"Yeah," agreed the remains of the rat, his mandibles clicking disconcertingly against his mastoid process. "I like the use a' space. Very, a whadayacallit, die-mensional."

"Thanks, it's nice to hear," I said. "I'm pretty insecure about the whole piece. I think it's awfully orthogonal, and I really have no idea what I'm going to do to make it flow a little more nicely. There's no life, y'know?"

"Well we're very organic," piped the vole skull. "Put us there, on the right. We'll add some life to it."

"Heh, yeah, or some DEATH!" cackled the rat skull.

"Oh shut up," the ex-vole chastised. "Besides, orthogonal can be good. It worked for Mondrian."

"Cheeyeah, right," I scoffed, "but I ain't exactly Mondrian, now am I?"

"Hey, hey, chickie," he protested, what's Mondrian got that you ain't got, huh?"

"Eternal fame, good press, and a dick!" cracked the ex-rat.

"Oh man, you are such an asshole," admonished the ex-vole, trying his best to roll his empty eye sockets heavenward in disgust.

"I remember having an asshole. It was great," sighed the ex-rat dolefully. Then he continued, "Hey babe, don't forget to put in a watch face. We wouldn't want to be too understated about the passage of time and mortality and all that. And I still say you should have used the death card instead of the 10 of swords."

"But it's just not the right card for the piece," I objected. "That card represents renewal and Karma and revolutionary change, not the hopeless destruction of life and the oppression of spontaneity by the masculine drive to overwhelm the world with militarism, stricture, and technology."

"Karma shmarma, it'll never sell. Ya gotta admit, the death card's got punch, and people react to it, whether they know what it means or not," he countered.

"Look, between you guys and the dried roses it already looks like a damn Grateful Dead video, let's not get too heavy handed, okay?" I said wearily.

"OOOOOH! The broad that dissects owl hairballs to get her art supplies is giving us subtlety lessons!" he spat.

"You, sir, would look much better with your jaw glued shut, you know it?" I threatened significantly.

"Better shut up, man," advised the ex-vole nervously. "She's gonna die anyway, she ain't worth it."