this old place again

[Gallows]

His mind is overwhelming. It's like dropping a full vial of potent perfume and being asked to pick out the individual strains. No, I don't smell lavender with a drop of baby's breath. I smell everything and nothing at once. My mind rebels and then tiptoes forth, a bit at a time. I know his name, but I pretend I don't. It's just polite and I am fucking polite when I want to be. And it also seems like it takes a lot of effort for him to even pull his name out of the sludge of his brain, and who am I to destroy that kind of achievement? "You do realize that part of your brain thinks you're a child's plaything, right?" Well, believes it, to be more accurate. What I can't tell, because I can only see what one's mind sees, is if what happened to Sleaze is truth or fiction. Post traumatic stress disorder is a funny thing. He's not the first I've read with it, but he is the most damaged by it. Honestly, in this land, nothing much would surprise me. I heard there was a dinosaur roaming about somewhere. Roar. I cock my head, listening. For a moment he and I are experiencing his thoughts in tandem. "Also, apparently you are a cloud and a piece of velvet. Any idea why?" G A L L O W S We must all hang together or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.