046 + Orel

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

[Orel is going through his big cardboard box that he keeps stuff in, and pulls out his camera, then a reel. He looks at it thoughtfully, before setting up the camera legs and sticking the reel in the camera... thingies. He grins, and fiddles with a knob or something on it, before aiming it at a sheet he has set up.

Bow before my descriptive prowess.]

{And as I bow, Diva is setting up the last few chairs, since she figures that maybe some other people would like to watch Orel's movie. But what is this? Orel and Diva are no longer chained together! How? Well, you'll have to ask.}

Ne, this is a lot of work for a movie, isn't it?

[Orel laughs.]

It's not that bad!

[He turns the camera on for a second to see where he should position it to make it centered.]

This is the hardest part, I think. It's easier to project on a wall, but a sheet works just as good.

{Diva smiles, clapping her hands together. This is exciting!!}

How neat! And you made the movie yourself, you said? You must be very talented, then. I couldn't even imagine trying to make one myself.

[He nods.]

Uh-huh. I'm still working on getting better, though. Maybe in a year or two I'll be able to make a movie that's over 30 minutes long! And without anything falling over, too.

{Warmly,} I'm sure that you will! As hard as Orel works, I wouldn't be surprised. Ne, but it was interesting being together for...however long that was. Did I tell you that you're welcome to come visit any time? I'd love for you to.

[Orel makes the final adjustments on his camera.] Then I'll come over sometime! Maybe after track practice if me and Doughy aren't doing anything... or whenever you're not busy, is that okay?

{Nods!}

That'd be perfect! Oh, is it ready?

[Orel nods again.]

Yep! Sit down and I'll start it.

{Diva nods once again, and obediently sits in the front row (though, there are only two rows) with a bright smile}

[And Orel plays the movie. For those interested, there is no sound, no music, the animation is choppy, it's stop motion, and the events seem to depict an awesome day at an amusement park and a rollercoaster ride. Which will end in the car falling off the track and crashing into the ground. But don't worry, everyone seems fine. Somehow. Miraculously.]

((ooc: Orel and Diva are free! But they are also best friends, so. Blue is Diva, and orange is Orel!))

Comments

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

It's not entirely coincidence. I seem to recall an inmate suggesting that the asylum named the family, and not the other way around. Completely foolish, of course, but given the nature of the place... The first Arkham Asylum was the childhood home of Amadeus Arkham. When Amadeus went insane, he was kept in his asylum, now as an inmate, until he died. The asylum passed in other hands until Doctor Cavendish, our director before Jeremiah. Doctor Cavendish found Amadeus's journal and writings and he, ahh... snapped, unfortunately. That's when Jeremiah took over. He's Amadeus's great-nephew, if I have my facts correct. It was during his run that a criminal known as Bane destroyed the original asylum - which itself had been torn down and reconstructed by Jeremiah - so we had to move to our current home on Mercey Island.

[thoughtfully] He's held the asylum longer than any director who has been there in my life...

I apologize if none of that seems very interesting. But it seems to me that the life of the asylum has always been tied both to the life of its building and to the life of its director. Jeremiah thinks of Arkham as his calling.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, it's very interesting. Especially because of how it came to be in Jeremiah's hands.

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[a mild expression of surprise]

Why?

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

Well, that's quite violent.

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

Oh, Doctor Cavendish only had his throat slit by the woman he was holding hostage. The inmates have done far worse to others. Our directors don't usually get the luxury of retiring.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness~ How terrible. Ne, what kind of inmates are there, anyways?

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[he leans back against one of the bookshelves as he considers his answer]

There is the general population of schizophrenics, neurotics, cannibals, and the like. Some of them are even treatable. Unfortunately, they're not what Arkham is known for. Instead, we house Gotham's... more interesting criminal elements. The Joker, suggested by some of his psychiatrists to be 'super-sane' - at best, he's a deranged prankster, and at worst a sociopath with a terrible sense of humour. [except that Crane loves the Joker's April Fools' jokes, but shhh]

Harvey Dent has a mind split through the middle, almost literally. He uses a coin to decide if 'good' Harvey or 'bad' Harvey gets to make the call. He's called Two-Face. When I was younger, he was Gotham's star DA. [and he happened to be the prosecutor in at least one case against Crane]

There's Eddie, who compulsively leaves riddles in his criminal endeavours, which is why he's called the Riddler. He can't abide by an unsolved riddle. Harleen, Harley Quinn, who acts as the Joker's second-in-command most of the time. She had a bit of a case of DID herself not long ago. Poison Ivy - Pamela Isley - is an ecoterrorist with the ability to control plant-life. There are times when she's more plant than human. The Ventriloquist, another DID case, this time displayed through a dummy named 'Scarface.' Some say Scarface is his own person, a ghost that haunts the dummy. [he pauses] The first Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker, recently died. There's a new one, Peyton Riley. Folie à deux, I suppose.

They're all very sick people who need help, but I'm afraid the public treats them more like celebrities, some days.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

Oh, is that so? I've met Harley and Eddie already! They were quite nice, I thought.

{Then she smiles brightly} Oh, but you know, Eddie said a funny thing to me when we spoke. He compared you to a Scarecrow!

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[dammit Eddie]

[and Scarecrow's eyes even narrow in irritation]

He isn't the first.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{Poor Eddie's going to get a stern talking to, isn't he?

But Diva doesn't know this, so she just smiles like she usually does}

Mm, even so, I don't really see it! You're tall, but not that skinny.

{She reaches up and touches his face delicately, brushing her fingers over his cheek before withdrawing her hand and nodding} Not skin and bones, at least.

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[Scarecrow just decided to blame Eddie for this incident of touching]

[it will be a REALLY stern talking-to]

I appreciate that, Diva. The Riddler's referred to me by that name for a long time, however, and I doubt he'll drop it any time soon.

[not, of course, that Scarecrow wants him to. He quite likes being who he is.]

[this icon expresses his displeasure the way he refuses to let his face do]

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{Aww Diva's gay bffs have this issue of bullying, it seems like :(}

Oh, that's too bad, then. At least it's not that bad of a nickname.

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[Scarecrow will just pick apart Eddie's fears for a while until he gets Eddie terrified. Then he'll feel better and they can go finish a crossword together or something]

The inmates have been known to give out far worse.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{D: BUT CRANE DIVA DOESN'T LIKE HER FRIENDS BEING TERRIFIED...or herself. but.}

I would imagine. I can't say that I would be the most cheerful and understand person if I were in an asylum.

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[phhpt, Crane puts up with riddles. Fair is fair.]

You might be surprised. Home is where the bed, food, and fellow costumed criminals are.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

So they're happy there?

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

That, Diva, depends on the inmate you're speaking to.

[Scarecrow - one of the ones who considers it home sweet home]

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

Well, then how about Eddie and Harley, then?

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[without any uncertainty]

Home. Particularly for Harleen.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{This is amazing to Diva, because she would destroy everything if she were put in one. So her confusion is understandable.}

Really! That's really...different, then! At least they're happy there, but still...

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

Is it? If you consider the outside world, what do they have? Their lives of crime - free lives, often ones motivated by money. Not that many of them act out of greed, but simply that they need the money to commit the crimes they really long for. One inmate once said that all of them know that, the second they act, it's just a clock counting down until the Bat comes to catch them. So, in poverty or not, battling for survival, they know that misery is coming in the spectre of a human chiropteran, a figure of the night who will beat and bruise them into submission and humiliation. Then it's back home, to be mocked for their failure, unless they've done quite impressively before the fall.

At Arkham, at least they're among their own, the criminal and the lunatic. Sane criminals are nothing but thugs and civilian madmen don't have the cruelty or strength to survive.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{And, of course, Diva is only pinged by one word in that whole monologue}

...Human Chiropteran? I...What do you mean by that, exactly?

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

[glasses adjustment]

Ahh, I'd forgotten. [had not forgotten] The Bat-Man. The terror of Gotham's criminal population.

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

Oh. {:(} Ne, so he's a "hero", then?

[handfulofstraw.livejournal.com]

He's a vigilante, but he's mostly done Gotham well. It depends on who you ask, on all sides of the law.