#molly hooper is awesome as usual

[the-sapphiresky]

The Masked Swordsman

AN: Did anyone ask for Zorro!lock Sherlolly?!

Heart racing, he leapt down the stone wall, black cape fluttering behind him, and slipped under the arch just as the shouts and footsteps of the guards sounded above. Leaning back into the shadows, he felt the cold, hard steel of a handle and, to his relief, found the door to be unlocked. He slipped inside and was immediately hit by the scent of hay and manure. It appeared he’d stumbled upon side entrance to the stables.

Though still trapped on the grounds, his token was still safely stored in his belt and he breathed a sigh of relief for a moment’s reprieve to formulate a new plan of escape.

Until, that is, he felt the cold blade of a sword at his throat.

Turning slowly, he raised his hands. His eyebrows went up behind his black cloth mask at seeing, not a guard, but a tiny spitfire of a woman.

Molly Hooper.

His mark’s niece stood before him clad only in her corseted undergarments and a loosely tied dressing gown. Her long, brown hair was pulled back in a loose plait and shimmered with golden strands as the sun filtered from the gapes in the rafters above. Her features were rather singular, almost elfin in appearance, but strong of character. 

He eyed her stance and deduced instantly that she was not putting up a farce. Her form was impeccable and there was not a tremble along the deadly blade in her hand. With righteous fire in her deep brown eyes, she was an enchanting sight.

“Give it back,” she spat.

Sherlock smirked. “Give what back?”

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked down his body. He carefully did not make a motion toward the papers stashed under his tunic at his waist. “Whatever it is you have stolen from my uncle. Do not insult me by denying it.”

Slowly, Sherlock stepped sideways and edged toward the middle of the room. “Very well.”

She raised an eyebrow in challenge. “You’ll give it back?”

He crossed his arms, feigning nonchalance despite the sword at his throat. “No, I’m just not denying I took it.”

She huffed angrily and pressed the tip of her blade harder into his throat, not yet piercing the skin. “Give. It. Back.”

There was no time for this. Easily, Sherlock ducked out of her reach and unsheathed his own sword, executing a complicated twist of his wrist to catch it, raising it protectively in front of himself just in time to deflect her attack.

His arm trembled slightly as she bore down and he found himself impressed by her strength. It was, of course, no match for his own, but she was clearly a trained swordsman whose ability already surpassed that of the guards he’d escaped from. 

“Thief,” she accused and pulled her sword from the tangle of his and whirled about, swiping the blade in a horizontal arc as she did so. He leaned back just in time only to jump out of the way as she lunged forward and pierced the air where he’d been standing. Bringing his blade around, he swiped at her, not with intent to kill. An act she easily parried.

Back and forth, they attacked and deflected, his mocking smirk fading to a determined scowl. Somewhere in the process, Sherlock lost his hat and Molly’s hair had come completely undone, flying about her rosy cheeks as they dueled. For a moment, Sherlock did wonder if she would succeed in disarming him. Her ability was far greater than he anticipated and he found himself distracted by the sight of her passion.

But ultimately, her passion was her downfall and when she let her guard down with an enraged shout, Sherlock locked their blades together. Reaching around, he caught her free hand and held it captive behind her back. She struggled to free herself, breathing heavily, the bosom of her corset rising and falling rapidly. He couldn’t help but notice the appreciation in her eyes, though she tried to fight it, as he held her against himself. 

“You’ll never get away with this,” she declared. 

As he looked down into the eyes of this woman who had broken every expectation he’d made, for the first time in nearly a year thoughts of revenge against the man who had murdered his brother weren’t at the front of his mind. 

“Perhaps,” he admitted. His jaw clenched. “But I will die trying.” 

She stilled. Her brow furrowed and an almost soft, sympathetic look washed over her face. 

She was an innocent in this whole sordid mess, he had known that from the beginning. It was her uncle, or rather the man who claimed to be her uncle, who was a murderer and blackmailer. Sherlock assumed she was ignorant of her uncle’s dealings. But as she looked up at him, he got the unsettling feeling that she knew; and she knew what he was going to do. A silent war was waging within her and he felt her body slowly relax, her grip on her sword slackening. And as Sherlock stared down at her, he promised himself he would make sure she was unharmed and without blame when all of Magnussen’s dealings came to light. 

Heedless of the fact that the guards were closing in, Sherlock unlocked their blades and, in a show of trust, slowly backed away and sheathed his sword. 

Molly lowered her sword, that same look on her face that made him wonder if she could see beneath his mask, beneath his caped façade, to the broken heart he guarded. Uncomfortable with the idea, he put his confident swagger back in place and swept down in a mocking bow with a smirk. “Until next time, Molly Hooper.” Picking his hat up, he dusted the hay off of it, and placed it back upon his head, running his hand along the brim. 

He was about to escape the way he’d come, his hand on the door, when she spoke behind him.

“I look forward to it.”

He stilled. Pulling his hand back, he looked at her over his shoulder. 

Suddenly spinning around, he strode over to her and cupped her face with his gloved hands. Her eyes were wide and her lips parted just as he leaned down and stole a kiss, a rather passionate kiss as she was just as eager as he. Her sword clattered to the ground as her hands gripped his waist and her mouth met his, challenging him in their kiss as she’d challenged him in swordplay.

Oh, this complicated everything.

Breathless and flushed, Sherlock pulled back and let his fingers trail over the soft skin of her cheeks. Her eyes were closed and her lips pleasantly plumped from his attentions. She leaned forward, following him. He resisted the temptation to steal those lips again and backed away.

With a wink, he slipped out the back and sprinted away, just as the guards burst into the stables from the other entrance.

Until we meet again, Molly Hooper.

[writingwife-83]

Hi there! So there’s this post that’s making the rounds on Tumblr about Sherlock only wanting to work with Molly at Barts and getting frustrated and confused when she’s not there. I’d love it if you write a little something based on that. That would be awesome! If not, it’s all good. Thanks ❤️❤️❤️

This is the post mentioned in the ask. Thank you for this one, I had a lot of fun imagining this scenario. Soooo very Sherlock. 😆 and thanks @thisisartbylexie for some great suggestions!

Only You

“Thanks, Sherlock, I really appreciate it,” Lestrade said as they walked the halls of Bart’s hospital. “This one’s got me stumped.”

“Not a problem,” Sherlock replied, marching along confidently. “I’m happy to solve something more than Twitter cases, now that I’m staying in London.”

Sherlock pushed his way through the lab door, suddenly realizing his excitement to see Molly for the first time since his new lease on life, but instead found himself face to face with…

“Not Molly,” he stated tersely.

“Hello there,” the young man said. “Nice to meet you, I’m-“

“Don’t particularly care,” Sherlock cut in. “Now, where is Dr. Hooper?”

“Hm, not sure,” the man replied. “I dunno if she’s working today.”

Sherlock grimaced. “She’s supposed to be! Perhaps the morgue...”

“Sherlock,” Lestrade interjected. “Maybe we could just carry on with-“

“I’ll need to find Molly first.”

Sherlock left the lab, forcing the exasperated DI to follow. When he finally made his way into the morgue and saw two other doctors there who were both also not Molly, Lestrade clicked his teeth.

“Welp, guess she’s not on today. I think we’ll be ok without her for this one, so why don’t we-“

“Where is Molly Hooper?” Sherlock questioned, his voice rising. “This is absolutely ridiculous! I know her schedule and it never changes because she likes the routine!”

“She does?” Lestrade commented under his breath.

“I need to speak with Stamford immediately!” Sherlock hurried out of the morgue with Lestrade groaning in protest.

“Sherlock, I’m on the clock here!”

Unfortunately for Lestrade, he was barely noticed anymore. By then, Sherlock had practically deleted the original reason for his presence at Bart’s. It was no longer a priority.

Thus followed a lengthy jaunt around the hospital, desperately searching for Stamford. Eventually, they tracked him down in the canteen, having some lunch.

“Sherlock, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what else I can do for you,” Stamford replied with a little laugh. “She’s off, that’s all I know. Have you tried-“

“Yes, of course I’ve texted her!” Sherlock bit back. “Multiple times in the wasted forty five minutes I’ve been here!”

“So then let’s stop wasting time and work on the bloody case!” Lestrade begged. “If you need an assistant, what about John?”

“Rosie was two weeks old yesterday,” Sherlock explained. “She’s hit her first growth spurt, Mary is an exhausted wreck, and John is assisting in all forms of baby care that do not involve having breasts. He’s a bit tied up!”

“Y’know, Sherlock,” Stamford began cautiously. “I happen to know the doctor’s that are on today, and I can promise you that they’re really very-“

“Very much not Molly Hooper!” Sherlock practically yelled through grit teeth, making multiple people turn and stare in the canteen. “For God’s sake, where is she?!”

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Three days later, bright and early on Monday morning, Molly was pleased to see Sherlock and Lestrade strolling into Bart’s lab. She felt ready to handle just about anything after the deliciously long and restful girl’s weekend at the Hotel de Londres in San Sebastián. One of her friends was recently divorced, Molly’s engagement had ended only a few weeks before, and another one was dead set on forcing them all to “forget men and enjoy life” again. They’d taken advantage of the hotel’s spa, the La Concha Bay beach, and indulged in some truly amazing food and drink. She felt like a new woman!

What she wasn’t expecting was the DI to rush over and hug her.

“Gosh, am I glad to see you,” Lestrade commented as he pulled away, nodding toward Sherlock. “This weekend was a bit difficult with you being away.”

“Really?” she laughed. “Well I was with my girlfriends in-“

“Yes, we know, the Hotel de Londres,” Sherlock finished for her.

Lestrade leaned in and lowered his voice. “He wasted an entire day to get to the bottom of it.”

Sherlock cleared his throat conspicuously. “The DI is exaggerating facts again, making it obvious why he has to come to me for assistance.”

Molly noticed the way Sherlock paused, his eyes scanning her from head to toe. “I see the weather was...ideal.”

“Mm, it was,” she confirmed with a coy smile, feeling a touch more confident and sexy than she normally did. “That bikini I originally bought for my honeymoon got some use after all.”

Sherlock’s eyes widened and a noticeable blush instantly spread over his usually pale cheeks, making Lestrade actually have to turn away in an attempt to conceal his laughter.

Molly had to admit, that simple little sight was almost as invigorating as her entire weekend away.

[afteriwake]

writer's ask game -- 42-49

42. How do you feel about love triangles? Technically, they are not real triangles unless everyone is basically in love with each other, which is awesome. So all the love triangles that basically look like ^? Are shit.

43. What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline? I rarely outline so they just mosey on down the roads they choose and I take notes.

44. How much research do you do? Usually between the bare minimum and “this exclusive dish has these ingredients and is served at this time of day and is very expensive, and I did the research to prove it along with looking up the location of the restaurant, the layout of the restaurant and information on the part of the city it’s in.”

45. How much world building do you do? Depends on if I’m writing an AU fic, and AU series or something based in canon. if it’s an AU fic, I do as much world building as I can in the one fic. If it’s an AU series, I do the same amount of world building but spread it through multiple stories. If it’s something based in canon I only enunciate the differences I’m making for the fic, however large or small they may be. The sandbox I’m playing in is already built so I just need to explain bits about my corner of the box, you know?

46. Do you reread your own stories? Sometimes! If I’m nostalgic for a specific thing I’ve written, usually, or if it’s a story I wrote a long time ago and I’m either replying to a comment about it or I’m editing it for posting.

47. Best way to procrastinate - Already answered, but I should note my go-to ambient background noise television shows are Forensic Files and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, so usually I just pay attention to what’s going on on-screen as opposed to just using it as white noise.

48. What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written? Every story that had Alex Giles in it in “The Giles Saga,” which is my first BtVS series and not up anywhere on the net (yet) as far as I can tell. Eventually I’ll find what I can of it and post it to AO3...eventually. I have hundreds of Buffy fics to go through and I have no idea how much of that series survived the Yahoobroups! purge last year.

49. Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real? Molly Hooper, hands down.

A Writer’s Ask Game

[butyourgonnabehappyaboutit]

Oh! I never knew i needed this! Will they catch moriarty together? What will happen next?

My dash did a thing

[rottenbrainstuff]

Looky looky! Guess who's back! It's me, your SSS So that last answer of yours really gave me some insight for your gift! I'm so excited to start working on it! So tell me about your ships. What are some of your favorite shows, movies, songs, actors, that kind of thing? When reading a fic, what do you look for? Do you prefer canon, or an AU? If you like AUs, what kind do you like? Your Sherlolly Secret Santa XOXO

First of all, I'm a bit sorry, because I've just gone to see The Last Jedi so my dashboard is probably going to be more full now and you're going to have to do some digging to find you answers, maybe. :(

My ships.... I have a shortage of free time so I don't get around to watching a lot of stuff, so my ship list is perhaps a bit small. I like sherlolly, of course. I just love Molly Hooper so much, she's such an unusual character because she's quiet and unassuming and these kinds of characters almost never get the romantic tension with the lead? They're usually the butt of jokes, like in season one, not the one they say I Love You to at the big show finale! So that was nice. I love them, and the fandom is absolutely lovely, too, I've actually made some really good friends. (I also totally love anything I’ve read where someone has shipped Molly with Irene! Molly is just one of those lovely characters that you don’t even care who she’s with as long as she’s happy, and f/f ships never get enough love)

I really like Benedict Cumberbatch so watch all the movies he's in, lol. Khan was an awesome character and I think that was when I went over the deep end and became a hardcore fan. My sherlolly friends wrote an awful lot of crack fic working in Molly into Star Trek and I loved reading it!

It’s Star Wars season now and I’m super into that. I love all the characters so much, and I ship reylo. I also love Marvel movies. Loki is my favourite character (can you tell I kind of have a thing for complicated villains) and I don’t really have any specific ships, except maybe Steve Rogers with anyone at all really, because he is just a peach.

Hum I think that’s the big ones anyways. I like little smaller things from little non-existent fandoms, like for instance characters from the new Alien movie that came out? and crazy old things cause I’m crazy old now too (like, I still really like my Sailor Moon ships, you know???)

I like lots of things anyways, lots of sci fi and fantasy, and anything very visual or whimsical. I’m excited as hell to see The Shape of Water when it finally comes out here because Guillermo Del Toro is my current favourite director and that movie looks like it’s right exactly up my alley.

Hm I don’t know. If that doesn’t give you some ideas just ask some more.

Fics fics fics. Man I love fics. I have said before that honestly, for some shows, the main attraction for me now has become the fandom. The actual show is just the jumping off point and what I really like is the fandom, all the discussion with other people, and seeing all the things other fans do with it, the way they fix issues or explore alternatives or flesh things out. I have a pretty balanced fic diet, I like to read a variety of stuff. For some reason I seem to not enjoy modern day Star Wars AU settings and I don’t know why. Everything else is pretty fair game.

I especially love reading, like, royal fairytale AU settings or victorian AU settings, I don’t know, I guess it’s just the interesting social conventions, but I love it. Sherlolly lends itself so well to victorian-setting stories, I have read *so many* of those, and the lovely sherlolly writers have written some absolutely amazing stuff. Soulmate AUs are another cheesy tropey thing that I have a lot of fondness for.

Thank you for the ask! Let me know if you need more info! :D

[luminoustico]

@introspectivenavelgazer asked for Sherlolly + 102, from this drabble list. I was watching this movie when the ask came through, so that’s the reason for this AU.

102. You hear that? That’s the sound of my awesomeness.

"You see," Molly began, gingerly stepping over Greg, currently lying in the dirt and cradling his jaw, "what my, um, colleague and I wished to know -- that is, we wanted to ask -- this artifact, how did you obtain it?"

The man behind the bars of the visitor's pen rolled his eyes. Shadows crossed his face in slats. "Oh for God's sake, be honest. You want to know how to get to Hamunaptra."

"I -- how do you know the artifact leads to Hamunaptra?"

"I was there when I found it."

Molly Hooper gaped, then frowned, a shot of jealousy running through her about this man, how he managed to get to the city she had dreamt of since she was a child, that had fuelled her father to the last, fuelled her even now. And he was before her, treating the City of the Dead as it were merely Cairo, or the South of France.

Sensing balance had been lost in the conversation, Molly squared her shoulders and cleared her throat. At her feet, Greg clambered up, rubbing his jaw and squinting in a sort of half glare at the prisoner before them both.

"You punched me."

"You stole my artifact," came the retort.

"So you've been to Hamunaptra," Molly said, slipping a glare to Greg. "Could you tell us how to get there?"

The prisoner, a tall man, his dark hair damp at the nape of his neck and at his temple, did not possess a usual handsomeness, spoken about in every history book she had read. Nothing about him would lead to handmaidens fainting, or villages surrendering to him at the sight of his nobleness. Not that she ever believed that sort of hokum. It was all claptrap, just like the tales spun about mummies and corpses awaken from the dead. The prisoner approached the bars of the pen, his eyes still on her. Molly shifted, swallowing. 

"Can you?" she asked again, her voice softer. "Can you tell me how to get to Hamunaptra?"

"Come closer."

"Oh, um." Molly flicked her eyes towards Greg, back to the prisoner. She swallowed thickly, already stepping forward. "Okay."

"Molly," warned Greg quietly, nervously. "You don't---"

Suddenly, the prisoner's fingers held her jaw and she was tugged forward, the iron bars hot on her cheek and the prisoner's lips on hers, kissing her---

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Molly dropped her thus far ignored biography of Seti the First on the bed and grabbed her hairbrush, tugging it through her hair, muttering to herself. "It was just a kiss, and not even that good of a one! What's the matter with you?"

A kiss that he had only used, anyway, as a deductive tool. A lover or a sibling, he'd concluded as they'd walked through the crowd at the Cairo docks, would've demanded the strongest punishment possible, rather than giving a single punch to the jaw.

Rolling her shoulders, she stared at herself in the ship's mirror. The evening's boat journey had brought with it a strong ocean wind. The candle by her bed flickered with the breeze, the pages of her book flapping.

Lying on her bed, Toby, the ship's cat, mewled as he stretched. Unlike the rival archaeologist, Molly had taken more of a liking to Toby. He wasn't obstinate, wasn't brash or arrogant like Holmes was.

"Not worth thinking about," Molly said, scratching between Toby's ears. "Honestly, if he didn't know the way to Hamunaptra, and we had a whole map to ourselves, I wouldn't ever have agreed to taking him along."

Molly, however, was rather inclined to revoke her belief when she was pinned against the wall by the hand hook of a gnarly-faced assassin.

---

Hearing the scream coming from Miss Hooper's quarters, Sherlock sprinted along the barge.

Turning right, Sherlock ran down the corridor, passing doors. Coming to Miss Hooper's quarters, he kicked open the door. She was pinned to the wall, struggling against an assassin's grip. The assassin snarled as he held her up by the neck. His hook pressed against her cheek, close to her throat.

Seeing him, the assassin immediately spun her around, holding her by the neck. Immediately, a second assassin appeared at the window. Sherlock shot wildly along the wall, fire engulfing the sofa, roaring through the quarters. Behind him, he heard the first assassin wail. Turning, he saw Miss Hooper stood before him in her nightgown, holding a now extinguished candle.

"Time to go." Grabbing her hand, Sherlock steered from the room. The ship's cat sprinted after them, Molly scooping it up under one arm. Sherlock gaped at her.

"Seriously? The cat?"

"Well I can't -- the map! The map, the map!" Molly immediately spun on her heels, sprinting towards the room. "I forgot the bloody map!"

"I'm your map," Holmes snapped, tugging her back, charging through the corridor. "Watson will find us, come on!"

Reaching the end of the corridor, Sherlock brought out his pistol from his holster, peering out at the main space of the ship. Assassins had swarmed the whole ship, the fire roaring through the whole of the ship, screams overwhelming the flames. Men threw themselves into the ocean, attackers and attacked alike, swimming hurriedly for the shore. At the helm of the ship, an assassin was stood, firing on the passengers. Sherlock aimed. A round of shots had him screaming, tumbling towards the barge.

"You hear that, Miss Hooper?” he said, grinning and breathless as he tucked himself against the wall, reloading his pistol. Gunshots flew in his ears. "That's the sound of my awesomeness."

Suddenly, he found himself tugged to his right, Miss Hooper's small hand clutching his shirt. He frowned at her.

"You see that?" she said, gesturing to the wall behind him. A line of stray bullet holes. If she hadn't pulled him out of the way, he'd have been a dead man. "That's my awesomeness!"

[tuuliii]

I was tagged to do this, so here we go.

Name: Tuuli

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Gender: Female

Orientation: Bisexsual

Favorite Fruit: This is tricky question...I really like apples and oranges...so I’m gonna go with those.

Favorite season: Spring and fall. I also love summer, but those are my faves. Winter though is not so nice.

Favorite Book Series: The Hunger Games, or Percy Jackson books. 

Favorite Fictional Characters: Ugh...This is hard, because I love so many different characters but I’ll try to list my faves. Edith Crawley, Isobel Crawley, Elsie Hughes, Thomas Barrow, Cora Crawley, Mrs. Patmore, Mr. Carson (Downton Abbey) Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, Mary Watson, Greg Lestrade, Molly Hooper, Irene Adler, Mrs. Hudson, Euros Holmes (Sherlock...I just practically listed almost al the Sherlock characters, lol) Catherine De Medici, Mary Stuart, Greer Norwood, Bash, Francis, Kenna(Reign) 11th Doctor, 10th Doctor, River Song, Amy Pond, Clara Oswald, Donna Noble, Bill Pots, Captain Jack, Missy(Doctor Who) AND many more awesome characters from books and movies, but I’m not going to list all of them.

Favorite Flower: I don’t really know these names in English, so I’m just gonna say Roses and sun flowers. 

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Animal: Otter

Favorite Artists/Bands: Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, Tuure Kilpeläinen and loads of others. My music taste is really weird and messy. I also like classical music.

Average Sleep: 6-9

Number of blankets I sleep with: Two

Last thing I Googled: Jodie Whittaker (AKA the 13th Doctor. I wanted to see what she looked like)

How many blogs I follow: Too many

Number of Followers:  54

What I usually post about: I reblog stuff I like. I used to post a lot about Downton, but now I usually post pics of Benedict Cumberbatch or other Sherlock stuff.

My Aesthetic™: Walking in a misty forest with music on, and singing. Playing violin with my window open and drinking coffee while watching the sunrise. 

I was tagged by @incorrectdowntonquotes I don’t know who I’d tag, so I’m not tagging anyone. Good Night everyone:)

[bountyman]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. REPOST. DON’T REBLOG.

– BASICS.

• NAME:  plz call me spark or cinna •  PRONOUNS: she/her •  SEXUALITY: tbh idek anymore. i usually say het but sometimes i think i’m bi but THEN i’m like ‘but do i only think i’m bi bc abuse from boy??’ so *shrug emoji* •  TAKEN OR SINGLE:  single

– THREE FACTS.

i’m smol

i’m an art major

i am such a boring person imo i’m sorry uhhh i like........ archery

– EXPERIENCE.

•  HOW LONG (MONTHS / YEARS?):  lmao i’ve been rping since i was like 10 on neopets. but on tumblr, idk, i guess i’ve been rping on tumblr for like... maybe... five or six years? •  PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED:  neopets (lol), deviantART (LOL), and email but since joining tumblr i’ve used, well, tumblr, discord, and skype. i don’t use skype anymore. •  BEST EXPERIENCE:  mmm, probs when i first joined tumblr with a molly hooper rp blog. i immediately was welcomed into this awesome totally non-toxic sherlock rp group and we became best bros. i loved it and i really miss how close knit we were, but everything kinda split after we started going to college and getting jobs. :< aside from that, i also had a great experience writing a tenth doctor and tadashi hamada. everyone is so friendly and awesome??? those two are the only blogs where i’ve come within a few hundred of breaking 2,000 followers. 

– MUSE PREFERENCES.

•  FEMALE OR MALE: i don’t care tbh. i think my muses are all p balanced between male and female.  •  FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT: i love fluff and i looooooooove angst. i’ve never written smut. part of me thinks it’d be fun but idk. i’d need a partner who doesn’t mind me being kinda awkward and spazzing to them ooc bc i’m embarrassed and idk if it’s ok. bc i’m lame. •  PLOTS OR MEMES: both! tho there’s something really fun about using a meme as a springboard. •  LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: both. i’m really chill about reply length. •  BEST TIME TO WRITE:  night. for sure. •  ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S):  mmmm??? not really??? one, i’d die as a bounty hunter. first day. i’d get shot. dead. i think our only similarities are probs that we’re not super good with opening up about ourselves and we both do our best to do the right thing ™ . but other than that, nah, not really. according to my friends i’m a rock, but i don’t think have the emotional strength and willpower to be as calm as josh in situations. 

Tagged by: @wisenedup Tagging: @awildthing @yarnfulofhair @deadeyedean @bonhcmme @1000liveslived @sorrowscars and anyone else who wants to

[mousedetective]

Could I ask for following Sherlolly cheer up fic, please?: Molly's and Tom's wedding preparations are going well underway. Sherlock (like he has done with Mary's ex-boyfriend before the Watson's wedding) tries to search out Molly's ex-lovers who could be a possible 'threat' to the happy couple, but remains unsuccessful. In the end, he's realising... He, Sherlock himself is the one, ('the possible threat') he is looking for... that'd be awesome, dear ❤

I have finally gotten to this! I swear, I think it was seeing the gifs of Sherlock destroying the coffin over and over that finally kickstarted my brain for this. But I wrote this for you and @paix4tout (and if it is too angsty for you, @paix4tout, let me know and I will write you something else). But here you go, will all my apologies for making you wait so long!

The One Who Could Ruin It All -Sherlock comes to a realization as he goes through all the potential threats to Tom and Molly’s wedded bliss.

Relationships: Molly Hooper/Tom, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper

Character: Sherlock Holmes

Additional Tags: Angst, Sherlock Feels, POV Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes Loves Molly Hooper, One-Sided Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Wedding Planning, Molly is Engaged, Sherlock-centric, Jealous Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings, Sherlock Holmes Has a Heart, Sherlock Wants The Best For Molly, Sherlock Holmes & Molly Hooper Friendship, determined Sherlock, Lonely Sherlock, stepping aside

Read @ AO3 | Buy Me A Coffee? | Send Me A Prompt

He wanted the best for her.

It had been a shock to come back from Serbia and find that she had moved on, but he was happy for her. Really. He knew that when the topic of her engagement came up he might clench his jaw a bit or mince his words just a tad, but that was only because he thought she could do better. But if Tom made her happy, then he would do everything under the sun to make sure no force tore them asunder.

He pored over every detail of Tom’s background, interviewed every woman he had laid with and every woman he had dated, however briefly. Molly really was a step up, in so many ways. These women would not pose any problems. None of them wanted him back. He was gone from their lives and they had happily moved on. Not that Tom was a bad man, they had all assured him, just…boring. Plain. Even dull had been used a few times.

Safe.

Perhaps Molly needed safe.

A psychopath and a sociopath, after all, was not a good pattern.

And that was what surprised him, when he went delving into Molly’s personal life. That was all there was to her love life, really: a dead psychopath and a living sociopath who had never given her more than a glance before his life depended on her expertise. Well, no. He had given her more than a glance. He knew the shade of her lips, when she darkened it with lipstick and when she took it off. He paid attention to the shape of them, too, how they seemed thinner without the darkening colour, but were still somewhat attractive.

He knew her measurements, too. It was why it was so easy to decipher Irene’s because she and Molly were shaped the same. He would have noticed even if Irene had chosen to confront him fully clothed, but seeing Irene in the nude he had briefly wondered if Molly was that shapely, having the same measurements. Oh, there were other reasons his usual ability to cold read a person had shorted out, he could admit, but long after Irene had left he wondered just how different Molly would look in the nude to Irene on nights when he was trying hard to sleep.

Those were thoughts he wouldn’t admit to anyone.

Nor were the thoughts that he knew how she took her coffee, that her cat was a rescue that preferred albacore tuna and so when he came by he always made sure he had a can with him, that she hummed “Yankee Doodle Went To Town” while cleaning her dishes, that she had well-worn childhood books interspersed on her bookcase with medical journals and leather-bound classics…

He knew all of these things about Molly, more than most, and it had never seemed more important until now, because now he knew.

The only person capable of ruining Tom and Molly’s happiness was him, because he was in love with Margaret Hooper.

He ran a hand down his face at the realization sunk in. How had it happened? When? He had suppressed all of his emotions for so long, kept such a tight rein on them that this never should have happened. It ever should have gotten an inkling of a start, let alone gotten this far. And yet here he was, admitting, at least to himself, that he had the capability to destroy her happiness because he loved her.

And he could. He was a selfish bastard, and he could tell her he loved her and sweep her away from the meat dagger and…

And then what?

What did he know of relationships? What did he know of really loving someone? Of being in love? Nothing, that was what. He had been told all his life that caring was not an advantage. He had, for years and years, held himself aloft and had only recently let people seep their way in. But friends were not lovers. Not even what he and Irene had was a true relationship.

And he would never hurt Molly.

Perhaps that was how he knew he loved her. He could, if he chose, end her relationship and claim her in any way he saw fit, but in the end, he would lose her, and in the end, he would hurt her. Which meant one thing.

He would not interfere.

He would tell the happy couple there would be no worries. No one would try and break them apart, it was all handled. He knew Tom may not take it well but Molly knew him well and Molly would. He would accept her embrace and her kiss on the cheek, smile back at her smile, and then let himself fade into the background of wedding preparations. He would not put himself through another wedding; he would find a case of some sort to keep him busy the day of the nuptials. He would send a gift, something more for Molly than her husband, with a card wishing them happiness. He would inquire when she returned from her honeymoon if she was happy. And he would let her talk about wedded bliss whenever she chose for as long as it lasted.

And he would never tell her the truth, that he loved her. He would spare her the pain it would bring. It was the best for both of them.

[imnova]

Multi-shippers survey!

I always see ship surveys out there, so I decided to make a special one for multishippers.  :)  If you do this, please tag @notagarroter so I can see all the answers.

Name all your ships!   The big two are Johnlock and Mormor. Then, of course, I can see both couples swapping – honestly, I can see these 4 in any combination (Johnbastian, Johniarty, Sheriarty, Sherbastian) for a while, or in a big ot4 pile. XD

Then, of course, there is Jim/Mary(they coded Mary as Moran, so I consider it canon). And Mary/Janine. The only decent things to come out of season 4, aka Molly Hooper/DI Stella Hopkins and Jim/Eurus Holmes. (And possibly, Jim/Mycroft, and Jim/any and all Holmes who’s available, including the parents or uncle Rudy XD).

Oh, and I can’t forget the canon (according to Mary) Jolto, plus double angst Sholtolock (what even is the proper ship name?) and very happy Joltolock (my favourite ot3.) And unilock Victor Trevor/Sherlock Holmes!

And the crack pairings! Mycake, Mybrolly, Brolly/John’s Cane. Brollylock (I wrote one!).

Do crossover pairings count? Because I would love some Dr. Strange with either John or Sherlock (or both), and of course he can bring Everett Ross along. And Belstaff Coat/Cloak of Levitation! And there are more crossover pairings I read, of course. I feel like there might be more pairings in general, but I can’t think of them all.      

Pick three ships (or more!) and describe how you see the dynamic. (romantic? sexual?  other?  "it’s complicated"?)

Johnlock: in a word, they’re soulmates. In every way you can imagine and then some. Which doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be tagged “it’s complicated”, because as much as I see them as instantly clicking, I love that they’re messed up people and need a lot of work – mostly on themselves – to get their happy end.

Sholto/Holmes: Both sexual and the most delicious, painful, emotional – not exactly romantic - thing. I mean, Sherlock definitely has a military kink a mile wide, so one army boyfriend is his wet dream. But where I like them (just after tsot) they’re mostly both desperately in love with John, and comforting each other for having been too coward to pursue him when they did have the chance. Heck, my favourite headcanon is that both scream John’s name when they come. Of course, neither complains.  

Brolly/John’s cane: other. Definitely other. XD But well, when you have a Bulgarian umbrella (aka a weaponized one, firm headcanon of mine even before s4) that sees her potential squandered after her master climbs enough up the ladder that he can refuse any legwork, and a cane who used to feel indispensable and is now forgotten and kicked in a corner, how can they not hit it off? If they happened to end together in an umbrella stand or any corner of the flat, they so would empathise with each other, commiserate together…and being sentient objects, only your imagination is the limit! ;D

Do you have primary and secondary ships, or are they all equal in your mind?

Not really a difference of love or enjoyment, but a ranking given how likely I see them as in-universe and hence of how strongly I will defend them against judgemental people. Bash me for Brolly/Cane and I’ll laugh that you feel the need to judge my fun. Bash me for Johnlock and I will bring you books-worth of meta.

Do you have any aro/ace headcanons for your favs?

Not really. I mean, I acknowledge that you can interpret many characters as Ace/aro (with a very strong case for some), and I will occasionally read such a story, but I like my ship with a side of lovemaking. I have a dirty mind, and I won’t apologise for it. Heck, give me enough time and I can turn NSFW even the inanimate objects’ ships, which lack the relevant body parts. :-)

Do you headcanon a ‘verse in which all your ships make sense at the same time?  Or do some of your ships directly contradict others?

Not really. I mean, many of my ships can coexist – I am also rather fond of poliships, so that helps. But I have simply too many for them all to make sense together. Imagine Jim and Seb proposing to swap partners for one night if Sholto was involved with John and Sherlock. I can’t see Sholto agreeing to a wild night with the consulting criminal. Do you?  

Do you believe in OTPs/OT+s?  What does the term mean to you? I use the term, but loosely, as in ‘my favourite pairing/moresome’ or ‘the one I see happening more easily’. I’m sure people very passionate about that would disagree with me.

Rec a fic that gives you multishippy feels!   I’ll do you one better and give you a series! John and Sherlock’s excellent adventure by my heart sister, @notjustmom. Johnlock, Molstrade, Mythea, and even the Donovan/OC and OC/OC are awesome even if I usually don’t care for OCs at all.  

Tag some multishippers and pass it on!  Or if you’re a multishipper, don’t wait for a tag!  There are so few of us, and I don’t know everyone – I’d love to hear from as many people as possible.

@missmuffin221, @hiddenlacuna

[writingwife-83]

“I can’t. Not to you.”

“Because it’s...true, Sherlock. It’s always been true.”

So I don’t always look at it from this angle but can we talk about how flipping brave Molly Hooper is for a minute? Usually the aspect we talk about is “good for her for making him say it!” But how about, wow she chose to take his phone call to the Serious Feelings Talk™️ zone. She did not have to do that. Think about it- she was clearly frustrated and hurt by his request. She easily could have either outright refused and hung up. Or she could have (despite this not being her desired way to express the three words) just done something like “Fine, you bastard. I love you” and then hung up. Either would have been the quick way out. And perfectly understandable too.

But no. Molly, even in her distressed state and during a bad day, decided to voice the fact that she could not say it and why she couldn’t. She decided to go all in. That in itself was a powerful move, just like it was to demand he say it first. And she could not have been 100% sure of how he’d react or how their relationship would be impacted from there forward. The P.O.T.O. song “Past the point of no return” comes to mind lol. But she still took that leap. I think she made a spur of the moment decision right then to accept the fact that one way or another, things were not going to be exactly the same. But she was brave enough to risk the unknown. And I think that’s one of the most awesome things we’ve seen her do. ❤️ 

(I just heard “Pick Up” on my phone and this was what hit me ok 😂 😭)

[sassysaluki]

“Would You Rather...?” Tag Game

Thanks for the tag, @hayffiebird! ^~

Rules: Answer all questions, add one question of your own and then tag as many people as there are questions.

Coke or Pepsi: Coke Disney or Dreamworks: Disney Coffee or tea: Tough to decide...maybe tea, depending on the flavor...not a big fan of either but I don't dislike them. Books or movies: Both :@ Windows or Mac: Windows DC or Marvel: Marvel Xbox or Playstation: Probably Playstation Night owl or early riser: Night owl (graveyard shift girl) Cards or Chess: Ooh, I really like both. Maybe chess. Chocolate or vanilla: Vanilla Vans or Converse: Converse Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash or Adaar: No clue what this is referring to Paragon or Renegade: This either Star Wars or Star Trek: Star Trek One episode per week or binge watching: Binge Gandalf or Obi-Wan: Gandalf Heroes or Villains: Villains? John Williams or Hans Zimmer: Hans Zimmer (but love both) Disneyland/Disney World or Six Flags? Disney World, but Six Flags is also A BLAST Forest or sea? Sea only due to my crazy affinity for fish of all sorts and marine inverts; I'm at home in the forest too. Flying or reading minds? Flying. Though Legilimency could be useful...;p Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure: Not familiar enough with either Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings: Love both, but Harry Potter Cake or Pie: Pie, maybe You are banished to a desert island, which Benedict Cumberbatch character would you choose to take with you?: All (the supermodel in Zoolander 2) Train or Cruise ship: Either, but...I guess train Brian Cox or Neil deGrasse-Tyson: Not too familiar, but I'll go with Neil Sherlock in dark purple shirt or blue shirt: Uhh...dark purple? Molly Hooper in yellow dress or white and red dress? Dunno what they look like. I'll just say yellow for now. A rainy day locked up in 221b with Sherlock or a fish n chips crime solving date with Sherlock? Crime-solving Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland: YIKES, that's too hard!!! I think I said Alice last time, so I'll go with Oz now...x-3 Go to the disco with Moriarty, or classic music concert with Sherlock? ...You can't make me choose between disco and classical, you monster. But oh, what the hell, I'll go to the disco. I wanna recreate the epic Extremely Goofy Movie scene. Fanfiction or fanart? Fanart Season 3 Sherlolly or season 4 Sherlolly? No idea; clearly this has been passed among many Benedict-Sherlock fans. Not a bad show, but I'm not into it. (Now, The Great Mouse Detective, on the other hand...!!) Reading the minds of the sherlock writers or Mind controlling them to do your bidding? Reading their minds so I could shock these survey-makers with all my spot-on "predictions." ;p Travel in the Tardis with the Doctor or live in 221B with Sherlock? I guess travel in the Tardis (maybe we'll run into the Enterprise, or Voyager, or Deep Space Nine...8D *Trekkie*) The Hunger Games - Books or movies? Another one where I just need both. Gotta have the whole story, the full picture (or, what we have of it so far!) Would you rather be able to pause time or record your own dreams? Totally have always wanted to do both. But since I tend to record my dreams in memory and/or in writing, I definitely need to be able to pause time. Then again, sooooooo many dreams are sooooo awesome and impossible to sufficiently describe; I do wish I could have video recordings of them to show people, or project my mind onto a screen....>) New choice (I’m cruel XD): Gummi bears or gummi worms?

Actually not even gonna bother with the tagging bc we’d probably have a lot of the same ones and most have probably already seen this...soooo as usual, whomever wishes to fill it out should do so! 

[saltatempox]

Ok here we are at it again. The Final Problem completely blew my mind. I watched last night, almost a week after the release. So let’s start from the beginning then. The first scene scared me so much and it was just a sort of ‘prunk’ but I thought it was real. Then the fact that Mycroft acted like a Sherlock’s client to explain the situation and his fears was quite fun, but the scene when Sherlock said John could stay because it was 'family affairs’ all I could think was “JOHNLOCK JOHNLOCK JOHNLOCK”. And that was absolutely remarkable. Also I was very interested in the use the made of the name Sherrinford, because everyone was thinking that there were four brothers (including Eurus), instead Sherrinford was a place name and not a person’s one. That was brilliant and unexpected. Then Mycroft being so protective with Sherlock was gold, we already knew Mycroft was a heart of gold but in this episode he was amazing, especially in the last game they played when Sherlock needed to decide who to kill. I have to admit something. At the beginning I fancied the idea of Sherlock having a sister, but discovering she was a real psychopath I’ve changed my mind. Infact I haven’t liked those sort of games they played in Sherrinford under Eurus’ control. They were horrible to me and at one moment I asked myself how the hell did they arrived at that point. I mean at one moment I realized that (maybe, in MY opinion) the writers lost the plot to make their deepest dreams/nightmare come true in this episode. I had this feeling. But that was just my opinion. On the other hand, Eurus is an interesting character even if sometimes I couldn’t catch all of the hints hidden in her speeches. Now we arrived at the most waited return on the screen: Jim Moriarty ladies and gentlemen (stayin’ alive in the background). I truly believed he could be still alive and I was very upset when discovering he was not. We must face the truth but I still hope he faked his death because he was/is/ and forever will be the best enemy for Sherlock Holmes. Back to the episode now we are going to talk about Molly Hooper. That was a painful scene for Molly, I understand but, as Johnlock shipper, I think that that was the most wasted “I love you” in history. Intact I’d have preferred that to be referred to John. That was the first time for a ship, Sherlolly, to be revealed in Sherlock because they are usually subtitles (ehm ehm JOHNLOCK), anyway. I think Molly hasn’t been that present in this fourth season and it was a very loss for the show to me, because Louise is very good. The Final. I think everyone has loved it. Mary leaving a Post-Scriptum was a great idea, infact that was a beautify final, expecially what she said. Oh I forgot to mention Benedict’s parents, their return was unexpected and I’ve loved that we’ve seen the entire cast in this last episode: Jim, Mary, Molly, Holmes’ parents, Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson. Awesome!

[nellie-elizabeth]

Sherlock: The Lying Detective (4x02)

Okay. So. Anybody who has read ACD's short stories might be familiar with "The Dying Detective," a story wherein Holmes pretends to be grievously ill in order to catch a bad guy, and he doesn't clue Watson in on the plan. Going in to this episode, I knew that Sherlock would have a trick up his sleeve. How did it all pan out? Let's take a look.

Cons:

I have a lot of questions and complaints. To start with the briefest of plot summaries: Sherlock is in a terrible drug spiral, John is roped in to help him take down Culverton Smith, a very wealthy man who Sherlock believes to be a serial killer. In the end, John sees the video that Mary left for Sherlock, and realizes that Sherlock has "gone to Hell" in order to force John to save him, thus helping him to save himself. John shows up in time to stop Smith from killing Sherlock. John then confesses to the hallucinatory Mary that he's been seeing that he cheated on her emotionally for the last weeks of their relationship. Then there's a big giant twist, which I'll talk about in the "pros" section a bit later.

So. Problems. I have 'em.

I seriously want to punch Steven Moffat for the way he writes his female characters. It's gone beyond what I can in good conscience ignore. Molly gets like two seconds of screen time, as we see that she's been helping babysit Rosie. She also shows up to do a drug test on Sherlock and confirm that he's got weeks left to live if he keeps using at this rate. Then she's never there again. What a waste of a talented actor and a dynamic character. She has become nothing but a plot convenience, whose entire character is there to serve the emotional needs of the male leads.

Speaking of which, Mrs. Hudson was sort of a bad ass in this episode, as she cuffs Sherlock and stuffs him in a car to bring him to John, tired of his drug addled ways. This was a cool scene, but take a closer look: we later learn that Sherlock had predicted John's whereabouts and had told Mrs. Hudson to take him there. We also learn that Sherlock's entire emotional state is a long-con to "save John," so anything that happens to him while he's high is still all part of Sherlock's brilliant plan. We also get Mrs. Hudson saying that she's "not their housekeeper," but all she does in this episode is take care of poor baby Sherlock.

Irene Adler. You've got to be kidding me. She doesn't show up or anything, but she does send Sherlock a text on his birthday. This gives John the emotional catharsis he needs to tell Sherlock that he should grab the opportunity to go make out with Irene or something, since Mary's dead and John knows that chances don't last forever. Or something. My God, the forced heterosexuality is making my brain hurt. (As a side note, even Mycroft is given a female love interest in the form of Lady Smallwood. Can you not just throw us a bone? A tiny one? Nothing?) Irene literally, literally said that she was gay when we met her back in Series Two. I cannot believe they're still pulling this thing wherein she's supposedly attracted to women except Sherlock Holmes because he's just so awesome. Ew.

Mary spends the episode as John's hallucinatory guardian angel, constantly encouraging him to get back to his predestined life on Baker Street with Sherlock. It feels a bit like a slap in the face. Mary was never my favorite, and I thought a lot of the crazy crap she did was forgiven way too easily. But to have her in the story just to remind John that he belongs with Sherlock is just... it's just... oy vey. It's almost like saying "oh, that was a fun little experiment having a woman around to mess with our bromantic relationship. But Mary's gone now, back to business as usual!" And you have Mary herself giving John her blessing for this. And John "confesses" his affair to his mental delusion, so that we can see Mary smile sagely and tell John to go be the man she always believed him to be. This is just blatant proof that Mary's entire character arc, including most definitely her death, was there to serve the emotional catharsis of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. It's Moffat's woman problem all over again. Some things never change.

And John... John's actually kind of a bad person? I don't know how to feel about this. Basically, Mary's plan was to have Sherlock fall so deep into despair that John would come through for him. But the fact is, John didn't. He didn't come to save Sherlock until he saw the video and realized that Sherlock was putting himself in harm's way to get through to John. Here's my big problem with this: earlier in the episode, Molly Hooper confirmed, with John standing right there, that Sherlock would be dead in a few weeks if he didn't stop using. And John did nothing. He knew how badly off the rails Sherlock was, and yet he still beat him to a bloody pulp and accused him of killing his wife. These things can be explained by John's anger and grief, absolutely. But for him to actually follow through with being a dick? For him to actually leave Sherlock to his drug-addled fate? The fact is, John's not an idiot. He sees how bad off Sherlock is, he believes it to be the actual truth. He'd need to be an idiot to not connect Sherlock's current state with Mary's death and their estrangement. And John does nothing until his dead wife shows up in a video to let him know that Sherlock is basically killing himself for John's sake.

I'm sorry, but... what a dick. This is sort of explained in the emotional catharsis moment, where John and Sherlock talk about their hetero love interests (barf) and John says that Mary was wrong about him being a good man. He says he wants to try and be the man she believed him to be. But that's just not... it's not... it doesn't hold true with anything we've seen of John's character. He is a good man. We've seen that time and again. He's loyal and forgiving and brave and smart and all of those things. His behavior in the last episode and in this one comes across as completely out of character. It's like they turned him into a jerk so that he could have an emotional breakthrough about how he's a jerk. That's not good character development. That's a lazy backslide leading to a cheap payoff. This development is also, apparently, supposed to be so that Sherlock could realize that John was "only human." I take it this was supposed to be a clever inversion. We've been so focused on how John views Sherlock, that we missed how Sherlock views John as this morally upstanding, untouchable god of goodness. Interesting in theory. In execution? Weak sauce.

Sherlock Holmes is always going to be a million steps ahead of everybody else. This is what makes a Sherlock Holmes story. I get that. In fact, this episode pulled it off successfully when Sherlock shows up at John's therapist appointment, having arranged to be there a full week before John even made the appointment. This was clever, and showed off Sherlock's deductive powers. The whole idea of going in to a drug spiral and using it to save John is also okay. But what I can't abide? He's drugged to the gills and being kept in Culverton Smith's grasp. At Smith's request, he says "I don't want to die" several times, actually choking up and starting to cry. We later learn that not only did he swap out his IV with saline, so that he wasn't actually being killed of an overdose, but that he also had a recording device placed in John's walking stick, because he somehow deduced that John would leave it as a parting gift for him, and that this would be how he'd catch Smith's confession on tape.

Nope. I'm sorry, nope. The whole thing works better if Sherlock actually does lose control over his faculties. I wanted him to be in actual, real danger of dying due to his drug use, not just the fact that Culverton decided to suffocate him. Sherlock was pretty messed up all episode due to his drug use, but at the end we learn that his actual plan went off without a hitch. Which is... pretty lame.

Lastly, we've got Culverton Smith, the villain who ended up coming across as even more of a cartoon than Moriarty. He was creepy, sure, and there were a few really great and chilling moments, like when he's messing with the corpses in the morgue. But in the end he's just a standard ego maniac who confesses to all of his crimes once the Great Sherlock Holmes takes him down with an elaborate plan that nobody else could have put into motion with such perfect ease. It's a little bit of a letdown. I thought this guy was going to be the real deal.

Pros:

Oh boy. I had a lot to complain about. One of the most difficult things about this damn show is that right alongside all of these legitimate and very serious complaints you have... off-the-charts incredible acting.

Benedict Cumberbatch gave an insane performance as Sherlock Holmes. Last week, I thought he was a bit hokey when playing high, but this week he was on it. My God. I really don't even know what to say about this. I won't bore you with too many examples, but just... the look on his face as John tells him he killed Mary, and then the look on his face later when John takes it back. The unbalanced, out of sorts way he deals with Faith Smith (Culverton's daughter... I'll get there in a minute). I think my favorite bit was his breakdown when he tries to attack Culverton with the scalpel. That was pure unadulterated panic on his face. He was scared and confused and I really don't think that level of animosity was in his original plan. Sherlock spends an entire evening with Faith Smith, and later meets her and realizes that the whole thing was a hallucination. (Sort of. Discussion of plot twist is forthcoming). His reaction when he realizes just how far gone he is... wow. Sherlock needed to let himself fall out of control for the sake of the plan, but I think even he wasn't anticipating it to go this far.

I mentioned how annoyed I was by Mrs. Hudson's service in the plot, but I do have to mention she was a total bad ass. She turned on the tears to get John to agree to see Sherlock, kidnapped Sherlock, held him at gunpoint, shoved him in her car... which is an awesome sports car, by the way. She also called Mycroft a "reptile" and kicked him out of her home, which was just beautiful in like twelve different ways.

Sherlock and John's relationship. Okay. So. It annoys me that Sherlock was so many steps ahead of everybody. And it annoys me that John wasn't going to save him until he learned it was a plan. It annoys me that they talk about their female love interests in their one and only intimate scene together. But my God. That scene. Sherlock is timid and apologetic and everything else in between. He desperately doesn't want John to leave, and John makes it pretty clear that he's only there because he has to watch Sherlock and make sure he doesn't get high again. There's this moment when John gets up to leave, and Sherlock asks "are you alright?" He's not saying it because he thinks he should. He's saying it because he really, really needs to know the answer. Everything he's been through, all the pain and the drugs and all that, he was doing because he wanted John to be alright. In this moment, he just wants to know if his plan was worth it. John breaks down, after talking to Hallucination!Mary for a moment, and then. Then. Sherlock Holmes gets up and holds John while he cries. He rests his head against John's and just cradles him. It was just the perfect moment and even if the lead-up to it had its problems... wow. I'm so grateful I got to witness that.

We've arrived at the last thing I need to talk about: the plot twist. Which was actually sort of several plot twists nested within each other. Everybody has been waiting for the secret Holmes brother, Sherringford. Mycroft actually brings up the name multiple times. We still don't know who Sherringford is, though... unless it's a code name meant to represent Eurus. Eurus Holmes, the East Wind... Mycroft and Sherlock's secret sister. Not only is she a secret sister, but we've actually already seen her. Three. Times. She's the girl on the bus that John had been texting with back when Mary was still alive. She's "Faith Smith," the woman who spends an evening with an extremely high Sherlock Holmes. Turns out, not a hallucination after all... just Sherlock's sister. And finally, she's John's therapist, a woman who sits across from him and listens to him talk about himself. As the episode ends, Eurus reveals the truth to John, and then points a gun at him, holding him hostage.

Eep! These little shits have been planning this for so long. Sherlock talks about the "East Wind" back at the end of last season, and how Mycroft once used it as a scary story to frighten him. And we all knew something was fishy about that woman on the bus. And when Sherlock thought he'd hallucinated a whole person, something seemed wrong about that. And then suddenly John's new therapist... just... wow. We're all culpable, because we all (or at least most of us) didn't see it coming. This woman was in last week's episode, and she was in this episode twice, playing two completely different characters, and I didn't notice it was the same person. That's... really impressive. Not only from the actress, but from the script and the care it took to make these people blend in. Sherlock saw "Faith" through a haze of drugs. John interacted with his therapist across an emotional and physical divide that made him never truly looking into her eyes. I cannot believe John was having an emotional affair with Sherlock's sister. I cannot believe John is being held hostage again. How many times does that make it? I can't believe that Moffat used his disgusting and unfortunate trend of setting women aside in the narrative in order to trick us into ignoring the answer that was right in front of us. It was... brilliant.

I'm forced to admit that this plot twist did a lot in making me come away from the episode with a positive impression. I can't wait to see how the newest Holmes sibling shakes things up. Apparently this is what happens when somebody as brilliant as Mycroft or Sherlock truly goes over to the dark side. It should make for an interesting finale.

My concern, going in to our last episode of Sherlock, maybe ever, but at the very least for several years, is that there's really no way to wrap up all of these dangling plot threads. What about all the ominous hints we've been getting about Mycroft's death? If he does die, will there be enough time to handle the fallout? And what about Moriarty? Is he tied in any way to Eurus, or is this another dangling thread? I feel concerned about what they've taken on, since this show has never been super great at wrapping things up to anybody's satisfaction. We'll have to see how it goes!

7/10

[superlc529]

My musings about the tracks from Sherlock, “The Final Problem.”

Sorry, this is gonna be kind of incoherent. I have trouble articulating my thoughts properly, but if you decide to read this, thank you. :)

1. She Was Different - Before the season started, I thought maybe this would maybe have to do with Mary or Molly, but I have a strong feeling that this will be about Eurus/Sherrinford Holmes and how she was different when they were all growing up... 2. Doing A Good Thing - Maybe Mycroft will finally be ‘doing a good thing’ in telling Sherlock about their sister. Not really sure about this one. 3. 3 Suspects - Again, not too sure but I was thinking that maybe this could deal with one of Sherlock’s deductions in suspects about whatever case they’ll be on in this episode. 4. Pick Up - After that scene of Molly holding the phone tightly and looking scared/worried in the promos, I have a feeling that this is where it’ll come into play. Perhaps Molly calling Sherlock and hoping he will pick up the phone or vice versa. This scene/whole episode will be killing us, but I think this scene in particular will hurt. 5. Brother Mine - Some brotherly bonding between Sherlock and Mycroft perhaps, once again another scene to tug at our heartstrings. 6. Bones - Not sure if this will be literal or figurative. We’ll just be put through the emotional wringer in this episode. 7. The Hall - This could be where Sherlock, Mycroft, and John end up playing some ‘game’ that isn’t a game. Or maybe ‘The Hall’ is something in Sherlock’s Mind Palace... I really have no idea, just musing. :) 8. I Had No One - I think this could go a couple ways - but I think mostly it will show how Sherlock used to think (the whole “Alone is what I have. Alone protects me” thing) and now how he’ll realize that he not only has John, but even his brother and Molly... and Mrs. Hudson, Greg and of course Mary in spirit. He has everybody by his side. This episode is gonna wreck us. 9. Open Your Eyes - I think this one will be both figuratively and literally, Sherlock needs to ‘open his eyes’ to see what has been right in front of him all along... Molly Hooper. ;) And/or for him to see other happenings in his life through a new perspective.

10. Always the Grown Up - Maybe Sherlock will be ‘growing up’ here, taking Mary’s advice from the DVD but be more careful for himself, John, and Molly... 11. Who You Really Are - This sounds like an echo of what John was saying in ‘The Lying Detective,’ so I think this will have John be the man that Mary wanted him to be but I think there will be more emphasis on Sherlock going off of his conversation with Molly in ‘The Reichenbach Fall’ - “If I wasn’t everything I say I am, everything that I think I am... would you still want to help me?” - Since this is the end of the soundtrack, it’s safe to say it’s at the end of the episode and it will basically end on a high note of Sherlock really is a detective at heart but he can still be more, with Molly Hooper. Yes, I have my shipper goggles on, but even without them, from a non-shippery point of view, I do think The Final Problem is going to be absolutely amazing. Sorry I’m not very articulate, but unless I’m writing fanfiction, I can’t really accurately express my feelings/thoughts. It usually just comes out as internal screaming and squeeing... I have faith in Mark and Steven to do these characters justice.

All I ask is for the rest of the characters to be okay in the end and I just hope for more significant Molly Hooper moments to show off Louise’s awesomeness and of course, we can never have enough on-screen Sherlolly. ;) :) 2 more days until all hell breaks loose. For me it’ll be at 7pm on PBS Masterpiece on Sunday. All weekend, I’m going to be studying/doing online quizzes and such for school with some intermittent breaks to read fanfics, but Sherlock on Sunday will definitely be my highlight... I love this show so much.

“I was so alone and I owe you so much...”

[mousedetective]

Led About On A (Not So) Merry Chase (2/?)

I am so so sorry it has been so long since I touched this, but I actually had part of chapter 2 written and didn’t realize it until last night when I looked at my WIP folder, so it’s totally a lapse in my part (literally, I only had to add about 400 words to finish this). My apologies, @sincerelydayyy, for taking so long to update your commission. But here it is and I promise I will not lapse so long next time.

Led About On A (Not So) Merry Chase - John enlists Molly’s help to cheer Sherlock up when Sherlock is down in the dumps about getting bad marks before the end of term, which means going home and facing his parents. Molly has the idea of a scavenger hunt to put Sherlock’s big, beautiful brain to use, but nothing goes right when what is supposed to be a private thing amongst a few friends becomes a campus-wide event. Will it all end happily ever after or will everything be worse off than they were before?

Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Mary Morstan/John Watson

Characters: Molly Hooper, John Watson, Mary Morstan, Sherlock Holmes, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Greg Lestrade

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, POV Molly Hooper, Awesome Molly, caring molly, Molly Hooper has the Patience of a Saint, scavenger hunt, Sherlock Holmes & Molly Hooper Friendship, Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Fluff, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Kissing, Oblivious Sherlock, Molly Has A Crush, Molly Has a Plan, Plans, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Happy Ending, Fluff and Humor, Sherlock is a Mess, John is a Good Friend, Molly is a Good Friend, Mary is a Good Friend, Snarky Mary, Sherlock Holmes & Mary Morstan Friendship, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson Friendship, Molly Hooper/Mary Morstan Friendship, Molly Hooper & John Watson Friendship, Cool Lestrade, Paternal Lestrade, Protective Lestrade, First Kiss

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Even after warm food and coffee at Jameson’s had gotten the chill out of them Molly and John couldn’t come up with any solid ideas of what to do to pull Sherlock out of his rut. Molly had dashed off to her last class of the day, mulling the problem over some more when her mind wandered during the lecture, but even then she couldn’t think of anything. Whatever it was it had to be stimulating enough to capture his attention but not boring. If it was boring it would defeat the entire purpose of getting him away from his books and studies and this project he was stuck on.

To be quite honest, if John was worried about him, it must be a more serious problem than usual. Sure, he and Mary would tease Sherlock from time to time about all the studying he did, but it was gentle teasing, the kind done among friends. They always managed to pull him out with them at least once a week, with her in tow, for a night of normalcy. It was good for him, and good for her, too. But come to think of it, it had been a while since she had seen him. Whatever this project was that he was working on, it must be something big. If she was going to come up with a distraction, perhaps she could also offer to help. Fair was fair, after all. But first, she should come up with the distraction so she at least had an idea of how much help she would owe Sherlock in the long run by getting an idea of how much time she would be pulling him away from his project.

When her class was over the rain had stopped, and she took her time strolling back to her apartment near campus. She’d just moved into off-campus housing this year, after spending an extra year on campus due to the death of her father. She had almost taken an entire year off, to be quite honest, but he had wanted her to continue her education. It had been her dying wish. But she couldn’t handle her studies and a job so the school had made an exception and let her spend her junior year in a dormitory with another junior who would have been homeless should housing have not been allotted, Mary Morstan. The two hit it off immediately and this year they decided to move into off-campus housing since Mary had a steady job now and the inheritance Molly had received had been settled. It was a nice place, better than a simple flat, and allowed them to live together without being right on top of each other, which was fantastic since Mary and John were especially serious about each other now. She was fairly sure before they graduated there would be word of an engagement.

She let herself in and heard a bubbly pop song on the radio and saw Mary dancing around the kitchen, making dinner. “Enough for both of us?” she asked.

“Oh, definitely,” Mary said with a nod. “Soup for a gloomy day, and homemade bread is in the oven. I thought I’d invite John and Sherlock to come by and partake as well. John said he would see after some time at the library but Sherlock said he was busy so if John comes I’ll send some back with him and tell him to force-feed it to Sherlock.”

Molly set her bag down on the chair and then took her coat off. “He must be concentrating quite hard on this project.”

Mary set her wooden spoon on the stove top and put her hands to the side of her eyes. “1000% laser-like focus,” she said before moving her hands and shaking her head. “He needs to take a bloody break. It’s not healthy.”

“Yeah, John asked me to help come up with a distraction,” Molly said.

“Oh he did, did he?” Mary said, giving her a sly grin. “Wonder why that would be?”

“Shut it,” Molly said, blushing.

“There are worse men to fancy, you know,” Mary said, picking her spoon up and stirring the soup again. “I mean, Sherlock actually acknowledges your existence in a pleasant way, unlike every other person that isn’t John or I, and even then he prefers you.” She watched Molly come into the kitchen and lean against the worktop next to her. “He just doesn’t know how to articulate it. But it’s obvious he fancies you.”

“I wish he would tell me,” she said. “Or better yet, act on it.”

“He’s a man of thought, not action,” Mary said. “One day something will inspire his passion, and then he’ll be an unstoppable force.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “Oh, no, it’s not obvious you’re an English literature major.”

Mary chuckled. “Always did have a way with words, just like the Bard.” Then her eyes widened. “Maybe you could mine his works for an idea. I mean, the man is a genius.”

“Yeah, but Sherlock is a man of science.”

“Well, maybe he needs passion, and Shakespeare is full of passion,” Mary said, pointing at her with the spoon.

Molly thought for a moment. “Maybe...a scavenger hunt? With clues in Shakespearean English?”

Mary got a wide smile on her face. “Oh, that would be brilliant! And we could end up at Lestrade’s pub for a pint and good food and...I don’t know. An actual treat. You know he’d be willing to help.”

“Do you really think he’d go for it, though?” Molly asked.

“Well, if we use Shakespearean English to frame the clues but make the clues something he has to think about, he would,” Mary said. “He enjoys puzzles. And the Bard has a way with words.” Mary waved the spoon around. “We will come up with an absolutely brilliant scavenger hunt, I promise. You, me, John and Sherlock. The hints will be brilliant and we will have an absolute blast. You will see.”

Molly grinned at her friend’s enthusiasm. This could be quite a bit of fun, she thought to herself. Hopefully Sherlock would think so too.