[ Matt immediately recognizes where Sebastian's going, so much so that he almost looks embarrassed. This was how they met, after all, exchanging notes on the darkness. Is he really so stuck in his own perspective, even after all these years, that a vaguely Judeo-Christian framing can make him forget what he knows? (What he's chosen, again and again.)

Still. He likes hearing Sebastian talk. He nods along, considering the modified explanation, and concludes that by most metrics, he didn't meet the standard. Maybe he could've if he'd made a sacrifice to Kali, to Kama--done something lefthanded like eaten a delicious meal in their honor or had a skeezy hookup--but that's purely hypothetical.

His expression softens as he considers the examples Sebastian's given. ]

There's something I respect about pure id. But yeah, if I were gonna be a slave, I'd want something interesting to do too.

[ With a pang, Matt recalls his vision of Howl as a child, wondering what could be so bad about heaven that demons would want to run away from it. ]

I don't really think those things sound selfish. Or ... I don't know, the first two could be a little narcissistic, maybe, and the last one is ... [ Heartbreaking. ] But they're all about something bigger than the person. And they know what they're giving up when they call you, right?