[ erik's expression tightens briefly. he doesn't reach out, doesn't touch. it is a house of cards and erik's never held anyone without breaking them. and he doesn't want to be the blow that breaks shinji. he just doesn't. it's true that his feelings here aren't straightforward, that sometimes the things shinji brings up are hard for erik to grapple with.

he burns hot. he sets fire to himself to keep warm. he doesn't want to go cold with cruelty. ]

. . . If you're waitin' for someone like that, it's never gonna happen. No one can absolve you and no one can damn you. There ain't no God at the end of the tunnel.

[ he cuts his teeth on his words, a jaguar. ]

And I already said I ain't here to be someone's noose. Not yours, not T'challa, . . . not even my uncle's.

You're gonna have choose which pieces of yourself you wanna keep and which ones you're gonna let go of for your goals. You can bleed it all out or you can do somethin' with what you've learned. Because no one else knows it. No one knows what it's like.

A world where there are no more people like me or you.