Sherlock: Lost for Words (1/16)

[awanderingbard]

Title: Lost for Words (Chapter 1 of 16)
Characters: John, Sherlock (Main), Mycroft, Mrs Hudson (this chapter)
Rating: R
Warnings/Triggers: swearing, blood, injuries, trauma, discussion of DNRs and of withdrawal of life support, deals with depression and PTSD, features a character who cannot speak or move without difficulty, which some people may

Comments

[guardian_chaos]

Of course this happens in Barcelona. Of COURSE. At 3:00 AM, no less. I loved your opening line! It's so hard to write those well, I know, but yours there drew me right in.

Mycroft was no help whatsoever. He had the power of attorney, but John felt like it would be easier to reach God by phone than Mycroft.

Let me just squee at that awesome line for a second here, which made me grin like a loon even though the story was already starting to get intense.

John was forced to scour through Sherlock's address book and find the private, emergency line to Mycroft. Scour was a bit of a strong word, as there were only two names in it and one of them was John's.

Hee! Oh, these inside references to the show are great.

He wondered if he was scared, not being able to communicate freely.

Ouch! Right in the heart!

They were keeping him very well sedated, because apparently Sherlock was 'agitated' when he was awake. John interpreted this to mean 'acting like Sherlock'.

You know, I was really not expecting to smile so much while reading this story. It has a tenderness and a familiarity about it that is so very endearing.

“I can't bring you a murder, Sherlock. I don't think the nurses would approve.”

All these one-liners! Eee!

“You silly boy,” she said. “I'm always going to worry about you.”

Sherlock didn't know what to do with that. She smiled and patted his hand.

Awww! That is so cute!

I loved the whole scene with Sherlock trying to describe to the doctor what he and John do. "MURDER." Haha! This is beautifully written. You've done a great job keeping Sherlock in character while also making his injury clear. His method of speaking, additionally, is excellently conveyed. I wasn't frustrated or thrown off even once by how you wrote his dialogue, which I suppose was helped a lot by the story's being in John's perspective. It helps when someone knows how to interpret! And John, of course, knows Sherlock better than anyone.

So, so glad Sherlock is still Sherlock, and I know he is, too. Fingers crossed for a good recovery! I will have to look through the other chapter later. This is wonderful so far!

[awanderingbard]

Yay for G_C comments! I love them so much.

I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. I did make an effort to put some humour all the way through, to keep it from getting too angsty. I've been working on it so long that I'm sort of immune and people are leaving me comments about how sad it is and I'm going, 'oh yeah, it is sad, I forgot about that!'. John-as-interpreter was what really interested me to write it. That person who knows what you're saying, even if you're not saying it. He's been very useful for keeping the story moving, too. I'm glad the speech worked for you! In real life, aphasics can take several minutes to get one or two words out, so I was trying to find the right balance between showing this is really bad and not having him 'um' for half a page at a time.

Thanks for commenting! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

[guardian_chaos]

I'm glad you do! I feel incredibly spastic lately, so I'm happy I can still sometimes produce them. I want to leave a comment on every chapter, since I know how hard you worked on this story and I think it deserves the love. :)

I've been working on it so long that I'm sort of immune and people are leaving me comments about how sad it is and I'm going, 'oh yeah, it is sad, I forgot about that!'.

It certainly is a sad story in its premise, but something I love about your stories is that they always seem to have a hopeful shine to them, even when something's going wrong. I admire that in a story. Stories about nothing but pain simply aren't as pleasant to read, but I don't fear encountering that with you. Your stories read like they have an inner kindness in them, which I actually think might be a reflection of your personality coming out in them?? Regardless, it's lovely, and I'm glad it's there.

[awanderingbard]

It certainly is a sad story in its premise, but something I love about your stories is that they always seem to have a hopeful shine to them, even when something's going wrong.

Thank you! That's a lovely compliment. I'm not big on pure angst, so I guess I try to keep things positive. It is probably a reflection of my personality. I'm a big believer in everything happening for a reason, even if it doesn't seem that way at first.