Sherlock Fanfiction: Locked Rooms (Part II)

[saki101]

Title: Locked Rooms (Part II)
Author: Saki101
Genre: slash
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~1500 words
Warning: Spoilers for The Hounds of Baskerville.
Disclaimer: I don't own BBC's Sherlock and no money is being made.
Author's notes: This is a sequel to Locked Rooms (Part I) and part of the Experiments Series.

Earlier parts of the Experiments

Comments

[snailbones]

So gorgeously intense! I love your description of the actions and reactions between them, oh, and the crescent-shaped creases on one side of Sherlock’s mouth.

Thank you again - I'm enjoying each and every part.

[saki101]

It's taken me a long time to get back to Locked Rooms which definitely needed a second part. I think I've now explained to myself how they they got from the tension in Hounds to the domesticity shown in the beginning of TRF with John reminding Sherlock how to be polite on public occasions, happily blogging away while Sherlock experiments and getting ready together to go to Moriarty's trial.

Those crescent-shaped creases are intriguing, a very distinctive feature of the actor's face.

I don't feel a section of the story is truly posted until I read your comments! Thank you!

[anarion]

I love this series! It's so intense. <3

It took me a while to figure out that you had two Experiments Series going (boy was I confused...) and for some reason the Other Experiment Series sadly does not work for me, I don't know why, I can't connect with it. Maybe because I initially thought it was part of this verse and it didn't make sense that way?
But this Experiment Series I do love. :)

[saki101]

Sorry for the confusion and thank you for writing! Another reader has commented that they find the two series too different to read together. Because of the way the ideas for the two developed, I thought Experiments could be read alone or as the middle part of Other Experiments, but that may not true and I may have to separate them.

I am delighted you like Experiments. It took me a long time to get back to Locked Rooms and bring John to the point of remembering everything. I'm glad it still seemed of a piece with the other parts.

Thank you again! :-)

[anarion]

I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one with that problem. No, wait, that sounds wrong. I am not glad that people have problems reading your stories. But I am glad that it's not me, because I really like your writing and was wondering why it worked with one series but not with the other.

I will try reading The Other Experiment Series on its own some time and get back to you! :-D

[chapbook]

Well, my face looked like this by the end of this chapter: O.O

The air of mystery and desire remains, even if that mystery has been solved. And you show me enough of the past to confirm that the coming together of John and Sherlock must have been beyond overwhelming. I wonder how surprised Sherlock was by that; he seems more nonplussed by John's memories vanishing (which is a seriously worrying development, so I can see why he wanted John to make his way through with little assistance).

John's examination of Sherlock was both tender and sensual; it felt right for these characters. Sherlock would want John to acquire the data and John _needs_ the reassurance that his "fierce, wild" love has not harmed his beloved.

In short, I love both of your series to pieces. I'm sorry to see this end, so if the Muse ever inspires you to take this relationship through TRF, then I would be thrilled. That said, this does seem like an excellent place to stop!

[saki101]

I'm very pleased that there still seems to be an air of mystery. I imagine it continuing between them. It took me quite a while to let this scene settle in my head, I'm relieved that you feel it works. John's temporary amnesia seemed in line with John's nightmares and his psychosomatic limp; I'm glad it didn't strike you as excessive

[vampyreangel]

I actually adore both Experiments... for me they work well together... I guess I'm just weird

[saki101]

I am very interested that you find that to be so. It was an unusual way for me to write a story, from the middle outwards in both directions, and there was/is the possibility that they are two different stories. Experiments can be read alone, but Other Experiments lacks a middle if one only reads its sections. The structure is just an accident of how the ideas developed for the stories, but I am very pleased that you feel they work together and took the time to write to me about it. :-D

[elmey]

“My hound didn’t look like yours, Sherlock,” John whispered. “Mine was lean and strong, his coat shiny and black, and his eyes glowed…with the pale light of the moon.”

Ahh, John remembers now and acknowledges he does! But it seems like Sherlock is still holding something back. He's so focussed on the memory loss, which means something but not everything--do you think he really understands and accepts the full weight of John's emotions? It's a resolution of sorts, but it doesn't read as an ending, there are still so many secrets in the background.

I'm not sure the beginning of the Experiments Series fits completely comfortably into the frame, but the last few sections definitely work as a lead in to an AU. I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth (so to speak) into the plot now :)

[saki101]

...do you think he really understands and accepts the full weight of John's emotions?

No. I think Sherlock recognised the attraction and the bond between them more quickly than John did because he had additional information. Still, I think the implications and the complications of what they have embarked upon is not something he fully understands. I considered that part of the explanation for the emotional confusion in Hounds. I think Sherlock is caught offguard by his need for John when the drug starts affecting him, further surprised by John's unavailability and probably surprised by how often he is willing to follow John and apologise to him to get him back where he should be (in Sherlock's view) supporting Sherlock in whatever he needs.

I think there might need for a section or two between Closing the Back Door and Zygomata. Perhaps that would make a better fit. Closing finishes with the end of the TGG, but doesn't touch Scandal. Sherlock thinks about Irene in retrospect later, but I didn't address how the events in

[elmey]

do some re-thinking and refining which needed doing

I'm curious to see how you handle it, if you do add to the already written timeline. I see your view of the characters evolving as you keep writing them, I wonder to what extent that will effect what's already here. In any case, you're obviously still very inspired!