<< prev. | @yellow-rose-embalmer replied:
It's a small gesture, the way Bloody bends down to meet Aesop's height, and yet the embalmer finds it oh so familiar, lantern lowered and held close to not get in the way.
Aesop nods, trying to hold eye contact, trying to ensure he pays attention. But as the words turn sour, he puts together the possible meaning behind Bloody's words. Someone gave him a life, but is now involved in too much of it...? Something about that twists his gut the wrong way, as his shoulders tense and he presses his limbs close. He still can't imagine his youth with Jerry being entirely for the worse, even with what he's heard.
"I'm... quite sorry to hear that." His free hand moves over his chest (his heart?), eyes slowly drifting downward. "...truth be told, I know how that feels, having someone's influence be... possibly more than it needs to be. Though I'd already killed that person by the time I had been informed of this..." The wording is kept vague here, to not mention who guided him to that truth (the person currently being threatened).
“'You had been informed'?”, the vampire repeats, tone tinted with confusion.
“You did not realise it yourself, yet already committed the final crime already? How very silly of you!”, he chided him like a child, clicking his tongue in disappointment, before he shared his wisdom: “In fact, it still seems like you haven't made up your mind at all - your head such a mess you cannot even find the words. You may feel a fraction of what I do, that I will not deny, but you are far from living the same experience. As long as you do not loathe his guts, wish to wreak his life from his dead bones and dye the earth with his blood, what you have is but an ember while mine is a flame.”
... maybe even an inferno. Truth be told, the rage of which he spoke was a great power, a motivator like no other, making you claw your way back from the grave again and again and again. But it also came with a price: It burned just as much of you, if not more, than it burns of the world around you. A dangerous tithe to be paid for those who wish to bring revenge and destruction.
“And by the time that hatred has sprouted and prospered on all of your realisations, it has nowhere to go - the person who deserved your wrath is already long gone. You truly are a fool digging your own grave like that.”