Fic: A Study in Purple (Holmes/Watson, R)

[lady_elina]

So, there's this thing of beauty (ok, slightly cracky beauty, but beauty nevertheless) called the Sherlock Holmes kink meme. Which anyone so inclined should check out, because there are literally thousands of prompts waiting to be filled.

Anyhow: Someone requested fic based on Neil Gaiman's short story A Study in Emerald, of which I'm a longtime

Comments

[mithen]

Oh, this was wonderful. And heartbreaking. And wonderful.

Even after all this time, I hesitate to describe what I saw, but in the interests of verisimilitude and integrity, I feel I must proceed.

Oh, you capture his voice so well even in the face of something neither Doyle nor Gaiman would deal with. I love how he uses Old One-sort of imagery for their lovemaking, as if his submerged fear of the royalty is played out onto his repulsion/attraction for the coupling.

They still seemed entirely focused on each other. But then Vernet's fingers slipped swiftly into his partner's pocket, and before I regained my composure, he was pointing a gun at me.

And oh, how I loved that, the way they're so cool and so ready for anything. And maybe that should have warned me, but I still felt totally gut-punched:

Their last stand, their last chance. Their final farewell to each other.

And teared up at this. It fits the desperation of the AU so well, I love how you captured so much that Moran simply cannot process here and give it to us like a gift.

[lady_elina]

Firstly: apologies for taking so long to reply, I was travelling and had basically no LJ access between 3rd and 12th of February.

Secondly: thank you for the insightful feedback! It's always a challenge to use a canon-like voice believably when describing things that the canon does not include, so I'm particularly happy that that worked for you.

A Study in Emerald is a dark story set in a dark universe, so I could not end this any other way. I'm fascinated by the parallels between Moriarty and Moran and Holmes and Watson, which made me wonder what it would mean for the former two if the latter two ceased to exist.

Yet one fun thing about writing these characters is that they're basically Victorian superheroes; for almost anyone else it would seem out of character to be so alert to everything that is going on, but not for them. I think Holmes and Watson may even have survived somehow.

Thank you again for the lovely and thoughtful comments! :)