in spite of the buildings uniform design , the walls were fresh with the vibrant colors of murals , surely not the work of any respected or well-known artist , but more likely a specimen of an ilk not readily accepted by the surface world , one who was probably scorned or mocked for his ( or her ) inadequacies in abiding by certain set conventions of aesthetics , but one who had nonetheless found a forum of expression here among the reprobates and philistines who exchanged banalities and acerbic banter and some of whom occasionally looked upon some detail or that on the wall , fell catatonic , forgot what he had been talking about and found awakening within him a dormant yearning for a different universe he might occupy if only for a short time .