[It's a one-sided account, of course, but it encompasses the section of his life that isn't as susceptible to Henry being an unreliable narrator of his own tale. Twenty years in HNL was indeed a prison, and he was treated like a tool more than a person. And it shaped him into so much of the man he is today, which mostly... isn't a good thing. All the empathy wrung out of him; his nihilistic tendencies amped up tenfold. The darkness he tried to keep at bay when he was younger, now let off its leash. Engulfing him fully, and he willingly allows it.
That's why he doesn't know what to do with empathy when he's met with it, not with someone who can't know what it was like. Who isn't like him.
Easier to balk at it. He glances at the Uno card, the "1" practically burning in his vision.]
Who says I'm stuck? [A laughable question. Is he rooted down by his past, by the lab, by the failure of his family, by the loss of his only friend, all those years ago? Yes. But will he see it in that light now? No.] I told you - I'm angry. And anger is the perfect emotion to bolster action. And change. I'm never going to be under anyone's thumb like that, ever again.
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That's why he doesn't know what to do with empathy when he's met with it, not with someone who can't know what it was like. Who isn't like him.
Easier to balk at it. He glances at the Uno card, the "1" practically burning in his vision.]
Who says I'm stuck? [A laughable question. Is he rooted down by his past, by the lab, by the failure of his family, by the loss of his only friend, all those years ago? Yes. But will he see it in that light now? No.] I told you - I'm angry. And anger is the perfect emotion to bolster action. And change. I'm never going to be under anyone's thumb like that, ever again.
[Trapped. Even though... he still is.]