foreign space - poetry&prose

joy & irene ○ killing joke

she sighs. "we don't have to do this."

opposite her, a free bird laughs. "that's what you think. sadly, batwoman, no, this will have to go on. me finding new toys to play with, and you rushing over always as promised, and i run. cycle repeats. you're not, ah, bored with it, are you?" she grins, tapping batwoman's cheek.

"trust me, you'll learn to love it! i mean, everything is a used up joke," she explains, still smiling with those red lips of hers. she expects her to get it, but no response is offered, so she continues on.

"ever figured out how world war iii was about to start? geese. a flock of geese on the screen!" she laughs, and it's piercing and batwoman winces. "we get so worked up over the smallest things. world war ii started because of telegraph poles germany owned the allies!" and she is laughing uncontrollably now, and holding her stomach. "come on. laugh with me.

"so damn funny. you see what i did to junmyeon's daughter?" she sees the caped crusader's eyes harden.

"that was not funny at all-"

"did you see how junmyeon turned out? he came up rotten. just another criminal, just another damn human! " her throat constricted, her fists clenched. "all it takes is just another bad day. one bad day."

"was that what happened to you?" batwoman asks, not showing any sign of releasing tension. she sighs. maybe she hadn't gotten it yet.

"i think so. i don't remember," she scratches at her face, not really trying to remember anyways. but it comes to her in short snippets, but the full picture never comes in. she remembers choking in chemical vat and being washed out. joking. pulling off a red hood, and holding back a scream seeing her own green tinted hair and red lips and white skin.

she laughs, just like she did all those years ago. what a joke. "don't press me for details. i really don't remember anything. but something bad must have happened, you know? it was a bad day. i went pretty mad," she stops for a moment to laugh at her own joke. "and here you are, my very own personal dose of madness.

"but that's what happened to you, didn't it?" she asks, genuine concern for a small moment before fading away. "you lost someone. it was a pretty bad day, wasn't it."

batwoman stays silent, the slits in her hood not revealing any emotion. "yeah," she finally says. "but i didn't go around killing people and creating chaos."

"exactly! that's why you need me, and i need you," she grins. "i remind you of what you could've ended up as, and you're what i could've been. but you're too serious to take a joke. a bad day is a bad day to you, isn't it?" she knows she's spouting nonsense now, but she's gone mad! that makes sense, doesn't it?

"why be a disfigured outcast when i can be a notorious crime goddess? why be an orphaned girl when you can be a superheroine? maybe that's where i can relate," she looks up to the ceiling. the woman in front of her, trying to understand her is insanely boring. she doesn't need it. she doesn't care about irene bae, the poor girl who had her parents killed in adolescence, she needs batwoman, the very reason she exists. the vicious cycle and the one person who makes everything the funniest thing she's ever seen.

she continues to stay silent, and joy grows annoyed. "no fun. say something."

"would you come back with me?" batwoman whispers. it's the first time she's heard her say something so soft, so uncertain.

maybe, just maybe, secret identities live on even when you're involved in gotham city crime. in the way irene gazes at the alley even when chasing criminals, trying to suppress the screams she heard from her mother. the way joy finds herself somehow attracted to the funfair where teddy bears are sold in yellow ribbons when she searches for locations.

"please repeat, i can't hear you."

"i could take you in." batwoman says, more confidently this time. "we could work together. you lost someone. i know what it's like, i know how much it hurts. but i figured a way out that. maybe you can too. we don't have to go on like this. if we do go on, one of us has to die sooner or later. and we don't have to."

"you're suggesting i be rehabilitated," she summarizes. she shakes her head, clicks her tongue at such ignorance. "it's too late for that ...far too late."

she thought batwoman would've gotten it by now. "what you repeatedly don't seem to get, my dear batwoman," she places her hands on the heroine's shoulders and leans in, "is that i have gone positively mad."

she stays there for a while, breath mingling with hers. lets her take a good look in her eyes, the insanity inside. tinged with soft sadness, a wandering child trying to figure whatever went wrong that night. maybe if she focused on that, the raven-haired woman would understand.

she chuckles before batwoman does anyway. "ah, this is funny. reminds me of a joke. would you mind if i told you?"

she continues anyway. "see, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. they decide they're going to escape! so, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moon light... stretching away to freedom. now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. but his friend, his friend did not dare make the leap. y'see... y'see, he's afraid of falling. so then, the first guy has an idea... he says 'hey! i have my flashlight with me! i'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. you can walk along the beam and join me!' b-but the second guy just shakes his head. he suh-says... he says 'wh-what do you think i am? crazy? you'd turn it off when i was half way across!"

she pulls away for a moment, holding her stomach again. "i'm so sorry, i need to-" she laughs like crazy, gasping a little. she slaps her thighs, barking.

in the corner of her vision, batwoman smiles a little and lets out a chuckle. and she does too. good, she understands.

she'd fall off that beam even before joohyun turned it off.

and then they're laughing together, and nothing has felt better. two voices laughing because of one joke. she made her laugh! that was just pure joy.

irene moves towards her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, forearm slightly ghosting her neck. she feels the vibrations from her body and the laughter that's soft and dainty, stark contrast to hers.

(sooyoung wonders if she ever made seulgi laugh even when the bills were unpaid and the crowd stared at her jokes blankly.)

"ahahaha! hah, haha, ha-"