[Those intrusive little thoughts being louder than normal was really getting out of hand for David. He's inundated, over-saturated, and the only positive to it is that there are too many of them for any one thought to take precedence. Instead, David is just twitchy, even less able to keep still than usual, and constantly scanning his surroundings. He looks away whenever he catches someone looking his way, moves through the area like an unsteady deer in hunting season, and ultimately ends up distracting himself with a variety of foods on offer out of the way of the main crowd of people.
He presses his palm to the side of his temple, shaking his head a few times as if he could knock the thoughts loose and scoop them out, and one of those nagging voices leaves him wondering how much of this is real. The food? The buildings? The woman who had been staring him down and sending all those paranoid little voices into a rabid flurry?
Were any of them real? Or was he just having a particularly bad episode right now? Was he even awake? It didn't feel like the Astral Plane, but neither had it on a few of the visits where he was not in full control. It had felt much like this now. Real at the center, with the edges fuzzier and vertigo-inducing. The harder he tried to focus on them the further from his grasp they seemed to pull.
Another man moves past him, and the thirst comes out of nowhere for David. He needs a drink. Something to settle his nerves. Forget the conflicting voices screaming yes and no, that thought is clearer than his own for just a moment, and he grabs it, desperate to pull himself free of drowning.
Shouldn't have gone off the meds. Yes. There they are. Those little voices, rushing him and receding, trying to drag him out into the drowning sea each time they hit the shores of his mind.]
Shh. [Sharp, the heel of his hand knocking his temple once, he tries to shut them up and half jogs to catch up with the stranger. Real or figment, he needs to have some voices outside of his own head soon or the dial is going to go full tilt to maximum and he'll go deaf from his own mind.]
Hi. [He speaks up, suddenly in step right beside the other man and glancing sideways over at him while they walk.]
II
He presses his palm to the side of his temple, shaking his head a few times as if he could knock the thoughts loose and scoop them out, and one of those nagging voices leaves him wondering how much of this is real. The food? The buildings? The woman who had been staring him down and sending all those paranoid little voices into a rabid flurry?
Were any of them real? Or was he just having a particularly bad episode right now? Was he even awake? It didn't feel like the Astral Plane, but neither had it on a few of the visits where he was not in full control. It had felt much like this now. Real at the center, with the edges fuzzier and vertigo-inducing. The harder he tried to focus on them the further from his grasp they seemed to pull.
Another man moves past him, and the thirst comes out of nowhere for David. He needs a drink. Something to settle his nerves. Forget the conflicting voices screaming yes and no, that thought is clearer than his own for just a moment, and he grabs it, desperate to pull himself free of drowning.
Shouldn't have gone off the meds. Yes. There they are. Those little voices, rushing him and receding, trying to drag him out into the drowning sea each time they hit the shores of his mind.]
Shh. [Sharp, the heel of his hand knocking his temple once, he tries to shut them up and half jogs to catch up with the stranger. Real or figment, he needs to have some voices outside of his own head soon or the dial is going to go full tilt to maximum and he'll go deaf from his own mind.]
Hi. [He speaks up, suddenly in step right beside the other man and glancing sideways over at him while they walk.]