Some people may find the desperation flattering. [ "some" being the keyword. mort doesn't seem to put any weight into his words, so it remains a mystery if he falls into that category. though, to be quite honest, mort was more of a pursuer than the type to be pursued.

forget the fact that he is pursuing them purely for the desire to find that spark in his life, which incidentally is found only in death or in making someone his rival/subordinate for life and fighting them endlessly. still, he does see that aster was either attempting to butter him up, or... he's actually not sure. ] I think I'll leave it to the experts like yourself. While I can't say that you're completely wrong, I'd expect most of that comes from fear of death than anything else. Can you really say they're the same?