Fic - I'll Get By - John/Sherlock - PG-13

[lotherington]

Title: I'll Get By
Author: lotherington
’Verse: Long Ago and Far Away
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters/Pairing: John/Sherlock
Summary: WWII AU. Easter, 1944. Sherlock runs into a ghost from his past at Easter lunch.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mild homophobia
Word Count: ~2,400
Notes: The title is from I'll Get By.

Comments

[anonymous]

(firstly, please excuse any major typos. I'm using a new voice typing program to 'type' this and many kinks to work out.)

Thank you for leading me your comment. Sorry I am anon as I've no public LJ and no tumblr.

I still, thoughfeel the same way.

I understand the historic meaning and the research you did. I am very inpressed by this.

However, I still feel that Sherlock's behaviour here was far too...'off' from the rest of the story and that while Sherlock feels this way...and his feelings are valid to him it's an injustice to Victor. Sherlock's "simple" moving of place settings and his vile comment to Victor were pointed, calculated and designed to hurt at the most vulnerable--but that's how I read it.

You state that "Sherlock, being upper-middle class/pushing upper class, and because he’s Sherlock, expresses emotion much more freely than John does, as his social position is much more secure, owing both to his family’s money and his status as an ‘eccentric...he was still born into the same Edwardian culture of touch and emotion that many of the middle-class soldiers would have experienced - a culture where touch and affection between mothers and sons, men and other men, women and women was freer and far more easily given and received yet then state in the same comment that:

And Victor is no innocent:

Victor looked around. ‘You can’t still be angry,’ he murmured, stepping closer to Sherlock, touching his arm. ‘Surely you understand.’

In 1940s Britain, this is a level of touch that would be inappropriate between Victor and Sherlock - which I probably would have done well to make more explicit! This invasion of Sherlock’s personal space and the liberty Victor took in touching him would have been particularly unwanted after their past...

So Sherlock can freely touch John(until he sees that John is uncomfortable) and others...yet Victor who was born of the same class, in the same time, cannot? Considering their past, and Victors view of it, I cannot see how it is inappropriate considering what you pointed to earlier in regards to Sherlock and touch.

Victor has a different view, obviously of their relationship and I, the reader, read Victors reaction as just that. And Sherlock's reaction as extremely cruel to an "old love" that was being as "polite" and reserved as possible in the situation.

While Sherlock has had his "moments" throughout this series his reaction to Victor just felt forced in a way. And, to me, as one that's read this several times, very out of character for Sherlock.

Again--I did feel for Victor. Sherlock acted (in my mind) very childish and with calculated contempt. It's interesting because his barbs ar Mycroft were far more subdued (his I hate you is something Mycroft has been subjected to many a time) and controlled even though Mycrofts accusations were far more loathesome.

I guess that the Sherlock presented both in public and in private with John, his slow revelations to John, Just didn't fit with the ending Sherlock whose practically curled in a ball of emotion over a past love.

Then again...that's just me as a reader. And if anything about the written word has taught us it's this: everyone sees it differently. And the very fact that I did feel so strongly about this is more of a compliment to your writing. Because I felt comfortable enougj letting you know how I felt...and that I did feel so strongly and despite it all I didn't just "scroll away" or "click off" I stayed, and will stay with it.

And now I think I need to create a "sock comment" account.
(sorry again for the errors here. It's better then myblast comment but this voice program is very...cranky and it's still learning. Wondering if it's worth all I paid and all the trouble I went though to geet the darn thing!!)

[lotherington]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you - RL is knocking me for six at the minute! Don't worry about being anon either - I don't mind.

You're more than entitled to feel the way you do about this bit - it's really interesting to hear your thoughts, and thank you for taking the time. :) I think that Sherlock's eccentricity counts for more than I first made apparent - he doesn't see the cultural norms as applying to him. Even though Victor was born at the same time and into the same class, cultural norms concerning touch changed massively between the Edwardian period and the Second World War, and Victor is very much 'in society', whereas Sherlock lives on the edges of it and doesn't care for what's 'proper' or 'right'. I'll have to do a bit more meta on this I think as I'm not explaining myself very well!

I'm sorry this instalment didn't quite ring right with you and I do hope you'll stick with it as it goes on. I've a bit more planned with Victor but it won't be more than a couple of chapters. Don't worry about the errors - your comment's perfectly legible. Thank you again for your thoughts. :)

-- Kit