This is absolutely my most favorite story about the Joker ever. I really hope you continue it.
April 28th, 2013 at 05:10am
You do realize that you have made tears well up in my eyes, about three times throughout the duration of this story? That's only six chapters long in total? You are so fantastic at writing emotively, all of your descriptions are just gorgeous and I always find myself really emotional after reading your pieces. You just portray feelings really well, to an extent that even the reader can feel them strongly, and want to cry when they realize such a beautiful story has not been updated in two years...
I'll just re-read these six chapters and wait for you to come back. Hey, a girl can hope.
Jack Napier was long gone. No more chaos. No more Joker.
She had to tell his story before she died. And by God, she was telling it to someone.
This is such an alluring introduction, and it makes my heart kind of heavy (literally, my heart feels freaking heavy right now) because I don't like the idea of The Joker/Jack being dead. It's depressing. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing beginning and I was well and truly sucked in, only after reading five sentences. The phrase 'and by god' is very expressive, I like how you used it as it's one of those phrases that shows a lot of strong emotion, and of course it is fitting for such a story as this one.
I think the paragraph that was particularly emotive was this one:
Deanna remained silent as the nurse went back to tending her mother. Annie picked up the picture she had held moments ago off of the wheelchair. “Would you like your picture?” she asked. The elderly woman let out a startled gasp and started bawling. She curled up in a fetal position, tossing and turning and moaning as she gripped her head. Annie leaned down on her knees and tried comforting her as best as she could. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“No it’s not,” the woman replied, angry tears falling down her face.
“Why not?”
“I almost forgot,” she replied, letting out a powerful wail. “I almost forgot,” she kept repeating.
“Forgot what, Mrs. Sanders?” the nurse asked. The woman fell silent and released her head. Annie placed the picture in between her hands and smiled at her. She kissed the woman on her forehead and stood up.
“Goodnight, Mrs. Sanders,” she said sweetly, even though it wasn’t night. It was always what she said, though. Deanna and her family couldn’t possibly know, but Annie was her favorite nurse nowadays. She would always come and visit with her every day, even though the woman didn’t talk.
“Jack,” the old woman said. Deanna stepped closer and stared down at her mother, confusion all over her face. “Jack,” she said.
“Who’s Jack?”
The nurse shrugged and replied quietly, “She says his name a lot in her sleep.”
Deanna shook her head. “It must be a mistake. She never knew a Jack.”
Dear lord. By the time I had finished the chapter I was sobbing to myself, just thinking: 'oh my god The Joker's name is Jack Napier she was thinking about him why why ohhh god she almost forgot about him this is depressing and yet so lovely at the same time.'
This whole plot is just amazing and too utterly flawless for words. The idea that Charlotte was the one to kill The Joker, and now that she's old and near death she wants to tell his story to anyone that will listen, before she forgets completely about him is so heartbreaking. I just have no words. It's such a unique plot line, I adore it. I also like how you skip from past to present, even though it's a little bit confusing it definitely adds depth to the whole story, and once I realized that the old lady in the hospital was the young blonde called Charlotte I began to fall helplessly in love with this story.
SHE SAYS HIS NAME IN HER SLEEP. I CAN'T GET THAT OUT OF MY HEAD, I'M SORRY, BUT SHE LOVED HIM (I assume) AND SHE KILLED HIM AND OH MY GOD SHE PROBABLY REGRETS IT.
I like how you included her family into this, like how her grand-daughter finds the newspaper clippings saying that Charlotte killed The Joker, and how her daughter visits Charlotte in the hospital. It's very three-dimensional, how you've added a back story and family members and such.
Anyone visiting would never believe it was the same Gotham it had been many years ago; people were actually comfortable with walking out on the streets, or going shopping at night. No one worried about getting robbed or killed. There was an easy silence that hung about the city in the later hours of the night. It was actually nice.
No one talked about criminals or vigilantes anymore. You wouldn’t hear it on the news or radio. Not even on the internet. It was a subject that had been – even though no one had publicly said it – taboo for the longest time; it seemed as long as it wasn’t mentioned, it had never happened. Deanna and her husband were too young to know or remember why; it seemed that only the middle aged and elderly knew of the past, and why everyone was so nervous about mentioning it. It was something that had simply been put to rest, and for good reason, certainly.
I adore this. It's so refreshing to see Gotham in the eyes of people too young to remember the chaos caused by vigilantes and criminals. The way you describe only the middle aged and elderly remembering is beautiful, and it just really puts a philosophical, poetic spin on the whole story, almost like you're reflecting from the past with Batman, Charlotte and The Joker to the peaceful place that it is now. It's gorgeous, and I kept re-reading this paragraph because it's just plain beautiful.
I'm going to stop it there because I'll probably end up rambling for a whole page about how absolutely amazing this story is, and that would be boring for you. My rambling is not a pretty sight, I assure you.
This story... ugh. It's one of my favourite Joker stories, I'm not going to lie. It's so emotive and gorgeous and beautiful and expressive and as I've mentioned, you managed to make me cry a little. Not many stories can do that, but yours can. So please update this soon, it would make my year, you are such a talented writer and I adore you. I'm very excited to see Charlotte and The Joker interact. This comment still does not justify how utterly flawless your story is, but I tried my best.
I love this.
