A Userguide To Understanding Joker

Question 5: What Is The Joker's Take On His Own (In)Sanity?

Question 5: What Is The Joker's Take On His Own (In)Sanity?

Dr. Quinzel's POV

It was weeks before I could get the Joker to utter anything other than sighs and sounds of frustration. As I had thought, asking him questions about his sexual preferences had really pissed him off. Since then he has been sitting across from me, merely scowling during our sessions. He wasn't even here by choice. He was wrangled into a straight jacket and delivered to my office like a package.

It's not as if I don't try to engage him. I've tried many tactics to elicit a response out of him. He can't be swayed, distracted, or wore down over time. However, by now I already know that the Joker has a will unlike anyone I've ever seen before. He's both extremely tenacious and patient. But mostly, he understands psychology as much as the worlds finest psychiatrists do. This gives him the power to easily manipulate any situation or person to his advantage.

In other words, he's not going to talk until he's good and damn well ready. Which is bad for me, as failure to make progress with him will lead me to be reassigned to another case. Which won't be good for my research, because I stand to lose all of my funding from Mr. Wayne. So as you can see, I really need to find the right buttons to push.

However, he tends to guard the kind of information one would need to know in order to do that. I guess you could say that he's too smart or incapable of setting himself up for those kinds of failures. He always maintains his control over every situation.

But I have picked up a few useful things from my sessions with him. One, he is his number one fan, and is very much a narcissist. Two, he truly loves to talk. So I know that giving him a chance to talk about how great he is, would be his idea of the perfect conversation. So I looked through his extensive file for a topic in which it appears he enjoys discussing. Normally, the answer would be Batman, but after that whole awkward session, that won't work.

So I noticed that his second most talked about topic was that of his own mentality. Of which he has endless theories and remunerations. Each a thing of intricate design and detail. Each one different from the last. But it's my belief that there is a fraction of truth to everything he tells me. I can't explain why I feel that way, but that's what my gut tells me.

So today's session is about getting him to finally end the silent treatment. I plan to do this by allowing him the opportunity to shine in his favorite topic. Himself. It's possibly the only bait I'll be able to get him to take.

When the guards deliver him to my office I take a seat across from him. As expected, he offers nothing but a frown of contempt. Normally, I would take this opportunity to release him from the straight jacket, but today is about trying something different.

So I silently sit and thumb through his file. I cross one leg over the other and allow my heel to slip out of my shoe as I lightly bounce my foot. It's not long before I can hear him making an audible sound of frustration in the back of his throat. I look up at him over the top of my glasses and return my attention back to his file. And this seems to really get under his skin, as it's not long before I hear a growl. But I ignore it and flip the page I'm reading. He knows that I'm ignoring him and he hates it.

After the third sound of intolerance, I calmly look up at him, "Are you experiencing some sort of problem? Because, I'm trying to read," I say before returning my eyes back to his file.

"Yeah," he says in a gravely tone, "the strap between my legs is riding up my ass, so why don't you unlock this contraption."

Yes! I got him to speak! But I don't allow my excitement to show. "Um no," I casually say, "I don't think so."