[Even with the changes Vicious has undergone, Sparkling likes to think he knows the man well enough to be able to tell that he's starting to fear the worst. Both because that's a natural response anyone would have in this situation, and because Sparkling knows he would be feeling that way right about now. He takes no pleasure in seeing the man flounder, so he's quick to continue.]

I also wanted to speak with you because I didn't want you getting the wrong idea, so to speak. That isn't a conversation you can exactly just...leave like that.

[Well. You could, but would you want to? Vicious is probably well accustomed to just letting things slide under the radar like this, especially if they just remain unmentioned in some capacity, and usually Sparkling would be too...but this needs to be discussed. He would forever wonder about it if he didn't at least make the attempt to bring it back up. And since Vicious isn't immediately shutting it down...]

I wanted to assure you, first and foremost, that whatever it was that you did back in your home that required you to kill others...is not something I can condone.

[...]

But in the same breath, I can't condone what I did to that man, and I never will.

[He closes his eyes for a moment, leaning back. There's a lot bubbling under the surface that Sparkling isn't getting into here- a lot of feelings of personal failure and the continued existential nightmare of his own existence- but you know

we don't have time to unpack that!]

You- we did it to survive. It makes you no less of a person, but in fact speaks to your character that you felt comfortable enough to tell me, a near perfect stranger to your life, of your own past in an effort to make what I'd done seem less dire.

I won't judge you, Vicious. You're a good friend, and I have no reason not to trust that you've meant every kindness you've shown me since we've met.