it makes my pupils turn into little beating cartoon hearts that elias’ mask of burecratic, academic, clerical work is so effective that he has to warn the people he imprisons dozens of times not to cross him and they all keep pushing. because they just don’t think he has it in him to hurt them! they don’t believe that their lives are tied to his. they don’t believe he has the capacity for violence. he’s just a suit!! a hands off manager with more interest in admin than management. and gracefully. effortless. on a dime. he can pull their darkest secrets out from the centers of their skulls like fistfuls of writhing maggots forced from their burrowholes into the blinding light of day. he can find you and pin you and look at you in the one place every living creature thinks themselves safe: inside your own head! there is nowhere you can curl up to hide from him. your inner monologue isn’t yours anymore. he can listen in and contribute any time he wants. he can show you what you’ve spent your whole life avoiding. he can force your eyes open when you screw them shut. and maybe if you’d believed him the first time he told you to back down, well….then this really needn’t have happened.