Synesthesia
Title: Synesthesia
Author: astrid087
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~450
Warnings/Spoilers: Series 1
Summary: John hears in colours.
Notes: Prompted by bugeyedmonster for Make Me a Monday. I used Crayola as a point of reference for some of the colours (I'm assuming Crayola is available in the UK, based on their UK site, although the company is American, like me).
John hears in colours.
Synesthesia is the technical term, but what it means in John’s case is that every sound he hears becomes a colour. Many synesthetes see words or numbers as having colour, or see personalities in letters, but for John it has always been sound.
When he was young, John was allowed to choose which dog the Watsons took home from the pet shop. John chose Echo, a chocolate lab, because he had a mahogany brown bark to match his fur. The other dogs had bright orange and teal barks. John said they were too loud, which amused his parents. They misunderstood.
It wasn’t until John took a psychology class at university that he realized that he sees things differently.
Sherlock has experienced rare moments of synesthesia, but only under the influence of copious amounts of cocaine. He finds the idea fascinating, and when John refuses to let him slip back into his old habits, he resorts to experimenting on him.
He tries to learn the colours John associates with any sound he can think of, one lazy afternoon when there’s no case to solve.
Gunfire is pale yellow. Glass shattering is a stark white. Mrs. Hudson usually speaks in lavender, but when she’s angry, like she gets when Sherlock shoots the walls and breaks glass all over the kitchen floor, she yells in midnight blue.
Cars on the street outside are sepia. Clapping is lime green. His mobile phone rings in robin’s egg blue. Rustling papers are cranberry. Most birds chirp in gray, although a few sound more indigo.
Names, when spoken, also evoke colour to John. He reveals his own name to be peach. Sherlock’s name is cerulean. Mycroft is burnt sienna, Lestrade is mint green, Donovan is plum, and Anderson is cerise. Sherlock finds the latter amusing.
Sherlock doesn’t ask, but Moriarty is copper. John thinks it would be more fitting if it were black. Or perhaps a shade of pink. Strangely, it’s Molly’s name that evokes a sharp black.
Eventually, when he can’t seem to find any pattern or correlation between colours and sounds, Sherlock gets bored. He starts rifling through a stack of old unsolved cases, leaving John to his own thoughts.
Colours he associates with Sherlock’s sounds, he realizes, are some of his favourite shades.
Sherlock’s violin, late at night just before John falls asleep, is a deep forest green, but when he plays during the day, when he’s angry and frantic, the sound is a reddish violet. His shuffling steps on the stairs are maroon. His humming and mumbling are denim, although his speaking voice is emerald.
John wonders if he likes Sherlock because his sounds are his favourite colours, or if its the other way around.
Author: astrid087
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~450
Warnings/Spoilers: Series 1
Summary: John hears in colours.
Notes: Prompted by bugeyedmonster for Make Me a Monday. I used Crayola as a point of reference for some of the colours (I'm assuming Crayola is available in the UK, based on their UK site, although the company is American, like me).
John hears in colours.
Synesthesia is the technical term, but what it means in John’s case is that every sound he hears becomes a colour. Many synesthetes see words or numbers as having colour, or see personalities in letters, but for John it has always been sound.
When he was young, John was allowed to choose which dog the Watsons took home from the pet shop. John chose Echo, a chocolate lab, because he had a mahogany brown bark to match his fur. The other dogs had bright orange and teal barks. John said they were too loud, which amused his parents. They misunderstood.
It wasn’t until John took a psychology class at university that he realized that he sees things differently.
Sherlock has experienced rare moments of synesthesia, but only under the influence of copious amounts of cocaine. He finds the idea fascinating, and when John refuses to let him slip back into his old habits, he resorts to experimenting on him.
He tries to learn the colours John associates with any sound he can think of, one lazy afternoon when there’s no case to solve.
Gunfire is pale yellow. Glass shattering is a stark white. Mrs. Hudson usually speaks in lavender, but when she’s angry, like she gets when Sherlock shoots the walls and breaks glass all over the kitchen floor, she yells in midnight blue.
Cars on the street outside are sepia. Clapping is lime green. His mobile phone rings in robin’s egg blue. Rustling papers are cranberry. Most birds chirp in gray, although a few sound more indigo.
Names, when spoken, also evoke colour to John. He reveals his own name to be peach. Sherlock’s name is cerulean. Mycroft is burnt sienna, Lestrade is mint green, Donovan is plum, and Anderson is cerise. Sherlock finds the latter amusing.
Sherlock doesn’t ask, but Moriarty is copper. John thinks it would be more fitting if it were black. Or perhaps a shade of pink. Strangely, it’s Molly’s name that evokes a sharp black.
Eventually, when he can’t seem to find any pattern or correlation between colours and sounds, Sherlock gets bored. He starts rifling through a stack of old unsolved cases, leaving John to his own thoughts.
Colours he associates with Sherlock’s sounds, he realizes, are some of his favourite shades.
Sherlock’s violin, late at night just before John falls asleep, is a deep forest green, but when he plays during the day, when he’s angry and frantic, the sound is a reddish violet. His shuffling steps on the stairs are maroon. His humming and mumbling are denim, although his speaking voice is emerald.
John wonders if he likes Sherlock because his sounds are his favourite colours, or if its the other way around.