out of the many things anaxa despises, noise is one of them.

he can’t stand hearing idiotic, useless thoughts from the masses. cheap gossip on the train. complaints of every single inconsequential inconvenience on the sidewalk. on his commute to work, anaxa asks himself: do the people of okhema ever shut up? no. and they never will.

even sacrificing half of his mental energy to block out noise is an amount too much. a pair of headphones is too stuffy against his head. in ear headphones end up slipping out after an hour. a third option may be to somehow clone himself, ensare okhema and silence the city with duct tape. perhaps then, he will know peace.

anaxa will try to parse through the chatter, hoping to find something genuinely interesting. perhaps an inspirational dream. an unconventional thought. a passionate desire. he knows it is impossible for a human soul to be boring, but to his dismay, the mundanity of humankind is truly exceptional.

anaxa sighs, settling onto a free seat on the train, and listens despite knowing he will not find anything. monday mornings bring the average dose of depression – a lack of creativity, motivation, life. but luckily, the younger generation seems to at least carry on for the rest of them.

anaxa tunes in, picking and choosing which station to stay on.

“did you see last night’s episode? i told you she was alive!”

he inwardly scoffs. yes, last nights episode of ????? was harrowing from how predictable it was. next.

“selius texted me last night, the fucking asshole. i got a new number and he still somehow found it.”

get a restraining order. moving on.

“i don’t understand today’s reading. i think i’ll have to ask for help. again.”

asking for help will always be better than remaining stagnant and clueless. it is no better than being a cut down log.

the train violently jostles as it heads under a station, knocking his head against the pole supports of the seats. he grunts in agitation, rubbing the side of his head.

when he opens his eyes, it’s still dark.

he hadn’t actually heard the telltale sound of the train leaving the station, nor did he hear the doors open. a strange feeling comes over him, and just as he’s about to stand up and investigate, the train moves again. sunlight beams back into the train, drenching them in light.

“ugh, can’t someone blow up the sun.”

anaxa stiffens, hand coming up to his ear. there’s no one next to him. the person closest to him is about ten seats away.

“should i just jump off the next stop?”

his eyes dart around the train—

“how come he hasn’t texted me back yet?”

“god, i hope i don’t mess up at work again today. i need the money. i can’t miss next month’s payment again.”

“i locked the door i locked the door i locked the door i locked the door i locked the door.”

—realizing no one’s mouths have opened.

anaxa swallows.

he has three claims.

one. anaxa’s late night bursts of inspiration has finally caught up to him and he is now experiencing very vivid hallucinations.

two. okhema’s myths are true and the titan of reason has heard his blasphemies, and is now enacting divine punishment by stripping away all reason.

three. he can hear people’s thoughts. perhaps, colluding with the second claim, except zagreus has pushed him into a foxhole of chaos.

whatever it is, anaxa is glad he leaves early for work to beat the crowd. if the doors opened and came with it a tsunami of people, he would’ve thrown himself onto the rails.

he turns, staring at the person next to him.

maybe i should've just left a little later to catch up on some sleep. i stayed up way too late jerking off.

anaxa scowls and glances at the next stop. there's two more until he's close to the studio.

haha, worth it though.

fuck off! he wants to snap

thankfully, the streets are still quiet when he walks to the surface. at first, he thought that once he reached the last step of the subway staircase, he wouldn't be able to read anyone's thoughts. that it had just been some sort of delusion from spending too much time in the office.

anaxa could laugh it off to himself once he reaches his cubicle, surrendering the rest of his sanity to his desk job. perhaps maybe he'd mourn the loss of something unnatural ramming a dent into mundanity.

but when he passes a woman on the street, he recieves a drive-by insult about his hair.

i'd rip my eye out too if my hair was that color.

his jaw nearly drops, and he almost trips after looking over his shoulder to see the woman type away on her phone. maybe even telling her friends how awful his hair color is. vanity is beneath him, but honestly, that was just a ridiculous thing to say.

anaxa approximates over 20 different thoughts that are not his own on his way to the office before he even makes it inside the building.

he fishes out his ID with a sigh, scanning in and pushing through.

the security guard nods at him when he passes by.

is that the person my manager warned me about?

anaxa scoffs, jamming the elevator button. thankfully he doesn't have to wait long.

finally, some actual peace and quiet.

he enters the elevator—

"hold it, please!"

anaxa doesn't, but the person makes it inside anyway.

"oh! anaxa, it's you!"

the smile on hyacine's face is bright and serene. he has no idea where she gets this energy.

oh, aeons. he looks awful, she thinks.

he almost does a double take at how frank she sounds. he even almost laughs.

i hope filming and editing goes easy today on us… maybe i can snag him something from the breakroom before we get started.

anaxa would be lying if he didn't feel his heart warm at the gesture. he and hyacine work together to edit every child's favorite morning TV show: life lessons with the titans. despite it sweeping the nation, they for some reason do not have the funds to hire new actors and instead make people in crew fill in the spots.

for example, him. on thursdays, he is the titan of reason. fridays, hyacine is the titan of the sky.

today is a recording day. which means he will have to be around more people than needed.

hyacine hoists her bag closer to her, minding the space it takes up next to him. he didn't mind, but he appreciates the gesture.

"good morning. you look lively as always."

hyacine chuckles. "thanks! have you eaten breakfast?" she asks. then, leans in conspiratorially. "i heard cas is bringing in blueberry muffins today."

"that does sound appetizing," he murmurs.

i see a muffin in your future, hyacine thinks.

they reach the third floor, with hyacine greeting people along the way and anaxa swiftly moving to the staff room where all the lockers are. he stuffs his bag inside, shuts the locker and heaves a sigh.

for now, he hears nothing. it will be short lived by the time he leaves.

anaxa can just have a moment to—

"—told you that the reason why it tasted like shit is because your skills are shit."

"you're the one that taught me how to make it! if a student fails, it's usually the fault of the teacher."

"you just fail to read written instructions. i think— oh."

anaxa looks over his shoulder, and meets the eyes of mydei and phainon.

he looks like shit, mydei thinks.

"you look like shit."

anaxa snorts, then looks at phainon.

he looks so cute.

anaxa blinks.

"what?"

i