Fic Rec: Gone Is My Past

[oreganotea.livejournal.com]

Title: Gone Is My Past
Author: cyerus
Pairing: Gen
Length: 7,801
Rating: Teen
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John is an army bomb detection dog who has been turned into a human. Angst. No, really, angst.

Reccer's comments: What the author's summary says. It sounds like crack, but it's really not. It is, however, a picture-perfect illustration of the "hurts so good" adage. John is a bit (okay, more than a bit) OOC here, but I think the author does a good job of staying true to his basic disposition while accounting for the fact that he is (was?), well, a dog. I'm not sure whose POV I loved more, his or Sherlock's.

Excerpt:

He felt half-mute in his awkward human body. No ears or tail to help him speak, only words. And humans lied, with their bodies and words, but how could he tell when he couldn’t smell their deceit? So many times he had been fooled, because he was a dog and dogs had no use for untruths.

It was exhausting, trying to navigate the minefields of the human world. Most days, John felt like he was drowning.

Comments

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

this is a great little story. John's not an army doctor, he's a former bomb-detecting border collie. PERFECT.

Plus this story features a very interesting Mycroft.

[califmole.livejournal.com]

Agree, this is an absolutely gorgeous story.

[ancientreader]

Lost me with the "alpha" stuff, I'm afraid, because that has no basis in the science of dog social behavior. A pity, because the prose is excellent.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure a dog would be well versed in the science of dog social behavior...

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I feel like it's important to note that the word "alpha" only appears five times in a 7800 word story -- just so that potential readers aren't scared away. It's just the word the author uses to refer to the border collie's primary human, which shifts from his initial trainer to his superior officer. Though I do recognize that there appears to be a shift in terminology among dog people away from the idea of the Alpha. I'm a rodent person myself. :)

[verityburns.livejournal.com]

Loved this! Not really my usual thing, but I very much enjoyed it - thanks for the rec!

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

Loved this fic. It's so unusual but it's a testament to the writer's skill that it works.