Sherlock Holmes fic: the lost are like this

[joe_pike_junior]

Title: the lost are like this
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (canon, Laurie R. King/Mary Russell books)

Summary: But of course there are always reasons. It takes Mary Russell many years to understand Sherlock Holmes.

Pairing/Rating: Holmes/Watson, Holmes/Russell friendship. Rated Mature. 8,900 words.

Notes: This fic carries a strong trigger warning for

Comments

[tweedisgood]

This was simply wonderful, the details and dialogue and PsOV all so consonant with the period and with the characters - as you say, a more damaged Holmes, but perfectly recognisable, a rounded Watson who doesn't need to show off because he knows his worth.

You picked up on all the bits that really bothered me about the Russell verse (I make no secret that I *loathe* how King refers to Watson but it makes perfect sense from the unreliable narrator standpoint just as you have it here).

[joe_pike_junior]

Thank you for this lovely, thoughtful comment!

[joe_pike_junior]

Oops, I pressed "enter" before I was ready.

I think that as Holmes is more damaged in this story, so Watson becomes quieter, a man who is perfectly aware of their partnership and how profound it is, because Holmes has relied on him.

I make no secret that I *loathe* how King refers to Watson
Ugh, this is one of the things that bothers me about the LRK books, and it's done in such a cheesy fashion. Why make Watson out to be such a dolt if not to validate your own frankly Mary Sue-ish character?

I also loathe the way LRK makes a couple of oblique references to Holmes' drug use and possible mental illness, and then brushes the whole topic to the side, even in situations where a reference would be made to it. In my less charitable moods I'd call it the mental illness equivalent of queerbaiting, and I don't like it at all (why bring the subject up and drop it so unceremoniously?), and it's probably why this fic turned out so angsty.

[welshcorgigirl]

Watson thinks of the two of them in Baker Street, at twenty-five or thirty, young and invulnerable, of how he once thought he could map Holmes’ body but never find the way to his heart.

This line made me all misty-eyed. The whole thing is brilliant, but this line really stands out as the story's secret heart.

I'm PWCorgigirl over on Dreamwidth. Had to get a new identity over here to comment.

[joe_pike_junior]

Very interesting comment. I notice re-reading this how little Watson features in this fic. One of my least favourite aspects of the King novels is how her Watson (who is always elsewhere) is kind of buffoonish. I've gone out of my way to make this Watson more clue-y, but in this and the sequel I wrote to this fic (https://archiveofourown.org/works/11406267?view_full_work=true) we only really see Watson dealing in some way with Holmes' addiction and mental illness. So if these loosely-connected Russell!Holmes fics ask, what if that drug addiction/and other Issues which are hinted at was more real, then we see an evolving relationship where maybe Holmes makes less mistakes with Russell?