For once, the Joker hadn't been bothering anybody, hadn't been causing chaos, destruction- no, no, not at the moment, that was for later. He had just been keeping to himself.
That, of course, was before he heard the short, muffled giggle behind him, accompanied by a slight patter of footsteps. Half-turning, he stopped walking, glancing about, before making a small noise, turning back around and continuing on. He hadn't gone very far, no, not at all, before another giggle was heard, this one unmuffled, clear, obvious.
"Mr.Joker?"
Mister Joker? Annoyed, he turned, then took a half-step backwards, barking out a short laugh, taken aback by the spectacle before him.
A fangirl. It was a fangirl. He had managed to attract a fangirl- a scary, fluffy, absurd looking creature, the likes of which he had never seen before. She raised a hand, giggling again, waggling her fingers at him. "Mr.Joker, my name's Claire, and I-"
"Stop. Just, uh, just stop, stop for a minute." The girl's voice stopped, but her mouth still hung open, eyes wide, eager. It- she- the Claire Creature, looked about fifteen, maybe sixteen. Her shirt was a vivid pink colour, with the words, "the Future Mrs.Joker" carefully written in sharpie on it, with a ridiculous doodle of what, he realized with horror, was supposed to be his face.
"Do you like it? I drew it myself. I'm quite the artist, aren't I?" The Claire-beast grinned widely. "And did you see my hair? It was black, but I bleached it and dyed it green! Just for you!"
And it was green. The Joker's tongue flicked across his lips (drawing a sharp squeak from Claire) and he inclined his head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Tell me, Claire, just what- ah, what did you expect to happen, just now?"
"Weeelll," She drew the word out, bouncing up and down a bit. "I expected you to be taken just a bit aback at first, but then you'd fall in love with me, and we'd run away together and have a faerie-tale wedding!"
He stared at her for a moment, before his lips stretched into a wide grin, and he let loose a long, loud cackle, his eyes squeezing shut, body shaking. When his laughter finally subsided, eyes opening, Claire still stood there, looking at him, still grinning that same, loopy grin.
"That, what you just said to me right there, that has ab-so-lutely got to be the funniest thing I have heard in quite some time."
Her smile dissolved into a frown, lower lip pushing out, quivering. "But- you're not supposed to laugh! You're supposed to sweep me into your arms!"
The Joker's fingers twitched, his amusement swiftly switching back to annoyance.
"Why aren't you sweeping me into your arms?! This isn't how it's supposed to go-"
Her words tumbled into a high-pitched squeak as she was lifted off the ground, into the air, and- slammed against a wall. Inexplicably, a smile appeared on her face again, and she bubbled, "You're going to talk about your scars now, aren't you? Aren't you?! Ohmigod, I've always wanted this to happen! You have no idea how exci-"
The knife slipped easily into the sides of her mouth, two quick movements, effectively stemming her never-ending stream of words and changing them into a wordless screech.
Even her screech was annoying.
Two more quick flicks of the knife, and he let go of her, watching as she slid to the ground, dark blood bubbling from her mouth. Finally- finally, she was quiet.
A small laugh escaped him as he slipped the knife back in his pocket, and he nudged her leg with his foot, laughing again as he turned, beginning to walk again.
He hadn't gone very far, no, not very far at all, before another giggle sounded behind him. "Mr.Joker?"