Kat woke with a start as someone hit the cracked glass wall repeatedly. Kat looked up through bleary eyes at the perpetrator. Kurtis, the orderly from earlier.
"Get up! Time for lunch." He growled through the glass.
"Fine, fine I'm up, I'm up." Kat sat up and rubbed her eyes before getting off the bed. "You orderlies don't have any manners do ya?" The heavily locked door was opened and Kat was led out where she met the Joker going through the same treatment. "Hey Chuckles, how has your day been?" Kat began to make small talk with one of Gotham's most feared criminals.
"I'm alright Kat and yourself," he grinned wildly as the two, along with their orderly entourages, made their way to the mess hall.
"Oh I'm grand," she smirked as she looked at the orderlies facing which were growing increasingly worried as the newest inmate was so friendly towards one of the most dangerous.
As they walked through the double doors to the mess hall the two inmates were released, "So," Kat grabbed a tray and turned to the Joker as they joined the queue of inmates lining up for food. "How does this lunch time thing work?"
"OK, well you get a tray." He waved his tray in the air. "Then you go along the queue along and get what you're given."
They moved along the line of inmates as grey porridge was slapped onto Kat's tray, "Charming," she turned her nose up at the watery mess on her tray as beside her the Joker giggled at the look on her face.
They came up on the last cafeteria attendant behind the bar, he handed over two small paper cups to the man in front of Kat. She stepped forward to look at the man, "Name?" he asked gruffly.
"What?" She replied confused.
"Name?" the attendant asked again, louder this time.
"Oh right," she cringed. "It's Katherine Tailer."
The cafeteria worker fumbled around in the box in front of him before handing Kat two small paper cups of her own.
"Hmmm pills…" she muttered to herself while she waited for the Joker. He nudged her on shoulder. "Come on Kat!" he grinned as he began to walk to a table in the corner of the mess hall. Sitting down on the hard plastic chair and quickly threw his pills down his throat and grimaced as he started to shovel the grey porridge into his mouth.
Kat looked again into the paper cup of pills. She recognised a few of them, Soma, Vicodin and Valium and then two others she didn't know. She shrugged, 'When in Rome, well Arkham.' Shoving the pills in her mouth she quickly gulped down the water and swallowed until the 5 pills were gone.
"Do you get uppers or downers?" The Joker spoke, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth.
"Downers, no idea why though." She giggled.
"Samers!" Joker's voice was high pitched and oddly excited. He then showed Kat a huge smile before shovelling more food in his mouth.
Kat returned the smile before gingerly picking up her spork and digging in to the grey mound of mush on the tray in front of her. Scoping up a sporkful she quickly shoved it into her mouth and swallowed before she had time to change her mind about her decision. It had almost no taste but had the texture of a biscuit after it had been dropped in a cup of tea and left there for too long.
"That's repulsive!" the complaint escaped Kat before she could hold it back.
"Well you better get used to it Kitty Kat!" Joker giggled uncontrollably at Kat's disgusted face. "That's lunch and breakfast there, for dinner it's worse."
"Worse than this?" Kat gasped, dark eyes wide as they flicked between her lunch and her friend.
Joker smile broadly and nodded as Kat dramatically dropped her spork and pretended to faint in shock, making the Joker start laughing hysterically.
Kat stood from the floor where she had landed and took a theatrical bow, "Thank you, thank you," she grinned in an upper class English tone and bent down to retrieve her eating utensil.
"Oh Kat!" the cheery voice of the Joker sounded from the other side of the metal table.
"Yes?" she replied in her naturally quirky British accent grabbing the spork and lifted her head leading her to bash it off the underside of the table and bursting into fits of giggles as she pulled herself back into her seat.
She rubbed her head as she looked in front of her to the Joker and the two orderlies standing behind him. The Joker had a large grin and was still giggling, like Kat, but the orderlies were less than amused.
"These nice gents would like to know why you were on the floor." He grinned
"Well," she giggled showing the three of them the spork in her hand. "I dropped me spork!"
The Joker burst out laughing again, as the orderlies eyed Kat and walked away. Kat gave them a cheeky grin and wiggled her fingers in goodbye.
The two friends sat laughing and eating the rest of their 'meal' while trying with great effort not to gag until Kat saw some inmates disappearing through a different set of double doors than which they had entered earlier.
"Hey Chuckles," she nodded towards the inmates going through the doors. "Where are they going?"
"Hmmm? Oh they're going to the Rec Room." He swallowed his last bite. "Come on let's go!"
Kat quickly swallowed another mouthful of slop before lifting her tray and putting it in the pile of dirty trays along with the Joker's and followed the Joker to the double doors.
The doors opened to reveal a corridor with large windows on either side of the hall. It gave a sense of openness to this hall, which was odd in a place with such high security. As she started to walk down the bright hall she glanced out the window, all she saw was a blank strip of glass and a tall wall, taller then any man in this mental hospital.
"Kat come on!" Joker nudged Kat. Without noticing she had stopped walking and started staring at the wall, "On the other side of that wall Kat is freedom, trust me I've been on the other side of that wall just laughing at the stiffs in this place. Neither man nor woman can climb it!" He laughed heartily. "But come on let's get to the Rec Room!"
He started walking again but Kat stayed and stared a little more, just long enough to she a little black cat walking along the top of the wall, she laughed to herself as she walked after the Joker, 'Maybe humans can't but cats can do it better.'
And they walked through the small door to the Rec Room.
