#grinaced

         MEANWHILE, IN WONDERLAND:  Or, at very least, the place called Wonderland by that certain subset of Gotham goons who sported the 10/6 insignia, The Mad Hatter sat- as he infinitely did- at his tea table, where a top hat was a crown and every hour was just past six. The table was very long, white paint faded on old wood, and his chair faced the double doors that were the only entrance through the underground room. There was another door behind his chair- but it was one way in fact. It exited through a false wall. That was far from the oddest aspect of the hatter’s lair...

Nonetheless, despite it’s winding nonsense, his pawns and knights did well to know the place by heart, but you can imagine Tetch’s surprise upon what he heard from one of his pawns. “ A visitor? ”  Hatter responded to their claim in baffled annoyance.  “ Oh- you imbeciles! Did I SAY you were supposed to allow any ‘visitors’? I-  ...ah. ”   

And all at once his temper subsides at the sight of the clown with the Cheshire cat smile... 

It’s the giggling that gets to her, like fingernails scratching hard at the inside of her skull. Her hand, curled by the side of the lunch tray, finds a sliver of split skin by her thumbnail and digs in, leaving a sharp, stinging pain that clears her head just a little. 

She wants a cigarette. She wants to be off these goddamn pills. She wants to be out of the Arkham lunchroom. She pauses a moment, staring straight ahead - don’t pick a fight, don’t do it, don’t - and starts counting to ten. 

She only gets to four. 

     It was just another day, right? Jeannie does this every week--- Roughly the same time. While being a nurse aid wasn’t a luxury career, it paid the bills at least. Fingers gripped to the strap of her purse as she climbs the small set of stairs leading into the bank. At least after all this is over, she could go home a relax a little. Her feet were already killing her...

Of course, she’s greeted by the same faces that keep themselves behind the counter. A smile greets them in return before she brings herself up to one of them, the hand on her purse already tugging it up so that she could get her check out of it. There’s a shift elsewhere, and she briefly looks up from her search before going back to pull the slip of paper out.

                               Just another normal day.... Right?

‘ go on! say it! you like having me around! ’ scamp chimes, swinging down from the rafters and hanging upside down in front of the clown. ‘ oh! ’ he suddenly remembers, loosening his grip on the beam and dropping to the ground with all the flair of an acrobat. ‘ i got that thing you wanted! ’ he roots around in his backpack before producing a file marked with an enticing TOP SECRET stamp upon its cover. 

     but jonathan is playing the part of the fool, wasn’t he ?? HE was the one who agreed to work with this absolute mad man, unconscious and unpredictable.   it was a simple plan of escaping the lunatic house, something both of them ( or most of the rogues, really, arkham wasn’t as SAFE as it should be ) were easily capable of, but now walking alone with the smiling man, it didn’t seem like such a good idea.

     ❝ — can’t you just walk along and be QUIET ?? ❞

moments of sunlight happen so rarely in arkham,   between the constant isolation and perpetual   cloud cover   in the surrounding area.    today,   mercifully,   a few rays peek through.    enough to break through the   gloom   laying heavy over the building,   permeating every nook and cranny.    ivy seats herself at the window in the rec room,   a chess board upon the table in front of her.    it doesn’t provide quite enough sun to properly sate her blood,   but it gives her an edge.    if only the water didn’t taste so   revolting   here,   ivy might go a day without a nagging irritation overwhelming her.

alas,   fate finds a way to ruin   everything   when one is staying in arkham    —    even an indulgence in something so ordinary as   sunlight.    but,   low and behold,   when next the rec room’s gates slide open,   a voice she loathes echoes throughout the room.    that obnoxious,   high pitched mix of lively and   sly.    nerves initially eased by traces of sun pull taught,   tensing again,   teeth gritting.    so much for a half-decent day.