Morning came, and Eddie woke, still tired. He was always tired in Arkham. He only seemed to really wake up when he was working on a really clever puzzle, and there was nothing truly challenging to be done here.
Showering was always an interesting puzzle, though. There was something about being naked in a room with twenty other men, most of them bigger than he was, that tended to make a guy jumpy.
Fortunately for Eddie, they were still focused on the new guy.
"No! Please! That's not funny! It's not funny!" The cries came from the other side of the room, too far for Eddie to see. He looked anyway, and quickly averted his eyes from the sight of the Joker, flouncing toward him without so much as a towel on, his body eerily thin and pale under the harsh fluorescent lights. The man moved like Tim Curry in a corset.
"That poor sap has no sense of humor," the Joker said in a voice like rancid ice cream. Eddie kept his eyes glued to the wall, saying nothing. He could feel the clown standing just behind him, sharing his water. Creepy. Creepy. Creepy, creepy, creepy. "I notice you never join in the fun, Eddikins. I wonder why that is." Eddie tensed when he felt a long-fingered hand on his back. "You know, the other boys are beginning to talk."
"All right, break it up," came the belated voice of a guard. "Meal time."
The Joker squealed.
"Ooh! Pancakes!"
The presence withdrew. Eddie sagged with relief. This was worse than high school.
Although, in high school, he hadn't had any friends to watch his back. At least here there were a few people he could occasionally trust. Occasionally. Of course, most of those people were currently out working in the real world, so until Crane got out of solitary, he was on his own.
In the cafeteria, once again, he was reminded of high school. It wasn't just the food, which resembled pancakes only in the vaguest sense. His popularity had dropped sharply since the incident in the patients' lounge. Just like in high school, he was left to find a table to himself.
That lasted all of ten seconds. Eddie flinched when he heard the sound of a coin flipping in the air behind him. It clattered down on his tray, scarred side up.
"Move," Two-Face growled.
Eddie moved. You just didn't argue with a heads-down silver dollar.
Two-Face's boys didn't offer to let him take his tray when he left. That was no devastating loss, but he would be hungry by lunchtime. Oh, well. He wandered over to sit by the Mad Hatter, who wasn't too likely to fork him, and wasn't really big enough to chase him off.
"Would you like some tea?" Tetch asked solicitously.
"There is no tea here. There never was, and there never will be. You know they think the entire universe would implode if they gave us caffeine." The Hatter shrugged indifferently and offered one of his pancakes. Surprised, Eddie took it. "Uh—thanks."
It could have been made of pencil erasers and chalk, but it was just barely edible. It was something, anyway.
"They're all quite cross with you," Tetch said, offhand. "They want your head."
"It wasn't my fault. The new doctor is mental. I'll ask her not to do it again, and eventually, this will all blow over." Tetch laughed, believing in Eddie's chances for a clean getaway about as much as Eddie did.
Yeah…there was nothing else to do in Arkham but plot revenge. They wouldn't forgive or forget. Except for those like the Mad Hatter, who only seemed to be visiting Arkham while the workmen put down new floors in Wonderland.