Bad Day entry
Title: Boring and Bad...and Ironic
Universe: General
Genre: Drama
Rating: G…PG for the word “crappy” lol
Characters/Pairings: Arkham Inmates Ensemble
Word Count: 889
Warnings: None
Summary: Rain, rain…go away…
“…today’s lunch will include roast beef with a side of gravy…”
It was a rainy day at Arkham Asylum and the inmates sat in their cells listening to the wet slaps of rain as the drops hit the stone walls of their prison. That’s what the place was…not a center for rehabilitation but a sentence for the hopeless; a place where people, souls, were discarded. Few were listening to the morning announcements. Few could care less…even more so could hardly distinguish the nasally sectary’s voice on the speaker to the ones in their heads. The rain provided the background like the double waves in radio.
In the common room, there was something beyond the sound of rain …there was a view. The freshly dusted curtains were spread wide open to reveal the sorry sight of the grey downpour. Perhaps it was worse than the simple sound. Instead of a sick lullaby it made the world seem as if it was covered in the static of a crappy TV. The ones in the common room sat listlessly on lumpy furniture bolted to the floor. They sat at chess board games and in front of a small television set that barely held its picture. Guards stood in just about every cranny of the room.
These were the maximum security inmates, out for their bit of “free” time. The irony was not lost on any of them…the one called The Riddler said as much. He was shushed. It was amazing they got time in the common room…but, no…they couldn’t be stuck in cages like dogs all day and night. The law forbade such a thing. However, every single one of them understood that the guards wished it otherwise.
“…chocolate cupcakes will be served as a desert…”
“It’s not real chocolate you know.”
A thick and sultry voice broke the repeated pattern of the grey screened TV that was now seemingly flicking random images.
“Nothing in those things that carry a single bit of a cocoa bean.”
The voice spoke as if stating a simple fact of life. Like the fact that the earth consisted of dirt. The redhead held her face on her hands as she stared at the flicking pictures.
“In your viewpoint, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
The one next to her, a man whose worldview was cut in two, spoke to her in a bored tone. He turned slightly to face her. He was Two Face.
Scarecrow leaned over from the back of the couch, “Well, what’s in those foodstuffs then, if it’s not chocolate?”
“Nothing but artificial stuff…sugar free…they won’t allow us to have any of that junk,” a blonde head said softly as she drifted into sleep from her spot next to the side of the couch where Ivy was.
The others turned silent. She was once a doctor at that very place. She would know.
“…security now states that there will be no more …”
No one was bothering to listen to what that said object was. They pretty much already had everything taken away from them. Mad Hatter’s taking of Riddler’s rook made a soft tap in the murky silence. The silence seemed to tear at the small noise. Tap, tap, tap, Riddler’s countermove screamed louder. A guard shifted from his stance on the wall. The Ventriloquist sneezed. No one said a “bless you.” What was the point? It would only get Riddler starting about irony again.
“…and now for your inspirational quote of the day. Something to get you ready to face all those problems that you’re here to fix...”
“What’s so inspirational about this?” Two Face muttered…it made it hard to tell which part of him was talking. Perhaps, it was the word “face” that got him to speak again and slightly crack the quiet. Perhaps, it was the word “inspirational.”
The room was in a sense of motionless emotion. The silence swallowed everyone up. Not even the guards were in a customary form of uneasy….this happened more than one predicted. It could be blamed on the medication but the truth was that with time the monotony always ended up looming over them all.
Only one figure seemed to move upon entering the room. He was escorted quickly and the guards along the wall suddenly shifted. They grew tense. The tall form walked at a forward angle like an animal, his face a mask of something utterly inhuman. The Joker. He made his way immediately over to the one of the huge windows. He watched the sky. If one looked high enough tiny blotches of sun could be seen. Color. He turned around quickly.
“Guess what, you guys?”
“What?” Ivy looked at him sideways a scowl already forming on her face. The others started to listen.
“Chicken butt.”
The room filled with groans. A disoriented Harley awoke. The grumblings runbled like thunder to accompany the rain. And there was sound. Sound that stayed.
“‘And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.’ Jerry Chin. Well, that’s it for the morning announcements. May you all have a wonderful day.”
And if the Riddler had been able to catch the last bit of the morning annoucement over the complaints, and Harley's newly awakened clapping, he would have said, “That’s ironic.”