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softtofustew · 4 years

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an odyssey | afterword

rating: T

pairing: Hwang Hyunjin/Han Jisung

summary: Somewhere in the galaxy of the Stella Primum, Lieutenant Han is the best fighter on his team, a real ace shooter, with five gold stars to show. Too bad Second Lieutenant Hwang is not only great at battling the Ordinem, he’s also got disgustingly perfect looks to match, and now Jisung’s stuck in the same spaceship with him for possibly the most impossible task of their lives. Or the one where a rivalry is brewed across the skies and stars, until Jisung realises what there is to flying beside Hyunjin on a mission to save the galaxy.

if you haven’t read it yet, read here.

this is an afterword to ‘an odyssey’, where i write about the origin of the story, the characters, and my struggles of writing :’)

(i) The Origin

I’ve had this work in my WIPs since, believe it or not, January of this year. I’ve had this idea for so, so long. I wrote it intermittently throughout this year, with a scene or two in September, then October.

Due to my exams, though, I couldn’t write as much as I wanted to. That’s why I only really started writing ‘an odyssey’ back in mid-November. The good thing was that I had more time to plan this out, because frankly, this is perhaps the heaviest fic I’ve written in terms of plot so far.

I can’t for the life of me remember where this story idea planted itself in my head. All I knew was that I like space AUs, I adore Hyunjin and Jisung’s friendship, and I love enemies to lovers. Realising there weren’t any fics out there that combined the three, I knew it was my time to shine. Or something.

(ii) The Plot

The plot was the trickiest to pull off. I’ve written an urban fantasy here and there, but I’m pretty sure if I reread them thoroughly, I’m bound to find a couple of plot holes.

There were a lot of elements to cover: the Prophecy. The five gems. The push-pull relationship between Jisung and Hyunjin. The journey to discovering the whereabouts of the last Gemma. The last boss fight with a Governor who could wield the Force. There was!!!! So!!!! Much!!!! Going!!!! On!!!!!

Perhaps if I reread ‘an odyssey’, I might find another plot hole or two; who knows? For now, though, I feel quite contented with this work of mine. Considering it’s my first time writing something as long as this (50K+ are you kidding me?), I feel this is a first step for me to continue expanding my horizons when it comes to writing, to continue to challenge myself to write something different, something bold. Something new.

(iii) The Characters

I rewatched the Two Kids Room and One Kid Room episodes so many times, over and over again. There’s a reason why this story is centred around Jisung and Hyunjin, and why it’s written from Jisung’s perspective.

Their relationship is, after all, something coherently interesting. They really said “enemies to friends but make it irl”. I guess I took that concept and sort of exaggerated the extent of their ‘hate’ for each other, which isn’t exactly hate to begin with. The further you read on, the more you’ll realise that they don’t exactly hate each other — they just got off on the wrong footing, and have never tried turning back to start over once more.

It’s written from Jisung’s perspective because personally, I wanted the story to be told from the eyes of someone who was prideful, who was eager and determined, and who wanted to show his worth to everyone else. I feel like perhaps I didn’t expand on characterising Jisung to the fullest advantage possible, though, which remains a slight regret of mine.

Another reason why I wanted this to be written from Jisung’s POV is because we can find out how Jisung feels about Hyunjin throughout the story. When he realises whose son Hyunjin is, he’s torn between wanting to pity Hyunjin and keeping things between them the same as they always have. (If I were in his position, though, I don’t know what I would have done lol.) It was hard to try and interpret his emotions, but there’s that.

Someone commented once asking if we’d ever get Hyunjin’s POV. Sadly, one of my biggest turn-offs is the switching of POVs in stories when it’s not entirely necessary haha. As much as I would want to know what Hyunjin is thinking when they’re arguing, or when they’re fighting, I like to keep on the suspension line. It gives you the feeling of immersing yourself as the Jisung in the story, of only seeing things from one perspective.

As for the other characters, there wasn’t enough time to expand on all of them (for example, I mentioned Seungmin several times throughout the story, but really, he speaks only once haha). And as your fellow StayDay, it was definitely fun for me to include a few members of Day6. (please don’t ask me why I thought of ‘PJ and Honey’ while writing. I was probably hungry.)

I don’t know if I’ll continue to expand on the characters in this same universe, but it would be fun to think of the other relationships, for example Chan and Felix, or Changbin with Minho and Seungmin. (someone please save the seungbinho tag!!!!!!)

As far as characterisation goes, I’ve still got so much to learn. For now, though, I hope you enjoyed the dynamics between the characters and how Jisung and Hyunjin learnt to grow within a span of six chapters.

(iv) The Writing Process

Granted, the writing bit was a little easier in the beginning, but as I delved myself deeper into the story, I found it harder and harder to express the emotions I wanted to deliver in the story. One of the hardest chapters for me to write by far was the last chapter. I wrote two versions of the last chapter, simply because I felt the first version was too lacklustre for the ending of such a long story haha.

I had a clear outline of my story, but I did end up extending it from the initial 5 chapters to 6. For the first time, though, I didn’t add any random elements to the story, unlike how i wrote this story last year haha. The lesson I’ve learnt is that I should ALWAYS have a brief outline of the plot — detailed enough to cover the entire story, but brief enough to give me some creative freedom mid-writing.

The excitement of writing honestly wore off near the last few chapters. I’ve realised the importance of reading unfinished works in this way. Writers really need some form of motivation to keep them writing their chaptered works. So if you’re one of the real ones who started reading this even before it was completed, kudos to you. I really appreciate it.

Overall, writing this was fun. Hopefully I don’t need to do this again though; I absolutely hate writing chaptered fics because of all the time and effort put into them. I’d much rather be a ‘One-Shot Hotshot’ lol.

(v) The End (?)

I left a bit of wondering for the readers in the last chapter. If Atkins was able to wield the Force despite the false pretence that there was no longer any Force-wielders left in the universe, how many more of them could there be?

That leaves an opening for me if I ever wish to return to this alternate universe sometime in the future. The Universe is ever-expanding, and so is our imagination.

(vi) The Inspiration

Obviously, I need to thank Star Wars. I also need to apologise because I absolutely butchered their universe. Fun fact: there was one huge plot hole I had to cover up halfway through writing.

If you’re observant, you might remember the scene where Hyunjin asks Jisung why they didn’t just jump into hyperspace to reach Ilsanis. That’s because I was watching an episode of The Mandalorian where the Mando was forced to fly a ship without a hyperdrive engine, and I almost freaked out right there in the middle of the living room realising how weird that would be if I left the issue unattended in my own work (yikes).

Long story short, I drew elements from the Star Wars universe and created a story of my own. I’ve been asked how I came up with the idea of the Prophecy. Frankly, I don’t know. My brain farts sometimes, I guess. Brain Farts = weird ideas that somehow make sense sometimes.

(vii) Lastly

If you have any more questions you’d like to ask (or plot holes to tell me about *shudders*), do leave me a question in my CC, or holler at me on Twitter (I’m hardly alive here on Tumblr haha). To anyone and everyone who has read ‘an odyssey’, I thank you.

This year has been a funky year, and even worse, it’s the year I had to take my IGCSEs. Writing has always been a way for me to create my own universe and release my tension and emotions, so not being able to write as much as I used to was a little tough.

Writing will continue to be a medium for me to express my emotions and my thoughts while creating stories of my own, so simply by giving my fics a read, you’ve already fuelled my reason to continue to write. Thank you for all the support in ‘an odyssey’!

(why did i write this entire monologue like i’m giving a speech at the Oscars or something lol im so dramatic :”))

#mycommentary

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vanchlo · 4 years

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PLS DO ALL CUDDLY ASKS FOR MY PARENTS HECKY

IM LAUGHING SO HARD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THANK YOUUUUUU THIS IS AWESOME LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO- WAIT LEMME GO TURN ON MY HECKY PLAYLIST FOR THIS

I’m answering these questions from the POV’s from the main characters in my lawyer!harry story, The Assistant! I’ll just, um, answer some of these from an future alternate universe where Becks and Harry are together ;) if you know what I mean.

*KINDA???? CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS BELOW??????*

1. In the morning, who is more likely to trap the other in bed by cuddling them?

- I am most definitely the one who traps the other in bed with cuddles, because Harry is always “up and at ‘em” right away in the morning. That’s probably because he’s been waking up at the ass crack of dawn for well, forever and is so used to it, when I’m not. I’m not a big morning person, so I like to lay in bed as long as I can, and extra cuddles makes it even better. I may or may not make Harry crabby weekly by making us late to work with some morning cuddles. When we wake up, he’ll give in “for a quick cuddle” he calls it, but it always turns into like a fifteen minute one, hehehehe. Every once in a while Harry will do it, though, and it makes me melt every time. - Becks

- Oh, Becks, fo’ sure. She’s always draggin’ tha mornin’ on by wrestlin’ me t’ have some cuddles with her befo’ we leave. Often- too often, it makes us late fer work, but lookin’ back on it, I really wouldn’t have it any otha way. I get upset with her sumtimes ‘bout it coz ‘m tryna be a betta boss at the firm, but I do love ‘em mo’ than I let on. - Harry

2. How do each of you ask for a hug or cuddles?

- Um, I guess I just outright ask for it, or sometimes I don’t ask and just do it. I used to ask for either of them more, but I don’t much anymore, unless the situation warrants it, like if Harry is crabby or busy with something. When I’m upset about something and need one, I never ask. - Becks

- I reckon I don’t really ask fo’ eitha, and neitha does Becks. Ratha, we both jus’ take what we want, and when we want it. Sumtimes we may ask tha otha, if they’re inna bad mood or sumthin’. Actually, I s’pose sumtimes we ask tha otha silently with a look on our face, holdin’ our arms out fer tha otha like I do fer her, or jus’ givin’ tha otha a hug or cuddle when we know tha otha needs it. - Harry

3. Do you ever just casually lay on each other? Whether it be flopping down in each other’s laps or leaning your heads on each other’s shoulders.

- This one made me laugh. Yeah, I’d say this happens a lot when one of us is sitting on a sofa or in bed, and I’m often the one who will fall onto his lap. There may have been a few times, at the beginning, that I missed and nailed his balls. I felt so bad, but luckily I’ve gotten better at it, and I don’t give him a near heart attack when I fall onto his lap anymore. Otherwise, it happens a lot when we’re watching tv together, and if we’re working together on one of our sofas at the firm. Don’t even get me started on how much I love the “heads on each other’s shoulders” thing and how he always does it. Ugh. - Becks

- Becks ‘s defo’ mo’ guilty o’ this than I am. I dunno what it ‘s, but she loves t’ do this. So much so, that ‘ve developed a habit o’ coverin’ me balls when I see her comin’. She fo’gets it, but she likes t’ sprawl out and lay her head on me lap when we’re watchin’ sumthin’. This girl has a bad thing ‘bout havin’ her hair played with, and she often does it befo’ bed, and she’s out like a light within minutes o’ me startin’. I think tha layin’ on eachotha’s laps ‘s defo’ a given if eitha o’ us ‘s havin’ a bad day. We do tha head on shoulders thing often when we’re workin’ next t’ each otha, or while watchin’ telly. From tha beginnin’ we’ve had this thing ‘bout always touchin’, think it makes tha both o’ us feel safe. - Harry

4. Who’s the big spoon and who’s the little spoon? Do you ever switch?

- Harry has a good half of a foot on me, so he’s always the big spoon! Wait, I am the big spoon sometimes, but really only when he’s upset. It doesn’t happen often, just then or when we wake up and his back is to me. He’s really good at being the big spoon, though, so it works out well. - Becks

- ‘m ninety percent o’ tha time tha big spoon, and Becks ‘s tha li’l spoon. She only comes past me shouldas a li’l bit, so tha position o’ big spoon was given t’ me at tha beginnin’. I reckon she does steal it from me time t’ time when she’s feelin’ brave, or when I need t’ be tha li’l spoon if ‘m sad. I like bein’ tha big spoon in tha mornin’ wakin’ her up, and sumtimes she gets tha same idea. - Harry

5. Can you describe how you usually cuddle?

- Hmmmmm. It’s usually when we’re watching something, or if we’re in one of our offices at work and we’re working on something next to each other. I guess it typically looks something like having my head on his shoulder and his arm around me. Then again, sometimes it may be simple as intertwining our legs and having our bodies touching, like if we’re typing away on our laptops next to each other. One of our heads will wander to the other’s shoulder, and or we’ll play a little footsie. If it gets more cuddly than that, it’s arms around the other spooning under some blankets, it may look like lying down with my head on his chest and arms around each other, or as simple as facing each other with our arms around the other and my face often in his chest or neck. - Becks

- I reckon it depends where we’re at and what we’re doin’. If we’re at tha firm workin’ t’getha, which we often are, and we’re sat next t’ each otha, then we might be playin’ footsie or jus’ be sittin’ right beside tha otha. If ‘s at home, a head may be on tha otha’s shoulda, ya’d be a winna if ya bet her head ‘s on my lap and my hand in her hair, a good spoonin’ cuddle, or like I said she’s bundled up in me lap with her head ‘gainst me chest and my arms surroundin’ her. - Harry

6. How touchy-feely are you with each other in public?

- It depends. If we’re at work, it looks different if we’re in one of our offices or not. If we’re not in our offices, say for a team meeting, at the courts arguing a case, or just talking to coworkers, we very rarely touch each other. We keep it professional at work and act like colleagues and or mentor and mentee. That’s what works best for us, and our team at Harry’s firm. But if it’s somewhere else, like the shops or a restaurant, we like to hold hands, hug, have Harry’s arm around me, and a kiss or two; keep it tame. All of that happens at the firm too, just behind closed doors where it’s just us. - Becks

- Again, it depends on tha place. If we’re at tha firm in eitha o’ our offices, anythin’ goes. If we’re outside o’ our offices for whateva reason, we’re colleagues first, and so we don’t touch save fer tha occasional hug maybe. All touchin’ ‘s defo’ off-limits at tha courts when we’re tryin’ a case, due t’ tha utmost importance o’ professionalism there. A pat on tha back may happen, but that’s as far as it goes. Tha team at tha firm ‘s great and doesn’t mind us datin’, but work ‘s work. If we’re sumwhere else in public anythin’ ‘s fine, but we don’t get very crazy save fer a kiss or hug.

7. Do either of you fall asleep often when cuddling? Who does it more?

- Oh, yes. I’m so guilty of this. I do this all of the time! Harry teases me about it, but there’s always been something so calming about being in his arms, and when there’s a sofa or bed involved, I’m almost guaranteed to fall asleep. It’s pretty much how I fall asleep every night, I’m so spoiled. - Becks

- Becks, e’ry bloody time. I love it, tho’, and find it so damn cute. ‘s tha way she falls asleep almost e’ry night. ‘s tha playin’ with her hair thing, I swear. She’s a spoiled brat gettin’ her hair played with e’ry night, but that’s ‘kay, coz ‘d hate not gettin’ t’ cuddle her t’ sleep e’ry night. When I happen t’ be away on a case that she can’t come with me fer, I always sleep terrible without her there cuddlin’ me t’ sleep. I may do it now and then, but ‘s mostly a Becks thing. - Harry

8. Are you the kind of couple to hold each other when one of you is scared, stressed, or sad? If not, how do you reassure each other?

- Yes, definitely! I think that’s been our thing from the very beginning, and I love it that way. We both communicate a lot through touch, and need it from the other, so that speaks to it. I’ve always had this thing where if I’m feeling any of those emotions badly enough that the sure fix is a hug from Harry, because they can fix anything. It’s more of a me thing than him, I’d say. We use words of affirmation and the like a lot for reassuring the other, we both need that, too. - Becks

- Fook ya, we are. ‘s jus’ always been that way. We’ve always been huggers with each otha, even in tha beginnin’ when she hadn’t made me into a softie, yet. We both crave it and need it from tha otha when we’re upset, and it always makes it betta. Othawise, I reckon talkin’ t’ eachotha when touch isn’t feasible ‘s a big thing we use fer reassurance as well, or acts o’ kindness, so t’ speak. - Harry

9. When you’re in bed at night, do you fall asleep in each other’s arms or keep your distance?

- Good question, I can’t always tell because I fall asleep once Harry starts playing with my hair. I think it’s mostly in the other’s arms, but sometimes we’re apart and we’re fine with that. Sometimes, one of us gets home late from work or from a night out, and we may or may not find our way into the other’s arms. I know there are some times when I just don’t want to cuddle, and other times when I won’t take no for an answer, hehe. - Becks

- Mostly in tha otha’s arms, coz duh, Becks ‘s spoiled. No, ‘m only kiddin’, a li’l. Like many o’ these questions, it depends. If ‘m workin’ late, she’s at Skye’s late, or jus’ one o’ us falls asleep early which doesn’t happen often, we don’t always wake tha otha t’ cuddle. I usually can’t pry her off me afta lullin’ her t’ sleep playin’ with her hair- No, ‘m kiddin’ ‘gain. I love fallin’ asleep with her in my arms, or usually with her head on me chest, and ‘m so happy that I get t’ fall asleep most nights with my arms ‘round her where she’s cuddled up t’ me. ‘d waited fer it too bloody long all those years. - Harry

#I LOVE YOU THANK YOU THIS IS THE LONGEST AND IDK IF IT MAKES SENSE SINCE THEYRE NOT TOGETHR RN #pa harry #hecky #the assistant #anon #ask #hecky's love child

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possiblyimbiassed · 7 years

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What happened to Sherlock? Part II – Re-living memories

What is it actually that we witness in the TV show Sherlock? Is it Sherlock’s and John’s ‘reality’? Is it John Watson’s perspective, as in ACD canon? Or is it something entirely different? After S4 many viewers – including hard-core fans – lost their faith in BBC Sherlock. The characters we had learned to love (or hate) were ‘failing’ in S4: Sherlock seemed to have stopped solving crimes, John had turned into a violent wreck, ‘Mary’ the Assassin was suddenly a hero and there was not a trace of anything similar to a coherent plot line. In many ways this series seemed to have reduced the whole show into a caricature of its former self, and not much hope has been given that we can expect some change in the future.

But everything is relative, as Einstein might have said. :) What we expected of S4 was based on what the show had been to us up until then. So to comprehend what we’re actually looking at in S4, we need to first analyse what we were actually seeing in the first three series of the show – at least up until TSoT.

Picture source (X)

This meta series is an attempt to look at BBC Sherlock with a ‘scientific’ approach; to set up hypotheses and predictions, test them and thereby try to solve the puzzles presented to us, the audience, by the show. The methods I’m trying to use here are explained in the introduction. For this particular meta I’m also using a Word-transcript of John’s blog, where I have been able to use the program’s word count to compare the length of different blog-posts.

Hypothesis #1 was this: John’s blog is the most truthful account of the actual events. I did a couple of predictions and compared them to my observations. My conclusion was that yes, this hypothesis does hold water. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true, but there is some evidence for it, and I haven’t seen it de-bunked just yet. So in the continuing analyses I’ll assume that Hypothesis #1 is true, that the blog is indeed more reliable than the TV show, at least when it comes to retelling the actual events (but not when it comes to John’s opinion of what’s going on in other people’s heads).

And now we get to the next hypothesis to explore, #2:

Hypothesis #2: The show up until John’s wedding is Sherlock re-living their story together in his MP, after reading John’s blog.

John’s blog is, in my opinion, rather straightforward in its description of John’s and Sherlock’s ‘adventures’. But as such, you could also argue that it is a bit dull; the blog does not quite live up to the ACD canon level of describing the events – far from it in fact. The John Watson that got published in The Strand Magazine used a lot more romantic and sometimes almost poetic language.

In this meta I intend to go through the TV show Sherlock from ASiP to TSoT, and analyse the perspective that the episodes are written from. I will stop at TSoT, though, since I see many clear differences between the show up until this episode and HLV. But that difference will be handled in a future meta about Hypothesis #4 (see the full list in the introduction, scroll down to the bottom)

This is a loooong meta, but please bear with me, because I do believe this is important. You’ll find most of it under the cut.

First of all, I want to give full credits for hypothesis #2 to @raggedyblue, who presented this idea to me in a comment to another thread, where we were discussing how reliable certain scenes in the show are. When I read it, suddenly it felt like some important pieces were falling into place, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

Here is an excerpt from it:

“We are in Sherlock’s MP and we see his version of history from the beginning, because he was doped and started re-reading John’s blog. Because he is a romantic bastard after all. Then he was taken away, lost his control, and now he’s looking to return. In the show we never see any “real” scene. We’re in the funny, old Sherlock’s head. He’s reliving the facts up to where he was present, the wedding, and then he’s going ahead, trying to solve the situation in his head”.

But before this, the idea of us being in Sherlock’s ‘Extended Mind Palace from start’ had also been suggested by @kateis-cakeis, for example in this meta. Together with @ebaeschnbliah and @sherlockshadow, @kateis-cakeis has for example discovered that the Pilot is a complete mirror to ASiP! More about that in a moment. @sherlockshadow also makes a good and logical case for ‘EMP from start’ in this meta. Update: Thanks to @ebaeschnbliah, I also got the opportunity to read this interesting meta from @fandeadgloves, which makes a good case for why the whole show is probably seen from Sherlock’s POV.

Review vs analysis

But how do we know these ideas are not just wishful thinking? As I said in the beginning, it’s easy to get the impression after S4 that this whole show is something of a joke – if you take it at face value. If you believed it would be presented very much like ACD canon, albeit in modern England, you might have felt as disappointed as the guy who made this review video. And I think this is very important, because he is far from the only voice saying this. In fact I’d suspect that a majority of viewers might agree with many points he makes.

This guy has composed a long (almost 2 hours!) review of BBC Sherlock - the whole of it - and he makes a lot of interesting observations. Like for example the often overly dramatic music, the over-dramatized scenes, the excess of sound effects, but also that there’s a lot of plot holes. And he brings up all kinds of ‘baiting’ of the audience and the manipulative writing style with cliff hangers that never pay off. And – most importantly I think – the fact that the viewers are never given enough information to be able to actually solve the crime cases with their own brains; we’re forever left to just marvel at Sherlock’s greatness. So it’s obvious that he has indeed watched the show – and most probably done an amazing job collecting stuff for the review.

But he also seems to automatically assume that the purpose of BBC Sherlock is to show the crime case solving that Sherlock Holmes does, very much the same way as in ACD canon, and in most of the following adaptations, only this time in a modern environment. He assumes that this is a modern detective story, rather than a story about a detective.

But to me this feels a bit like reading John Watson’s blog, where Sherlock asks: “What about the analysis, John?”

I think Sherlock has a point here. The thing is that John, while good at finding clues, he never, as far as I can recall, really tries to analyse or deduce something. Except in TAB’s Victorian setting, which is definitely happening inside Sherlock’s head,

and in TLD, where a ghost starts to deduce things for him). John is mostly far too busy making assumptions and jumping to conclusions about people’s motives, at least on the blog:

But this guy who made the video even recommends us to not analyse the details of the show too much! (at 49:51 minutes into the video). He is bitterly disappointed (and many with him, I imagine – I’ve seen a lot of criticism where people dismiss the whole show as ‘badly written’) that the show doesn’t give us more episodes where we can follow Sherlock Holmes’ deductive reasoning to solve crime cases. But at the same time, his own video is full of assumptions about the show-makers’ motives (very much like John’s assumptions about Sherlock’s motives), and he utterly refuses to use Sherlock’s method of deduction and logical reasoning himself, while looking at the show as a whole.

Isn’t this a bit contradictory? Because if you find this many inconsistencies and crazy things in a show about a detective, I think you should ask yourself “why is this? What could the writers possibly have wanted to convey? What is actually going on here?” And then you go through each of these observations and try to figure this out, you try to make sense of them, preferably also trying to think ‘outside of the box’.

Example: According to this guy’s video the Pilot is far ‘better’ made than ASiP, for a series of reasons – most of them based on opinions about how a ‘good’ show should be constructed. But there’s no deeper comparative analysis between them that tries to find out why these episodes are so different and maybe suggest an alternative explanation. The judgment is done, end of story.

On the other hand, this video made by @kateis-cakeis (also referring to @sherlockshadow and @ebaeschnbliah) is also about the Pilot and ASiP, but the focus is on the data, and what patterns can be seen. They do suggest an explanation, but it’s presented as a theory, not a final conclusion. They have gone through a long series of similar scenes in both episodes, one by one, and found out that they are (almost) perfect mirrors to each other. People and objects that are positioned at one side in the Pilot is placed at the other side in ASiP, and so on. They’ve found a very distinct pattern that is difficult to explain away as coincidence. That’s a scientific approach; you use detailed analysis and deduction rather than jump to conclusions based on assumptions. You look at the pieces of the puzzle and try to figure out how they can fit together, and you use your own (and your peers’) creativity doing it. You may not reach a definitive answer right away, but you will have collected sufficient data to have a much better foundation for your future conclusions. And once you publish your thoughts, others can use your data to do their own analysis, and so on.

So what does this mirror analysis tell us? Well, most of all I think it shows that this show can’t be just about the crime cases; there’s something else going on here - otherwise the show makers wouldn’t have arranged details in this manner. So maybe we have to look for answers about this show elsewhere than in the actual crime solving. Because if the crime cases are the important puzzles to solve, why are we looking at a series of therapy sessions involving the main characters, that are mirrored already in Pilot/ASiP and have an increasingly iconic setup throughout the show? What has that to do with crime solving?

I think it’s logical, though; we can’t follow Sherlock’s deductions about the cases because that’s not what we’re supposed to solve - that’s Sherlock’s job!! But we can use deduction to figure out what’s on Sherlock’s mind, why he and John need therapy. But then we have to think outside the box and imagine that we really are inside Sherlock’s head instead of our own.

You could argue, of course, that TV audiences shouldn’t have to be (almost) scientists or psychologists to be able to enjoy a show. But maybe we don’t have to be, maybe we just need to learn Sherlock’s method. There are so ridiculously many TV shows that don’t require a single thought “outside of the box” from its viewers. So why shouldn’t this one, which is the story about a genius detective, at least require some brain gymnastics from its viewers? Something new, not just the usual stuff?

OK, enough of ranting and opinions for a while – let’s start the actual analysis!

Testing process, fueled by more observations:

So – just like last time we’ll make some testable predictions, but this time regarding the TV show (compared to the blog), to see if we can figure this out. This time I suggest four predictions to test.

Prediction 1. If Hypothesis #2 is correct, then there might be some indications in the show that Sherlock has been reading John’s blog - reading it carefully.

Observations:

Sherlock has made comments to John’s blogposts for a long time, but not in a particularly interested way; it took him two months before he discovered the first posts John made about their “adventures” together:

But here it says that he has ‘glanced over it’, which seems to mean that he hasn’t read it more thoroughly. He seems to be more focused on the form and grammar of John’s blogposts than on the actual content, and his comments are mostly rather brief.

In the show, he seems to express (or fake? ;) ) a certain indifference towards what John is actually writing.

Maybe Sherlock can’t seem to bother too much with such trivialities as making a good blogpost (actually I suspect he’s more interested in hanging over John’s shoulder.. ;) )?

And he doesn’t seem to notice how much the blog means to John.

But he does get annoyed when John is presenting him in ways that don’t please him.

But there are two occasions when Sherlock definitely has shown interest in John’s blog - and none of them are covered by the TV show. The first one was when he ‘went through’ the blog searching for someone who could help him with a case (Death by Twitter is the blog title) by opening a closed facebook account. And he found “theimprobableone” (Moriarty?), who apparently then helped to solve the case.

And the second occasion is directly after the wedding, when he hacks the blog under the pretext of uploading wedding photos:

But he also adds a whole post about ‘sex holidays’, boredom and death and a string of comments at the course of two-three days. This time he really does seem to have nothing else to do than to read John’s blog and try to get some attention from its followers. I’ve written a meta about what I believe Sherlock’s messages meant here. John himself is on honeymoon, tells Sherlock to shut up and never writes a word about the wedding once it’s over, neither does he seem to appreciate Sherlock’s wedding photos, since he doesn’t even mention them. One might wonder why - wasn’t this supposed to be one of the happiest events in John’s life? Wouldn’t he even want to write a single line about it on his own blog?

There are quite a lot of talk about memories in BBC Sherlock; @sarahthecoat has made a useful list of books and other kinds of memory storage devices here. Memories indeed seems to be one of the recurring themes in this show, which also is a factor in backing up Hypothesis #2, I believe. And the blog as such is perhaps one of the most important memory devices, since John has given a thorough account of his and Sherlock’s life together - it’s like a public diary over their relationship. So let’s do an imaginative experiment - here’s a possible scenario that would fit with Prediction #1 for Hypothesis #2:

Let’s say that while John is on honeymoon for several days, probably about a week, Sherlock is at home in 221B - heartbroken, lonely and depressed. He has lost John forever (at least that’s what he believes), but he doesn’t quite understand what went wrong between them. He has quit working; he can’t really focus on anything else than John for the moment. And in his solitude, he begins to re-read John’s whole blog during this week, because he needs to know. He is not yet willing to engage with his own feelings for John, but in order to try and figure out ‘objectively’ what happened, he enters his mind palace and starts re-running the scenes from his memories, based on John’s blog entries. And this is the show as we see it from the beginning.

A wild idea, right? Is there really any evidence in the TV show to back up this scenario, to tell us that Sherlock was reading John’s blog during this time? Well, yes, I think there is. Apart from the ones presented above, I also think the show tells us about this specifically, it’s just that we see it after it happened, played out in an imaginative universe inside Sherlock’s mind palace:

Exhibit A: In TAB, which I’m going to assume almost entirely happens in Sherlock’s imagination (see lots of evidence for this in EMP theory), Mycroft talks about Sherlock’s recent OD and his history of drug use and then says this:

This is Mycroft saying this - on a subtextual level believed to represent Sherlock’s brain, and on a meta level he represents Mark Gattiss, the storyteller.

But if (at least) the second part of HLV also happens in Sherlock’s MP, then there is no Sherlock murdering Magnussen, consequently no prison for Sherlock, right? Thus MP!Mycroft is referring to something else - and what might that be? I think he’s referring to Sherlock locking himself up in 221B for a week in solitary confinement, starting to re-read John’s blog and re-living all his memories with John - including the most heart-breaking ones.

Exhibit B: Before this moment in TAB, when Sherlock has just woke up from his gay Victorian fever dream OD and starts babbling about Emilia Ricoletti, ‘Mary’ grabs his iPhone and says:

And if this scene also happens inside Sherlock’s head (EMP theory again), this evidence from MP!Mary points in the same direction: yes - Sherlock has been reading up on John’s blog, the story of how they met and of how they lived together at 221B. And with this, assuming EMP theory is correct about TAB being mind palace, I think Prediction #1 actually passes the test, and we can go on and make a second prediction.

Prediction 2. If Hypothesis #2 is correct, then some irregular patterns in the blog might have influenced Sherlock’s memory when he read it, and these irregularities would consequently also be reflected in the show. (If the show, on the other hand, shows us the ‘reality’, there would be no such corresponding pattern = 0 hypothesis).

Observations: Let’s compare the blog posts with their representation in the TV show.

Some of the more lengthy and thoroughly described blogposts are A Study in Pink (1742 words), The Blind Banker (1084), The Great Game (2323) and The Hounds of Baskerville (1373). Each of these has a whole episode in the show. I would also venture to say that they are all among the episodes with the most coherent plot-lines, easy to follow and not interrupted by much weirdness.

ASiB, on the other hand, is an episode that is partly divided into a series of flashbacks showing different cases that Sherlock and John worked with. The blog covers them as The Geek Interpreter (690 words), The Speckled Blonde (632), The Aluminium Crutch (1080) and The Six Thatchers (614). All these minor blogposts are shown very briefly in the show, more like news flashes, and The Six Thatchers isn’t shown at all (the events in the blogpost differ a bit from the later episode in S4, but the main structure is the same).

The actual main plot-line of the episode is covered by the very short blogposts Sherlock Holmes Baffled, By Royal Appointment, Christmas, Happy New Year, Actually Happy New Year and The Woman. The title ‘A Scandal in Belgravia’ doesn’t even exist on John’s blog (maybe it’s Sherlock’s invention?)! And as we know, ASiB has a lot of weird scenes in it, with spinning images, Sherlock being drugged, a dream scenario with Irene Adler, a mystic sitting John who is not really there, a plane full of dead people, quick leaps between different places, The Woman attending a client, Moriarty blowing a rasberry like a child, etc, etc. None of these things are covered by the blogposts.

And - strangely enough - the mysterious Boomerang case did apparently not merit its own blogpost - I wonder if Sherlock even told John the solution to this case? It would have been a great story, and there was no secrets connected to it! But the only thing John says about it is: “So there I am, dealing with a mysterious death in the middle of the countryside when suddenly I'm whisked away in a helicopter and taken to Buckingham Palace”. And the whole dead-people-on-a-plane sequence did not make it into the blog (John blames this on ‘national secrecy’ of course).

On the other hand we have TRF, which has a long, exciting and very distinct plot line in the show, but all the blog says about it is this:

And then he adds that Sherlock saved two childrens’ lives, and that’s it. John has good reasons not wanting to talk about it, though, since Sherlock supposedly committed suicide after this.

It’s definitely also worth noticing that apparently Moriarty both hacked the blog and broke into 221 B at some point between THoB and TRF, since he uploaded a video showing this on the blog. Jim pays attention to the following objects in 221B:

Lot’s of notes:

Headphones on the bison head:

Abundance of books:

That Sherlock is emotional:

And - last but not least - Skulls!! I see you Arwel Wyn Jones

Jim’s break-in and blog-hacking is never addressed in the show, but I think it’s quite interesting that all these things seem to be recurring themes later in the show - including the fact that Moriarty shows up at 221B (I’ll get back to this is a later meta). I do regard this as more evidence for Hypothesis #2; if Sherlock has been reading up on John’s blog and is re-living the memories, Jim’s observations might have got stuck in his head for future reference.

Anyway, after TRF we have three short blogposts about cases that Sherlock had solved before TRF; The Deadly Tealights (410 words), Death by Twitter (452) and Murder at 'The Orient Express' (449). Non of them is mentioned in the TV show. The Inexplicable Matchbox (297), however, is briefly accounted for by Sherlock in his Best Man speech in TSoT.

And then there is Many Happy Returns - 470 words on the blog. It’s short in the show as well, but at least a little longer than most of the other renditions of John’s shorter blog cases. The hiatus was long, however, so it makes sense that the TV show would show us at least some things from Sherlock’s doing in the mean time. Which John would know nothing about, of course. ;)

In TEH, when Sherlock comes back, the show has this irregular plot line again, with a series of different cases and even more weirdness than ASiB. At first we see Anderson’s ridiculously romanticized (and heteronormative) idea of what happened to Sherlock at the Fall, and Lestrade dismissing it. Then Sherlock is captured and viciously tortured in Serbia, but when he comes back to London directly after, he seems fine and healthy; just a bit of shaving and he’s ready to play jokes on John. Which ends with more violence.

The time line is tricky to follow and the plot line is unfocused; when exactly was John kidnapped? How many cases did Sherlock solve before John saw fit to visit him? What was the whole terrorist plot actually about? And there’s a very strange interlude with Anderson questioning Sherlock about how he survived, at the same time as a terrorist bomb is about to explode in a subway wagon with John and Sherlock in it.

But the interesting thing is that the show’s twists and turns are fairly consistent with the blogpost The Empty Hearse (828 words), which starts with “Where do I even begin?”. The post is all jumbled up and mixed with a lot of John’s feelings - many of them expressing anger, disbelief and a deep resentment towards Sherlock. And back is the ‘psychopath’ talk, which John had tuned down considerably during the hiatus. (How can he even publish such rubbish as if he were writing an interesting account of a huge case of national security they solved together? And after everything he had said in Sherlock’s defense? I’m appalled, and tempted to agree with Sherlock’s blog comment “I see you haven't spent the last two years working on your writing technique”).

Finally, TSoT. John’s blog posts don’t cover the wedding at all, which would be logical if John only used the blog to describe the crime cases. But he obviously doesn’t, so wouldn’t this be something John would be happy to describe? His own wedding?? And he would definitely have time, seeing as he’s letting Sherlock do most of the wedding planning and preparations! But there’s nothing, and the Stag Do seems to be censored even in Sherlock’s brain by John: “We'd just returned from a quiet, civilised evening in the pub when our latest client arrived at Baker Street”. Not even the show shows us this picture. ;) (promo X)

As we all know, however, the wedding stretches over a whole TV episode, much of which is telling us what Sherlock relates in his Best Man speech; he gives fairly brief accounts of a series of cases, and he has John’s blog open on his iPhone as support: The Poison Giant (695 words), Happily Ever After (577), The Elephant in the Room (150 words; censored) and The Hollow Client (396). Two cases he actually solves on site, though: The Bloody Guardsman (496 words) and The Mayfly Man (286). We also see a certain amount of weirdness, where time is sometimes played fast forwards (the dinner), and Sherlock has a long session in his mind palace shaped as a court room.

And, as the last post before the blog stops updating, there’s Sherlock’s own hacker post with the title of the actual episode: The Sign of Three (312 words).

Just one more thing about the wedding: what’s important is not just the stuff that’s in the show - it’s also what’s not in the show: the actual wedding! And I suspect we have a clue about that here:

We don’t see the actual wedding ceremony when John Hamish Watson makes his marital vows to Mary Elisabeth Morstan and puts a ring on her finger. Not even a flash of it! Sherlock does post some wedding photos in his one and only post on John’s blog, but none of them depicts the actual wedding ceremony. If the show would be ‘realistic’, wouldn’t this be just as important to show? Well, not if we’re inside Sherlock’s head, and the last thing in the world he wants to think about is precisely this moment...

So, do we have a general pattern here? Yes, in fact we do, I believe. The pattern is that when John describes a case at length and in detail on his blog, the corresponding episode in the TV show is also relatively lengthy and coherent. But when there are shorter case stories written, these events tend to merely get quick flashbacks in the show, if at all mentioned. And for ASiB, TEH and TSoT the main course of events gets split up into a series of different posts on the blog, while in the TV show they appear like a chain of events, full of suspiciously weird scenes.

My conclusion from this is that the show does vary according to the patterns on John’s blog. Which speaks in favour of the idea that we’re in Sherlock’s mind as he’s looking back on his days with John. It’s as if he adopts his brain activity to the blog pattern.

So, let’s move on to the next prediction:

Prediction 3. If Hypothesis #2 is correct, then there might be some tell-tale signs that we’re in Sherlock’s EMP, even if it’s not spelled out.

The concept of Sherlock’s mind palace (MP) is explained by John to Dr Stapleton in THoB, at Baskerville’s military lab:

I think his MP is pretty thoroughly shown in the scenes that follow John’s explanation, in a manner that we then can recognize in the rest of the show. The usual ‘advertising’ of when Sherlock is in his MP is that texts and images appear on our screen and we can hear sound effects, and all this seems to have nothing to do with in-show ‘reality’. The contours get blurry and (sometimes rainbow-like) light patterns appear. And the whole scene is spinning.

It’s just that sometimes these tell-tale signs occur separately even when it’s not obvious that Sherlock actually goes into his MP. The topic is treated in this meta, which has a lot of interesting contributions from different people in the additions. @gosherlocked pointed out, for example, that John and ‘Mary’s wedding photo was also a spinning scene - and that’s not supposed to be in MP, if the show is meant to depict ‘reality’, is it? And in fact, in this meta by @kateis-cakeis, we can see that there were spinning scenes already in ASiP - the very first episode.

I think @monikakrasnorada’s meta series “Hiding in plain sight” (8 parts in total) about the evolution of Sherlock’s mind palace is a very helpful tool for trying to sort out MP issues. @monikakrasnorada points out, for example, that some scenes in TRF appear to be ‘stealth’ mind palace; it seems like we are indeed in Sherlock’s head, even though this has not been clearly ‘advertised’ by less subtle hints such as deduction text flowing over the filming etc.

In fact, if we start to count the number of occasions where rainbow-like, blurry lights are showing on-screen, or where text is flowing over the screen, I think we’ll have to stay here for quite a while. It’s just that we may have assumed a) that these are ‘just’ artistic expressions from the show-makers and b) that every rainbow is ‘only’ meant as a hint about gay feelings. But those readings don’t actually contradict the possibility that we might be inside Sherlock’s head, do they?

But couldn’t we perhaps be in John’s MP (or mind cupboard or whatever)? Theoretically yes, but some reasoning and evidence contradicts this:

1. We have never seen any sign that John uses something similar to a MP – ever, neither does he ever mention this. On the other hand, there’s plenty of evidence that this is Sherlock’s method of using his brain, and John outright explains this in THoB.

2. There are scenes in the show that John couldn’t possibly know about. Like Sherlock solving cases in Tibet, New Dehli and Germany in MHR, when he was supposed to be dead. And Anderson being on his track. The blog post Many Happy Returns is about John stating that he has to put all these things about Sherlock behind him and move on. Dramatic crime cases in different parts of the world does not fit in with this.

3. But the times when we see John alone are in situations where Sherlock could, with his MP and extraordinary brain power of imagination, deduce what John might have said and done. And unlike John, Sherlock has his friend’s thoughts and feelings right there on the blog, as a prompt to start his deductions and imaginations from.

So, I do believe that enough evidence is presented here for Prediction #3 to pass the test.

So, here is my fourth - and last - prediction for Hypothesis #2:

Prediction 4. If Hypothesis #2 is correct, then the TV show will have a more emotional, dramatic and exaggerated account of the events than the blog.

For one thing, there is certainly way more emotions swirling around in someone’s mind than what you can read from blog posts.You probably don’t want to publish the same amount of and intensity of feelings that you can register inside yourself. And now it has been established in S4 that Sherlock is actually very emotional (Mrs Hudson in TLD) and was an ‘emotional child’ when he was very young (Mycroft in TFP). We also know from the very first episode that Sherlock is a real Drama Queen, and he admits repeatedly in HLV and TAB that he never could resist a touch of Drama.

But he would not tell John about his own feelings regarding the events, would he? It’s very rare to see Sherlock express feelings in the show - especially feelings regarding people. That’s precisely Sherlock’s biggest problem: he tries to repress Sentiment to a point where he appears to be a sociopath to others. So if we’re seeing the show from John’s POV he must have imagined Sherlock having a lot of emotions. Which would be inconsistent with his own judgments about Sherlock in the blog.

Like I said in my meta about Hypothesis #1: many things in this show seem exaggerated in comparison to John’s blog. Things are not exactly romanticized, but rather dramatized and more ‘fanciful’, given a ‘splash of colour’, overly dramatic music etc. And some things seems so cut out of an action movie that I doubt they’re even supposed to be ‘real’.

Observations: Let’s look at some examples from the show of overly dramatic or exaggerated events that aren’t even mentioned in the blog - or if they are mentioned they’re not described.

I already pointed out in my last meta the rooftop hunt in ASiP as not consistent with John’s description in the blog.

TBB: While John is doing something annoyingly mundane - quarreling with a machine at the supermarket (just the kind of ordinary things Sherlock seems to avoid with all his might) - Sherlock is in a thrilling life-or-death fight in 221B. A masked criminal dressed entirely in robes and scarves is attacking an un-armed Sherlock with a sword.

Some dramatic, oriental music is playing all over these scenes - even the supermarket one. But Sherlock takes the attacker on single-handedly and knocks him out completely in a matter of seconds. Strangely, by the time John is back from the supermarket, the unconscious man is already gone and Sherlock pretends nothing has happened. Nonchalantly, he offers John his credit card and sends him off on a second shopping-round - now with money. Not a word to John about the fight; why?

Why do I constantly get the impression that Sherlock has watched too many of John’s action movies? (and horror movies, judging by S4). ‘Bond night’ was something John introduced him to already about the time of TBB, according to the blog. And after that we get ASiB, with Bond references that are never mentioned on the blog: Bond Air and flight 007. The exaggerated treatment of the cruel CIA agent who was dropped more than once from a 2nd floor window and survived is also an example of weirdness (covered in my Hypothesis #1 meta)

And there’s more in ASiB that isn’t on the blog; Moriarty blowing a raspberry at a text he just sent, as if he could see it flying away? Who has the most lively imagination - Jim or Sherlock? And the Flight of the Dead audience - a Boeing 747 full of dead people that never took off.

Not technically impossible, of course. But to keep so many dead bodies from their loved ones without any of those finding out? No media headlines about a huge number of mysteriously missing corpses? One single leak would have been enough to destroy the whole operation. A bit risky to come from Mycroft with the Brains, isn’t it?

The silly little things, like the café conversation between John and Mycroft; the fact that Mycroft says 'it would take Sherlock Holmes to fool me’ is suspicious. Why would Mycroft suddenly recognize his little brother as being his intellectual superior in any sense? Wishful thinking, Sherlock! ;) And then the event in Karachi; did Sherlock travel there without John even noticing? Why is the sequence transmitted with disturbances, like it was for a broadcasting, and who would send it and why? And the most ridiculous of them all, yet another case of ‘Sherlock the action-hero’: He manages to fight a whole gang of heavily armed terrorists single-handedly, with a sword? This doesn’t even seem like Sherlock’s memory - it’s pure fantasy!

Then there’s TRF and Moriarty’s weird visit at 221 B. Sherlock is not present at the final session of Jim’s trial, and yet is he reciting verbatim what’s being said by the judge. Perhaps not impossible but quite unlikely. When John calls Sherlock after the trial to say than Jim was found ‘not guilty’, Jim is already on his way to Baker street; Sherlock’s kettle has just boiled when he arrives (takes about 3 minutes).

Now we’re talking impossible, though; how did he manage to get there so quickly? A London ambulance, according to Sherlock, takes 8 minutes to arrive (HLV), but Moriarty is there in 3? And why such a hurry? He was in custody - didn’t he at least need to ‘check out’ first? Weird. And of course, TRF is not covered by the blog, since John didn’t want to talk about it.

When Sherlock comes back in TEH, we get this irregular plot line again, with even more weirdness than ASiB. Sherlock being captured in Serbia might of course have happened, but what we see is a rather unlikely scenario, and absolutely none of it is mentioned in the blog. The weirdness consists in a) that the young Serbian guard is wearing an old Red Army uniform from WWII rather than a modern Serbian one,

b) that Mycroft would treat his tortured brother like a piece of trash, even when the torturer was gone, and c) that Sherlock got his back whipped, but shortly afterwards we see him being shaved lying on it. Is this Superman?

And then he’s immediately fit to go play a joke on John. Yeah, right...

A more possible scenario I could think of (and this is mere speculation, but I still think it fits) is that Sherlock was suffering emotionally; it was torture to him to know that John had ‘found someone’ and was going to move on. Because that’s how John described it on the blogpost Many Happy Returns, which maybe Sherlock could read from where he was. It’s only a month between the MHR blogpost and the TEH blogpost. Which means that it took a relatively short time for Sherlock to finish whatever he was doing and return to London, once he learned that John was moving on. Love is a vicious motivator, I guess...

So, I think we’ve gathered enough examples now to say that yes, Prediction #4 passes the test; there is a pattern of overly dramatized and exaggerated events on the show compared to the blog.

All in all, after all these tests, I think that Hypothesis #2 holds water; The show as we know it up until John’s wedding might very well be Sherlock re-living their story together in his MP, after reading John’s blog.

Another thing that occurred to me is something I believe @kateis-cakeis has said (don’t remember where - sorry): In ASiP (but not in the Pilot) Sherlock says to Lestrade: “But they take the poison themselves; they chew, swallow the pills themselves. There are clear signs. Even you lot couldn’t miss them”. But no-one has yet told him that the victims had eaten pills, rather than having been injected with the poison or swallowed some liquid. How could he know? Well, if he was recollecting his memories, after confronting the serial killer he would already know, wouldn’t he?

In one of the comments about the last installment, @sagestreet pointed out a series of things that speaks in favour of this hypothesis (for which he invented the name ‘possibly-raggedy theory’ :) ) One of them was that this idea combines the EMP theories with a late entering into Sherlock’s extended mind palace (HLV) with those of an early entering (Pilot EMP), and also explains some POV inconsistencies. Another point was this:

“And, for any viewer who might feel uncomfortable with the idea that we’ve been in Sherlock’s head all along, your theory would also provide a nice little consolation: We would have seen everything play out from Sherlock’s POV, but it would still be close enough to reality to not make people completely freak out. I mean, it would be Sherlock’s recollection (and, at times, overdramatization) of the actual events, which as you argue, quite convincingly, would only be recorded in the blog. But it would still be ‘close enough’. (I can totally see Mofftiss doing something like this, by the way.)”

Well, it sounds about right to me. Possibly I’m biassed. ;)

The next installment will be about Hypothesis #3: The weirder scenes from ASiB to TSoT means Sherlock is influenced by drugs.

Tagging some people who might be interested: @ebaeschnbliah @sarahthecoat @sagestreet @tjlcisthenewsexy @88thparallel @fellshish @darlingtonsubstitution @gosherlocked @mrskolesouniverse @sectoralheterochromiairidum @csi-baker-street-babes @meta-lock

#Sherlock is re-living memories #Blog vs TV show #emp theory #EMP from start #The whole show is from Sherlock's POV #What happened to Sherlock?

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hysterialevi · 7 years

Text

In the Smoke pt. 13 (Cobblebats)

From Bruce’s POV

THE STACKED DECK

After quickly running home and throwing on the hoodie Oz had given me, I simply walked to The Stacked Deck, not wanting to draw any attention with a big, fancy car. I mean, I doubted anyone in Gotham truly sympathized with Hill, and there were probably others out there who would’ve beaten him just like I did, but I still preferred to remain in the shadows. Right now, Oz was the only person I wanted to see, and considering that the press was pretty much at my family’s throats, this hood was the one thing keeping me from drowning in cameras.

Arriving at the bar, I squinted slightly at the neon, card-shaped sign that practically lit up the whole block single-handedly and reflected in the street’s puddles as the sound of glasses clinking reached my ears. There were some patrons chatting outside of the packed building, and the closer I got, the more I could hear the alternative music playing inside. This was definitely the place.

Searching around for a little, I eventually found Oz relaxing in a nearby alleyway, separated from the rest of the crowds. He was leaning against a brick wall with a cigarette in his hand, and the small flame gave off a soft, orange glow as smoke puffed from his nose. Upon noticing me, he threw a casual wave in my direction and straightened his position, putting out the cigarette beneath his boot. I eagerly walked up to him.

“Hey, love,” Oz greeted before pecking a kiss on my cheek. “S’good to see you again--” he chuckled, “--or at least what’s not hidden under that hood of yours.”

I shrugged, grinning. “Thought we could try to avoid a fight, for once.”

Oz rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, speakin’ of fights...” he frowned a little, “Listen, I’ve been thinking a lot ‘bout it, and I just wanted to say sorry.”

I quirked a brow, crossing my arms. “Sorry for what?”

“For what I did to Harvey, back at the debate. Y’know, drugging him. Melting half his face off. I didn’t realize the two of you were so close. I mean, it was obvious that he was your friend, but admitting to loving you? Woof.”

I averted my gaze from him, a bit uncomfortable. “Oh, um--you heard that?”

“Hard not to.” Oz stepped closer, almost to the point where we were sharing my hood. “...you don’t...love him back, do you? We’ve got a good thing going here. I’d hate to throw it away so soon.”

I shook my head. “Of course I don’t,” I lied. “I wouldn’t be here tonight otherwise.”

Oz smiled, kissing me again. “Good. But back to my original point, I really do regret doin’ all that to Harvey.”

I sighed. “Just...no more planning behind my back, all right?”

“All right.” He lowered his voice. “Look, I know I said we wouldn’t talk ‘bout work here, but since I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, there is someone else you should know about.”

“Someone?”

He nodded. “You see, I ain’t the leader of the Children of Arkham. I’m just the right-hand man.”

I double-checked our surroundings, as if someone were eavesdropping. “Then who is?”

“Brace yourself, but have you ever heard of a reporter called Vicki Vale?”

My eyes popped wide-open. “Vicki Vale? She’s your leader?”

“Yeah, except we don’t call her that. We call her Lady Arkham, since that’s her original name. Her parents were assassinated after they tried turning Hill in, just like your mum. By the same person too. Now that I think about it, the two of you actually have a lot in common. More than you realize. It’s like you are her.”

“...is that a good thing?”

Oz laughed. “Depends which aspect you’re talkin’ about. But anyways, enough of that.” He grabbed my hand and gestured towards the bar. “C’mon. Let’s get some drinks.”

From Thomas’ POV

WAYNE MANOR

I sat in my office, blankly staring at the mountain of paperwork that now lived on my desk, but not actually doing any of it. There was just far too much going on at the moment, and with all the tension between me and Bruce, work was the last thing on my mind right now. Though, according to Regina, if this scandal surrounding my family continued, I might’ve not even had to worry about work soon.

I couldn’t believe it. The press seemed to have an infinite supply of evidence pertaining to me, Hill, and Falcone these days, and all along, my son had been the one giving it to them. What was Bruce thinking? I understood that he disapproved of what I did, but bringing all this attention to us--it was just asking for the media to fan the flames. There was also the possibility it could harm him too. Though, he clearly didn’t care about that.

Rubbing my temple, I thought back to when Martha was still alive. Before she had been killed, Martha and I used to argue around the clock about my “side business,” and whether or not I should step out. It got even worse once Bruce started to grow up, and she’d always say that he was living without a father. And as much as I hated to admit it, I could now see that she was right.

I couldn’t remember the last time Bruce and I spent time together as just father and son, and even when helping the city as Batman, I never felt like I was truly doing any good for him. Well, the best way I could redeem myself now, was to keep him safe from Penguin, and any other threats looking to tear Gotham apart.

Just then, a knock came from the door, Alfred walking in not a second later.

“Sir, I hate to interrupt, but Mr. Falcone is here to see you. Apparently, he has something rather...concerning...to discuss.”

“Thank you, Alfred. Send him in, please.”

Opening the door further, Alfred allowed Carmine to waltz inside the office before leaving us alone and heading down to the kitchen to make some tea. The crime-boss’ face was plastered with agitation, just as Alfred had said, and his usual, suave vibe was nowhere to be seen.

“You look troubled,” I commented. “What’s going on, Falcone?”

Carmine took a seat on the opposite side of my desk, letting out a breath of frustration. I could tell that there were words stuck in his throat, but it took him a moment to actually say them.

“Forgive me for putting this so bluntly, Tommy, but,” he took a breath, “it’s Ham. He’s...dead.”

I fell silent for a while, trying to fully comprehend what he just told me.

“Hill is...dead?” I repeated in shock. “Oh god, Bruce,” I muttered to myself, “what’ve you done...?”

Carmine leaned forward. “Hill’s death is gonna cause a load of problems for us, but I’m afraid that’s not it. There is something else you should hear about.”

I dragged a hand through my hair, taking a sip of the coffee on my desk. “Oh? And what’s that?”

His eyes darted around the room for a second. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Tommy, but there are rumors saying that Bruce is working with Penguin.”

I nearly spat my drink out at that, and slapped a hand over my mouth, staring at Falcone with a baffled glare.

“What?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” Falcone adjusted himself in his seat. “But yeah, just before he died, Hill told me his men caught the two of ‘em meeting at Cobblepot Park sometime last week. He also had them report it to the GCPD, and now, Gordon himself is on his way to track Bruce down. They’re starting to think that he was drugged on purpose. So that he could beat Hill to death.”

“Goddammit.” I snatched my coat off the back of my chair, heading for the door. “I gotta find Bruce before the police does. I don’t care what the media says. I wanna hear the story from him before anyone else.”

Falcone stood up, slowly following me from behind. “Well, then, you’d better start searching. If Gordon reaches Bruce first, there’s no doubt he’s getting arrested on the spot. And he won’t be the only one taking the damage. If people find out your son could potentially be working with Penguin, it’ll be the end of everything we’ve worked for. All of it--just gone. No pressure, of course.”

“Well, thanks for letting me know about this, Carmine. Now, I gotta get going.”

“Good luck, Tommy. It’s a shame it’s come to this, what with the scandal and everything. Bruce was always more of a by-the-book kinda kid, despite being somewhat of a free spirit. It’s hard to believe the whispers traveling the streets. Though, like I’ve said a million times before, and will continue to say in the future: you can’t trust anyone in Gotham. Especially those you call friend.”

#cobblebats #batman telltale #bruce wayne #oswald cobblepot #harvey dent #fanfic #story

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pastelbatfandoms · 8 years

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Part 6

A/N: You Will need to read Part 5 to really understand everything. warning Picture heavy! also not using The Read More Cut since it seems to ruin the format or makes it unable to be viewed on Mobile…

Jughead POV

I let out an irritated sigh as another book refused to go into the locker where I put it. “Oh come on.” I was about to give up and leave when I heard footsteps behind me. I recognize those. though they didn’t sound like the big boots she normally wore. I turned and stared as Michelle walked with Betty,Kevin and Veronica down the hall,laughing.

Michelle was still Beautiful as ever. If I had thoughts of that nature I’d probably be having them right now...but I could still admit that she was Aesthetically pleasing,though I wasn’t too sure about her new look,preferring her in darker colors,but now was not the time to be picky or overly critical. I thought as she stopped in front of me and smiled.

Man how I’d missed that smile. I tried to play it cool and friendly.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

I barely registered the others walking off until I saw Betty pull Archie away and let out a small laugh. “Those four. since when did we start hanging out with Veronica again?” “She changed alot over the summer.” Michelle insisted.

I was skeptical but hey there’s a first for everything,I could certainly attest to that. “If you say so. I guess there can only be one Queen Bee at Riverdale.” I was of course referring to Cheryl Blossom. We laughed but I noticed Michelle seemed shyer than normal and then she just stopped and stared at me.

Is she checking me out? I smirked,leaning against my now closed locker and tried to get her attention. “Michelle you ok?”

That seemed to snap her out of it as she said. “Yeah! so how was your road trip?”

I told her about Archie and I staying at a cabin,”Ooh Cabin in the woods type?” she joked. “I wish.” I snorted.

Then I told her about us hiking or rather ARCHIE hiking. I didn’t tell her that I had been thinking about and talking about her so much I’m surprised Archie hadn’t gotten sick of me. but he probably felt like he owed me,seeing as how I was usually the one listening to him go on about multiple girls. The distraction I thought the Long Ride and Quiet woods would bring, had been anything BUT.

And now she’s here….but we’re friends always had been,nothing’s changed. except that she knows more now and you now know she likes you as well. I reminded myself I should probably just act normal and not bring that up right now.

Glancing at the clock I said. “Oh crap we’re going to be late for Bio!” I thumbed my nose and winked at her. “Walk with me?”

Yeah that’s really acting normal. My Conscience taunted. but at least she agreed. “Your hair looks good by the way.” I complimented her as we walked down the hall together.

Michelle POV

From there we were inseparable. But not just Jughead and I. All of us,along with going to our usual hangouts Jughead would play us movies every Saturday at the drive in,Archie started up the band again (in between Football practice) Betty,Veronica and I even joined The River Vixens,The School’s Cheerleading Squad,much to the chagrin of The Captain Cheryl Blossom.

I was surprisingly getting B’s at least in Science and History,though I still sucked at Math and hated our English teacher. But Jughead and I still weren’t spending time alone together. I wanted to talk to him about us but he always changed the subject,so I decided maybe he just wanted to be friends so I left it at that,disappointed,and started dating other people,I had one girlfriend and a couple boyfriends that year,none I was particularly serious about and ONE in particular Jughead did NOT like.

He and were actually arguing outside School one day when Jughead showed up,just as My Boyfriend grabbed me. He was known for being Mentally and Emotionally abusive and,contrary to what some thought,Jughead was not. So when Jay grabbed my arms,Jughead stepped in.

“Do we have a problem here?” Jay glared at him but let go so he could “step to” Jughead. I was grateful to Jughead and also found it funny Jay thought he could hold his own against Jug. They were the same size but Jughead could definitely out wit him.

“She’s My girlfriend back off.” I noticed Jughead straighten and raise his head,then look away peeved.

Oh Great he’s going to punch him. Outside School.Again. I thought and got in between them. “ Juggie you don’t need to defend my honor,not again.” I said remembering when he punched Archie. I put a warning hand lightly on Jughead’s chest then looked at Jay.

“As far as you and I go,we’re done.” he started to protest but I stopped him. “No go find some other girls to tell your sob story to.” he glared but walked off in a huff. Jughead following him with his eyes the entire time.

“I don’t know what you see in him. you could do better.” “I tried.” I looked at him pointedly. He looked down for a minute then put an arm around my shoulders. “C’mon we’ll be late for Art.” I sighed in both Disappointment and annoyance but walked with him.

After that I didn’t date anyone,preferring to spend my time with Jughead and The Scooby Gang,Jughead especially. He would always spend time at my house,spending the night-on the couch-as we watched Horror Movies and listened to music (mainly Alternative & Grunge,though I introduced him to a few Prince and Michael Jackson song’s he liked) Sometimes we’d all get together and play Card Games and tell Scary Stories (Some were even true!) which was a step up from The Board Games and Truth or Dare we used to play. But I still couldn’t tell if Jughead still liked me or not. Sometimes he acted nothing but friendly,other times (like the almost fight with Jay) he seemed overly protective,even Jealous.

I just wasn’t sure and was too shy/scared to ask out right. I didn’t want to push him so I decided turning the tables might do the trick. Not by acting jealous of course,I had no one to be Jealous OF,he had never payed attention to anyone else lately,not even Betty. Plus I had the feeling that kind of behavior would turn him away. Even though he did it,knowingly or not. But I COULD protect him.

Jughead POV

I had never seen her so Fierce,so warrioress,so beautiful before,all over ME. Against Reggie Mantle of all people! I had been wondering where that Rebellious,always stood up for who and what she believed in,always fiercely protective of the under dog,had gone. But looking at her now. I realized underneath the blond hair and pink cardigans,she was still Michelle,still ready to step in at a moments notice if one of use was hurt quite literally in my case,(it had just been one witty comeback…) I smirked.

“It’s called Necrophilia Reggie.”

Then this happened…

Michelle stood there glaring up at Reggie,not caring that he was bigger then her,he was a bully and Michelle HATED bullies. Archie stepped in between them as I touched her arm. “I think you should back off Reggie.”

Michelle though,always the stubborn one,didn’t back down as she shot back. “ No guys it’s fine,Reggie too scared to hit a girl anyway,he knows he’d get kicked off the football team.”

Michelle was right instead of going after her,thankfully,he tried to hit Archie who,much to my surprise,ducked and punched Reggie instead who went down. I stood there in stunned silence,Reggie holding his face in pain as Michelle stood over him,crossing her arms and saying snidely. “Don’t come back later saying you pick on Jughead because you have a big secret Gay crush on him either,he’s not interested.” She grinned at me and I had to bite back a laugh,I was in admiration of both of them. But seeing Michelle like that,I knew I had to tell her and Soon…

So it was by pure luck that Michelle along with our friends should show up at Pop Tates that same night I was busy typing up My English essay or trying too,I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her,therefore the essay was turning into imagery poetry.

As I was sitting in a booth farthest from the entrance they hadn’t seen me yet. It’s now or never Jug…

Michelle walked into Pop’s with Betty,Archie and Veronica thinking about how Jughead had looked at her after she had stood up to Reggie,it was definitely admiration but he still hadn’t made any moves to show her he liked her. She was too busy telling Archie all this that she hadn’t seen Jughead sitting at a far booth typing away,A Mug of Coffee his only form of sustenance,on the table,beside him.

“I’m sure he still likes you Shelle.” Archie reassured her as they sat at a nearby booth,Betty ordering Fries and Soda for the group. “Jug’s just shy and stubborn.Like someone else I know.” he winked looking down at her. Michelle smirked and rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. Seriously though I’ve tried everything I can think of,besides wearing skimpy clothes or just coming onto him,because I know him being Asexual he wouldn’t appreciate that.” she replied glumly. They didn’t know Jughead had taken his headphones off and was listening in,he perked up at the Asexual mention

“or you could just talk to him.” Archie Muttered in his breath. “What?” “Nothing.” At The Booth Archie puts a reassuring hand on Michelle’s shoulder. “look I’m almost positive Jug still likes you. He doesn’t get crush’s often or ever.So the fact that he’s liked you for this long means something,trust me.” Archie grinned remembering what Jughead had said to Archie only last night as they played video games in Archie’s small Attic room…

Jughead stopped playing,laying back in the bean bag chair,a dazed confused look on his face. “What should I do Arch? I mean she’s perfect and I think she still likes me.” Archie settled himself on the bed. “Well do you still like her?” he asked in return,already knowing the answer.

“Yes! I mean you know as well as I do,I must if I talk about her so much and I think about her just as much.I just-she’s dated,I haven’t,what if she can’t deal with my being Asexual? what if it gets to be too much? Is this how it feels all the time? how do you do it?!” Jughead asked incredulously.

Archie smirks,shaking his head. “Well for one I like and am Sexually attracted to women,Cheryl especially.”

“Don’t forget Ms Grundy.” Jughead added Sardonically. Archie gives him a look. “That was a summer I’d like to forget thank you. Anyway as I was saying,you being Asexual might be hard for both of you at first or somewhere down the road but Michelle knows about that and it hasn’t deterred her,she still likes you,according to Betty and Ronnie,she still has a major crush on you.” Jughead smiled in relief at that. “I’d just talk to her,straight up ask her out,be bold for once,it’ll go along way.”

Archie smiled as he remembered his nervous Best Friend say he’d “Think about it.” which in Jughead terms meant he’d do it on his own time,not sooner. So Archie was surprised when that moment turned out to be NOW,as Jughead sidled up to their booth. “Hey Guys.”

Jug acknowledged the whole group but his grey eyes were focused on Michelle. Michelle noticed and blushing,looked down with a small smile playing with her straw. “Hey Jug wanna join us?” Betty asked,smiling brightly. Michelle looked up anxious.

Jughead grinned “I have work to do but…um I was wondering if Michelle wanted to go on a date with me.” he breathed out with an exhale. Michelle froze then,her wide eyes meeting Jug’s as he tried not to give away his nervous excitement.

Their friends waited with anticipation as Michelle smiled and said. “I…I’d love to Juggie.” Jughead looked visibly relieved but tried to hide it. “Great I’ll call you tonight.” with one last smile Jughead headed back to his table with more confidence then he had been. “He doesn’t like you huh?” Veronica teased.

Michelle made a face and threw a Fry at Veronica as she laughed. But Michelle had Visibly brightened Archie noticed,he also knew it had taken guts on Jughead’s part and he couldn’t be happier for his two friends. It’s about damn time. Archie though as he joined the girls lighthearted teasing and change in conversation.

A/N:Date time!! I was going to add Gifs of Archie,Betty and Veronica but it’s already sooo long lol and the gifs were taking too long to load.

Edit: Fixed the gifs!

#Riverdale #mughead #jughead jones #fan fiction

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