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May prompts, 15 and 16: Nightmare, Experiment

I’m no angel, I never claimed to be. I’m a dominatrix. I like to be in charge; I know how to get there, and I don’t mind what I have to do along the way.

That said. I’m no devil, either. Being a dominatrix doesn’t mean hurting someone for my own pleasure; if anything, it’s hurting someone for their own. Though actually there’s no more pain or chastisement or humiliation involved, or even domination, than the client explicitly chooses.

A good dominatrix has distance on her client, and moderate benevolence; she keeps their secrets, or she doesn’t succeed in this line of work. Her own emotions don’t come into it.

And mostly, mine don’t. Sherlock Holmes was—an exception. I don’t meet that many geniuses, and absolutely none who come packaged in that magnetic combination of beauty, class, and indifference.

Well. It stings to admit it, but the indifference was specific to me. It took 12.5 seconds to recognise that he was far from indifferent to his partner, John Watson. Who himself seemed far from indifferent to women, and bizarrely possessive of Sherlock.

I thought that unfair. I thought Sherlock deserved better. And I thought it would be amusing to become John Watson’s worst nightmare: a body he would desire (of course) but could not have, and a brain worthy of Sherlock’s own, one capable of seducing him.

***

They didn’t know, yet, that I’d been placed in their path as bait by a man so mad he made me shudder, and comply. My only task was to distract Sherlock and his less luminous partner, by pretending to blackmail a client so illustrious as to bring down the monarchy altogether. It wanted but a little, after all.

Not even for the madman’s astronomical payout would I have ever accepted even to feign such a thing: it certainly meant the end of a career I quite enjoyed, after all. But the madman’s offers were always accompanied by threats that everyone knew were deadly serious. It was a pity, but Sherlock Holmes had to be made to dance.

Since my own assignment was rather light in all this, I had time to take on another role: reluctant admirer of John Watson’s partner. And it wasn’t a pity to make John Watson dance. Watching him was quite entertaining.

His clumsy attempts to interrupt the patent chemistry between myself and his bemused friend.

His uncomprehending suffering, so like a little animal, at the intensity of the current running between us and excluding him. Oh, it wasn’t a sexual current, but Watson isn’t the most luminous of people, and I don’t think he could parse what exactly it was—not in Sherlock, and not in me.

In a brilliant stroke of sheer cruelty I programmed an orgasmic sigh into Sherlock’s text message alerts from me. Impossible to remove, too. I’m quite clever that way.

Experimenting on John Watson wasn’t an exercise in sadism, though. I didn’t make him suffer for the fun of it. I grew fond of Sherlock: his openness (though he was apprehensive about sex); his hidden devotion; his secret kindness. John Watson did care about him—I always know what people like—but something was blocking him.

So far as I was concerned, John had two choices: either get unblocked quickly and treat Sherlock better, or lose him to me. Until I tired of him, at least.

Ah, well. The best-laid plans, and all that. Soon enough I had to retreat, leave them to themselves, to keep myself alive.

But I knew I’d be back, sooner or later, to finish my experiment.

*

Thanks for reblogging!

@calaisreno, thank you for the May prompt series. 🤍 Writers, I'd love to be tagged on ALL your May prompt fics 🙏

(I'm tagging in the comments as tumblr has become truculent. Let me know if you'd like to be tagged or if you hate to be tagged.)

@calaisreno @keirgreeneyes @peanitbear @lisbeth-kk @jolieblack

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Sherlock Holmes at any given moment:

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New fic alert! (Complete)

Breathe

I'm so sorry it's taken this long, everyone! I was so thrilled by the reaction a little blurb of this fic in my "WIP Friday" post last week garnered - thank you all for reblogging and commenting! Do note that the text in that post has changed a bit with edits and revisions. Unfortunately, the full story just took more time to complete than I had anticipated. It's here now, though!

BREATHE: Sherlock's death is announced a bit... prematurely. Things spiral from there. (HLV fix-it)

M, Chapters 1/1, 8,525 words

Temporary character death, grief, angst, musings on shock and its various forms, mentions of blood, canon-typical violence, as in Sherlock's gunshot wound, mentions of vomit, Mary is not nice, John really goes through it here, feelings realization, character study of a short, John and Mycroft having an honest conversation, rating for language

“Sit, Dr. Watson. I beg of you. I’ll get you some water and then I’d be happy to take you to him so you can say goodbye.” “Ah. Mm. No. No. It’s not possible, all right? It’s Sherlock. Sherlock. I already�� I already…" I already suffered this once. This time, it’ll kill me. “Is there anyone we can call for–” But John was no longer listening. He was walking. Fast; in strides as long as his legs could manage. Away from Dr. Fredericks. Far from the A&E waiting area. Toward the grand glass entryway. Shouts followed him as he went – requests for him to come back, to sit down, to listen. They faded in volume the farther John’s feet carried him and dissipated entirely as soon as the automatic doors slid shut.

@johnlocky, @totallysilvergirl, @discordantwords, @jrow, @missdeliadili, @battledress, @helloliriels, @mxster-jocale, @cortinita, @calaisreno, @englandwouldfall, @kettykika78, @algyswinburne, @7-percent, @naefelldaurk, @inevitably-johnlocked

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Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

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i really loved them leaning into the ‘benoit is the closest thing to a modern holmes we’ve got’ with glass onion esp in the scene where hes talking about how between cases he feels like a racecar running itself to pieces between cases because of how understimulated he is while his husband bakes bread in the other room

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lmao on the edinburgh zoo site it says “there is a daily penguin parade at 14:15 but it may be cancelled last minute as it is a voulntary parade, we do not coax the penguins with food, and they may not want to go out” lmao anarchopenguinism

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Equestrian Sherlock

The ‘Professional/Olympic horse jumper’ prompt on @221b-consolation actuated my creativity and I decided to do a riding themed watercolour.

The sketch took me ages, over 2 hours, because I had never drawn a horse before. We did draw horse and cow skulls during my studies, that helped a little. Then I went to check what Sherlock’s riding crop actually looked like (watched all the ‘beating the corpse’ scenes and found out they seem to have used a different one in the unaired pilot than in ASiP). Mid sketching, I decided I might prefer to do a drawing instead of a watercolour painting for a change. I hadn’t done pencils in ages. It was kind of odd drawing on watercolour paper because it is so rough and has this linen structure, but I guess it turned out all right.

I know this is not what the prompt asked for really, but I wanted to do some art, not a story, so maybe it is enjoyable anyway. The entire time I worked on this my thoughts were drawn to one of my favourite fanfiction stories in which Sherlock is a very good rider. Shy wink to @7-percent.

2B + 4B pencils on water colour paper, 3 ½ hours

Feel free to reblog here on tumblr, but do not repost, edit, use or upload it anywhere else without my written permission!

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“But surely the CROWN should be on the t—”

“Nope. Ear hat stays put.”

“You’re enjoying this FAR too much.”

“I really am.”

#221bAdvent Day 24 🎄💌 @nitaelwyart

(Day 23) | (Day 25)

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Why reading fics published a decade ago is great

Where would he be if he didn’t archive information in a way that makes it easy to find it later?  Using Ao3 to find stories is interesting because the date the story was published is irrelevant.

Imagine walking into a library and finding only books that had been published in the last year. I LOVE finding stories that I missed reading years ago when I wasn’t so into the fandom. So many great classics out there; I’m never bored. 

I am delighted when someone comments on Talking When You’re Not There, my very first posted story, published in September of 2012. 

My Sunday Signal Boost this time comes in the form of advice. Go find a really old fic that you haven’t read and enjoy. 

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Just computer-animated Sherlock and John hanging out with BBC stars and a magical Brussels sprout. No big deal. Happens all the time.

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My small wish: Benedict and Martin filming a cop movie. I want Benedict as a new, enthusiastic stubborn cop and Martin as a bad dirty cop. They hate each other at first but soon realize they’re actually good partners.

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Sherlock Holmes INTJ

Sometimes I think the Myers Briggs definitions were based on Sherlock Holmes - or at least that Mofftiss had the definition in mind when they drew up their character for the BBC Sherlock series. 

INTJs are serious and spend a lot of time thinking. INTJs are perceptive about systems and strategy, and often understand the world as a chess board to be navigated. They want to understand how systems work, and how events proceed: the INTJ often has a unique ability to foresee logical outcomes. They enjoy applying themselves to a project or idea in depth, and putting in concentrated effort to achieve their goals. INTJs have a hunger for knowledge and strive to constantly increase their competence; they are often perfectionists with extremely high standards of performance for themselves and others. 

They are curious about the world around them and often want to know the principle behind what they see. They thoroughly examine the information they receive, and if asked a question, will typically consider it at length before presenting a careful, complex answer. INTJs think critically and clearly, and often have an idea about how to do something more efficiently. They can be blunt in their presentation, and often communicate in terms of the larger strategy, leaving out the details.

Although INTJs aren’t usually warm or particularly gregarious, they tend to have a self-assured manner with people based on their own security in their intelligence. They relate their ideas with confidence, and once they have arrived at a conclusion they fully expect others to see the wisdom in their perceptions.

Strengths

INTJs are revered for their bravery and steadfastness in the face of challenge. They are characteristically determined in whatever they are doing, even to the point of relentless, and are not afraid to move in to tackle the really difficult challenges. Rather than feeling daunted or frustrated, this excites and exhilarates them. They trust their judgment and are confident in their ability to solve the problems and overcome the challenges they encounter in their personal or professional lives.

Weaknesses

The INTJ’s prowess in the area of intellect, logic and reason is unarguable and definitely among their chief strengths, as is their confidence in their ideas. However, these strengths can turn into weaknesses when they morph into a superiority complex. Unfortunately, among INTJs, this is not uncommon. They may be arrogant and condescending, as well as impatient with people who don’t catch on as quickly as they’d like. With those who demonstrate less ability to think logically and rationally, they may be particularly judgmental and intolerant.

INTJs are also known for their unwillingness to engage the emotions—their own or others. Preferring to conceptualize the world on a logical, rational basis, they tend to have little patience for emotional concerns. They struggle to pick up on and respond to the emotional cues and needs of others. This can stifle interpersonal relationships, as well as their own growth and development, and may end up keeping others at (at least) arm’s distance.

INTJs are rare. In the general theory after many tens of thousands of people who have taken the MBTI tests, only 3% of men tested and only 1% of women tested come out as INTJ. 

I have taken the MBTI test myself on three separate occasions and every single time come out as a high scoring INTJ. 

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John Watson   ISFJ

In RL, as a coach, mentor, teacher and trainer, I have often used the  Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) tests to help people become more self aware. It has occurred to me that character analysis might also apply in the fandom. 

In my opinion, John Watson’s answers would add up to an I (introvert), S (sensing), F (feeling) and J (judging). Some people have described this type of person as a “Defender”. 

Hardworking and devoted, people with this personality type feel a deep sense of responsibility to those around them. Defenders can be counted on to meet deadlines, remember birthdays and special occasions, uphold traditions, and shower their loved ones with gestures of care and support. But they rarely demand recognition for all that they do, preferring instead to operate behind the scenes. This is a capable, can-do personality type, with a wealth of versatile gifts. Though sensitive and caring, Defenders also have excellent analytical abilities and an eye for detail. And despite their reserve, they tend to have well-developed people skills and robust social relationships.

ISFJ Strengths

ISFJs are the consummate helpers; happy to share their time and energy with anyone who needs it and taking an empathetic approach to problems and goals. 

ISFJs are true to their word, holding dear the values of integrity, responsibility, loyalty and commitment. This is all well and good, but to ISFJs it is far more important to walk the walk than talk the talk, and this is where ISFJs shine like the brightest stars. In business and personal relations, ISFJs are straight shooters who say what they mean and mean what they say. Their word is as good as gold.

ISF Weaknesses

Loyalty is an admirable character trait to be sure; but it is a two-way street, and if the people the ISFJ chooses to trust prove to be dishonest or unreliable they will feel that they must be prepared to walk away. Yet ISFJs struggle with letting go, and have a tendency to stay in it to the bitter end, convinced that this is the only honourable thing to do.

ISFJs are very private people who feel things deeply.   Combined with their stubborn streak, this can leave ISFJs feeling vulnerable and put upon, and they may resort to judgmental criticism themselves as a defence mechanism.  

Private and reserved, Defenders tend to internalize their feelings, particularly negative ones. This can create misunderstandings in their relationships. Eventually, all of their repressed feelings and resentments may boil over in a sudden, uncharacteristic outburst of frustration.