@blackcaped | continued.
IT WOULD ALWAYS LINGER in the air ; the ultimate test, door the big bad bat refuses to open. not because he can’t [ oh, no, it had long since been UNLOCKED ], but simply because he won’t. not YET, at the very least. it never fails to amuse, however, just how many others would have died at those hands, if they even ATTEMPTED half the hijinks he successfully pulled off. & still here he remains, fading rogue smeared across an all-knowing, MANIC GRIN ; flesh beaten and bruised, a perpetual ache down to his very bones. his body may be tired, bloody and MARRED with the tell-tale signs of scrapes and swelling, his SOUL [ the twisted, depraved thing it is ] is happy. ecstatic, even. OVERJOYED. a night out on the town with the bat at his heels was almost always a recipe for more than a few laughs ; and another CHINK of his resolve cracked away. another reason, among however many BATMAN has cooked up not to kill him, forgotten & drowned in all of JOKER’S chaos. one day, and this a vow he will carve into his skin & the skin of all his puppets, there will be NO MORE reasons. that day will surely hold his greatest performance yet, and HE is thrilled at the possibilities
but he is patient ; he can wait. for now. for THIS, anyway. the fall of batman is, and will be, his greatest & most PRECIOUS pet-project. everything else is just a game on the side, a little distraction for a chuckle or TWO, while he continues to play the BIGGER game.
❛ you know better than that, batman. i ALREADY HAVE ; and i always will. don’t ya just loooove a little CONSISTENCY? something dependable, someone to ---- COUNT ON. ❜