thestrangesun

[thestrangesun]

Cinderella rewrite where Cinderella’s father is an unusually successful fisherman due to his secret friendships with the shy and mysterious mermaids, successful enough to attract a moderately wealthy and ambitious bride with two daughters. Once he dies, her stepmother, determined to make sure her daughters inherit the fishing business as dowries by marrying before Cinderella, forbids her from going out on the fishing boats or into town and makes sure she spends as much of her time as possible doing drudgework, hauling offal and cleaning fish. When the Prince’s ball comes around, an important occasion for young women to make good connections, the stepmother forbids her from going, telling her that she needs to get the latest salmon catch gutted and ready for sale instead.

Cinderella’s mermaid godmother calls upon her people to clean the fish and gifts her a dress and shoes of shimmering fish scales that wreathe her in rainbows under the moonlight. She makes an impression on the Prince at the ball so strong that he immediately falls in love with her, and when she’s forced to flee before her stepmother notices her (no masquerade mask or dancing rainbows will disguise her from her own family at close range), the Prince is left with only a delicate fish leather slipper left on the front steps to try to find her again.

He goes around the houses, seeking the owner of the slipper, but Cinderella is once again working in the fish sheds. He stepmother, desperate and determined and having found Cinderella’s other shoe that very morning, realises what has happened and takes a knife to the feet of her prettiest daughter, telling the prince that she suffered an injury that very morning but those are definitely her shoes, see, here’s the other one, and they still fit.

The daughter is pretty and witty and charming, and while the Prince doesn’t feel the same spark and instant sense of connection that he did at the party, he reasons that she’s overwhelmed and in pain and once she’s healed, all will be well. There are no birds to whisper of blood in the shoe – the Prince has seen the bandaged feet already – and the daughter slips on the shoes (the only shoes she has that will fit her, now,) and accompanies him to the palace.

But the stepmother is no doctor, and by the time the Prince gets her to the palace doctors, it’s too late – his beloved has contracted an infection in her feet from the shoe leather, made unclean in its travels. She will survive – it is an infection of a common filth of fish and birds, one that the doctors have potions for for the occasions where dangerously cooked food causes outbreaks – but in her raving, she confesses the whole scheme to the Prince who, furious, returns to the village to find the girl he truly fell in love with, the girl hidden from him.

“Oh, yeah, the fish cleaner,” the villagers shrug. “We don’t see her around very much, she’s probably in the sheds. Her family calls her Salmonella.”

[thestrangesun]

if you ever get impostors syndrome when applying for a job remember they let fucking anyone aboard the belgica

[thestrangesun]

I love this guy he's everything to me

(click for higher quality)

[thestrangesun]

Speckled Band reread doodles...no snake was harmed

(this is a part of the Watson's Sketchbook series)

[thestrangesun]

This entire exchange is very funny but Holmes’ responses are gold

I’m too tired to write them out like I usually do. And I can’t remember if I posted it before but god I love him he’s so funny and he knows it.

[thestrangesun]

You're Sherlock Holmes.

You're unique, and you know it. You're one of the smartest people in the world, and you take pride in it. You refine your skills, use them and make a living out of it like no one else could. It's not always good, though. You don't fit with others. No one truly sees or understands you — and at this point, you're sure no one ever can.

You move in with a new flatmate. You have him figured out pretty much from the moment you met him: he's quite simple, really, there's not much to learn. It's not long before you know his every habit, every expression — his expressions are so easy to read, the man is an open book. He's good company, though. And he doesn't seem to mind your eccentricities, so that's nice. You bond, somewhat.

And then — then, he surprises you for the first time. And the second. And the third. He's smarter than you thought, braver than you thought, more loyal, more stubborn than you ever realised, and as you live on together for longer and longer, as you grow closer and closer, he doesn't ever stop surprising you. Just as you think that this time, surely you know all there is to know about him, it turns out there's a new side to him you've never yet experienced. Just as you think you can always predict how he'd behave, he turns to do something unexpected. You spend years together, he's your closest friend, your other half, and there's still so much to learn about him, you know your study will never be complete.

And just as you realise how you can never truly learn all there is to know about him, he learns all there is to know about you. Your habits are unique, strange, unconventional, and he knows them all. Your expressions are unreadable, misleading at times, and he can read every one of them. Your moods are fast-changing, and he anticipates them, and knows how to deal with each one. He knows your opinions, your tastes, what you'll find interesting, what'll make you bored and irritated. At times, you think he knows you better than you know yourself.

He understands you. You never thought anyone could — but then, John Watson always surprised you.

[thestrangesun]

Standing in a checkout line, when an older man asks me about my Goncharov t-shirt. I say "It's a movie, " when the person behind me chimes in, "Oh, yes, Scorsese."

The original gentleman goes on to tell me about the author Goncharov, his favorite of his novels, and a famous character from one of the novels. The three of us discuss whether the main character in the movie is intentionally named after the author, referencing that character, or whether it just sounded good to the film maker. We discuss how steeped the movie is in symbology.

Two of us are having a very different conversation than the third.

[thestrangesun]

Re reading A Study in Scarlet and thinking about thin haggard nosy John Watson and young manic showoff Sherlock Holmes

Also got very emotional about the idea that Holmes has bad hair because he doesn’t see why he should care and dislikes barbers (being touched by a stranger!) so Watson cuts it to look more distinguished so Lestrade will take him more seriously

[thestrangesun]

hey guys did you hear. john wrestled sherlock against the wall

[thestrangesun]

All I Can think about is tonga TERRIFIED getting dragged out of a burning house by a random man and then the TERROR he must have felt when the man went on to announce he is a true crime podcaster

[thestrangesun]

They love each other. They murder each other on a daily basis. They’re a found family. They’re a polycule. They all want to die. They gave up everything to be immortal. They’re mass murderers. They fight for human rights. They are incredibly traumatized. They have traumatized so many people. They are made up of some of the most tragic stories. They’re the funniest motherfuckers alive. They’re the mechanisms.

[thestrangesun]

Favorite acd Sherlock book so far?

Wouldn't you like to know, weatherboy?

[thestrangesun]

Soon as she gets free of the pack ice the wedding is back on

[thestrangesun]

[thestrangesun]

"You with the dark curls"

"You with the watercolour eyes"

"You who bares all your teeth in every smile"

[thestrangesun]

finally catching up and is this canonically queer sherlock i spy???? have we finally moved past subtext gang?????

[thestrangesun]

They’re all being cozy and joyous together. Ignore Sherlock he’s great