Fic Rec: East of the Sun And--

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Title: East of the Sun And--

Author: plalligator

Pairing: Sherlock/John

Length: 2 parts...around 5,000 words maybe?

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: None

Verse: BBC Sherlock

Author's summary: John rather thinks he might have been something else before he was, well, John. A discarded coat, maybe, worn through at the elbows, frayed and stained; or some bright-eyed bird or mammal; or a few inky, smudged sheets of newspaper; or a handful of rich, red clay.

Excerpt:

He gets up. It seems he has a limp, but there’s a cane standing right by the bed. A cane by the bed, a gun and a laptop in a desk drawer, a few clothes folded neatly in a bureau. This seems perfectly reasonable to John. It also seems perfectly reasonable to put on the clothes and take the cane and the coat folded over a chair and go outside.

Strangely enough, he’s not thinking anything like “Why am I here?” or “Who am I?” or “Where did I come from?” or even “How did I just pop into existence like that?” Because there’s really no question that he did. 

He’s thinking things like ”Milky Way Galaxy—Orion-Cygnus Arm—Solar System—Earth—Europe—Great Britain—England—London—” and on and on until he can triangulate his position down to the street, the words thick and rich on his tongue, though he doesn’t speak them aloud. They taste of life, sharp and heady. 

Reccer's comments: I have become completely obsessed with this fic recently, for several very good reasons. First, the writing style. The plot is based on a fairytale, and plalligator preserves that mythical, larger-than-life feel that all good fairytales have with her lyrical prose. The story reads like music without feeling gimmicky or like it's trying too hard. The second thing that really stands out to me about this story is the characterization of John. He is both confused and ignorant about his sudden appearance on earth (see above), and yet at the same time, mysteriously all-knowing about certain things. It's a great take on the what-makes-John-special trope: you can see why Sherlock is obsessed with the seemingly normal and boring John, who has such hidden depths. And finally, my favorite thing about this story: the conclusion. Sad and sweet and clever--plalligator doesn't sacrifice anything to deliver the perfect ending. Her solution to the riddle (which is the title of the story) is worthy of Sherlock himself, and the imperceptible passage of time takes the reader by surprise as much as it does John. In the end, you get the feeling that things have returned--not to normal perhaps (are things ever normal at 221B?), but to the state of being that they were always destined to reach. Real happily-ever-afters are bittersweet.

READ Part 1 | Part 2