Reference in Methods of Rationality.

[thebutcher]

Put a snail on a glowing piece of coal. It twitched as it burned up, but he made it stay put with a casual wave of his wand. He removed it when only the Shell was left.

Signifies Voice torturing Shell, using his control and turning her into a shell of herself.

For Sarion have him peel open a Bellflower with a Dragon Scale, revealing the inner parts and destroying them. Maybe instead of the wax? For optional added strangeness and references have the petals dance across the surface of the potion, reassembling itself before sinking in.

Maybe rubbing the bellflower on the dragon scale, to signify that Sarion destroyed herself.

[Kappa]

Insofar as I have the power to do so, I veto any association of Jokers with moral decay. It would be a muddied metaphor at best.

[DanielH]

Yeah, I didn’t think it was a good one at all. It only happens to the few who have Gothams, and even then “it” isn’t really moral decay. Wrong starting point, wrong process, wrong timeframe, etc.

[anthusiasm]

Plus I feel like "moral decay" implies significant mental change, and I don't think the Gotham thing represents a significant change to the essential nature of Jokers.

[DanielH]

That’s mostly what I meant by “wrong process”.

[Adelene]

Dawning realization + peeling to me means that something is hidden, and you slowly peel away whatever’s hiding the inner part. ... Another possibility includes trying to turn it into a pun about pealing, where a Bell is learning about the multiverse and the rest of the group. This doesn’t fit with the kind of realization necessary, though, and I don’t know how to turn it into a potion ingredient.

Peel back the petals of a bellflower and mysteriously end up with more bellflowers? I agree that it's not the best fit in general though.

[Bluelantern]

So... the talk about the Joker's victims... it is a reference to effulgence?

[Kappa]

I don't think so...

[Alicorn]

Not as far as I know.

[DanielH]

Given that he was talking about Batman’s code and the Joker killing people ages and ages ago, before Effulgence became public, I seriously doubt it.