Not everyone wants to discuss their work with strangers.

"What is it you need to do out there, that you can't do in here?"

"Only strong men indeed can bear that kind of truth, bring it into a world that fears the light," Terrence says thoughtfully.

Roby ignores them. He has apparently dismissed them as irrelevant.

Unfortunately, they can't say that this isn't how bohemians are sometimes.

His only companions on the inside are books... There are things Oscar wishes he could say about this, but he already came on a bit strong. Jing Yi's presence doesn't help either.

"Do you like plays, Mr. Roby? I saw an interesting one a few weeks ago. The King in Yellow. Very avant-garde."

As Sal says "the King in Yellow," Roby becomes animated for the first time. He shifts in his chair and bounces his right leg on the toes distractedly though he still does not look up.

Roby talks loudly and quickly: “Have you seen the Pallid Mask? Have you been down by the lake and seen the beauty and felt the rightness of it all? DeVille said to work only with him. Are you with Best? Why are they not here? Is it this year, once in five thousand years? Has Best brought the King in Yellow? Is he already amongst us?”

He is shouting now, but then he calms. 

He whispers: “Have you seen the Yellow Sign?”

Oh, so that's where it's from.

...hm. "I think most of us have seen the play. Talbot Estus put it on."

Terrence's face lights up too, although he's not quite smiling. Even though he knew this was coming - well, still, it's exciting. "We have." He glances about. "Well, I have. He is not already amongst us."

...because the King in Yellow is fictional. Which makes it a little tricky for him to be 'among people.' Not that he's saying anything, because Roby is finally talking. (And being obsessed with the King in Yellow is, unfortunately, Bohemian Behaviour.)

Isn't that the play there was a riot after???

He says, as if sharing a secret: “What DeVille and I are doing now harms no one. But I have been worrying about Ben Best and the conversations we had. I think that — despite what DeVille might think — that Best is right. The King in Yellow has called himself the White Acolyte.”

Terrence leans in a little, rapt. "The King calls himself an acolyte?"

"I've heard the play is pretty ambiguous in terms of dialogue. But to be honest I'm not sure why you're worried about a differing interpretation."

"'He is a king whom emperors have served'," Terrence quotes from the book, as though clarifies anything to anyone other than perhaps Roby.

Roby looks excited. "He is! Indeed he is."

Is this going to devolve into literary criticism about the play Oscar didn't see?

"Aldabaran," he says. "Aldabaran is the key, and the Hyades--"

...why are all the people in this asylum mentioning Alderbaran. Was there a class or something???

"Seek Aldabaran to turn away the Gaze of the King."

Checks out.

"What do you dream about, Mr. Roby?" he says quietly, so quietly that that should this cause everything to unravel the nurse should not be able to pin the blame on him.

(This is fascinating.)

why did she give up her pencil.