#arkhampsych

Every time you post HC I read them and appreciate how much care you put into your writing 🫀

It's the beeping of a monitor more than anything else that has her driving her thumbnail — barely aware of the motion, aggression more casual than breathing — into the tiny space between the page number and the bottom margins, the cheap paperback flinching under the force.

Beep. Beep. Her gaze flicks down the length of the infirmary, the unseen source of the sound behind a curtain at the far end, and then back to Crane.

"Come to gloat?" Her tone is curt — there is a kind of brisk disinterest that's become second nature to her interactions with the man. The hunger strike of a few days prior hadn't come to anything, only constant supervision, food forced down her throat. She supposes if there'd been space, she would have only ended up in solitary, but as it was—

Beep. Beep. She lifts the book in her lap, knees shrouded in a scratchy, thin blanket. "'Now you have destroyed all my happiness'," she reads, solemn, watching him over the top of it.

"'You have ruined all my future. It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous man — he can do what he likes with me, ask anything he likes of me, give me any orders he pleases.'" Beep. Beep. The book drops back down with a soft thwip of starch. "'I dare not refuse.'"

@arkhampsych | “ elizabeth, I need to borrow your key to the filing room. ”

val finally broke her stare and blinked awkwardly, fiddled with her hair, looked down at the grimy floor of the subway car. down at handmade clergyman robes that draped shapelessly over her legs. no, something was certainly wrong and a doctor might know- it had been suggested to papa knoth many times over by other members but he didn't take so kindly at the idea of a worldly man interrupting what he deemed to be paradise.

rising to her feet, val took the few steps to close the distance between her and the stranger she had been watching for the past ten to fifteen minutes; she sat back down in the empty seat across from him. their car was mostly empty, except for a man who looked to be sleeping off his drink in the corner. she pointed out towards the occupational tag that was clipped to his suit jacket. "You're a doctor," val stated simply.

From; Send me a STAR (★)

joker's heart was beating so rapidly. it probably wasn't too unlike everyone else who had laid on the medical cot before him. although his elevated blood pressure was due to excitement, not fear. he was downright giddy at the events taking place. "I don't really think the straps are necessary, doc," jay commented, his fingers fiddling with the thick leather that lay on either side of the gurney. "But uh, if that makes it more fun for you, I won't forbid it." most of their patients were... well, less than willing, a little agitated even. it was really for the safety of everyone involved in the procedure for them to be restrained. but this situation was fairly abnormal. it took no drugs nor physical force for him to climb up on the bed.

the clown smiled over at crane, idly watching him ready the surgical instruments on a small stainless-steel table. "I told you how I did this the first time, didn't I?" he couldn't remember. he had a variety of stories, both true and untrue, and sometimes the accuracy of them was unknown to even him. but how he got his ever-charming grin was as clear as day in his delusional mind. "After I got burnt, I felt like people had a hard time lookin' at me. Even the nurses at the burn ward. And moving the muscles in my face hurt so fucking much because of my skin. I thought a smile might make me... more appealing." hehe. HAHA! the cot rattled, and jay slapped his hand down a few times at the hilarity of his idea. "So, I found a pair of scissors and... snip, snip, snip, snip." using his index and his middle finger, he mimicked the movement of scissors, bringing his hand up along both of his cheeks.