221b_recs | Entries tagged with character: harry watson

dioscureantwins.livejournal.com

Title: All Our Gifts At Once, or, the Young Sea-man
Author:

tiltedsyllogism
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: approx. 47,500 words
Rating: teen
Warnings:none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John Watson, storyteller and shipwright's son, walks way from his entire life in Portsmouth to follow the mysterious Sherlock Holmes to London.
a realistic retelling of The Little Mermaid. Victorian AU.

Reccer's comments: The author’s summary pretty much sums up the essence of the story. But in transporting the tale to reality, although a historic reality, she’s given the tragic tale a wonderful twist. She’s really been incredibly creative in translating the magical world of the fairy tale to a world better known to us. In doing so she’s met many challenges, obviously, but these she’s all resolved with great inventiveness. Meanwhile the characters remain perfectly IC throughout. And there’s a starring role for Harry, who doesn’t understand her brother, but is determined to help him, against all the odds.

To add to the pleasure the story is filled with many details that perfectly help recreate Victorian times, or perhaps I should say, what we think that period in history was like. The language, a tad old-fashioned, yet flowing easily, greatly helps with that.

If you love the story of The Little Mermaid and the series as much as I do, I’m sure you’ll be as delighted with this story as I am.

verdant_fire

Title: Comme des Enfants
Author: Eliane
Pairings: John/Sherlock, Mary/John, Sholto/John, John & Harry
Length: 7287 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: none
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: Harry comes out when John is nineteen. It takes John twenty more years to do the same.

Reccer's comments: This fic is an excellent character study of two things: John's relationship with Harry, and his sexual identity as a closeted, homoromantic bisexual. Both of those things are treated with empathy and honesty, and it's easy to imagine this John and Harry fitting into canon. This story is a lovely, closely observed look at John's past and the personal growth that allows him to move on from it.

verdant_fire

Title: Names for the Galaxy
Author: evadne
Pairings: John/Sherlock, background Anthea/Mycroft
Length: 191102 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: N/A
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: Sci-fi AU. Sherlock Holmes is a recent arrival to 22nd century earth, and determined to find out who he is and where he comes from. John Watson has the unenviable task of teaching him how to be a normal human being.

Reccer's comments: I haven't read anything else quite like this story, fic or otherwise. The worldbuilding is phenomenal, and the treatment of the characters is so empathetic that I really felt what they were feeling as I read this. It also has some of the best plotting I've seen. The foreshadowing was very skillful; I went back and read through again after I got to the big reveal, and details that I didn't make much of at the time suddenly stood out in retrospect. I adore this version of Mary, and Mycroft and Anthea are quietly badass together. And of course, the Johnlock is excellent, both very hot and very moving. I don't understand why this fic isn't better known in fandom, but it certainly ought to be. (One reading note: one of the characters starts off the story mixing up their gendered pronouns, but it's not a typo; there's an in-universe reason for it and it only lasts a few chapters.)

obscuriglobus.livejournal.com

Title: The Replacements
Author: takethesky87
Pairing: Gen
Length: 5000
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: NA
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: After a day solving crimes with Molly, Sherlock tries out a few more candidates.
Reccer's comments: This is a great TEH missing scene that focuses on Sherlock's post hiatus relationships with some of the show's minor characters. Mrs Hudson, Angelo, Mike Stamford and Harry Watson each get a moment in the sun but Sherlock's loneliness and his broken friendship with John is always in the background.

verdant_fire

Title: However Improbable
Author: earlybloomingparentheses
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 61701
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: When unhappy sixth-former John Watson meets the brilliant ex-Etonian Sherlock Holmes, he finds his heart spending more time in his mouth than in his chest. Soon, he's navigating a sea of unfamiliar desires, his father's alcoholic disapproval, and the jagged edges of his new friend's extraordinary mind. Sometimes, he learns, love is soft and safe; sometimes, it's blood and teeth and fists. But then again, so is secondary school.

Reccer's comments: This is one of the best Teenlock fics I've read. It really captures the pains and triumphs of coming of age, and it deals with mental illness and coming out in a very honest and compassionate way. I don't often see realistic depictions of depression in fic (or any medium, sadly), but this one struck a chord. The development of Sherlock and John's relationship is stumbling and fraught in a way that feels deeply true, and the whole story is beautifully and movingly written. It's lovely storytelling.

solrosan.livejournal.com

Title: Ingénue
Author:

ebonlock
Pairing: Anthea/Irene Adler, Anthea/Original Female Character, Anthea/Harry Watson
Length: 95909 words.
Rating: Mature.
Warnings: No warnings apply.
Verse: Sherlock BBC, pre-series 3.

Author's summary: Her safe word is 'enough', because as soon as she meets Irene she knows she's never going to need it again.

Reccer's comments: This is the fic I want everyone to read but that I can’t talk about or describe, because nothing I can say will make it justice. I read it on my commute to work last fall (90 min on bus and train) and there were days I missed connections on purpose just to get to read for a little bit longer.

This started as a fix-it fic for A Scandal in Belgravia, but it’s a fantastic character study of Anthea (and Mycroft, in a way). I love the characterisations in this fic, especially Anthea and Mycroft, but also Irene, John and Sherlock. Not to mention that the depth that ebonlock brings to Harry Watson is amazing. This is one of my all-time favourite Anthea fics because she has so many human flaws. That actually goes for the entire cast, but Anthea and Mycroft tend to always be portrayed as some kind of super humans who have the stamina and skillset of mythological gods. It’s refreshing to read about them as believable people and ebonlock does it so well. My favourite detail is the high heels, Anthea’s and Irene’s. It sounds silly, but it is one of those things that just stuck with me and when you read you’ll understand.

As I said: I can’t really talk about it or make it justice.

bowl-of-glow.livejournal.com

Title: When Harry Met Sally...
Artist: katzensprotte on Tumblr
Pairing: Sally Donovan/Harry Watson
Rating: PG/R
Warnings: possibly NSFW (partial nudity)
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: This palette was quite the challenge haha! Harry and Sally have been on my mind for ages so this was the perfect opportunity to draw them. I also made a progress gif, because I made so many screenshots and well these are always fun!

Reccer's comments: Color palette memes and challanges are all the rage on Tumblr, it would seem. While I don't quite understand the appeal (but I know nothing about drawing so that's not saying much) I have to say that I'm impressed by the result here. The artist managed to combine those shades of pink and green beautifully.

The artwork is really sweet, and even if she doesn't look as I'd imagined her, I really love this version of Harry Watson.

dioscureantwins.livejournal.com

Title:The Frost is all Over
Author: Chryse
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: about 148,500 words
Rating: explicit
Warnings:implied/referenced child abuse, implied/referenced rape/non-con, period-typical homophobia, major illness, OC/minor character death
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John was brave and clever and loyal, a commoner who longed for an exciting life. Sherlock was dashing and brilliant and passionate, an Earl’s son who longed to solve crimes. Being a Tale of Glorious Adventures, Love Letters, Treachery, Longing, Secret Identities, Deathbed Confessions, First Kisses, Daring Escapes, and True Love.

Reccer's comments: So, one day I chanced upon this fic and downloaded it to my e-reader. Then I sat down and started reading and the world around me ceased to exist until I reached the end, which, unfortunately, came all too soon.
Sadly, I don’t occupy a minor position in the British government or else I would decree this fic to be entered into the curriculum of any aspiring Sherlock BBC fanfic reader. For take almost all the characters of the series, add a few pounds of Dickens, some pints of Wilkie Collins, a heavy dollop of the Bronte sisters, a tablespoon of Austen, and a pinch of ACD storylines, stir the whole concoction according to the instructions of Charles Palliser and Sarah Waters and you’ll end up with this great shaggy beast of a wonderfully precocious fic that combines massive scope with minute detail and serves it all up in a plot so thick the spoon stands up in it.
The story is set in the Victorian era and the period is both lovingly and convincingly drawn in beautiful, luxurious language reminiscent of the nineteenth century. We’re taken on a tour of Victorian society, from the hovels of the poor through the lush and unspoiled countryside around Sherrinford Hall, home of the Earl of Sherrinford and his children Mycroft and Sherlock, to the stables, where John, the new groom serves under the loving eye of Mr and Mrs Gregson, and on to the servant’s quarters to the grand chambers of the Hall itself.
Told from John’s POV Sherlock and he are but children when they first meet. John’s career as a jockey was nipped in the bud by an accident and he’s been sent by his former employer to Sherrinford Hall. There he strikes up a fast friendship with the youngest son of the Earl, the quick-witted and sharp-tempered Sherlock, against whose temperament he has been warned.
All seems well with the world while John and Sherlock enjoy their summer of friendship. But of course all good things must come to an end. The scene is laid for an elaboration of their friendship through correspondence until the next summer, the last before Sherlock will have to go to Eton.
At that moment the first angst starts to seep into the fic. Sherlock doesn’t write and John fears for their friendship, and worse, until Sherlock shows up unexpectedly one stormy night and John gets his first inkling the world outside even for an Earl’s son the world outside Sherrinford Hall might be a bit more fraught with peril than he had assumed.
Then the shocking developments start happening so fast and so relentlessly, their whole world torn asunder while they’re confronted with every atrocity mankind ever invented that the reader is left hanging in the ropes like an exhausted boxer, and yet thirsting for more. Truly, the phrase ‘unputdownable’ must have been coined with this fic in mind.
As we follow Sherlock and John on their journey we meet hundreds of characters. The characters from the series are of course designed to various positions in life in a totally different setting and yet they remain IC throughout, no mean feat. All of the OC’s, and we meet lots and lots of those, are well-rounded and lovingly drawn. As this is a Victorian novel there is a lot of sickness and death and outrageous treatment of innocents and the reader becomes invested in what happens to the OC’s almost as much as what happens to John and Sherlock and Mycroft and Irene and Mike Stamford and Molly and Angelo and… need I go on?
Honestly, I could go on and on and on about this fic, but in the end, to quote a certain consulting criminal, “I would try to convince you but… everything I have to say has already crossed your mind!”
For I do hope to have convinced you to go and read this right now. You truly won’t regret it that you did.

nox-candida.livejournal.com

Title: Mistletoe: A Yuletide Myth
Author: radial_symmetry
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Harry Watson/Clara
Length: 5,671
Rating: Gen
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: In which John Baldr has bad dreams, Frigg is drunken yet persuasive, and Loki finds a better use for mistletoe than killing. (A retelling of the Death of Baldr, in an AU fusion between Sherlock and Norse mythology.)

Reccer's comments: There are so many things to love about this fic. First of all, the fusion between Sherlock and Norse mythology is really well done. radial_symmetry did a masterful job adding in mythical details--from character names to the style the story is written in. Harry as Frigga is wonderful, intermittently charming and frustrating as she sets things in motion. radial_symmetry does an amazing job giving life the world that these beings inhabit; the language and word choice are top-notch and interesting throughout. A great example of this is John's various nicknames (John "Nine Realms" Baldr and, as Sherlock refers to him, "the foremost man-whore in all of the Nine Realms"). There are little moments like these throughout that always make me stop to appreciate when something is so perfectly crafted.

I really enjoyed the plot itself, as well. At it's core it's a familiar story--a first time, getting together, love at first sight sort of fic--but the details, including Harry traveling all the realms to extract promises from everything (and then later bragging about it), and John's dream/nightmare to kick the fic off, are so expertly executed that it feels like reading something brand new. I've probably read this fic four or five times and it's so wonderful that I'll find myself thinking about it at times and having to go re-read it yet again.

The characters are really well done, as well. They walk the line between the demands of the story (and the characters the myth is based on), while still recognizably being the characters we know and love. Sherlock, especially, is crafty and clever while being totally blind. And the tag at the end is a moment of pure gold.

The tone, despite the myth that the story is based off of, is humorous, but it never veers into crack fic. There's real heart and fluff in here that keeps it sweet and lovely without turning it into a complete joke.

write-out.livejournal.com

Title: Leap
Author: CherryBlossomTide
Pairing: Gen
Length: 1,138
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: It isn’t John’s birthday.
Reccer's comments: “He has come to suspect that Harry likes making him upset, mostly because she thinks it's cute to comfort him afterwards.”

How John ends up with Harry’s phone. The author manages to wonderfully encapsulate John and Harry’s volatile relationship in two short scenes- one in childhood and the second just prior to John meeting Sherlock. This little story packs a huge emotional punch.

swissmarg

Title: Law Like Love
Author:

PlaidAdder /

idairsauthor
Pairing: John/Sherlock, John/Mary, Harry/Janine
Length: 50K
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Six months after Sherlock didn't go off on that mission to eastern Europe after all, all is well at 221B Baker Street. Little Rachel is just beginning to sleep through the night. John and Sherlock are sleeping with each other. Charles Augustus Magnussen is alive and unwell and just about bankrupt. And Mary is nowhere in sight. Obviously the events of "His Last Vow" were not what they seemed. What really happened? How did we get here from there? Well, we're going to find out. Backwards.

Reccer's comments: "Dear Moftiss: I used your underutilized female characters for you. They were awesome. It wasn't that hard. Love, me." This is one of the author's end notes, and it's so true. Janine and Harry in particular are fantastic, but Lady Smallwood and Mrs Holmes have important parts to play as well. It's very much an ensemble piece as everyone works together like cogs in a clockwork machine to bring the plan to fruition that is at the heart of this fic: getting Baby Watson to Baker Street with John and Sherlock, and taking care of Magnussen - who just won't stay dead - once and for all.

As we know how it 'ends' - we're shown in the first chapter and it tells us in the summary anyway - and we know most of what came before from HLV, you'd think there wasn't going to be much in the way of suspense, but you'd be dead wrong. The fun - and it is a great deal of fun - is in the systematic reveal of how the plan came about, who contributed what, who was faking it and who was being genuine, and, finally, why it had to be done this way. (Spoiler: love. It was for love.)

At the same time as the machinations are gearing up, we follow back the thread of the main characters' relationships. (There is vaguely referenced infidelity but nothing is made explicit.) Janine/Harry was a delightful surprise to me, and I really liked the fact that John struggled with his feelings throughout. It is never easy for him to make a break, even when he finds out … what he finds out about Mary.

One of the most powerful aspects of this story for me, though, was the exploration of Magnussen's and Mary's characters, just what a psychopath is, what they feel (or don't feel), how they see others, and what, in the end, they actually want. Fair warning: Mary doesn't come off well in this story.

( Excerpt... )

antfarmponies.livejournal.com

Title: Shopping List
Author: Moranion
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 54,336
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's Summary: John Watson keeps on meeting people he can't manage to keep. Sherlock Holmes seems to be no exception this rule.

Reccer's Comments: John Watson is pretty well destroyed by Sherlock's death. He's too sad for much tea and jumpers. But, that's alright, because he has the best support system anyone could ask for, including, of all people, Mycroft. Moranion has crafted some of the best versions of Mycroft, Molly and Mary to date. I know we all reach a saturation point for grief-stricken Watson, but this story is fantastically worth a read. Apart from S3's official version of Mary, Moranion's may be my favorite. She's tall, an author and she doesn't even really like John when they first bump into each other. Love it. Mycroft is believably sad about his brother's notDeath and offers John the opportunity to work through his grief with a sniper rifle. And Molly has settled into a space firmly in between "I'm sorry, John." and "I'm going to start slapping every one of you in the face." that is wonderfully jarring to experience. If those three don't give you enough incentive to breeze through the 50k or so of extensive side character development, know that Moranion has etched out a story in solidly lyrical prose that (mostly) shies away from being wordy. An achievement in and of itself. Come for the feels, stay for the supporting cast.

pipmer1.livejournal.com

Title: The Fisher King
Author: pandoras_chaos
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 25680 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: A series of firsts, as measured by time and understanding.

Reccer's comments: This is another story with simply exquisite writing. One chapter contains descriptions of drug use/overdose, and implications of possible off-screen non-con. The story was written pre-series 3, so it goes AU after Reichenbach. There is minor character death.

Each chapter is dedicated to a 'first' in a certain character's life. The first two chapters deal with John and Sherlock in childhood, and their respective ways of dealing with the loss of a father. The story continues on chronologically up through Reichenbach and beyond, through John's marriage to Mary, until Sherlock and John are finally connected in the most complete way possible. The firsts that the author chooses are major milestones in our beloved characters' lives, and shape their way going forward. Beautiful, heartrending emotion that all ends up in the best possible place. Not to mention a smokin' hot sex scene in the final chapter!

pipmer1.livejournal.com

Title: Mise en Place
Author: azriona
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 161,000 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn't have much choice. There's only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes.

Reccer's comments: In the author's own words: the one where Sherlock Holmes is Gordon Ramsay. This epic restaurant AU is delightful in so many ways. Almost everyone from the show is here, but don't worry that they'll be unrecognizable as themselves. Everyone is perfectly in character. Sherlock may be a chef and restaurant owner in this 'verse, but he's still a detective at heart, still a master of observation and deduction.... and of course, still his abrasive self. John is still an invalided army doctor, only saddled here with a failing restaurant that has been in his family for generations. And the two of them still have an inexplicable connection almost from the moment they meet.

You have angst, humour and fluff in almost equal amounts in this story. Plus you have the added bonus of delicious recipes included with almost every chapter! What more could you ask for?

venusinthenight

Title: The Affair of the Asphyxiated Acafan
Author: AJHall on AO3
Pairing: John/Sarah
Length: 29,504 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Author chose not to use warnings
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: Sarah flies home from a conference in the US and brings an unexpected gift home for her boyfriend - or, more precisely, his flatmate. Game on!

Reccer's comments: Sarah Sawyer was, and is, another of my favourite Sherlock women. Intelligent, badass, and insightful. I love that this case fic is largely from her point of view. Another huge highlight (for me, at least) are Chapters 3 and 4. No man in sight. Just the women in the fic at Sarah's flat discussing the murder victim, on their own. *nods*

what-alchemy.livejournal.com

Title: Everlasting
Author: cypress-tree (

cypress_fic)
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: ~17,000 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Verse: Sherlock BBC fusion with Tuck Everlasting, no knowledge of Tuck Everlasting necessary

Author's summary: Most lives end. A Tuck Everlasting fusion, in which the Holmes brothers have lived for a very, very long time.

Reccer's comments: A gorgeous fusion that squeezes at the heart without ever going for cheap manipulation or saccharine melodrama. The relationship between John and Sherlock is as instant as it is on the show, but the emotions are rendered so genuinely that you experience them as a reader - we are not simply told that they feel passionately about each other, but we are made the feel the same. Their relationship is bittersweet but lovely every step of the way, and I do encourage those who might be put off by the warnings to read anyway. "Everlasting" is wholly satisfying in a way that hurts, and we as readers get that reward only by virtue of the content that necessitates those warnings. And, though I came for the romantic pairing, it does not escape my notice that the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft - rendered in broad, stark strokes that leave a reader with only impressions, but ones that run deeper than any spring in the woods - is exactly how I like to see them: prickly and marked by disdain, but bound together not just by blood but by choice and their version of deeply buried affection.

swissmarg

Title: The Same River Twice
Author:

PlaidAdder
Pairing: John/Sherlock, Harry/Clara, Molly/Lestrade
Length: 151,177 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: A pair of stories based on Sherlock, beginning a month after "The Reichenbach Fall." All casefic, combining elements from more than one case. All Johnlock, though other relationships may creep in. Plot and character-driven, though not entirely devoid of other pleasures.

Reccer's comments: Yes, I've recced PlaidAdder twice before. But those were both fics based on the original ACD stories, so I feel justified in bringing something from this author to those in the fandom who don't read ACD fics. Also, this rec is really mainly for the second story in this series, The Young Men Carbuncular, but as you do need to read the first story to understand what's going on, the whole series is getting the rec. But I'm really only going to talk about the second story. :)

( See the rest of the rec... )

pipmer1.livejournal.com

Title: The Bang and the Clatter
Author:

earlgreytea68
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 137048 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU.

Reccer's comments: Right off the bat (pun not intended) I want to point out that you don't need to know anything about baseball, or even have an interest in it, for you to be swept away by this fic. The story, at its heart and soul, is all about the progression of the relationship between Sherlock and John, which is done at a very satisfying and realistic pace. Having said that, if you are a baseball fan like me, you will find that aspect of the story satisfying as well.

The first chapter (prologue, really) is an introduction to the rules and terms of the sport, but you can easily skip past that to the story proper without missing anything of importance. This is one of my favourite authors, and I was waiting patiently (?) for it to be completed before I started it. When I did, I devoured it within a very short span of time. I would easily put it within my top 10 Sherlock fics.

Family dynamics play a major role in this story as well, for both Sherlock and John. The author even gives Harry and Clara a family of their own, and she does a beautiful job of portraying their relationship in a way that doesn't place all the blame for their problems on just one person. Even the unsympathetic portrayal of Sherlock's family isn't done just for the sake of adding unnecessary conflict, but serves the purpose of explaining why Sherlock acts the way he does in his interactions with other people.

Almost everyone from canon appears in this, and the author does a fantastic job of putting them exactly where they would fit the best in this universe. Greg Lestrade is the team's manager, Mrs Hudson is the team's owner (and also, incidently, the owner of the house that contains Sherlock's apartment), Molly is the team doctor... even Donovan and Anderson make appearances. Moriarty is also here, of course... who is ultimately revealed to be a much more sinister figure than just a rival pitcher who is the bane of Sherlock's existence.

Set aside a few hours for this epic romance.... I guarantee it will be well worth your time.

( excerpt )

chapbook.livejournal.com

Title: A Lost Thimble
Author: kay_cricketed
Pairing: Sherlock/John (one-sided so far)
Length: 17,892 (so far)
Rating: Teen
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC and The Borrowers

Author's summary: [Borrowers!AU] John Hamish Watson has watched Sherlock Holmes from a close distance since they were children, but they live in differently sized worlds. This does not stop him from losing his heart, or from following it all the way to Baker Street. This is the story of John and Sherlock's adventures in London, and how, through the ruthless cunning of crime consultant Jim Moriarty, they learn that one very tiny borrower can make the biggest difference of all.

Reccer's comments: First, I need to say that this is a WiP, but wait! Don't run away just yet! This story is so well written and so delightful, that I ask you to give it a chance. It stops at a good place, without a major cliffhanger. Even if the author never returns (and yes, it has been over a year), I think you will be more than satisfied with the characterization, pacing, humor, and rich worldbuilding. A Lost Thimble reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki's films (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle), with their bittersweet beauty and entrancing sense of wonder. For example, here's the scene when John screws up his courage and visits child!Sherlock's desk:

He slid—oh, that was a rush!—and saw His Room disappear into a blur of colour and light and periwinkle winks. The desk slammed into his knees with shocking force, sending John tumbling across its surface.

“Well, that hurt,” John said to himself, getting to his feet again.

And he stopped.

Oh, thought John, gazing up in all directions, mesmerized by the piercing warmth of the sun and the way the glass reflected it across the desk in playful fragments. He turned in a full circle, mouth open. In that moment, John felt his heart swell and burst apart in his chest, unable to withstand the beauty and curiousness of it all. His Room, from this vantage point, seemed more fascinating than ever.

He touched some glass with his fingertips, staring at the tiniest foggy imprint he left behind on it. He went from jar to jar, peering through leaves and twigs to see the jars’ inhabitants: bugs and lizards and oh god, was it an insect? A piece of wood? A piece of wood that moved when it saw him! John smashed his face against the glass and grinned so hard his cheeks hurt. If this was what was on the desk, the jars on the window sills would be a hundred—no, a thousand—times more brilliant.

You'll note that I said "bittersweet" above. There is a dark side to the story, as well as an undercurrent of melancholic yearning, as John's feelings slowly evolve and Sherlock literally has no idea John exists. Considering the deadly danger "Human Beans" pose, isn't this for the best? Nevertheless, childhoods end and changes come, breaking this delicate equilibrium.

John’s head hurt. In fact, every part of his body hurt from neck to heels. He groaned and turned on his side, burying his face into his arm to get it out of the light. Why was there light? His borrower hole was dark and comforting. His leg throbbed. The phantom pains acting up again? No, this pain was distinct, acute. He took a few deep breaths and squinted up at his surroundings.

Only to recoil in shock.

“It’s showing severe signs of disorientation and alarm,” said Sherlock, hunched over his knees on the floor. He was staring at a jar, which was on the coffee table, which contained a terrified borrower, and his gaze was nothing less than riveted. His mouth hung open a little, like he did when he was thinking very fast.

John looked around frantically. He was in—a jar? Yes. Some kind of bloody jar, what was the crazy bean thinking, and worse—no, so much worse, John, pay attention, pay attention now, because the fact of the matter was he had been worse than seen, he was caught, like a mouse in a trap, and it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he pushed on it because—oh, right, there it was, a book laying on the top, very clever, Sherlock—he never wanted this, not really, even when he’d day dreamed about being noticed by Sherlock and chatting with him, John had never really wanted to be caught, it was different, this moment, he’d—

Well, you'll have to read on to find out what happens next. ;-)

chapbook.livejournal.com

Title: All We Ought to Ask
Author:

achray
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 56,027
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary:1860. Change is in the air. John is a clergyman and former army chaplain, attempting to settle down in a country parish and lead a quiet life. But with Sherlock Holmes, reputed to be England's most dangerous religious controversialist, as the local aristocrat, what are his prospects of success?

Reccer's comments: Below is my history!fan squee, but I should let fans of English literature know that this AU was inspired by and plays with the conventions of the Victorian religious novel. Yep, it does that and earns its rating! :)

History AUs, particularly those that aspire to at least some historical authenticity, are an especial challenge for the writer. Cultural differences can have an enormous impact on a character, making it difficult to balance the core aspects of the personality with the inevitable changes that arise when a person is raised in a different time. For example, how do you make Sherlock and John come alive in the 1860s, rather than having Holmes and Watson grow up a few decades earlier? To do so well requires a strong grasp of the BBC versions of Doyle's characters as well as the period in question. Achray achieves this particularly well with her John Watson, who from the first is clearly not content with his new position as a rural parson in a quiet English parish:

Birds called in the trees outside, and there was the distant lowing of some cows, but otherwise all was silent. To John, used to the noise of London and before that, the cheerful and frantic bustle of a garrison full of soldiers, the quiet was oppressive. He laid his hands on his books and thought about how far they’d come, by land and sea and rail. He’d spent most of his life running away from precisely this scenario, and now here he was.

Achray's representation of contemporary bigotry is particularly skillful, for she allows even her main protagonists to say and do things that today many of us find unpleasantly reactionary, yet avoids making these characters unsympathetic. Assigning such prejudices to villains would be too easy and shortchange the complexity of the past, where you can find legions of thoughtful, engaging people writing of their love for their family or relatives in one sentence and expressing racist/sexist/classist sentiments in the next. John in this story is kind to women (he clearly enjoys working with Molly and asks her opinion on matters where she is the expert), but he is no supporter of equal rights or suffrage for the fairer sex (though by the end of the story one can envision him eventually thawing under the influence of the right company). Moreover, his letters to Mary show contempt towards what he considers "less interesting" work, the very work she would be handling if she became his wife:

I had expected to spend much of my time engaged in sermon-writing and in reading – as you told me, I am sadly behind after my years away – but my parishioners are determined to entertain me and tell me of their troubles. An astonishing number of them wish to be married, or have their children christened, or take communion classes. I see more than ever how invaluable your assistance could be, as I am unaccustomed to dealing with ladies’ charitable committees and the other smaller concerns of the parish.

For his part, clever, sharp-tongued, iconoclastic Sherlock forgets the realities of everyday life for the middle class and poor, not foreseeing that altering an individual's worldview may cause them not just spiritual anguish, but also destroy their economic stability. And Mary Morstan is an earnest, patient, talented, and faithful woman, but she shares the deep religious prejudices towards unbelievers expressed by many European Christians. It's these imperfections that make the characters more human, as well as situating them realistically in England of the mid-nineteenth century.

In short: come for the Victorian worldbuilding and dialogue, stay for the characters and a certain passionate, heady romance.

Profile

A Sherlock Holmes Recs Community

November 2018

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 18th, 2025 06:43 pm

221B Recs

A Sherlock Holmes Recs Community

Entries tagged with character: harry watson

Fic Rec: All Our Gifts At Once

fic rec: Comme des Enfants

fic rec: Names for the Galaxy

Fic Rec: The Replacements

fic rec: However Improbable

Fic Rec: Ingénue

Fanart Rec | When Harry Met Sally, by katzensprotte

Fic Rec: The Frost is all Over

Fic Rec: Mistletoe: A Yuletide Myth

Fic Rec: Leap

Fic Rec: Law Like Love

Fic Rec: Shopping List

Fic Rec: The Fisher King

Fic Rec: Mise en Place

Fic Rec: The Affair of the Asphyxiated Acafan

Fic Rec: Everlasting

Series Rec: The Same River Twice

Fic Rec: The Bang and the Clatter

Fic Rec: A Lost Thimble

Fic Rec: All We Ought to Ask

Profile

November 2018

Links

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags