A Study in Scarlet: On Sharing Lodgings

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: A Study in Scarlet
Title: On Sharing Lodgings
Author: capt_facepalm
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: * ...a lurker tumbleweed rolls in from the Great Alkali Plain... * I'm sure this has been done before, but I can hardly let STUD pass without posting an entry. It is my favourite of all of canon.

.oOOo.

‘I should prefer having a partner to being alone.’

Stamford mistook my words for those of household economy rather than of loneliness. No matter, I was not seeking new friends. So many had been lost that, if I were a better man, I should have perished from the sheer grief of it, yet now I found my new solitude unbearable.

.oOOo.

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this very moving 60. Excellent touch in the notes, too.

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

Exactly - that is perfectly summed up what I consider the truth, too <3

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Who can't fail to sympathise with Watson's emotions.

Here's hoping that this particularly bit of lurking tumbleweed joins in again ;)

[godsdaisiechain.livejournal.com]

Quite moving, indeed. It captures something so difficult to define, as well...wanting and fearing connection at the same time.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I love the way you've addressed the ambiguity of that statement. And the way you've allowed Watson to have such a complex reaction to his circumstances - his emotions are so complicated and contradictory. That feels very truthful.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
I'm glad you enjoyed it

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
I find Watson such a compelling character

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
And you never can tell what lurks behind the vegetation

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
I find Watson such a compelling character, especially in the early years of his association with Holmes. And STUD is where the best of it lies.

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

Very moving! You've really made me feel for Watson here. Now I have the sense of great loss and pain lurking just below the surface of his narrative. I'll have to keep an eye out for it more. :)

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
Doyle only gives us hints at what Watson experienced and how it affected him. There was no such thing as PTSD back then but if a fellow is described as someone whose 'nerves are shaken', and who had seen his 'comrades hacked to pieces' it is not a great leap to imagine that he was not very well when he returned to London. I see him as confused and frustrated with his convalescence rather than a victim of self-pity. He is trying to rebuild his life and he has yet to fully recover from his war experiences.

[morelindo.livejournal.com]

Haunting, and so very like Watson. Lovely work.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Watson is my favourite character so I'm glad you like the way I portrayed him here.