[ Yeah. Yeah. He's had that thought, more than once — that it's all the more important that he let people know. They deserve to know if something like him is walking around among them.
(Tatiana would want him to tell people, if he's going to live here and engage with them. He can hear her voice in his mind, as clearly as anything. She'd sharpen the edges of it, not holding back her frustration with him. She'd bring up the fact that a hero would never put innocents' lives at risk. She was furious enough with him for letting those horrible criminals meet a gruesome end, but these people aren't like that. They're.... civilians. Men and women and some much younger than that. It's all the more horrifying that he would let himself be around them.)
He hesitates, uneasy, stomach curling with something that feels like guilt, and as it tightens, he can feel the creature stir a little, sensitive to the movements of the tight walls that surround it.
Bigby's words make sense and they're also the right thing to do, but not for the first time in his life, Konstantin finds that "the right thing to do" could be the most threatening, to him. To his survival. To what he needs to get done, which is to survive this place long enough to escape it, and to find his child. What if someone does try to hurt him, because of what he is? Or locks him up? What if some kind of authority are called? The scientists will still be looking for him. They'll do anything to get him back.
He blinks in surprise at the mention of a vampire, still unable to wholly believe such a claim, but.... with a bit less doubt than before. Is he truly just one monster among many, here? ]
I see. [ He finally says, and it's with as much nonchalance as he can muster, and a small smile. ] It does make sense. Keep one step ahead. Stop a problem before it can ever become one.
[ ....But he can't. He can't do that, not yet. He doesn't know who he can trust. Is it selfish? To want to protect himself this way? Tatiana had accused him of all the worst things. Coward. No better than the creature inside of you.]
If I happen across any other monsters, I'll point them your way.
[ It's not said with sarcasm. He does mean it. But he needs to shrug this off, and pretend that he's something he's not, which is someone who's safe. And he needs to leave, before this conversation turns into something he can't come back from. It wouldn't be the first time Konstantin Veshnyakov ran away. ]
In the meantime, I should probably get going, my friend. Doesn't seem like a good idea to be out after dark.
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(Tatiana would want him to tell people, if he's going to live here and engage with them. He can hear her voice in his mind, as clearly as anything. She'd sharpen the edges of it, not holding back her frustration with him. She'd bring up the fact that a hero would never put innocents' lives at risk. She was furious enough with him for letting those horrible criminals meet a gruesome end, but these people aren't like that. They're.... civilians. Men and women and some much younger than that. It's all the more horrifying that he would let himself be around them.)
He hesitates, uneasy, stomach curling with something that feels like guilt, and as it tightens, he can feel the creature stir a little, sensitive to the movements of the tight walls that surround it.
Bigby's words make sense and they're also the right thing to do, but not for the first time in his life, Konstantin finds that "the right thing to do" could be the most threatening, to him. To his survival. To what he needs to get done, which is to survive this place long enough to escape it, and to find his child. What if someone does try to hurt him, because of what he is? Or locks him up? What if some kind of authority are called? The scientists will still be looking for him. They'll do anything to get him back.
He blinks in surprise at the mention of a vampire, still unable to wholly believe such a claim, but.... with a bit less doubt than before. Is he truly just one monster among many, here? ]
I see. [ He finally says, and it's with as much nonchalance as he can muster, and a small smile. ] It does make sense. Keep one step ahead. Stop a problem before it can ever become one.
[ ....But he can't. He can't do that, not yet. He doesn't know who he can trust. Is it selfish? To want to protect himself this way? Tatiana had accused him of all the worst things. Coward. No better than the creature inside of you. ]
If I happen across any other monsters, I'll point them your way.
[ It's not said with sarcasm. He does mean it. But he needs to shrug this off, and pretend that he's something he's not, which is someone who's safe. And he needs to leave, before this conversation turns into something he can't come back from. It wouldn't be the first time Konstantin Veshnyakov ran away. ]
In the meantime, I should probably get going, my friend. Doesn't seem like a good idea to be out after dark.