Humans...you're all such funny creatures, y'know? You get so worked up over each other. You laugh, you cry, you hate and you love all in the most irrational ways and for the most unusual reasons. It just seems so...strange, to someone like me, to see how deeply your lives are intertwined. That's really where you have my kind beat. Each of us is separate, individual, an entire race on our own. But Humanity...ah, you're just the opposite, aren't you? Each of you is deeply connected to everyone you know. You even have a saying to describe it! "No man is an island unto himself". Isn't that how it goes? Humans are incapable of surviving without each other. You NEED each other on a primal level. I...almost envy you for that, really. I know, I know. It seems like a petty thing. But I've watched you. I've seen how much happiness it brings you to hold hands, to talk, to be around others of your own kind. I'll never experience that. I have to wonder what it's like, to feel like that about someone else. I almost feel it for Ikari. It's...uncomfortable, even terrifying, but exhilarating at the same time.
I should probably introduce myself, huh?
The name you Lilim have given me is Nagisa Kaworu.
My true name is Tabris.
I am the Angel of Love.
Love...the strongest contradiction of all. It makes you want to be so near the person it's aimed at, and yet it makes you so terrified of being rejected by the object of your affections that many of you never express your feelings! It's the Hedgehog's Dilemma, I guess. The more you open up to someone, the easier it is for them to hurt you. It's true that if you never open up, you'll never be hurt that way...but by the same token, if you never open up you'll never be complete. That's it! That's the reason why you Lilim need each other! Each of you is incomplete on your own, a partial being. You need each other to be finished. That must be why you're willing to keep trying to build relationships, even when rejected. That need drives you forward. Even Ayanami feels it, though I don't know how she could, since she's like me. But I've seen her. I've seen the way she looks at Ikari. She wants to be with him. But she's too terrified to take that step, too uncertain to take the risk. Ikari's the same, really. I actually feel really sorry for him. He wants so badly to have someone who cares about him and wants to protect him, but he's been hurt so much that he's almost lost his ability to open up. Some day he'll be able to...or else he'll die.
I really do envy humans, though. In my short time here I've gotten a small taste of what it's like to be one of you. I...may not NEED contact the same way you do, but I'm starting to like it. I have a couple friends, I've gone to a dinner or two. I'm starting to truly understand why you would fight so hard to hold onto these tenuous emotional bonds despite all that strives to break them. The odds are against you...they're always against you, really, and yet you all persevere. That, to me, makes you more unique and special than ANY of my Father's children. I think that all of you deserve to be the true successors. Your ability to grow and change and love is your most precious talent. Never let it slip away. And please, take my advice seriously.
After all...I only want to make you happy.
-Tabris