Insanity Lusts

The sky was a beautiful shade of blue this day. Not a cloud in the sky. The sun had already reached the west part of the sky as the day was more than half over. The birds sung their little lullaby as their tweets faded as they reached the ear of a strange man. This man had been sitting on a nearby park bench underneath a large oak tree. Instead of sitting on it like any other normal being would, his feet were where you're supposed to sit while his rear was on the back of the bench, quite uncomfortable. This man's face was covered by a shadow from his large top hat that sat on his head. He seemed to be just another homeless person hanging out in the park hoping someone would have pity on him by leaving some money. But this was not the case. The man was only here for a little fun. A faint smile lit up his face as he threw a pebble at a passing elderly woman. She looked around in a huff with a "how dare you?" look upon her face. But she could not see the Hatter. She looked up into the large oak tree as she saw a small squirrel sitting on a branch just above her. Her anger immediately transformed into laughter as she thought it was cute that a little squirrel had been the one to throw something at her. She continued on her way as the man only continued to laugh hysterically, holding his sides as to keep them from busting out of his body.

The man lifted his top hat off of his head as the sun could now reach his face. He had a very pale complexion and his eyes were crimson. But possibly the most unique feature about him was his hair. It was a random assortment of colors creating a rainbow. Sitting on top of this rainbow hair was a cup of tea. Steam rose from the cup as if it were just made, very peculiar. The man lifted the cup off of his head as he replaced his top hat. Crossing his right leg over the right as if trying to be proper, the man began to sip from the tea as he watched the people that walked passed. He did not care who saw him or if they did see him. He would know if they did for the people who could would just stare at him as if he did not belong with them. And this would be true, he did not belong with the other humans. In fact, he did not belong with anyone. As he finished the tea, he looked inside the glass to make sure every drop had in fact been sipped and then tossed it over his shoulder as it shattered into multiple pieces on the ground.

The man's name was known to many people as the Hatter. Why not? He loved his hat and made many hats. It was a very suiting name for him. But one thing he could never comprehend was why his name became the MAD Hatter. He was not angry. He didn't seem all that insane in his own mind. The Hatter sat and pondered on this concept before doing a double take over to his left on the bench. Nothing was there, but to him someone had just sat down. "Why hello there!" he said in a jest of a voice as he slid down on the bench and was now sitting on it like a normal person. "Do tell me, do you think I am Mad?" he asked as he folded his hands in his lap and looked at the air in front of him intently as if he were merely listening to the other person speak. "I just can't figure out why people call me the Mad Hatter, I'm not a very angry person. In fact, I'm usually quite happy." he said as he reached his hands out in front of him and began to shake the air violently. "TELL ME! AM I MAD!!!!??" He shouted as he managed his cool and looked around. He cleared his throat as if it was just something in his throat. The Hatter then began to ignore the air to his left, avoiding even looking over there at all costs.

The Hatter saw an elderly old man who would also be unable to see him. He reached down and picked up another little pebble as he threw it at the old man. It hit the man in the ear as he then looked around just as the old lady did. As he glared around trying to figure out who it was, he could see no one. The Hatter had picked up another pebble and was about to throw it. The old man saw the pebble begin to float in thin air. "GHOST!!!" he shouted as he began to walk in a rapid pace away from the ghost. If this man were to run, he would surely have broken a hip. The Hatter dropped the pebble as he jumped behind the bench in fear. "Ghost??? Where???" he looked around but could see nothing. "That liar. He should be ashamed of himself, messing with me like that. How dare he???" he said as he chased after the old man, leaving the bench and oak tree behind. He approached the old man from behind as he tapped his shoulder. He turned around and could see nothing, but his eyes widened in horror. "DON'T FOLLOW ME, DEMON!" the old man shouted as his pace increased slightly. The Hatter was not about to fall for it again and he thus appeared in front of the man. The Hatter then reared his fist back as he punched the elderly man straight in the face. The man fell to the ground, his nose bleeding. "Serves you right for lying, old man." he said as he patted his hands together and stepped over the old man and began to walk away. But a strange feeling sent a tingling sensation down the Hatter's spine. He stopped in his spot. He turned around as he saw someone looking straight at him. "Would you care for some tea?" the Hatter asked with a smile on his face.

The Hatter sat back down on the bench where he had been tormenting the spiritually unaware humans by throwing pebbles at them. As he crossed his legs, a man had began to speak to him, but he just stared straight ahead of him into space. He heard exactly what the man asked, but he had chosen to just ignore him. This man was of no interest to him right now. The Hatter lifted his top hat off of his head as a tea cup seemed to balance on top of his head. The strange part was that the cup was in fact full of tea that he loved oh so much. He sipped on the tea as he stared straight ahead. The man began to speak once more, as if he were having a normal conversation with the man that was beside him, but he was actually just talking with himself.

"Have you ever pondered the magnificent glory and workings of such a life? Rushing round and round from place to place accomplishing absolutely nothing but being deceived into believing that your whole life was productive. Pathetic really. But they don't know. They don't know what's out there. They can barely see beyond their own nose, yet they seem to move around just fine. What's wrong with them? Do you know?"

The Hatter continued to look straight in front of him unblinkingly as he spoke these words. This is the kind of matter that he thought about a lot. The Hatter sat stock still as it seemed he was not even breathing anymore. He was frozen. As life spontaneously burst back into his body, he took a sip of his tea again as he switched the crossing of his legs around. A twig snapped from nearby that caught the Hatter's attention. As he looked around, he saw the man that had approached him several minutes ago.

"Hello kind sir, can I help you with anything? How about a spot o' tea? I have several!" he said as he lifted his top hat off and ten cups stacked on each other were balanced on top of his head again. "I got your green tea, your red tea, your sweet tea, your unsweetened tea, yellow tea, green tea, red tea, black tea, unsweetened tea, sweet tea..." The Hatter pointed to each cup as he named what type it was. The Hatter bent down as a bird had just crapped on his shoe. He wiped the bird poop off as the ten cups of tea continued to stand on his head as if by some sort of magic. Not a drop was spilled. "Well, ol' chap, what can I do ya for?"

The Hatter looked down at his wrist as he stared at it for a second. "Oh my, where are my manners?" he asked as he looked back up at the man. "I never introduced myself. Why would someone take a cup of tea from a total stranger before even knowing their name? My name is Hatter, but most call me the Mad Hatter. Although, I don't really understand where the 'mad' part comes from, I'm usually in a decent mood. I just don't get it, but yet, they call me the Mad Hatter..." He stared at Shunsui for a moment as he spaced out again. "Would you care for a cup of tea?" he asked again as he stared into the man's eyes. "My name is Hatter, by the way, they call me that for my love of hats. If you'd like, I can sell you this one on top of my head right now. My friends call me mad though, I don't understand that. I'm usually happy. I guess I just appear rather angry sometimes, but maybe it's just all the caffeine from the tea I drink, who knows."

The Hatter laid his hat in his lap as he waited for the man to choose his cup of tea, that is if he were going to choose a cup. He crossed his hands over the top of it as the hat was crushed down into a little disk. The Hatter stared straight at the man once more before shaking his head as if waking back up. "Oh, hello good sir. Can I help you with anything? Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked as he began his little speech once more. This was truly the reason he was called the Mad Hatter, he was truly mad and could not help it. But could it all just be an act? Not even he knew, but he was a genius in his own nature. He understood much of what most people could not for it only made sense in that jumbled up head of his. "I've got red tea, green tea, sweet tea, yellow tea, black tea..." he continued on listing all of the tea flavors. "I'm sorry, but could you per chance tell me your name, kind stranger?" the Hatter asked as he popped his top hat back out and recovered his head, putting the cups of tea away before the man could take one.

"Oh my..." The Hatter said as he looked at his bare wrist. "Look at the time... Why, it's tea time." he said with a slight jester cackle. He took a sip of his tea that turned into a large gulp. His tea cup was empty and he had no use for it anymore. He tossed it over his shoulder as the cup shattered on the ground. "Ah, I love tea time... Tea time is always my favorite time. Do you have a favorite time?" he asked but before the man could answer, he continued on. "I love tea time, nap time, day time, night time, party time, tea time, bath time, oh did I mention tea time? I really love tea time. I can't stand tax time, though!" he shouted as he looked at the man. "Well? Are you going to answer me or just stand there like a dope???" he said with a tone of frustration in his voice.