for kate_lear: "Not untwist these last strands of man"

[innie_darling]

Original Author: kate_lear
Original Story Title: The Mind Has Mountains
Original Story Link: http://kate-lear.livejournal.com/15806.html
Original Story Pairings: Sherlock/John
Original Story Rating: R
Original Story Warnings: References to bi-polar disorder
Remix Author: lindentreeisle
Remix Story Title: Not

Comments

[cherrytide]

This is beautifully written. I could feel Sherlock's pain and anger. The section where Sherlock was on Prozac was discomfittingly familiar to me - people often speak about drugs as being a magic bullet but they don't work for everyone and the side effects can be awful. A very honest and believable portrayal of mental illness.

[lindentreeisle]

Thank you! Yeah, even when we recognize similarities in other people's experiences, it's a truism that everyone's experience of mental illness is different. I also found it very easy to read Sherlock's anger in kate_lear"'s original story not just as a response to frustration and boredom, but as an uncontrolled symptom in and of itself.

[kate_lear]

Oh wow. I've read this through a few times now, trying to formulate an articulate comment, and I'm not sure how well I've succeeded but just... wow. Sherlock's descriptions of his days as colours when he's young is just perfect, and the rest of his childhood is sad but also yes, I can definitely see it happening like that.

It's sad, but also beautiful, particularly his interaction with John at the end, and I love it. Thank you so much for doing such a marvellous job.

[lindentreeisle]

Thank you so much; I'm glad it pleased you. :)

I know the backstory I created wasn't the one you were necessarily picturing, but it was easy for me to read Sherlock's black moods as depression. (Although I agree that Sherlock isn't bi-polar, if only because his "up" moods aren't diagnostically manic, in my armchair-psychologist opinion. Basingstoke wrote in John's voice once, "I think the work drives his moods, rather than the moods driving the work" and I agree.) Anyway, I got caught up on your line about John supposing that Sherlock had always been left alone to deal with things, in the past.

I like to think both stories are hopeful in tone, even if John isn't a magical solution to all Sherlock's problems.

[lady_ganesh]

I appreciate, actually, that John is not a magical solution. I've read quite enough of those stories, kthks.

[lindentreeisle]

Ugh, yeah. Ain't that the truth.

[yalublyutebya]

Oh wow, poor Sherlock. This is a brilliant glimpse into his past, such a perfect counterpoint to the original.

[lindentreeisle]

Thanks so much!

[innie_darling]

This was just fantastic - I particularly loved the first section, with the assignment of colors and the rationalization of eavesdropping and the first visit to the specialist. Interesting, too, that Sherlock's mockery of John (from the original) has its source in Sherlock's own disappointment that being happy with John hasn't resulted in a change in his brain chemistry. Gorgeous work.

[lindentreeisle]

Thanks very much! That seems to me to be very much this Sherlock's MO- turning his own weaknesses and insecurities around to use as barbs on other people.

Also, all hail Lacuna for pointing out to me how Mycroft's (unfortunately ineffectual) concern for Sherlock was the thread that tied all these vignettes together, which led me to figuring out the ending.

[lady_ganesh]

You know, sometimes I really do feel for Mycroft, because he knows, kind of, but he just doesn't have the tools to be at all effective, which is what makes him so godawful annoying.

This is really good (though I expect no less from you); you really get under Sherlock's skin and into his frustrations.

[lindentreeisle]

Thanks! ;) Yeah, I actually didn't entirely do that on purpose- credit goes to my beta, Lacuna, for pointing out to me how Mycroft was always in the background of all these events, and prompting me to think about how he looked at things. So I didn't set out to portray Mycroft sympathetically but I kind of did anyway.