticipate it with the same degree of devoted enthusiasm as some of his fellows, but knows it will come, one day.

      And then... then, he has a bad day, and it hits him. It hits him when he lets his brain wander a little too much instead of keeping it grounded.

      It reminds him of the earlier days where he was a newly joined Masked Fool- overthinking, and lots of it. Embracing Aha, but also wracking his brain thinking about how this is so, so enormous- the void! For fuck's sake, the nothingness that will nullify Sampo Koski- everything that he has ever done, anyone he has ever loved, anything that he has ever earned and owned- will be just gone like that. 

      On the worst headspace, the approaching nothingness feels suffocating; a battle he cannot win, an approaching sense of impending doom.

      In these days, he feels like he's split into two entities- one little, pathetic and fearful man, on his hands and knees on the floor as another person casts a shadow over him, voice full of contempt and pity.

      so silly of you to ooze desperation like this! if you're destined to end- what's so bad about that, hmmm? peaceful darkness, cast over you like a theather's curtain, that's what it is! a good performance must have an end- even the most skilled actor can't keep it going forever.

      And, upon looking up- he sees a lacquered, smiling mask donned over his own face, staring back at him with a whimsical, painted-on smile.

      That's when he takes a deep breath, and takes the mask back from the doppelganger.

      Nothing much he can do about it, anyway.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

HEADCANON 004. IN ALL SERIOUSNESS...

      ... Sampo finds that nothing in life needs to be taken with the self-righteousness and pain that seems to characterize many of the people he has encountered.

      He finds it excessive, how many times he had to hear someone angsting about their sad life story: many of these people are his customers, begging him for a discount for a price too high and taking in such a sad tone as they lament about their life and all that went wrong in it, that it'd melt the frostiest of hearts.

      Not Sampo's.

      Most of the time it's not because he's incapable of feeling empathy- but he refuses by principle, since it's clearly an attempt to swindle him. And he's the one that does the swindling- he won't miss to chip in their tearful monologue or their angry ramblings with that time, perhaps not so long ago, that they were crying misery from their pockets while simultaneously betting on the latest fighter in the Underground club, if he recalled correctly...? Doing this ends the tears, makes the anger and then the real bargaining come in, and saves Sampo from having to try and tape his eyelids open just so he doesn't fall asleep on them.

      Sampo tends to be a whimsical being: he does things when he wants to, because he wants to, and expecially because it benefits him- he's enjoying himself, first and foremost. There's no shame in having to humiliate himself because, in the end, it gets him what he wants or needs- he considers himself the real winner. He doesn't lose face, not like the scorned party would like him to. it's a mean to an end, and the end grants him his wishes. He also finds funny how many justice acolytes and customers are seeking him out with such devoted anger to give him retribution for his actions- they clearly don't know how the business world works, and that everything has a price tag. They do seem to take things too seriously- take him, for an example. Even when scorned, his revenge is a funny, elaborated method to inflict pure emotional damage on the other person.

      If we take his Path in consideration, the Nihility, I'd have to place him in the realm of the Masked God, the Dyonisiac Nihilism: these people tended to believe that the world was, one day, destined to end with nothing to come after it, and had embraced this truth with an optimistic spin to it. If the world was to end, then oneself should make the most out of it- there should be plenty of time to enjoy life, to fulfill their every desire and whim- and everyone who didn't abided to this much merrier view of life was stuck in the Apollinean Nihilism, trembling in fear for the end of the world while trying to live in denial of the truth.

      The Dyonisiac Nihilism fits Sampo EXTREMELY well. He takes life lightly and makes the best out of it, acting on actions for a greater scope that will eventually benefit him and give him a great show that he put in motions behind the scenes. He's always seeking to keep himself entertained and well-off, and thinks that others that don't share this view are being weighted down by incredibly big burdens that they choose to place on their own shoulders. They're self-made martyrs, or have either been played in someone else's plans and couldn't figure out what was going on in time to wise up and avoid emotional scarring- and Sampo may feel kind of sorry for them for a few minutes.

      I also really like that the paragon of Dyonisus / Aha. The Masked Fools are akin to slighty more mentally stable Bacchae for me. I grasp Greek mythology and stuff it in my mouth like a good sandwich and the filling is as many fucking comparisons to it as I can find.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

My funny take over, again, madame Poisson is that at least Pela (and by extension Bronya since I assume Pela must have told her) know that the senior HR specialist it's just Sampo with a long wig, and they let him stay here because:

They're weirdly impressed by how professional he can be at this job and at how smoothly he makes the whole thing work without sabotaging it for funsies. He could, but he doesn't and does what needs to be done well and precisely. It's a fascinating phenomenon to watch.

The hours he spends working as Poisson can't be spent doing in-person crime. So not only he's good, but he's actively making up for whatever crime he's doing by being a productive member of society... kinda. He also takes some paperwork off Pela's back so it's a fair trade.

Last and funniest part: good luck finding a sassier HR specialist and someone more liked than Poisson at her job. The madame could tell someone that they suck at their job and need a better management of their shower time and they'd thank her profusely for the time she dedicated to them.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

      If you're ever uncertain about what Sampo's scent is, I'm coming to your help: he smells of cheap cologne, and faintly of gin no matter if he has been drinking or not.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

📂📂📂📂📂 🥰

HI HELLO I SEE U IN MY INBOX -- @noctuafought

      i. Natasha has a photo in her phone that shows Sampo and Hook both, grinning at the camera as wide as they can and holding up a sign that says DAYS SINCE BAD BEHAVIOR: 01. yes, they both insisted to have it taken.

      ii. if you ever stored broken glass in some trashbags, Sampo has probably thrown you a curse or two while attempting to take a rest on some of the aforementioned trashbags, sat on the glass and jumped 34ft in the air with a sound that you can only find in Tom&Jerry.

      iii. the main reason why he's never at risk of having the Silvermane guards raid the apartment of Poisson to see if the madame has some wigs? simple! he stores each one in very incospicuous places. some of them are bagged and shoved under a floorboard that's also under the bed, another couple are in a secret little storing space above the fireplace, etc. usually out-in-the-open places that would be just glanced at and discarded as ''impossible''. this is why, after simulating a certaint degree of fear for the surprise visit, he invites the guards right in to check. of course a suspicious person wouldn't do that.

      iv. he very much likes that Seele and Bronya are spending a lot of time with eachother! mostly so the former isn't screaming in his ear as much as she can- ah, young love!

      v. he's a little bit of an expert in a lot of things, including potting plants.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

HEADCANON 002. SLEEPING HABITS

      Sampo often boasts about the many talents that he has ( while keeping quiet about his most useful ones ) and one in particular stands out. There must be the question that has crossed some minds about how the most hated man of Belobog, consistently chased by the entirety of the Silvermane guards and their captain alike plus the few unsatisfacted fellows trying to wring his neck, can manage to always look so well-rested and sane? How can he not trip over his own feet due to a lack of sleep? Not to mention what they think is a lack of a stable place to rest: some hotel rooms would plainly refuse to take in this scoundrel- and with his situation, even a small safehouse or an apartment would be out of the question. What's the answer?

      That's simple: Sampo does sleep, but the alertness never leaves him.

      He doesn't require something soft to sleep in: he just needs to close his eyes for a few minutes, relaxing as best as possible until the background noise alerts him of an approach. This is a technique that wouldn't work, was a normal person to act on it- but come on. He's Sampo Koski, he has many disgruntled fellows trying to make a grab at him; could he ever let himself work in a different way, if not to use the little pauses he gets to catch some shut-eye?

      Sampo sleeps like a cat: always alert, and still finding time to relax. This is an approach that has fooled many in thinking that the perfect occasion to approach him with ill intent- only to jump back in surprise when, after a bleary blink to bat away the sleepiness, green eyes snapped open again and the scoundrel was completely awake, ready to chat- or run. In most cases, it's the latter.

      In fact, due to this and his ability to sleep for a short time pratically anywhere, he might feel mildly uncomfortable in a bed. Funnily enough the thought of laying down and not quick on his feet, stunned by sleep, prevents him from relaxing in a place where most people could fully kick back and have a good rest. It's not that he'd refuse to use it- luxuries like a bed are rare enough that he will take any chance- but he might just have mapped the safest route for a quick escape, if need be and if the room is unknown to him.

      The safest sleep he ever gets are in the beds at Natasha's clinic, and even then it's just half an hour at best.

[ddazzlingblds-archive]

HEADCANON 001. BRIBING

      Sampo considers himself N.E.S ( Not Easily Scammable ), and by appointing this title on his person he's already humbling himself down a fair bit: there's no way that someone could ever scam Sampo Koski.

      The business of trading required a keen eye, and his are sharp as an eagle for these kind of things: tooting the horn of a random weird-looking thing that a person just found, appointing it as a precious, unestimable relic of immense worth! will make him belly-laugh and shed light on the fact that they're trying to scam him, and he can't just have that. Bringing him a true relic of unknown materials will guarantee the clueless fella a fairly reasonable sum ( in their eyes ) in a fairly reasonable trade, as now they have money to feed their family and go on for a while, and Sampo gained something that he knows the true value of for a ridiculous price. Trying to pawn stolen things on him is also a no-no, since he has already many people trying to get him, and he doesn't like to be set up that way.

      However, if used in moderation against him, warm meals are something that will catch him off guard.

      If he has to think about it, he'll come to the conclusion that the terrible situation in the Underground of Belobog has rubbed off on him a bit more than he'd like. It's been a long time since he has settled down into the critical conditions, and perhaps those have affected his thinking towards hearty homecooked plates. That, and if done right, it manages to be what he rationalizes to be a fair trade: a full stomach, which is obviously necessary, in exchange for informations or minor goods. Without survival, there's no business, he'd think, so keeping his health in a good-ish spot is imperative.

      ( There's still genuine surprise when he's offered warm food, though. That little second of hesitation stopping him dead in his tracks, before he thanks the cook heartily and consume what's in his plate. After he's done, he'll provide what is needed out of him and take his leave, and it'll look as if he has never been there in the first place. )