Artistic License (Joker and Ariel)

Her show had been going well so far even though there had been a few close calls. Some of the Super Villians showing up to her show were some of those close calls - the ones that had really rattled her. The rest just didn't seem to be of any importance in comparison. There were a few delays in delivery and some attempted break in to the gallery but nothing was taken and there wasn't any money left in here anyway once she had gone home.

Despite these problems Ariel had sold a lot of art and made a tidy profit.

She was so glad that everything had gone well and that her art had been well received. Ariel had felt at points in making her work that people of Gotham would think them distasteful, and she was sure that a fair few of them did. The majority of them though thought that they were insightful pieces drawing on pressing modern issues. It helped that they were affordable to so people on a tight budget like she used to be could afford prints - if not the original work in some cases.

It made her art accessible and that was something to be proud of, in her book anyway.

Sighing happily as she sipped a flute of champagne, Ariel looked around the gallery giving smiles to some of the faces she had already seen before in earlier shows. Some people liked to come back again and again if they were debating about purchasing an expensive piece - Ariel certainly wasn't going to stop them from doing it.

There hadn't been anything overly exciting happening tonight and that was just fine by Ariel, she was enjoying having relatively low stress levels for a change.

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

The Joker grinned as even that little announcement, in his voice, had the patron hurrying to abandon ship, like rats. He chuckled to himself as some of his crew blocked the door, throwing members of the public back into the gallery when they tried to escape. Sighing happily to himself, The Joker ducked and weaved through the panicked masses.

Taking his knife, he stabbed a server in the throat with one hand as he took a flute of champagne from the tray that was rapidly falling. All the other glasses shattered when the man collapsed to the ground,

"Now... I hear someone's been taking liberties!" he cackled a little bit, downing the drink before smashing the glass into the face of a rich-looking woman, who screamed and fell down. She would be fine, the glass hadn't even cut that deeply. Grinning when he spotted the artist, The Joker moved in much closer, "Ah... there you are!"

He grinned at her, wrapping an arm tightly around her shoulders while wiping the blood from his knife on her clothes casually,

"So how about it... a tour!" he grinned, "A little birdie told me that you were making us pictures! The prettiest pictures this side of Paris! I, of course, thought it was blasphemy! After all..."

Grinning, he pointed at his own face with his knife,

"How do you top THIS as art?" he paused before gesturing wildly at her with the knife, "An actual question you know! HOW DO YOU?!"

Ariel opened her mouth in shock when she heard the door to her gallery open, and when she saw the Joker and several of his goons walking inside. The one person that she had hoped wouldn't turn up to her show because he really wouldn't care about it, and he turns up. At least there wasn't anyone else here for him to clash with, like if the Penguin would have come tonight instead of a few nights ago.

She wouldn't have a gallery left if that was the case.

Now, seeing the Joker wreak his havoc in real life was a lot different to seeing it in images and films. It made her feel weak at the knees, like she was about to faint, and a strong sensation of nausea washed over her. Ariel fought against it though, and hoped that she didn't look like she was about to pass out - it wasn't the best impression she could give.

When he spotted her and immediately headed for her, Ariel steeled herself as best she could. Which admittedly wasn't very much.

The sensation of his arms wrapped around her shoulders was, uncomfortable for many reasons. One was that if he had been someone else the contact would have actually been quite pleasant, but because he was the Joker the fact she had thought that it could be pleasant made the situation all the more upsetting for her. Ignoring the fact he had just ruined her best, and most expensive dress, in her wardrobe.

"Of course, I'll be glad to show you around." she replied with a small smile, it was the best that her nerves would allow at the moment.

Taken aback by the Joker's question, Ariel found that her answer was blurted out of her mouth before she could really stop it. Something that she might regret when she was bleeding out on the floor in a few moments time she had no doubt.

"It was very hard, and I don't think I managed to top it myself. I just, wanted to pay a tribute to you in my own way."

The Joker could see that the crowd was beginning to get a little restless, wondering if they could try and leave now that he 'got what he came for' as one fat man commented. Without turning his head too much away from Ariel, The Joker took careful aim and blew the man's kneecaps into thousands of pieces with two well-aimed gunshots.

He hummed a little bit when he turned back to her,

"You say something my dear?" he joked before gasping, as if just realising something, "Of course! Of course of course! The Tour! LEAD ON WOMAN! Or I might just forget how much of a good mood I've been in recently..."

He chuckled a little bit before his eyes caught on something,

"HOLD EVERYTHING!" he roared, making everyone in the entire building freeze in place. He touched the bloodied cloth of her dress, "You've got red on you... HAHAHAHAHA! Now who put that there hmm? Well! No matter, time for a better dress! You're a what? Six? Eight?"

The Joker grinned,

"A six. I'll see what I can do."

Her answer... his face split into the biggest grin of the entire night. Pulling her closer to him by an uncomfortably tight grip on her chin, he pressed the flat of the blade against her cheek, stroking her cheek gently with the deadly weapon,

"Aww that's so sweet... you... the people of Gotham..." he cackled madly, throwing his head back and pushing her away from him as he laughed, "So you DO think about ME! HAHAHA!"

Wiping away a tear, he tilted his head to the side,

"But honestly now... show me the paintings or I'll see what your insides look like smeared over a canvas... it'll be modern art!"

Ariel, when prompted, decided that she would lead the Joker as nicely as possible towards the section of the gallery where she had decided to hang all the work that had been based upon him. There was a lot more of it than there were for other people, simply because his influence upon Gotham had been so profound compared to the rest of the Super villains. You couldn't hear Gotham without thinking of the Batman, and of course the Joker.

She walked slowly but with purpose towards the first painting - which was quite simple actually. It was just the Joker's signature red smile splashed across a white background. When she'd interviewed someone who had seen the Joker in action, they had said the one thing that stuck out to them was his smile. So that had been her inspiration.

The smile however, was made out of intricately written words in a variety of red shades. All of the words linked to the Joker in some way, either they were linked to clowns, or to violence or to blood and death etc. All she could do at this point was hope that he liked it, or at least took his anger out on the painting instead of on her face or any other part of her for that matter.

His question about her dress size shocked her and bewildered, Ariel answered; "I'm...I'm a size six yes."

Attempting not to get too panicked when the Joker pulled her close to him, Ariel's eyes fluttered closed as he placed the cold metal of a blade against her cheek. She just hoped that he wasn't actually going to cut her - that wasn't what she wanted at all, she hadn't done anything to deserve it yet. She'd not upset him yet, she hadn't thought.

"Here's the first painting that I made that was inspired by you." she stated, hoping that by drawing his attention to the painting of the smile made up out of words would mean he would remove the knife from her skin. The coldness was making goosebumps rise over her skin, so was the close proximity he had been holding her at - she could still feel his touch on her.

The Joker hummed a little bit as he looked at Ariel this way and that for a few moments. It wasn't right! The red didn't fit here. There were many places that The Joker thought would be improved greatly with a dash more red. The delivery room in Gotham General Hospital could do with a lot more crimson splashed around it's walls!

And, of course, Batman's face would look amazing if it was bright, red and dripping like his own! They'd be two peas in a pod!

But no!

The red didn't fit here!

Nodding to himself, The Joker abruptly left Ariel before marching out to the hostages. Humming, he spotted a woman, pointing to her,

"What's you dress size dear?"

The woman was so surprised that she answered honestly.

A six.

Grinning, The Joker reached out, grabbed her head tightly in both hands... before twisting.

Like a puppet with the strings cut, the woman feel to the ground, dead in a heap. Without a care for decency or the screaming people, The Joker stripped her out of her dress before throwing it at Ariel with a manic grin,

"Don't say I never gave back to the people of Gotham!"

Humming slightly when his attention was drawn to the picture, he ran his fingers over the smile that was painted there. For a moment he was calm, sober,

"A smile can make all your problems go away." he told her quietly, "I... I think my mother told me that. She also told me that candy from strangers was delicious! HAHAHA! ONWARDS! NEXT PAINTING! And TERRENCE! Take this one to the car!"

Ariel hadn't known what she had expected when the Joker had asked for her dress size. It certainly wasn't what had happened a few moments ago - where a woman was killed and stripped in front of her so that she could have her dress. Apparently the red on her was more of a problem than she would have thought - considering that the Joker had put it there in the first place.

Taking the dress carefully she tried to ignore the way that it was still warm in her grip from the woman's body. For a moment she wondered just where she was going to go and get changed, she couldn't do it here in front of everyone. At least, she hoped she wouldn't have to. Ariel hadn't really pegged the Joker as the sexual crime type of guy - he barely seemed interested in Harley most of the time.

Let alone some random woman who he had dropped in to terrorise.

"Thank you." Ariel replied to him, remaining polite. It would do no harm to still use her manners even though she doubted the Joker really cared whether she used them or not.

Upon hearing the Joker actually sharing some information about his life with her, Ariel found herself feeling slightly less afraid. Only slightly though. It was very conceivable that he had just made up that last statement with the intention of making her feel less afraid - although she shouldn't be attempting to guess the Joker's mind. It was quite impossible.

"I'm glad you like it." she admitted with a small smile, as the painting was taken away by one of the Joker's men.

The next painting was of the Joker and Batman. Each had half a face upon the painting, joined together to make one complete face. She had done it to show that the two of them appeared to be inseparable from each other, so similar and unable to be one without the other. This was something she knew the Joker had stated many times himself so, perhaps he'd like this one too.

The Joker wasn't bothered about the fact that she would have to change into the dress, he just wanted that red off of her. Until he wanted red on her, there would be no red on her. Sighing theatrically, he waved his hand at her,

"You don't have to change right now." he told her with a roll of his eyes, "If I wanted a ride I've got a perfectly good Harley that's revving and waiting outside! Hahahaha!"

Shaking his head a little bit as one of his thugs took away the painting of the smile, he grinned back at Ariel,

"Oh it's not for me." he assured her with a smirk, "I'm going to have it delivered to an old friend of mine. So everything he looks at the wall he sees my smile - the same smile that I will one day make sure stretches his face wide open...!"

Rolling his neck a little bit, he casually ignored the severity of what he had just said before his eyes locked onto the next painting. He started chuckling, a low and quiet sound that quickly got louder and louder. Eventually he reached into his pocket,

"I need to share this one with him..."

Chuckling, The Joker pulled Ariel to stand beside him in front of the painting. He took out a smart phone and stuck his tongue out,

"Say ELEPHANT BRAINS!" he declared, taking the picture before giggling, dancing on the stop in his excitement, "Oh I am so tweeting this... and snapchat to Bats!"

The reassurance that she didn't have to change now made Ariel's stress levels go down very slightly. At least she wouldn't be stripping any time soon. A part of her did want to cry at that point though, a deep dark vain part of her. Not even The Joker wanted to see her naked. How good of a sign was that?

Covering the red blood he had wiped on her with the woman's dress, Ariel smiled lightly at managing to solve the situation without having to excuse herself.

Ariel could guess who the painting was going to be going to but she didn't want to say it out loud in case she was wrong and ended up in trouble for it. There was no telling what would set the Joker off after all, best not to say anything she didn't need to say and that way she wouldn't antagonise him. Unless he got annoyed she wasn't speaking more.

This man gave her a headache!

"Well then, I hope he likes it." she stated, altering her previous statement.

Taking a selfie with the Joker was something that Ariel hadn't planned on doing tonight but she was pleasantly surprised at the action. It was almost friendly actually and she was just glad that he seemed to like that painting as well. She was doing a good job so far. Nothing had offended him to a great degree and he seemed to be having a good time.

"Elephant brains." Ariel repeated as he took the picture, ruffling a hand through her hair when he mentioned sending it to Batman "You have Batman on snapchat?" she asked, a bewildered smile tugging at her lips. She didn't even know that Batman had a snapchat let alone that he had the Joker added on it.

The Joker was sure that Jim Gordon would absolutely hate the picture but he would make sure that it was mounted to his wall in a bullet proof glass case. That way the commissioner would look at it every day in his office and wouldn't be able to get rid of it no matter what he did!

And it would be a constant reminder that all he needed to become just like him... was one BAD day.

He cackled a little bit to himself at the thought of Jim actually liking it,

"Oh I hope he does." he grinned wider than usual, "I'm sure he'll love it though! Once someone blows his daughter's brains out and kills that old hag of an Ex he has! When he loses everything in one day... when his life literally cannot be worse! Then, after that incredibly BAD day... then he'll see the funny side. Count on it."

The Joker, doing what he did best, grinned madly,

"Of course! I threatened to snap the neck of a defenseless little girl if he didn't do as I said so he really had no choice!" he cackled before humming slightly, "Was surprised he didn't get rid of it when I snapped her neck and used her as a delivery device for a grenade to his chest... maybe he's just finally getting it! Maybe he finally understands that I'm his only true friend! HAHAHAHA!"

Patting Ariel on the back so hard she likely went sprawling, he giggled to himself,

"NEXT!"