Batter

Laugh, Pagliaccio

Slash warning! Lose all hope, all ye who enter here
Fish.

Brightly swimming colored fish. Swimming out, swimming in-darting behind coral formations. All is peaceful, all is fine.

An anemone sways in the current, tiny orange fish hiding amongst it's tendrils. Bright yellow trigger fish flutter by, then a school of tiny silver waifs, glittering in the ocean light. Shrimp and tiny hermit crabs go scuttling across the sandy ocean floor, nipping krill and the like out of the clear blue water. Tiger fish. Rock fish. Resting comfortably near a coral ridge, serene. Calming. Sea cucumbers shining the sun back to the surface. Sponges, housing tiny defenseless little creatures.

It's a pity, in all this sweet, sweet serenity...no one thought to look towards the drop-off. If they had, someone would have seen the school of barracuda floating there. There went the bright yellow trigger fish. The silver schools, the shrimp- op, no more shrimp and tiger fish.

Pieces of fin and scale floated around the now blotchy, reddened water. A fish head drifted gently towards the sandy floor, only to be snatched by the mouth of an eel. A tiny black fish watched nearby, horrorstricken at the slaughter of the coral reef. Unable to save. Unable to lift a fin to help. Somewhere, a clownfish was laughing his painted head off. Just who gave the barracudas directions in the first place?

All this, and more, painted on the ceiling of his dark, dark cell. Yesterday, it was a South American jungle. Something with bears, he didn't really remember. He -thought- it had been yesterday...maybe it was the day before. Maybe it was Tuesday. Oh, well. But more often than not, it was Batman.

There wasn't much to do in Solitary. No lights, no bed, no food. The Joker found it exceedingly boring. So, while he laid, staring at the ceiling, his legs flush to the wall...simple, delightful daydreams kept him busy. He was still giggling at the lax-faced black fish, lifted a foot from the wall and poked it's side.

The Joker was decidedly not staying in Arkham much longer this time. The joke had grown stale. He wanted to play a new game, and he wanted his playmate. He watched the black fish flutter around, looking for the clown fish...it'd be fun to have him in a bowl, all to himself. With a bitty cave to hide in.

The Joker made a note. Pet Store. Little black fish.

He was going to name him Battykins. The thought made him laugh.

There was a clang, and the room was filled with white. His painting faded away, burned up. The Joker arched his neck and looked towards the door, still in throngs of giggling. Two figures stood in the door, silhouetted against the light.

"Good morning, Joker. How are you feeling?"

"Splendifferous, Doc. Is it chili day in the cafeteria yet? Can't miss my weekly heart attack." He smiled at their upside-down forms. The Doctor sighed.

"You can come out of Solitary now, if you think you can behave..."

The Joker shrugged, his shoulders tight inside his straight-jacket. As inconvenient as it was, he sort've liked the thing. It squeezed places uncomfortably, pinching broken bones, cuts and bruises. Cuts and bruises the Bat had given him. Light reminders. He was always there. Always.

His lips smacked as he opened them.

"Ahm....sure. I can do that. Doc." Who knew he would have gotten into so much trouble, just for cutting off an inmate's finger with plastic craft scissors..?

"Mm. We'll be keeping a very close eye on you for the next few days." The doctor motioned for the orderly with him to get the Joker to his feet.

The clown merely smiled. He didn't like the man's glasses. Those black chic frames, with lenses too small for his eye shape. He thought briefly on jamming the earpiece into his ear. Then it really WOULD be an earpiece.