[This is one of the few times in his life where Schuldig is actively trying not to read someone else's thoughts...or at least one of the few times since he'd been much younger, and had still had delusions of being able to have some kind of normality in his life if he could shut out the thoughts that weren't his own. But he's desperately trying to keep Pokey's out right now, trying to ignore them - which is the best he can do, since he's incapable of not hearing them.
It isn't empathy that makes the boy's thoughts painful. It's their uncomfortable familiarity. Schuldig's been holding off a breakdown for weeks now - there's an almost superstitious fear that Pokey's own might trigger his. Of course, avoiding the boy's thoughts as though they were plague-bearing puts him at more of a conversational disadvantage than usual.] I wonder if we're even talking about the same thing.
Library
It isn't empathy that makes the boy's thoughts painful. It's their uncomfortable familiarity. Schuldig's been holding off a breakdown for weeks now - there's an almost superstitious fear that Pokey's own might trigger his. Of course, avoiding the boy's thoughts as though they were plague-bearing puts him at more of a conversational disadvantage than usual.] I wonder if we're even talking about the same thing.