That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Executor

∞— Joker's Cinematic Record —∞

In a dark filthy alley in the East End, where the few people out and about were dressed in dirty rags, and the dogs were mangy, bony and pathetic beasts, there lived a group of children.

[We met in the gutters, from which all the filth of this world is expelled.]

Wendy, Peter, Dagger, Joker, Doll, Beast, and Jumbo. They were all there, and they all looked even worse than the dogs.

[Those whose bodies were deficient from birth.]

Joker, Beast, and Dagger.

[Those whose bodies stayed forever child-like.]

Peter and Wendy.

[Those who grew to be too large.]

Jumbo.

[Those whose countenances were transfigured by their parents.]

Doll.

[Every last one of us was abandoned in this gutter.]

Joker tried to steal a loaf of bread, but he was caught and beaten. Through it all, he never once let go of the bread.

[There was no way for the likes of us to obtain anything even resembling work here in Great Britain. We couldn't even do a good job of thieving.]

He brought it back to share with his friends.

[I can't remember how we managed to eke out a life, but... Despite it all, we survived in the gutters, keeping our heads down and laying low. But one day...]

They were all huddled together under a tarp someone had abandoned, trying to keep dry in the rain, when a well-dressed man approached them. He smiled and held his hand out to them.

[There appeared a curious man who took us sewer rats in.]

They had a happy life at Renbourn Workhouse. Peter, Wendy, and Doll were laughing and playing with the other children while they sang.

"Tom, he was a piper's son,
He learn't to play when he was young,
And all the tune that he could play,
Was 'over the hills and far away'..."

Beast and Dagger, who were each missing a leg, were sitting on a bench while they watched. Dagger pouted.

"Somethin' wrong, eh?" Joker asked him as he walked over to join them. "Why all the poutin'?"

" 't's nuffin'..." Dagger lied. Joker looked at the other children running around freely.

"Folks sure do get used to the good life, eh?" Joker said. "This place is 'eaven compared to the gutters, yet ye keep wantin' more and more." He sighed and looked back at Dagger. He ruffled his 'little brother's' hair affectionately. " 'Eeeey there, Jumbo," he called out to their other friend, who was chopping wood. " 'E says 'e wants to play with 'em." Jumbo came over to them and crouched down in front of Dagger.

"Then please hop on my back," Jumbo told him with a smile.

"I'm fine!!" Dagger said, blushing out of embarrassment.

"On ye get, then," Joker insisted. "Don't be shy!" Dagger gave in and accepted their kindness. He and Jumbo smiled at each other as they went to join the other children. "Would ye like to go join 'em too?" he asked Beast. "We'll I'd be able to carry ye on my back too if I'd a right arm."

"I'm alright here," Beast said. Joker sat down beside her on the bench.

"I'm sorry, yeah?" he apologized with a sad smile.