realityshifted | Astrophobia

Entry tags:

dcu (d1) jonathan crane/scarecrow

Astrophobia

[Jonathan Crane, PhD, scans the Plane with bespectacled eyes in his very nice suit. To all appearances, the Plane has just won itself a new university professor]

Acrophobia would hardly be an irrational fear at present. Indeed, it would be very [takes a step] very [another step] practical. This is possibly one of the very few instances in a normal individual’s life where siderophobia might be considered rational as well. And so they would cease to be phobias.

Incongruous but coherent structure... far too lucid to be any breed of hallucination or dream. The idea of it being true space is out of the question, of course.

[picks up a discarded hat, examining it] The two most likely options are thus illusion or reality. I wonder which it is. [sets the hat down again and carries on his way]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Asylum?

Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

[awkward pause]

Oh. That's....well I imagine it has to be one of those sorts of things that keeps you up at night, criminally insane.

I know Jeremiah hasn't had a full night's sleep since he took over the place. I have the relief of my other occupation.

I'd imagine. And teaching that's good. Well, good if you can find anyone that's actually worth being taught. Sometimes with that sort of thing, it just seems like they're phoning it in at times.

[oh don't get him started about students]

Sometimes we get lucky. Often, we do not, but every once in a while there comes some student worth teaching.

That's good when you can, makes the whole thing worthwhile. Any particular branch of psychiatry you specialize in?

I do a great deal of work with the effects of trauma. And of course I'm well-versed in criminal psychiatry and all the mental illness that will win you an insanity plea. Not that the Arkham is preferred to Blackgate, of course. I also work in fear and the treatment of phobias. As our own dark knight understands, fear is a very significant part of the human mind.

Suppose I should've guessed that phobia bit. [pause] Our 'dark knight'? Is that code for something?

The Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, the Bat. A vigilante with obvious signs of childhood trauma who dresses up as a flying rodent to defend the streets of Gotham - vengeance, the night, Batman. Many of Arkham's inmates have a very personal relationship with the caped crusader. He always brings them back home to Jeremiah and the glass cells and the labyrinth halls. And of course, it was only after the Bat appeared, wearing his cape and cowl, that the masked maniacs came out to play.

[blink and after a second] There's a whole host of things about that entire statement. So we'll set aside the flying rodent part for the moment because glass cells? You lot keep people in glass cells? Aren't you meant to be curing people? How is something like that meant to help anyone?

The Asylum isn't here solely for the treatment of its patients. We also have to keep the citizens of Gotham safe through as many security measures as possible, which means we have to be able to see our patients and the entirety of their rooms at all time even without the electronic means, which are so often tricked. Considering that the alternatives are barred or padded rooms, our patients don't seem to mind.

They don't mind? And is that what the patients say when you ask them? Because I'm sure if you went to Bedlam they probably said the patients liked being chained up, too.

[pauses, then a little quieter and maybe earnestly]

You don't keep everyone like that, do you, just the worst of the worst?

[softly]

These people aren't just mentally ill. They are criminals. One of our worst patients has massacred more than a hundred people in Gotham alone; one of our most mild cases merely caused accidental deaths through the city, then literally took apart his grandmother before stitching her back together. In Arkham, a missing fork means someone will bleed by the end of the day. In Arkham, a lost bottle of cleaning agent means the vents will be flooded with poison gas before dawn.

And I really must question which you would pick, between a glass cell, a stone one, one with bars, or one that's padded.

[looks down, a little squicked by all that. He shifts a little in place, looking back at Crane]

At least with the stone or padded it's not as if you're an animal on display.

If that is your concern, then know that we don't let the general public anywhere near them - again, for security reasons. If anything, it's the doctors on parade while they walk by.

You get to go home at night, at least. I suppose a cage is a cage, glass or padded or anything else. And they can't very well be left to their own devices, if that's the sort of things they're locked away for.

Still, some people have to get better, right? If not, what's the point of the entire thing.

Sometimes they get better. Sometimes, Gotham stops them from getting better.

Shouldn't they be sent somewhere that isn't Gotham then, if the city's standing in the way of their getting better?

[a hollow laugh, as soft as his voice]

No one will take Gotham's murderers, and they don't want to leave. To Gotham's criminally insane, the city is home and their fellow inmates are almost family.

It's just a vicious cycle, then. The only way they'll get better is by leaving the city, yet they can't leave the city so they might not really ever get any better. It's a life sentence almost, isn't it?

It can be. We do what we can for them.

And what you can do for them is just....[for lack of better phrasing]....keep them?

[Crane can't help the slight smile that comes at the idea of Arkham Asylum, Revolving Door, keeping criminals for long]

Occasionally. Help them, occasionally.

[sees that smile, and it seems very odd in the context of all this. It's very unsettling. He crosses his arms over his chest, looking away for a second, then back again]

Occasionally is better than never, I suppose.

Astrophobia

I say it is!

Your word is not law.

Like hell it's not!

Gordon's word is law. Yours is just a word.

It is NOT just a word! It is significant and things.

Only as much as it signifies.

Well his words signify importance and righteousness and the law, so there!

....hahahah no.

Yes! :|||!!!!

Oh your psychosis, Jerry.

Don't even start Crane. Men in glass cages shouldn't throw stones.

I don't see any cages around here!

Well you can't stay here forever!

I can, actually.

You can, but you won't.

You undersestimate how much time I can spend in a library.

You overestimate how long you can stay away from Gotham.

I'm not the Joker; I don't need the Bat.

Yet you escape Arkham and rarely ever escape Gotham itself.

Gotham is home. But perhaps it's time I move away.

I call your bluff!

Not bluffing, Jerry.

.......you'll come back!

I'm sure someone else capable of somewhat intelligent conversation will come along.

oh don't flatter yourself

But you'll be lacking for some time.

I doubt it.

The Joker isn't the best conversationalist.