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*hugs*

You're a gauge of emotional impact that I deeply, deeply respect. I'd just like you to know that. It means a lot to me, because heaven knows I've put you through a lot over the years.

So many thanks.

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Amazing! The last line is just perfect! It's great seeing something from Alfred's POV!

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Thank you very much! I freely admit I wanted to find a way to fit him in before this particular sequence was over. In future ones, I'm sure I can find more for him to do...

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Amazing. Beautifully written. I would LOVE to see a sequel to this.
You're a fantastic writer and seem to know these characters better than anyone :D

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There's very likely to be a sequel to this sequence in the form of another one - I've left so much interim stuff (the other Arkham conversations, for instance, and who knows what else) that can be played with! And thanks to reader participation, I'm having a great time.

Thanks for reading, as always!

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Wow. I haven't read much from Alfred's POV, but you absolutely nailed it. I could hear Michael Caine throughout the entire thing, start to finish. The idea itself was an extremely clever way to tie everything together. Fantastic work.

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I haven't seen much out there from his POV, either, which is why I admit (guiltily) that I had to fit him in here somewhere before I go launching off a new sequence based on what I've got here so far. I'm sure I can find more for him to do!

That icon of yours is just so gorgeously cropped.

(Thank you!)

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You are a goddess and this is my favorite fic EVER.

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(Goddesshood, I severely doubt! Surely deities don't produce nearly as much post-spam as I do.)

You're very, very kind, and thanks so much for reading! I hope the new series I'm considering launching off of this one will give you as much delight.

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This is amazing. It's like you're in Alfred's mind!

And this makes me feel so bad for Alfred. He always has to put up with batman :(

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He's like, I don't know, the perfect long-suffering parent (or husband, or whatever). And I just adore Michael Caine.

I'm glad you enjoyed these so much, and there's very likely going to be a new sequence that will launch off from what I established in this one. I can't believe how good the response has been. Thank you.

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NJS;V AVNDV;ABVIS S;DFNAJSNF.

I might make a more coherent comment when I regain any sense of composure. If I could think on how to describe a physical SIDVBNAIS;BNDVBSA;CN;O!!!! I would describe it to you.

Because that's what my brain just did upon reading this. :)

Fabulous, as always.

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(And you know there's going to be more, no matter what I say. It'll just be an entirely new sequence playing on theme and variations. I've given myself too much to play with here. I should have known this would get badly out of control.)

Have some tea. It'll restore your composure in no time. Alfred recommends it!

*hugs* Lovelovelove your feedback. Always.

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This is simply amazing. You've captured Alfred's essence as well as Sir Caine's in a few lines. And the socks was nice touch.

I loved this series and bow down to your, for a lack of better words, MAD skills. ;hail:

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I love Alfred to pieces; I would really like to do more with him. Given that people are already asking for something further, I'm thinking that I'll use the groundwork I laid in these four pieces to start an entirely new sequence beyond them. I'll probably either back up and cover some more of the Arkham dialogues that happened in that year and a half Alfred hints at, or I'll move forward and see about getting the Joker out of Arkham.

No bowing; we're all equals here. I thank you profusely!

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So... uh... sequel? All four parts were brilliant, in the sense that I'm like, "THAT'S IT?!"

I think you nailed Alfred's voice perfectly. I can very much see him saying this. The previous three were just as powerful too, I just haven't had time to review them (I will, promise; I have dial-up and it makes me procrastinate).

So... how about that sequel? Was it you who said this would be continued? I can't remember if it was you or another author. However, if it was you, then OMGMOARNAOPLZ!

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When I said this would be continued, I was back at Parts I and II saying there would be III and IV *g* However, from the overwhelming response (I can't even tell you how floored I am; you're a magnificent bunch of readers [and writers]), I do think that I have an excellent basis from which to launch a new sequence. Given that I only covered two of their "visits" in Arkham, I could easily back-track and do a set called, say, The Arkham Sessions that will flesh out Alfred's fears.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for giving me possibilities to mull over!

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Sequel. SEQUEL. PLEASE. The perpsectives never cease to delight--I love Alfred! The socks as a gift--PERFECT.

"There's no burning the forest when it's sunk to the bottom of the sea." Wow.

This demands sequelness. I am burning to know what changes they've wrought on each other. BURNING.

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Given that the response to this sequence has been positively exponential, I think I might back up a little and do a new sequence that launches off of this one. I have a lot of options: I could backtrack and do more of the Arkham Sessions (a likely title!) between Bruce and the Joker, or I could move forward to a point when the Joker's out again. I'll have a good think about it while I'm slogging my way through some much-neglected academic work next week ;)

Thanks once again; you're a delightful reader!

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Holy crap! How do you do it? Alfred, Bruce, the Joker, every one of them nailed on the head with your litterary hammer!

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Well, I write by drinking, say, two pots of tea and staying up till three in the morning fiddling with the editing, which, as you can imagine, really gets on my housemates' nerves (thankfully, they get affectionately annoyed instead of furious). That's how ;) I swear to you, I feel like the success of this sequence has been almost entirely accidental; I never imagined I'd ever be drawn to write in any corner of Batman fandom, so I looked at this as one big...joke, experiment, something. I'm so thrilled that people have responded well; it gives me plenty to think about along the lines of launching off other pieces from here :)

Thank you very, very much.

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That was an excellent Alfred POV... I especially loved the last line. Great job! :D

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It seems there's not much of his POV floating around out there, but I hope others will help to remedy that! Glad you liked it; thanks a million for reading :)

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This was awesome! You must write more!

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Thanks; glad you enjoyed it so much! I'm very likely to launch a second sequence off the groundwork I laid in this one, so do stay tuned :)

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Poor Alfred, but his viewpoint is a lovely way to conclude. *thumbs up*

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Fortunately, he's both strong enough to take it and devoted enough to Bruce to put up with...well, anything. Bruce would be in dire straits without him, and I think he knows that.

Merci bien!

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Best Batman fic EVER, and if anyone says otherwise, I'll beat them up.

Love love loved this, am totally enamoured with your characterisation of.. well, everyone, and the final line was perfect like sliced bread before toast.

Going to reread and babble incoherently now ♥

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Now, now - if people don't like these, I'm perfectly willing to let them say so! But if anybody ever does something that would be truly worthy of beating-up, well, maybe then I'll call you in ;)

The first line, I had before the rest. It kind of wrote itself backwards, which is not how the others worked at all.

Keep your coherency, too; you need that! And thank you.

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really amazing fic. seriously, i love every single bit of it. <3

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Wow, and I like your icon! Thank you so much.

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I really liked these. I was curious to see where it went and am glad you didn't have anything approaching a happy (or melodramatically tragic) ending.

Amusingly, I was thinking "This is good, but it isn't quite Alfred's voice" then realised I was thinking of Old School Alfred (I rewatched "Batman Returns" recently, as well as "Gotham Knight"), and that if I imagined it as Michael Caine Alfred it was perfect :)

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Oh, hell no: neither happy nor melodramatic would have entered the equation at any point here. The trick is that these characters remain locked in the same eternally troubled holding pattern, and you have to work within that.

Do you know, I can't even summon what Old-School Alfred sounded like? I was so young when I saw Batman and Batman Returns that he didn't leave much of an impression. No, I'm really working with Batman Begins/TDK here and very little else.

Thank you, dear!

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I just read these four, despite a great deal of hemming and hawing along the lines of "do I really want to read Batman slash", and I have to say, you completely blew me away. They were amazing, and I loved every word.

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As in any fandom, there's good fic and there's bad fic. I'm honored that you've decided mine falls in to the former category instead of the latter! Reading anything is a risk, so I thank you for taking that risk. And I'm pleased you weren't left disappointed. I take pleasure in entertaining people; it's that simple!

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Dude, you are made of win. Totally win.

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I've always wondered what win looks like as a substance, you know? It's an amusing thought :)

Thank you, my dear.

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Yay, Alfred. :) He's always so sensible, if only Bruce would listen to him more...

This whole sequence has been a pleasure to read.

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wowza. that last line was incredible, just like this entire arc was. I really hope to see you work with this pairing again, it was truly a pleasure to read. Socks were a nice touch!

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Goddamn. Am reading this avidly, and I love the slow unfolding of this two-way obsession. And then, a break in that dark mood, as Alfred pops up as an oasis of cold hard sanity.

I can't imagine where this is going, but I'll follow you there. Consider me hooked.

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I'm starting to imagine further where this is going, as the possibilities are a lot greater than I had initially thought (or had initially been willing to think; see, I really was under the illusion I'd try this on a lark and it wouldn't behave for me at all).

I do love Alfred. I thought it might come off as random to have him in at the last minute, but actually, I'm glad I overruled that suspicion, as you all clearly wanted to hear from him, too.

I keep popping over to your IJ to see if you've added anything to those comment discussions of yours!

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Never read a fic in Alfred's POV and I feel like I still haven't -- your Alfred voice might as well be canon. Alfred is loyalty and deep concern but from a distance, and each word I read made me feel that I was standing with him watching Bruce's world burn from behind a glass wall. Is there anyone you can't write?

a diamond for every gem we lost in that jungle
Such a nice touch, it packs a punch and sets up very, very nicely for that stunning finale. ♥ I feel like double friending you for your fabulousity. Sadly this is as of yet impossible. We shall have to annoy LJ with dirty socks and potato peelers!

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To be honest, in the next sequence, whatever/however it turns out to be, I want to bring in a couple other characters and see what I can do with them. And it could well turn out that I suck at Harvey/Two-Face, but I do believe he'd be my next target. Granted, I think what I've got going with Bruce and the Joker at this point is only the tip of the iceberg and I need to hack away at it and see what else is there. It'll be one hell of a twisted ice-sculpture.

Dirty socks, check - but potato peelers, gosh, I didn't find room for one here! Is it really amongst the implements laid out at Gotham Police Station? In two viewings, that's one of the things I think I've failed to properly mentally catalogue: exactly what he's carrying on his person. A potato peeler? God, I could laugh at that for at least ten minutes. I mean, at a glance, you don't think one would do much damage, but then you think about what it's designed to do: slice off skin and dig out eyes.

(Well, if you think about it, we actually have friended each other twice ;)

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All the parts were amazingly written. You keep in character so well. I hope to see more from you. ^^

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Thanks for the lovely feedback - and yes, you will be seeing more :)

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Delurking to tell you how much I loved the psychological drama. That was dark, twisted and absolutely beautiful. Thank you.

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You're very welcome - my thanks to you for de-lurking and letting me know how it struck you. I do intend to spin a couple of other sequences off of this one, so do stay tuned. If commenting isn't your thing, though, please don't feel pressured. It's enough to know you're enjoying the ride!

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Much like its companions, this piece is excellent, very believably characterized, and well-written. And now that I have flattered you in response to it, I'm off to try and recollect my socks. The were effectively blown off, you see.

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I would send you new socks as a present, but I'm pretty broke at the minute!

Thank you, dear.

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