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John Watson was disabled and chronically ill. Between the pain his injuries continued to cause him for the rest of his life, a condition that sometimes left him unable to do more than lounge on the sofa for the whole day, and the ravages his subsequent case of typhoid caused his health was in his own words “permanently ruined”.

Which is turn means that he will never get back to his pre state, he never fully recovered. He had decent days where he could go about his life more or less like normal, but he’d likely need more frequent breaks than before. And then there were days where even just getting out of bed and getting dressed almost felt like more than he could manage.

In addition to this chronic pain is an inconsistent and unpredictable condition. While some things like cold and damp weather or overexerting yourself are almost certain to make matters worse, some days your body messes with your “just because”. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it and you can only take so many precautions.

Not to mention that it’s exhausting. The pain alone is tiring but even when it is well managed it often leaves you feeling drained and your brain being foggy and incoherent.

Finally it screws with your perception of pain. For most people the normal amount of pain is zero, but for someone with chronic pain it’s a 2 or a 3 or more. And that’s just the way it is. So when something hurts and how much it hurts is very different.

And this is his life from before he even turns 30. Chronic illness and disability is hard to learn to live with at any age, but when you’re relatively young it becomes even harder. He’s clearly not a man given to complaining and he tends to put others first, but is it any wonder he’s in such a dismal state when he meets Holmes?

This also answers I think why Watson put up with Holmes’ mood swings and temper, because Watson had mood swings and a temper of his own. There’d be days where all he can manage would be curt words because he has no energy for being polite and though he never says it openly, because perhaps he’s a bit embarrassed about it, it can be clearly inferred from the stories that Holmes looked after him as much as he looked after Holmes.

Watson would hate to feel like a burden or like he couldn’t manage on his own, but Holmes never treats him as that or as ‘less than’ nor does he appear to view him with pity. So is it any wonder Watson took to that odd and erratic man as passionately as he did?

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I just looked up Petrarch's sonnets because recently I've become increasingly curious about what it actually was Holmes was reading on that train and I tell you! This is just-

No I think it might just be easier to copy paste a couple of the sonnets in here and show you.

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II

When Love doth those sweet eyes to earth incline, And weaves those wandering notes into a sigh With his own touch, and leads a minstrelsy Clear-voiced and pure, angelic and divine,— He makes sweet havoc in this heart of mine, And to my thoughts brings transformation high, So that I say, “My time has come to die, If fate so blest a death for me design.” But to my soul, thus steeped in joy, the sound Brings such a wish to keep that present heaven, It holds my spirit back to earth as well. And thus I live: and thus is loosed and wound The thread of life which unto me was given By this sole Siren who with us doth dwell.

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VI

I once beheld on earth celestial graces And heavenly beauties scarce to mortals known, Whose memory yields nor joy nor grief alone, But all things else in cloud and dreams effaces. I saw how tears had left their weary traces Within those eyes that once the sun outshone, I heard those lips, in low and plaintive moan, Breathe words to stir the mountains from their places. Love, wisdom, courage, tenderness, and truth Made in their mourning strains more high and dear Than ever wove soft sounds for mortal ear; And heaven seemed listening in such saddest truth The very leaves upon the bough to soothe, Such sweetness filled the blissful atmosphere.

-

That's the second and sixth sonnet respectively, but they're all in a fairly similar vein as these. And this was something Holmes read for fun.

Just leaving that there because it's late and I really should be in bed already, so make of it all what you will.

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Listen I know everyone tries to come up with all sorts of traumatic reasons for why Holmes uses drugs but personally I find it far more likely that he tried them out of curiosity and a desire for personal knowledge of their effect, decided he liked the feeling, and kept going.

Like we're talking about the man about whom one of the first things we learn, before we're even introduced to him, that he'd poison a flatmate or himself, in the pursuit of knowledge. Who does in fact years later do just that!

Tell me this guy didn't test out cocaine on himself just to find out what it was really like?

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You nerds keep talking about how willing Holmes is to just chew on something and die for his case and how Watson has to have him on a leash or whatever but also like it goes both ways. Watson is just as ready to die a hamster-level death of cartoonish violence for Holmess cases and Holmes has to be like "hey... Hey how about you sit this one out actually 😅" and Watsons like :(( and Holmes has to be like "dw I'll let you risk your life for something completely mundane later but RN I just don't feel comfortable watching you idfk throw yourself at a terrorist for the vine okay" and then Watson goes to his diary and writes "Holmes made me sit at home for hours bc I could've died god I hate my baka life this is so unfair I'm gonna be so mad at him when he gets home"

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Scandal in Bohemia, aka :

————

I was browsing Pinterest and found this really cool image that immediately made me think of the interesting relationship Holmes has with the women of the canon;

I’ve always seen a lot of debate around Holmes and his relations to women, ranging from misogyny, period-typical sexism or just social awkwardness. I believe that it very much depends on how one’s reads the writing and how they visualize the characters. I’ve personally always thought his aloofness stemmed from his general disregard of social conventions and general disregard for romantic love as a whole. However, it would be stupid to assume even he was spared of the typical sexist ideas of the time.

I would love to see what other people think about this, I feel it’s a subject with a lot of potential for analysis.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, here are the accompanying warmup sketches;

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also, deer are simultaneously satan’s weakest and strongest soldiers. they die like hamsters or survive things that really should have killed them. biting the dust from an internal hemorrhage after jumping over a fence or surviving 10+ years with an arrow imbedded in their side. fate rolls the dice on every injury and they either get a 0 or a 20. keeping them alive is hard. killing them is also hard.

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A random study on (sleepy) Granada!Sherlock

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Its that fucking lizard that i hate (affectionate)

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“I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right.”

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i made my first gif!!

love our victorian husbands talking to each other through the open door while holmes is bathing

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IM NOT BUILT FOR RUNNING SHERRRLOCK

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The best notes written in manuscripts by medieval monks

Colophon: a statement at the end of a book containing the scribe or owner’s name, date of completion, or bitching about how hard it is to write a book in the dark ages

Oh, my hand

The parchment is very hairy

Thank God it will soon be dark

St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing

Now I’ve written the whole thing; for Christ’s sake give me a drink

Oh d fuckin abbot

Massive hangover

Whoever translated these Gospels did a very poor job

Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night

If someone else would like such a handsome book, come and look me up in Paris, across from the Notre Dame cathedral

I shall remember, O Christ, that I am writing of Thee, because I am wrecked today

Do not reproach me concerning the letters, the ink is bad and the parchment scanty and the day is dark

11 golden letters, 8 shilling each; 700 letters with double shafts, 7 shilling for each hundred; and 35 quires of text, each 16 leaves, at 3 shilling each. For such an amount I won’t write again

Here ends the second part of the title work of Brother Thomas Aquinas of the Dominican Order; very long, very verbose; and very tedious for the scribe; thank God, thank God, and again thank God

If anyone take away this book, let him die the death, let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever seize him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen

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A bit out of tone with the usual content I enjoy, but I started Disco Elysium! And they're also detectives, so I'll just put them here... i don't even know what goes where at this point

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MAG056 🕸️

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Autism Speaks Canada is "concluding its operations" on January 31st 2025!