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soft-girl-musings · 11 months ago

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Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - CHAPTER 3 (My Way Of Life)

Noir!Jake Lockley x WOC Lounge Singer!Reader

written in collaboration with + header by @mrs-lockley

chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 4 chapter 5

cross-posted to ao3

tags: late 1940s Noir AU, Reader is WOC coded but with no physical description besides being slightly taller than Jake while wearing heels, no use of Y/N, brief description of injury

wc: 1,676

fic summary: Of all the gin joints in all the world, Jake Lockley walks into yours. Unfortunately for him, it's not quite the start of a beautiful friendship.

chapter summary: old habits die hard.

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You've never put much stock in wishes coming true.

Hard work, determination, and a bit of luck are what your faith lies in. Wanting something so badly that it comes to be? Nothing more than a fantasy.

At least, that's what you had believed before tonight.

The back table has been empty for a while– all evening, to be precise. You catch yourself looking toward the door between interactions. No Wesley. No Lockley.

It's Tuesday night.

Before you head backstage, you see a new guest being led to the back table. You rush to intercept, startling the poor waiter.

“Mr. Manalo, a word?” You smile apologetically at the guest and take his escort aside. “What are you doing, Teddy?”

His eyes turn frantic. “I was seating a guest, ma’am. Did I do something wrong?”

You glance at the clock behind the bar: twenty minutes past the hour, with the usual party nowhere in sight. They’re never this late.

“Miss,” Teddy urgently whispers, as the patron has started to get restless. “There’s no reservation tonight. I-I mean, not for this table, but for James Wesley, either.”

You can’t help how your face falls at the news. “I see,” you chirp, forcing yourself to perk up. “Then please make sure this gentleman enjoys his table. With a drink on the house for the inconvenience.” You pat his shoulder and step away.

Weren’t you counting down the days until his smug face stopped haunting your evenings? Didn’t it grate at your nerves to tiptoe around your own lounge twice a week, guarded and on edge? Isn't this a wish come true?

Later you walk onstage with the band and give your usual spiel. The applause rings hollow. As you scan the room, the man at the back table doesn’t even look your way, too engrossed in his dinner. You place a hand on your stomach to ease the knot that forms with every breath, along with the sinking feeling that something isn’t right.

But the show must go on.

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There's a cruel duality to Jake's commission.

Protecting the travelers of the night was, in a way, second nature long before his life became what it is now. Whenever he was out, he had his eye on the underdogs, the vulnerable on the outskirts. Most people were his people. It's the other side of the coin, the means to the end that eventually made his oath a burden, turning his cab into a hearse once the sun goes down.

Not all his passengers give him the courtesy of a quiet departure.

That's the case tonight, the throbbing pain above his eye reminds him. James Wesley didn’t go down without a fight. Jake came out on top– he always does– but there was a surprising ferocity behind Wesley’s bespectacled stare as he dealt a gnarly blow to fend off the inevitable. Stumbling through the night, vision spinning and blurring all at once, Jake wonders if the risk in confronting him unarmed was calculated well enough.

This would not have happened if you had used my gifts.

“Of course you wouldn't let me suffer in silence,” Jake mutters. The old bird has never been one for stellar bedside manner.

You have lost focus, my son.

“Oh I'm plenty focused, big guy. Right now I'm focused on not–” he coughs, mouth tasting of pennies and regret as his head wound steadily bleeds, “–not passing out in the street.”

The night air shifts around Jake as he continues to stumble down the pavement. The waning shape of the moon seems to glare down at him, its light as cold as the wind that stings his labored lungs.

The task at hand requires your full attention, and unless you are aided by my gifts–

“Oh yeah, what a gift. Sharp suit and a few tricks, pretty fair tradeoff for being your puppet.”

A sudden gust of wind nearly makes Jake lose his footing.

Remember your debt, Jake Lockley. I have something your fractured mind wants.

Jake spits, staining the sidewalk red. “Maybe what I want is for you to see you have something to lose, too.” His breath is harder to come by, chest heaving as his temper flares. “Think you've been gettin’ too comfortable with our arrangement.”

You would risk killing yourself to make a point? Look at what your tantrum has cost you.

Jake finally stops walking, turning to catch a glimpse of himself in a shop window. He barely makes out the reflection of a hardened, bloodied man, staring back in resounding silence.

Do you think you would know a moment's peace if they knew a stranger inhabited the body? A murderer?

“You know damn well I’ve always done what I've had to do,” he grunts, slumping against the wall. “Done what you've told me to. They'd hate you more than me.”

Maintain your recklessness, and they’ll never have the opportunity for hatred. You'll bury them with you.

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“Sometimes I wish you lived closer to the lounge, this walk is too long.”

The night air nips at your faces as Matt treks dutifully beside you on the way to your apartment. You try not to make a habit of late nights, but over the past few weeks it's been harder to step away after sending everyone home. There's always one more loose end to tie up, another addition to the rehearsal schedule to jot down, some final complaint to resolve with a staff member. You'd all but live in the lounge if Matt didn't make it his mission to take you home every night, keeping you from falling asleep at your vanity if he could help it.

You roll your eyes. “You're welcome to hitch a ride with your favorite cab driver next time, since you're thick as thieves.” You surprise yourself with how bitter you sound; no matter how you feel about the company he keeps, he doesn't deserve your ire. “Sorry. I'm just a bit out of sorts tonight.”

He laughs at your jab, then turns more serious. “Yeah, I could tell. You sounded… distracted when I heard you wrapping up. Everything alright?”

You tighten your coat around yourself as you continue walking. Your shoes click against the pavement, punctuating the silence between you as you search for your words.

“That man, your friend Jake… he wouldn't get you in trouble, would he?”

Matt smirks as he weighs your question. “What's a little trouble now and then? You know I can take it.”

“I'm serious, Matthew.” You link his arm with yours and slow your pace. “I know he's more than your client, but I don't want to see you get hurt.”

Matt Murdock has been your friend longer than he's been your lawyer. As he walks you home for the thousandth time, that same uneasy feeling from before rises in your stomach. Your thumb traces his sleeve. “I can't afford to lose you.”

His hand finds yours and stills it, pausing for a moment. “You won't. I promise.”

You search his face in the yellowed streetlights. You're typically at a disadvantage when it comes to one of you being able to lie to the other, but right now you believe him. Or at least, that he believes himself.

He pats your hand and resumes walking. “I have to say, Jake's not a bad guy to have in your corner. A bit rough around the edges, but I'm sure he'd be on your team if you'd let him.”

You sigh. “We don't have to keep talking about him. He takes up enough of my time when he deigns to show up and pester me.”

Matt's eyes crinkle behind his glasses. “Level with me: is he really that unbearable?”

“Yes.” You shake your head after a moment, mind racing like it was when you realized his weekly routine was broken. “No… I don't know.”

The man has been a nuisance, but when you think about it, he's never been more than an annoyance with his cheeky persistence. Jake's like a puppy that continues to get underfoot, staring up at you with big brown eyes whenever you offer a crumb of attention. You may loathe his yapping, but without it, something was missing tonight.

“I know a friend of yours is bound to be decent,” you concede, “but I can't get over the feeling that he's hiding something. And I'm not too fond of anyone who makes me question what they could have up their sleeve.”

Matt nods as you talk, hesitant before responding. “You know, it's not completely fair to push him away because you don't know him… when all he seems to want is the chance to let you.”

You scoff at the thought. “You know full well I don't have time for entanglements, Matty. You've seen the blackmail. There's too much on the line to get distracted.”

“Sometimes distraction is a good thing.”

“That's rich coming from you.”

“Alright, so I'm not the most social guy,” he laughs. “But you should still think about what I'm saying. Jake's alright in my book.”

You remove your arm from his, wrapping it around yourself again. “It doesn't matter, anyway. He didn't show tonight. Bigwig client of his must have found a new rendezvous spot.”

You see Matt's jaw clench at the mention of Mr. Wesley. “You know something.”

“I didn't say anything.”

“Don't lie to me, Matty. You know something about that man he's been driving, don't you?” You walk slightly ahead, studying his face as you press on. “And I bet you know where they went tonight.”

Matt stops in his tracks, rigid and alert. You've learned that look, the one that tells you he's latched onto something like a bloodhound and won't rest until he hunts it down.

“Something's wrong.”

He takes off down the sidewalk, barely giving you time to catch up as he rounds the corner. A few more twists and turns in your route and you finally stop.

There, slumped against the brick wall of the apartment complex, bleeds out half of your 7 o’clock reservation.

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A/N: besties this is now a 10-chapter project... how did i get here

i am living for the speculation and hype in the tags/rbs, please don't feel shy-- let me know where your head is with all this! of course, if you are shy, no pressure. glad to have you along for the ride either way :)

as always, thank you for reading <3

tag list: @importantnightwerewolf, @cupidysm, @queerponcho, @nerdieforpedroo, @fandxmslxt69, @shadystarlightgentlemen, @lunar-ghoulie, @casa-boiardi (lmk if you'd like to be added to/removed from this wee tag list)

#my works #moon knight #moon knight fanfiction #moon knight au #jake lockley #jake lockley fanfiction #noir!jake lockley #jake lockley x reader #jake lockley x fem!reader #jake lockley x woc!reader #jake lockley x poc!reader #jake lockley/reader #jake lockley/fem!reader #jake lockley/woc! reader #jake lockley/poc!reader #matt murdock #khonshu

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bd-wlf · 5 months ago

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THIS WOULD SO FIT MY WING AU

Anderson and The Empty Hearse fan club would totally be behind this tweet

Like obviously I feel like my wing au world has different religion, I hc that Jesus In their world is a pheonix and there's this whole cult and conspiracy theories around it and stuff and in our world yknow Lucifer is depicted having wings and such but he's a fallen angel and so I guess in my mind it makes sense if fallen meant to winged people that this lucifer dude had his wings ripped out (and yes I've seen art of lucifer with no wings/fallen angels with no wings I've been a superwholock and a good omens fan for more than a few years) which fucking sucks for those who are flightless/lost their wings and believe in all that

And in my au somtime around The Fall and when he's being tortured by the Serbians is when they tear his wings out. It's a very brutal and emotionally charged scene in my mind

Actually I was gonna say that The Fall couldn't work if his wings weren't already gone but Moriarty could've just bound his wings ig.

It also raises the question do people born with bald eagle wings have an unfair advantage at being picked for president in the US

And do people with dove wings automatically get placed In the priest/church box??

Like is there bird racism? If there's snake racism there has to be bird racism

Anyway my favorite headcanon is that Anderson has Duck wings. Send post

Edit- I forgot to add that one of Anderson's theories Post-Fall/Comeback is that Sherlock is The Pheonix

#bbc sherlock #sherlock holmes #the reichenbach fall #the final problem #john watson #superwholock #wing au #world building #????#headcanons for my own AU LMAO

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thats-entirely-too-much-tuna · 1 year ago

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this may be my last chance to post this before season 2 airs, so i present to you all: a theory.

okay, i'm sorry to invoke bbc sh*rl*ck, but stick with me, i promise there is a point to this! remember how the empty hearse was peppered with fantasy sequences about how the reichenbach fall was faked? and it was basically the showrunners' way of being like "hey fandom, we see you and your theories! you are ridiculous and wrong, and in the end none of it matters!"

here's what i'm saying. we know that there are dream sequences in season 2. we know from that one review that there are also fandom in-jokes. we know from the promotional stills and the BTS video that both bearded stede and merman stede are likely to make appearances. so what if david jenkins & co have done something similar, but in a fandom-honoring way? my prediction is this: while many of our favorite season 2 theories and tropes might not be canon this season, several of them will nevertheless be featured in stede's (and maybe ed's) dream sequences as a nod to the fans. there will be a dream where the steard is full, alive and well. there will be a dream where stede is a gorgeous gorgeous merman. perhaps there'll be a dream where ed has tentacles! or one where the entire crew bursts into song and dance! the sky is quite literally the limit, and i, for one, will not be remotely functional until november at the absolute earliest.

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #our flag means death #our flag means death spoilers

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lastweeksshirttonight · 1 year ago

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Lee is re-watching Sherlock for some fucking reason - Season One

I'm well aware that the crossover between "currently popular and loved British comedian in the US updates, thirst, and accoutrements" and "BBC show that went so off the rails that people now like to pretend Andrew Scott's breakout role was the Hot Priest in Fleabag" is limited, but weirdly, returning to Sherlock was one of the few things that was keeping my brain somewhat grounded and whirring during Work Hell.

We're in uncharted territory here. You're gonna learn a bit about the things I do when I'm not tracking John Oliver obsessively. I am nervous about this but hey, I'm guessing most of you knew I don't solely live and breathe John Oliver. (I know. I have multitudes. This is a shocking revelation. Please take time to process it.)

Firstly, a content note - there's going to be discussion about queerbaiting and queercoding villains, and the beginning of this goes into some of James Somerton's absolutely disgusting claims about the AIDS crisis. This post will only be focused on Season One, as that's all I've finished at this point.

Let's go.

(above image sourced from Writing Tips and Memes)

My sudden re-emergent hyperfixation started because of the hbomberguy takedown of James Somerton, weirdly. I don't follow many YouTubers - I like Bright Sun Films because he goes urban exploring, something I've always wanted to do but have never managed to make happen, and also Todd in the Shadows, whose Trainwreckords series is very well-done and expertly researched. Seeing that name, you might know where this is going. Todd dropped a video about James Somerton, who I had never fucking heard of and now wish I'd known about before, so I could scream bloody murder about what an absolute fuckwad he is.

(I don't want to get too in the weeds here, but the things James asserted about WWII, Nazis, and the AIDS crisis are so vehemently offensive that I'm still struggling with them. Claiming that only boring gays survived the AIDS crisis in particular is so vile that I have gotten anger flashes thinking about it almost daily since hearing it.)

Todd recommended watching all four hours of the hbomberguy plagiarism video, and I ran that in the background while working about two weeks ago. Eventually I had to stop doing that because the plagiarism revelations were so distracting and shocking. Todd's video was even more of a goddamn mindfuck, and even the smaller, less offensive things have taken up far too much space in my brain. Californians, does anyone at all deify Bob Iger??? Like... what the goddamn fuck??? Bob Iger????

After watching one hbomberguy video, the algorithm did its thing, and gave me a video called "Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why". Posting it here for posterity:

youtube

Because my brain works in mysterious ways (-cough-ADHD-cough-), watching this... made me want to rewatch Sherlock.

I initially saw Sherlock for the first time thanks to someone I met in my last year of college, 2012. At the time, Michael (a nickname) was my neighbor in the dorms; over the past ten years, she's become one of my closest friends and a true rock in my life. One of the first things we bonded over that I introduced her to was the San Francisco Giants and the ghost I will always be chasing, Tim Lincecum; one of the first things we bonded over that she introduced me to was BBC Sherlock. The show was in the early months of its extended hiatus after Season Two, at the height of its fandom, and we were both completely obsessed. I read all the Doyle stories, took in a truly wild amount of fanfiction, wrote a not-very-popular AU fic, became part of a strange inter-dorm ARG based on Sherlock orchestrated by Michael... it consumed a huge part of our lives.

When Season 3 dropped, I almost stopped watching after "The Empty Hearse". I don't want to get into why it offended me so much before we get to a Season 3 post, but just know my enthusiasm severely dampened there. The rest of Season 3 I think of with blase emotions, especially the ending, which I found just dumb, save one part of it. I recall going to see The Abominable Bride in theatres with my mom (and maybe Michael?), and I think I liked it fine - aside, again, from the ending. But I had no interest in a Season Four, and when it dropped, Michael's long rambling phone calls describing the absolute shitstorm of a plot cemented that I was never going to watch it again.

Until now.

I definitely don't think the hbomberguy video is perfect. His insistence that Doyle canon never had Holmes pull answers to cases out of his ass is... something, lol, as is his opinion that changing the solution to certain puzzles in A Study in Pink disrespects the original canon. (Bro, these stories have been retold a bajillion times, they need to mix it up to keep it interesting.) But he put a finger on something that I'd wrestled with regarding Sherlock for a long time - that the show's writing often teased something big and new and conclusive in the horizon, but almost never delivered. That wasn't an issue in early days when there was less invested in an increasingly convoluted mythic story, or when they weren't fully blowing off the resolutions to cliffhangers, but the flaw in writing a story where you promise something huge on the horizon and never deliver should be obvious.

The first season doesn't trade much in that idea, and going back to it was something I found exceptionally enjoyable!

Before I watched:

I remembered bits and pieces of "A Study in Pink" and the whole plot in summary.

I truly didn't remember anything about "The Blind Banker" except that I found it fairly 'yellow peril'-y when I saw it in 2012.

I mixed up huge chunks of Season Two's "A Scandal in Belgravia" with "The Great Game" in my head and somehow forgot the main plot thrust was Moriarty kidnapping people and strapping bombs to them.

I genuinely forgot Sebastian Moran was a character basically hallucinated into existence by the fandom and didn't appear in the show at all until a brief appearance in Season Three.

In a way, it was like I was watching the show for the first time all over again. My partner also watched the first season with me, and it was interesting to get his thoughts on the show as we watched.

To start, his favorite character is Mycroft. Watching Season One, I had to agree that Mycroft has a depth of character that I'd forgotten about. Mark Gatiss plays him perfectly, aloof and smarter than you but unsure of how to deal with his natural feelings of concern and fear for his oft-spiraling, danger-seeking younger brother - and how those feelings magnify with the influence of extreme danger-seeker (at least in this season) John Watson. The show wants you to believe so badly that he's Moriarty in "A Study in Pink", which I don't think works even if you know he isn't Moriarty - there's a warmth to Gatiss' Mycroft that, even while he's doing incredibly ominous things like shutting off all cameras in a busy intersection, still comes through.

My favorite character is Moriarty. I haven't mentioned this very much here, because why would I, but my favorite character type in media is "theatrical abject shithead". It's why I cosplay Bakugo from My Hero Academia and loved everything about Akechi in Persona 5. Hell when I was a kid, I told teachers that when I grew up, I wanted to join Team Rocket. I love the theatrical shitheads. And boy, is Moriarty some sort of theatrical shithead. I don't DISAGREE with hbomberguy pointing out that, as written, Moriarty is a complete mess of a character, a queer-coded literal terrorist with no motivations besides "I did that because I'M CRAAAAZY!"... but he's my queer-coded literal terrorist, ok? I could write a whole paper on all the harmful stereotypes inhabiting this version of Moriarty... but I can't deny that the flamboyance and violence pulsing just beneath the surface of Andrew Scott's performance was the beating heart of that show for me. Sure, Sherlock and John, at least early on, were a compelling duo, but the show was at its best with Moriarty pulling strings for inexplicable reasons in the background. I love him.

(An aside: watching Sherlock made me remember how hilarious it was to see basically every major actor from the show in one of my favorite movies of all time, 1917, to the point that I actually kinda laughed in the theatre thinking about it.)

The entirety of the first season also is more devoted to actual crime-solving and detective work than I remembered the show being. I think that works strongly in its favor, and as I recall things from later seasons, drifting from that element definitely hampers the show greatly. In particular, while the lazy and uncomfortable Orientalism of "The Blind Banker" is still incredibly glaring, the actual mystery at the core of it is very excitingly tracked and easily followed while watching. The fact that John is treated like an equal (mostly) throughout only enhances my thoughts on that. "The Great Game" is a little more slapdash (and hurt by the fact that the entire Vermeer section would be solvable with a smartphone nowadays), but you can still make connections mentally with most of the cases and deduction/investigation is being shown logically. (hbomberguy cites the Golem as a problematic logical leap akin to some of Season Two's dumbest, and I can't agree. It's a reasonable suspension of disbelief to assume Sherlock knows about assassins and is followed by some more sensible investigation and inspection of the Golem's victim. The sequence of Sherlock fighting the Golem, however, is very, very silly.)

Related to that... the autopsy doctors on this show are fucking AWFUL at their jobs. Like straight-up negligently awful. How in the actual fuck did they not investigate the puncture marks on Connie Price's body? How did they not notice a highly distinctive heel tattoo on three recently-murdered corpses? Is Molly the only vaguely competent person in the mortuary? My partner and I were extremely amused that, while Lestrade and his police force are thankfully shown with much more intelligence than in other Holmes adaptations and BBC!Watson wouldn't think jam is a clue, the writers seem to have shunted the stupidity straight to the invisible autopsy doctors.

The first season also does a good job of making Sherlock seem like an overly intelligent if socially stunted human being, instead of the condescending prickish intellectual Ubermensch he ends up becoming as the show progresses. "A Study in Pink"'s ending being Sherlock throwing aside his deduction of the cabbie's killer when he realizes it's Watson, unconvincingly lying to Lestrade and insisting he's in shock before rejoining the other man and genuinely bonding with him, is remarkably compelling as fulfillment of a promise we get from Lestrade earlier in the episode - "Sherlock Holmes is a great man. One day he may even be a good one." My memory is admittedly faulty, but part of why "The Empty Hearse" turned me off so viscerally was Sherlock's (and to an extent, Mycroft's) insufferable growing smugness, particularly where explaining plans or mysteries to John. We get told often that Watson humanizes Sherlock and that the two have a strong bond throughout the series, but Sherlock gets much more dickish in general as the series progresses. One thing I do remember with stark clarity is that after being utterly chastised at a Christmas party in "A Scandal in Belgravia", Sherlock does visibly treat Molly MUCH better throughout the remainder of the show. So, uh, why did we lose that energy with the show's central pairing?

Speaking of the show's central pairing, the queerbaiting starts SO EARLY on this show. I want to make it clear that obviously the benefit of hindsight and knowledge of how the show ends really colors a lot about the Johnlock relationship now, and as a society, we're more aware of what queerbaiting is and what it looks like, which will obviously alter how I perceive these interactions now. I also want to make it clear that I never really shipped Johnlock outside of just kind of assuming that it would be canon because everyone seemed really convinced of it. (I was an absolute degenerate that shipped John with Moriarty. On top of enjoying theatrical disasters, I enjoy ships with an abundance of chaos and impossibility.) There's some biases at play here.

Even so, we are not far into the episode where John is protesting that obviously he needs a second bed in 221B to Mrs. Hudson, he's not gay! The scene in the restaurant has such an aggressively shippy energy to it (despite Watson's consistent denials) that I actively commented on it to my partner as it was happening, saying "the queerbaiting happens WAY SOONER than I thought!" It's distracting and has aged absolutely terribly. The worst by far is John quipping, after being removed from a bomb vest at a pool in "The Great Game", that people will talk because of Sherlock ripping his clothes off in a darkened swimming pool. Why is Watson's heterosexuality so fragile that he's thinking about gossip rags as he's actively recovering from a near-death experience?!

(Aside: I'm aware that last point is not as effective when you think about the fact that I shipped two characters whose sole canonical interaction was one man kidnapping and forcing the other into a bomb vest. In my defense, a) I love mess and b) John never quips about thinking people will talk because he got kidnapped.)

Moriarty's first appearance in "The Great Game" sees him as Molly's fake boyfriend slipping a phone number to Sherlock, which lead to my partner commenting about how distracting it also was, on top of the queerbaiting, that almost every single person on the show has some sort of deep metaphysical attraction to Sherlock. Those people aren't on the lighting and cinematography team for sure; Benedict Cumberbatch is lit ominously and sometimes demonically throughout the first season, highlighting his antihero and brusque nature effectively. But many, many characters in the show - just in season one, Molly, Moriarty, multiple characters of the day, the Cabbie, and John - are all drawn to Sherlock and his very special brain and his very sharp cheekbones. Signs of a big future problem come through in this way, where the show starts sidelining Watson as our central figure and puts Sherlock squarely at the center of everyone's universe and makes lesbians fall in love with him.

(My partner also laughed pretty hard at how obvious Moriarty's pratfalls were as Molly's boyfriend, noting that the show was pretty bad at hiding who Moriarty was every time it came up.)

Some of the seeds of Sherlock's destruction are sown in this first season, obviously. The big one I haven't touched on is the ending cliffhanger itself. Moriarty has John and Sherlock trapped in the pool, tens of sniper sights trained on them, and says that he can't let them escape. Amazing cliffhanger here! It is not fulfilled on at all, but because Andrew Scott can carry anything on his back (including Spectre, which I cannot start talking about because we'll be here all day), the scene doesn't feel like a total waste and makes you want to hang on to find out what happens later.

But there was so much here that was delightful. All the acting is uniformly excellent, and the overt physical tics that come to define Sherlock's mind palace and mental prowess being showcased are barely evident here. The actual detective work, like I said earlier, is really involving! I don't feel like I figured out the solutions for the mysteries I couldn't recall the answers for too easily and thought Sherlock's deductive reason largely followed and wasn't too obscure. I'm still such a sucker for the show's style - that opening credits sequence is so perfectly put together, the text messages that interact with the scene and at the time made this show feel so fresh and modern to me, filming the character's faces in taxis through panes of glass and obscuring material in "A Study in Pink" to give everything an obfuscating sheen... give me all of it.

The music, too, was something I'd forgotten about and truly ended up adoring. Taskmaster (and The Horne Section's score for it) really owes a debt to Michael Price and David Arnold. So much of Sherlock's score could probably be dropped straight into a Taskmaster episode and I would have to think pretty hard to notice a difference in the show's usual musical palette. I've been eyeballing the vinyl on eBay, to give you an idea of how much I love this score. "The Game is On" is a perfect piece of music, clockwork spinning noises emphasizing the jauntiness of Sherlock as he drags Watson on his latest case before sliding into the more subdued, vaguely ominous thrum of its second movement descending into the madness of the third part, violins shrieking as the action reaches its apex.

youtube

Normally, with such a degree of pleasant surprise, I'd be eager to move forward to Season Two. Unfortunately, I know the first episode of Season Two is... a doozy. To say the least. A doozy that may get its own essay because of how doozy-ish it is.

In any case, I ended up really enjoying going back to Season One of Sherlock! Super down to talk further about the show, future write-ups, and my horrible taste in fictional ships and men - shoot me a message, reply to this post, wherever, I'll be here! <3

#not john oliver #bbc sherlock #sherlock bbc #Youtube #too long didn't read - the lee lastweeksshirttonight story #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #fuck james somerton #3k words on a hyperfixation

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ao3feed-destiel-02 · 11 days ago

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love is a sacrament that should be taken kneeling

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ndrCzow by dicklessthewonderclown When all is said and done, Dean goes on a drive. For all intents and purposes, this is a funeral procession. He is equal parts mourner and post mortem; the ghost of everything that never was and all that will never be housed in the death-black hearse of the Impala. Words: 21422, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 1 of sacred and profane love Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: M/M Characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel (Supernatural), Original Supernatural (TV) Character(s), Background & Cameo Characters Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester Additional Tags: Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Episode: s15e19 Inherit the Earth (Supernatural), POV Dean Winchester, Guilty Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester Needs a Hug, Grieving Dean Winchester, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Road Trips, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Confessional, Roman Catholicism, Improper Use of Catholic Rituals, Church Sex, Oral Sex, Finger Sucking, Fingers in My Mouth Friday (Supernatural), Castiel is Saved from the Empty (Supernatural), Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, (very minor w/details in note), Angst with a Happy Ending, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, the original premise: 'is this about the eucharist or is this about sucking dick?', Dean Winchester Character Study read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ndrCzow

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #(your tags here)

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warrioreowynofrohan · 2 years ago

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Some of my favourite bits from today’s section of A Dickens December that don’t make it into adaptations:

He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again. It was old enough now, and dreary enough; for nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices.

This paints such a depressing picture and is deeply evocative of how (deliberately!) gloomy Scooge’s life is. He lives in a building that is empty of other people, in a location that is also empty of other people; it recalls the line from the first email, about “warning all human sympathy to keep its distance.” Scrooge presumably inherited his rooms from Marley, who had a similar attitude. He is intentionally divorcing himself as far as possible from human interaction.

Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the City of London, even including—which is a bold word—the corporation, aldermen, and livery.

I wish I understood better what precisely the last three terms were referring to, but I get that it’s saying that Scrooge is unimaginative even compared to people who would be considered quintessentially boring and unimaginative, and Dickens says it in a very entertaining way.

To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, would be untrue.

Ignore anyone who tells you never to use double negatives. The crucial thing is to use them well.

You may talk vaguely about driving a coach and six up a good old flight of stairs, or through a bad young Act of Parliament;

I know I read a post on this literary technique just the other day, but I can’t remember what it’s called! This is an absolutely delightful use of it though.

Scrooge thought he saw a locomotive hearse going on before him in the gloom. Half-a-dozen gas-lamps out of the street wouldn't have lighted the entry too well, so you may suppose that it was pretty dark with Scrooge's dip.

I wish that just one adaptation would include this!

#dickens december #a christmas carol #charles dickens

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lololollywrites · 2 years ago

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My Sherlock Fics (AO3):

Current Count: 9 Stories (1 series [3 works], 6 standalones); 168,513+ words)

Profile: Lololly

(I also have some Harry Potter fics if you're interested, despite my vehement hatred for JK Rowling. They were originally written or started in 2012, so I hope that explains that.)

Fic Series: Earthly Pomp (Is But a Dream)

Please check all story tags on A03 prior to reading. No major archive warnings apply for the first two fics in the series; none are E-rated. The series is canon-compliant post S4 - it's my attempt to make things right in my own mind. John and Sherlock come back together, talk things out, confess their love, and then... run into some difficulties of the Serbian variety in the third fic. That's where the warnings will come in. This has been so fun to write so far!

Link to entire series on AO3

Part 1: Step. Jump. Leap. Step. Ficlet. John comes home. (775 words)

Part 2: Of Sweat, Sociopathy, Scars, and Secrets. Oneshot. John approaches Sherlock with a theory. Much more is revealed than he anticipated. And Sherlock, well... he had been waiting for this. Inevitable. (Here's the Johnlock, ya'll. 8,206 words)

Part 3: Winter’s Storm Sherlock had buried the past. Shut Serbia away in the attic of his mind palace. Muddy footprints at a heinous crime scene, however, have led him right back to old enemies. And right back to captivity. For God’s sake, Mycroft. (Check the warnings on this one - Sherlock gets tortured, but it's not super-explicit. BAMF!John. 11 Chapters; 51,816 words)

Standalone Fics (list below to be continuously updated)

The Waning of Withdrawal Sherlock holds a weeping John in his arms and… does something that will forever change things between them. For better or worse. He fears the latter. (This one is rated E for a brief smut scene; as always, heed the tags). (8,249 words)

Never Been Better John gets married. Sherlock leaves the wedding reception early, but he’s fine. Fine. The seven percent solution? It helps him think. If only Baker Street didn’t seem so empty. But he’s perfectly okay. Never been better, in fact. Never been better. **Update: Chapter 3 has now been added - NOW COMPLETE Canon breaks during Chapter 2! Chapters 3/3 (16,107 words)

Pressure Points The bonfire doesn't happen during The Empty Hearse. Instead, both John and Sherlock are placed into a life-or-death situation. One that may prove too much for a still-wounded Sherlock. **NOW COMPLETE: FTH 2023, for @discordantwords. Chapters 4/4 (19,892 words)

Cold Inside Sherlock has just shot Magnussen, and John feels adrift. Everything is wrong. He's fairly certain he hates his wife, too. The regrets are too numerous for him to count. Sherlock is in prison, his ultimate fate unknown and the isolation slowly (or, rather, worryingly quickly) whittling away at his sanity. Mycroft is equally untethered, scrambling for options. Perhaps John can help. And perhaps, just perhaps, they can manage to save Sherlock and rid themselves of Mary in one fell swoop. (HLV fix-it; rated E for smut in Chapter 4)

NOW COMPLETE. FTH 2023 for @shakespearelovedladymacbeth.

Chapters 5/5 (26,841 words)

Breathe Sherlock's death is announced a bit... prematurely. Things spiral from there. --- “Sit, Dr. Watson. I beg of you. I’ll get you some water and then I’d be happy to take you to him so you can say goodbye.” “Ah. Mm. No. No. It’s not possible, all right? It’s Sherlock. Sherlock. I already… I already…" I already suffered this once. This time, it’ll kill me. “Is there anyone we can call for–” But John was no longer listening. He was walking. Fast; in strides as long as his legs could manage. Away from Dr. Fredericks. Far from the A&E waiting area. Toward the grand glass entryway. Shouts followed him as he went – requests for him to come back, to sit down, to listen. They faded in volume the farther John’s feet carried him and dissipated entirely as soon as the automatic doors slid shut. Chapters 1/1 (8,517 words)

Wasteland, Baby Things hadn’t felt right in 221B since John and Rosie moved back in. Everything was off. Wrong. If only Sherlock knew it was about to get even worse. But, for vegetation to return to a barren wasteland, rain from thunderstorms is necessary. A brushfire, even, to burn away the old and provide nourishment for the new… and to expose a truth that’s been present all along. ___ He stumbled as he was yanked backwards by the chain of the handcuffs, Mr. Morrison’s cruel hand having snaked under his Belstaff to assert his control. John met his eye. He nodded once, almost harshly, in the regimented yet reassuring manner of a soldier. Sherlock knew he was painfully squeezing his hands together behind his back as if to punish himself; lips bitten red and a tightly clenched jaw also betrayed the worry behind his steely façade. “I’ll kill him,” John said, terrifyingly calm. “I’ll kill him and bring you home. I will.” Chapters 5/5, (23,115 words)

#my fics #AO3 #bbc sherlock #updating my pinned post #newest fic at the end!#WASTELAND BABY IS COMPLETE!

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emerald-hobbit · 11 months ago

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Masterlist.

Requests Open!

I don't have an upload schedual, I just do this as and when.

This list will link to my Tumblr posts for the related fic which has a summery and link to the ao3 page. Feel free to suggest a better way to do this, this is just a quick reference guide.

Good Omens

Bad Pain Days Hurt/Comfort, Fluff

Good Pain Days Fluff

Crowleys Duck Obession Light Angst, Fluff

The Tracks Of My Tears Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Hold On To Me ('Cause I'm A Little Unstedy) Angst

Much Needed TLC Light Angst, Fluff, Wingfic

The First Day Of The Rest Of Our Lives Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Starman Light Angst, Fluff

The Problem With Being A Modern Day Demon Angst, Sickfic

Understimulation Autistic!Aziraphale, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

"Ti a Fi Gyda’n Gilydd Am Byth" (You And Me, Together Forever) Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff

Doctor Who

In The Down Time Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmare

Loki (TV)

Safe In Your Arms Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Fluff

Are You Okay? Trans!Mobius, Genderfluid!Loki, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Jet-Skis Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Slice Of Life

I'm Here (You're Safe With Me) Panic Attack, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Mobius' Nintendo Switch Fluff

If This Is The Final Time We Meet Angst, First Kiss, Bittersweet

I've Got You Hurt/Comfort

The Owl House

Are You Okay Kid? Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Panic Attack, Fluff

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Day One Autistic!Fitz, Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Avengers

The Story Of My Life Angst, Emotional Hurt/No Comfort PTSD

The Blood on My Hands Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attack

What If...?

What If... The Watcher Was Injured By Ultron? Angst, Hurt/Comfort

What If... The Guardians Of The Multiverse Spent Christmas Together? Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

BBC SHERLOCK

We Will Find Our Way Through The Dark Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Panic Attack, The Hounds Of Baskerville

Oh Brother Mine Hurt/Comfort, Aftermath of Torture, Angst, The Empty Hearse

The Sherlock Survaillance Chat Collab, Chatfic, Humour, Angst

The Case of the Missing Pen Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Sherlock & Co

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Hairstylist Fluff, Domestic fluff

London or Kiev? Hurt/Comfort, Angst, PTSD

The Sandman

A Century of Pain and a Hug Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Dead Boy Detectives

Mirrors Late Night Conversion

Constantine

Aftershocks hurt/comfort, nightmares, aftermath of possession

Legends of Tomorrow

I Can't Save Us (My Atlantis, We Fall) panic attack, hurt/comfort

Exhaustion hurt/comfort, effects of magic

The Interview humor, fluff

Captain Cold gets a Cold sickfic, hurt/comfort, childhood trauma

The Cicatrices hurt/comfort, burn scars

Old Advice for New Parts hurt/comfort, injury recovery

Magical Hangovers hurt/comfort, effects of magic

Unethical Polyamory posession, sexual humor

The Flash

Never Forget hurt no comfort, angst

Space Station hurt/comfort, PTSD

That's what life coaches are for, right? hurt/comfort, panic attack

Overwhelmed hurt/comfort, sensory overload

Phantom Lightning hurt/comfort, chronic pain

Well, Wells. We're Wellses. angst, hallucinations?

A Break in the Case literal sleeping together

Repentance hurt no comfort

A Voice in the Dark emotional hurt/comfort

A Chat with HR emotional hurt/comfort, ex-military Harry Wells, POW

Don't Show the Pain aftermath of torture

Coming To hurt/comfort, waking up

First Aid Flirting injury, harrisco

Safehouse 5 times

42 time loop

Brutality torture, angst

Bad Vibes emotional angst, harrisco

Wrong Time, Wrong Place blood and injury, hurt/comfort

Beside Himself with Worry emotional hurt/comfort

Cubic Grief hurt no comfort, harrisco

Cruel to be Kind medical procedures

Devil with your Face nightmares, angst

Choice? What Choice? hurt no comfort, angst, psychological trauma

Unwell Wells sickfic, harrisco

Interlude overworking, movie night

Seasonal Discomfort fluff, angst, harrisco

The Coffee Connoisseur fluff, slice of life

Even a Queen Needs Rest non consenual drug use, hurt/comfort

Arrow

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authorangelita · 6 months ago

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You have too many amazing sounding WIPs! How am I suppose to choose?!!

I’ll just select one from each category🤓

Casket is Empty

Grave Danger Fusion

LOL - good choices!

Casket is Empty is 400 words of the beginning of a story, but I don't know what the story entails yet. Essentially Mac realizes that Jack wasn't in the coffin at his funeral and then I'm not sure where the story goes (aside from Mac bringing Jack home, of course).

Snippet:

Mac played his memories back, focusing on the details he could remember. The faces of the mourners, their shoes, the pallbearers, the covered dirt mound near the gravesite, the mechanism that held the casket and then lowered it into the ground.

While Mac and Bozer had wanted to be pallbearers, the honor guard team had insisted on handling that themselves. It was unusual, but Mac didn't question it at the time because Riley had walked up and taken his hand, squeezing it with an intensity that he wasn't expecting. She was struggling with Jack's death. They all were, in their own ways. It was hard, nearly impossible, to accept.

The water ran cold. Mac shut it off, toweled himself dry, and dressed in regular clothes. His dress uniform was hanging on the inside of the closet door, waiting to be dry-cleaned and put away in the back of the closet again. He brushed his fingers over the rough material, remembering putting it on and going to the funeral home.

He'd argued with the honor guard team about seeing Jack's body but was ultimately denied that privilege. Fuming, he'd stood to the side and watched the casket being loaded into the hearse for the simple graveside service that Jack had requested in his will. The hearse jostled but didn't dip as far as Mac would have expected for someone of Jack's size. Mentally, he calculated the height of the car pre-casket and post-casket and the weight of the casket and determined that...

"The casket is empty!"

Grave Danger Fusion is two ideas that I'm trying to decide between, so I haven't done much actual work on them. Either Mac gets buried alive or Jack does... Here are my (very sparse) notes:

Mac: Mason kidnaps Mac and buries him alive a la Grave Danger. He lures Jack into a trap (accidentally, instead of James) and blows himself up so that they'll never find Mac. They find Mac anyway of course.

Jack: (this one is even less thought out, lol) Jack is Nick and Mac is Grissom (maybe) and Riley is Sara (maybe). Matty might be Grissom.. hmm.. will have to rewatch... but Bozer is definitely Greg.

#wip file names #casket is empty #grave danger fusion #would you prefer mac to be buried alive? or jack?

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inevitably-johnlocked · 6 months ago

Note

Hi Steph! I just finished an amazing fic where the boys had broken up but got back together in the end and I wondered if you had any lists of this sort? 🌺

Hi Lovely!!

You know, I get asked this a lot so I FINALLY SAT DOWN and compiled all the fics I have on various lists relating to this! So this list is a mix of the ones I remember on my bookmarks, and the ones suggested to me in past posts!!! Hope you'll enjoy this list!! :D

SEPARATION THEN RECONCILIATION FICS